As in the past some of the returning yachts are providing us with their position as they journey back across the Pacific. Not all of those going back are involved in reporting their daily locations but for those that do we will post that information on this page.

Remember, this is an optional service. That means that there is nothing requiring the yachts to check in on a daily basis. If a position is missing that does not mean there is anything wrong with the boat. More than likely the crew forgot or was busy at the appropriate time.

We are getting positions from three sources. Jim Quanci on Green Buffalo is conducting a daily roll call on Marine HF at 2100 HST (midnight PDT) with several of the returning yachts and then emailing us the positions. Many thanks to him for offering to take on this task. At some point Paul Elliott on Valis will take over this task. Now that Valis is at the dock Bequia has assumed net control duties. Thanks are due to both of these skippers also. Finally, if other yachts email me their locations I will post that information here as well.

Here is a link to a page with a blank chart similar to the ones we use to track the fleet on their way to Hawaii. You can print this page out and use it to chart their return voyage. Some of the yachts are still carrying transponders which record and report their position. These are being updated on the FIS Tracking Web site similar to how this was done during the race. You can go to their Web Site at http://trackinfo.fistracking.com/2008PCreturns/

There is a JAVA script page by John A. Byers on one of the USDA sites that allows one to input the map coordinates of two points and calculate distances. You can use the information below to estimate how far a yacht has traveled or needs to go in it's voyage. Some helpful coordinates are:

Kaneohe, HI 21 - 21 N 157 - 54 W
San Fransisco, CA 37 - 46 N 122 - 24 W
Portland OR, 45 - 30 N 122 - 40 W
Los Angeles, CA 34 - 03 N 118 - 14 W
San Diego, CA 32 - 42 N 117 - 09 W
Seattle, WA 47-36 N 122-20 W

One final note. The yachts will typically take a course due North for several days. At some point they will turn East towards the Mainland. This is normal. The length of time that a given boat will travel North depends on their final destination. This is the best route back to the West Coast. It is not the shortest distance but it is the easiest course.

Fellow traveler (friend of Bequia heading to SF/Napa after several months in Polynesia) -
Dirigo 38-33N, 144-16W, wind 10kt @ 270d

Fellow traveler (friend of Bequia heading to SF/Napa after several months in Polynesia) -
Dirigo 38-11N, 147-07W, wind 11kt @ 300d

Fellow traveler (friend of Bequia heading to SF/Napa after several months in Polynesia) -
Dirigo 37-47N, 149-59W, wind 13kt @ 270d

Motoring the last day - and expect to motor the rest of the trip (only 3k of wind).

Had three dolphins playing with us for about an hour - Kip took a lot of pictures (they had black and white skin and were very visible playing with the bow and keel from the surface to 20 feet under water).

Emptied the last fuel bladder - and its now clear we'll have enough fuel to motor the rest of the way in (and suspect we'll have just 5 gallons left when we pull into Richmond YC).

We may stop in San Francisco on the way to get a car from home (depends on if Mary can or cannot meet us in Pt. Richmond).

Its midnight as I write this... just had two large ships pass close by us... one ahead and one astern. Its great having AIS on the boat that displays on our GPS their location, heading and speed. Instead of being nervous trying to figure out if they will get to close, we are relaxing with a cup of hot chocolate.

This is our last e-mail... thanks to those of you that have been interested in and following our passage.

As deliveries go, they don't get better then this one. Good crew and good weather.

Fellow traveler (friend of Bequia heading to SF/Napa after several months in Polynesia) -
Dirigo 34-17N, 153-57W, wind 3kt @ 110d

Slow going in light winds. Mostly sailing with occasional bought of motoring. We have enough fuel to motor 175 miles - so very close to being able to motor the rest of the way (a possible necessity given the light winds predicted for most of the rest of the passage).

Caught an albacore today. Kip filleted and cooked - a great fresh fish dinner. We prepared poke and sashimi but the albacore was a bit mushy.

Jeff tore down and lubed the starboard primary 2 speed Lewmar winch (pawls had been sticking; he wanted the practice so he can do Ian's new two speed Lewmar's).

China Shipping Lines container ship based within two miles of us in the afternoon (doing 19k and bound for Los Angeles - per AIS).

