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On Board Dogbark...The Return |
Log Number 119 July 2004 11:28 PM PDTAl reports:  Well we got underway at about 1130 Hawaii time and hoisted sail. First headed west down the Na Pali coast of Kauai. About 20 miles of totally undeveloped coastline. Only access is by boat or kayak to the whole area. the eastern half can be reached by foot on a trail about 11 miles long that starts about 6 miles west of Hanalei bay. It is very rugged , scenic and truly magnificent. If I came back I would like to camp out there. Permits are required though. Chas, Kit and I hiked the first portion, two miles, to the first beach area. Hot and Humid, but a great trip. The highlight of my stay in Kauai. We left the coast and headed north about 2 in the afternoon. We had to motor about one hour to get out of the light lee of the coast. Then the trades finally came. Started out 20-25 but then eased to about 10-15 for most of the rest of the afternoon. We are sailing under double reefed main and staysail averaging about 7-9 knots depending on wether it is 10 or 15. It keeps going up and down. Everyone has the patch on, the three crew for the first time. No adverse reactions yet. I had the mushroom spaghetti sauce and pasta come flying off of the stove tonight just before it was done. I scraped up most off of the floor and we had a satisfying meal. Steve has the 8-12, Kit the 12-4 and Chas the 4-8. I will stay up all night to make sure they all can cope. Looks good so far. I have radio check at 9 pm and am Hawaii time same freqs as before. No sign of Antares the boat Dave Krause is sailing back on. He said he was going to be at Hanalei this past weekend, but?? Kit is taking lots of movies.
Log Number 220 July 2004 12:35 PM PDTAl reports:No fish yet with slow night with lots of variability. Many squalls late. Currently full main and 110, had all combinations of white sails through the night. We are aiming for 30, 155. Winds 3-10 SE current heading 050T, almost straight back to Seattle, very weird. Al Log Number 2 Continued20 July 2004 noon PDT radio netChuck Beazell on Joe reports:Not much discussion on the net today.Weather reports look like we will not need to motor too much - but Home is a long way and much can change. Wind is variable but after getting a few miles away from the Island it very nice. Much of the time I can point the boat right at SF - but most of us are going high of the rumb line to stay in the wind we want.Dogbark, Sail a Vie and Joe are all fishing but no catches.Lots of squals last night and this morning but they are not very strong. Joe got drenched by 1 but sailed in front of the second one to get a boost - but we got out of its way before the rain got to us.Several people leaving Hanalie today - I'll report what comes up on the net. Log Number 321 July 2004 00:31 AM PDTAl reports:Kind of a slow day today with about 2hrs total motor sailing. Wind from 2-12SE. Did see a large marlin breech the surface and do a little tail walk. Also a Boobie landed on the bow puplit and stuck around for about four hours. No fish caught on Dogbark today. Had burritos for dinner, ground beef ,onions,cabbage, refries, salsa and jack cheese on flour tortillas. The crew is drinking water and pop like crazy, partially because of the heat but also the patch I think. Hope we packed enough liquids to make what is starting out to be a slow passage. This is supposed to be the blustery part of the trip. Boobie is back to spend the night I guess, must like the ride. Al Log Number 421 July 2004 12:42 PM PDTAl reports:Well Chuck the booby finally left this morning after spending the whole night having a ride with us. Named him Chuck after Chuck Beazell of Joe. It seemed only fitting after chasing him the last days of the race, now this bird was always leading us no matter which way we turned. No success with unlocking the radio. No big deal because we can just yell from one end of the boat. Al Log Number 521 July 2004 00:44 AM PDTAl reports:Much more settled weather this afternoon and early evening. Light trades 5-12 easterlies. Caught our first fish this morning just before lunch, 40" Mahi Mahi. Chas spotted it first and Steve pulled it in on deck, Al cleaned it and Kit documented the whole thing. Had fish tacos for lunch and broiled for dinner with mashed potatoes, carrots and broccoli. A delightful afternoon, not as hot, about 80 with a breeze almost all the time. Most of the SF fleet seems to be going for the rhumbline home. We are trying to make good 015T until about Lat 30. Any long term outlook on winds would be appreciated, Bruce's site I think gives projections out 144 hrs. See what it says and report back please. Have started glass ball searches. Have only seen plastic. I finished Tom Clancy's Executive orders and started in a Sherlock Holmes visits Minnesota at the turn of the century mystery. Everyone is adapting well to life at sea, Chas has 4-8, Steve 8-12, Kit 12-4 during the nights, Otto steers almost exclusively, Al has done the cooking, cleaning, email, radio, batteries and helps when necessary at night. Daytime everyone keeps a weather eye and sort of takes care of Dogbark's needs. Had sea showers today, quite pleasant with 78 degree water and 80 degree air temp. We shall see later in the trip how fun it is. Al Log Number 622 July 2004 01:05 PM PDTAl reports:Quiet productive starry night aboard Dogbark, smooth seas 10-15 ENE, no squalls or rain, winds very consistent so a lot of miles covered. Bad news on radio check, Kaien, who is 65 miles in front of us reported 0 wind and glassy seas since about 0200. We can't figure any other way to go though so we are carrying on north but are unable to make any more easting. Don't know if that is good or bad. Will see in a few days. Chas has the fishing line out again this morning but nothing yet. Crew is doing well and they report to Ken that they love the two chairs. Getting a lot of use. Al Log Number 6 ContinuedNoon PDT radio netChuck Beazell on Joe reports:Not much discussion on the net today.Everyone is doing well - but trying to figure out how to deal with the weather. Some boats are motoring while others try different courses. Everyone is in light to no wind.Joe has raised a chute but everyone else was either motoring or under white sails at check-in.Fish report this morning was very good. Joe caught the first fish of the trip Alegria appears to have caught the most (3) but I may be wrong about this. Alegria hooked several fish this morning as they motored through a school of Mahi. They had to deal with fish before they had their morning coffee. Life is really tough on Alegria.Other boats reporting fish are Dog Bark and AlcheraNow the next "first" to monitor is who finds the first Glass fishing ball. Tiger Beetle has proven to be the most prolific in past years - he has 7 at home. We all are in awe of his skill in this critical transpac return pass time. I have to confess that Joe has not found any in 3 returns - I hope I don't loose my trophies due to this shameful performance. Log Number 723 July 2004 12:45 AM PDTAl reports:Wind finally kaput. Started motoring at 1830 local at 2915N. Had good day sailing until then with winds from the east gradually diminishing from 10-2 kts. Boat speed 8-3.5 kts. Now motoring at 5 kts. Caught but did not land an even larger Mahi Mahi. He shook the hook as we were trying to get it onboard. Rejoined by another boobie who used the mast as a lookout while diving for flying fish. Now appears to be sleeping at the upper spreader, may spend the night, rates are cheap and targets below plentiful. (Kit was first victim of spontaneous discharge of the parts of the flying fish that are not nutritious). Kit also followed Dave's lead with a trip up the mast with camera around 1400. Don of Summer Passage in Santa Barbara (who helped with the wx forecasts for the SSS fleet during the race) confirms our suspicions that we should expect very light conditions for the next 200 or so miles then gradual improvement with light southerlies first as the high starts building, but only relief is to face the music and get north. Still hunting for first glass ball, lots of potential sightings that turn out to be plastic floats or other debris. Al Log Number 7 ContinuedMidnight PDT radio netChuck Beazell on Joe reports:The weather was the big topic again tonight. Both Phil (Sail a Vie) and Rob (Tiger Beetle) were dealing with squalls during check-in.Tiger Beetle has been sailing most of the day so its just another squall for him. Phil has been dealing with very light wind - He reported hitting 6 knots later in the check-in. Sailing in light wind with many miles to go can be very frustrating - I could hear Phil cheer-up as he reported getting the boat going.Alchera helped with info from his GRIB files and Dog Bark reported his data and plans for getting to north. Many people are struggling with when to use their engines - the easy thing to do now is just use your engine to get to better wind, however, most boats only have enough fuel to motor 300 to 800 miles. If you burn the fuel so early in the trip you can get stuck later on. So most people are only motoring a few hours.I have been lucky on Joe - we got out of the calm spots just in time - so I have only motored 3 hours so far. At least everyone can see Tiger Beetle and Joe are not too far away and we are making reasonable boat speed under sail -- so there is hope.After this morning's fish report - things slowed down. Audacious and Mouton Noir reported catching fish during the day. This agrees with my experience which shows that the fish usually grab the hooks near dawn then nothing all day. Good to see that some folks can catch them during the day.After discussing e-mail issues with Alegria - Ed reported that they are making progress with their computer. It died soon after leaving Kauai and daily updates did not sound good until today. Ed reports that they are optimistic that they will have it working soon - so those of you that planned on staying in touch with Alegria may be getting info soon. After working with computers for many years I would just add that Murphy's laws have a fine print clause in them which say that if a computer is at sea in a small boat - everything that can go wrong will - 3 times. And if you think you have it fixed - you will then find that you don't have the software needed to really make it work and etc etc. We will probably loose Haulback from the roll call soon - you may have noticed that he is going the wrong way. Its not because he is a crazy Canadian.. He used this race as the starting point for a sail around the world. Next stop is the south Pacific. He has a very good radio - so we can still talk for a few more check-in'sGreat day of sailing on Joe today. About 5 hours with the 3/4 oz chute doing 7 to 10 knots with the bow pointed at SF - followed by sailing with the wind at 40 apparent the remainder of the day with white sails. But the textbook for getting home from Kauai says that you will not be able to use a chute @ latitude 28 North - so it took some time to dig out the spinnaker gear. Log Number 823 July 2004 2:02 PM PDTAl reports:Last night was about half motor half sail, winds were very light E up to 7 knots at times but 0 at others. Fishing line out at sunrise. I finished the Sherlock Holmes book, read the GPS article in SA (thanks Dave) and am starting "P is for Peril" of the Sue Grafton mystery series. Had goulash last night with the last of the fresh veggies (broccoli, eggplant) and last of the hamburger. Finishing the bread this morn with french (freedom) toast and last of the bacon. ( one thing learned, bread in Hawaii is made mostly stateside and is probably a few days old to begin with, should have found a local bakery, because two loaves were moldy after only three days). From now on it is out of a can, box, bag or the sea. Our boobie left around 2 am last night, probably tired of the headsail being rolled in and out. Currently sailing at at 4 kts in light ENE about 5 kts. Watches are scheduled to be dogged tonight. At some point along our track we will probably loose radio contact with the rest of the fleet. Next radio check in at 2100 Hawaii time (midnight PDT) and is on 8185.0, so you might be able to copy some of the chatter. Al Log Number 924 July 2004 12:54 AM PDTAl reports:Mostly slow day with some motoring some sailing, winds continuing to be light for probably next 300 miles. Did see a school of porpoise that looked to be chasing feed. Quite a few jumps clear out of the water. No fish caught. Weather continues to cool down. First sleep under a sheet for me in about two weeks, some crew into light sleeping bags or fleece. Nice wind out of NE about 8kt about 1600 until now, hope it lasts some through the night but not very likely. Al Log Number 9 ContinuedMidnight PDT radio netChuck Beazell on Joe reports:Only significant problem reported today was on Alegria. They have lost most of the water supply due to a problem with the plumbing or the water tank on the boat. They considered trying to get water from other boats in the fleet but this was not feasible due to boat locations and jerry cans available. Note that they have plenty of water for a safe return to Hawaii but they do not have enough water to get across the pacific. Exact plans for which Island they plan to go to have not been determined at this time. You can see that they have reversed their course while they plan their next steps.Many of the boats in the fleet are now getting into better wind conditions. Both Tiger Beetle and Sail a Vie reported getting a good night sleep last night. This was the first night they had reasonable wind. In very light wind it's hard to sleep because sails need constant adjustment - and they make a lot of noise as the rolling of the boat causes them to slap. The weather picture is becoming clearer now as the high starts to fill into a more normal pattern. Everyone is making their decision on the best route for their boat. There are 3 general game plans.1) Sail over the top of the high (longer distance but much more down wind sailing) 2) Sail under the high (shorter distance but need to tack into the wind more - less chance of getting caught in a gale)3) Sail under the high on starboard tack until you are in the middle of it - then motor through it. (Works well as long as you have a good engine and plenty of fuel). People sail