[The following are e-mail messages sent from Brian to his wife who forwarded them on.]
23 08.06N, 159 23.67W, 02:08:46 PDT, 16JUL00
Left 1700 pdt. heavy seas. wind 15-35 at 1st, now stdy 20. Ave 6.2 2reef main, jib 80% furled.
25 10.19N, 159 23.73W, heading 360 mag. 01:48:56, pdt 17JUL00
Just about out of squall alley {i think}. Great trade wind sailing all day. Al & I have been under the weather but ok now.
26 53.39N, 159 17.88W, 05:44:15, 18JUL00
What a night !!! St. Elmo,s in rigging, Lightning, calm with pouring rain to doing 8.2 under seriously depowered dbl reef main. Email unit has loose conn. somewhere.
29 14.36N, 159 15.06W, 02:28:57, 19JUL00
Beautiful day & night. Makes it all worthwhile. I had forgotten to mention we saw every second of the lunar eclipse.
31 32.56N, 159 34.10W, 03:21:37, 20JUL00
Dont know if youve sent any msgs but havent rcvd any.. Expected one from
Clay. Slowly moving on.. Looks like our high pressure system will favor us at
last.. Everyone AOK. -
33 31.40N, 159 26.67W, 00:12:42, 21JUL00 -
5 day 1300 - 1300 hrs, logged 644.7nm. Should be able to turn right sometime Saturday, then its all downhill. Fastest logged speed todfate=8.2,lowest=zero.
Wunnerfull day today, seas down,12kn breeze,average 7kn reaching.
35 15.31N, 159 11.98W, 02:31:39, 22JUL00
Took a gamble s lost today. Tried to sling-shot between 2 highpressure
systems & got caught in one. Anyway it allowed the crew to have a swim in
3300 fathoms p 34.28.28N, 159.29.19W -
36 30.79N, 157 39.05W, 03:09:22, 23JUL00
Another great days run. We started to turn the corner last night.. Finally on top of the highs & have changed to port tack after being on stbd since we sarted. Now heading 060m.
37 43.43N, 157 22.88W, 02:36:46, 24JUL00
Yesterday celebration spoiled by our controlling which moved ito our
path.. Now on wrong side and beatinc in 20 kn last 21hrs. Making valuable northing tho. To explain further.. We are aiming for latitude 41, where you normally find west winds to start the downhill un home.Problem is that also means keeping out of the path of the storms which use the same highway.
40 02.41N, 155 48.06W, 02:10:17, 26JUL00
Really turned the corner now. The west component wind arrived @ 40N.. Heading 085m & runing along the 40th parallel until we get a better angle for the final run home. 1500 to go
39 13.73N, 153 42.13W, 02:30:43, 27JUL00
Hiho, rolling along in a 20kn westerly & 10-12ft seas on a bee-line for SF. Forecasts look good rest of the way.
38 31.97N, 151 20.65W, 03:23:40, 28JUL00
No comment tonight. Ride is too wild to even try.
38 54.23N, 149 21.78W, 23:00:23, 28JUL00
What a day & night.. we wanted westerlies & did we getem! 35kn, 12-14ft seas with 3 swell patterns.. Now we know what its like in a clothes washer. Anyway we had a 140nm 24hr run.
38 28.10N, 147 27.21W, 01:53:45, 30JUL00
Wild again... 40kn, confused seas, 3reef main, 20sqft of jib. More tomorrow,
38 20.60N, 146 18.69W, 03:37:06, 31JUL00
Absolutely speechless with frustration am I !!!!!!!!! The weather systems ae non-normal & not co-operating in the least. We have the possibilitythat may not be able to make landfall at SF, but further south. We wont know for sure for a couple of days.
37 58.05N, 144 29.26W, 01:05:56, 01AUG00
After all my griping yesterday, the old girl (with help from La Nina) decided to show what she can do... 2ft, 8sec, swells & 12kn prqduced an 80nm (12 hr)run.
