Fog, Cold, and Shipping Lanes

Turnagain Blog update August 13th, 2014

Boat time 1:43 pm
Today we should be at Duntze rock by about midnight, then down the strait. We will change our clocks to PDT at Duntze rock as well. So that should be interesting. At least we will not be getting up at 6 am and expecting to see the sun rising (like we have been the past 4 or 5 days), but the local time is closer to 9 and the sun is already way up.

This morning, we were still sailing along nicely, the fog was burning off and it was even sunny after a bit. I decided I should do a bit of driving and took over from Dave at the end of his rotation (the crew switches helms person ever 30-60 minutes depending on the conditions). Shortly after I took the wheel, the winds went from 15 to 25-30 and the seas really kicked up. I had Mac and Dave start by reefing the main in one reef point, but that quickly went to 3 and the jib was rolled in a bunch as well. We continued along at a brisk 8-9kts for about an hour with steady waves coming over the bow and running all the way down the decks into the cockpit. They both knew it was a bit more "extreme" as it was the first time this trip that I clipped in my harness and had my full foul weather gear on. I ended up steering for about 2 hours through the worst of it, then shortly after I gave up the wheel to the next watch, the wind started to die out. We are now motoring towards Duntze rock against what feels like a two knot current. I hope we get some positive current as we enter the strait to speed up this last leg of the trip. Timing looks like we will be heading down the strait through the night with an arrival in Victoria by 10 am or so. I know we are all hoping we make it in by then, as many of us feel the need to get onto the next thing. Some are flying out to see family, others are hoping to enjoy the last few weeks of summer with family right here in BC.

Boat time 4pm
We are now about 40 miles from Duntze rock. The fog has closed right in and the wind is still "off". We are motoring along, against a bit of a current, with the radar on and our eyes and ears on close lookout for boats. If the fog gets too much thicker, it may slow us down a bit as I do not want to steam right into someone after a very successful trip thus far. The fog is making the temperatures feel quite cold and everyone is bundling up and making hot drinks. Night shifts tonight might be a challenge to keep people motivated. Maybe we will have to make the last brownies (if there is still an egg available). The entire boat is hoping that the "dust" settles for the trip down the strait so we can see some land, but we can certainly smell it outside. I should get back on deck and assist with navigation in the fog. Radar can be a fun thing.

Boat time 7 pm
Duntze is 18 miles off now. The weather has been mixed since my last update. There was fog, then it cleared a bit, now we are in heavy rain, mist and reduced visibility. I am manning the radar and electronics with Dave and Mac keeping as good an eye out as possible above decks. It will likely be a really long night for me until we get through the shipping lanes and on to the north side of the channel. I don't anticipate that for 5 or so hours from now.

We just finished dinner, another defrosted pre-made pasta. The group seems to really like it, and on a cold night like this it does go down well. The brownies are made, and the crew is eyeing them up for some snacking shortly I am sure.

Dave just stuck his head down to let me know that it is very cold on the bare feet. We both had a bit of a stand and said no boots…… we will see how long that actually lasts. Going to sign off for tonight, and we hope to be docked in Victoria by about 10 am local time tomorrow morning. There will be more blogs over the next couple of days and videos posted to the YouTube channel as I get some of them edited and some decent internet to upload them.

Until tomorrow
Turnagain

Keepin' on keepin' on...

Turnagain Blog update August 10, 2014
Boat time 9am

After almost 24 hours of relaxing white sail sailing, we hoisted the A4 again at 5 this am today. Speeds went back up over 8 and many in the 9s and 10s and are making a straight line for Duntze rock. We are expecting some light winds Monday night, but will be in desperate need for some charging by then anyways, we will also have more than enough fuel to motor at a higher speed if we want (which I am sure we will). After the light air, we are expecting north west winds to fill in and carry us the rest of the way to the straight. From there, it will just depend on our timing for winds as I expect winds to be light with our likely middle of the night arrival at Duntze.

