Albert the Albatross

Turnagain Blog update August 11, 2014

Boat time 2am
The boat is still humming along. We reduced sail as expected around dinner time last night to white sails and have been averaging around 7kts since. The last part of the spinnaker sailing yesterday was great with Dave, Mac and I keeping the boat above 9 kts for almost 3 hours straight and many surfs into the 12s for long periods of time. The swell had setup out of the west with a huge period and great lead in time, so we were able to catch almost every one. It was too bad that there were no days like that on the race, it sure chews up the miles. Currently we are at 480 to go to Duntze Rk (another 65 or so after that to Victoria), so that is quite exciting.

Dinner last night was some steak (bbq'd) with steamed potatoes and a bottle of red wine. Quite nice after 12 days at sea. There was a lot left over, so we will have steak with eggs this am for breakfast.
I am just up doing some quick updates on the navigation and checking power levels to see how much autohelm we get to use for the rest of the night (looks like only another 1-2 hours of battery time left with Otto on).

Boat time 2pm
We have had an AWESOME 12 hours with 379 miles to go right now, the morning shift and I have had some serious sailing. The wind went a little forward and we carried full jib and full main (then put one reef in the main) directly on course at 9-12+ kts for almost the entire 6 hour shift. We had a GREAT time sailing in fairly relaxed conditions. About 1 hour ago, there was a front that moved over us… the wind changed direction to directly behind us and dropped to 8-10 kts almost instantly. We changed course but with the left over confused seas, we altered course again and started the motor as we needed charging anyways. So, while we motor NE, we are tidying the boat and other general maintenance items.

Dave and Mackenzie have convinced themselves that a single albatross has been following us for days and have named him Albert. Albert is quite a great flier and rarely seems to flap his wings, instead gliding over the wind and waves, getting vertical lift from the wind rising off the waves Albert soars up into the sky 20-30 ft to "bank" the energy then swoops down again. As great a flier as he is, Albert must be a terrible navigator to be following us. I guess he cannot see the magic 8 ball we are using for our navigation down inside the boat.

Now that we have slowed down, I think I will go put out a fishing line in hopes of some fresh TUNA :).

Boat time 4:15pmWe put the line out with a fresh kit-kat lure on it. Had a bite in the first 5 minutes, but the hook did not set (possibly the design of the lure this time). We checked and reset the lure with no further activity, but are still very hopeful. I am especially hopeful as I have no plans for dinner tonight and a quick sushi meal would solve all that ;)

We have just posted into our last position update for the return trip as the communications boat that is organizing the daily roll-call is expecting to finish tomorrow and will not be onboard to run the schedule. We are still 360 miles from the strait and are currently motoring as the winds are not there to push us at the speeds we want. The morning forcast today, said that we should be seeing increasing north west winds later this evening. Hopefully they materialize. If we can sail another 150-200 miles, then we can increase the speeds for any further motoring required. Currently we only motor at 6-6.5kts (1400 rpm) to conserve fuel.
The "to do" list on the boat is getting longer and longer as I find more and more things that have gone awry over the past month or so, but most are easily delayed until the fall once the weather turns.

I hope to write again tomorrow with great news of our increased speeds sailing in fresh North West winds.
Turnagain