Delivery crew update

Update from Dave, somewhere between Hawaii and Astoria!

Date: July 28, 2010 6:01:00 PM 

Hi everyone. The wind has gone very light at 6-8 knots true from 145deg. Our heading is 024T. So at least we have a little angle to work the chute. Stephen has been trimming for a couple of hours, sitting in the shade of the main and working hard to keep the boat moving. Riva's speed is close or better than the apparent wind speed, but still only averaging 5.5-6 knots. We got the commander weather! Thanks Scott. It confirmed for us that we had the correct strategy to head for the 40/150 position and then get new info for the next major decision. We motored all night at 6 knots and this morning the wind increased to 6-8. We set the gennaker and finally are making decent progress. Fuel conservation is very important. We need two days at least to get across the dead air zone which should begin at 40N and extend up to 45/46N. Hopefully we can have some fully charged low pressures to accelerate us to the finish at the Columbia River (Cape Disappointment). I don't think the crew will be disappointed at all. It is cool that they now watch the instruments and the ocean. Scott is talking to the spinnaker trimmer about whitecaps and wind angles. They are trying to get the most out of the light wind and are doing a good job of it. We are not fishing due to the 4 pounds of fish we already have in the fridge. Something severed our lure with the steel leader. I assume it had sharp teeth because the cut on the steel was pretty clean.

How is the blog going? We have been getting emails that say there is nothing on it. Scott, do you want me to post directly to it? I definitely have the time. Mary is forwarding all our emails to friends everywhere which is very cool. Everything is working fine. Autopilot is great and keeps us on perfect track. Stephen wants to break out the racing chutes (that's Stephen for you) but the gennaker is doing great and I see no need for complicating matters with only a couple of us that really know how to set/control/take down a full spinnaker when the conditions become gnarly. The reefer went up to 38 deg and we found that the thermostat had dropped out. It's back in, but the plate temp had gone down to -18 in the meantime. It's still recovering 2 hrs later.

The wind picked up at 1100 to about 10-12knots True from with an AWA of 115 deg. Boat speed now at 7.5-9.5.

Our 3pm hst position is 32 10 by 154 57.

Captain and Commander Dave out.

Today has been a frustrating day because of the lack of wind. Stephen has put his whole day and night into the chute to keep the boat moving, it seems to be working, we'll look up at the gauges and often see boat speeds above the apparent wind speed! Fortunately the weather is great, we are trying to get under some clouds for much needed shade. Spirits are high but everyone is tired. Keeping our fingers crossed for more wind! That's all for now, miss you all, see you soon!

Signing out Scott


Aloha world!!  We have managed to get some exercise by pumping the geneker, and i am learning more an more everyday!  I am having a blast just cruising out here with the boys, and have completely settled into this relaxing lifestyle.  Hope everyone is healthy an happy and we'll see you soon!  

Cheers, Ryan

The wind just now picked up and we are moving at about 8 or 9 knots with Stevieboy on the spinnaker. The weather is really sunny and very hot, so we made a little fort with bed sheets to protect us from those harmful rays. There are whitecaps now and we are starting to move faster as I type. Other than all of that, we've just been playing cards and messing around. Lets see if we can break our current speed record for this trip (currently 9.9 I think). I hope everyone is having a good time. See you guys soon!

Singing out Greg