Although early morning weather was tougher than day 1, by midday the weather settled a bit with only occasional gusts or heavy waves.  The weather warmed a little and the water temperature was 64°F, up from 61°F in the San Francisco Bay.  We still have up sail #1 and Jenny is safely stowed in the sail locker.
We are traveling at 8-9 knots.
Winds 16-22 knots.
Seas 4-6 foot swells and 4-8 foot wind waves.

Communications over satellite were challenging today, receiving email and weather files proved problematic.  A streamlined request routine and schedule should help.

Tim and Larry attempted a temporary repair on the Bimini in hopes of returning to full solar power tomorrow once the epoxy dries.

We have now over taken Green Buffalo.

We have not seen any trash or plastic as of yet.  We will cross into the Great Pacific Garbage Patch boundary tomorrow which is roughly 500 nautical miles west of the Golden Gate.

The outer spiral arm of the Milky Way was clearly and brightly visible.

The stars were so bright it was difficult to see some of the common ones that you know. Venus was clear to the southwest, and Mars was visible as it rose just before the crescent moon.

We have decided there is a Phantom-Switcher-Offer.  Every time I go to use a pump or other equipment, it has been shut off at the power panel.  No one will fess up as to who is messing with me.  I think it’s Tim, and I’ll get even with him.

The batteries are running a bit low having just one solar array.  The single array is producing electricity nicely and keeps up with our consumption during the day.  However, we need to build up extra power on the batteries to get us through the night, and we need to make water as our #1 tank is running low.  Making water consumes a lot of battery power.

Fair Winds,
Russ

We had a good start.  Larry’s strategy was good.  Got all the way to the front of the start line toward sim land marks we had measured previously, then tacked right and headed for the north tower of the GGB.  WE HIT 10 knots of boat speed as we crossed the start line.  We passed most of the boats in our class before going under the GGB.
Our beautiful flag line became tangled in the back stays.  With some effort we corrected this.
We changed head sails about 20 miles out as the wind increased that cost us some time.  We have now caught with the fleet and are over taking other boats


Wind 30 kts
Seas 6 ft swells at 15 sec, 4ft wind waves, constantly :)

The starboard Bimini solar panel fell prey to the wind, ripping the Bimini.  We covered it all with canvass to shelter from the wind.  Solar is compromised and the Bimini will be in shreds by Hawaii.

When we changed sails outside the gate we put the big Genoa, 135% #3 head-sale which I affectionately call Jenny, lashed to the side rail on the port deck.  This is a common practice providing for quicker and easier sales changes when conditions allow.  I had the 20:00 - 00:00 watch and at about 22:00 noticed that Jenny was being grabbed by the sea and being pulled in.  Marye Ellen was on helm and I went forward to gather Jenny back on deck and lash her down.  Wave after wave crashed over the deck as I laid there with one hand around Jenny and the other hand holing on the chainplates of the shrouds.  Each time a wave came over it would lift Jenny enough for me to gather more sail on deck.  Waves were covering me completely burying me; they were also lifting Jenny.  As a particularly large wave hit and covered the deck and me, my only thought was, “Damn I love this!”  I felt great.  But Jenny was too full over water to bring onboard myself and I was exhausted.  Marye Ellen woke up Tim and Seb.  We devised a plan to gather Jenny in her sail bag from the aft, or clew, and stuff her in her bag releasing only one sail tie at a time until Jenny was safely in her bag and in the sail locker.  This worked, and after time we had her safely stowed.

Fair winds,
Russ

I will provide candid, very candid, reviews of each product I review.  I want products I use to work correctly, be at least somewhat intuitive, and provide value to the task.    .  
I will tell you how I used them, if I needed support from the manufacturers and how they responded, and if they worked for me in a practical real world environment and use case.   This should be fun!

​Russ

Sailing Vessel (SV) Blue Moon departs for Kaneohe Bay, Oahu, Hi from San Francisco on July 9th, 2018.

We have been working hard for several months to prepare and train for this voyage through the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and to Hawaii.  I'll be posting updates prior to departure and throughout our voyage so you can keep track of our adventure!