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

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

Hurricanes...by Catharine

Christopher Reeve said: 

"Either you decide to stay in the shallow end of the pool or you go out in the ocean."

Turnagain is still the blue boat in the middle, currently averaging 6-7kts
towards home

Well, these guys are definitely in the ocean.  Day ? and they are making their way slowly across....sailing when the winds are good, and pulling down the sails (so they don't fray too much) when the winds die.  

Today they did some repairs on the main sail, which had frayed when the winds were light and the sail was flopping around like a dead fish...  They had to use a drill to make a small hole in the sail to feed through some heavy duty Spectra twine to fix the frayed bits, and Travis seems happy with the repair so far.  

Travis reports: "It is just about noon here on the great blue sea.  Clouds are on the horizon, and it might get a bit aggressive later today."

Then shortly after: "We just go overtaken by a system or wind change or something...it is raining, and wind is kind of everywhere.  It is like a squall, but with no end in sight and not near enough wind to really be called a squall."

Well, that 'System" is a combination of Hurricanes Iselle and Julio, which should be passing over and just North of Hawaii Thursday and Saturday.  I got word from Julie (our wonderful greeting party coordinator in Maui) that everyone in Hawaii is bracing for the storms, filling their tanks with gas and stocking up on water and other supplies.  Flash floods are predicted, so hopefully everyone stays safe and sound there.  

Hurricanes Iselle (left) and Julio (right) as they approach Hawaii today

Forecast for Sunday, with Hurricane Iselle dissolving at is passes the
Hawaiian chain and Hurricane Julio passing just North of the islands

These systems are forecasted to downgrade to tropical storms, and should weaken in the slightly cooler waters as they head North, and will hopefully mostly pass South of where Turnagain is currently.  I'm sure the guys are watching these closely, and hoping that some of the 'wind' at the edge of these storms helps propel them towards home!

It sounds like the crew is in great spirits, working well together, and enjoying their time out at sea.  I'll keep you posted as always...  

Catharine

August 4-5....Mahi Mahi Fest continues (with gin)...but winds are light

On the down side...

There is not a lot of wind out here.  We fluctuate between sailing and motoring, but at these wind angles the boat is HOT, and the wispy airs are hard on the main sail (it just keeps flopping around) so today we've had to do some repairs.  There's a tropical storm brewing off Hawaii, and we are getting rains but not enough solid wind to push this boat anywhere productive.  

On the upside, Mahi Mahi Fest 2014 is still on, and it turns out that a large bottle of gin is key to getting these fish on board!

It started just before sunrise, I got up and made sure the fishing gear was out, we started catching fish almost immediately. We landed 3 today and lost 2 right at the boat. The hardest part of the whole process is getting the fish onto the boat (after we lost the gaff).  Imagine a 6'4 guy and a 3 ft fish on the transom of the boat in rocking seas, trying to get a clean fillet off of the fish. At one point I was sitting back in the transom enjoying the view. Then, a fish jumped out of the water about 20 ft back, then three more, then another 4. 8 Mahi Mahi in total all charging at our rod and hand line.   It's like we're the only interesting thing our here for them!

At this point, we only had a small scrap of duct tape left on the rod, and a very chewed up hand line lure. The Mahi took them both. The hand line appears to be too stretchy with the bungy as we are having trouble getting the hook to set, but the rod worked perfectly and it was a fight. The current process is to get the fish as close as possible, then I get on transom of the boat. I grab the line by hand and pull the fish to the boat. Sometimes, the fish opens his mouth, ready for the 60# bottle of gin I am about to shove in there to put it out. Other times… not so much and I have to wrestle it around… when this happens, we are about 30% successful in getting the fish landed. We have wasted a bit of gin, but the Mahi is all the better for it!  Once the Mahi has its share of the gin, we put a rope down through its jaw and gills so it can't slip off the transom.

I stepped away for dinner, and just after we finished our mahi tacos, the reel started singing again. Dave drew the straw (and made the lure - first bite on it) and started reeling. The fish had taken a lot of line out by this time, so we didn't mind giving up the job. The fish darted from side to side leaping out of the ocean, going from a blue silver colour combo to green with a bit a blue. Finally Dave had the fish up to the boat, I used the boat hook as a gaff under the gills and was able to get it secure enough to get the gin down (the fish, not me). With the gin portion done, it was time for the rope.

 It was about this time that Dave and I noticed that this fish certainly competed with the one from the previous night for largest fish yet. We won't know for sure, as we don't have a scale, but this fish is up there in weight.

The crew is getting along really well and we all miss home.

See you soon (another 10-14 days depending on if we run out of gas or not - maybe a story for another day).

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

Sports Day Turnagain Style

August 1st Update    

Today was BEAUTIFUL!!. The temperatures were great, and the wind was only about 10 kts on average all day. While it did not lend to fast sailing, we were able to have the hatches open and keep inside temperatures very reasonable. We made a ton of water, had showers and did some maintenance on the boat.  The furling system is holding together, and the galley faucet that was leaking is now fixed. 

The crew has quickly gelled and is working well together. They have also settled into their respective watches.  Things are great and we are making great time towards home (well… headed to Alaska currently but hopefully the winds will change as forcast and let us curve to the east), even if a few of us need to find our sea legs (hence the short blog today). 

Fishing isn't going great. We have temporarily given up on the Kit-Kat and gone to more traditional store bought lures still with limited success. We had a bite at dinner, but it promptly threw the hook. 

Dave and I are missing "Sports Day" back at home, but have been thinking up some games we might be able to do on board. Dave's kids and mine are the same age, we have traditionally spent sports day being the supporting dad and doing the horse races (being the horse), or the one with the bucket on our head while our kids try to fill it faster than the other kids and their dad's using a sponge (and of course getting Dad totally soaked). So we may do piggy back races up and down the deck tomorrow am, during the traditional land races time frame, and we may try some sort of water event in the afternoon, but have not come up with anything that would be safe at the current speeds we are sailing. 

The winds are expected to start backing tomorrow mid to late day, which will likely allow us to hoist a kite. Then entire crew is excited about that.   

We all miss you
Turnagain

July 31....Drip....Drop...Drip...Drop

Today we had some excitement. There were many squalls, most bigger than the last.  During one of the bigger ones, the crew had reefed everything down and was quite proud of their work. I came on deck and quickly noticed that the headsail furling unit had what appeared to be a serious problem.  The side plates that hold the drum down had become disconnected and the entire foil and furler had slide up the forstay by 3 inches. Luckily we found one of the pieces that held it all together (there were two at the start of the trip) and we have put things back together enough to get us to Vancouver (hopefully).

We had some great sailing today, with speeds above 8kts for what felt like most of the day.

After sunset, we caught a fish as well. It was small and what appeared to be a barracuda, so we returned it to the sea. We will try again first thing in the am. We are thinking we will even get out the hand line and try some different lures, but we will see what the winds are like and our speeds. 

We have some other maintenance items to tend to including the galley sink. The faucet is leaking (a slow drip) and is driving Travis nuts with the water pump kicking on randomly throughout the day. We need to do our best to keep him from going crazy this early in the trip :) 

Until tomorrow,

Turnagain crew