Other stuff: Origo stoves... so far weve used aprox 1.5gal of fuel. This includes baking 3 cakes and 2 loave of bread... Everything else is fine... All be home soon.
38 11.65N, 142 29.93W, 00:17:35, 02AUG00
According to those things that proffess to know such stuff, we have 930
to go. Tootlin along (at 6kn) in total blackout..No horizon, no up, no down,
just same misty nothing everywhere except on Bettina... Our sum total world
right now. Another great sailing day during which we gained 12 minutes of
northing... Yeah I know its only 12 miles, but right that is moe significant
than winning the lottery. Soon be home,
39 03.12N, 141 33.84W, 03:23:02, 03AUG00
Whoever schedules these things decided we had enough enjoyment and sent us back to the saltmines. 20kn (assoc swell) right on the nose... We had 2 choices, go nth or go sth.. South isnt an option yet, so nth it was. We gained a lot of northing & lost very little easting. 888nm to go. seeyasoon,
38 51.99N, 140 01.50W, 11:00:33, 04AUG00
Late today, but I do have a reasonable excuse... The last 2 nights, and all day yesterday, we were close-reaching across 14ft seas in 30-40kn of wind... Hove-to for a while each night to get some rest. There is a similar system forecast 2 days ahead which we are hoping is gone when we get there.
38 35.97N, 138 58.75W, 02:09:29, 05AUG00
A bit happier today... Finally gave that gale the slip but have the opposite, i.e.NO wind!!! Had great conditions today with the olde girl close-hauled in 10kn, steering herself (Ferdinan had a day off) & running up a 4.8kn ave. To give you an idea of the last 2 days, our total 24hr distance run was 62.7!!! (100 is considered an average day).
38 39.58N, 137 47.77W, 01:08:08, 06AUG00
693 miles to go. This ocean sailing stuff is easy ! All you need is a boat (optional), GPS with case of batteries, & a wind alley like we stumbled across today. 1ft swell, barely a ripple on the water, yet it propelled us @ 5-6kn all day... In fact its still doing so (reduced speed) @ 2300 hrs.
38 47.68N, 135 35.44W, 01:22:33, 07AUG00
Definate improvement today. 1st 100nm run in a while with indications of more of the same tomorrow. 590 to go !
38 54.42N, 133 43.45W, 01:17:02, 08AUG00
508 to go. Very foggy & squally tonight, no time to write.
38 52.47N, 131 54.08W, 01:16:56, 09AUG00
423 to go! Not a qood last couple of days, distance wise, and I fear tonight will from the same mold. This mea we will be maybe 2 days later getting in.
38 47.62N, 129 52.63W, 22:19:35, 09AUG00
329 to go. Looks like Sunday [Aug 13th] could be "the day at this stage. Will know better on Friday night. Great run today, with even better to come tomorow (already covered 54nm in 1st 9hr). Had the olde girl doing a sustained 9kn today on a beam reach in 15-20kn with 2r main & 110% jib furled 20%. Tonight is only the 2nd clear night the whole trip & we re enjoying slipping along @ 5kn in a very light zephyr.
38 45.27N, 127 16.03W, 02:15:39, 11AUG00
203 to go.. 120nm 24hr run todav, hopefully more of the same tomorrow. Rolling along @ 5kn under 3r main & 6sqft of jib.. Rolling because going cross swell (some are boarding) & will be doing so for the next 150nm after which there will be a gale for the run down the coast.... Welcome to No. CA.
38 27.50N, 125 26.90W, 01:45:02, 12AUG00
120 to Pt. Reyes then a short jog down to the Golden Gate and we're as good as home. Another great run yesterdav, another expected today tho being hove-to fer
4hrs won't help the cause much. Currenly running across 10ft swells in 25 gusting 30, no main & jib furled 50%.
[After a wild day and a half reaching in gale winds we arrived at the Golden Gate Bridge at 1:30 pm on Sunday, August 13th. - AG]