Saturday 09 Jul 2011

Saturday 09 Jul 2011
0600 PDT Position: 30 50 N, 128 18 W

06:45 AM
We had an exciting day yesterday! We've been sailing at 7.5-8.9 kts pretty much on the rhumb line. The sea state is getting rougher with some 12+ foot swells... but the sailing is exciting.

Last night at the end of my watch (12:25 AM), the short in the bow light caught fire above the anchor locker (where Harry was sleeping). Fortunately, the fire went out on its own just as I was heading to it with the fire extinguisher. We almost had an opportunity to make so-mores on the bow. Also, the sailboat "Traveler" was within a mile of our stern. Tom taped some emergency lights to the bow and stern. We'll do a full damage assessment today.

Our watch crews were:

• Harry (watch captain), Tom, and Phil
• Curt (watch captain), Mary, and Ed
• Randy (watch captain), Graham, and Charlie

Randy, Graham, and I had the 7:00-10:00 AM watch. We continued on a starboard tack on a broad reach at 250-260 degrees and 7.5-8.2 kts. The seas were still a bit rough with occasional 12’ swells on our rear quarter and winds of 15-23 kts.

We had more of the same durng the 4:7:00 PM watch. We tried to maintain a course heading of 250 degrees and averaged over 8 kts with 18-25 kts winds and 6-12 foot seas off the starboard quarter. The previous watch removed the reef so we sailed with a full main.

Harry cleared the forward head shower sump drain and traced a water leak from the waste pump out fitting on the deck. I'm concerned about the stress cracks in the inner starboard shroud toggle. With the rough seas and our starboard tack, this toggle is under a lot of strain and it could be catastrophic if it failed. Tom and I are keeping our finders crossed hoping it holds.

Randy made a great dinner of sausage and pepper sandwiches.