Photos: The Border Run.

Testing out the Jib Top on the delivery to Dana Point, worked awesome then but in the race the wind was just too light and we swapped back to the spinnaker soon after trying it. Nice to finally see it working properly on the delivery though.

The power stations on this coast plague you in light air. You can see them for hours....

Morning of the race, Charlie Wind Whisperer on the helm, Nick settling in, Sarah hiding.

Jonathan making a brief appearance above deck.

Before cooking up a feast as the sun set....

...which was tasty and hot and spicy as it got cold

Last moments with the spinnaker before a late charge into the channel at 3am. After this the wind switched 180 and we sailed upwind after dark.

This was the last photo I took. After this the wind started picking up and we tacked our way to the south past Point Loma.

Returning back with Jonathan on board we took an aggresive shortcut inside the kelp beds and wiggled out to the north, the photo below shows our path. This saved us 40 minutes at least over the longer and safer route south and around the beds that I take solo.

And right after we popped out Jonathan called out "Whales Ahoy" and there they were!

Later their small cousins turned up

And for once I was sailing home in company, with other sailboats running to both Oceanside and further north.

Whale Breath, and a race with a DNF.

Long slow race in light air into the biggest wind shadow of the area - Cardiff about 12 miles south of Oceanside - we pulled the plug at 8:20pm still 4 miles short and going nowhere fast. Most of the other boats pulled the plug too but maybe Shaman finished still waiting to find out.

Saw these guys -  insane life cycle!!

Lots of dolphins, some seals, a couple of whales during the light and a most surreal experience - while we were sailing at night we were flanked by some whales. We could hear them breathing but not see them.

Race wise I forgot to retune the rig so we were a bit tight but rounded the bottom mark in second (out of eight). Pole Dancer drew a big lead back upwind but as it got lighter we closed and closed and they quit at the point we were passing them. Foot when its light!!!

Shaman took the inside, got the expected shift and were slightly ahead when it got dark, but we were pulling that back too last I saw.

Stunning sunset and amazing moon rise over the mountains.

Dolphins!

Didn't take many (any?) pictures during the Midwinters but on the way back to Oceanside these guys took a nice flyby!

Video: Dolphins

Dolphins came back to Oceanside. Been a while but last week we saw a few and yesterday I saw hundreds.

More solo spinnaker sailing and trying to tune upwind. Also recorded the sail at raceQs.com - there's a nice replay using google earth and it allows you to easily see your speed variation during the track. Reminds me that I've really got to push on my own recording and analysis code that also had all the instrument data.

RaceQs though does seem like it will be able to highlight differences in tacking efficiency, speed etc pretty nicely.

Video: Oceanside to San Diego

Moved Kraken so Shelter Island Boat Yard so she can have some repairs. Wind was from the SW so rather than your typical run this was upwind. We headed off under engine for a couple of hours to get a good angle then sailed a four hour beat to the tip of Point Loma where we wiggled through the kelp and turned into the bay.

Sailing: Marina Del Ray to Dana Point

This was part one of getting Kraken home (final destination somewhere TBD in the North Bay, San Diego). For two weeks the weather prediction was for no wind and sunshine, not exactly ideal but not a terrible proposition but as we got closer the weather following this balmy prediction closed in and wen driving North I could see the precursor high strata of the incoming front.

Sure enough morning dawned cold and with rain clouds all around, but also with wind. While we got a nice dosing for our troubles it definitely helped keep the pace up and a six AM exit had us pulling into Dana Point's cute little harbor at 2pm,an hour ahead of my prediction.

What of the trip other than rain? Dolphins. Lots of them! Also a whale, some seals, lots of birds and a water spout, at least the tail end of one, rather close for my liking. Also sea sickness, for some on board. I'm kicking myself for not having prioritized getting good waterproofs and fleeces on board leading to crew getting cold and going below in some fairly bouncy conditions.

Next step is getting her to Oceanside, another four hours, at some point in the next three days. Question is do I trust the weather forecast???!!