We're cruising along here, doing about 6.5 to 6.8 knots over the ground (5.9 to 6.2 through the water) as we get a big push from a fairly big swell. We're surfing down 8-10 foot waves and making good time towards Turtle Bay. We've only go the mainsail up, as the yankee wasn't liking our direction nearly straight downwind. When daylight comes, we'll either go wing-and-wing, or we'll fly the spinnaker. It's pretty lumpy out here, though, with some mixed swell that is creating some discomfort (mixed swell meaning the waves aren't always coming from the same direction). We've got anywhere from 10-15 knots of wind.
We've seen a lot of ship activity tonight. Denali piloted us through one stretch where we passed three cargo ships going the other way. We've only had to radio one, and that was a ship coming from behind to overtake us. Anyway, a good radio contact and we both held our course and everything was fine. I just passed Carnival Elation which was heading north. We missed each other by 4 miles, so I didn't bother telling them we were here. Gotta love the AIS system that shows me exactly who they are, how big they are, where they are, where they're heading, and if they're turning or not. I think I'll invest as soon as I can though in an AIS that broadcasts the same information about me. It's great knowing where the big guys are, but I'd like them to know where I am, too, without me having to tell them, or relying on the radar reflectors to tell them.
We're currently 41 nautical miles NW of Bahia de San Quintin, heading right for it because that's the direction these swells are going and having swells this size hit us on the beam was no fun. So we'll need to gybe in a few hours after everyone is awake. 200 miles to Turtle Bay. We're gotten about 65 miles south of Ensenada since we left at 3:00 PM. We've sailed 77 miles, but we can't make a straight line right now because of the wind and swells.
More later today. Hopefully a fish story.
TT
