Day 11: In port tomorrow?

We had a speedy night sailing along at over 8 knots in pitch dark overcast
skies. The temperatures are still mild and the sailing is as good as it
gets. It's still overcast this morning but the wind has continued to hold
fair and we're only 190nm out of Santa Cruz. The GPS has us arriving
tomorrow morning. Everyone is looking forward to getting off the boat and
heading where ever they need to go. Myself and several others are heading
to Hawaii to join family and enjoy a few days in paradise. Hopefully
tomorrow will be our last post.
Jay

Day 10: Another day heading home

The day started with the sun coming up around curtains of fog and mist. The
affect was dramatic as we sailed along in patches of bright blue water and a
rainbow following along behind us in the mist.
We had a nice day sailing along as we have been since we turned around -
plenty of wind and 2-3 foot seas.
Still looks like we'll be in Santa Cruz on Monday.

Small correction

Bugs' comment in the previous post about our decision to turn around that
"everyone agreed it was the right thing to do" was a bit overstated. I did
not agree with this decision and argued against it.
Jay

Day 9 - continuing home

We continue to sail upwind in 10-15 knots of breeze and relatively smooth
1-2 foot seas with occasional swells. Today is a bit overcast, but the sun
makes appearances now and again, warming up the cool temperatures. We've
gone another 140nm towards California and our best estimate has us landing
at Santa Barbara sometime Monday morning.
Jay

Day 8 - progress home

Since turning around we've had great winds of 10-15 knots, though they're
directly on our nose so we have to tack back and forth to make progress
towards California. In the last twenty four hours we've made 120nm, pretty
good for an upwind passage. All is well on board and we're enjoying the
sailing.
Jay

Day 7 - We turn for home - Bugs

Wednesday began with concerns that we had covered too little ground in the
first six days. Last night we broke through a cold front coming down from
the north, and there was no wind behind it. By morning, still moving slowly
in light air, we realized that decision time was upon us.

Fact: We have come about 775 miles in seven days, an extremely slow rate of
progress. The High that entrapped us makes any thought of a prize silly.
Fact: there are still almost 1450 nautical miles to go (about 1650 land
miles - like New York to Denver?). At any reasonable assumption based on the
weather maps, this will mean sailing for another eight to ten days, or more.
Fact: We have full food rations for only six days, including today. We have
emergency food for four days. To have a margin of safety, we would need to
put the crew on reduced rations to continue. Fact: We are carrying enough
fuel to make our fresh water and run our electric systems, with a reserve
for motring under power, for a bit over ten days.

So we had to recognize that any really competetive racing had disappeared in
the slow days of near-drifting in the High. If we contintue, it will be
somewhat pointless, and carry a risk that we could get ourselves in trouble
with food, fuel, or water.

"Sail fast, be safe, have fun," is how co-skipper Bill Hubbard said it.
"We're not sailing fast, it wouldn't be safe to continue, and it won't be
fun to go hungry or thirsty to finish at the tail end of the fleet."

So at 1625 today (Wednesday) we turned the boat around, called the Race
Committee on the high frequency radio, and notified them that we withdrew
from the race. Nobody was happy about the decision, but everybody agreed it
was the right thing to do. There's always 2009!

There are two possible ports to return to. The better one is San Francisco,
the boat's home port. But the wind patterns may be too directly against us
to make that practical. If so, we will head for Santa Barbara. Either way,
we expect some rugged days in 25-knot wind before we are home. Perhaps five
days to port -- arriving Monday -- is a reasonable guess at a return date.
Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, we have already rejiggered the boat for cruising. Most of the
highest-tech racing gear is put away, bunks have been rearranged, and
thoughts of food rationing have been gleefuly abandoned.

Bugs

Day 6: Still slow going, and going, and going...

To recap, we got off to a great start and had two great days of racing. The
weather forecast for the third day showed the area of high pressure (the
"High", where winds are light, and so should be avoided at all cost)
currently in the fleet's path was moving NW, out of our track - clearing the
way down to Hawaii. The reality of day 3 was that the High slowed down,
started expanding, and we, with a number of other boats, became trapped in
it. We continued south as that was still the fasted way out of the High and
to the breeze at its edge.
On day 4 and day 5, the High had still not moved off and we stayed stuck in
the middle, still trying to get south of it. The High had become stationary
and so trying to get further south still looked like our best bet.
Today, day 6, the High was supposed to be dissipating, and a cold front was
pushing down from the north. Now our quickest escape was to head north,
towards the front, which would be pushing the High south as it dissipated,
helping us get out quicker than if we were to continue south. So we set
sail to the north, in hopes of escaping what had become our real adversery,
the High that had held us for days.
We had another beautiful, sunny day, with better wind than the day before.
Though we had periods of light or no wind, we had decent breeze for most of
the afternoon. As the evening drew near, we contacted the initial edge of
the cold front, as evidenced by a few rain showers in the area. The winds
soon died, as they sometimes do around sunset, and we struggled to make
further progress.
After dark, we were treated to a clear, bright Milky Way, with a far number
of meteors providing additional entertainment. Progress was slow but
measurable throughout the night. Around 5AM, we sailed through the cold
front, where the winds were light, but the rain heavy. As the temperature
is balmy at this lattitude, the rain was actually more welcome than not, and
within minutes, we popped out of the other side of the front, in clear
skies, smooth waters, and unfortunately, light winds.
We covered just under 100 nautical miles today. We continue to download the
latest weather information and will soon find out if our northerly strategy
will pay off. Till then, like that pink bunny, we'll keep going, and going,
and going...
Jay