sy Timoneer

Saturday, June 24th Time: 1130 local (2000 UTC)
Position: 59’36 N 151’25 W
Docked Homer, AK . Days run: 226 miles (noon – 1130)
Weather: Sunny Wind: 3-5 kts out of 200’T

News:

Timoneer arrived in Homer at 1130 Saturday morning completing the 2250
mile trip from San Diego in exactly 9 days with an average speed of
10.42 knots. We made landfall at 2115 Friday evening sighting Afonak
Island as we approached the Stevenson entrance to Cook Inlet. Shortly
after Jeff came on watch at 2200 we sighted a pod of whales 200 yards
off the port side towards Kodiak Island. Due to some concern over the
depth entering Homer’s harbor, caused by silting from the 20ft tidal
range. The Harbor Master suggested we enter the harbor at least 2
hours after low tide at 0836 Saturday. Given that we were running a
bit ahead of schedule and the weather was perfect, we decided to stop
the boat and try our luck at catching some Halibut. Using some squid
we had from the Baja cruise as bait. Penny, Bevan and I landed 4
Halibut between 15-25 lbs each in less than 45 minutes! Back under
way we cruised up Cook Inlet admiring its snow covered peaks and
steaming volcano on the horizon. At 1100 the harbormaster met us off
Homer Spit in his work boat and guided us through the entrance to our
slip on “B” dock.

John

Friday, June 23rd Time: 1200 local (1900 UTC)
Position: 56’43 N 149’38 W
190 Miles South East of Homer, AK. Days run: 280 miles (noon – noon)
Boat speed: 11.8 kts Course 328T
Weather: Overcast with occasional rain showers Wind: 7-10 kts out
of 350’T

News:

Timoneer motor sailed across the Gulf of Alaska throughout the evening in
10-15kts of Southerly breeze as we closed in on Homer. The morning started
out very calm with just a slight swell running and 3-5 kts of breeze, the
watch was very keen to spot some whales or other wildlife. Unfortunately
we struck out with the exception of a few birds. We also took advantage of
the good weather to knock a few things off the job list and get the boat
cleaned up for arrival in port tomorrow. The calm weather lasted until
shortly before noon when the tide must have turned against the wind
resulting in instant chop. All on board are well and looking forward to
our arrival in Homer.

John

Thursday, June 22nd Time: 1200 local (1900 UTC)
Position: 52’45 N 145’35 W
485 Miles South East of Homer Alaska Days run: 282 miles (noon – noon)
Boat speed: 12 kts Course 329T
Weather: Overcast Wind: 12-15 kts out of 200’T

News:

All kinds of action on watch during the last 24 hours as we saw our first
ship in five days yesterday afternoon on its way to Portland, Oregon.
Currently the 40m fishing boat “Leslie Lee” is 18 miles off our port side,
thanks AIS system. This morning we had two Dall Porpoises swim along side
the boat for a good 20 minutes. They have a stocky stark black body with
a white region on the belly and white triangle on the dorsal fin. These
porpoises definitely display the features that set them apart from dolphins
in that they have a chubbier shape, smaller size and blunt, rather than beak
like, snout. Interestingly the Dall’s don’t do much aerial work but
rather just break the surface at high speed sending a “rooster tail” of
spray aloft. Timoneer has 418 miles to go to reach the Stevenson entrance
and then another 65 miles NNE up Cook Inlet before we arrive in Homer.

John

Wednesday, June 21st Time: 1200 local (1900 UTC)
Position: 48’34 N 141’39 W
740 Miles West of Vancouver Canada Days run: 279 miles (noon – noon)
Boat speed: 12 kts Course 329T
Weather: Overcast Wind: 12-15 kts out of 220’T

News:

Really starting to get the feel of higher latitude sailing at the moment,
grey skies and rain. It is unfortunate we couldn’t be further North at
this time to get the full effect of the Solstice, but each day of the trip
the days get longer and longer. Over the course of the night the interior
temperature of the boat has fallen to 52’F making it quite crisp.
Convincing even the last hold outs that we may have to change the air
conditioning over to heating, not a bad plan as it hasn’t been used in so
long we need to test it before the guests arrive. On watch we have yet to
see a ship for four days, occasionally birds are starting to appear along
with 2 pods of dolphins that came by this morning to wish us a safe trip.

John

Tuesday, June 20th Time: 1200 local (1900 UTC)
Position: 44’30 N 138’02 W
2600 Miles West of Rochester, NY Days run: 269miles (noon – noon)
Boat speed: 12kts Course 329T
Weather: Overcast Wind: 12-15kts out of 200’T

News:

Timoneer continues knock off the miles in the favorable South Westerly winds
covering 269 miles today with an average speed of 11.2 kts. The sky has
been overcast with the occasional rain squall throughout the day brought on
by a front in our area. According to Bevan this is the first rainfall that
has landed on the boat in over two months since before we cruised the arid
Baja California region. The slowly dropping outside air temperature has
become very noticeable along with the 50’F water temp, making everyone
really appreciate the pilot house.