variations on this depending on how much fuel they haveAfter hearing what everyone is doing I believe that:Dog Bark and Zapped are planning on going over the topAlchera, Audacious, Sail a Vie, and Ergo plan on sailing under the high - but I believe they will all use their engines to some extent to cut the cornerTiger Beetle and Joe plan to go for the 3rd option. We both have lots of fuel so we plan to just motor through the light winds in the center of the high.Not sure what Rusalka and Kaien plan to do.Both Alchera and Tiger Beetle reported seeing whales today. Tiger beetle got close enough to get a good look at a pod of 5 large whales. We found that nobody in the fleet has a book to help ID them, however, I believe they were either Blue whales or Sperm Whales. Haulback reported that his book on birds did not have a section on whales - thank you for the help Jim.Boat just started sailing at 8.5 knts in a squall - so back to sailing the boat Log Number 1024 July 2004 1:12 PM PDTAl reports:Very nice night with very consistent E wind at 6-10kt. Boat speed 5-8. Watches dogged last night with now Chas 8-12, Steve 12-4, Kit 4-8. Not much news, no squalls, no fish, no glass balls, visited by a black footed albatross twice early this morning. Scooped up a vellela vellela for the crew to examine. Log Number 10 ContinuedNoon PDT radio netChuck Beazell on Joe reports:Update from the fleet, including positions:Most boats had a good night and are in consistent wind now. As part of the check-in everyone is giving wind speed and direction - most people are in 8 to 12 knts of wind generally from the east. This is typically what is expected this time of year. Rusalka was one of the last people to leave Kauai. He reported that late yesterday he went to check the fishing line he was trolling with only to find that it was hanging straight down. Now that's a slow moving boat.No significant fish stories - I think everyone is still eating the fish they caught in the first few days. Sail a Vie has still not caught any fish.. If he doesn't get one soon he will face some serious ribbing from the fleet - first place in racing but he can't even catch a little fish??? Well he did catch a fish during the race.Tiger Beetle and Alchera both reported dealing with significant squalls last night. Tiger Beetle reefed for the evening so it was no problem for him to just ride it out. Alchera had full sails up and had forgotten to turn the alarm back on for his radar. Mark knew about the squall when he felt the boat get nailed by the first gusts. He had lots of fun letting out sheets while trying to wake up. No harm done and I'm sure he will not forget to turn the alarms on in the future.On Joe we also dealt with 2 squalls - but since we are not racing I changed course by 30 degrees and got out of their way before they hit. Today I'm going to try and go through one to get the decks rinsed off. Alchera reported the first false alarm on a glass fishing ball sighting. Looks like there are black plastic floats out here that look the same as the glass one's. His hopes of being the first to find one of these prizes were destroyed when he dragged the plastic ball on board. We all hope that serious depress does not set in on Alchera.Kaien reports that he thought he was going to have to sell the boat after Mrs. Kaien and he were both sea sick for the first few days. Now that the wind has filled in and the seas are more stable - it looks like everyone on board is now having a good time and the boat will not have to be sold or destroyed after all. (Sorry about the name Mrs. Kaien - I'm very bad when it comes to remembering people's names).Alegria continues with their trip back to the Islands. Expecting to make landfall tomorrow some time. Detailed plans will be made after a few cell phone calls when they get with-in range. Log Number 1125 July 2004 12:49 AM PDTAl reports:Another quiet day, no squalls, no fish, spent most of the day reaching under spinnaker at about 6-8 kts of boatspeed in 6-10 kts of SE wind but wind has died and gone back to ENE at 5 kts. Fleet is really splitting with us, Zapped and Kaien being the ones going north. we think we should get into the southerly winds by this time tomorrow (Fingers crossed). Crew is talking about 3 week trip, ugh! I am still holding out for 17 days. Had Saturday sea showers while it is still fairly warm. Ate the last of our Mahi Mahi tonight with mashed potatoes and green beans, cookies for dessert. Finished the Grafton mystery and on to Tony Hillerman's Listening Woman. Had a glass ball alert today (luckily w/o spinnaker) and turned the boat around for a green plastic float. Bummer but good practice we hope. Lots of other flotsam but no treasures yet. Saw another albatross and a couple of fulmars? (not sure of that one). Al Log Number 11 ContinuedMidnight PDT radio netChuck Beazell on Joe reports:Update from the fleet, including positions:Good sailing continued through the day today - Rusalka and Mouton Noir confirmed that they have each other in sight at roll call. Lowest wind reported was Dogbark with 6 knts of wind - highest was Ergo with 20 knts. Given that Dogbark is sailing over the high it is expected that he is in a different wind pattern than most of the fleet. Not sure whats up with Ergo's 20 knts - maybe a squall.Both Rusalka and Sail a Vie reported catching Dorado today. Rusalka's was 36" and he reports eating sashimi while making a stew of the remainder of the fish. Phil on Sail a Vie also made stew in a pressure cooker with his 40" fish. Neither boat had refrigeration so they are eating all they can.While we are happy that Phil caught the fish - we are disappointed that we can't harass him about his poor fishing performance anymore - we will think of something else to harass him about.We did discuss what works and what doesn't work for catching fish. I could tell by the terms being used that we are all seasoned fisherman. The consensus seems to be that the red or pink rubbery squid like thing-a-ma-bob works but the green one doesn't - but we are not sure. The discussion also covered how many miles the lines were dragged before fish were caught. Many reports were in the thousands of miles. Good thing fishing lines doesn't wear out.Mark Moore is sailing Ergo back - after an excellent performance in the race on his Moore 24 he is trying to figure out how to sail something other than a toy boat. I believe Ergo is an Erickson 30 or 35. Ericksons like to heal but Mark is not used to this. Sail a Vie is tutoring him on how to sail a real boat. I'm sure he will figure it out quickly.Harrier joined the roll call this evening. He will be joining the return fleet next Tuesday. We look forward to having him in the roll call.Alegria will probably not join the morning roll call because they are making better progress then expected in getting back to the islands. They expect to make landfall early in the morning. Hopefully they can get their water problems resolved quickly and rejoin us out here. Chuck Log Number 1225 July 2004 1:07 PM PDTAl reports:Good Sunday morning, had the usual Dogbark pancake breakfast this AM. Set the spinnaker about 0600 in about 7kt SE, boat speed about 6kt. Hope this is the sign we have finally crossed or are crossing the ridge and winds should slowly strengthen and turn more S, but my wx prognostication skills have been sorely tested so far. Pretty quiet night sailing on a close reach with white sails until this morning. Hope everyone in Seattle has not been cooked in the hot weather there. It is about 78 here this morning. Log Number 12 ContinuedNoon PDT radio netChuck Beazell on Joe reports:Very quiet morning - discussed weather forecasts - bottom line = good wind everywhere for those headed under the high. No significant change in the forecast. So for most of the fleet we are on Starboard tack with some boats pointing as high as possible while others are slacking off a little. For the boats headed over the top of the high - they are still in light wind but should start to get wind in the next few days. It will be interesting to see them accelerate as they get wind from a low-pressure system to their port and a high-pressure system to their starboard.Alegria was pulling into Hanalei bay during check-in. I'll report any updates on their plans when we hear from them. Not sure what they will do from here - but now that they are back in civilization they have many options open to them.Harrier joined the check-in this morning. He is still in Hanalei bay. He asked a simple question that only one person had a guess for. Harrier is about to mail some post cards but does not know how much postage to put on it. Kaien believes that its $.27 but is not sure. Looks like nobody sent post cards while in Hanalei. The night was uneventful on Joe as I suspect it was for most of the fleet. I tried to get in front of a squall line this morning so the rain would rinse the decks but managed to go right between 2 of them - I can't even cause a problem when I try to. Back to books and music till tonight's check. Boat Lat Lon Dir SpeedDog Bark 34 20 157 55 15 6Joe 32 24 150 16 40 7Rusalka 29 47 155 06 35 7.5Alchera 30 19 151 32 30 7Tiger Beetle 32 03 151 19 35 6.5Zapped 30 32 155 08 5 6.6Kaien 32 26 153 13 45 6Audacious 28 31 151 11 16 6.2Alegria Entering Hanalei Bay @ check-in time Sail a Vie 29 19 152 20 40 5.8Ergo 28 55 153 17 35 4.5Haulback 14 11 156 20 150 5.3Mouton Noir 29 36 155 29 35 6.5 Log Number 1326 July 2004 1:19 AM PDTAl reports:Yee hah!, what a great day. Wind finally kicked in and we carried the spinnaker all day and plan on going to midnight. The crew finally believes that Dogbark can scoot. We have been doing 8-11 knots in 10-14 knots from the SSE. We also rigged the SS Minnow awning over the cockpit which made it ever so much more pleasant. Shade and a breeze is something that cheered all these sailors hearts. Then for dinner we had Ken's beef stew and dumplings. Excellent reviews from all aboard. Thanks, Ken! Saw another couple of albatross and had a stop for a glass ball that turned out to be a green plastic ball, but good practice for the real thing although we may not have any more chances if the forecast holds. It is for this wind to continue for the next few days and carry us right up over the top of the high. We shall see. No fish today, we are thinking of shortening the lines a little bit. Got a little complacent on our technique after catching fish during our first two tries. I forgot to pass on that we saw a small green flash at sunset last night (sorry Mom). Al Log Number 13 ContinuedMidnight PDT radio netChuck Beazell on Joe reports:Roll call took a little extra time this evening because someone was using a freq near our primary. It was good to see that everyone in the fleet made it to the alternate with no problems. Rob (Tiger Beetle) had foreseen this possible problem so there was already a plan. This was the first time we had to use the alternate. Note that Sail a Vie has become the unofficial back of the fleet radio boat - we are starting to require relays on a few of the boats that are closer to Kauai.Tiger Beetle and Kaien realized that they are almost with-in sight of each other after seeing each other's position. Rob planed to go look for the Surfing Anvil after check-in. I may have mentioned this in an earlier log update - the fleet has grown attached to the nickname Haulback gave Kaien one day under the tree. Kaien is a steel hulled boat - its not often you see a steel hull in a race. If I ever get a steel hull boat "Surfing Anvil" will be on the list of proposed names for the boat.Kaien also reported something that I'll bet many boats in the fleet are having minor problems with. Its hot down here and there is a nice breeze - so it really helps make the cabin more comfortable if you open the hatches. The only problem is that the seas have built enough that you may take a wave over the bow. Well the surfing Anvil was quit comfortable when 5 gallons of water came down the forward hatch. No harm done but its enough water to make a mess of things. "Joe" has taken several splashes down the center hatch - we keep it closed most of the time.More fish stories today - Alchera caught its 3rd fish today. Looks like Mark may be the leader in number of fish caught with 3 so far. I believe Audacious may have also caught 3 but I'm not sure. Aboard "Joe" we achieved a new fish related record. Today a mix up in ingredients resulted in a new recipe for Dorado, which Dan plans to see if he can sell to Martha Stewart. Lets just say that when you plan to bread and fry Dorado - it's a good idea to make sure you use the corn meal rather than the Maple Molto Meal. The plate of food looked really good and I ate every bite of my Maple Dorado with garlic mashed potatoes and green beans. All I can say is that I'll eat anything that I don't have to cook - and this proves it. I didn't tell the fleet about this one - I better confess tomorrow morning.We also heard from Dogbark that they do not have potholders on their stove - this recently resulted in a pot of cooked noodles on the floor. This was also not a problem - Al did not report what was on the noodles but the captain and crew ate them after scooping them from the floor. Too bad they didn't have any Maple Dorado to go with these tasty noodles. We know that Mike on Mouton Noir could probably make Dogbark some potholders but unfortunately they are too far apart. Audacious also reported continuing to enjoy his fish - but looks like he is just cooking it like a normal person.We also discussed the Glass ball situation - still none found by the fleet. Haulback reports that he received info indicating that they are still in use - so there should be some out there. Al on Dogbark pulled up one today, which was the right color, but like Alchera yesterday - it turned out to be black or green plastic. As boats start to hit the flat waters of the pacific high I hope we see the real thing. On a more serious note - Alegria in sitting at anchor in Hanalei Bay and has found the source of their water problems (in case folks don't know the story - they had to return to Kauai because they lost most of their water supply). The problem turned out to be a hose which had come loose from the hot water heater. So every time they turned on the water switch - the pump developed enough pressure for the faucets to work but it also pumped water into the bilge at a very high rate. The fix is simple but if this had happened in the middle of the Pacific Alegria would have been in a tough spot and would have needed help from someone to keep everyone healthy. This shows that the SSS requirements for water supplies being in multiple containers really is a good requirement. It also shows that pressure water systems can get you in trouble quickly if your not careful. Well that's a long winded update for tonight - its 2 AM and there is a small blip on the radar on my port aft qtr (probably a small squall) and a reddish light on my starboard bow (probably a star) so I need to go check them out. Log Number 1426 July 2004 12:55 PM PDTAl reports:Finally took the spin down at midnight and then continued cruising through the night under white sails. Bacon and eggs for breakfast. Lost a fish this morning. Steve and Chas are hot to reset the spin this AM but I like the comfort route of wing and wing in 16 kts from the south pushing us along at 8 kts just fine. Right on our prediction a little ahead of yours Dave. It looks to me like we should continue along this same path all the way up to 45N at least. Bruce's waypoints look pretty good right about now. Thoughts? The crew really just wants to get home to their loved ones but spinnaker only will save us a half day or so at the expense of a lot of work. If the wind goes lighter we'll probably set it. Al Log Number 14 ContinuedNoon PDT radio netChuck Beazell on Joe reports:Another good night for the fleet - no reports of any significant problems. As expected Dogbark is accelerating as they get into better wind going over the top of the high. Al's crew would like to "Race" the boat home but they are sailing with white sails doing 8 knts. Whenever any of us begin talking about Racing home others in the fleet quickly make sure we know the race is over. So nobody is keeping track of how they are doing and everyone is just cruising---- yeah right I believe that.Rusalka reports problems with his e-mail system. 