After 21 days and 21 hours at sea, at 2:30 pm we sailed in to Newport Harbor in spectacular fashion! We had two boats with family and friends, including my wife Dawn, cheering us on, honking horns and yelling greetings!. It felt so good to see so many that cared about us and wanted us to be warmly welcomed home from this journey.

Earlier in the day we were escorted by 100s of dolphins swimming around our boat, and even had a visit by a couple of humpback whales!

It was a clear and beautiful day. We could see San Clemente and Catalina islands. We had perfect wind at 10 to 12 knots as we sailed into beautiful Newport Harbor. It was truly a magical day!

For now I am going to keep it short, I am exhausted. I will write up a summary of our trip in a couple of days. Thanks for following us and for all your encouragement. It means more than you know!!

So I am trying to get my mind around this one. It’s been 3 weeks since we left Nuku Hiva, and right now we have Ensenada 20 miles off our starboard side.  In some ways it was an incredibly long 3 weeks, but now its hard to believe its coming to and end. 

I was telling my crew, Dean, Luke and Mateo, what an awesome job they all did.  Everyone had a great attitude, we never got on each other’s nerves and each person gave it 100%. I could not ask for more from a crew. As Luke and Mateo were laying down tonight, they each said how much they will miss this.  It has truly been an epic adventure for these two young men. They have really grown in their knowledge and sailing abilities. I am super proud of both of them.

Dean has been the rock of our team.  Always levelheaded, never complains, no matter how tough it gets, and he just gets the job done.  I am SO grateful for Dean!

We had a great night sailing last night and this morning with 10 to 12 knots of wind on a close reach.  When I woke up this morning we were greeted by a pod of dolphins.  Dolphins always bring joy when they show up!

This afternoon, as forecasted, the wind began to climb into the low 20 knot range. Fortunately, the seas were not big, so we put two reefs in the mainsail and 3 in the jib, and we were fine. As we are approaching land tonight, the wind has gone back down to 10 to 12 knots, and we have full sails up again.

Being closer to land we have the benefit of having less wind than what is happening offshore (gale force in some places) but now we must really be alert with all the boat traffic and obstacles that are along the coast.   We have spent most of our time in the wide-open ocean and have not had to worry much about obstacles. So we have our charts up and radar on, we should be good to go.

We covered 144 miles since yesterday, and we have just over 100 miles to go.  This should put us into Newport Harbor in the late afternoon or early evening tomorrow.  It is going to be surreal for me, the end of an epic 8 month adventure.  But I am so looking forward to seeing my family and friends. Oh, and to walk on LAND! 

We finally saw land today after 20 days at sea.  As the sun rose this morning we saw Guadalupe Island off in the distance.  We spent the entire day sailing past this remote island that is located 150 miles off the coast of Baja. I know, it was just an island, but it was still land and it was a beautiful sight!

We motored most of last night until 4 am when we got enough wind to start sailing.  The wind lasted till about 10 am, then it died, so back on went the motor.  I don’t think we saw wind over 5 knots the rest of the day.  It is like a big lake out here!

Since we have been running the engine so much, we needed to transfer fuel from the jerry cans we have stored on the cabin top into our main fuel tank.  It’s a bit of a process using a small 12 volt pump and a siphon hose.  It took us about 2 hours to transfer 50 gallons of diesel, but we got it done.

The wind is going to stay light until tomorrow afternoon when it is forecasted to start increasing.  It’s supposed to peak at over 20 knots.  We are currently sailing the boat towards Ensenada to get closer to shore where the wind should be lighter. 

We covered 140 miles yesterday, most of that under power.  We have just under 300 miles to go, so we should arrive in Newport late on Tuesday night.  We will see what this weather actually brings us...

I was reflecting today on some of the things this voyage has taught me.  High on the list is patience.  We live in such a fast-paced world, always going places and moving fast.  On this passage, we are going to spend over 3 weeks covering 3,000 miles of ocean, averaging about 7.5 miles an hour.  A passenger jet does this same route in 6 hours.  If your drove a car this distance (yes, on land) you could do it in 5 days if you hustled.  So going this slow means you must down shift, hard.  I can’t say that I am good at this.  I just want to get it done. But you have no choice on a sailboat.  You are just going slow. 140 miles a day.  Day in.  Day out.  But you do make progress.  And you learn that each day has its own beauty.  I don’t think I’ll ever do a passage this long again, but I am so grateful I got to do this one and see every inch of 3,000 miles of seemingly endless ocean. Crazy.

Everyone on board is doing really well. We have become quite the team. I am so thankful that my crew is easy going, eager to learn and to help with whatever needs to be done on the boat. We are excited to be near home, but also sad to be at the end of a great adventure. We have all enjoyed out time together and we will miss it.

