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Singlehanded Sailing Society
2002 TRANSPAC News and Position Reports | Home |
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Singlehanded Sailing Society
2002 TRANSPAC News and Position Reports | Home |
0900 hours radio check in
via SailMail from Steve Wilson on board Westerly
Heard a few knocks on the hull this morning and started to get up to see who it was....
| Yacht | Latitude | Longitude | DTF | Notes |
| Rusalka | 26.30 | 145.48 | 792 | |
| Alchera | 25.01 | 148.27 | 630 | |
| Tease | 25.01 | 145.38 | 781 | |
| Endangered Species | 26.26 | 144.47 | 843 | |
| Seabird | 25.08 | 145.37 | 783 | |
| Zapped | did not check in | |||
| Westerly | 25.30 | 144.30 | 846 | |
| Haulback | 25.53 | 143.45 | 890 |
2100 hours radio check in
from Steve Wilson on board Westerly
| Yacht | Latitude | Longitude | DTF | Notes |
| Rusalka | 26.15 | 147.02 | 724 | |
| Alchera | 24.19 | 149.35 | 561 | |
| Tease | 24.47 | 147.03 | 703 | |
| Endangered Species | 25.52 | 145.37 | 792 | |
| Seabird | 24.34 | 146.37 | 723 | |
| Zapped | 24.33 | 148.11 | 639 | VHF relay |
| Westerly | 24.69 | 145.29 | 790 | |
| Haulback | 25.16 | 144.35 | 840 |
from Mark Deppe on board Alchera
Alchera Log 6/24/02 0711 Hours
Position N25 09 W148 18
I had my first set of lucid dreams in awhile last night. A lucid dream is unlike any normal kind of dream. It is so vivid and detailed that it is very close to being awake. But the most interesting aspect is that the dreamer is aware that he is dreaming, and can control how the dream develops.
I've only experienced lucid dreams a handful of times, and most always on a boat or ship after a week or so. In my case, being extremely fatigued helps initiate the special conditions required to enter the lucid state, since you must remain aware of the fact you are dreaming without actually waking up. It's a very fine line. The dream rivals reality in how detailed and lifelike it is. My favorite thing to do while lucid dreaming is to fly. Since I can control any aspect of the dream, I can move my body about freely without any of the normal constraints of gravity. Fun stuff.
No, I haven't totally lost it, lucid dreaming is real - look it up on the internet.
Anyway, back to reality. (Or is this still a lucid dream?;-) The radar alarm went off this morning with the first real squall I've seen this trip. Up to now all I've seen are little cells with very little wind and no rain. This one, and the others which are around me now, are the big ones I remember from my last trip. There has been a lot of discussion in the fleet about 'squall strategy' and what is the proper course of action to take to maximize the gain from a passing squall. The hot sleds can apparently go so fast as to tack back and forth in front of a moving squall continuously. But, there are no hot sleds in our little singlehanded fleet. For a smaller displacement boat like Alchera, I suppose the most important thing is just not to get caught behind the squall as it passes or you get becalmed for awhile. Like what just happened now.
I've started to notice more sealife as I get closer to Hawaii. The flying fish are particularly amazing. Before I took this trip in 96, I had never seen a flying fish, and I imagined it had some sort of airfoil fin which it could use to glide for a distance after jumping out of the water. Wrong! Those little suckers can really fly! Flying fish flap their fins like wings and can pretty much fly as far and high as they want to. To take off, they scoot along the surface with their tail fin in the water providing forward thrust, while their 'wings' flap like crazy to get them airborne. It's very similar to the way ducks take off from the water, by running along the surface while they flap until they get enough airspeed to lift off. Some of the boats in the fleet are now finding these fish on deck in the morning.
Speaking of fish, Audacious caught another Mahi Mahi during the last evening check-in, a 43 incher. And Rusalka had an escort of dolphins for a period. (Erik also mentioned the boat is really coming on strong with the 'voices' lately too.)
Weather conditions for the fleet continue to be light winds, with the fleet trying to get south to avoid the expanding high. Lou on Seabird is finding it particularly frustrating, because the sails are slatting in the swells and the large boat is unable to get moving up to speed.
Alchera
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