3 of us have the same skymate e-mail system. 2 of the 3 systems have experienced problems on this trip. I am one of the 3 boats and have not had any problems, however, coverage near the islands was very poor -but it works as long as you can wait more that 2 hours for e-mails to be sent and received.Rusalka also reports that all is going well and his solar panels are doing a good job of keeping up with charging. His fish are gone and he does not plan to start fishing soon. He has no refrigeration so he had to eat his fish before it spoiled. Eric is now happy to eat his pop tarts. I'll bet he will not order fish for dinner any time soon.Continuing on with fish stories - I realized that I didn't include one of the best "fish that got away" stories from yesterday. I couldn't hear the whole story from Zapped because he is getting out of radio range - but basically he caught a nice Dorado yesterday. Got the fish on board, killed it, cleaned it - then while he was cleaning up the boat he drop it overboard. Now I have heard some good "fish that got away" stories but it takes a really skilled fisherman to loose a dead fish that's already in your cockpit. Hopefully a shark had a nice dinner. At least Jim had the courage to tell us about it - but he may regret it.Dogbark noticed something that I also noted on my last trip home from the 2000 race. There is a lot of crap in the water. I always thought of the Pacific as a cold clean ocean. It may be cold but it is not clean. I would still swim in it but it's surprising that in calm conditions you can always see trash near the boat. Laundry baskets - pieces of plastic, fishing stuff, old tennis shoes.Sail a Vie and Ergo discussed how their trips are going. They both are sailing Erickson 35's. Sail a Vie won the race on his boat and knows it well. Mark Moore (from the Moore 24 "Moore Havoc") is helping Bill deliver Ergo. I could not hear Ergo's side of the discussion but Phil summed it up by saying Mark is developing a love hate relationship with the boat. Its quit a change from a Moore 24 and will be another good story to hear when we all get back. Boat Lat Lon Dir SpeedDog Bark 37 15 156 04 035 8.0 Joe 34 31 148 17 020 5.5Rusalka 32 07 153 38 050 6.5Alchera 32 35 149 50 022 7.0 Tiger Beetle 34 09 149 29 040 6.6Zapped 32 59 154 10 010 6.6 Kaien 33 39 151 09 035 5.5Audacious 30 41 150 15 029 6.0Alegria In Hanalei Bay Sail a Vie 31 36 151 04 028 6.5Ergo 30 51 152 00 030 5.0Haulback 12 06 155 22 145 6.0Mouton Noir 31 35 154 18 035 6.0 Log Number 1527 July 2004 12:54 AM PDTAl reports:One week at sea and we have covered almost 1000 miles, 400 in the last two days. Spent the whole day wing and wing in 16 kts from the South averaging almost 8 kt. Had sweet and sour pork on Basmati rice tonight. Excellent job again, Ken! We did not have any green pepper (sorry) and the crew thought it would feed six easily with a little more rice. No leftovers though because of Al. No fish again today but the wind was nice so no complaints. In talking with the wx guy Don today he thinks we are headed for another period of light winds starting around Fri. He figures with the low to the north of us moving further north into the Bering sea area and the High moving south the isobar spacing will open up and wind speeds drop with another period of slow sailing over the weekend. It may be on the beam though so we could help ourselves with the spin. That's a ways out though so we will have to see what develops. What's happening with our M's? Al Log Number 15 ContinuedMidnight PDT radio netChuck Beazell on Joe reports:Roll call started a few min late this evening due to radio problems on Tiger Beetle. Joe filled in for Tiger Beetle. Tiger Beetle did join in later and Rob reported that his radio has a problem which appears to be intermittent. Sat Phone relay was arranged with Alchera just in case this happens in future roll calls. We all hope Rob's radio continues to work - he has been doing a great job of running the check-in's. Ergo has also been having problems being heard by the fleet. Relays were arranged on 4Mhz with Sail a Vie for future check-ins.We discussed the weather again but not much has changed. Some of us have a lot of fuel on board to motor across the high. We may end up not using it Haulback reported that he is using the Honolulu reports for his trip. He is seeing what appears to be clusters of dots on the charts and he doesn't know what they mean. Nobody in the fleet knows what he is talking about - he sounds coherent so we assume he is not hallucinating. Does anyone know what these dots are?? I have also looked at the Honolulu charts and find that they put so many wind direction arrows on the chart that the charts are often not readable even when down loaded over the Internet. Eric on Rusalka continues to have problems with sending e-mail. So if anyone is expecting e-mail from him -------.The winds have been keeping me very busy tonight. They keep changing direction by > 40 degrees. The boat just tacked itself again so I'm now hove to - again. Sorry the report is so late! Log Number 1627 July 2004 1:22 PM PDTAl reports:Hello Seattle, last night it felt a lot like home, cool, with 100% cloud cover and drizzle most of the night and a one hour real rain shower. All the crew dressed in a least one piece of fleece. Our SS Minnow awning worked just as well for the rain as it did for the sun. Still sailing wing and wing on a course of 045 in about 16 kt SSW doing about 8 kts of boat speed. Caught three albacore this morning in about 45 minutes. Any good recipes from anybody? Crossed paths with our second ship of the return trip this morning the MSC Nerrisa, container ship heading to the far east somewhere. Took a little while to raise someone on the VHF but they did finally respond. Might have been at breakfast? Al Log Number 16 ContinuedNoon PDT radio netChuck Beazell on Joe reports:Good to see that Tiger Beetle's radio is working well this morning. Looks like yesterday's radio problem was just a 1-time problem. Ergo was also able to check-in on the standard freq although it took several tries.Alchera gave weather updates. Looks like everyone is staying with their original plans for dealing with the high except for Joe (me). Looking at the charts it looks like its possible to sail the whole way to San Francisco by sailing under the high. So I have flopped over on port tack. Kaien is also on port tack and may be considering sailing under the high.I have found that having a rigid plan is usually not a good idea - so I will watch the weather updates and if they change significantly I'll go back to Starboard tack and join everyone else up in the high. I believe many of the other boats in the fleet intend to sail under the high but they are waiting until they get a little further north before they tack.On the northern track Al is doing well right now as Dogbark is going over the top of the high, however, the forecast is for them to lose much of their wind - so they may be sailing in light wind - or motoring. Al was quit clear that he will try to sail if at all possible - he does not like to listen to his motor. Al also reports that they had rain and solid clouds last night - so they are feeling like they are back home. Well I'm sure Al is doing a better job of updating everyone on his logs so I'll move on..Alchera is making the tough weather decision - sail home or go for the glass fishing balls. Looks like he is following Tiger Beetle to go get fishing balls. Given the interesting weather patterns this year he may be able to do both.On the fishing front I believe we have a clear winner (for now) Dogbark caught 3 Albacore tuna today bringing his total to 5 fish (2 dorado earlier in the trip). Most other people appear to be burned out on fishing or their refrigerators are already filled.Rusalka's e-mail is still not working - can't send or receive. I believe Eric has given up on it for this trip. We did not hear from Alegria or Harrier. Harrier was planning on leaving today so hopefully we will hear from him this evening. Alegria is looking for crew and hopefully he will be joining us soon. 7/27 noon PDTBoat Lat Lon Dir SpeedDog Bark 39 30 153 28 050 8.0 Joe 34 14 146 36 120 6.0Rusalka 34 06 151 49 037 6.5Alchera 35 03 148 56 007 6.1Tiger Beetle 36 16 148 22 020 6.1Zapped 35 04 153 11 010 6.0Kaien 34 33 149 35 120 4.5Audacious 32 55 149 21 024 6.0Alegria No info Sail a Vie 33 47 149 59 015 4.0Ergo 32 44 150 38 025 2.5Haulback 10 24 153 55 140 5.8Mouton Noir 33 24 152 47 033 5.5 Log Number 1728 July 2004 1:22 AM PDTAl reports:Continues to feel like Cape Flattery should appear out of the mist at any time until you look at the log and see there are more than 1200 miles to go. Winds have started to drop as both the High and Low pressure centers move away from us. Winds currently 12 SW and boat doing 070T at 6 knots while sailing wing and wing. Caught one more albacore (got word from someone in the fleet that they may be bonita tuna? They look like small albacore to me with long pectoral fins about 1/4 of the body length, tuna like body about 8-10 lbs, any help with id?) before hauling in our lines because the reefer is full. Had rain persisting through most of the day until late this afternoon but it's still 100% overcast with a very low gray cloud deck. The Rhea, a break bulk carrier bound for SF, then Vancouver , then Tacoma passed us by today. Had tuna (what else) with cole slaw and au gratin potatoes for dinner, with some Hershey kisses and peppermint tea afterwards. Over half way home, see you all soon, AlTiger Beetle was hard to hear tonight so he turned the roll call over to Sail a Vie. Phil was quit happy to do this noting that he was honored to be the anchor tonight after being a field reporter for the back of the fleet for so long. Harrier joined the fleet tonight. He just left Hanalei Bay and is beating to weather in 20 knts of wind. Unfortunately looks like Harrier is going to have a more typical trip then those that left earlier - we had light to moderate winds for the first few days.Alegria also joined the roll call - Ed is ready to leave after fixing all the problems with the boat. Replacement Crew will arrive tomorrow and they will leave late tomorrow or early Thursday - with Ed's departure I believe all the boats in the return fleet will be on the water.Ed also reported talking to some local fisherman and advised that the best time to fish is when you see garbage in the water. The fish like to hang out near the garbage - I could make a lot of comments about the fleet at this point but I'll leave it to the reader's imagination.Tiger Beetle entered the flat waters of the high today. Rob sounded very happy to be there. Some people look forward to this part of the trip while others avoid it. After being there myself in 2000 I can say that it is a unique experience to be in glassy smooth water and only whispers of wind when you know that there is no land for at least 1,000 miles in any direction.. Alchera is also on the edge of the high and reported a very good day of sailing. Mark tacked over on Port just before he lost the wind. He intends to stay on the edge and sail around it rather than motor through the middle. Mark is listening to music while looking for glass fishing balls. If Mark does not get the first glass fishing ball it will not be because he did not try hard enough. I planned to stay on port tack and wait to be lifted as the high went by to the north; however, today I was headed by 20 degrees so my VMG to SF went negative. So I flopped over onto Starboard tack with the rest of the fleet.. Given that I am further east than any of the other boats I believe I can stay on Starboard tack and catch the east side of the high as it moves south west over the next few days. If I'm to early I'll just follow Alchera's plan and flop over to port until I can get around the high - then straight into SF with the wind on the beam. Each day it looks more like I'm going to have to figure out what to do with all my Jerry cans of fuel when I get home.I believe we will see many boats flopping onto port tack over the next few days as they get to the wind levels they want - in general Folks on the summary table that are sailing a course of about 90 to 130 are on port tack avoiding the high while folks on a course of 0 to 40 are sailing towards the high to get lighter winds - I believe Dogbark's web site is reporting everyone's course