Today was 19 days at sea for me.  This is now my longest passage in days.  The sail to the Marquesas was 18 days.  And this one is not over yet, it is looking like it will take 22 days.  Why longer this time? We are going mostly upwind and against the currents.  This makes our average speed much lower.  This was expected.  In my original passage plan I estimated this to take 25 days, or week more that the sail down.

Today was another beautiful sunny day, but not much wind.  The little wind we did get was coming directly from the north, which is where we need to be heading to get home.  Sail boats can’t go directly into the wind, so going north was not an option.  The highest we can point towards the wind is about 40 degrees to one side or the other. That meant if we sailed today, we would have been 40 degrees off course.  Not a good option when you are trying to get home. Plus the wind was so light we could only sail at 3 or 4 knots, so on came the engine.  Again.

I took some time to teach Luke and Mateo about upwind sailing and how to optimize our speed.  First they had to learn about vectors! If we try to go straight into the wind, our speed would be zero, we just can’t do that.  As we turn away for the wind, and the wind starts to fill our sails, we start to move.  The more we turn away from the wind, the faster the boat will go. Until we reach 90 degrees to the wind. Then we are going very fast, but make no progress towards our goal since we are now at right angles to our intended course.

So how to we figure out what is the best angle to sail to that provides us good speed and still keeps us moving upwind towards our goal? The number we look at is called Velocity Made Good (VMG), which is a calculation our instruments make to tell us how fast the boat is moving upwind, even though we are not pointed exactly in that direction.  I took out my pad of paper and demonstrated  some vectors and geometry on how this is calculated.  It is a bit sophisticated, but also a good lesson in math and navigation!

Sailing is a great way to see geometry in action. From general navigation to things like VMG.  It made Luke and Mateo wish they had paid more attention that 8^th grade geometry class.  Sailing would be an awesome way to get kids excited about what is an otherwise boring subject!

We enjoyed a beautiful sunset that filled the sky with orange and it kept us mesmerized for a good 30 minutes as we ate another dinner prepared by chef Luke.

We had a clam enough night that we watched another movie in the cockpit.  I think this is the 3^rd movie on this passage.  On the sail down to the Marquesas we never watched any movies.  That tells you how much smoother this passage has been. And this passage was supposed be rougher! So grateful it is not!

We will most likely continue to motor until tomorrow afternoon, when the wind is supposed to fill in from the northwest.  I hope so.  I appreciate the engine, but would much rather be sailing!

We reached a couple of milestones today.  First, we crossed the 500 mile mark, which is huge! Normally I sail much shorter passages than 500 miles, more like 100 mile passages, so it is still a long way to go.  But compared to the 2,600 miles we have gone already, it seams short!

Second, we actually saw two ships, one this afternoon and one tonight. The ships were the first sign of human life we have seen outside of this boat since we left the Marquesas 18 days ago. We have been very much alone for most of this passage.

It was truly a beautiful day to be out sailing! We had clear blue skies and a nice cool breeze.  The cool wind was a nice change.  We all felt like we were experiencing fall weather instead of summer.  The wind was light at 8 to 10 knots, but we still managed to sail most of the day.  The sea state also remained calm which made things very comfortable on board.  I had my longest night’s sleep on this passage, 7 hours, which felt amazing.

The wind has been blowing out of the northeast which is very unusual for this part of the ocean.  Typically, the wind blows form the north or northwest, and usually in the 15 to 20 knot range.  So we feel very blessed to be sailing in these comfortable conditions.

The weather will be changing to a more typical pattern throughout the weekend, and then the wind will really pick up for our final day at sea, in the 20 to 25 knot range.  I am working with our weather router to position us with the best angle to the wind, and hopefully lighter winds and smaller seas, as we approach the California coast.  For right now, we are just continuing to sail directly north, knocking off chunks of latitude.

Here is a screenshot of our weather software, PredictWind showing our current wind conditions and what we are expecting on Monday.  The green and yellow areas show 10 to 15 knot winds, and red to dark red 20 to 25 knots.

I get weather updates twice daily that I review on my own, and then discuss with my weather router to find the best course for speed and comfort. I probably spend two hours each day reviewing the weather forecast, comparing it to what we are actually experiencing, and then doing ‘our best to prepare for the weather that is coming next. Its is a major topic of discussion onboard. 

The nice weather today gave us a chance to hang out in the cockpit and read, sail the boat, and walk around up on deck without getting splashed by waves. 

The clear night sky is filled with a half moon and lots of stars. And it is definitely getting a lot cooler.  For the first time in 8 months I have put on long pants!  We are all wearing jackets and beanies to keep warm.