John

Monday, June 19th Time: 1200 local (1900 UTC)
Position: 40’38 N 134’51 W
500 miles West Oregon/California border Days run: 257miles (noon –
noon)
Boat speed: 11.8kts Course 329T
Weather: Sunny Wind: 4-6kts out of 005’T

News:

Looks like my birthday wish has come true as we have a sunny day with light
breeze. The barometer has risen to 1036mb and we have reached the edge of
the Pacific high pressure system. Looking at the next few days the
weather to the North is fairly settled and the weather predictions are for
West and South Westerly winds in the 10-20kt range. Currently we are just
short of the half way mark to Homer with another 1200 miles to go, I am
hoping to arrive on Saturday morning. The boys are taking advantage of the
fair weather to repair a few things on deck and oil the leather fender hooks
while Penny is making steaks for dinner.

John

Sunday, June 18th Time: 1200 local (1900 UTC)
Position: 37’20 N 131’13 W
500 miles West of San Francisco Days run: 236miles (noon – noon)
Boat speed: 11.5kts Course 310T
Weather: Overcast Wind: 16-18kts out of 005’T

News:

Timoneer motor sailed through the evening and into Father’s Day without
incident. The breeze finally dropped below 20kts this morning and we have
started to arc our course more Northerly towards the Gulf of Alaska some
1500 miles away. Rhumb line course to Cook Inlet would be 327’T although
currently because of the Northerly breeze we are still 15 degree’s below
that course. The boat is still moving around quite a bit although the
period of time between each swell has lengthened making the motion much
better than the last two days.

John

Saturday, June 17th Time: 1200 local (1900 UTC)
Position: 35’21 N 126’24 W
260 miles West South West of San Francisco Days run: 235miles (noon –
noon)
Boat speed: 10kts Course 285T
Weather: Sunny and clear Wind: 22kts out of 050’T

News:

Timoneer continues on a Westerly course as we cross the band of Northerly
breeze paralleling the Pacific coast of the states. I think we beat the
worst of it although it has been blowing 22-29kts solid for the last 24
hours from the North while the predominate ocean swell is right out of the
West. We could easily get the boat speed up to 12-13kts but at that speed
were going over one wave and right through the next. Tried it for awhile
and there was a lot of water flying around along with the occasional crew
member down below. At ten knots the bow just has enough time to rise
before the next wave resulting in a much smoother ride. We are making
pretty good progress and hope to be in lighter breeze by tomorrow.

John

Friday, June 16th Time: 1200 local (1900 UTC)
Position: 24’33 N 110’24 W
65 Miles West of Point Conception, CA Days run: 90 miles (24.5 hours)
Weather: Sunny and clear Wind: 22kts out of 350’T

News:

Timoneer departed from San Diego at 1130 Thursday morning for the 2250 mile
journey to Homer, Alaska. Exiting San Diego harbor we turned North around
Point Loma heading along the coast in 8-10 knots of Southwesterly breeze
towards Los Angeles and the San Pedro Channel. Just before sunset we
landed a 15lb Eastern Pacific Bonito (Tuna) on a dark red and black lure our
first fish of the trip. A few miles North West of Los Angeles we joined
the Northbound coastwise traffic lane for the 100 mile trip to Point
Conception and the open ocean. We were abeam of Point Conception at 0700
this morning as the breeze steadily built to 25-27kts compounding the rough
sea created by the ebbing tidal current. The weather routing plan is to
head West towards the high in the middle of the Pacific and lighter wind,
unfortunately to get there we have to deal with 20-25kts for a couple of
days. Currently we are motor sailing close hauled maintaining 11-12kts on
a course of 275′ T, all on board are well.

John

Wednesday, 07 June 2006
Noon Position : 23 29 N 115 55 W
Course: 340 degrees Speed now: 9.8 knots Days Run : 272 miles

Weather : Overcast/ partly cloudy, very light westerly wind
Today’s News: Sailing up this coast is a bit like playing Russian roulette,
except you have 5 chambers full and only one empty instead of the reverse.
We have been incredibly lucky to have got the empty chamber and had great
weather all the way. We are doing so well that we have now backed off on the
power so that we do not arrive too early tomorrow morning. We are keeping
the speed just less than 10 knots so that we can arrive about 7 am on
Thursday. When we arrive into the USA at our first port we have to go to the
customs dock for inspection by all he various authorities before we can
proceed to our dock in Kona Kai marina.
The sea is pretty grey and lumpy at the moment with a fairly big swell from
the north west, probably from some storm way up north. We have the lines out
but not a sign of any fish around. We have seen a few porpoise but little
other marina life, not even many birds.
We are all looking forward to arriving in America.
PW