Here you will find tales of voyages past and present on our trusty Pacific Seacraft Dana 24, "Sockdolager," and our Bigfoot29 powerboat, "Raven," from Port Townsend, Washington, USA. In 2009 we sailed north from Puget Sound up the west coast of Vancouver Island to the Queen Charlotte Islands (now called Haida Gwaii.) In 2010 we went back to the west coast of Vancouver Island. In July 2011 we left the Northwest, sailed to Mexico, and in March 2012 we crossed the Pacific to French Polynesia, then on to the Cooks, Niue and Tonga. We spent several months in New Zealand, and in May 2013 loaded Sockdolager (and ourselves) on a container ship for San Francisco. In June and July 2013 we sailed north along the California, Oregon and Washington coasts, and in August we arrived home. In October 2016, Sockdolager found new owners, and we began cruising on Raven, a unique wooden 29' powerboat. In 2018 we cruised up to Glacier Bay, Alaska, and back. But in 2024 we had the chance to buy Sockdolager back (we missed her), so we sold Raven. We hope you enjoy reading about our adventures as much as we enjoy having them. (And there will be more.)



Tuesday, March 27, 2012

We've Turned South

Pacific Crossing, Day 15: After a rainy night and a majestic, sunny morning we scooted at 6-8 knots before a 25-30 knot wind from the East-Southeast, in big confused seas to 12 feet. Watching this little boat thread a path among watery hills and canyons, we both agreed that a sailboat's a pretty amazing machine, among all her other attributes. Good daily runs have been made so far; all but 2 days were over 100 miles, and the 2 exceptions were 91 and 95, so all in all we feel pretty good if not a bit weary of the constant big motion. And we love our little boat with its big heart!

At about 7N 127W in late morning, we turned south, to get into position for crossing the ITCZ's axis. The ESE wind (it's supposed to be NE) means our course is a beam reach at best, and very bouncy. We want to have a good angle on the SE Trade Winds, and going too far west would mean possibly beating into the wind all the way to the Marquesas, something we'd rather not do. So the spray's a'flyin for now! When we cross the Equator perhaps we can ease the sheets a bit for the long home stretch.

Short post today, too rough to type and then correct all the motion-induced mistakes.

Sent via Ham radio

No comments:

Post a Comment