We are all looking forward to making landfall.  Right now that is looking Tuesday afternoon. But that could change based on what the weather actually does.  We are eating well on board, but Luke and Mateo are having a lot of food fantasies, missing tacos and hamburgers!

All last night and all day long we ran the engine as we traveled through calm waters and light winds.  We expect these conditions to continue through tonight as well.  Tomorrow we may get some wind from the east, which is very unusual for around here.  The east wind is a result of the Santa Ana winds that are now blowing in Southern California.  If we do get east winds, it should make for some nice sailing conditions for a day or so.

I still do daily check ins with our weather router, John.  He is looking at the weather several days out when we expect the wind to pick back up again.  He is trying to head us to a waypoint that will give us the best angle to the wind as it picks back up on the last two days of our journey.

We spent the day getting some chores done around the boat since the seas were calm.  Dean swept up the floor in the cabin and cockpit. I worked with Luke and Mateo to move fuel from the jerry cans we have stored on the cabin top, down and into our fuel tank.

We still have plenty of fuel, we were just topping off our fuel tank while we have calm waters. We also took a hose and washed all the accumulated salt off our solar panels.  The panels were white with crusted salt.  With all the motoring we are doing we have plenty of power to make extra water to do this kind of thing.

With our chores done, we stopped the boat and went for an afternoon swim. The cloudy skies and lower water temperatures made it a bit cool out, but jumping in was refreshing and invigorating.  I had to encourage everyone to do it, but they all thanked me afterwards.  Honestly, it felt good just to be off the boat, even if it was just for a few minutes. Taking warm freshwater showers afterwards was an extra bonus!

We covered about 130 miles yesterday, and we have just over 600 to go.  The miles seem to be ticking off more slowly now that we are getting closer!  I have been keeping our speed down to just over 5 knots while we motor.  I normally don’t motor the boat this slowly, but it really saves a lot of fuel, and I am just not sure how much motoring its going to take to cover the final miles, so I am being very conservative.

I really do not like motoring, but I will admit, it is much better doing this through calm waters than sailing upwind in 20 knots and bashing into big waves.  So I am grateful for this time!

It is just crazy how quickly things at sea can change. One day it seems like you are on a watery hell, then the next day, heaven!  The sea truly does have many personalities that can take you to the lowest of lows, then back to the highest of highs.  And I will say, the highs definitely out weigh the experience of the lows.  That is why we are out here!

The sun came out, the seas calmed down and the wind blew gently all day.  We motored for the first couple of hours when I got up this morning, but then the wind came up to 10 knots, and we sailed the rest of day and into the evening. It was rejuvenating for all of us!

We took advantage of the calm and sunny day by getting caught up on rest, sailing the boat, taking our first shower in several days, and finishing our movie in the cockpit.  We had started watching Pirates of the Caribbean two nights ago when we got hit with strong winds that stopped the movie and lasted for the next day and a half.

After the movie the wind died down and we all watched the moon light sparking across the wavelets on the ocean as and the moon slowly set and the stars popped out.  A gorgeous end to a beautiful day!

We are still making slow progress, covering just 126 miles over the last 24 hours.  The current continues to push against us, slowing us down. But this was expected.  We are now 750 miles from Newport Beach.

The calm weather is expected to last until Friday or Saturday.  Then it could turn windy again for the last couple of days at sea.  We are trying to position the boat ahead of time to be at a good angle to the winds, or avoid them altogether.

I am coming at you a bit raw tonight.  And its not because of the election. The sea is wearing me down.  After being out here for over two weeks, as the waves and wind just constantly toss us about, its hard. And I get it is a PRIVILEGE to be out here doing this, and I am very grateful for it, but days like this are still very challenging and difficult.  Especially when you are tired.

I also know these are not even really tough conditions.  Sure the wind is blowing 20+ knots with 10 foot waves, but these are not storm condition. Not even close. It is not 40 knot winds with 25 foot waves that I know people have endured for days on end. I wonder how people and boats even make it through storms like that?

Plus we have Otto, tirelessly steering the boat for us, mile after mile, hour after hour.  Flawlessly. It is quite impressive really.  I think if we had to hand steer the boat. That would be exhausting as you are fully exposed to the elements, and constantly having to maneuver the boat through the waves and ever changing wind conditions.  Otto, MVP!!

So forgive me as I vent about what this is really like out here now.  The boat is constantly jerking, rolling and bouncing.  When moving about the boat you have to make calculated moves holding on for each step, solidly engaging your core so you are always braced.  When a wind gust hits, the boat shudders, then heels steeply to the port side and then you really have to hold on. And you never know when a gust will hit.  The worst part though is the slamming. As the boat drops off the back of a wave, the hull smacks the bottom with a loud CRACK that echo’s through the hull and rattles your bones.  The entire boat vibrates and shakes.  You truly wonder how the boat can take the constant slamming. I truly wonder how WE can take it.  The noise if deafening.  Oh yeah, and we have to try to sleep in this. And cook, and eat.  And sit on the toilet and not try to slide or bounce off.  It is a brutal core workout.

