Fireworks in Southern Oregon

Very nice night aboard Kotuku. Saw quite a few whales (humpbacks it appeared) around Cape Blanco. We watched fireworks at three towns at once, Bandon, Port Orford and Brookings which was capped by an impressive rising of the almost full moon over the coastal range. Continued sailing wing and wing all night until 0500 when the wind had died to about 8 knots and with the leftover sea the rig was bouncing around a bit. We motored for about 90 minutes, enough to charge the batteries and the wind is back more westerly about 15 knots so we are broad reaching down the coast. Impressive display of Venus and Jupiter? in the early morning sky to the east. At 0700 we were about 15 miles west of Crescent City with about 255 miles to go to the gate. Cheers, Al

P.S. I talked to Al via cell phone yesterday as they were close enough to the coast to have signal. Morale seems great, sounded like they were having fun and taking lots of pictures--so much that they are already out of space on their memory cards!

Happy fourth of July, Kotuku had a wonderful day sailing wing on wing w/o even one gybe while averaging 7 knots. Had a couple of visits by White sided dolphins, one that lasted nearly 20 minutes. Brendan got some good shots and ran out of camera memory. Then he laid down on the bow with his hand over the side and came very close to touching a dorsal fin. One other close passage with a whale, minke or smaller humpback? Another close call with a huge old log covered with weed and barely floating. It would have left a big mark. Crew is coming around with everybody eating something at least, maybe getting their sea legs. At 1830 we are about 10 miles off Coquille River, 340 miles to go to the Gate. Enjoy the fireworks, we are close enough to shore to hope to be able to see them.

Happy 4th of July from Kotuku

Happy Independence Day from Kotuku about 30 miles west of Yaquina Bay. Gorgeous night with a full moon and some building breeze. We were gybing downwind in about 6 knots or northerly breeze since around 2000 which has built to 15 knots this morning. Now running wing on wing under autopilot averaging 6.5 knots down the rhumbline with 420 miles to go to the Gate. Brendan asleep in the forepeak on top of all the sails. He seems to like it up there. There probably is an old sailor buried under all that gardening. Interesting that we both grew up sailing on Wianno seniors (old gaffers still popular there, check Wikipedia) in the Cape Cod area. Modean and Wes asleep in the salon. Somerset had the morning watch and I am typing. Three hour shifts for the 3 watchstanders from 2100 to 0600 seems to work well. During the day we seem to have someone up anyways. Cheers and enjoy the Fourth, Al

questions, results from Volvo Galway?
From our gribs it looks like less than gales close in to the CA coast. Agree? (yes, that's what I see too)
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Tuesday Morning Brings Wind!

Big changes last night. Wind went from Southerly 15 knots to Northwesterly 20 knots in under a minute in big downpour. Quick tack then on our way south as winds continued to build quickly to 30 knots. Down came the main and we spent the rest of the night under jib and autopilot which was easier on the crew and allowed some rest. Still averaging 7 knots currently about 40 miles west of Willipa Bay. It turned we must have quite a leak from the full bow locker as the head floorboard was floating. Took about a half hour with the little bilge pump to get some what dry. Forecast appears to show these conditions continuing but easing slightly, we are trying to keep going as fast as possible to stay south of a low that should influence the Washington coast tomorrow. Cheers from the North Pacific, Al

(The good news is that the head floorboard was floating in clear water...the last time this happened it was brown...)

Hope everybody is having fun out there! 7 knots running off the breeze with just the jib up is a nice way to get to San Francisco.

Sounds like a sloppy evening on Kotuku

From the Boat:


Its been a day of good and bad.  Good the engine was turned off around noon because we are sailing.  The bad we are beating south into 15 knot southeasterly.  Good, lots of marine mammals, humpbacks galore, scores of white-sided dolphins and lots of bird.  Bad it is damn cold for the 2nd of July.  Good, the dodger rules.  Bad a majority of the crew is seasick.  Good the forecast for tomorrow is calling for a shift to SW then west then NW.  Bad the anchor locker is full of water, seems the rode wants to plug the drain persistently.  Had some chili as a late lunch which has helped morale.   Location about 40 miles sw of LaPush.  Al


Hope the wind shifts round like it's supposed to!

Morning Update: Slow go in the Straits, with Fireworks

Here is the latest update from the Crew:


Clallam bay at 0600.  Uneventful but cold night, continued motoring into dying westerly, down to almost calm this morning.  SSB voice check on 4A and 8A last night with John Weller at Shilshole was moderately successful.  He could hear us just fine and he was readable but scratchy on our end.  We are scheduled to repeat the test again tonight when he will be anchored out in Poulsbo.  Saw Canada Day fireworks at Victoria last night, normal ship traffic and a few blackfish off of Point Wilson.  Forecast is for showers and light winds from the south until around midnight then turning westerly.  Al

Kotuku is underway and headed west (then south)

Boat left the dock today around 4:30pm after a tremendous effort by the race crew to get her ready.  She passed her inspection last week, we added the refrigerator hatch latch and the dust bin bungee that the inspector asked for, as well as a couple of barrel bolts to hold down the settee seats, and then Matt started loading on food.  A whole year of boat prep, weeks of sailing, 2 years of planning, training, and finally we are headed to the Pacific Cup.  With 2 carloads worth of food!

Sails are bricked, med kit inspected, dodger is on, SSB antenna checked, food is stowed, the boat is ready.  So off she went.  Nice send off from friends and family too!

Here is their first update, via SSB (this is very low bandwidth radio based email--so brevity is key):

All is good.  Greetings from Al, Brendan, Somerset, Monear and Wes, we are currently motoring out past double bluff into about 8 knots from the nw but with 1 knot of current behind us.  Cruising at 2600 RPM doing 6.3 through the water but 7.4 GPS.  Trying 6 hours on and 9 off as a watch rotation with 2 on at any one time at least until we get out on the ocean.  Having Quinoa Dish Delish with fresh albacore tuna for dinner and Lemon meringue pie for dessert.  No it won't be like this the whole trip because of no refrigeration we are eating the fresh stuff first.  Thanks to everyone on the race crew for the clean prepared boat for the five of us to at least start the trip.  Al

If you need to get a message to the crew, their cell phones will work for another 12-24 hours, depending on how far offshore they get.  After that, try texting, it tends to get through better when they do have a signal.  Then try emailing us here at kotukusailing (at) gmail. com, and we will help you forward a message on via SSB radio.  We will post every update we get here, so follow the blog, and you will have the most up-to-date reports at your fingertips.

Thanks for supporting our dreams!