It’s a cheerful and sunny morning at sea! We are about 20 miles offshore, between Trinidad Head and Eureka. We are aiming for Cape Mendocino and should pass in about 8 hours.
I forgot to mention last night’s radio Test Net. I had good conversations with Elizabeth Ann in Brookings OR, and Scaramouche, near Victoria BC. These are both preparing for the Singlehanded Transpac. Both had good and readable signals. This morning’s radio net had good conditions (not a lot of noise), but I heard no boats calling VALIS.
Last night we sailed pretty slowly. There was some excitement when the occasional cross-sea would dump into the cockpit. One hit hard enough to cause bruises and require some dodger repair. Fortunately we are all tethered on at all times.
Around sunrise we jibed back out to sea and raised more sail. We are still being conservative — we could be sailing a couple of knots faster, but our 6.5 kt average feels good. The seas are big (occasionally 15 ft?) but are pretty gentle. Wind is in the low 20′s, from the NNW.
Until later, Paul / VALIS