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

RAIN, whales, tuna. The coast is getting closer...

Boat time 7:30 pm Aug 11
The pacific doesn't want to let us go that easily. At about 5:30, we started getting more frontal clouds forming behind us with a few heavy showers coming overhead. At 6:45, RAIN started. About the heaviest rain I have ever seen. With the rain was wind . first from in front, then beside… then the other side. The guys are doing their best to sail it, and I am up on deck as often as they ask for it. On my last deck foray, I thought I saw lightning somewhere, so I came down to put all our critical electronics into our "faraday cage" (some call it the oven). With one group off watch, hopefully they get informed to not turn on the oven for anything ;).

And because I know you were concerned about our nourishment….. no fish yet…… so we had pasta for dinner. Probably a better meal with the terrible weather outside.

I think I will pretend to do some navigation down here for a little longer and hope that the weather clears up. Maybe 15-20kts on the beam… then I can pop up and take the wheel for a bit… :).

Boat time 1:00 pm
The wind still hasn't materialized. We did have a fantastic morning of motor sailing in the sun. I napped on the front deck, did some stretching.. general laziness. I earned it…… I caught a 35-40lbs tuna this am, cleaned it and packed it. We put half in the freezer and the other half is for two meals (lunch today and dinner today or tomorrow). We have had two others on the line today, one was brought up to the boat, but was much too small to keep, so we let it go. Mac has just finalized making a new lure and has set it out. Motoring puts us at almost the exact speed we need for tuna, so we are expecting great things.

Lunch was served during the 12 pm shift change and consisted of toro sashimi, and tuna nagiri with wasabi and soya sauce. Everyone seemed to enjoy it and are eagerly looking forward to dinner.

With all the motoring, we have had lots of hot water and as much electricity as we need to make water, so everyone is showering again today. So far the water maker has been working really well and seems to work better if we run it everyday, so water use is being encouraged…… this has included fresh water rinsing of the cockpit daily.

Just after lunch, we saw 8-10 minke whales heading straight for our track. We put the boat into neutral and drifted towards them. At about 100 meters, the whales dove. It was great to see them as we have only seen whales very far off in the distance so far.

Boat time 6:50pm
Dinner is now finished. A bbq tuna steak with rice and mashed yams. Everyone approved. I tried to send in this blog report earlier this evening, but it appears there has been some miss communication with the sat phone provider and I have run out of time on it. Maybe it will get added tomorrow, but by tomorrow evening I expect to have cell coverage, so it might be a bit late.

We have been fishing solid today, and have had a number of bites, but are not having too much success in getting the fish to the boat. The captain did not stock enough hooks, and we are on our last hook…. With no barb, and the tip is getting very dull. We might be finished with the fishing in the am.

During dinner the winds started to build. Better late than never. So we have the engine off, and are sailing along in the 7kts range and timing of arrival is very much the topic of conversation. Everyone appears ready to head off rapidly in their own direction to get home to loved ones and start reprogramming for work Monday. This includes me and the boat. I have a quick stop in Vancouver to make, then off to the sunshine coast. If things go really well, I should be on the coast by Thursday night.

Off to bed now, as I am expecting traffic to increase exponentially over the next hours of sailing and I need to try to bank some sleep.

Until tomorrow… or whenever I get better connectivity.
Turnagain

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

BLACK CLOUDS AND LIGHTNING...oh, and by the way we are half way

Fortunately...

We are still making progress despite variable winds.  The wind has shifted very west over the past 24-36 hours (as expected because we are trying to get up to the bottom of a low pressure system to get some down wind sailing back home) and we are currently motor sailing NNE to get into some of this pressure. We hear that boats in front of us have a bunch of this pressure and are eager to get there and turn off the Yanmar. We are not entirely sure how the boats behind us are even moving, the weather files show that it is very light almost everywhere , except the tropical storms below us heading west and the lows up above us. We have been treating this like a true delivery, if we are not on course and making good time, we are using the engine…. Hope there is enough fuel……

Unfortunately...

Mahi Mahi Fest 2014 is officially over.  Time to start scouting out some tuna.  We have pulled in the fishing lines for now…. Seems someone tipped the Mahi off to candy wrappers and they have stopped biting. We are low on hooks, and are now in preservation mode until we get back into tuna territory - likely Friday.

Fortunately...

We are not currently in the path of any hurricanes.

Unfortunately...