and speed. Rusalka caught another fish today. I thought he had his fill of fish so I asked him why he was fishing. Haulback had to relay the answer. Haulback reported that it was kind of an accident. I don't know if this is what Eric said or just Haulback's interpretation. So we now have 2 new fishing concepts that I will have to contemplate after this trip. Haulback had great luck in fishing during the race by "practicing" for a day before he started actually fishing. We have still not been able to figure out how one practices fishing before starting the real thing. If he were a redneck I would assume be would drink beer and hold a pole without putting the line in the water - but Jim does not appear to be a redneck. Now today we have another new concept - accidentally catching a fish. I suppose this could happen if one accidentally dropped the line in the water while practicing - but Eric is not a redneck and he did not report that he planed to practice. Well I'm just going to assume this is another crazy Canadian concept from Jim and not worry about it. Katy - I hear you planned to have some fish stew ready for Eric when he gets home - if you do this you may want to also have your divorce papers ready.Its good to still be in contact with Haulback as he heads for the south pacific. Today he reported that he is getting close to the equator - this will be his first crossing but he does not plan to put foil on his head and dance around the decks like a fool. Interesting that he was able to give so much detail regarding what he is not going to do. Well he is alone so we will never know what traditions he will adhere to. Log Number 1828 July 2004 12:42 PM PDTAl reports:Well here we are, motoring along at about 6 kts in 0 wind since 0600 Hawaii time. We did see a large pod of Pacific white sided dolphin who cavorted all around the boat for almost an hour. Kit got a lot on film. Probably around 50-60 individuals including at least one small baby. Both Kit and Steve are feeling a little under the weather, perhaps motion sickness. Almost puget sound weather here with no wind, low clouds almost fog at times, but the rain has stopped. Pray for wind, Al Log Number 18 ContinuedNoon PDT radio netChuck Beazell on Joe reports:Need to get some things done on the boat - I'll update the log for both am and pm check-in's tonight. Log Number 1929 July 2004 12:42 AM PDTAl reports:Spent the whole day motoring at 6 kts on 060T, no sign of wind or glass balls. Jim on Zapped was the first one to find one. He stuck his head up out of the hatch to watch it sail by about 30 ft away and he turned around to pick it up. Had more tuna tonight with oriental pasta roni. Crew is feeling better except for the incessant sound of the motor. Seas have calmed down. Very hard to hear roll call tonight, someone made mention of the fact that solar flare activity is at a high in its eleven year cycle which may have something to do with it. Any news from home, M's?, tour de france, results from Pac cup Icon, Braveheart, Vic Maui -Antares, Cassiopea, Jam, White Cloud? Have we invaded any other countries? Al Log Number 19 ContinuedMidnight PDT radio netChuck Beazell on Joe reports:For the morning check-in we had good radio reception - I could even hear most of the boats at the back of the fleet. Noisy for the pm check-in and Tiger Beetles radio problems were back so he had to call in his position Via sat phone to Alchera. Sail a Vie once again was happy to Anchor the PM roll call.Rob believes that his radio needs 30 min before it will work - hopefully this will work for future check-in's. Alegria reports that we are entering a period of solar flares. This may affect radio noise for the next 3 weeks.We reviewed the weather forecasts - Mouton Noir gave most of the detailed info to the fleet. Basically the high is moving to the west over the next several days. Given the position of the fleet this will help everyone get past it quickly for the beam reach home. There are still many days to go so it's hard to say what will really happen - but things are looking good.Most of the fleet has sailed up near the high except for Audacious. Carlton has stayed down in the lower latitudes to get better wind. He reports that he as had enough of the stronger winds and plans to start moving north.On Joe we are right at the eastern end of the high trying to get to the reach home. I was trying to be a real sailor and not use the engine, however, the flaky winds at the edge of the high are really frustrating to deal with - and the good wind is only 25 to 50 miles to the east. So the motor is now on.Alchera reports that books on tape are a great pass time while sailing. Rusalka also agreed and reported that he listened to a few books while racing. As expected from high tech Eric - his computer is tied to his stereo system so he can use MP3. For the rest of us we can simply get the CD or tape. This sounds like a great idea for future single-handed cruises and races.Given the good radio reception I was able to talk to Rusalka to hear first hand how one accidentally catches a fish - after hearing what happened I need to print a retraction to correct an error in the last log - but hopefully nobody is taking my reports to seriously anyway.Turns out what really happened is simply that Eric was about to start eating a PB&J sandwich when he saw that he had a fish. So he was happy to see that he did not have to live on PB&J for a while.- but I still like the concepts from the last report. This shows the interesting stories that can come from relayed messages specially when applied to fishing stories. Audacious and Ergo also reported fish catches yesterday. I believe they were both Mahi. Phil reported that Salmon are being caught off the coast of Calif - so as we approach the coast we may have a new wave of fish stories. But we are not sure how to fish for salmon. I also heard second hand that Dogbark caught more Albacore. Toward the end of the trip I'll try to get a count on fish so that we know who gets final bragging rightsTiger Beetle reported that last night was movie night. He watched 2 episodes of Six Feet Under and even ate real Jiffy Pop while watching. I know that a few other boats have been watching movies - most lap top computers can play DVDs now so it's a good diversion. I plan to watch some oldies tomorrow - The Maltese Falcon will be showing on board Joe as a matinee. Unfortunately real Jiffy Pop is not on board so I'll have to serve microwave popcorn.And the big news for the day --- Zapped has claimed the trophy for finding the first glass fishing ball. As is usually the case - it took great skill and concentration to achieve this. Jim reports that he came up on deck to make sure everything was o.k. and noted that there was a glass float right next to the boat. I believe he had to motor back to get it. Jim did admit there was an element of luck involved with this achievement. The ball is about 9" and it had the usual eco system around it. Soon after we heard this report Alchera disappeared from the check-in. Sail a Vie speculated that Mark was on deck with his flash light looking - but turns out he was just talking to Tiger Beetle on the sat phone. At least we know that there are still some out here. Log Number 2029 July 2004 4:44 PM PDTAl reports:We got about an hour and half of wind last night from 2230 to 2400 that we sailed in. Then about 0300 this morning wind slowly built to what we have now, 6-8 kts NE. It's the direction that is baffling and frustrating. Where is it coming from. Nothing on pour WX fax shows anything like this. No complaints though as it is far better than the rumble of the engine and equal speed. We have a VMG of 5.5 to Cape Flattery. Log Number 20 ContinuedNoon PDT radio netChuck Beazell on Joe reports:Not much noise during check-in and Tiger Beetle's radio is working well after warming up for 1hr. Sail a Vie handled most of the roll call because the Canadian Navy was boarding Tiger Beetle. More on that later (doesn't it really piss you off when they give you a small piece of news at 7:00 to try and get you to listen to the 10:00 news)Note that it was agreed that we will move check-in up 1 hour to 8am and 8pm (Hawaii time). Works better for most people in the fleet.Alegria joined check-in and said that they plan to leave tonight or tomorrow morning - I think I have typed the previous sentence a few times now. I guess it's a hard place to leave. Only short conversation about weather today - not much has changed. Dogark is sailing but can't figure out where the wind came from. He is between 2 highs and speculates that it's a localized phenomena and he will need to start the motor soon. You can also see that many people are now using their motors - or they plan to soon. During check-in Sail a Vie also lost her wind.Joe motored several hours last night to get over to the northerly winds on the east side of the high. We are sailing again and I think we are finally past the high. Alchera reported seeing blips moving very fast across her radar screen last night - "faster than an airplane". We speculated about what this could be - Several wild ideas but Alegria's guess sounds the most reasonable - it's a high power radar that is over the horizon. Alchera is picking up bounces. If anyone out there really knows what this is please pass the info to Dogbarks web master ( tauceti@shilshole.com ) - I'm sure he will be happy to relay the info to us.O.K. so now that's out is out of the way - what happened to Tiger Beetle.Tiger Beetle comes up on deck to check things out and saw that he was closing on a ship. After calling them on the radio he found that the ship was the HMCS Brandon. The HMCS Brandon is returning from joint exercises with the US Navy off of Hawaii. Many of us sailed through parts of these exercises as we finished the race. The HMCS Brandon also anchored in Hanalei Bay for a few days while we were there. They knew a Canadian (Haulback) was in the race from talking to Dogbark while in Hanalei.So now in the middle of the Pacific while talking to Tiger Beetle they found that he was also in the race and asked if there was anything they could do to help him out. Rob told them he could use more fuel - so they offered to refill his jerry cans.While both boats were under way the HMCS Brandon launched a RIB which motored over to Tiger Beetle and picked up his empty jerry cans and returned them filled. Apparently the operation went quit well and the guys running the RIB were very good at dealing with boats that were underway. Haulback relayed a message thanking his countrymen for helping. Sounds like everyone had a good time and it only cost Canada a few $ for the fuel.Several of the boats in the fleet that are motoring were very jealous because they are using more fuel than expected in the light wind this year.Well if I was a professional newscaster I would have waited until tonight's update to give the details on Tiger Beetle - I'll have to keep my day job. Log Number 2130 July 2004 00:06 AMAl reports:The mystery wind continues, E 9 kts our course roughly 060, averaged between 115 and 000, tacking back and forth on the favored tack. Took a break from tuna tonight with mac and cheese with spam and pea and corn medley. You maybe have missed change of position sked to 0800 and 2000 HST on 8185.0 mhz.Prognostications from Dogbark for ETA at Cape Flattery, Al 7/4 1222, Chas 7/4 2200, Kit 7/5 2000, No prediction from Steve. Note our estimate ends at Flattery, adjust yours accordingly. Estimate 24 hrs for Flattery to Seattle. Log Number 21 ContinuedLate PM radio netChuck Beazell on Joe reports:Before the positions and Log - The fleet requested that I send a request for someone to pick up several Latitude 38's which cover the race. Some people are concerned that they will not be able to get copies by the time they get back to shore. [Editor's note: Carla West, Mark's partner, says she "will be responsible for getting a bundle of them. Mark will pass them out when the SSS next gets together. Or, we can have them available at our marina in Emeryville."] Very clear reception on the radio tonight. I could hear everyone - including Ergo for the first time since we started the return trip.We talked to Ergo to try and figure out why we can now hear him. This is the first time he has been running his engine while checking in. Apparently his SSB is wired to the engine starting battery while everything else is wired to his house battery banks. Probably the higher voltage from running the engine improved his transmission. Joe updated everyone on the sunspots, which should be causing radio noise for our PM check-in's. There are 2 large sunspots radiating towards the earth right now. Harrier reports that his experience is that sunspots only affect the higher freq and have little if any affect on 4 and 8 Mhz which is where we are operating. Given the good reception tonight I believe Harrier must be correct.No significant weather updates tonight, however, several boats are now dealing with light winds because they are too close to the high. Many of the boats have fuel to deal with this but some of the boats have flopped to port tack to get back down to better wind. Note that 5 boats reported motoring during check-in.Rusalka reported that he is seeing multiple wave sets which are causing unusually confused seas for such light winds - several other boats agreed with him. Many boats have also noted that boats are pounding a lot more on Port tack due to these wave sets. We also briefly discussed Hurricane Darby. Darby is at about latitude 20 (below the fleet) headed for Hawaii. It is expected to be down graded to a tropical storm before it gets to the islands - all of the return fleet will be well clear of the islands before it gets there. If any family or friends of the fleet notice this Hurricane please note that it is well away from the fleet and there is virtually no chance anyone in the fleet will be bothered by it. This includes Haulback who is now well south of the islands and the path of this storm.The only fish update came from Ergo. Mark checked his line to find it was under a lot of stress - he assumed that he had a ready big fish. But as he pulled in the line he found that he had a fish - and a fishing net. He had to pull both aboard then untangle them to get the fish.Rusalka reported a false alarm for Glass fishing balls. What he found was a large industrial light