Everyone is getting a bit on edge as well.  Morale is still good, but you can see others getting frayed at the edges.  Except Dean.  He is always the same.  Never complains, always cheerful, just pushes on.  It is quite impressive really.  Luke is pretty good as well, he has been having the time of his life out here.  But he had to spend a couple of hours today sewing up a tear in the bunk that he sleeps in.  There is a piece of cloth that holds him in had ripped from his body slamming against it.  It was hard to stich for hours with a needle while the boat undulated.  Next he had to cook dinner.  Yep it was wearing him down. 

Mateo is having the toughest time though.  He was not feeling well all day and the constant noise really bothers him, which I get.  I think he is just a bit sea sick.  Given the movement of the boat it is totally understandable.

But we have HOPE!  We are making progress towards home, and the wind is supposed to be much lighter over the next couple of days.  Thank. You. God.  We have all been praying for this break!

We only managed to sail 118 miles today, a 5 knot average.  We just can’t go fast pounding into these waves, and we have a 1.5 knot current working against us, so that makes it harder.

Of course I knew this would be a difficult passage.  As I was sailing down wind to the Marquesas back in April, I would look back at the seas and think “I have to sail back AGAINST this!” But honestly, we have been blessed with much better conditions than I had expected on this voyage.  The pounding of the last couple of days was something I thought we would experience for most of the passage.  But we haven’t, and I a grateful for that.

This is a small price to pay for the adventure we got to experience.  It has been amazing, and i would not trade that for anything.  I would put up with two weeks of boat slamming if I needed to.

Meanwhile, back to all the exciting politics!

EPILOG: The wind did die down about midnight to a manageable 12 knots, and the seas as well.  Thank goodness!  I even got a solid 6 hours of sleep! This morning the seas have calmed even more, the wind is down to about 8 knots and the sun it out!  We have turned the engine on to make progress towards home

We achieved a couple of milestones today.  First, it has been two weeks since we have left the Marquesas.  In that two weeks we have covered over 2,200 miles and averaged 6.6 knots of boat speed.  Our second milestone is getting under 1,000 miles to Newport Beach.  Now 1,000 miles is still a LOT of miles, but in comparison to the entire voyage, it is just 1/3 of the total trip.  So I guess that makes it seem better??

These final 1,000 miles will be the hardest of our passage.  The wind will be primarily against us the entire way, and it could also bring some of the highest winds we have experienced so far.  On top of that, it is starting to get cooler already.  And its just going to get colder.  A lot colder.

Still, we are all in good spirits and we are very proud of our progress.  We have had some tough spots but we are working through them as a team and learning.

Both Luke and Mateo are developing quickly in their seamanship.  I am looking to them more and more to do their own problem solving and decision making instead of me telling them what to do.  And they are rising to occasion.

In other news, we did not break anything today! So that is a win. And I got 7 hours of straight sleep last night.  Everyone onboard slept well as the seas calmed down and the boat stopped making slamming noises.  I can’t tell you what a relief that is to have quiet on the boat again!

The seas and wind stayed calmer throughout the day.  The wind has been extremely fickle, with big fluctuations in speed and direction that started last night.  In a 20 minute time span we see the wind go from 10 knots of speed to 18, then back down to 10.  The directions also oscillates as much as 30 degrees.  As a result we have to pay attention to the sails and sail trim to keep the boat moving at a good pace.  We have set up Otto, the autopilot, to sail a specific angle to the wind.  So as the wind changes in direction, Otto will change the boats heading to adjust.  This means we are not sailing in a straight line.  But it does keep the wind at an optimal angle to the boat, so the boat sails faster than if we just had Otto steer to a specific heading.

It was smooth enough that we did another movie night in the cockpit, Pirates of the Caribbean – The curse of the Black Pearl.  We went all out and made some hot chocolate as well. Mid way through the movie we were disrupted when a small rain squall came rudely upon us.  The wind went from 11 knots to 22 knots in about 60 seconds.  We all scrambled to ease the sails and furl in the jib.  The squall soon passed, but then everyone was ready for bed.  I do the first watch, so I am still up.  Its during my watch that I write this blog.

We are still in the midst of the northeast Tradewinds and sailing a mostly northerly course on starboard tack (the wind on the right side of the boat).  As we get closer to the California coast over the next few days, the wind will shift more to the northwest.  At that point we will tack onto port (left side of the boat) and start heading a more easterly course towards Southern California.  This will be our first tack on to port.  We have been on starboard since we started the passage.  It will be strange to be heeling to the opposite side!

