I spoke with Jeanne tonight and she is sore and in pain although limbs and nerves are all intact   She took a fall from  the top of a ladder while coming down off her boat in the boatyard    She is currently in hospital while she begins to recover from her injuries.   She will provide more details as soon as she is up to it.  Please keep her in your thoughts.

Thank you,
Mike

Thurs 3rd Nov 2016, A beautiful day in Victoria area today... blue sky and warm sunshine.   Excellent for getting deck work done.

Repaired staysail was collected  this morning and hoisted late today but I'm waiting until tomorrow morning to replace furling line - ran out of daylight! Also started organizing new series drogue - on removing starboard shackle with great difficulty, found it was damaged...  Will need to replace it.   Not too surprised to see state of it, in view of stresses it was put under without the second bridle arm to share the load and the big seas it had had to contend with.  I'd asked friend Les to come round to advise me since he works with steel all the time - "Don't risk it" was his advice on seeing the slightly opened jaw and bent pin of the  big shackle.  What amazing forces it must have been subjected to...!

I spotted a machine screw lying beside the toe rail close to the stern quarter...  Eventually, another was found further forward, close to the stanchion where a furling line lead had come adrift - yet another victim of those rough seas. ...

The fine weather is set to continue tomorrow, followed by rain over the weekend, so I hope to finish with deck items while it's dry.

With a tarpaulin for shelter over the weekend, another job I'm hoping to get done is to replace a seemingly defunct heater element in the hot water  tank under the cockpit locker floor...  Difficult to access.   It would be nice to have hot water available at times while in the cold Southern Ocean!

Thursday 7th November 2013

Up well before dawn to leave San Francisco - rather regretfully, since it has been a very pleasant stay with so many friendly SFYC members and staff. Many thanks to John Sanford for encouraging me to visit the club as his guest, although the club finally took over that role, thanks to their Deputy Port Captain's intervention. I look forward to re-visiting sometime.

The Spectra watermaker is now totally reconditioned, thanks to Bill & Darren, and I'm looking forward to using it in remote areas at anchor. I've had strict instructions to flush it through (easily done...) with fresh water after each use, to protect the membrane etc., but it's now 'pickled' since I don't need it while hopping down the coast to Mexico. I also had the genset looked at by Anders - he found the small diesel pump was slightly cracked and leaking - so I pulled out my spare to replace it immediately. The other good news was being offered a gift of two hardly-used genoas by Andy Fromm to replace my torn, worn-out one - we were chatting over a meal one evening and he said he had 26 sails in his garage which his wife, understandably, felt he should get rid of... He's a keen racer and just doesn't use the original cruising nor the older racing sails he'd accumulated. The hoist length was a perfect fit...

I've been busy organizing the aft cabin contents, all of which had to be removed for the watermaker service, and I hung two doors - which had been stowed in Port Townsend with Rob Parish for the last three years! I finished hanging them around 11.30pm last Saturday - just in time to enjoy the last of the Commodore's Ball dancing and music - after a suitable change of clothing! Tim helped me stow other bulky items in the forepeak yesterday - that's still waiting to be dealt with properly, but at least I'm now able to sleep in the aft cabin - first time for three years!

Had a lovely, sunny day on the water, motor-sailing initially in calm seas, south to Santa Cruz, with pelicans lined up on the breakwater as I left Belvedere Cove in the pre-dawn light and the occasional seal and sealion spotted in the water close to the Golden Gate as dawn broke over San Francisco and Alcatraz .

By early afternoon, after some solid motoring with light fog lurking just off the coast all morning and plenty of birdlife seen in the good-sized swell, the wind suddenly picked up as we were rounding Pt Ano Nuevo - to around 23kt! So we had a great sail for 2-3hours, until close to Sta. Cruz at sunset, when the wind died again... I managed to get in safely in the dark, through the shallows surrounding the harbour entrance at Low Water (!), with Brian Beers helping from on shore. (He brought me several delicious fresh items from his bakery)

I'd given a very well-attended, enjoyable presentation at the Tiburon Y.C. Friday week ago - in a lovely clubhouse, with excellent organization of the evening by Alice (ex-Commodore), helped by club members - Thanks for all your help and support during my stay, Alice!

It's been great to be able to catch up with old friends in the Bay area and also to make new ones during this stay.

Yesterday (Wednesday), I was guest of Zia Ahari (Rear Commodore, SF) at a CCA lunch meeting at Marin YC withTom Wylie, well-known boat-builder, as speaker - very interesting, despite a projector breakdown! Zia made the announcement that I was being awarded the CCA's 2013 'Blue Water Medal' - to be presented in NewYork next March - quite an honour! - and I'm looking forward to visiting NewYork for the Awards Dinner at the New York Y.C. - itself an interesting venue.