bulb floating threads down. Others have also found large light bulbs out here. Zapped is still the only person to find one of these glass balls. Alchera continues in his focused efforts to find one of these. Mark reported that he spent most of the day scanning the horizon but did not see anything.Zapped reported seeing a 3-foot sea turtle today. At first he thought it was a fishing ball or debris but when it lifted its head to look around Jim knew it was alive. It was brown and had a reasonably long neck - so it was probably a leather back turtle (per Tiger Beetle).Audacious reported having problems starting his generator today - we have 14 boats all with some experience with engines. You can guess that he got lots of (Useful???) advice. Sounds like he is having fuel supply line problems. Carlton can charge batteries with his main engine so this is not a serious situation. We will hear later on if problems persist. He did finally get it to start.Alegria joined the fleet today. Ed pulled Alegria's anchor just before check-in. Alegria is the last boat in the fleet to leave Hanalei Bay. Boat Lat Lon Dir SpeedDog Bark 41 51 147 00 040 7.0Joe 36 29 142 17 078 6.5Rusalka 37 13 147 51 078 6.5 Motoring all dayAlchera 37 56 144 45 061 6.0 MotoringTiger Beetle 37 44 142 58 084 7.0Zapped 38 19 149 01 050 6.5Kaien 37 27 145 55 080 5.0 Motor sailingAudacious 36 18 146 37 025 6.0Alegria 22 15 159 29 015 5.2Sail a Vie 36 52 146 23 122 4.0Ergo 36 37 147 13 075 5.5 MotoringHarrier 26 37 158 07 025 6.0Haulback 06 26 150 41 138 4.8Mouton Noir 37 24 150 26 070 6.1 Motoring Log Number 2230 July 2004 11:58 AMAl reports:Winds died last night about 0200 and we went back to swedish steam. Returned to sail about 0600 this morning still with the 6-8 NE, so back to short tacking up the rhumb line. Nice pancake breakfast, with lots of talk about fresh squeezed orange juice. Also, dreaming of a Subway sandwich, fresh bread and veggies are high on everyone's list. What are the ETA pool times? We might have to go around in circles for a while, Barkley Sound? Log Number 22 ContinuedLate AM radio netChuck Beazell on Joe reports:Part 1: Only a short weather discussion this morning. The Radio was dead silent when I asked if anyone had any Fish or Glass fish ball updates. I think we are burned out on this subject (as many readers of the log may also be).Alchera reported that Carla would get extra Latitude 38's for everyone. Thanks Carla! Boat Lat Lon Dir Speed Wnd SpeedDog Bark 42 18 145 50 100 6.0 7 Joe 36 23 140 57 080 6.5 12 Rusalka 37 28 146 48 067 6.0 0 motoringAlchera 38 31 143 31 085 3.7 4 Tiger Beetle 37 42 141 59 090 6.0 9Zapped 38 55 148 07 048 5.5 10Kaien 37 35 144 43 100 4.5 8 Audacious 36 53 145 48 080 4.7 motoringAlegria 23 13 159 05 000 6.5 18 Sail a Vie 37 05 145 37 088 4.2 7Ergo 36 43 145 58 080 5.5 7 motoringHarrier 27 48 158 16 000 6.0 15Haulback 05 37 150 26 160 4.0Mouton Noir 37 38 148 59 080 6.1 7.5 motoring Part 2 from Chuck. 2:57 PM Friday. Rob (Tiger Beetle) suggested that people on shore probably want to know how folks are doing out here. It was a slow morning on the radio so I thought I would take this time to do my guestimate of how things are going on various boats. In general folks weather and sailing status falls into the following categories - note that I'm speculating on a few of the boats based on their position - But I'll bet I'm pretty close based on the comments I hear in the check-in.Boats that recently departed Kauai = Harrier, AlegriaThese boats are on Starboard tack crashing to weather to get up closer to the high. Both boats have done this before so they are not very comfortable but they have been here before and know things will get better. It just takes a day or 2 to adjust to life a board a washing machine. Skippers on both boats sound like they are doing well.Boats that are in or near the High. Headed for SF. This is the majority of the fleet. Rusalka, Kaien, Audacious, Sail a Vie, Ergo, Mouton Noir.These folks are in light to moderate winds and they are trying to keep their boats moving. Some boats have plenty of fuel and simply motor when needed (Kaein, Mouton Noir). They are probably trying to be good sailors but after hours of trying to get the boat to move it's nice to turn on the motor and make the boat move. Others do not have enough fuel to motor through the high so they are spending more time considering their moves carefully to make sure they don't run out (Sail a Vie, Audacious). Both Phil and Carlton know their boats well and they knew what they were getting into when they didn't load the rails with Jerry cans. They are disappointed that they can't get things going but they are doing fine. Phil was going to port tack to try and get back down to better wind. Carlton on Audacious was burning some fuel this morning. Note that these guys can do a few days of motoring - so they are o..k. They just can't go 800 miles. Note that Phil says he can read books while sailing without getting sea sick for the first time and Carlton has been doing very well in the fishing department. So they are both keeping busy.Unfortunately we have not been able to hear Ergo on most of the check-in's so I can't speculate on how things are going. The one time I could hear him Mark sounded like he was doing well and had adjusted to life on an Erickson 35.Folks that are past the high: Tiger Beetle, Joe, AlcheraWe are the lucky ones. Tiger Beetle and I (Joe) are sailing in the same weather patterns - even thought the maps and data show we are sailing right at SF - all is not that great because the wind is very shifty and variable. Last night both of us were up most of the night because the wind change speed / direction every 15 to 30 min. I'm in a little better shape because I have crew to help sail the boat while I sleep. But Rob is single handing so he can't sleep as much during the day when the winds seam to be a little more consistent. As with much of the fleet we both know our boats well and even though we can get tired doing this we both just finished several days of good sailing and experiences - so we are doing well. Alchera is a little higher than Tiger Beetle and I so I don't know what Mark is up to. He is motoring this morning and has one of the best outfitted boats in the fleet - So I'm sure he is a little frustrated with the light wind where he is but he knows it's a matter of hours before he is sailing again. He is enjoying the trip back and looking forward to the BaHaHa next.Folks headed for Seattle - Dogbark and Zapped. Both boats are in light winds just trying to get home. They are the boats which usually have the better winds as they go over the top of the high - but this years position of the high has resulted in them seeing light winds. As expected Dogbark is way ahead and is motoring whenever needed. He has crew which helps spread the work load and allows for good night sleep. Zapped appears to be making the best of the light winds and in good sprits.Then there is Haulback - Jim, as usual, sounds like he is having a great trip and looking forward to the South Pacific. He is making good time.At the end of the check-in the conversation turned to crap. After the usual check-in routine Sail a Vie and Ruslka started talking about why its better to be on port tack - which is basically because the Galley and head are on the port side of their boats - which lead to why its easier to use the head when its on the low side of the boat - of course we are all filthy sailors so everyone had to tell a crap story. The best one apparently happened when someone on a Farallons single handed race had the runs so they sat in a bucket while steering their boat - the bucket got out of control etc etc. Well we all had a good time with the discussion - I'm sure we will all go eat breakfast now. Log Number 2331 July 2004 12:13 AMAl reports:Another day in light NE winds trying to go up the rhumbline but having to tack to do so. Changed jibs to the #2 in hopes of picking up some VMG and it appears to have helped. Another night of tuna, baked beans and coleslaw (crew ready to mutiny at next mention of fish). Indian night scheduled for tomorrow. Quiet day other than screams from Chas and I after first bucket of sea water during showers. Hard to get used to ever colder water. Hopefully into N winds by end of tomorrow and then we are free to get on home, miss everyone. AlSteve selects 0830 6 Aug for his pool entry (pessimist). Log Number 23 ContinuedLate PM radio netChuck Beazell on Joe reports:Very noisy radio this evening. Many of the people that usually talk could not be heard and more relays than usual were required.Tiger Beetle did a good job of summarizing the weather across the fleet. The only significant change is for the folks in the middle of the fleet. They had been struggling with light winds and some of them did not have enough fuel to simply motor through it. These people now have reasonable wind and are making good progress - this is mostly Sail a Vie, Ergo, Audacious, and Rusalka. Zapped, Tiger beetle and Alchera are all dealing with light winds now. Zapped is heading for the top of the high and may continue to have to deal with light winds while Tiger Beetle and Alchera have intentionally put themselves in a light wind area by going north. They did this to get to better wind direction in the next day or so. While I'm in the same general weather patter as Alchera and Tiger Beetle - I took the risk of staying at a lower latitude to sail lower miles. I may pay for this with stronger winds on the nose later on but I think I'll be o.k. Joe has a very narrow bow so it cuts through rough seas well. Tiger Beetle is on the opposite extreme. It is a retired IOR racer that starts pounding with only small waves on the bow. I would have gone north also if I were on Tiger Beetle.Now that weather is out of the way - the big news from the fleet today is problems on Harrier. This afternoon Ken was sailing on starboard tack when one of his lower starboard shrouds blew out. Ken successfully flopped over to port tack to save the rig. Typically the shrouds that are on the windward side a boat support the mast so while Ken is on port tack there is no problem with having a missing starboard shroud. Ken has already built a replacement shroud with spare parts he has on board. He plans to stay on port tack through the night then climb the mast and replace the shroud when he has daylight. Note that this was one of the lower shrouds so Ken will only need to climb to the spreaders - no to the top of the mast. I will include how it goes in my next log update; however, Ken may not have the project completed by the next check-in. Zapped reports that he is in cold drizzly conditions - so he feels like he is getting close to home. Joe has also been sailing in overcast skies and cooler weather with occasional drizzle - it feels like summer in San Francisco out here. Most of the fleet is in warmer weather and clear skies. Alegria reported that they had Red Footed Boobies on their bow pulpit today. Several other boats had these birds hang out for a while. It's great to see how unintimidated these birds are by people. Alegria also reported that his crew's spouse knows a lot about glass fishing balls - they are still being used and Ed will give more info in a few days. Both Sail a vie and Tiger Beetle had ships pass them today. So far all the ships noted by the fleet have seen us and have been available on VHF radio to make sure there were no problems with collisions. Tiger Beetle and Sail a Vie passed the routing information to the fleet so that other boats could watch for these ships. I believe in Sail a Vie's case the ship changed course to make sure they didn't even come close to Phil. Phil also reported that he talked to the ship for a while. The folks on these ships are often really bored and like having someone new to talk to. Log Number 2431 July 2004 12:06 PMAl reports:Harrier has fixed his lower shroud and is just getting the sails back up this morning, and the crew of Dogbark wishes a Happy Anniversary to Steve and Val on Kaien today. We had a great night sailing along at 8 kt average right on rhumbline but now are alternating between motoring and sailing since early this AM. Most of the fleet is motoring under the influence of the high. We changed the ship's clocks to PDT this morning preparing for home. Crew is getting very antsy. Log Number 24 ContinuedLate AM radio netChuck Beazell on Joe reports:The weather continues to be good for the boats at the back of the fleet, however, most other boats reported lighter winds this morning. In general the weather outlook has not changed. Of the boats furthest east - Alchera and Tiger Beetle continue to motor in light winds at higher latitudes while Joe has flaky but reasonable winds a little further south (after motoring all night). I'm also in the lead (oops did I say that - this is not a race).After Mouton Noir did a good job of summarizing the latest grib files (weather forecast) Rusalka asked if someone could please send the Canadian Navy to refuel him. Eric should know that Murphy's Law says that only boats which have plenty of fuel will be refueled at sea. How Rob broke this rule is not known at this time. Harrier was on the check-in and reported that he had completed the installation of his new starboard shroud. He also reports that he still needs to complete the job on deck and re-tune the rig before he can get underway on starboard tack. Ken didn't stay in the check-in long enough to get any more details. I'm sure he wanted to get the job completed so he could get underway again. You can see from his position report that he is currently slowly going the wrong way. Ken also commented that he would like to compare arm bruises with anyone else that has climbed their mast at sea. We are all very happy to see that Ken is back on deck and doing well. We all hope we are able to climb masts at sea when we are as Young as Ken.Valerie handled the radio for Kaien this morning and reported that today was their anniversary. After check-in we tried to see if they had any special plans for the day but they were gone from the check-in. We were totally offended and wonder whssssssere their priorities are - I would think that they should want to spend their anniversary morning talking to a bunch of sailors that have been at sea for more than a week - but no - they just disappeared. Many marriages do not survive