On route to Hawaii- first 24 hours

We are on our way! The forecast looks to have variable winds for the next week or so, however if we can just stay area of some of the slower wind patches I’m sure we will make excellent time.

We had a great run for the first four hours out of Neuvo Vallarta as we left the breakwater exactly at 2pm. We beat our way out of the bay until 6 pmand had a nice lift to clear Cabo Corrientes. At 6pm the wind died and we motored and motor sailed for about two hours until the wind filled in from behind and we could hoist the spinnaker just before dark.

We ran all night with the kite up in 10-17 kts of wind however the majority was at about 15kts, which forced us to continually turn the boat further south as the wind bagan to move forward. Since the wind was in the mid teens we just couldn’t carry the asymmetrical  spinnaker closer than 105-110 degrees apparent and were forced to head further south than I had wanted to.

Being our first night out it was nice to just keep sailing without waking people up to douse the kite, however at about 5:15 this morning I decided enough was enough and George and I dropped the kite began beating back up to Soccoro Island.

The wind has held between 10-14 kts for most of the day and we are making great speed. We are constantly seeing boat speeds in the 8-9 kts range and SOG numbers about a knot less due to some counter current. I even saw 11.5 kts speed through the water last night with the kite up!

We are currently at 19 15.193 N 107 19.150 W sailing at 7.5 SOG and 9.0 boat speed on a COG of 265. Since leaving NUevo Vallarta we’ve done 165 miles via GPS, 185 via the log and are 145 nautical miles straight line from our starting point. Only 2868 miles to go!