The winds are forecasted to be lighter over the next couple of days, which will give us some relief from the 15 to 20 knot headwinds we have been experiencing.  Once we are through the light winds it is forecasted to be stronger again.  But at least we will be close to home!

I had been thinking this was going to be a boring passage, but I guess not! Last night around 2 am, I woke up to the sound of the boat rushing through the water and heeling over more than normal.  I came up on deck and found Luke on watch.  The wind had picked up to 25 knots and the boat was getting overpowered with our double reefed main.  The extra speed and heeling this caused was making the motion onboard very uncomfortable, especially with the boat slamming into the oncoming 8 foot waves.

So, we decided to put in the third reef in the main sail, which makes it a tiny fraction of its original size.  In order to do a reef at night we needed everyone on deck, so I woke up Mateo and Dean and let them know to come on deck and help out.

With all the cloud cover, it was pitch black out.  I took over the wheel and turned off the autopilot so I could get the boat into the wind so the sail would drop down into it cover. Luke put on his lifejacket and safety harness and went up to the mast to help pull the sail down and secure the sail on its third reef point. Its all easy to do during daylight, but in the dark of the night with howling winds, it makes it orders of magnitude more difficult.

I turned on the engine, as I always do while putting in a reef, just in case I need the power for maneuvering the boat.  As the engine revved to life, I head the alternator belt squealing.  It had not done this before, and I did not want to burn up the belt, so I turned the engine key and shut off the alternator.  Diesels don’t need electricity to run like a gas engine, so the engine kept right on going, but the squeal from the belt had stopped.  I would need to dig into this later…

We all struggled a bit getting the sail down and secured, but eventually got it done.  The boat slowed down due to the smaller sail, and was much more comfortable.

Next I went to have a look at the alternator.  When I opened the engine cover, I could see the main bolt that holds the alternator on had snapped.  This caused the belt to go loose and thus the squealing.  It was now 2:30am, and I was just exhausted from all the repairs we had worked on during the day, and putting in the reef.  I debated on just dealing with it in the morning, but with the engine in its current state, I really could not run it.  The safest thing to do was to fix the engine, so we went to work.

Working in the engine compartment while the boat is bouncing through waves in the pitch dark of night, is not an easy task, and I was delighted to have Luke and Mateo assisting me.  Fortunately, I had a spare bolt of the right size.  It just took some digging to find it.  We got the old bolt off and the new one on and secured.  We did a test run on the engine and everything worked great.  Time to go back to bed!

I woke up in the morning and found the wind still in the high teens and low 20s.  But with the triple reefed main and reefed jib it made the motion of the boat bearable.  Luckily through the day the wind steadily dropped in to the mid-teens, which was actually lower than what was forecasted.  This was a first!

Around noon I went up on the deck of the boat to inspect everything and look for problems, and sure enough, I found another one.  Our Cunningham, which is a line we use to pull down the front of the sail when reefing, had a bent pin and was barely holding itself on.  Luke again assisted me.  We eased up on the Cunningham and removed the bent pin and connector. Luke was able to use some vice grips to get it straight enough to get it back on, which we did.  We secured everything so the pin would not t come loose again.

So why so much breakage lately? The wear and tear on the boat when sailing this many miles, especially over a rough ocean is more abusive that years of normal boat usage.  The jerking, pulling, rolling, bouncing, tugging, etc. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week takes it toll an all the moving parts.  Thus we do regular inspections, and hopefully find problems before they break, and get them fixed.  This is just life as it happens on a boat sailing across the ocean.

We only managed 118 miles today due to slowing the boat done for comfort, and the 3 hours we had to heave to for repairs.  Hopefully tomorrow we will do better.

Maybe tomorrow will be boring??

Well, my wish for a less eventful day today did not work out so well. The boat and crew are all doing fine, we just had a lot of work to do fixing broken parts. But we got it done!

About midnight last night the wind began to increase, and turned toward the northeast.  This signaled the end of the doldrums, so we shut off the engine and began sailing again.  There were a lot of squalls all around the boat, but we managed to stay out of their way. That is the nice thing about radar, the rain shows up as bright red on the screen, sometimes 10 miles out from us, so we can change our course so they slip on by us.

The wind stayed around 10 to 12 knots through most of the morning, but we were in some very confused seas with waves come from the north, and from the east. Then around 1 in the afternoon, the wind began to increase into the high teens, and then into the low 20 knot range.  We decided to put our third reef in the main sail.  The crew is now very good at getting this done, and we were sailing much more nicely with less heeling.

It was then that Luke noticed a part of the main sail that connects it to the mast had broken free.  The main sail is attached to sliding cars that go up and down the mast that are about 2 feet apart. With one broken this put even more load on the car above it and below it.  In this kind of wind it was just a question of time before more of them broke, so we needed to repair the busted one.