long passages - but it looks like prospects are good for them - they dealt with sea sickness and being together on a small boat for over a week - and they would rather spend the day with each other than us. The fleet wishes then a happy anniversary. Log Number 251 August 2004 00:06 AMAl reports:Spent basically a duplicate of yesterday chasing the elusive wind back and forth with some motoring thrown in. As nightfall approached the wind has steadied out at about 8 kts NNE so we are sailing about 075 true at about 6 kt. If form holds we should get lifted to rhumbline over the evening. Had a great Indian feast tonight with Navratna Korma, Avial and Palak paneer over brown rice with some Tabouleh on the side, Bridgeport IPA as a beverage, pretty nice fare for almost two weeks out (cottage cheese and vegetable curried in a cream sauce, mixed vegetables in a coconut cream sauce, curried spinach with cubes of cottage cheese for those not familiar with Indian names, Tabouleh is a middle eastern dish of wheat, parsley, lemon juice, onion, diced tomatoes and mint served cold). All the crew offers up a hearty thanks to Ken, our purveyor of food stocked for the trip. Food and water seem not be an issue, nor fuel by now, only wind direction, but maybe tomorrow. Where have I heard that before? The crew wishes a Happy Anniversary to one of our own, Chas and Jan on the 1st. He'll be home soon, thanks for sharing. Log Number 25 ContinuedLate PM radio netChuck Beazell on Joe reports:Radio's all worked well this evening which was good because we had a few interesting updates today.Weather reports from Alchera and Mouton Noir showed little change (yeah I know you are tired of hearing me say this but weather is a big part of our day's out here so you will just have to deal with hearing this in each report). Wind reports from the fleet agree with these reports and show moderate to light wind across the fleet. All boats are making reasonable progress in spite of the light winds. Alchera is the only boat that appears to be in an unforecasted wind hole. This often happens in light to moderate winds because the affect of local squalls and clouds dominate the wind at any given point. This is partly why we spend a large % of the check-in time on weather. People need to know if the conditions they are seeing are localized affects which will soon change - or are they real changes in the overall weather pattern.We immediately talked to Kaien after covering the weather report. We all wanted to wish them a happy anniversary once again. Mr. & Mrs. Saul reported they had a very nice 27th anniversary. Music included YoYoMah and Alison Crouse with a nice bottle of wine. They also let us know that they were happy to share the day with the return fleet. Harrier reported that he completed the shroud replacement. We all wanted all the details - Ken used a webbing step system which goes up his mail track. Before climbing the mast Ken got the auto pilot stabilized sailing with only a jib. Ken had to climb the mast 3 times to get the old shroud off. One never takes the right tools on the first trip up the mast and with nobody on board to send things up to you all you can do is come down and get what you need. Ken then climbed the mast a 4th time to attach the new shroud. Tightening things at the deck was no big deal. So Harrier is good as new and sailing for home again. After Ken told his story Haulback and Harrier speculated about why it is that all mast fittings fail at the top of the mast and not at the deck level where they can be easily fixed. It's another Murphy's Law of boats.Haulback reported that he is seeing a lot of real nasty squalls as he approaches the equator. They typically have winds of 25 to 30 knts (prevailing wind is 8 knts) and they often have lightning. Jim is sailing with a staysl and jib. When squalls hit he rolls up the jib and lets the mail flog until it's over. In really bad squalls he reefs the main.Jim also reported seeing a complete moon bow for the first time. I also saw one of these last night. Its just what it sounds like - the moon is so bright and there are no background lights out here. So when a squall is in the right position you get a complete rainbow in the middle of the night. The only differece is that its white. All the colors are really there but your eyes see them as white when they are really dim.Friends have been passing me info on glass balls. Its interesting stuff. Estimates are that 40% of the balls lost are still out here somewhere - we just need to find them.Unfortunately the fleet did not report any new glass balls or fish today. Log Number 261 August 2004 12:01 PMAl reports:Good morning. We now think we are in the wind. About 0500 wind started up out of NNE and has slowly backed and filled until about 10 kts NNW boat speed around 7.5 on rhumbline. Hope it holds! A little celebration of the first of August as Chas and Jan's anniversary, fresh cornbread for this morning. Our first bread in about ten days, mmmmm good with honey or blackberry jam. Log Number 26 ContinuedLate AM radio netChuck Beazell on Joe reports:Lots of noise on the radio this morning - the only person that we could not get info from was Haulback. Hopefully we will be able to talk to him tonight.No updates or changes in the weather report, however, several boats noted that the weather is not doing what the reports say. For the boats in the middle of the fleet that are in light air, Eric on Rusalka summed up the frustration by noting that if a Dolphin farts near him it causes a big wind shift. The boats that are having the hardest time are those that stayed south (Sail a Vie and Ergo). The wind down south is usually more easterly but predictable. These guys probably stayed down there because they have limited fuel and need to sail - so this is particularly frustrating. Ergo also reported that he was doing circles trying to find some wind, however, by the end of the check-in he let everyone know that he got some wind and was moving again.Apparently Dogbark served a very good meal recently which was reported on this log - Al repeated the details for the fleet. This encouraged a food discussion. At one extreme Mouton Noir reports having excellent meals due to Jean Novatny's good planning and preparation (Pineapple Ham last night for example). On the other extreme was Sail a Vie - Phil reported that his military MRE's which were left over from the 2000 TransPac are still edible. Harrier reported that he planned to try Dinty Moore pre packaged food today - just put the packet in boiling water and eat it after 10 min. Michael on Mouton Noir noted that we will know what happened if Harrier is not in this evening's check-in.Alchera, Tiger Beetle and Joe are now in northerly winds headed straight for home - so we are starting to think about what happens after the trip is over. Tiger Beetle and I expect to be in late this week - but the weather can change and delay this so don't count on it. Alchera has not done an estimate yet. Log Number 272 August 2004 00:01 AMAl reports:Greetings from the North Pacific. Had a wonderful day of sailing in building NW winds, currently averaging 14 kts, boatspeed average 8kt on rhumbline. Expectations are for more of the same tomorrow, then dropping off and veering to the west then SW by Friday. Hope we are in the straits by then. Under 600 miles to Flattery as I type this. Had the last of the fresh tuna tonight in a tuna noodle casserole. Very good with some corn, beans and tomatoes added for color and flavor. Dessert of fruit cocktail and mandarin oranges. Crew is anxious about arrival, missing loved ones and seeing who comes closest on the arrival time pool. Please post on website the info on the Indian MRE meals, www.tastybite.com, www.adf-foods.com and fwd info to Carla. Alegria is returning to Honolulu with hull flex problems in the autopilot mount and rudder post/skeg areas, no immediate danger but prudence dictates a return to check. Log Number 27 ContinuedLate PM radio netChuck Beazell on Joe reports:Weather reports from the fleet show that things have improved for most of the boats that had very light wind at this morning's check-in. This is mostly Sail a Vie and Ergo. Both boats are in flaky 10 knt winds - but 10 knts is enough to get their boats going and "flaky" applies mostly to direction rather than speed. Of the boats going north Zapped continues to motor in no wind while Dogbark has good winds. The forecast is for Zapped to get wind tomorrow.Unfortunately Alegria has experienced a new problem and is returning to the Islands (again). Problems relate to the autopilot and steering. The boat is fully functional and in no danger. However, Alegria is about 350 miles from Honolulu or 1900 miles from San Francisco. Having a reliable rudder and autopilot is very important and we all believe Ed is doing the right thing by returning to the islands rather than trying to make things work. The fleet is helping with information on destinations etc. We all wish we could do more but that's about all we can provide other than moral support. I will continue to update the log as the situation on Alegria unfolds.Haulback will cross the Equator for the first time tomorrow! Jim reports that he would like to see the line in the ocean at the Equator - so he plans to keep a close watch as he crosses. Other than that he does not plan anything special. There was one special request from the fleet on this auspicious occasion - Sail a Vie asked Jim to flush his head right after crossing the line to see if the water really swirls the other way. We are a strange group out here.Haulback also reported that he has been hard on the wind since he left Kauai and he is now in 25 knot winds. He asked if someone could please kick him the next time he proposes sailing 2800 miles to windward.Joe got info from a friend on how to troll for salmon and passed it on to the fleet. Much of the fleet is out of Mahi range now. Unfortunately the optimum trolling speed is 2.5 knots so hopefully no fish will be caught. Log Number 282 August 2004 11:53 AMAl reports:Winds held through the night. It built to around 20 knots and has started to back slowly to the west. A little rolly and noisy but fast, averaged over 9 kts through the night. As far as our ETAs, they are carved in fiberglass and cannot be changed except for adding 24 hrs if we are using shilshole or meadow point. Our thought was the use of the motor/tide would have less influence if we used Flattery as an end point but it is Owen's call. A small squall/front came through as I am typing with top winds of 31, so we are cranking out the 12/13s at the moment. Home soon, under 500 to Flattery, Al Log Number 28 ContinuedLate AM radio netChuck Beazell on Joe reports:Position reports show that most of the fleet has reasonable wind now. The only boats which continue to motor are Audacious and Mouton Noir. As expected, Zapped has finally moved into an area with 13 knots of wind. After several days of motoring I'm sure Jim is happy to be sailing.Alchera, Tiger Beetle, and Joe all have flaky wind due to "Squalls". We are very far east for these to be squalls and I believe they are localizes areas of showers rather than squalls - but they have the same affect which is to disturb the wind direction and speed. I'm not a weather expert but I believe these are not squalls because a classic squall is caused by humid air raising and cooling. The air then starts to condense and you have rain and downward air flow. The area we are in is cool and I don't see a rising cloud above the "Squall". In fact I don't see much of anything because the skies are about 80% covered with clouds. It feels like summer in San Francisco out here.Could not hear anything from Alegria this morning regarding update to the autopilot and rudder problems. Unfortunately he is out of my radio range. - We have started checking in with Ed every 6 hours. Alegria continues to sail for Honolulu and has made contact with Jim. Alegria still has about 2.5 days of sailing before they are near Honolulu so Jim and Ed have some time to make plans. For those that don't know Ed and Jim - Ed is delivering the boat for Jim.We could not hear Haulback this morning to get his position and hear how it went as he crossed the Equator. He is getting a long way from the fleet so radio contact will become increasingly difficult. We are looking forward to hear his version of seeing the line at the equator. I'm sure Phil (Sail a Vie) is also very anxious to hear about the toilet swirling the other way - after 2 weeks at sea we are very easily pleased. Sorry today's report is mostly filled with what I don't know - hopefully I'll have better info for tonight's report. Log Number 293 August 2004 00:14 AMAl reports:Great day bombing along at almost 10 kt average along the rhumbline in over 20 kts NW with a few mist showers. Sun came peeking out a few times late this afternoon. Forecast still the same for tomorrow with winds backing around to the west and diminishing to around 15 kts. Spinnaker? Slow night in the galley though, too much heel to cook comfortably without pot holders (wink, while remembering the spaghetti on the first night). Had mac and cheese with some slices of summer sausage. Steve a little under the weather but still standing watches. We are adding 24 hrs to all our ETAs which were based on Cape Flattery.Alegria - no change in status, all is okay so far, still returning to Oahu, ETA thurs. Haulback - congratulations on becoming a shellback. Log Number 29 ContinuedLate PM radio netChuck Beazell on Joe reports:This is the first check-in with nobody motoring. Harrier reported dealing with several squalls and shifty winds. This is expected in this area of the Pacific. New info in weather forecast shows that an unusual low-pressure system will be dropping down from the north in about 96 hours. This is near the Calif coast and will result in lighter than usual winds - but they will still be in the 10-knot range. Wind direction may be shifting as boats move from the high into this system. It will be interesting to see how this develops later in the week.Alegria reports that not much has changed with their autopilot and rudder. Everything continues to work and has not degraded so at least they don't have to hand steer at this time. They plan to continue into Honolulu sailing the boat conservatively. They expect to reach Honolulu on Thursday - I don't