The wind continued to build, and Madrone was off. With the wind at 15-20 knots, just aft of the beam, we zipped at 7-8 knots on a course directly for San Francisco.
The southwest wind is not the prevailing direction for this part of the ocean this time of year. Instead, it’s generated by the bottom of a giant low pressure system that has been sweeping down from the North Pacific for the past few days. Even on the edge of that system, we saw the wind build to 25 knots or so during the middle of the night. Closer to the center of the storm, the winds were 35+ – we were very happy that we just skirted the edge.
While the strong winds gave us good speed eastward they also generated steep, choppy 7-9′ wind waves. Those conditions are easy for Madrone to handle, but her crew needs to make sure they are hanging on at all times both above and below deck!
The distance we traveled in the last 24 hours is the farthest we’ve ever gone in a single day. We are hoping to have another good day of sailing with slightly lighter winds and calmer seas tomorrow.
We are about 450 miles east of the mainland. The horse can smell the barn.
Day sixteen: 175nm
Position: 38 11N 132 35W