Should be passing by the Farralones at sunrise Tuesday... Jeff and Kip have never seen them... will try to pass near them.... close enough so they can smell them (tens of thousands of birds defecating on them for thousands of years... phew).

Fellow traveler (friend of Bequia heading to SF/Napa after several months in Polynesia) -
Dirigo 32-14N, 153-39W, wind 18kt @ 050d

Making good time beam reaching in 14k-20k of wind. Tied a life jacket to the bow pulpit.

Wind is light 50 miles in front and behind us - we are lucky to be moving east with the wind avoiding the light air.

Jeff made a cabbage salad tonight - last of the cabbage, bacon and canned chicken (which he didn't eat feeling under the weather from the beam seas).

Fellow traveler (friend of Bequia heading to SF/Napa after several months in Polynesia) -
Dirigo 31-53N, 153-4W, wind 2kt @ 210d

Wind from 8k-18k - mostly 13-16k - with the boat moving nicely at 7-8k in moderate beam seas.

We are all re-adjusting to living on an incline again after several days of being horizontal.

With fuel down to 30 gallons, we are very happy to sailing along at a good clip - after seeing weather reports that indicated we might have little to no wind by now/soon.

Valis will be reporting returning fleet positions from today forward as she is nearer the late leavers and has stronger reception across the fleet.

Fellow traveler (friend of Bequia heading to SF/Napa after several months in Polynesia) -
Dirigo 28-24N, 156-03W, wind 6kts @ 080d

Dropped the spinnaker early this morning and motoring across the second high of the trip - and the gribs show the high moving east with us - so its going to be slow going the next few days.

We have enough fuel to motor 200 miles or so. Hoping the gribs are a bit off and we can get 10k of wind to go back to sailing. Jib top hanked on and ready to raise as soon as the wind speed gets high enough (4k of wind from the north at present; really need 8k of wind to sail). We reduced our motoring speed from 6k to 5.5k to increase our motoring range a bit.

Crew shaved, showered, brushed and flossed today. Most of us put on our last set of clean clothes (with 5 days still to go!).

Jeff and Kip learned how to "luggage tag" the sheets and guys (which really needed it).

Then they learned to service an inflatable PFD that "self inflated" this afternoon. Tomorrow they learn to service the two speed Lewmars (port primary winch pawls are sticking).

Kip whipped up chicken quesidillas for dinner... Jeff is still learning about American food... didn't know what a quesidilla was (one of many foods he is learning about for the first time on this trip including fig newtons and SPAM; Jeff is sort of a Brit - by way of Zimbabwe and South Africa).

Fellow traveler (friend of Bequia heading to SF/Napa after several months in Polynesia) -
Dirigo 26-25N 157-15W wind 8k from 110 degrees

Gybed at sunrise onto starboard pole and heading almost straight to the golden gate.

12-20k of wind with 7-10k boat speed (head stay reaching with the chute in 12k this evening).

Saw a sperm whale pod with 5-6 individuals (only 150 foot off our port beam; a little too close for sometimes aggressive sperm whales).

Saw a large car carrier pass by - probably from Japan or Korea heading for Long Beach.

Kip cooked up a Polynesian SPAM delight with pineapple, string beans and mashed potatoes.

Going more north then we wanted to this early - will be at latitude of SF early tomorrow - but high is between us and SF.

Flew spinnaker all day (and expect to fly all night). Spent mid-day giving Kip and Jeff spinnaker driving lessons. Otto driving the last several hours.

Most boats working through light winds as they near or cross the high - which is in the middle of many people's route home.

Jim started the morning with a hot chocalate and sardine sandwich for breakfast.

The seamstresses finished sewing the main back together - so we are ready to sail once the wind fills back in (we are very close to being able to fly the chute - need a few knots more wind).

Picked up our second Japanese glass ball after breakfast - about a 10 incher (little brother to the first glass ball we picked up two days ago).

Shut down the engine to check engine fluid levels - and took a swim while waiting for the engine to cool (we put a line out and were dragged along behind the boat at about 2k).

Refilled the fuel tank (40 gallons burned and another 50 gallons left - and it looks like we'll need it all).

