land ho!

Tues. July 19,2005
Aloha from Ohana Kai,
All is going well here. We have had a few amazing days of sailing in all types of weather. We have had great wind to push us along, with the exception of the last 24 hours. We have been motoring for the last day and through quite a bit of fog. That's the California coast for you.

We have made remarkable time covering up to 150 miles a day and will arrive in Fort Brag, CA this morning just in time for sunrise. (it happens to be 4am right now and you are keeping me company on my watch, thanks) We did end up going out about 40 - 50 miles offshore to avoid so many fishing boats and crab pots. It worked! We were lucky if we saw one boat a day. Now we just see them on our radar screen and they are usually about 8 miles away. It has been an amazing concept to me to set the sails, point the boat in direction you want it to go and not have to readjust them for an entire day or night. Wind is an amazing power.

The water has been relatively calm lately and no animal life to see out there except an occasional bird, but as you often hear with boats, there is always a project to do. We are certainly no exception to that rule!
Of course we jinxed ourselves with commenting on how smooth it was going. Within a couple of hours, the whisker pole(a pole that helps to hold out the front sail) bent in half. Keep in mind the thing must be 10" in diameter and 7-8 feet long. So while Bruce was out on deck attending to that, I was trying to cook some dinner in my new pressure cooker when it blew a gasket and sent steam and stuff through out the entire galley. Luckily for me I had just stepped away from the stove. As boating (and life I suppose) goes, you fix it and move on. Bruce got out his roto blade saw and repaired the pole. I cleaned the kitchen and can say that the dinner actually turned out great despite my techniques. I was able to find the blown gasket piece, replace it and hope to be more successful at that another day. We were back in action and very blessed.

We will touch base again once we get settled in Fort Brag, CA.
love,
Lisa & Bruce