Hello, Philippe uses MotionX-GPS on the iPhone 3G and is sharing with you the following waypoint: Name: Start day 7 Date: Jul 11, 2009 1:26 pm Notes: Jul 11, 2009 1:00 pm Location: Latitude: 24º 28′ 40″ N Longitude: 149º 52′ 15″ W Altitude: 0 ft Click on this link to display the waypoint in…
Jibe and Sunset Squalls at Sunset
Trade Winds, Squalls, and Surfing! Tradewind sailing with building squalls, pointing right to Diamond Head
Today we are living within the realm of Squalls. Squalls in the the Northeast sub-tropical Pacific are a bit different. They are small, concentrated and powerful. The rain lasts about 20 minutes under them if you’re stationary. We’re not. I love squalls in Honolulu: refreshing, cleansing and replenishing for island precious water. On Pegasus 50,…
Windy tonight. On edge and don’t trust the pilot on 20+ and big waves. No horizon. Been steering for 3 hours. Crusty is sound asleep. I can’t believe that he trusts me!
The Sun is back, just to set in a glorious way. Explosive! Now into the dark night.
Pegasus has been chewing up the miles and we are very lucky for that. Our last two days were 305 and 295 nautical miles respectfully. We like our heading with a lot of West and a bit of South in it, averaging about 255 true. Tactically and strategically we’re able to achieve our goals. However,…
We are clearly entering the realm of the tradewinds. The natural path to Hawaii and it’s rich seafarer’s culture. The ancient Hawaians were voyaging and navigating thousand of nautical miles in the Pacific ocean while the West was lost in endless gyrations. As we approach the gateway to Polynesia, we must show respect. 2 AM…
Tactically and strategically, we feel that we are far enough south, sitting on the 1018 isobar, hunting for that elusive 1020 and sticking to it. When we eventually find it, and when the shift is right, we’ll start jybing and surfing our way to Honolulu. After the full night’s shift I finally got 4 hours…
A quiet and relatively slow night. Around 10 PM it became clear that the wind was backing off and that we were entering the “Pacific High doldrums ridging zone”. That means large oscillations and significant wind speed changes. These conditions don’t wear you out physically, but they do mentally. In fact it’s all about patience.…
After we licked our wounds, we made sail changes all day. With just the two of us and a lot of sail area, each change is a major project. Therefore, we think before we act, and we triple check everything. The one who’s steering watches for the one who’s on the fore-deck. I took that…
Mark and I split the night. I stood watch until 2 am, Mark took over until sunrise. We are both wet, cold, battered by waves, yet happy as can be: We sailed fast and smart. At one in the morning we put up the big Genoa, cracked the sheets and stood on 14 to 16…
We are getting ready for a wild and wet night. Now the wind is gusting to 25 knots and the seas have grown to 9 feet. Check out this picture taken from the nav station.
Right before the start, one hour on our way, our hydraulics failed. That’s the system that helps cant the keel. It’s a must have. Our shore team hustled and made miracles happen. They had just 50 minutes because 10 minutes before the start they have to be off the boat with Crusty and I the…
The start is at 1PM PST. We leave the dock at 10:30 AM so that we get there in ample time. Our last moment decisions will be which sails to take or not to take. The rule goes: “If we don’t take them, we’ll need them, if we take them we will not need them”.…
On-board all of our equipment is state of the art. MotionX-GPS will pin-point our position accurately and reliably from the Start to the finish at Diamond Head. Yet one of the most important pieces of equipment on-board is my trusted 1979 Tamaya Sextant. For tradition’s sake (a good thing), the Transpac race organizers wants each boat to…
Pegasus 50 is at the dock right by the gigantic 100 footer Alfa Romeo crewed by over 20 seasoned professionals. We look good right there. Our goal is to get there within 72 hours of Alfa Romeo. Now it is time for the last minute preparations. We’ll take the boat for a quick sail and…
While the North Eastern Pacific weather settles nicely, the team is putting the finishing touches to Pegasus 50. We could have a fast race. The record is a possibility. It may be windy. Preparation is all the more important. Now we must make sure that all systems are a go. This is a very advanced…
Now we are running routes and the different forecasting models are very different as you can see from the chart. Wildly different. In fact I don’t believe any of them. The great news is that the weather on the Pacific is settling. The upper level blockages are dissipating and we may be in for a…