But how do you do a repair like this in 20 knots of wind and 8 foot waves with the boat bouncing everywhere?  You do what is called “heaving to”.  This maneuver is done by tacking the boat (turning it into the wind) so the wind is now coming from the opposite side of the boat.  But instead of releasing the jib and pulling it in on the other side as you do in a tack, you leave the jib so that it gets backwinded.  This forces the bow of the boat to turn away from the wind.  then We then ease the mainsail so there is very little wind pushing on it, and we turn the steering wheel to turn the boat back into the wind.  So the opposing forces of the backwinded jib trying to force the boat away from the wind is counter acted by the rudder trying to turn the boat back into the wind.  When you get it balanced just right, magic happens! The boat almost stops all movement and gently glides up and down the waves.  It is literally like a rest stop in the middle of the ocean!

In the photo below you can see the backwinded jib at the green arrow.  The broken mainsail slide on the red arrow, and the broken zipper on the sail bag at the blue arrow.

Once we were hove to we were able to get up on deck and start working on the repair to the main sail.  First we had to figure out why the sail pulled free. Once we did that it was then a fairly easy fix to put it back together.  We then fixed the zipper on the sail bag and got it secured.

I then did a check around the boat for any other problems and found this chafed line.  See below:

This was the line that controls the furler for our jib.  It was ready to break!  If it had broken we would have had a real mess on our hands, with the jib coming unfurled in strong winds and no way to contain it.  We were able to find the chafe point, fix it and run a brand new line.  We should be good to go!

We spent nearly 3 hours hove to doing on the repairs. Tomorrow will be a tough day as well with even more wind.  Then after that it should get lighter.  I hope.

The doldrums, that section of ocean dreaded by sailors. There is no wind and just a sky full of squalls.  This is where we find ourselves today.  You would think it would have been a boring day. Well, the last 24 hours have been anything BUT boring…

Last night as I came off my watch at 11pm, we were still sailing in southerly winds, but they were getting lighter.  All the forecasts showed we should not have any wind, yet we were still cruising along.  Still, we knew our epic ride north on the south winds were coming close to an end.

Mateo is on watch after me, so I gave him a debrief on what had happened on my watch.  Not much had changed for me, but I let him know changes would be coming.  I had also picked up some squall activity off in the distance on radar.  I let Mateo know to keep an eye on it and if the squalls got closer to wake me.

About an hour and a half later, Mateo come down and woke me from a dead sleep.  He said the wind had changed and that we were way off course.  I came up and saw that our course had changed to due west instead of north.  A light rain began to fall. Because we needed to get back on course, it meant we had to tack, so I asked Mateo to go up and release the preventer, which is an extra line that we use to secure our main sail and boom. It acts in the opposite direction of our main sheet and it serves two functions, one it keeps the boom from bouncing around when winds are light and seas are rollie, and it “prevents” the main sail and boom from swinging to the other side of the boat in the event were did an accidently gybe.  A gybe is where the wind moves from one side of the boat to the other, but from behind the boat.  A gybe is usually an easy maneuver when you are prepared, but if it happens by accident when you are not ready, it can be extremely violent, with the wind catching the main sail form behind, then slamming it with incredible speed all the way across to the opposite side of the boat. Accidental gybes are not fun and they can be powerful enough to cause significant damage to the boat.  Thus, the use of a “preventer”, which locks the boom and main sail to “prevent” this from happening.

We had to release the preventer so we could do a controlled tack, turning the boat into the wind (instead of away from the wind, a gybe) so we could put the sails on the other side of the boat.  Mateo was unable to release the preventer due to a knot that would not come undone.  As he struggled with the knot, the boat got hit by the approaching squall and suddenly we had 25 knots of wind and pouring rain.

The wind forced the boat over on its side, and the autopilot struggled to keep the boat under control.  When this happens, Otto just shuts off. So I ran back and grabbed the wheel as Mateo moved back into the cockpit.  Right as I took the wheel, it happened, the wind shifted 90 degrees, as can happen in a squall, and BAM, accidental gybe.  The full main sail got caught by 25 to 30 knots of wind.  The Preventer did not stand a chance against 800 square feet of sail suddenly full of 30 knots of wind, and the line just broke apart, allowing the boom and main sail to fly across to the other side of the boat with lightning speed. As the main sheet, which controls the end of the boom, came whipping across, it grabbed our chart plotter, the map we use to navigate, an ripped it right off of it mounts.

At this point, the rest of the crew had scrambled on deck to help. Rain was pelting in our faces as the boat swung 180 degrees the other direction.  I was trying  desperately to get my bearings, but it was pitch black out with sheets of rain in my face. 