Wednesday of last week, I was visited by some radio hams - we'd spoken several times on HF radio during my RTW sail, but now we were able to meet up over lunch...Rusty, W6OAT has generously volunteered to be my 'QSL Manager' for all the many radio contacts made on my way around, confirming the contacts I've made, and Jim, K9YC, has been designing and organizing my QSL card - he lives high up above Santa Cruz, in the mountains, among big redwood trees which provide a superb support for his several high aerials!

Friday 18th October 2013

I'm writing this from a sunny, warm  Belvedere Cove, on the Tiburon Peninsula, in San Francisco Bay, where I'm tied up at the San Francisco Y.C. with a pretty, steep, tree-covered waterfront area in view.

After strong wind picking up overnight, making me reef right down in order to slow down from 7-8 kt and avoid possible entry with a strong ebb current, the wind suddenly died away totally on getting closer to the entrance channel to the Golden Gate and there was thick fog.... Motor on! Useful to have the radar, as well as AIS, on display to help avoid the big ships around, as well as several fast, small fishing boats heading out to sea which only showed up on radar or when within several boat lengths away.

I kept well off to one side of the main shipping lanes leading toward the GG Bridge - which was almost completely hidden from view until we reached the Bay area itself.

We passed close to fogbound, rocky-but-steep-to Points Bonita and Diablo.  Then the fog cleared as we rounded the Golden Gate CG station and Point Cavallo.

It was bright and sunny to the N of the bridge & on the E side of the Bay, but Alcatraz, SF city and everywhere to the S were still hidden in the thick fog bank, with little of the bridge showing except the N end leading to Sausalito and the top of the N and central piers.

Got a little sleep overnight before we got close to the main ship channel so I'll get to bed early tonight - in the meantime, enjoying a nice long shower! Had a good long chat over coffee with John Sanford and his friend Bob, who both met me & took my lines on entry. I've already had to discard a layer or two - it's definitely a lot warmer here than in the Pacific NW and at sea on passage.

I'll be busy catching up with urgent boatwork & emails (still lots!), in between relaxing and seeing some friends here. I'm looking forward to making use of my fold-up bike and getting some exercise during my time here.

Thursday 17th October 2013

Sky cleared overnight - nice clear blue sky now but air still feels cold.

Winds eased this morning - around 15kt so pleasant conditions and making good speed under full mains'l - with genoa having ripped in half, have staysail in use.

Shackle holding line tensioning the gas-filled rod kicker broke overnight - heard a loud bang and wondered what it was! Couldn't see much in darkness although initially all looked OK from cockpit (mast, boom etc OK!!!) Found a replacement shackle - old one was impressively broken! Not too much of a problem - have topping lift I could use to support boom, if needed.

2pm Getting closer inshore now: 55ml SW of Point Arena, 80ml W of Bodega Hbr, 87 ml WNW of Point Reyes.... 110 ml WNW of entrance channel to Golden Gate and SF Hbr.

Had a big lunch of ham, eggs, onions and mushrooms with cherry tomatoes - nice!

Lots of shipping around - already had to get on VHF to make sure "MOL Efficiency" didn't get too close as they headed out from SF Bay & shortly afterwards there was another - not usually a problem once we've made contact. Most ships stay well away -good to be transmitting in this situation!

10pm Well, so much for expecting light wind -it's been up to 25kt at times for last few hours & we've been making 7-8 kt regularly. Means we might have made the Golden Gate too soon, before the strong ebb has died away so I've just tied in two reefs to try to slow us down. Also had to change course slightly to avoid a big yellow buoy I suddely realised was right on our path! Making sure we stay well clear of both the Cordell Bank and the Farallon Islands as we get closer in.

Sleep will be in snatches tonight with so much shipping and obstacles to look out for - present ETA at Golden Gate is around 7-8am (LW slack), although if wind does die down, we could arrive later. Max flood is around 10:30am, so that would work fine... From the Golden Gate, it's not far to the San Francisco Y.C. in Tiburon, where I'm expected.

11pm Wind down to 20kt and our speed down as well - SOG ~6kt. Looking good for catching flood through GG.

24hr distance run at 8:20pm was 145 n.ml.

Wednesday 16th October

Dull, grey and cloudy all day. Spent a time on deck this morning. Finally stowed the pole, despite rough seas making foredeck work difficult and wet. Good to have the stays'l available but it's a much smaller headsail than the big genoa.

As the wind eased somewhat this morning, I shook out first reef 2, then reef 1. Wind is not very consistent, varying this afternoon and tonight between 13-18kt, so boat speed also highly variable. Presently 5.3kt in 14kt of N wind. Having got up well before dawn to gybe the mains'l and change course, I finally managed a couple of hours of much-needed sleep early this afternoon.

Made several contacts on radio - gets busy on 40m in the evening, with lots of possible contacts. 20m is generally better during the day. Found the (USA) Air Forces Flyers Net just before 9am - welcomed me even though I'm clearly not connected with aviation, although 'Nereida' flies well through the water at times!!