Got woken at 3:45 to say there is lightning about 5 miles out port side and a "REALLY BLACK" cloud in front. I came up to WOW a huge cell or cold front of some sort. So we went into instant storm prep (running different sail halyards for the storm sails, stowing everything everywhere, pulling out storm sails and putting them in the cabin. Short story.... we were prepared, but only had 25 kts and no lightning (yet) phew!!!..

Fortunately....

We are still enjoying ourselves.  Looking forward to our half-way party, and here's hoping the second half is quicker than the first!

Turnagain

Mahi Mahi and More Mahi Mahi

I think we have been out for a while now…. All the days are starting to blend together, though some stand out items included some great spinnaker sailing (again), and lots of fishing. We landed 5, including one we guestimated at 30+ pounds and at least 8 got away. I have almost perfected my Mahi filleting skills, but it is not fast as I am crouched over the fish on the swim deck of the boat. It does keep the mess contained, but the space is cramped without a 3+ foot fish on there with you. Hopefully all the pictures the crew has taken turn out.

Dave and i lost a big one about 40 minutes ago, it was at the side of the boat, then the leader broke or the hook snapped, but it was gone. Earlier today, i saw about 8 Mahi charging at our lures. I was looking out the back of the boat, when one jumped coming in at about 90 degrees of the boat, then right behind that 4 more.. then 2 or 3more. They were going super fast. it is a fun fish to catch.

We have spent many hours motoring, and many more sailing. The sailing today was a surprise for me, I expected we would be motoring for many more miles to the next pressure system, but our total motor hours today were about 6 or 8. So far fuel levels are about what I expected, so that is a bit of stress off.
We are just starting to get into the "garbage zone", but so far it feels like there is less than on the way down here. Maybe our route? Maybe someone cleaned up while we rested in Maui?

Turnagain is the blue one in the middle

Dinner today was Mahi, rice, spinach salad with a great pineapple salsa….. no one has had any issues with the food yet : ( I think "yet" is the key word there). The biggest current issue it appears we may run into is freezer space for the fish!!!! Hopefully, that is the biggest issue we will have on the trip. We are hoping to start getting into the albacore tuna range once we hit 39N (about 400 miles north of where we are), so we will keep the Mahi coming and freezing (or eating) that until they stop biting our hooks then try to arrange our freezer space so we can have some tuna as well.

We are missing our loved ones back home, but making the best of a GREAT sail so far.

Turnagain

The Hunter Becomes the Hunted

Yesterday was the last day in a series of very challenging conditions, moderate winds over highly variable seas slamming us from the rear had made for a very lumpy ride through a string of wicked storms. Our collective lack of experience in open ocean weather had positioned us as the victim in all of our interactions with boat-hunting storm cells. It was time to turn the tables on these terrifying columns of gray death and rain. 

While the rest of the crew slept yesterday afternoon, Steve T., Ty, and Adam decided it was time to do something stupid. We had heard that if you get in front of one of these monster storm cells and zig-zag back and forth in a taunting manner, you can get a huge bump in speed as you ride the squalls that they throw off. If you find a storm heading in the direction you want to go, it can be ridden indefinitely. 

If Travis were on deck he surely would have 86'ed this idea as soon as it was suggested. The boat had its brand-new monster kite up so we made an agreement to drop the sail as soon as things were looking like they were going to get expensive. 

We were surrounded by storms in all directions, so it wasn't hard to find one heading toward us. As the boat got within about a mile of the front storm the winds kicked up and the storm sprayed our faces with light rain in otherwise clear blue skies. It was beginning to seem like it might be a stupid idea but we had already committed to it and none of us were going to be the one that pulled the plug. We zigged our sails into the wind and the boat took off, well upwind of our previous course. We rode the storm for about an hour and we kicked back into it several times as we reached too far ahead of it. We got a huge bump to the south without having to slog through trailing seas. 

Travis slept through all of this so please don't tell him about it. We will laugh about it over Mai Tais on Maui. Until then, zip it. 

As dinner approached the wind kicked up and the waves died down. We had some of the best sailing of the trip that evening as the boat took off like a shot. After days of rough nights and long days in scorching sun and heavy downpours, the team was exhausted but highly enthusiastic to get their hands on the wheel. 

The sunset after dinner was one of the best I've ever seen. It bathed the boat and surrounding clouds in a rich deep orange-red. The surrounding storm cells had rainbows nested on their crowns and looked much less terrifying. 

Without thinking about it, we have retired our foul weather gear in favor of shorts and t-shirts, even on night-shift as the temperatures stay well in the high twenties and the evening fills the sails with warm breeze. Last night's night-shift (Jason, Darin, and Steve C.) was treated to a show by some local wildlife. Around midnight, as the boat hummed along at full bore, at least fifty tiny dolphins (much smaller than the ones we see back home) jumped and bobbed along beside the boat doing all sorts of jumps and flips. It was a great night for sailing! 