Dean and Luke, rolled up our front jib sail so we would have one less sail to deal with in all this wind.  Once I was able to figure out where the wind was coming from, I was able to swing the boat back on course, turn on the engine, and engage the autopilot.  At this point the wind had mercifully died down and the rain had eased so things were getting easier.

We turned our attention to the all-important chart plotter that was in its protective case and dangling by several wires that connect it to all the systems on our boat (see wires in photo below).  We managed to open the case so we could disconnect all the wires and pull the chart plotter free.  It looked to be in fine condition, so we placed it in a safe place down below so we could deal with in the morning.

The south wind we had been running with for days was gone; there was no wind.  So we set a course and motored throughout the night.’

The next morning I found that one of the important data cables to the chart plotter had pulled apart.  Fortunately I had a spare.  I plugged the power cable in to test it, and it sprung to life, thank goodness!  The chart plotter is our main system for monitoring the boats progress and for viewing radar at night.  When Mateo saw the chart plotter dangling helplessly from its cables, he literally thought we were doomed and would not make it home.  It maybe an important piece of equipment, but we would still made it home fine in the event it had been damaged.

I put Luke and Mateo to work repairing the part of the mount that had broken when it was assaulted by the main sheet.  Once the repairs were completed and the mount back in it place, we reinstalled the chart plotter and connected all the cables.  It powered right now and is good as new!

With this job done and the calm seas all around us, we decided it was time to do our halfway home swim and take a plunge, 1,500 miles from land!  We dropped all our sails, stopped the boat and jumped in.  The water felt magnificent, and it was nice to just be OFF the boat!

The deep blue color of the crystal-clear ocean, over 10,000 feet deep, is impossible to describe.  We tried taking some photos as you can see below.  They don’t do it justice, but you can get an idea of the beauty of the water then enveloped us.

Once back on the boat, we started the engine again, as the wind was still very light.  We set our course then sat and watched an incredible sunset unfold before our eyes. It went on for about 30 minutes, getting more colorful and beautiful by the minute.  Directly behind us was a massive dark squall with streaks of rain filling the sea.  What a contrast this made to the colors of the sunset.  This place maybe dreaded by sailors for its lack of wind, but it makes up for it with magnificent beauty!

Hoping tomorrow is less eventful, We will continue to motor on until the NE Tradewinds reach us, sometime tomorrow afternoon.  Then we should be off and sailing again…

Today we achieved two major milestones, 10 days at sea, and over 1,600 miles sailed, so halfway home. It is crazy that we have sailed this far, but even MORE CRAZY that we still have 1,600 miles to go!  You get a whole new appreciation for the size, magnitude and magnificence of our ocean when you sail on top of it at 8.5 miles an hour instead of flying over it at 30,000 feet and 600 miles per hour!

We often reflect on the mariners that have gone long before us in much less sophisticated vessels. It was not long ago when sailing ships were lucky to go 4 knots instead of the 7 or 8 we do. And they did not have good charts or any real means of knowing reliably where they were.  Our boat would be a technological wonder to them.  We get comprehensive weather updates twice a day that include wind speed and direction, current speed and direction and rain forecasts, for up to 10 days in advance.  We have navigational equipment that can tell us exactly where we are on detailed charts within inches.   Our autopilot can steer the exact course we tell it to, optimizing our course for the forecasted winds and currents.  We make more fresh water than we can drink in a day with our desalination system, and our solar panels produce the energy to power all this equipment.  And if the wind dies, we have a reliable diesel engine that can push us along for days at a time to get through any calms. 

With Starlink we have high speed internet access that lets me do these blog posts and video calls with my wife, kids, and grandkids.  Geez, we have it EASY! I have total respect for those who went before us with none of these conveniences!

We had yet another great sailing day with 12 to 20 knots of wind from the south pushing us towards home.  We covered 187 miles in the last 24 hours, a 7.8 knot average. The sailing conditions were so nice we decided to turn off Otto, the autopilot, and hand steer for most of the afternoon.  This gave Luke and Mateo a great opportunity to get the feel for how to steer a boat like this in some fairly windy conditions.  They both are truly naturals and did a great job keeping us on course!

We are now 600 miles north of the equator, and normally we would be well into the northeast Tradewinds by this point.  Currently there are a couple of low pressure systems just north of us that are literally sucking us towards them. The hurricane season has just ended in the north Pacific.  Had we been here a couple of weeks earlier, these lows would have become tropical depressions, a tropical storm or even possibly a hurricane.  But this late in the season, the lows are safe and helping us move north, which is very unexpected and very nice! Here is a screen shot of the location of the lows from the NOAA National Hurricane Center.  We are located where the red dot is.

