half way

We are celebrated our halfway mark today! Hula girls, fire dancers (this is a gender equality boat), and beach volleyball. Don't worry, Gary, we'll sweep up the sand. A dinner of Joe's delicious chicken teriyaki and Michele's tasty but port heeled cheesecake (as goes the boat, so goes the cheesecake). We toasted Tiki Blue for her wonderful sailing, Gary for sharing her with us, Skipper Dennis for imparting his wisdom and years of knowledge, First Mate Michele for organizing and managing the trip, and Joe and Andy for their enthusiasm for learning. Good food, good wine, and good spirits abounded (thus the delayed blog entry!)

We have been motoring through the high since 02:30 yesterday but it's been sunny and cool and we can go the direction we want to go. We slowed up a bit this afternoon to refuel and thought perhaps we could sail but no go. Andy gave it a valiant effort and gets those extra points from Tom for carving his initials in the Pacific Ocean. We're motoring again.

Unfortunately, we are also seeing more garbage - mostly in the shape of buoys but a tire floated by early this morning as Dennis and Michele traded watches. We are participating in a marine debris survey and are collecting information everyday that we'll send in once we return. So we at least feel like our garbage sightings are helpful.

Well, it's 02:30, the boys are snug in their bunks, Dennis is top side, the seas are calm, and my bunk is calling my name.

All is well on Tiki Blue.

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1/2 WAY?

We believe we are half way home (actual calculations would take a bit more motivation than is actually present on the boat) so we are celebrating with chicken teriyaki and cheesecake tomorrow night. It has been an sunny, consistent day. We started out with a long line of squalls deftly driven by Andy. He handled the helm through the wind for about an hour and a half with 18 to 20 knot winds and gusts to 24. He has now been renamed Squall Tamer! We have maintained an average boat speed of 7 knots and some of that in as little at 10 knots of breeze (Thank you, Tiki Blue!). We saw a pod of 20+ dolphins cross our bow heading somewhere as they jumped and played. And the sunset this evening started with a pale pink and ended with a beautiful scarlet red. Even though the boat looks as though it's in the 5 knot wind barbs, we have another series of squalls that will keep us moving (and Andy is again on the helm!)

Joe wanted to add: "Home is where the heart is and we are half way there. Love and thanks to everyone for the safe passage and good thoughts. Looking forward to sharing this great experience with you soon. As someone once said, live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.

Andy says we should get parrots, sail away and become pirates. We are considering it.

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a struggle

Yesterday was spent motoring which meant lots of napping but today has been a bit of a struggle. We've had high seas for most of the day which made Michele green around the gills and high winds (18 to 20kn). Unfortunately, early on, those winds wanted to take us to San Diego. We tacked over but still couldn't stay on the course we wanted so we're heading NNE in hopes of getting high enough to tack for home. The seas have eased and Andy of the cast iron stomach (who sends greetings to his folks in Fort Lauderdale) whipped up Beef Stroganoff. We'll keep trying to make headway and hope for more cooperative winds to come.

Dennis and the PacBack crew

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Hard to complain

We've just finished another day and night of clear weather sailing. Beautiful blue sky with puffy marshmallow clouds during the day and clear sky with just enough clouds to give us breeze at night. We were able to make 7 kn of speed in 11/12 kn breeze. We owe it to a great boat and perfect trim (Yes, Jack, we have perfect trim!). Everyone's favorite watch seems to be the night and early morning hours. We're sailing along the Milky Way, following it's path. We watch the constellations move across the star ladened night sky and watch the florescent algae as it looks like hundreds of Tinkerbells flying in our wake. Flying fish have jumped into the cockpit for a visit on a couple of occasions. Joe gallantly tossed his visitor back into the water while Michele screamed like a girl when she tried to pick up her visitor. Who knows what will happen if squid come visiting! We began motoring at 9:30 this morning to skirt through the bottom of the high and are hoping to catch bigger breeze on the other side. Everyone sends greetings.

Until tomorrow,
Dennis and the PacBack crew

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Day ?

Last night was amazingly star filled. Dennis and Michele were able to identify Mars, Saturn, the Scorpion and a few other minor constellations. In the early morning, Joe thought he spotted an aircraft carrier on the horizon, only to realize it was the bright and beautiful Venus. There is an app for that and we all used the Ipad app Star Guide to find all sorts of fun stuff in the night sky. Our daytime held a solid 36 hours of steady consistent winds (we were able to reach 8.5 to 9 knots in 12 knots apparent breeze)but alas, the wind gods have retreated. We began motoring at 6:00 this evening. At least we were able to escape a number of big, nasty looking squalls because Tiki Blue handles sooooo nicely. The boys have renamed us; we are no longer squall chaser but now wind chasers. We haven't decided if we'll go above or below the high as of yet.
The crew wanted to pass on some personal greetings:
From Andy: Thank you to my whole family for this once in a lifetime trip. Only once? Boppa Loves you. Happy Birthday to Little Addisyn,just a little late. Sorry, but Boppa went wandering again..
From Dennis: Happy Birthday, Becky.
From Joe: I hope Haven and Terry are having a terrific couple of days. And a huge welcome home to Dana.
From Michele: Habibi, give Oliver and Matilda extra loving. Miss you much.

Until tomorrow,
The Pac Back crew

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another fine day

we are finishing another fine day on Tiki Blue. We've successfully avoided 2 or 3 large squalls thanks to how well Tiki Blue handles even under auto helm. Everyone on board wants to give a shout out to Gary Truxel for allowing us to use such a well-tuned vessel. She holds a true course and simply glides through the waves. We are loving being her crew.
It is a day for shout outs - Joe was able to reach his birthday girl daughter and send special greeting from far away. The crew is settling in for the night watch schedule as we enjoy another fantastic sunset. All of us greetings to friends and family.

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Day 2

the Tiki Blue Pac Back crew have completed another day. We just watched a lovely sunset off the port beam. It's been a day of steady 15 to 17 knots with 3 or 4 squalls. The boys have begun calling us Squall Chasers. You can tell where the squalls were by looking at our track. It's a little squirrelly as we sailed to avoid the harsher ones. Michele cooked the first diner on the rocking stove!

Everyone sends greetings to their families.

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