More sailing pictures during the pac cup

Cranking the pole aft to go downwind and stabilize the boat!

Squalls and tropical bird...

putting the bag at the bow pulpit
Nat getting ready to set a spinnaker
A squall...and you can see the rain carpet!

Sailing into the sunset...and Hawaii.
France right after a squall

Nathan removing the 4-to-1 ratio on the main sheet to make sure it doesnt drag on deck and rattle/scar the fiber glass.

Nat cleaning up some lines after dousing the runner chute, getting ready for a reacher for the night.

our 'bed' - when it was still a little cold at night, eg still using the sleeping bag.

the 'emergency items above deck' diagram, taped up right by the hatch

Drying light foul weather gear

Dinner...loads of days worth...

Hygiene first....tooth cleaning!

pac cup 6 video

also at www.youtube.com\beatsarcoma

Daily scenes

that beautiful moon...with boat motion. We saw so many stars on that night. Absolutely no light pollution. It was so magical and beautiful.

sunrising on elise

External halyard as a 'just in case' backstay. and Nathan needed to use webbing to secure the 'new' headstay

getting ready for a squall
Dinner...lasagna...
making sure that the rain wont get in but ensuring some ventilation!

video 5 also at www.youtube.com\beatsarcoma


Another flying sardine on the foredeck (and the 'runner' chute)

Our lunch salad...some cabbage. Keeps really well outside of a fridge.

the runner

neat bundles of lines...always running clear...you never know when you need to hit the panic button

No water needed shampoo but rain was welcome as it would rinse the salt off of everything on deck. The warm Pacific sun would then be a wonderful dryer...

The 'sailor's kit': cup, winch handle and water bottle...

Nathan just done with a gybe on the foredeck (we took turns. I really wanted to be 100% reliable, even though, I didnt have previous Pac Cup experience). Nathan trusted me...he went to sleep while I was on watch...

Enjoying a glass of wine...

The ocean was pretty interesting on port side that morning. note that the padded lifeline was my toilet seat after Nathan lost our bucket overboard...Oh and what kind of debries did you see this morning?

- a floating fender

oh, nice, i saw a paint container lid...and a couple of flying sardines

Pac Cup Video 4

and at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vh9kyebnBWI

Other boat scenes

Nathan on night watch

Nat relieving him and clipping in for her watch

Nat driving in a squall (it was raining hard) - note that France is up. Squalls were announced by

- wind shifts (sometimes up to 20 degrees - we decided not to gybe all the time since it would mean waking up the other person and since squalls would last 10 to 15 minutes, it wasn't always worth it. and we got both headers and lifts)

- cool breeze

- dark clouds and often a blanket of rain

The moon. One night, one beautiful starry night, the moon rose, a big yellow bowl...it was absolutely magical...

Sunrise after a morning squall. Typically, we wouldnt actively trim the spinnaker. The lines were running aft so it was possible but most of the time, we had to drive to it. I rounded up three times (twice we were actually fiddling around with a wrapped up kite and were both involved) and only once during a squall at night. Elise is a very stable downwind boat and driving deep was a pleasure. She's eager too in the swell and heavy breeze...

Rolling and rocking
sunset
'No I couldnt see Hawaii yet'

We opened the wine at the halfway party!!! It felt SO good on the palate...and to our senses.

It is so strange as we can get used to quite a lot...

pac cup video 3

also at www.youtube.com\beatsarcoma

Skippers Tour

Every day before his 7PM watch, Nathan did a tour to make sure that everything was OK. Here checking for chafe.
Lowering the spin halyard to do that. (we could change the height of both halyards to prevent chafe on a regular basis)

Making sure the headsails were still there!

lowering the halyard
Checking for chafe on main halyard

Pacific Cup Video #2

also at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaKTf4nTN1A

Scenes from the boat

Elise's Nav station and Single Side Band radio

Inside bilge pump, barometer...

Our sails on the V-berth, mainly spinnakers and blast reacher. our storm sails were in the quarter berth portside and the white headsails were on deck.

gimble stove
the hero of the day(s) and night(s)

Emergency fuel
Red LED headlamp and sailing gloves