We still have not made it all the way through the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). Although we had much more settled weather today with steady winds and no squalls, we still have cloudy skies.  We won’t be on the other side of the ITCZ until we hit the northeast Tradewinds.  So, we are going to continue to ride this south wind till we get at the end of the road, which will be when the northeast trades reach us.  That could be tonight, tomorrow or even Saturday. When we do reach the northeast Tradewinds, the sailing will become much more challenging with the wind and waves coming more directly at us instead of form behind us.  So the last half of this trip will be much harder that the first half.

It was so nice out we even enjoyed another movie night out in the cockpit.  This time we went with a sailors favorite, Captain Ron. We all shared some good laughs while watching a movie about sailing while we were sailing…

After one of the most peaceful nights of our passage, (I slept nearly 6 hours straight!), our arrival to the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) was announced as the weather became unsettled.  Instead of partly cloudy skies with nice consistent winds, we ran into complete cloud cover, with rain squalls all around us.  The wind started to shift around and eventually completely died.  At noon we ran straight into our first rain squall with pouring rain, but thankfully only moderate winds. 

As the rain came down and the wind speed went up, I handed the helm over to Luke and asked him to captain and figure out how to navigate the boat through the wind and rain.  He and Mateo made quick work of getting the boat back on its feet and on course, while the rain pelted in their faces and bodies.  They were alive with excitement from the big change in weather and their responsibility for handling the boat.

We all enjoyed the down pour, and we broke out the soap and took fresh rainwater baths.  It was our first rain since we started, and it felt great to get several days of sweat and salt off of our bodies.  And it was nice for Patricia Ann to get a thorough washdown as well!

The ITCZ is the area where the weather systems from the northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere collide and cause everything from dead calm doldrums to boisterous squalls and windstorms.  We experienced most of this during the day.  When the wind turned northeast, I thought we had made it to the northeast Tradewinds, which would signify the start of our long upwind sail home.  But this did not last long…

The wind died on us, and we reluctantly turned on the engine to give us some speed for the first time during this crossing.  We sailed nearly 1,500 without any engine assist.  Fortunately, this did not last long either, and right after we had dinner, the winds come up again out of the south, and we were off sailing again on a broad reach in 12 to 14 knots of wind. Just like the night before. YES!

It is crazy, and a HUGE blessing that we are sailing downwind at over 7 degrees north latitude, nearly 400 miles north of the equator.  Typically we would be battling head winds during this time.  Based on the forecast, we could be experiencing these perfect sailing conditions for another day or even two.  BUT, given the fact we are in the ITCZ, most weather models cannot accurately predict what is going to happen.  So we will manage with whatever gets thrown at us!

All of us are doing well onboard, enjoying the nice sailing, telling stories, learning about seamanship and best of all, laughing…

Today would have been my dad’s 95^th birthday.  You are the reason I am out here, Dad, it is all your fault! Thanks for being my inspiration and mentor for our shared passion.   I know you are here with me…

The last 24 hours we have had some amazing sailing.  First, the seas have been calm, which is awesome; the boat is barely rocking. Second, we had ideal and consistent winds, 10 to 12 knots, right on our beam (90 degrees to the boat). Patricia Ann loves this, and just cruises at 8+ knots.  And last, we had 1 to 1.5 knots of current with us, pushing towards home! This combination of conditions enabled us to sail 210 miles in 24 hours, the most we have done on this entire voyage.  The current was definitely cheating, but I will take it!

We all had our best nights sleep as well last night with little boat movement and minimal heeling.  It was better than many nights I have had at anchor, and much needed!

As an added bonus, Luke spotted dolphins AGAIN!  For the second time this crossing.  This is amazing to because on the sail down from Newport, once we left the coastline of California, we saw no dolphins or whales. So to have dolphins swimming around our bow, 1,500 miles from land, was magical, and the highlight of our day.

The next big step for us is crossing the Intertropical Convergence Zone.  This is an area, normally closer to the equator, where the Southeast Tradewinds in the Southern Hemisphere collide with the Northeast Tradewinds of the Northern Hemisphere, resulting in no wind.  It is better known as the doldrums. For some reason the ITCZ is quite a bit north of the equator right now (it does more around based on time of year, temperatures, etc.), so we have yet to cross it.  Here is a screen shot of what it looks like on our wind map.

The boat is located where the green pin drop is at the center bottom. The areas in blue are little to no wind. This is the ITCZ.  Fortunately, the ITCZ is not wide right now and we should cross it quickly, and maybe even able to sail right across it.  On the way down here, the ITCZ was right on the equator, and quite wide, and we had to motor for 2 days straight to make it across!

Luke made another awesome dinner creation for us, Spam with egg and rice.  Maybe its because I am in the middle of the ocean, but it really tasted good!