It definitely feels like Northern California waters now. Grey seas and skies, low cloud cover with occasional fog and drizzle. Cold as well, and everyone has dug out their foulies. We are still trying to get out ahead of the high, at which point we should have glorious winds speeding us along to the Golden Gate. In the meantime we continue to tend the autopilot, trying to take advantages of shifts while not killing ourselves resetting every single sail trim control every 15 minutes as the wind wanders 40 degrees and varies in strength. No discernible rhythm to the wind at this point. A lull might be a lift or a header, gusts come before fog, during fog, after fog, or not at all.

We continue to make some mileage, but still trying our best to conserve fuel. We are doing a good job of it, as we've only motored about 12 hours out of the last 50 or so, but we want to be careful as there's a possibility that the winds will die as we get close in to the coast, which would be bad for morale. Drifting within sight of SF...

Julia and I talked this morning and both agree that the heavier weather early in the trip was much more fun, and made the time go by quickly. It was very liberating to be on a boat with such an experienced skipper, it gave us a bit of a sounding board to say 'okay, you're not concerned, so we won't be either.' Already we've got more ideas brewing for the long term dream 'next boat.'

Currently there is a conference under way at the barometer. If we keep tapping it insistently, perhaps it will drop a bit more.

There have been bets placed onboard on arrival date, but the general consensus throughout the boat and fleet is that we will arrive on or before Wednesday the 11th. We'll see, we need to find our wind first.

Lat 36 53.641' N, Long 138 49.367' W
Wind:6 kt NNE
Seas: 1.5 meter N
Speed: 6kt (motorsailing)
Dist to go: 783 NM

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