Coyote's Log

Well almost end of day, 3 hours to go… BTW, you can follow Coyote’s progress by going to a link on www.sailcoyote.com, it has a pretty big button that says ‘click here to see return trip, (or Http://www.ionearth.com/2010/pacific-cup/returning ), you can read other Blog postings and there is some terrific video taken during the race by nephew Stuart. Enjoy. Winds continue to be up, currently apparent of 21, with a single reef in the main and #3 jib, average 7.25 over ground knots over the past 12 hours, toward our turning point, which we should reach tomorrow by 8am, 4 hours earlier than predicted. The high winds and waves continue to keep the boat awash, and the window above my bunk continues to leak„„on my bunk. The last straw was at 0300 this morning, John’s light began to turn on and off because water had gotten into the switch. So I broke out a tube of fast dry and water resistant epoxy, rolled in my hands to activate it, and sealed all around the exterior frame of the 7 foot long window at 3am, as waves crashed over me and the boat. The instructions say to keep it wet when working, so that worked out just fine. Almost immediately the leak stopped, and my bunk is now nearly dry. At some point on the trip, we broke a sail slide, so when reefing Jacob saw it and said, oh lets fix that. Turns out he has hidden talents! Jacob worked in a sail loft, and did a most professional repair sewing on a new slide, now you will never know which is the slide sewn in during a squall! Everyone has been terrific pitching in where needed, this has been a very good - and a bit challenging trip. Squalls continue…Good news, they will only last until August 7. Say what!! Yes, per Commanders weather routing service, who up to this point has had flawless predictions! Thank you. So far we have only had to run the engine to charge the batteries, and for maybe 2 hours to get from the “dead” (no wind) side of a squall back to the wind line, so fuel is no problem. Our water tanks are still full, and we still have 10 cases of drinking water in bottles. The freezer is packed with food as is the fridge (we emptied the last ice chest today, and things were all still frozen. So supplies are holding out just fine. Sea life is infrequent, we see an occasional trip bird, howewww.sailcoyote.com, it has a pretty big button that says ‘click here to see return trip, (or Http://www.ionearth.com/2010/pacific-cup/returning ), you can read other Blog postings and there is some terrific video taken during the race by nephew Stuart. Enjoy. Winds continue to be up, currently apparent of 21, with a single reef in the main and #3 jib, average 7.25 over ground knots over the past 12 hours, toward our turning point, which we should reach tomorrow by 8am, 4 hours earlier than predicted. The high winds and waves continue to keep the boat awash, and the window above my bunk continues to leak„„on my bunk. The last straw was at 0300 this morning, John’s light began to turn on and off because water had gotten into the switch. So I broke out a tube of fast dry and water resistant epoxy, rolled in my hands to activate it, and sealed all around the exterior frame of the 7 foot long window at 3am, as waves crashed over me and the boat. The instructions say to keep it wet when working, so that worked out just fine. Almost immediately the leak stopped, and my bunk is now nearly dry. At some point on the trip, we broke a sail slide, so when reefing Jacob saw it and said, oh lets fix that. Turns out he has hidden talents! Jacob worked in a sail loft, and did a most professional repair sewing on a new slide, now you will never know which is the slide sewn in during a squall! Everyone has been terrific pitching in where needed, this has been a very good - and a bit challenging trip. Squalls continue…Good news, they will only last until August 7. Say what!! Yes, per Commanders weather routing service, who up to this point has had flawless predictions! Thank you. So far we have only had to run the engine to charge the batteries, and for maybe 2 hours to get from the “dead” (no wind) side of a squall back to the wind line, so fuel is no problem. Our water tanks are still full, and we still have 10 cases of drinking water in bottles. The freezer is packed with food as is the fridge (we emptied the last ice chest today, and things were all still frozen. So supplies are holding out just fine. Sea life is infrequent, we see an occasional trip bird, however today John spotted two Black Footed Albatross. Looks like 6-7 days to go, so our trip home may be a fast one, hoping for 13-14 days. Coyote