Moonrise over the Gulf of Alaska 🌙

It’s our last night on the water🥹 We should arrive at Eliason Harbor in Sitka in the next few hours. AHH! Still no sight of land. Luckily, the sun rises around 3 AM, so we should have plenty of daylight to guide us in. Conditions are mild: approximately 10kts of wind directly behind us and small sea state.

27 🎂

The wind’s been light and fickle these past few days, so we’ve been motor sailing, chasing Sitka under a heavy sky. Squalls pass through just long enough to raise hope, then vanish, leaving us drifting once more. The goal now is simple: get north, fast, despite the wind gods’ silence. I turned 27 yesterday, marked by chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast and whisky for dessert. A quiet birthday in a stubborn stretch of sea!

Sun is out ☀️ morale is up!

Thankful for the sun and relatively decent conditions today, though the wind’s a little light for us. We’ve got 7-10 kts at 120 deg apparent, with the waves behind us. Ciao Bella really needs a solid 15-20 kts to make good ground, especially with swell. We don’t have a whisker pole, so sailing directly downwind is a challenge with the flogging jib. For now, we’re sticking to the rhumb line as best we can. The past few days have honestly been nothing short of miserable 💯 After expecting those easy-breezy westerlies, getting stuck bashing upwind and off-course for two days straight was wildly disheartening. Then, the wind totally died, and we had to motor through lumpy slop. When the wind finally filled back in, we were flying (a thrilling 6-7 kts, lol) under a triple-reefed main and the tiniest sliver of jib, until the seas picked up and turned it into the most uncomfortable and moderately scary sail of our lives. We’ve seen bigger seas in the Kaiwi, but the swell direction this time made Ciao Bella nothing short of a washing machine. Thankful we did not get rid of our Monitor wind vane as it steers the boat much better in conditions like that than our electric autopilot does. A few things have broken already (mainsail track cracked in half, the VHF can transmit but not receive, and the fridge/freezer quit working when we’re heeled over, just to name a few). All of it adds to Ciao Bella’s already very long list of “quirks.” Last night, a big ship appeared on our radar and they were heading directly for us. Visibility was not good and we could only see faint lights when they got close. We tried to hail them to inform them that our VHF can only transmit and that we were going to maintain course, but they still came a little too close for comfort. Our spare (and brand new) floating VHFs are also not charging for some reason, so…💀 Today is the first time we’ve seen the sun in a while, so we’re soaking it up and really looking forward to making landfall in Sitka. Let out a line for the first time in a while, too, so pray we catch fish 🎣

It’s COLD❄️

Well, we made it to the westerlies. Except, of course, the wind is not actually coming from the west 😅 We finally caught some wind yesterday morning, out of the south. A cold front moved through later in the day, and a high is building behind it, which flipped the wind around to the north by the evening. We sailed due north yesterday in anticipation of the shift, so we could gain as much northern ground as possible and not have to sail into the wind as hard/long when the north wind arrived. Sure enough, the northerlies clocked in around 7PM yesterday, earlier than expected. So, now we’re sailing slow and hard into the wind, trying to stick to the rhumb line as best as we can. I had high hopes for these westerlies for some downwind sailing direct to Sitka. So far, of the 13 days at sea, we’ve had 8 days of upwind sailing, 4 days of motoring in <5 kts of wind, and maybe half a day sailing downwind 😭 Hoping we get true westerlies tomorrow and Tuesday… though there’s a big system rolling through Weds/Thurs that could throw another wrench in it all. The temperature is frigid, especially at night, and visibility is diminished with the omnipresent fog. We are heavily relying on our radar to keep our eyes out for ships, and Porter to be our personal space heater in bed 😂

Where oh where are the westerlies!

It’s been a few days since we began motor-sailing through 5 kts or less of wind. Haven’t been running the engine at a high RPM, so we’ve only burned around 70 gal of diesel so far. The air temperature has a little bite to it now, and dense fog has accompanied the rising sun the past few mornings. Hoping we can reach the westerlies soon…🤞🏽 A pod of dolphins surrounded us yesterday evening around dinner-time. They are always so magical!

