We did it! So picture the boat on its side in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Richard standing on the side (clipped-in), armed with a carbon mainsail batten and yours truly driving the boat to balance it on its side, just as the wind hit 18 knots accompanied by big swells. It was way…
After rain squall piled upon rain squall, refreshing but very light breeze, we managed to catch a squall that had 22 knots of breeze in front of it and ride it for 45 minutes. We chose to sail low in front of it because jibing quickly is not an option with the the two of…
Both wind strength and wind direction have improved. The Q-scat chart that we downloaded shows more headed pressure ahead. That’s exactly what we are looking for. Fundamentally, we have 5 days to get to Honolulu to be inside the record. We are about 1375 nautical miles on a Great Circle distance from Honolulu. On a…
About six hours ago the wind started to lighten up on us. We downloaded some very recent satellite images and noticed that there must be a lightning effect from the cold front that went through. The wind direction has not changed and we seem to be pointed towards the better breeze. In the last 24…
Beautiful sailing in the trades with the wind holding up nicely. Now we’re entering the third part of the race: running to Honolulu in the trades. The race course is a mine field of squally clouds that build up in the late afternoon when the ocean is still warm and the air temperature cools down…
That’s sailing in the trades…
We are in the trades. Our two on-board barometers show us around the 1019 isobar and that is exactly where we want to be. Those two barometers are a Vetus recording barometer and the Suunto watch that I wear on the wrist. They are carefully calibrated and together give us an objective assessment of the…
All is well this morning on-board the good ship Pegasus. The night sky was incomparable. First, with the moon and Venus on our bow, then as they set in the West, Jupiter guided us for a while even matching that 15 degree right shift in the wind in her walk down to the West. Yes,…
We found the trade winds High five! Now we’re going with 12 knots of wind, the kite and staysail up, and 10.5 knots of boat speed, pointing straight at Honolulu. The nice trade wind cotton puffy clouds are unmistakable. We’re pushing the boat hard and the reports are going to get shorter. It gets pretty…
We are roaming around 26N 126W and we like it. We call it our lucky number 26! With just the two of us 24 by 7 in a confined space the size of your kitchen table, we’re an easy audience. Take a look at the 48 hour surface analysis that our friends at NOAA just…
Everything malfunctions, it’s all good! This morning about everything that could fail failed. Not the sailing part. That always works. And we were down to the sails and the good old compass. That actually felt good. Richard is one of the great dinghy sailors and I sail mostly dinghies these days. So we were back…
Half of the night was spent drifting. Our 24 hour run was just 135 nautical miles. We probably skirted the high too close. I’m no rock-star navigator, sorry Richard! Now we’re back sailing with a bit more speed: 8 knots heading 200 degrees. It feels like a hurricane! Speaking of which, the one that we…
The wind vanished. Gone. For several hours we were becalmed, making sail changes, climbing the mast, seeking the puffs. And now the wind is back. Light, but it is back. This is going to be a short 24 hour run on miles but a critical one in terms of positioning. Richard is a fantastic light…
We’re happy: we entered the ridge of high pressure that extends to the southwest of the Pacific High and we seem to have a good angle. For a few hours we had very little wind, did about 5 sail changes and now are settled into a 9 knot northwesterly. We’ve seen big right handers, all…
The mighty Pegasus performed well in the last 24 hours: our 6 am position yesterday was 32-58 N, 119-20 W. This morning at 6 am we were at 28-35N, 122-39 W. A simple spherical geometry calculation gives us a great circle distance of 312 nautical miles at a course of 214 degrees true. That’s a…
As I hopped on deck at Twilight, there was brand new sliver of moon to the West together with Venus on one side and Jupiter opposite. Spectacular and a great opportunity to take one of the 4 mandatory sights. I’ll catch a quick snooze while Richard watches over everything. In a few hours, it will…
This boat is wet, wild and fast. She comes alive in 18 knots or more and then flies. But she’s really wet. Very wet. Check out the pictures. When it looks wet in the pictures, you know that it was wet! As the sun comes down, the wind pulled back from low twenties to low…
This morning we know that we paid a high price to get South. In fact the position reports seem to show that we are to the left of most of the fleet. To get there, we’ve lost a considerable amount of distance. Now we must make it up by sailing fast. The conditions are perfect,…
4 am, pitch black the wind built to 14 knots and then died, and then built again. Double handed is great fun. Richard is sleeping tight, and I get to play with everything on the boat. When the wind dies, boards up induces leeward heel with the keel, trim, run to the bow to see…
The race-start was very confusing in light winds. Lots of boats with a full Catalina Eddy going. We started in 7 knots coming from 140 deg with the line set square to the course to Hawaii which is 247, the port side of the line was so favored that the whole fleet pretty much started…
That’s all that we can be sure of this morning: Go West! Most models point to the North, with some uncertainty: Two days upwind in 20 to 30 knots and big seas, then a nice run to Honolulu. Forecasters and models agree with first waypoints around: Latitude 31.30 N and longitude 125.00W. The good news…
Last minute preparations. With how busy we’ve been at Fullpower, a lot of things are pushed to the last moments. We were laughing that all the other race boats were all tidied up and everyone was tucked in bed while we are burning the midnight oil. Our watch system started 24 hours ago! In the mean…
Now it’s a bit of a game of chicken: There are two tropical depressions active in the eastern Pacific (See the chart). Both of these systems are forecast to strengthen into Tropical Storms in the next 24 hours. The first one, TD5 will likely weaken after 28 hours, while the second one, TD6 is likely to continue strengthening to…
Choices, choices: Looking at the chart today, the great circle route crosses both a high and a low… And anything in between. That’s when you think about the deer crossing the road: When you drive, you aim at “where the dear came from”. That of course works unless the deer is caught in the headlights.…
All is good with the Pegasus. Except for the electronics. In the last couple of days we found challenges in interfacing our computers to the real-time sensor network that gives us wind, speed and position information. So I’ve been a bit hand’s on trying to fix this one and let Richard focus on the preparation…