expect to have much to say until then. Unfortunately they are also having problems with their e-mail system. Weather looks good for them to sail directly into Oahu.Haulback came in loud and clear this evening. You can see from his position that he is now south of the equator. We all wanted to hear about Jim's first crossing. First Jim reported that he looked very hard but could not see a line - Harrier (who has crossed the equator more than one time) reports this is simply because it is "water colored" and Jim should look more closely next time. Jim also reported that he accidentally pissed on Neptune as he crossed - apparently Jim was watching the GPS to make sure he noted the exact time of the crossing. Nature called and when he got back from the rail he found that he had crossed the line. Friends of Jim had given him a box to be opened to celebrate. Jim threw the confetti that was in the box over the water to celebrate and most of it blew back at him and made a mess of him and the boat. We modern day sailors are not at all superstitious so we are not worried that Jim pissed on Neptune - but it is interesting that something threw confetti all over him and the boat. Just in case there is a Neptune - we are all relieved to know that the only retaliation was some harmless confetti?Jim also wanted to let everyone know that he enjoyed the other goodies in the box - I believe it was stuff to eat.Jim reported that the bad squalls have stopped but the seas are still confused and he has about 1,000 miles to go to get to Tahiti - all upwind. Log Number 303 August 2004 11:59 AMAl reports:Good night sailing but the wind is leaving us this morning, started motoring after check-in, off of Columbia River mouth. Not much else to pass on, crew is tired after the last few windy days, hard for them to sleep. Steve is feeling better with some sleep and breakfast of corned beef hash and eggs. Alegria: returning to Oahu, rudder problem has gotten worse but not yet critical, they are on an hourly check-in with USCG Honolulu. As Joe and Dogbark will be leaving the course on Thursday, the new contact for fleet positions will be Sail a Vie, Phil Macfarlane, winner of the TransPac. Al Log Number 30 ContinuedLate AM radio netChuck Beazell on Joe reports:Unfortunately a ship and I were talking to each other on VHF during check-in. So I did not hear much of the conversation. So the good news is that I will not bore anyone with weather updates and this will be a short report.We had a reasonable amount of noise and Haulback could not be heard - hopefully we will hear from him this evening.We spent some time talking to Alegria to make sure they have the info they need to get to Oahu. They are making good progress but have slowed down a little. They decided to sail only with a jib to make it easier to steer the boat. They are now about 200 miles from their destination.Not much more to say for this morning - so I thought I would bore you with the details of the 2 ships I crossed paths with in the last 24 hours. One was a typical "Bad" crossing and one a typical "good" Crossing.The first one was late at night and was a pain in the ---. I could see the ship on my Radar in plenty of time - the alarm went off at about 10 miles. After monitoring his distance and course I could see that we were going to come very close to each other - so I called the skipper of the ship. After over 10 attempts - the ship still had not replied to my calls. Note that I could see lights on the ship but it had so many other bright lights on that it was not possible to see his navigation lights even with binoculars. So I turned on my strobe and did my best to guess his course and speed. In order to make sure there would be no problems I changed course by about 90 degrees, after doing this the ship was now within about 3 miles of me. Now I can make out this green navigation light so I roughly know his course - and that we are o.k. I tried calling the skipper of the ship again. This time he replied. The first thing he said was " are you talking to me" - VHF radios only have a range of about 25 miles and we were the only vessels in the area - who else would I be talking to. At this point I knew I was talking to someone with at least a first grade education - at least he knew how to push the button on his radio.The next thing I usually like to do is make sure the ship sees me and that they are tracking our progress. Their reply was that they just saw my strobe but their radar was not turned on so they didn't know if there was any problem with our courses. They planned to start warming up their Radar. Well that is going to take a few min. OK I've been here before - I know their position so all I need is their course. Luckily they gave me their course - so I can quickly plot our directions and decide on the best change to make sure we don't crash. They never asked for any of my bearing, speed or location information.After adjusting course a little - I called the ship and told him I had changed course to avoid collision - he just said O.K. we passed and that was the end of it.Ship # 2 this was the good one. Radar again picked him up at 10 miles. I called the ship and the skipper replied on the first call. He reported that he could see me and that he was tracking my position. I could see he was on a similar course as Joe and offered to alter course. The ship reported that they had already planned to alter their course to starboard to pass my stern. I replied that I would hold my course and thanked them for their course change. Then I watch as the large tanker slowly changed course and passed about 1 mile behind me. This ship was standing a proper watch and was very professional.The skippers of these ships often also want to talk because they are bored. Its fun to hear where they are going etc.Well this just shows the extremes of the ships that are out here. The vast majority are like the second ship but you have to be ready to deal with the first ship one. Log Number 314 August 2004 00:02 AMAl reports:Hello Washington, finally above 46N, wind good all day but died about 1900 PDT after dinner and we are currently motoring in glassy swells. Have a wayward sandpiper onboard who circled the boat about five times before coming in for a landing on the bow. He/she spent the next hour wandering around the bow, mast area looking for a place to hunker down. Finally it stopped right next to the head vent hatch and a jib sailbag that is on deck. It's head is in the hatch, we presume to catch some of the warmth coming up from below. It's back is tucked neatly under the sailbag and it looks comfortable so we are allowing a free night's stay. Had Ken's simple Turkey dinner and a loaf of beer batter bread, very good, thanks again Ken! By the way Ken has found a wonderful source of canned meat on the web. Pork, Beef, Turkey and Chicken very good by all of our palates. Later - the bird has wandered all the way back and is sleeping under the hard dodger, pretty smart kritter. Alegria - nothing new, still proceeding, no longer in hourly contact with CG, deemed not necessary. Al Log Number 31 ContinuedLate PM radio netChuck Beazell on Joe reports:Check-in went well with good radio reception this evening. We could even hear Haulback this evening even though he is now on the bottom of the earth.No weather updates - weather discussions have not been a focal point of the last few check-in's now that everyone is sailing. Note that I believe nobody has had to motor in the last 24 hours due to lack of wind. Also note that everyone has reasonable boat speeds. Sail a Vie was one of the boats that really struggled in the light winds - I asked him how things were going tonight and as expected he reports that life in general was much better now that he is making good progress in reasonable wind. I suspect Phil is typical of everyone in the fleet. We got an update from Ed on Alegria. They continue to make good progress back to the Islands. The wind in their area has decreased and their rudder and auto pilot problems have stabilized. They continue to sail towards Oahu and expect to make landfall late Wed. They are headed for Keehi marine but will divert to the closest harbor if their situation deteriorates for any reason. Ed sounded like he has a good plan and now its just a matter of executing the plan. The fleet continues to offer any help we can but we know he is in good hands now that he is getting close to the islands. We talked a little about ship encounters this evening. Tiger beetle continues to see ships occasionally and Sail a Vie dealt with 2 ships today. All have been "Good" ships per yesterday's log except for 1 that Phil dealt with. He did not have a close call but the ship did not respond to calls on the VHF and I believe Sail a Vie changed course just to be sure there were no problems --- Bad ship. Tiger Beetle, Alchera, and Joe are all now in the calif shipping lanes so we continue to keep a proper watch. I'm running my Radar in watch mode all the time now. In this mode the Radar is off most of time to save power - but every 5 min is does 20 scans to see if it finds anything. If it does it sets off an alarm.Fish of all sizes are back in the fleet news! Tiger Beetle caught 2 Tuna today. It took some time to figure out what type of fish they were. Looks like Ed on Alegria knows his fish and was able to identify them as Bonita Tuna also known as Big Eye tuna. The fish were about 20".Joe reports having seen a whale today. It spouted just 75' in front of the boat. It's great to see these large creatures out here - but I'm always happy when they stay further away from the boat when I know they are bigger than "Joe" The whale was headed north while I was headed east.On the other fishing extreme we had reports from Dogbark and Zapped. Apparently Al on Dogbark almost had to deal with a full-blown mutiny when he tried to get the fishing gear out. Al spotted a school of fish and wanted to try and catch some - but the crew has had enough fish. Al is leading the fleet in number of fish caught. Jim on Zapped reported that he has given up in fishing and enjoyed his Spam dinner tonight. Jim has caught and lost 3 fish so far. One got off the hook just as he was trying to land it, one was dropped off the hook as he tried to get a picture of it, and you may remember that Jim lost one fish after it was on board and filleted - he dropped it in the water while trying to do the final clean-up. I'm trying to think of the right words to describe the award Jim should get for his fishing performance. I'm trying to think of something constructive and nice but I just can't find the words that will match his situation and talents. Ed on Alegria gave everyone the VHF channels to monitor as they get close to the coast - this will help boats find where the fish are. Audacious summed up the attitude of many of the boats after several days of fishing when he said, "I'm not going out of my way for any stinking fish". He just wants to get home.I thought I should also mention that most of the fleet is in cooler weather now. This is a pleasant change after sweating for so long. In fact I'm in a "Welcome to San Francisco" fog bank right now. Log Number 324 August 2004 12:17 PMAl reports:Happy Coast Guard Day to all from the three ex coasties aboard Dogbark. Nice sailing night but the wind died again this morning. Woodstock (our name for the least sandpiper stowaway) is still onboard now up on the bow again. It has walked around the boat twice so far after spending the night under the dodger. Caught two more albacore this morning so the Seattle faction will get some fresh fish since the crew refuses to eat it anymore. 150 miles to go to Tatoosh Island. Log Number 32 ContinuedLate AM radio netChuck Beazell on Joe reports:Unfortunately my radio was very noisy this morning - so I couldn't hear most of the fleet. As expected Haulback could not be contacted. He is only coming up in the PM check-in's now.Note that everyone continues to make good progress without motoring. Wind direction for most boats is also NW so most boats are not crashing to weather. Mouton Noir is the only boat motoring. This is to charge batteries. Harrier is the only boat that is beating to weather to get up to the high. He left about 1 week after most of the fleet so this is expected.Alegria updated everyone on her situation. Nothing has changed and they continue to make good progress toward Oahu. By tomorrow's PM report we should be able to report that Alegria is at the dock.We thought that we might have to call the Coast Guard to assist Dogbark during this morning's roll call. Dogbark's crew took control of the Radio and yelled "NO MORE TUNA - NO MORE TUNA". We thought it was a full-blown mutiny, however, Al regained control of his ship and the radio. Apparently Al had the early watch this morning and while the crew was sleeping he put the fishing lines out. He soon caught 1 more Tuna. When the crew saw the hideous future their captain had in store for them they wrestled him to the deck and removed the lines from the water. Well maybe there is some embellishment in the relay but you get the idea.Tiger Beetle also caught an Albacore tuna today. Folks are starting to get interested in fishing again now that its not all Dorado.Dogbark reported that they have a sand piper living with them now. The bird landed on the deck when they were about 225 miles from shore. Sand Pipers are not ocean birds - so this poor fellow must have gotten lost or caught in very strong winds. He probably would have been fish food if he hadn't seen Dogbark. The bird continues to hang out on the boat. The crew tried to feed the bird Tuna but it would not eat it. Alchera reports that he has had this happen to him in the past and the bird probably needs water. Dogbark plans to give "Woodstock" some water and try to keep it until they are in sight of shore.On the sailing front - Tiger Beetle reported that he heard the sound of a bolt hitting the deck this morning. This always gets your attention because you don't know if its something minor - or if the next sound you will hear is your mast falling down. Rob quickly went up on deck - it took a few minutes to find the bolt and identify where it came from. It turned out to be from one of the Batton slides on the mainsail. This is a pain to fix because the main has to come down - but its not a serious problem. The period of time between when the bolt hits