Docked in Dutch Harbor after 32 days at sea. Total miles sailed: 3400 nm. Next stops will be at small anchorages on the way to Kodiak, AK, where we will winter with the boat.

20190711 1400 UTC, Day 4. Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Wakayama, Japan. Inbound Port Townsend, WA USA. What excellent sailing. We've rediscovered upwind sailing. For most of the voyage around the Pacific, we've been sailing mostly downwind, with some beam reaching. The few times we've sailed upwind the seas have been large and rough...not fun. But these last few days with moderate seas, with tumbleweed at full sails 24 hours a day, we've been impressed with how well tumbleweed cuts through the waves and squeezes some speed out of so little wind. Of course the seas have to corelate with the wind, smooth seas if light wind, etc.. 4155 miles to go.

20190711 1400 UTC, Day 4. Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Wakayama, Japan. Inbound Port Townsend, WA USA. What excellent sailing. We've rediscovered upwind sailing. For most of the voyage around the Pacific, we've been sailing mostly downwind, with some beam reaching. The few times we've sailed upwind the seas have been large and rough...not fun. But these last few days with moderate seas, with tumbleweed at full sails 24 hours a day, we've been impressed with how well tumbleweed cuts through the waves and squeezes some speed out of so little wind. Of course the seas have to corelate with the wind, smooth seas if light wind, etc.. 4155 miles to go.

20190710 0800 UTC, Day 3. Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Wakayama, Japan. Inbound Port Townsend, WA USA. Winds have been consistently from the east for 2 days, 15-20 kts. Because our general route is ~50 degrees T, we have been sailing to weather for those 2 days also, and at times it has been rough. 2-3m seas, several wave trains, strong currents dominated by the Kuroshio, and complex coastal seabed topography result in confused seas for us. We are happy to have the winds to sail though. 330 nm VMG total for 3 days sailing, including 24 hours of motorsailing. 4370 miles to go.

At the transient dock, Smiley Cove, Garapan, Saipan

20190212 0600 UTC, Day 10. Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Marshall Islands. Inbound Saipan. Weather is a bit calmer than yesterday, but it's still blowin'. We sail with a reefed genoa, staysail, trysail during the day, but furl in the genoa during the night. An excellent 146nm day, VMG. 240 nm to go. We're planning landfall on Thursday, 02/14.

20190211 05 UTC, Day 9. Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Marshall Islands. Inbound Saipan. Big seas and high winds. Wow those large squalls were powerful. We had not put away the double-furled headsail, given the calm weather. That decision, in retrospect, was not great. So with Headsail(double reef) + Stays'l + trys'l, we sailed through the night. When the first squall hit unexpectedly

20190209+10 03:45 UTC, Day 7+8. Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Marshall Islands. Inbound Saipan. Big seas and high winds. Wow those two large squalls were powerful. We had already reduced sails, given that it was night: Stays'l + trys'l. Tumbleweed + Monitor windvane handled the squalls beautifully...we didn't touch a thing during the squalls. On Sunday the weather settled to 22 kts NE. So now, reefed genoa + stays'l + trys'l. 550 nm to go.

20190208 05:30 UTC, Day 6. Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Marshall Islands. Inbound Saipan. Big seas and high winds. We had to put away the reefed genoa, and put up our favorite trysail on the mast, so now just it and staysail are up. Still sailing 6.5+ kts. We are expecting more wind, based on EC and GFS. Our ETA for Saipan is Thursday, Feb. 14. 822 nm to go(just about half way there)

20190207 03:30 UTC, Day 5. Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Marshall Islands. Inbound Saipan. Great sailing conditions continue. We are hitting 150nm-days without much effort. We expect to pickup some free speed as we sail into westward currents at 1 - 1.5 kts. Our ETA for Saipan is Thursday, Feb. 14.

20190207 03:30 UTC, Day 5. Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Marshall Islands. Inbound Saipan. Great sailing conditions continue. We are hitting 150nm-days without much effort. We expect to pickup some free speed as we sail into westward currents at 1 - 1.5 kts. Our ETA for Saipan is Thursday, Feb. 14.

20190207 03:30 UTC, Day 5. Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Marshall Islands. Inbound Saipan. Great sailing conditions continue. We are hitting 150nm-days without much effort. We expect to pickup some free speed as we sail into westward currents at 1 - 1.5 kts. Our ETA for Saipan is Thursday, Feb. 14.

20190207 03:30 UTC, Day 5. Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Marshall Islands. Inbound Saipan. Great sailing conditions continue. We are hitting 150nm-days without much effort. We expect to pickup some free speed as we sail into westward currents at 1 - 1.5 kts. Our ETA for Saipan is Thursday, Feb. 14.

20190206 05:30 UTC, Day 4. Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Marshall Islands. Inbound Saipan. We are now west of the thick of the Marshall Islands, with the Saipan approach as the next waypoint 1122 nm away. It's a simple straight course we hope the NE tradewinds will help us keep simple. Many squalls near lunchtime. Seas are fiesty. VMG so far is 144 nm/day.

20190205 06:30 UTC, Day 3. Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Marshall Islands. Inbound Saipan. Isn't it superb when crew and yacht and nature align to bring about wonderful sailing? We are on a rhumbline to Saipan, sailing on a broad reach with a reefed headsail and full staysail. We're making 144 nm days (VMG) without effort. Ahhh....

20190204 03:30 UTC, Day 2. Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Marshall Islands. Inbound Saipan. We are headed for Chichijima, Japan, but first short stops at Saipan and Muag (just a sail through given that it's a protected wildlife habitat). Weather forecast with GFS and ECMWF look good for the next week. More to come...