Same as yesterday...
Boats going to the nothwest starting to break on top of the high with southwesterly winds.
Boats heading to SF nearing the high with light winds and motoring.

Spent much of the day sewing the mainsail... 80 percent done... should be finished tomorrow. Jeff and Kip should consider a new career as seamstresses.

Kip served up scrumptious hot dogs with mozzarella for lunch and Jeff served up freshly made coleslaw for dinner.

Kip discovered a diet pepsi in the bottom of the reefer which was promptly auctioned off for charity.

Beautiful day motoring - lots of blue sky and light winds - which should continue for at least the next day or two. Refueled the main fuel tank from the first bladder tank - giving us another full days motoring range. We now have 45 gallons in the second bladder and a full main fuel tank - enough to motor 3 days - about 375 miles (fingers crossed it will be enough - the gribs show quite a bit of wind changes over the next few days - unclear how much motoring is needed in the next week).

Boats going to the nothwest starting to break on top of the high with southwesterly winds.
Boats heading to SF nearing the southern edge of the high with light winds and motoring.

Got off with a bang at 5am when the main split a seam - luckily the first seam just above the boom - so first reef has us going just fine. Tomorrow or the day after we'll sew it up when motoring across the high (17 foot long seam so everyone on board will be showing off their seamstress skills).

Crew spotted and recovered the fabled glass Japanese fishing float (a nice green one foot diameter one (GB has had a fishing net on hand the last two deliveries just for this eventuality).

Caught a baby mahi mahi and served the crew their real "fresh" pokie. Hopefully we'll get a bigger one tomorrow so we can do sashimi and fish tacos.

Kip knows how to cook - chicken and apple sausages with fresh apple slices, garlic and onions. He then improvised using cinnamon apple oatmeal and apples too make an apple crisp of sorts.

Hoping the eastward jog we took yesterday pays off by giving us another full day of sailing before we have to start motor sailing - we'll know by morning.

Fleet is quite widespread with varying weather conditions so no longer reporting weather (from 20k and 10 ft seas near Hawaii to 8k and 2 ft seas 800 miles out).

Fleet pensive about the next week's weather - which looks light and unorganized (i.e. slow going unless you have lots of fuel).

Tacked onto starboard to take advantage of wind shift - and hopefully hang onto stronger winds for another day or two (though we need to get north sooner rather then later).

Crew is getting used to the new board - shrinking their right leg and growing their left leg. This board makes pumping the head a bit tricky (head intake out of the water much of the time).

So far wind is hanging in there at 14-16k - but swinging back east so we'll be taking back to starboard soon. Hopefully we get another 2 days of sailing before having to motor up.

Alternator was acting up - tightened belt - then discovered the ignition switch was the source of the problem - easily fixed.

10-12 knots of wind
4-5 foot seas
Everyone moving along nicely - though most northern boats starting to slow down as they near the high.

Hoping we can sail another two days before starting to motor - but nervous the high is falling apart which could make for 800 miles of light air (more then we can motor).

Getting a bit tired of beating to weather - hopefully just two more days on a beat.

0-14 knots of wind for the early starters and 20k for those that left today (Cal Girl)

Pleasant 3 foot seas for the early starters and 8-10 foot seas for those that left today.

Crew is mostly recovered from mal de mer - with cheese and crackers for dinner. Tomorrow we start eating/cooking real food.

The gribs show a wide high - too wide to motor across - so we'll be considering tacking in 2-3 days just under the lightest winds - and then possibly motoring for 3 days. Crossing my fingers the high consolidates so its a quick motor through the light air and a long pleasant reach east to California. The Seattle and Portland boats have it easy... reaching now so they can pass west and north of the high - never having to beat. No such luck getting to California... where the high is in the middle of our path. Maybe we should take Rander's advice and stop into Astoria on the way home... (tongue in cheek).

Yacht	Lat.	Lon.	Comment
Bequia	37-29N	123-56W	wind 11kt 319d ETA GG Bridge 1433 hrs
Dart	38-02N	147-50W	wind 5-8kt 230d
Dirigo	---	---	In port
Neptunes Daughter	39-00N	128-22W	wind 25-32kt 360d
Tiki Blue	N/C	N/C	No contact

Returning Yachts as of 29 Aug., 2008