Passage from Hawaii to California, Day 10

S/V Samadhi V - Passage from Hawaii to California, Day 10

Date: 9 August 2009 2000 UTC (1200 Samadhi Time)
Distance sailed in last 24 hours: 170 nm
Distance to Half Moon Bay: 877 nm
Latitude: 39 12.464 N
Longitude: 140 59.875 W
COG: 075M
SOG: 7.8 kts under sail
Wind: 15 kts SW
Seas: 2 ft W swell, 2 ft SW wind waves
Weather: 90% Cloud Cover
Barometric Pressure: 1024.8, falling
Sea Temperature: 72 F

Samadhi is once again rolling along under a full press of sail! Unfortunately the skies have darkened to overcast gloom (although the un has started peaking through in the last half hour), and the air temperature is downright chilly--surely under the influence of the suddenly lower sea surface temp. We feel like we have crossed an invisible line from "Tropical" to "Pacific Northwest" weather overnight. Cooler temps aside, we are happy to be sailing once more, and no longer listening to the engine.

The mild wind has moved aft of the beam, and we are sailing on a broad reach. These conditions have us sliding down the seas like a winter pedestrian who discovers the sidewalk on the hill is covered with ice. Our speeds have varied from the 5 to 9 knots, with a lot of time spent 6.5 to 8. There have been a lot of small squalls that, so far, we have managed to avoid. Each time a squall passes by, our wind changes which leads to the variation in our speed.

The weather is changing rapidly on a larger scale, with the Pacific High shifting in response to a storm coming down from Alaska. Kelly's father Pat has upped his weather forecasting to twice daily due to the changing conditions. So far, it looks like we are still on the "right track" and no course changes are warranted.

Morning found us digging through our stored clothing, looking for the sweaters and long underwear we haven't worn in two years. If this weather keeps up, I expect we'll be spending a lot of our time wearing our foul weather gear (which is warm and fleece lined). All we're missing at this point is fog. We haven't sailed in heavy fog since we left California--not that we missed it!

The cold has gotten us in a bread baking mood (after all, the oven heats up the boat), and Phillip's already got the dough rising. Phillip also put on some Gordon Bok to get into the "sailing in cold places" mindset. The coast may be the wrong one, but the feeling's the same!

Yesterday afternoon, we spotted the first of what we think are albatross, a sleek bird with an incredible, double-jointed wingspan, dipping low in the wave troughs and then circling around to do it again. It was fascinating watching the bird circle around, skimming over the seas, seemingly never flapping it's wings. There have been a few more this morning.

We did an inventory yesterday to check how much fuel we have onboard, and determined we have used about half of our 200 gallons of diesel. We also have lots of water onboard... and NO shortage of food. People often ask us what we do for food on long passages. We have never had an issue in the dining department. I think we gain weight with every long trip at sea.

Kelly's mom Kathy is rumored to have something in the works for a homecoming celebration a week from today. You're sure to hear more on that soon. There'll also be at least a few folks who come down to the harbor to meet Samadhi when she docks. That will be a bit harder to schedule, but as we get closer we should be able to pin it down. We'll plan to go somewhere local (like Barbara's) for refreshments after. Just don't expect us to step out of our foulies to go somewhere too nice! Brrrrrr!