Past Turtle Bay, heading south

Date: Dec 6, 2013, Time: noon PST
26° 13' N 115° 06' W
Wind speed: 115 / wind dir: N, Heading: 120, Speed: 6.3
Barometer: 1020, Water Temp: 67.1f
Log: 9986

There has been good sailing for the last two days, no serious lulls or calms. Last night the wind rose to around 25 knots and so I reefed the sails. Now its falled off again and the genoa has been unfurled out to its full size. I'm making good enough speed for my taste and so will leave the main with a reef in it.

I realize that the numbers I type into this post above are somewhat artificial. The boat is constantly in motion, riding the waves, swell, and changes in wind direction and speed. The boat speed is ranging from mid 5 knots to low 7 knots, depending on whether we are riding down the face of a wave in a gust, up the face of a wave in a short lull, etc. Having said that, these sailing conditions are close to ideal. These are really fine conditions for my heading south down this coast.

The water has warmed up continually and when the sun comes out from behind a cloud its starting to warm up. However the sky is cloudy enough that this isn't happening very often. The battery bank ended the day yesterday down 9Ah, which is close to having been fully replenished. At the moment they are down 22Ah and the solar panels are having a hard time with my direction and the clouds. The direction means there are many shadows falling on the panels from the rig and sails. I know that the last time down this coast I had to run the engine for short periods to give the batteries a charge, I'm curious if that will be needed this time.

I'm a little over half of the way to Cabo San Lucas. There are some stops I could make along the way, however with the wind conditions the way they are I'm reluctant to stop and take my chances in the wind fading. If the wind stays with me, I may just keep moving. And the forecasts I've read so far indicate the wind may just stay with me. I'll download a fresh forecast just after this email is posted.

Everything is fine on board. I've been hunting down the sources of squeaks and think I have them all nailed. Now onto some items in lockers which bang around a little. But after lunch, its time to eat!

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