Occurred to me I haven't been checking on our daily distances run... With the strong conditions and good speed, we've made 24hr distances under sail alone of 143,163,134 n.ml. over the last three days - a lot better than when trying to make landfall in the light winds of June/July!

I keep looking at our ETA at the Golden Gate on Friday. A strong flood tide (good), mid-morning, of 3.4kt is followed by an even stronger ebb tide (bad!), mid-afternoon, of 4.6kt - so it's vital to get the timing of our arrival at the Gate right- ideally, somewhere between low water slack and high water slack (a 'window' of just under 6hrs). An average of 5.5kt would get us there just before midday - fine if we can manage it but wind is forecast to die right down, so we'll probably end up motor-sailing - nice to have that option!

Tuesday 15th October 2013

Thought the wind was easing around midday - it went down to 22kt for a short time - but it's now frequently back up to 28+ kt and the big following seas are still up around 2.5m every 6 seconds. It's another sunny day, although it doesn't feel so very warm. We're still being thrown around quite often so I keep having to tidy up.

Was up early this morning for radio - made contact with Japan and Australia, although the Aus stns couldn't copy me too well so it was useful to have a relay (Bruce, K9LOF, in Illinois) helping.

Making use of my time by trying to catch up with lots of outstanding emails - some from quite a time ago.

Solar panels are doing well in the daytime, putting in up to 14A, but the genset has started playing up and dying after a short time of running, after having a problem exciting. The oil level is fine and I've released the actuator spindle that was a bit stuck and stopping it from speeding up and exciting initially, so I'll try it again tonight..... seems a pity to run it now, in bright sunshine, when the solar power input is high.

I was interested to hear from Rick, VE7TK, that he'd spotted my position (from my AIS transmission) on http://shipfinder.co/, rather than on marinetraffic.com. He used the MMSI number, which is 235070185, to locate us. We were well offshore, W of Portland, Oregon - a busy port with lots of shipping showing at the time on my AIS screen.

Later: Generator ran fine this evening - a relief! Rough seas and strong wind still - up to 27kt with occasional lulls around 22kt. Passing Cape Mendocino over 150ml off to avoid possible stronger seas and wind that are likely closer in.

Wednesday 16th October

6am Came below after gybing the mains'l and turning 60 degrees to port - headed directly towards San Francisco now. Dark starry sky - moon set a while ago. Speed down a bit in 22kt NNE wind. Clutch not holding 2nd reef line tightly - having to hold the line on a winch.

Time for some more sleep - no ships in sight but expect to see them as we get closer in to land and San Francisco.

Monday 14th October

A lovely sunny day - but steep, short seas are continuing to knock us about a lot . The following seas have built to about 2.5m/8ft and I decided by mid-morning, in view of the 20+kt winds we were already experiencing, with possibly stronger wind forecast, to head further off Cape Blanco - notorious, as is Cape Mendocino 145 ml to its south, for strong weather and nasty seas. We should be passing Cape Blanco about 120 ml off.

3pm I went up on deck intending to tie in the second reef in the stronger conditions - and found the genoa badly ripped down its centre. I managed to furl it in past the ripped section, leaving just a small amount unfurled - I'd poled it out last night as darkness was falling. We've been making 6-7 knots in the good NNE wind.

I then noticed the large butane tank lashed on deck had come loose in the lumpy conditions - it was quickly tied down with a strong rope. I normally prefer not to stow anything on deck on offshore passages, except possibly the deflated dinghy - this incident showed exactly why that's a good idea.... (I 'd expected that, by now, the butane would have been finished so I could throw away the tank, but I've not done much cooking of late!)

Just to make sure everything happened in threes, the third reef line had come undone - I'd clearly not tied it in well enough when the new sail was put in place last Monday. So that had to be dealt with as well.

5:30pm (PDT) Position: 43:55N, 126:38W. DTF: 515 n.ml. Wind N-NNE 25kt, speed (SOG) 6.3kt, course (COG) 204T, swell NNW 2.5m - close togther, every 5s , so they're very steep-faced, making for an uncomfortable motion. Sun getting low - time to eat before it gets dark: a nice roast chicken to finish.

Evenings and early mornings are times for ham radio chats - sometimes making use of my new callsign. While my transmissions are usually good, I have a lot of noise on frequency, making receiving difficult if I don't switch off my instruments... I wish I could find a solution to that problem! I've put ferrites all over the place, to no avail... Maybe I need to put a lot more in place?

7.40pm Well - so much for radio chats - I've finally managed to tie in the 2nd reef - had a bit of a struggle, not having released the lazyjacks enough, so things got a bit tangled up and then the jammer holding the lazyjack on the mast jammed completely and took an age to release - but I finally did it ..... so, "by the light of the silvery moon", we finally got things under control ... Now for some food ... Wind is a good Force 6 - up to 27kt - and speed is around 7kt downwind, but we're no longer over-canvassed & our motion feels better, despite the waves still being big, making us surf often to over 9kt .