[Black-footed Albatross photo by Brian Sullivan, MacAulay Library]
As of 1000pacific on 7/5 our position is
54.52’N
134.31W
Sailing under Genoa and main
COG of 330magnetic, SOG 6.5-7 knots
Wind is 9-12 knots from 126 mag
Skies are high clouds to E with lower clouds to W that look to have presents for us
1-2’ SW swell.
We struggled along sailing most of the night under sail, motoring a little as the wind went behind us and then sailing again on the other board once it settled in from SE. We are now clear of Haida Gwaii and “in Alaska waters” although we are 35 miles west of the closest island (Forester Is.). Boat and crew are happy, Sol and Savai are whittling a sword in the cockpit from a piece of cedar from the Arctic. We had pancakes for breakfast.
(In shorts. In Hawai’i.)
Plan is to sail as long as we can, then fire up the engine and burn diesel. Planned route and great circle direct to Prince William Sound look fairly similar from here so we will continue following waypoints as planned. Does not look like much wind from this afternoon until we pass Kayak Island so we will keep the Sitka stop as a viable possibility. This crew doesn’t care much for the motor, as it turns out.
That’s the report. Bird of the day is still Albatross as they are pretty much always in sight. Marek still doesn’t believe there are Albatross in the northern hemisphere as he has only seen them in the southern ocean. And these birds are sometimes seen sitting on the water like a seagull. confusing.
(Savai is scheming ways to get Marek to bet her dish duty that they are in fact Albatross. We will see how that goes.)