Gennaker run around the North Pacific high

One week and 800 nautical miles into our Pacific crossing. Big things are happening out here in the middle of the North Pacific. First, we’re officially out of the trades. We’ve reached the light-wind zone west of the North Pacific High, nestled between the trades and the westerlies…perfect conditions to try out our gennaker for the first time. SHE’S A DREAM!!! It took a minute to haul her out from the forward cabin, rig the lines, and get everything sorted, but once she filled, Ciao Bella started gliding. She’s beautiful and we’re stoked! Second, we sold our old boat, Bria Mia, today. A quick notary meeting via Starlink and a couple phone calls later, and she’s (nearly) officially passed on to her next chapter. We’ll miss her deeply. She carried us through some of our most formative sails around the Hawaiian islands, but we’re thrilled for her new owners: two brothers, both marine biologists, recent college grads, and just… fricken’ wicked. Wishing them fair winds and good fortune on their endeavors! And last but certainly not least, the fridge and freezer are BACK ONLINE BABY! Which means today I get a cold beer. The breeze is chilly, the sun is warm, our spirits are high. 1,500 nautical miles to go. CHEERS!!!🍻

Routines written by the wind

With just Dave and I on watch, we settled into a schedule: six-hour watches during the day, three at night. The first couple nights were hard. We’d had two challenging days closer to the Hawaiian archipelago, two perfect days of consistent wind and bright sun, and since yesterday, the conditions have become steadily more fickle. The waves remain on our starboard beam, and heightened with the strengthened wind, the boat heels with conviction. Sleep has become more elusive. Our routine, though, has begun to stitch itself into something reliable. I wake after a few hours of uneasy rest between 6-10, pried from sleep by motion and incessant sounds. Dave’s shift is from 6-12, and he is usually watching a show. My shift begins at noon and I eagerly lose myself in books. During the day, we’re all usually cooped up in the pilot house with Porter, protected from the wind and waves outside. This place has become our refuge of which I am so thankful for. It feels like reading inside a moving world, like a train with no tracks. Around midday, we eat. The meals I froze before we left have become small moments of familiarity. I try to sleep again from six to nine, though sleeping always feels like borrowing rest instead of owning it. My favorite watch is nine to midnight. The stars are endless, at least when there are no squalls. Dave has continued to see mysterious orbs that brighten and dim on the horizon during his shifts. We saw our first vessel last night, what looked like a city of lights speeding across the horizon. The three to six watch is still the most challenging. The wind often strengthens with the coming light, as if the sun and sea conspire. At dawn this morning, we put in a third reef. 25kts of wind are at approximately 60 degrees apparent, and the swell on our starboard beam induces an aggressive heel, so another day of wind and motion ahead, likely a repeat of yesterday. We may only have a few more days of steady trades before they slip away.

Found our pace!

Finally out of the variable wind band of squalls to the north of Kauaʻi and have great, consistent wind at around 60-70 degrees apparent. Ciao Bella is trucking along… We’d like to make more eastward progress, but the boat performs so well and is very comfortable with the wind at this angle, so we’ll stick with this course for now. Waves are continuing to get smaller, so it’s also been less rolly. All that said, we are very much looking forward to reaching the westerlies! Porter’s been doing really well 🐾💤 he has so much to look forward to in Alaska! Also…full disclosure our max speed has not been 21 kts😂 probably closer to 10-12 kts for the whole trip so far.

Sporty first 24hrs

1400-1800: We departed from Hanalei after a slow morning. Wind was 14 kts outside of the bay from the NE accompanying a big east swell, both at about 70 degrees apparent. Wind rose to 24 kts about 3 nm offshore. We maintained a triple reefed main and 100% jib, trucking along at about 5 kts. Good gusts get us to about 7 kts. 2100-0000: The day became night. All you can see is our tricolor on the top of the mast, the Milky Way, and bioluminescence that dances on the backs of waves. Wind is chilly, sustained 27kts with gusts up to 30 at about 60 degrees apparent. We’re following a recommended track from Commander’s Weather precisely and are about 40 nm offshore northern Kauaʻi. Porter is sitting at my toes, we are tethered together. Squall after squall after squall….🌧️ 0600-1200: This morning was rough. Waves are clocking in from the NE and SE off our starboard beam so the boat is heeled heavy and rolly. We’re all feeling not the best. 🤮