Today's wind has been less than ideal (pretty much zip). However the sun is out, we have a freezer full of fresh tuna, and our laundry has been piling up. The boys are enjoying a well-earned day of rest, baking in sun and swimming in a part of the ocean that is so clear and blue it truly defies words. 

In addition to rest, today is Mid-Trip Mail Day! Prior to our departure Ty prompted the loved ones of those aboard to write a letter for them to open at the half-way mark. The crew opened their letters together on the back deck and read in silence that quickly erupted into a choir of laughs and awwww's. Needless to say, we all feel very loved and miss everyone at home dearly. 

From what we have heard, the whole fleet is stuck in zero wind and we are not sure how long this lull will last. The forecast seems to indicate it will push through until tomorrow so we will be well rested as we dive into the second half of this epic journey. 

To occupy ourselves (and keep from going insane) while we drift around we have started to create some lists. The first is a tally of sea garbage that we have driven past or has floated by us. Here it is:

"    Buckets (dozens of them)
"    Red light bulbs
"    VHS Cassette Cases
"    Shampoo bottles
"    Japanese glass floats
"    Milk crates
"    Fishing netting and floats (dozens)  

In addition to our lists, we have started to put together some business ideas to recoup the cost of the trip. The first of which is a CD compilation of our favorite shower music that we have been putting on to make the shower-ee feel uncomfortable while showering on the back deck in front of the group. We are titling this highly provocative mix "From Our Shower to Yours" and we will be selling it off of the back of the boat at Marinas around the Pacific Northwest. The playlist is as follows: 

Justin Timberlake - Sexy Back 

Right Said Fred - I'm Too Sexy 

Def Leopard - Pour Some Sugar on Me 

ABBA - Dancing Queen 

Prince - When Doves Cry 

Montel Jordan - This is How We Do It

Plus Many More… 

Expect a Christmas album to follow in November.  

We definitely missed the 200 mile mark on the odometer today but it was a great rest day to get all of our laundry sorted out. The boat is looking a lot more like a gypsy caravan than a thoroughbred racing machine with our laundry littered all over the rig but a dedicated laundry day was well overdue! 

Missing you all like crazy, 

The boys on Turnagain

Dear Tanpopo...and jellies and laundry and loufas

Illustrated by Catharine.  There is no dolphin in this story, but Sylvia insisted of course.  The jellies are called Velella Velella for those who want to know.  

Dear Tanpopo…………. 

It is with our deepest condolences that the crew of the good ship Turnagain regret to inform you that we will no longer be requiring your all you can eat sushi services.  You see, we have now been to "the other side". We have harvested the bounty of the sea with our makeshift lure (patent pending - all intellectual property hereby forbidden to be infringed upon without the expressed written consent of Ab-Mac Industries) You see Tanpopo, although your sushi is ….. well it's just ok……… the tuna sashimi we heroically caught and are feasting on daily is simply put …. SUPERB. Tuna Ceviche ? …….Why Yes please ! ……Tuna sashimi ? ……….Don't mind if I do ! …….. Spicy Tuna Quesdedilla ? …………. Why, it would be rude not too! 

As you can probably tell we are getting our fair share of divine seafood and loving every single minute of it. 

We are currently a few hundred miles off the northern California / southern Oregon coast. There has been a remarkable change in the water colour over the past few days - the sea is now a deep pacific blue which is just stunning. Our little jellyfish buddies seem to be thinning out as we get further and further offshore. I'm not exactly a jellyfish expert nor enthusiast  but we kinda think these things are pretty cool mainly based on the fact that have their own little sail that sticks up in the air as they try make their way across this massive ocean. 

Jason & Travis are having fun playing 'good navigator' and 'bad navigator'. Jason gets the boys to drive hard to the south while Travis plays softy and lets the guys head further west. We have however hooked into a really awesome high pressure system at the moment. We continue to watch the weather models and feel confident about the high pressure system through mid-week, but only time will tell what mother nature has in-store for later on in this marathon.  We think we are the southernmost boat in the fleet at the moment and appear to have a pretty good angle as we start to work our way west. Currently we're seeing approx 20 knots of breeze from off our right shoulders and have our A4 kite up and are ripping at a pretty solid 9 - 12 knots in about 6 foot seas. As of this afternoon, Travis is the current holder of our speed record, having registered a whopping 15.2 kts surfing down a nice size roller. 

