My log from the 7 days off the west coast delivering Sonic from Seattle to LA.
Day 1 (Sunday)
Our crew of 9 motored out of Shilshole starting at 10am. Clear sky and light winds made for a very pretty cruise. All the mountains are out and it’s gorgeous. Me and the rest of the crew are buzzing with excitement for what’s to come.
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| Sonic sailing in the Sound |
6pm-10pm watch
Got immediately queasy crawling through the cramped passageway from my bunk and putting on foul weather gear down below before my watch. It was hot, damp, crowded, and noisy (still motoring) and it sent me over the metaphorical edge, despite the scopolamine patch I’d been wearing. Vomited within minutes, was incredibly nauseous for the next 18 hours. While curled on the deck I saw one of the biggest shooting stars ever - green, long, and lasting. Tried to tell the rest of the crew, but could only mumble and weakly extend a finger to point. No one noticed.
Day 2 (Monday)
2am-6am watch
Completely incapacitated, trying to drink fluids. Looks like it’ll be a nice sunny day, but I’m curled up on deck in my foul weather gear hiding from the early sun. Stayed on deck through the next watch, didn’t eat lunch. Finally the engine is off! We put up the A4 spinnaker in 12-15 kts of wind.
12pm-6pm watch
Still incredibly queasy. Everyone is helping out trying to get me better, it is heartening. Rade force-feeds me ginger, and Cecily commands me to drink fluids every 20 minutes. I’ve never felt this terrible. Whale sightings, but I’m too nauseous to even raise my head to look. Conditions for the rest of the crew are perfect though. It’s sunny, the wind is a steady 14-16kts and we’re still flying the A4 making 12-14kts ourselves.
10pm-2am watch
We dropped the kite and put up the jib due to cloud cover. It’s really helpful to see the spinnaker when trimming. For most of the watch I was struggling to keep my eyes open, I was so exhausted. At least I’m not as queasy anymore, though. Dolphins swam next to the boat at night. I thought I was hallucinating them, had to get it confirmed.
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| Sonic sailing off the coast of Washington |
Day 3 (Tuesday)
6am-12pm watch
Sailing under the A4 Spinnaker, doing 12-14 in 15-17. I’m feeling fully recovered now. Got a different seasickness pill from Tomasz, seems to work well! I also put on an additional scopolamine patch just to be sure. I’m very glad to finally be able to fully contribute to watch duties. I’m a little nervous to drive as I’ve never flown a spinnaker before and it takes a lot of concentration when flying one, but I do well. I’m learning a lot about trimming kites. We passed a sunfish to starboard, it was bobbing near the surface of the water and was the first I’ve ever seen.
6pm-10pm watch
Still flying A4 in perfect winds. Excellent sailing! Not much of a sunset as there’s so much cloud cover. We broached while I was on mainsheet trim duties, very grateful for quick reactions in blowing the main sheet. Feeling more confident in all positions.
Day 4 (Wednesday)
2am-6am watch
Crummier weather, 12-18 kt winds with low visibility as we’re socked in with a dark, low cloud layer that completely obscures the mostly full moon. We took down the kite in favor of the jib. I enjoy driving with this setup. There’s a lighter layer on the false horizon that makes it look like we’re headed into an ice wall. Instruments and feeling the boat move are the only reference for maintaining our course. I peed into bioluminescence off the back of the boat which looked like large flakes of shiny emitting from under the transom.
12pm-6pm watch
Lighter winds, cold & drizzly. Flying the A2 kite. It takes quite a bit of trimming work to keep it full. The noise from grinding and easing on the winches keeps the off-watch crew up. We joke about it, but it is indeed incredibly noisy below. Where is the California sun?
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| Sonic sailing off the coast of Washington |
10pm-2am watch
We blew up the A2 kite at the start of the watch. Thankfully the skipper was driving. We started to broach and didn’t get the kite or mainsail eased in time. It was a 15+ year old kite, so not too surprising or upsetting to the skipper. Made for an exciting all-hands-on-deck maneuver getting things sorted, though.