Tonight we are going to attempt to bbq steaks and have a steak, potatoes and steamed carrot meal, but with the wind in the 20kt range and the boat charging at 9-11kts right now, that might be hard to pull off if it persists. But it seems I have a bit of a standard to keep up, as everyone is commenting this is the best provisioning they have had on an ocean passage before (lucky for me, only two others have done much if any ocean passages). I have been running a few techniques to keep them happy. Lots of stashes of different food that they don't know about… so smoked salmon for lunch every few days is a nice surprise…. Or fresh bread (tomorrows breakfast plan)… or I may try for muffins, but we only have chocolate chips for that….. no bananas. We have not been able to get any tuna as we are mostly moving at a very quick pace to catch them… I think we will slow down tonight so we can get a few on board before we make Victoria.

Looking over the log book for the past few days, it looks like 6:00 pm to 6:00pm ending last night we did 182 miles made good….. many more through the water if you have seen the way this boat gets driven ;). 8:30 yesterday to 9:30 today was 189 miles (take off the hour and it was very similar). We are on track to make about 100 miles in the past 12 hours at our noon log entry as well. It feels great to be making great time like this with not too much work and the crew is getting a ton of learning time trying to keep things under control with the kite up ;) . We will be going down to white sails tonight so everyone can have a bit of down time.

The air is VERY moist. I think it was even foggy inside the boat this am :).

Lunch is done, the afternoon watch is on and driving fast again. Dave just hit an easy 12.1kts for a solid 20 count on the gps. Wheeeeeee!!!!!!

We missed our 100 miles in 12 hours by 1 mile today, but we are really happy with our speeds and expected arrival times. Thoughts are definitely on how and where to get my stuff arranged in town so I don't have to stay there for too long. We have birthday parties and visiting to do late this weekend and through next week. Glad it looks like I might make it. There is always a chance things turn for the worse out here, but we are optimistic : ).

We are looking forward to seeing everyone later this week.
Turnagain

Goose Neck Barnacles and Sweaters....brr!

August 8, 1315

Today…. We are sailing. I woke up at 4:30 this am and the watch crew said "wind seems up… we were thinking of rolling out some jib".  I looked at the winds and the angles…. Brought out the A2. We have had it up since and the wind has filled in. We are currently rolling along in the mid 8s over ground with almost every mile sailed a mile made good to Duntze rock with 954 to go. Hopefully today we start putting a ton of miles in the bag. Time will tell.  For now we are enjoying the winds and the sun.

During yesterday's swim, I noticed that there were some goose neck barnacles on the trailing edge of the prop shaft stuffing box. It is surprising that these were there and the size they were in the short time since our departure, as the boat was clean when we left. But interesting to see how quickly they grow and where they secure themselves to.

August 9, 0900

Last night, I came on deck at 11 and we quickly decided that white sails were not working for us. Up went the A4 and off we went. We spent the night sailing in increasing winds at 8-13kts on the gps. I personally did not get much sleep as I took at least a third of the driving during the really challenging parts, but everyone did a great job. I was joking with the group that it is strange that 9kts in the middle of the night is starting to feel normal. From 6pm until 6 am we had 93 miles made good, which included the white sail time around dinner through till 11 pm.

August 9th, 1500

Otto (the autopilot) steered the boat from 9 am through till 12:30 at a steady 7.5-8.5 kts mostly on course (it was set to a wind angle), while the crew tidied the boat and sat around in the cockpit chatting and eating lunch (there will be video of parts of this posted on your YouTube Channel "Turnagain50" once we get back to real internet). Lunch consisted of a plate of cold cuts, fresh hummus, cheese and some pineapple-pork sausages with crackers and chips.

So we continue to tick off miles towards Dunzte rock, which is our mark at the entrance to Juan De Fuca, with about 755 to go as of now. The afternoon watch had a great sleep through the morning and felt energized after lunch, and have been hand steering since 1230, while the am watch is sleeping and I am switching between napping and general boat chores (making water, checking all lower easily accessible rigging etc, writing this).

The temperature is changing. I have been in pants all day today (the first time since about day 2 of the race), and the ocean is down to 20C….. brrrr…. There is also much more humidity in the air. The boat is dripping with condensation (outside so far) by the am, and there was a marine layer across the entire horizon this am. I am anticipating true fog shortly as we approach the Fogust west coast of the Island. I hold out hope that some real August weather will still be had once I get back so I can enjoy some family boating while the kids are still out of school.

Until later,

Turnagain