s/v Pacific Mystic - Seattle to Calais

My friend Eric and his wife Valerie are sailing their 37' Cooper Seabird from Seattle to Calais France at present.

In light of the coming winter blues, I asked them if it would be OK to post their progress here. They're good with that, so...

They are currently in San Diego, departing Sunday to participate in the Baja-ha-ha Cruisers Rally from SD to Cabo. http://www.baja-haha.com/
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A couple previous updates to get you up to today:

Tuesday, September 15, 2009 Hey, sailors: we blew the bolts on the hatch and got the f*** out of town to try to get ourselves over to and across the Atlantic. We'll go as far as we can until the money runs out. We hope to make France by next June. Keep yer fingers crossed!
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September 27, 2009 (responding to my comment that big seas in a photo aren't done justice by still photography) I took the picture in the afternoon when it was becoming obvious that something was headed our way. It got worse over night, worse in every way with taller seas, stronger wind (30-35 kts sustained, gusts at +40 kts.), and more challenging steer in the utter darkness. Obviously, we couldn't capture this on film and I have no idea how to measure the sea size except with large error (or large exaggeration!). It is the night we tore our reefed mainsail in two places before seeking shelter in Drake's Bay.
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Oct 9, 2009 We're already in Monterey and leaving for a 24-hour slog to San Luis Bay in the next hour. We're doing the overnight because another overnight will be necessary to get past Point Conception (the Cape Horn of California) the following night. Transit is best at night when it is calmest in that area. Hey, I like my comfort as much as the next guy. We left San Francisco last Sunday and have made stops in Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz before arriving here.
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Most recent update:
Oct 21, 2009 BTW, we ended up tagging another night onto our trip from Monterey and went straight through to Santa Barbara. Just before logging off after writing you, I saw the forecast of a pacific storm in the coming days and wanted to get some distance south before returning to shore to tie up. The prudent mariner abides by the forecast. Good thing, too as the storm turned out to be a whopper. It is much better to watch these things safely tied up in a secure harbor. The alternative was riding it out at anchor in a less protected bay further north. Ick. As it was we were able to dodge the storm and get to Oceanside on time to meet up with some friends to spend a relaxing weekend (friends with privileges at the local Four Seasons are good friends to have!).

More to come...

Pacific Mystic

Private messgs sent...

Sorry to send multiple ones, but the e-mail function is disabled...

Cheers!

Looks like Eric and Valerie can take it from here - their blog is up and running at http://blog.mailasail.com/pacificmystic

So Pacific Mystic made it to Baja

One that didn't:

http://www.latitude38.com/lectronic/...0-29&dayid=344

another account:

http://www.fox5sandiego.com/news/ksw...,1150692.story

My friends Eric and Valerie met up with Antonio ("Rico" from Pearson Ariel Assn "Mephisto Cat" fame) and found him to be one cool customer! (aka - a really good guy)

They are safe and sound and updating their blog.

blog updated - http://blog.mailasail.com/pacificmystic/21 (our friend Rico is on the boat in the 5th picture. I believe he is standing at the port side stay.)

Ahhh - I'm back... Feeling well relaxed! And that is indeed my mug on that picture.

I am almost sad to be back from a great trip/adventure. I did have the pleasure to join a boat heading south. I had planned to do the trip on a friend's boat, but a last minute event prevented them from taking part. This had me scrambling for a boat, but I was lucky to join a great crew on a great boat!

More on the trip soon as I get myself sorted out...


For now, here is a bit of the real story of the sinking of 'J/world' as reported by Latitude 38 online. Link: http://www.latitude38.com/lectronic/...1-09&dayid=349


It is amazing how info gets quickly distorted... (I heard the story from the skipper myself, so that the tale below is indeed the real story!)

Here is a bit more on the great Baja ha-ha of '09 as reported by 'Latitude 38 Magazine:

http://www.latitude38.com/lectronic/...1-09&dayid=349

From that story:
"The high extremes in conditions ranged from winds of 20 to 30 knots and seas estimated by the Coast Guard — but not by any of the participants — to be between 18 and as much as 30 feet on the second and third days and nights. In the low extreme, it included lengthy calms near the end of the second and third legs."

The magnitude of the seas was impressive, but since we were running before the wind, it actually made for some fun & spirited sailing. At least for those of us who managed to keep our faces out of a bucket during the solid 24 hrs that these conditions prevailed.

I shot a little video as the seas were building. This was during the day. It was 'interesting' (yikes!) to hear BIG waves breaking behind you in the dark.... We only got small amounts of water over the stern, but some other boats were not so lucky...

Here is the little video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlqZpBYer2Y

I will also post a few stills on the 'Mephisto Cat' thread - just to keep things in order there... Those will be in post #110 here:

http://www.pearsonariel.org/discussi...ead.php?t=1552

If you haven't checked in with Eric and Valerie recently, it's worth the read. They're in El Salvador and have had some emotional and experiential highs and lows. As a friend, I'm glad they're getting their hairiest experiences to date now rather than in the North Atlantic. http://blog.mailasail.com/pacificmystic

Got this message from Eric and Valerie today - They'll transit the Panama Canal beginning tomorrow AM:

We will start our Panama Canal transit tomorrow morning (4/20) at around 6 am CST. You can use the Canal Authority's web cam system to view us locking through. We'll start the day in Miraflores locks on the Pacific side of the canal and finish the day in the Gatun locks on the Caribbean side by around nightfall.

I won't know the exact times of course that we'll be in each chamber, but you can check here periodically to look for us. : ) http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html. We're the single-masted sail boat with the dark blue hull.

-Eric-

Got this change-of-plan message from Eric:
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After transiting the canal, we made immediate preparations for going north to Jamaica. Going that direction and getting a good weather window were proving to be difficult, especially in this el Nino year where systems were thick, robost and frequent on both sides of Central America. After some study of the situation, we decided we were not going to be able to make our departure date in Bermuda for an Atlantic crossing this year. We were left with deciding where to leave the boat for hurrican season. According to our insurer, it's either where we were or above 40 degrees N (like New Jersey). Since we were tired and tired of rushing, we opted for Panama. When the hurricane season is done, we will return to the boat and go east to the Windward Islands, then take our time going north during the winter months. Obviously, this is a better way to do the Caribbean than what we had planned for this year. Another reason for parking the boat? We were tired of people telling us how crazy we are for rushing through all these places. :)

So that's where we are. I go back to Panama on Wednesday. We haul the boat out on Friday. We fly to France next week (till November).
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