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Thanksgiving on the Boat!!

Friday Oct 10, the family loaded up and headed for Elliotte Bay. It was the EB work party on Saturday and potluck thanksgiving dinner on Sunday. The work party turn out was one of the largest I have attended to date with 14 boats and willing crews. Many many tasks were completed. Sunday morning I was hoping to dive Alexandra island. While preparing my gear, I noticed what appeared to be Rumrunner tied at Alexandra. I headed over in the dinghy to confirm and found Gord getting ready to dive. We made arrangements to buddy dive in 15 minutes. I hurried back, three the gear into the dinghy and donned my dry suit. Within 20 minutes we were submerging below the surface going "to look for Wolf Eels". During the decent, I found a large octo den and attempted to get some video of the octo with my gopro camera, but quickly found that my light had flooded. Gord snapped some pictures with his DSLR camera and we were off swimming to where the wolf eels were reported to be. Within 5 minutes, Gord was pointing out a lone male under a large rock.  I spent a few minutes observing this make and then swam on to the next rock were Gord was taking pictures of another male eel. This male was partnered with a female who was around the other side of the rock. We spent a few minutes watching the two of them and then decided to swim on. Being the first cold water dive in years for me, I was going through air much quicker than I had planned.  I called a turn around to Gord and waived bye.  I surfaced most of the way back to the boat. A GREAT DIVE. I dove two more dives over the rest of the weekend, finding many octo and going back to visit the eels on one of the dives to find them out swimming around.  

The boat was performing well for our family base and everyone had a great weekend. 

Vic-Maui wrap up...

It is September 27^th….. where has the past month and a half gone???  

To complete the VicMaui return story... 

We got into Victoria at 7:30 am on August 14^th after a long night of motoring through the fog, dodging ships and fishing boats down the Straight of Juan De Fuca.  Jason B from the race crew and Dave's family were at the docks to greet us and we all went for breakfast in Victoria. Elisa and I left Victoria on the boat by about 11am and had an uneventful motor to Vancouver arriving at about 7pm, where I loaded the dinghy and promptly left for Secret Cove.  

Two hours after leaving Vancouver, the sky totally covered over and there was a long lasting electrical storm. I guess the ocean gods figured I had too relaxing a trip home from Hawaii to let me off easy. The wind came up to about 25-30 south east and I ran under jib alone from Gibsons down to Merry Island hoping the storm would not take out the electronics.  I arrived in Secret Cove at 1:30 tired, but safe and a greating by my dad at the dock.  It was GREAT to be back J. 

A couple of days of tidying and converting the boat back to a cruiser (well… a comfort cruiser, I don't think it ever really turned into a racer;) and the family moved on.  The kids and I spent the next three weeks cruising up and down the coast with Catharine spending everyday she wasn't working on the boat with us. It was an amazing way to wrap up the summer. 

Catharine and I are currently anchored just on the east side of Gabriola pass spending a weekend with just the two of us out on the boat. We had a nice relaxing sail across from Vancouver today, and it looks like it will be a motor home tomorrow. 

The first rough version of a Vic Maui video has been posted to the channel (turnagain50) on Youtube.  There is hours of footage to still go through and there should be more videos coming.  

Catharine is working on a book of the entire trip, and I have been asked to speak at a couple of yacht clubs about our experience on the race. 

Again. Thanks to everyone for such an amazing experience. 

Travis

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

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