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Saturday, August 4, 2012

Tasman to Tatoosh, continued


 The Blue Highway to British Columbia

Tuesday, July 31st, 34 42N 154 34W, Only 1700 miles to go! Course 70 off the wind, wing & wing, Boatspeed 6kts Wind 10kts W Sunny

Sorry for the long lapse in blog posts. For some reason, sailmail stopped posting for us, so our Seattle friend and now editor, Susie Stillman, is posting our emails.
Pink Sunset Along the Blue Highway

It feels like we're on a Blue Highway to home. The seas have been very calm, and our wake looks like the road stretching out behind us over a sapphire blue plain. For the past 6 days since leaving Hanalei Bay, we've been on every point of sail, in generally pleasant conditions. We've had balmy temperatures, moderate winds and seas, very little rain, and wouldn't mind a bit more rain to clean off the salt. It's a no-drama passage so far (knock wood). Surprisingly, we've been able to sail the rhumbline a fair amount. The north pacific high pressure zone has stretched out like a banana, with a low from Alaska trying to cut it in half. So Bill spends an hour every morning trying read the tea leaves (grbs, weatherfax, fishguts). Right now, we're sailing downwind with the jib winged out. Seas are fairly calm and the very low gentle swells from the east are now coming from the south. We've been able to have ports and hatches open for fresh air. Yay!

There are quite a few boats out here, ahead, behind and to the west of us, although we can't see them. Soon a number of returning Vic-Maui race fleet will be on the move too. We we feel like we have lots of company.

The Blue Highway has a lot of litter along the way. there's been a constant trail of trash in the water. However, using our fancy new stainless steel gaff hook, we did recover a glass fishing float, with a colony of gooseneck barnacles and small crabs clinging to the ropes tied around it. On July 29th, the singlehanders' net reported an overturned 25ft alum fishing boat at 34 51.864N 152 30.690W The fishing is said to be very good around there. At the time, we thought it would be too far east for us, but we may end up there yet.

We'll cook the last of the wahoo tonight and maybe put out a line for a new victim tomorrow. We may switch to smaller tackle to avoid snagging another sea monster. They make such a mess.

We'll be blogging infrequently, as not much changes from day to day, But Bill sends a Spot location daily, so you can track our progress if there's nothing good on TV.

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