Miles traveled days 31-33: 420
Miles traveled total : 4,110
Miles to Port Angeles: 1,033
When we wrote down our daily mileage reading this morning we still had over a thousand miles to go, so we’ve both been watching the plotter today waiting for it to tick down to triple digits. It finally did just before my first off watch nap, and now it says 979 miles to go! For some reason this milestone feels huge to both of us. Our friend Greg, who we said goodbye to in Palau last May, sails a Tayana 37 and tells us that the closer he gets to landfall the slower he seems to go and the longer the journey. For us it’s just the opposite, and now that we’re over 3/4 done it feels like we’ll be home in no time.
Not that we wouldn’t like to slow down and enjoy this last passage for now, but sailing in light air in a very dense fog doesn’t really lend itself to moments of bliss. We’re well into the North Pacific high right now and really expected to find sunshine. Nope. Still dense fog – I could see about 3 boatlengths away all day long today. The barometer shows 1025MB of pressure, with the center of the high reported as 1033MB, so we’re pretty close.
We’re east of both Kodiak and Hawaii now at 50 degrees north, looking straight at the north end of Vancouver Island. As we sail across the top of the North Pacific high, the winds will rotate clockwise (northern hemisphere, high pressure, clockwise rotation) and we’ll have a northwesterly breeze pushing us right down into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Or at least that’s the plan.
The 3 day spot forecasts we’re getting say that we’ll continue for now to have light southerlies in the mid to low teens, as we sail past the western edge of the center of the high. This light breeze gives us enough wind on the beam to move along at about 5 knots. It’s a nice quiet sail, which we’re all happy to have after the boisterous beginning to this passage. We’re at 149 degrees west, having sailed over 75 degrees of longitude so far on this passage. Rob realized today that we’ll sail over a fourth of the way around the planet on this single passage (103 of 360 degrees) by the time we get to Elliott Bay.
Not much is happening onboard these days. Tomorrow if it remains quiet and calm like it has been we’re going to throw out some lures and try for some fresh tuna. Canned tuna may be something we don’t eat again for a very long time. The days are long and boring, as we watch the degrees of longitude slowly decrease and the barometer slowly rise.
Teresa
