Day 13: Almost There

August 23, 2010
15:11 HST (01:11 UTC August 24)
Lat: 45 04.4 North
Lon 134 22.2 West
Distance to go: 500 nautical Miles

Well, I'm back. Now that you have heard from the rest of the crew, I'm back on the job as the Capaz Blogger for the Hawaii to Victoria BC leg. It has been a pretty typical 24 hours. Yesterday, was beautiful as we motor sailed in light winds. We had Fish for dinner, again. Randy whipped up another one of his fabulous meals. And, again, we watched a few more episodes of "The Big Bang Theory". The joke is that we have to check in on how Penny is doing. Jorge (the autopilot) has no problem steering in motoring conditions, so our watches were very routine. I'm not sure how the rest of the guys spend their watch, but with the cooler weather I stayed below for the most part and monitored the radar and AIS all the while watching 2 episodes of Stargate SG1. It's a tough existence out here, the intrepid sailors braving the harsh seas, but someone has to do it.

This morning, we unrolled the headsail and put up the main to do a bit of motorsailing. The wind picked up out of the south, enough so that we hoisted the spinnaker. We have been flying that sail for the last 5 hours, but the wind is starting to dwindle and the crew is dousing even as I type. So, the chute comes down (live play by play). I will go check the engine room look at the oil level and then start the engine for some motoring. So hang on a moment, while I go do that. Be right back...............I'm back. I checked the oil and asked the guys to do a line check to make sure we didn't have a spinnaker sheet or other line in the water. Wouldn't want to wrap a line around the prop:  that would be bad.

I cooked up some eggs and bacon and put them in a wrap with some cheese for breakfast. We all fended for ourselves for lunch. With the spinnaker up it was nice to play the stereo and hang out in the cockpit. After lunch we watched a movie, "Michael Clayton", which we all enjoyed. Tonight I'm sure we will watch some more Big Bang Theory and the process will start all over again.

The day before yesterday our friend Andrew set sail an Mulan from Hawaii also bound for the Pacific Northwest. Andrew had planned to leave about the same time as we did, but got stuck waiting for an engine part. It was good to touch base with him on the SSB last night to get a report. It sounded as though all was well aboard Mulan as they sailed north from Hawaii.

I really don't have any more news for today. It looks like we should be in Victoria late Thursday evening or early Friday morning, but time will tell.

Cheers!

Brad