The boys are trying to maintain a little civility even though it's just us out here for hundreds of miles.  Ty decided to do his laundry off the back swim grid, combined with 50 clothes pegs he has managed to  instantly transform a  gorgeous Beneteau 50 into something resembling a Mumbai shanty town.  Steve-O decided it was time to up his personal hygiene game and proudly marched his way through the cockpit this morning in his skivys to have a shower on the swim grid. Yes - that is the same swim grid used to massacre a few mid sized tuna….. and then to hand scrub Ty's under garments.  Steve decided to get very liberal with not only Travis's Loufah (yes - he brought a loufah!!)  but he also took the little shower dispenser a little too close to his "personal area's" during the rinsing phase of the mission"

That's about it for today - Chef Darin continues to feed us like champions and we are pushing hard to make good miles while we have great breeze at our backs. I know we are all missing our lovely ladies and little ones ….. can't wait to see them in Maui !

More about tuna fishing....July 6

Day 4 - Beasts of the Sea
Yesterday we left you off shortly before midnight while
we were in extremely dense fog dodging freighters criss-crossing their way to Astoria. We could only see about twenty feet in any direction with the boat humming along under white sails at near 10 knots. Our lone source of light was the mast light telling us where the wind was coming from, casting rays in the dense fog down to the deck.  

We got through the night unscathed and the morning met us with a heavy gray mist, consistent breeze, and a moderate sea state.

Darin was rudely awoken this morning by Travis hovering over him in his bunk with a monstrous grin on his face and the news "WE CAUGHT A TUNA!".  

Earlier that morning, we sat staring at nothing but grey cloud from floor to ceiling and lifelessness in every direction. We were making headway but needed something to break things up because we had not seen another boat in over a day. Ty suggested that we start up the fishing derby again. Unfortunately our lone cold-water Tuna lure was snapped off the line yesterday (when Adam hooked a massive beast). 

Adam took this as a challenge to McGuyver something together. His first stroke of genius was to take some electrical tape and the wrapper from a KitKat and fashion some sort of flasher with a Japanese fishing hook hanging off of the back. The crew's response to his initial design was not strong but they said the same thing to the Write brothers.

Cruising at about 8 knots we dropped the lure and left it skipping and jumping on the water's surface about a hundred feet behind the boat. About ten minutes later Travis stood up sharply and announced "Something  is chasing it!". The reel began screaming as something had a good hold of the line. We had hooked our first fish! Travis jumped over to help Adam bring her in and they slowly wore the big fish out while Steve T. slowed the boat down to bring her close. Travis demonstrated his extreme skill in filleting on the back porch of the boat and easily quartered the fifteen pound beast. It was a very good mood on the boat and the crew were ecstatic with their catch and teamwork!

Darin, a much more experienced fisherman, was keen to take the new fishing lure for a spin. Fifteen minutes later he had another monster on the line. Darin claimed it was at least forty pounds, and from looking at the bend of the rod nobody disagreed with his assessment. 

Darin's skill at fishing shone as he slowly coaxed the massive beast to the boat without strain on the rod or himself. The second fish came in at a meaty eighteen pounds and threw Steve and Darin's meal planning for the rest of the day out the window. It was most certainly going to be tuna for dinner. After some mild repairs to the lure Adam filed a patent for the design and the back of the boat got a good wash down.

With all of the excitement surrounding the fishing adventures we almost completely forgot that we are very much still in a race. The wind shifted for us to a more favorable angle and our upwind beat walked around to the downwind reach that we had been anticipating for days. 

Steve C. came up to find out why there were so many hatches banging around, just in time to avoid getting covered in Tuna shrapnel and get a kite on deck. He made quick work of throwing up the big-boy kite that got us humming along very comfortably. Our next step is to hooking into the Pacific Tradewinds after making a hook out to Maui near San Francisco. 

The water has transitioned from the deep Emerald green of the Pacific Northwest to a rich navy blue and has warmed up to eighteen degrees. We are all keen for an opportunity to jump in for a dip but the boat keeps moving so fast that swimming will have to wait (til Maui hopefully!).

Darin's birthday dinner was pushed back until today and we celebrated shortly after getting the kite up with a tuna sashimi feast. Cake was served for desert and we are back in our groove cruising down wind. We all feel very lucky to be able to be a part of this!

Fishing Derby Score Board:
Adam - 15 lbs - Big Eye Tuna
Darin - 18 lbs - Big Eye Tuna
We will try to get another update out soon! 

Miss you all tremendously,
The boys on Turnagain