caught my first fish on Seazed Asset

seazed VanceSprock_1320 4c_160

I have been fishing for three days, and caught my first one today, sort of. What I caught is a piece of a broken yellow plastic crate. I starting noticing bits of floating stuff in the water yesterday, there is more today. Its not just on the surface, standing on the bow, or just looking over the side I have seen all sorts of plastics debris, just below the surface. The largest floating bit about a 2′ x 3′ fishing float, or boat fender, had about 6″ of barnacles on the bottom. So its been out here a while. Lost of plastic jugs and some foam. Not a nice thing to see. So make sure you recycle as much as you can, and don’t litter. Don’t worry, the “fish” is going to HI with me:) Vance Seazed Asset

lost some ground on Seazed Asset last night

Winds were light and massive wind shifts up to 40 degrees. The wrong way of course. Was up until 0200 trying to keep the boat going. Got up at 0500, not much sleep, nothing had changed, except it was very overcast and drizzly. Cleaned the dodger windows with the drizzle, nice. About 0600 I was about to get a RIB when a massive lift came my way. All of a sudden I am pointing at Hanley Bay! Running under a broad reach full Genoa and main making 7.5-8 knots, fantastic I thought. The it shifted a bit and went lighter. Ok, time for a spinnaker. Rigged the chute and went below for the radio check in. Came back on deck and noticed my spinnaker guy was now under the boat stuck on the rudder. Running new spinnaker sheets and even though I had two wraps on the winch, and in the self-tailing jaws, it snuck overboard. Tried pulling from one side then the other, no luck. Furled the Genoa and rounded up stopping the boat, still stuck, go over the side was one thought. Worked both of the lines to the cockpit, making sure I did not lose more over the side. Rounded up again, pulled, still nothing. The rounded up again, and gave about two fee of slack on the spinnaker end, was able to pull that up! Did it again same thing, so I let go of that side. Then pulled the guy back in the boat. I was lucky that I did not install any shackles. That only took an hour or so, such is a boat. Right now I have the chute up, and am pointing right at Hanley Bay, only 1500 km to go!

Vance Seazed Asset –

Bad night on Seazed Asset

seazed VanceSprock_1320 4c_160

It was a bad night full of mistakes. Chaffed a spinnaker sheet in half, lost a spinnaker halyard to the mast top, and broke the shift/throttle lever. I have a spare spinnaker sheet, and another spin halyard. Can get by without the gear/throttle lever for now. Need to be extra careful from now. I did see some great stars last night when the clouds moved away. Hope to see more soon. Looks like it will be an overcast day. I did have some sunshine yesterday.

Vance Seazed Asset

Seazed Asset report

Made it out the gate and passed the Farallones by 2030. Winds were very light at that point, 5-7 knots. Kept waiting for the predicted shift to the NW. Made a couple of tacks south when I had a big header, did not last long, had to tack back. Finally about 2140 it stuck. Was light a first 8-10 the wind built to high teens, and then 20-25 from the WSW. 0430 had to furl genoa to about 100% and took a reef in main. I think I passed Shaman at that time. Tom caught the shift just before me. This boat was to weather and a bit behind. I guess he was changing headsails. The weather was still was like that when I got up at 0700. I called Brian Boschma, and gave him a weather report, then went back to bed. I was feeling seasick and almost lost it three times. Woke up at 1000, wind was down to 16-18. I did see a speed of 11.4 knots flash on my GPS that morning! Unfurled genoa and took out reef. Was like that all day, seas were down too. Still did not feel all that great. Took a lot of naps during the day boat was going well, 7.5-8.5 knots all day. Last night, looked like a repeat, winds were 20-24, reefed and furled genoa. I talked to Mike Jefferson (Mouton Noir)via SSB, worked great. Got some good sleep in between checking on the boat. Winds came down to 18-20 some time before I did the 2200 check. Took out reef and unfurled the genoa, ran full sail all night. Winds did build to 20-24 but it clocked to the North at 0 degrees, so I just went faster. Boat is still blasting along now 8-9.5 knots, getting pushed by the waves at times. Feeling better this am, getting my sea legs under me. Talked to Mike vis SSB on the net. Also talked to Jean Socreties (Neridia)(sorry for the bad spelling). She is headed north to BC. we had a great signal and she told me stories of her SHTP. Great to talk to someone who has done this before on SSB. Just barely could hear on VHF 16, the Coast Guard is looking for Giant Slayer? I hope David is safe somewhere. Vance Seazed Asset ————————————————- Do not push the “reply” button to respond to this message if that includes the text of this original message in your response. Messages are sent over a very low-speed radio link. The most concise way to reply is to send a NEW message to: wdi6622@sailmail.com If you DO use your reply button, be sure to delete the original message text and these instructions from your reply. Replies should not contain attachments and should be less than 5 kBytes (2 text pages) in length. This email was delivered by an HF private coast station in the Maritime Mobile Radio Service, operated by the SailMail Association, a non-profit association of yacht owners. For more information on this service or on the SailMail Association, please see the web site at: www.sailmail.com

Seazed Asset

seazed VanceSprock_1320 4c_160

By Sat Phone 0705 PDT: Vance is report sporting conditions with winds to 25 to 30 from the SW. He is hard on the wind in what he described as unpleasant conditions. About 0430 he reports passing a vessel, believed to be his sister ship Shaman. All is well with the boat currently rigged with short sails.