Day 5 (Thursday)
6am-12pm watch
The boom vang dampener broke just before the start of the watch. It’ll have to be repaired in LA. I stuffed a towel into the break to prevent wear on the rod ends of the gas springs, then wrapped the sharp bits with duct tape. We don’t truly need it, but the boom is only held up by the leech of the sail now, so it sits lower and there’s more risk of crew injury should it come across the deck. We tried to calibrate instruments as planned, but the skipper abandoned after trying for a bit as he said the data wasn’t going to be useful. Motor sailing under jib and main towards LA in light winds at the moment. Taking care of little projects around the boat in our free time on watch.
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| Sonic’s broken boom vang dampener |
6pm-10pm watch
Light winds, but sailing again with A4 and staysail. It’s hard for some drivers to keep on course as everything around us is indistinguishably gray with no reference for maintaining a heading. Accidental gybes have become much more dangerous with the boom low from the vang break. We had a close call on our watch before the skipper agreed to rig a preventer. First ship sighted, as well as some sort of buoy, but AIS is down so not sure what they were.
Day 6 (Friday)
2am-6am watch
Mostly quiet, still dealing with the effects is the broken boom vang dampener. We had some trouble raising the kite at the end of the watch as there was a small rip that had to be repaired. Cut into sleep time significantly. After the watch the wind picked up making it nearly impossible to sleep due to the noise and motion. It’s like trying to sleep on a deafening mechanical bull. Oh well, we may arrive late tonight!
12pm-6pm watch
Psych out, we should be at the channel islands late tonight, but likely won’t make the marina before Saturday midday. Wind is up around 20kts, we doused the Spinnaker and are on a jib and main, may need to reef soon as there’s a small craft advisory in effect for the coast. Cruise and cargo ships are all over now as we get closer to the coast and LA. Several whale sightings. As we surf the swell, the bow dips below the waves and the dyneema bobstay vibrates as it goes through the water making the whole boat thrum with anticipation of the ascent up the other side. Towards 6pm the swell and winds started building significantly. We noticed a small tear near the top of the main so the skipper didn’t want to drop it or reef until we got to lighter winds lest it rip catastrophically. The next 6 hours were spent surfing down large swells in a steady 25, guessing to 33 kt winds with too much canvas up. Not ideal, but we had experienced drivers with us that got us through. All crew were as far back in the boat as possible to keep the bow up. Despite our efforts, waves would cascade over the bow and soak us all the way back in the cockpit. Down below everything leaks and our gear is soaked as it gets tossed around. Luckily we’re running with the swell, I can’t imagine trying to fight against this wind and water. This would be an appropriate time to get seasick, but I actually feel very comfortable. Even managed to crawl back to the transom and take a much needed nap after my watch. There’s a strange rudder noise that’s been going on for a few days. It’s more pronounced now during the huge forces on the rudder.
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| Sonic surfing outside the Channel Islands |
10pm-2am watch
We made it into the wind shadow behind the Channel Islands around midnight and we’re able to drop sails and start motoring towards LA. We celebrated in the cockpit after the craziness of the last day. Most crew were exhausted and since we’re just motoring we loosen up our watches so crew that needed rest could get some. The sky is clear for the first time since day 2, unfortunately there’s plenty of light pollution.
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| Calm after the storm |
Day 7 (Saturday)
6am-10am watch
Motoring along the coast now. A huge pod of dolphins comes across our bow and under the boat, making the water all around fill with breaches. There are hundreds of them! Lots of pelicans and container ships as well. We started clearing the boat out as we neared the marina and what would be the start of the Transpac race three weeks from now. Lots of water in the bilges and everything in the boat is wet. Luckily it’s hot and sunny so we laid it all out on deck in the sun to dry… Our first sunny morning since the start of the trip! We pulled into the marina at noon and immediately started clearing out everything and deep cleaning. I was able to help for a couple hours before my flight back.
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| Yardsale |