the deck and when you know what's going is very tense - Rob was very happy it was a minor problem. I know the feeling because in the 1996 Transpac - I was privileged hearing a bolt hit the deck - soon after the mast buckled and went overboard. The bolt was the support for the 4 lower shrouds. As we signed off Rusalka reported that he was thinking of putting up a chute today. Much of the fleet could do this but I'll bet they will not. Too much work and the wind gods will probably punish anyone that does with a wind shift. Boat Lat Lon Dir Speed Dog Bark 47 47 128 18 075 6.5Joe 37 50 124 31 090 7.5Rusalka 38 21 133 50 090 6.5Alchera 37 40 129 21 089 8.2Tiger Beetle 38 11 127 33 091 7.4Zapped 44 43 135 54 050 7.0Kaien 37 52 132 36 090 6.0Audacious 38 12 134 30 080 6.0Alegria 22 49 158 10 175 3.5 MotoringSail a Vie 37 43 135 18 084 6.2Ergo 37 19 134 10 080 6.5Harrier 36 26 155 32 010 6.6Haulback No reportMouton Noir 38 03 135 49 077 6.5 Motor sailing Log Number 335 August 2004 00:37 AMAl reports:Hello, kind of slow last day on the open ocean, motored most of the afternoon in dying SW then S breeze. Woodstock is still with us he has made about six walking circumnavigations and ten flying circumnavigations of Dogbark and still has not found a beach, so we are his best bet at the moment. Chas made him a house to spend tonight inside the boat because it looks to be rather chilly on with expected lows in the 50's out here. If he makes it until morning we will be right next to shore so he should be all set. Bird mortality rates are quite high normally though and with no food for 48+ hrs who knows, but he seems to have adapted to boat life pretty well. He has a hard time with balance and the boat movement in the waves though, nothing to grab onto on the nonskid. Had a repeat of the beef stew and dumplings with a celebratory beer. Saw a large whale about 1/2 mile away surface three times before diving. Humpback? Tail flukes lifted clear of the water before diving. Thought onboard is gray whales do not raise flukes clear of the water when diving. Anybody help out? Saw a fin of what we thought was a Mola Mola but not sure if they are around this far north. Picked up one of those aluminum fish net floats today as well. It is now somewhat clean and hanging on the stern pulpit. Absolutely spectacular evening with a clear sky and no clouds, Milky Way out early then a gorgeous moonrise, with a 3/4 moon, it doesn't get much better than this, except for the lack of any sailing wind. Now about 60 miles from Tatoosh Island, 200 from Seattle. Joe at Golden Gate Bridge, first to finish.Tiger Beetle reported 8 ft Mako shark flying vertical clear of the water and cartwheeling back into the sea about 300 yds off the side. Alegria in cell phone contact with Honolulu, situation stable, ETA tomorrow noon. Al Log Number 33 ContinuedLate PM radio netChuck Beazell on Joe reports:00:17 AM. Well I'm in SF bay trying to get the boat ready to walk away before a friend picks me up -- in 1 hour.I'll send a log update from home later tonight - but I wanted to get the position info out just in case I have netwrok problems when I get home. Chuck adds to his late PM radio net: No significant changes in sailing conditions this evening. Most of the fleet continues to make reasonable progress in moderate to light wind. Rusalka and Mouton Noir tried using their chutes to improve boat speed. The wind direction is good for chutes, however, winds are light and seas are confused. This results in frustration because its tough to keep the chute filled and the resulting flapping sails. Rusalka reports that he gave up. Mouton Noir was still flying the chute at check-in. This is not surprising because Mouton Noir is a heavier boat and confused seas will cause less rolling. Harrier is the only boat that is still crashing to weather to get to the high and he is getting close. After hearing how folks were doing in the lighter air Ken commented that he was tired of being beat up and would be happy to deal with some light wind. Alegria is coming in for a landing on Oahu. Ed is now in cell phone range and has been talking to folks to get the boat into the docks at Keehi. After following Alegria's progress through her current problems its great to know that she and her crew are safely in port. This situation could have had a much different outcome if not for the vigilance of her crew and the good decisions they made given the problems developing. The wildlife update today includes an 8' Maco shark. Tiger Beetle was sailing along when Rob saw the shark jump almost completely out of the water near his boat - now that will wake you up and is something few people will ever see. Dogbark saw a Humpback whale today! These are impressive creatures to experience at sea. I also Asked Al how Woodstock is doing. You may remember that Woodstock is a sand piper that landed on Dogbark yesterday. Al reports that one of his crew knows birds and is trying to help get the bird back to land. They built Woodstock a little house to stay in and the bird is using it. Woodstock also flew around and circled the boat today - he came back to Dogbark after seeing that there was no shore in sight. Dogbark is getting close to land and Woodstock will need food soon - hopefully we will hear the end of Woodstock's story in the next few days. Oh the name Woodstock comes from the peanuts character. We talked to Haulback again this e - no big chao weather as he makes his way to the South Pacific. The big story here is the fact that we are still in contact on 8Mhz. Dogbark (near Seattle) Joe (near San Francisco) and Haulback (Half between Kauai and the South Pacific) could all hear each other quit well in tonight's conversation. Well this is my last log entry. As we completed check-in tonight Joe sailed under the Golden Gate. As we talked about how the day went Joe sailed up the SF waterfront. This has been a great return trip - 16.5 days and I only used 40 of the 135 gallons of fuel I put on the boat in Kauai (anybody need jerry cans full of fuel). Thanks to Dan who crewed for me on the way back - Its been a great help to have someone stand watch and help sail the boat. Sail a Vie has agreed to take the pen from me. Phil will continue to send position and log entries - I'm sure he will do a great job. He has a good radio and is closer too much of the fleet. I'm typing this last log update from my back deck at home while I listen to the new Jimmy Buffet CD (Its a good one). Its been fun writing these log entries and I hope I have been able to keep the folks on shore in tune with what's going on out on the water. Last but least - good luck to the fleet as everyone moves on to their next projects. I know everyone is headed in many different directions and that many will meet up again in a future TransPac. Chuck Log Number 345 August 2004 12:57 PMAl reports: We made it to Washington! Stopped in Neah Bay for some fuel after motoring almost the last 24 hrs. Picked up some fresh bread, lettuce, tomatoes and cold cuts and made some great sandwiches for all the crew. Also cold drinks, fresh fruit and a watermelon. Sorry to say that Woodstock did not make it through the night. We tried our best but the little guy was too long without any sustenance. Continuing our motor down the Strait of Juan de Fuca toward home. ETA Seattle 0900PDT Friday. I want to thank everyone involved with the TransPac for their efforts to make it such a memorable event for me. I do hope to return again in two years but do not know what things will get thrown in the way. I will treasure the last two months for the rest of my life regardless. It has been a lifetime experience and I recommend it to anyone even considering in the future. Thanks Single-handed Sailing Society, all the skippers and their wives or husbands or partners, race committee, Latitude 38, Northwest Yachting, my website staff (Dave, Bern and Steve, you guys did a great job!), Don of Summer Passage, and in particular Mark, Chuck and Rob for their outstanding work with the logs and communications. Thanks again, Al Log Number 34 ContinuedLate AM radio netPhil MacFarlane on Sail a Vie reports:Hi Im the new web guy [for doing the twice daily radio neog entry], Phil on Sail a Vie. Its rough on Sail a Vie this morning so this will be short. Dogbark is stopping for fuel and is almost home. Probably wont make any more roll calls. The Alegria saga continues: They broke a high pressure fuel line and sprayed diesel all over the place. They are 5 miles out side Keehi Lagoon and sailing in. Tiger Beetle talked to an aircraft carrier this morning that cut across his bow at 2 miles. That's it for now I have to go back to holding on now. Log Number 356 August 2004 1:45 AM, reporting on late PM radio netPhil MacFarlane on Sail a Vie reports: Mita Kuuluu is a boat that Ken met on a ham net. They are on their way to SF from Hawaii also, and have joined the roll call. The name is Finnish and means "hows it going" Tiger Beetle is just out side the gate motoring in. He had planned on anchoring at Drakes Bay but it was blowing 30 knots, so he's going home. He reports while crossing Cordel Bank he saw humpbacks, grays and dolphin. Eric on Rusalka sailed right by the weather bouy that's 357 miles west of the gate today and even got it on video. He said its about 30 feet in diameter so all of us behind him were very interested in its present location. He said at first he thought he was catching up to Kaien. Kaien is also made of steel. Carlton on Audacious caught his 5th fish of the return trip, "the smallest albacor I ever saw". Mouton Noir and Harrier are planning a presure cooker cook off, and were exchanging receipes. Eric wanted to know if they had lamb chops on Mouton Noir. On Sail a Vie its been quiet, just hanging out below. Its been windy, raining and cool all day. But they're the best miles of the trip back yet. Ip thay eny spelin mistacks in mi rightin its cuz the boat rocked. Boat Lat Lon Dir Speed, Dogbark @ Port Townsend, Rusalka 37 50 128 59 095 8.0, Alchera 37 42 124 21 091 6.4, Tiger B 37 54 122 46 130 7.6 motoring, Zapped 46 36 131 44 070 5.0, Kaien 37 16 128 48 090 6.0, Audaciuos 38 25 129 26 100 7.5, Alegria No contact, Sail a Vie 38 24 130 47 095 6.2, Ergo 37 44 130 02 095 5.5, Harrier 38 15 153 41 061 2.0, Haulback 05 59S 150 43 185 5.0, Mouton Noir 38 00 131 45 115 5.0, Mita Kuuluu 38 36 155 40 083 6.1 motoring Log Number 366 August 2004 12:17 PM, reporting on late AM radio netPhil MacFarlane on Sail a Vie reports: Alegria is hauled out and is under going repairs in Hawaii. Alchera is in the Gulf of the Farallones motoring and will be home this afternoon. He did not find any glass balls on this trip so will have to do the race again. Ergo is motoring on fumes in the main tank and has 6 gallons of gas on deck. He also ran out of propane a few days ago, so nothing hot to eat. Thats all for now. As the fleet gets smaller I have less and less to report, but I promise to stay out here until I'm in. Friday 6 Aug 11 AM Roll call Boat Lat Lon Dir Speed, Dogbark arrived home to Seattle at 7:10 AM, Rusalka 37 37 127 20 110 5.5, Alchera 37 47 122 45 080 motoring, Tiger B no contact we assume he is home, Zapped 47 03 130 03 050 7.0, Kaien 37 04 127 42 090 5.0, Audacious 38 12 127 50 096 6.0, Sail a Vie 38 17 129 25 089 6.3, Ergo 37 43 128 43 087 4.5 motoring, Harrier 38 28 152 45 101 4.2, Haulback no contact Mouton Noir 37 38 130 39 088 5.6 Mita Kuuluu 38 42 154 06 080 motoring Log Number 377 August 2004 00:03 AM, reporting on late PM radio netPhil MacFarlane on Sail a Vie reports: No log from Friday 11 PM roll call. Positions are below: Boat Lat Lon Dir Speed, Rusalka 37 41 125 43 090 6.5, Zapped 47 30 128 34 060 5.5, Kaien 37 15 126 04 078 6.0, Audacious 38 10 126 31 100 6.0, Sail a Vie 38 10 128 05 100 5.2, Ergo No contact but no worries because he probably is not charging the batteries because of low fuel, Harrier 38 20 151 14 096 6.6, Haulback 08 10s 151 07 190 6.0, Mouton Noir 37 35 129 30 095 3.5, Mita Kuuluu 38 55 152 45 081 5.5 Log Number 387 August 2004 11:50 AM, reporting on late AM radio netPhil MacFarlane on Sail a Vie reports: Audacious caught another albacor. Thats 6 fish on the return trip. Yesterday afternoon Mark on Ergo was setting a chute on the fore deck when two whales broke the surface 60 feet in front of him. Then the big one "huge" turned and came straight at him. He ran to turn on the engine buzzer to make some noise. I guess it worked because he is here to tell the story. He is also having engine trouble. He is down to 6 gallons of gas but can't get more than 700 rpm out of the engine. He will be working on that today. Boat Lat Lon Dir Speed, Rusakla 37 47 123 49 088 9.8 65 miles from Gate, Zapped no contact, Kaien 37 29 124 36 080 6.0 102 miles, Audacious 38 00 124 55 095 6.5 114 miles, Sail a Vie 38 05 126 42 100 6.4 195 miles, Ergo 37 52 125 48 090 7.0 160 miles, Harrier 38 03 149 35 120 5.9 Going to S. Ca, Haulback no contact, Mouton Noir 37 38 128 10 085 6.1 270 miles, Mita Kuuluu 38 54 151 29 085 5.1 1 mile to half way point Log Number 398 August 2004 03:28 PM, reporting on AM radio netPhil MacFarlane on Sail a Vie reports: Ergo got his engine running fine. Sail a Vie cought a tuna. Haulback has blown off Tahiti and is going to Raratonga. The fleet is almost home. The end of the 2004 TransPac is near. Boat Lat Lon Dir Speed, Rusalka Home, Zapped 48 16 125 33 085 4.0, Kaien 37 36 123 10 085 4.0 35 miles from Gate, Audaciuos 37 53 123 22 097 5.9 41 miles, Sail a Vie 37 46 125 04 100 6.5 121 miles, Ergo 37 50 124 09 089 6.2 80 miles, Harrier 37 50 148 05 096 5.6 Lots, Haulback 10 41s 151 49 210 6.5, Mouton Noir 37 40 126 35 091 6.0, Mita Kuuluu 38 57 150 08 085 5.4 Log Number 408 August 2004 AM, reporting on late PM radio netPhil MacFarlane on Sail a Vie reports: This will be the last posting as every body but Harrier will be in in the next 36 hours. Harrier will continue to have roll call with another net and Mita Kuuluu. Its been fun, and I for one am glad to be home. Almost. Phil Sail a Vie 184 Sunday Aug 8th AM roll call Boat Lat Lon Dir Speed, Zapped 15 miles west of Port Angeles, Kaien Home, Audacious Home, Sail a Vie 37 43 123 30 motoring @ 5.0 24 miles west of Farallones, Ergo 37 50 123 00 motoring @ 4.5, Harrier 37 29 146 53 sailing 096 @ 5.3, Hualback no contact, Mita Kuuluu 39 02 148 57 084 @ 4.5 |
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