Noon Position: 50 21N 146 46W
Course(t)/Speed(kts): SExS 7
Wind(t/tws): W 15
Noon-to-Noon Miles Made Good (nm): 116
Miles since departure: 37,634
Mo and I began the Figure 8 Voyage 2.0 one year ago today.
September 30, 2018, 10:30am. The sun lit brightly the hills above Horseshoe Cove, and the water was as still as a lake. I said goodbye to friends, had one last affectionate moment with the wife, and then Mo and I were off under the bridge and out to sea.
Noon Position: 51 41N 148 59W
Course(t)/Speed(kts): ESE 5
Noon-to-Noon Miles Made Good (nm): 138
Miles since departure: 37,518
Rain and fog, drizzle and fog, or just fog. A strong and contrary wind. All we do is pound, pound, pound.
The boat crashes and bangs and shudders right down to her very soul. It makes one wonder about metal fatigue and the stability of welds in an old boat. Would I even have time to grab the EPIRB when they finally call it quits?
Noon-to-Noon Miles Made Good (nm): 125
Miles since departure: 37,377
Conditions stable overnight. Winds S 20; two reefs and Mo close reaching comfortably in a subsiding sea. I slept long and hard, nearly ten hours in the bunk, though up every 90 minutes. To be dry and in the warmth of a sleeping bag–all needs met.
Conditions same all day. Sails full, Monte pulling at the tiller.
The only occurrences of note: one, a passing ship just ...
Noon Position: 52 31N 155 58W
Course(t)/Speed(kts): SxW 6 – 7
Wind(t/tws): ESE 25+/Sea(t/ft): SE 8-10
Sail: Three reefs in main and working jib, close reaching on port
Noon-to-Noon Miles Made Good (nm): 84
Miles since departure: 37,252
I tacked at 2am when the wind went into the SE so as to grab some southing while I could. Rough night close hauled in winds 25 – 30. Rain, drizzle, fog; spray everywhere. On deck every hour to reef again, adjust Monte, recoil a line pulled down by the constant water ...
Noon Position: 53 19N 157 48W
Course(t)/Speed(kts): ExS 6
Wind(t/tws): S 10
Sea(t/ft): S 1
Sail: Main and big genoa, close hauled.
Noon-to-Noon Miles Made Good (nm): 120
Miles since departure: 37,168
Light wind day. Both big sails up and close hauled. Slow. Wind can’t make up its mind. Our heading is E but snakes to the N and then S as the breeze meanders about. Mostly we are losing ground to the N. This makes me uncomfortable given the big blow N of us due the first of ...
Noon Position: 53 38N. 164 54W
Course(t)/Speed(kts): ExS 5
Wind(t/tws): W 10
Sea(t/ft): S 3
Noon-to-Noon Miles Made Good (nm): 60 (since Dutch departure at midnight)
Miles since departure: 36,915
Note: One photo because my main satellite system is down for the moment.
Three gates in the vicinity of Dutch Harbor connect the Bering and the larger Pacific; they are Unimak Pass, Akutan Pass and Unalga Pass, with Unimak being the largest and most distant and Unalga, the closest and smallest. Only Unimak is lit.
One day to sit out the blow, which pushed hard through the Iluilui Harbor cut, turning the water white. Mo was snugged up behind a big crab boat and almost entirely out of the wind. Thus, my two bow lines, two stern lines and four springs were overkill; I spent the day watching the gale from the equivalent of a hotel window. Spume flew two boat lengths out, but Mo never moved.
And one day to get ready. Refresh Monte’s tiller lines; refresh worn sheets, check running and standing rigging, repack ...
Sail: Working jib and main; what there is of wind is on the beam.
Noon-to-Noon Miles Made Good (nm): 143 Miles since departure: 36,637
—-
Randall: Have you seen the weather forecast for the Gulf of Alaska, Monte? It’s looking pretty grim. Monte: Senior, I do not consult your forecasts. A forecast ...
Noon Position: 59 45N 168 97W Course(t)/Speed(kts): SxE 7 Wind(t/tws): NE 18 Sea(t/ft): NE 10+ Sky/10ths Cover: Mostly clear; post-low cumulus astern. 3 Bar(mb): 997 On-deck Temp(f): ? Cabin Temp(f): 57 Water Temp(f): 52 Relative Humidity(%): 68 Magnetic Variation: 8.1
Sail: All three sails flying. Wind on port quarter
Noon-to-Noon Miles Made Good (nm): 152 Miles since departure: 36,494
The barometer got as low as 991, but by 4am wind velocities hadn’t changed in hours and neither had the seas, which only rarely threw over Mo their loving embrace ...
Randall Reeves grew up reading about and dreaming of the sea. He learned to sail on the rivers of central California and interviewed world-famous solo sailor, Bernard Moitessier, for his college radio station, an event that changed his life. Randall’s blue-water sailing began in 2006 when he crewed on a 40-foot boat for a 26-day, 3,000-mile passage from Hawaii to British Columbia where “everything went gloriously wrong.” He was hooked. In 2010, Randall departed San Francisco for a two-year, 12,000-mile solo-loop of the Pacific in a 30-foot sailboat. Randall crewed the Northwest Passage in 2014, a grueling 65 days over an ice-strewn 5,000-mile course aboard one of only seven boats to complete the Arctic run that year. Randall’s preparations in 2016 have included long passages aboard his new Figure 8 boat from Kodiak, Alaska to Hawaii and back to his home in San Francisco, a total of 7,000 miles. Randall is a licensed Master of vessels to 50 Gross Tons
