When everything bounces, so do stomachs

Wet and Cold at daybreak. Happy boat catching first 20+ knot rides early in the race

Date: Monday, July 7th
Time: 05:05 PST
Boat Speed: 16knots
Course: 220 degrees
Wind Speed: 24 knots

It’s fast and crisp sailing, although wet and cold. The wind is down 5
knots. Our first quarter moon has set and the sun is about to rise. When it bounces hard like this right into an offshore race, lots of lunches and dinners come right back out over the side of the boat.

The logistics of it all are complicated by the fact that with fairly rough conditions, everyone is wearing harnesses and tethered to the jack lines on deck at night. So, you got to run, clip-in, and go do your business, all of this while waves are washing over the deck. There are several styles. You have the types like Doogie, who while cleaning up the second reef, straddling the boom and suddenly bounce down on deck, run to the back of the boat, do their business, run back to the mast, hop back on the boom, in less than a minute. Then there is the “I’ve got a bucket permanently attached to me and I am not moving an inch from where I am” types. And of course being down bellow while we’re cooking food doesn’t really help… It kind of sets everything on a fast track: Last in, first out!

Shark is now 13 and its his 3rd trans-Pacific crossing. He’s worked on the boat since he’s out of school, did a great job on the windy Coastal Cup, and is now safely down bellow
holding on to a bucket (Its OK Mom, its part of the rite of passage and he won’t remember that it ever happened in a couple of days). The tropical depression that is headed for our projected path has now officially been upgraded to “tropical Storm” and they gave her a beautiful name: Dolores. She apparently carries gusts over 45 kts and picking up strength. We’ll stay away from that one. Here is the latest weather map: