SEEKER arrives Home

SEEKER arrived home to a wonderful welcome at Shilshole Bay Marina, friends and family arrived to greet the crew, which included a welcoming boat at the entrance. After over 5000 ocean miles SEEKER has completed the journey with all hands arriving home safe and sound, with nothing broken on the boat, and all systems up and running. This is a excellent testament to the skill of the crew and thoughtful preparation of the boat. It has been a joy and fulfillment of a lifelong dream to have completed this voyage, and a huge thank you goes out to Andrew, Gary, Gordon and Lauren for their outstanding job as crew, and to all of our families and friends who have sent their love, support, interest and encouragement. We wish you all the spirit of Aloha, and of adventure in life. The ocean is vast and crossing it with good friends on a small boat is a reminder of our own vulnerabilities as well as our strengths as people, as friends, and as sailors. My compliments to the crew of SEEKER. You have each demonstrated your skills and seamanship as sailors. It is an honor to have shared this journey with you and I look forward to crossing many more horizons with each of you in the future.

Mahalo to all

Ken Greff, Skipper
S.V. SEEKER

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Seeker cleared cape flattery just after 0100 the morning of August 17, and suddenly the fog was broken by the headlands of the cape and the lights of neah bay came out. And the wind died, so we motored most of the way to Port Angeles, where we went ashore at about 1430. After a delightful night of dining, visiting, and relaxing, we took off at 0600 the next morning and made Shilshole bay by 1730, where we were serenaded into the docks.

Seeker Out

one last night on the open ocean in the fog

Seeker is still fogbound, after some partial clearing today, visibility dropped back down to about 1/4 mile. But we have radar and the winds are favourable and we have only 175 miles to Cape Flattery.

Seeker Out
47°58.5'N
129°02.9'W

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Getting close

Winds have gone light as seeker approaches a ridge of high pressure that is parked off the coast. We have decided to motor through the night, using about a third of our remaining fuel, but it should get us to the northwesterlies on the other side of the ridge. Which should, in turn, carry us to Cape Flattery and beyond!

Meanwhile, we've found that our radar does indeed work, when we spotted a freighter this evening 7 miles off. A brief radio exchange revealed that he had already spotted us and plotted a course to miss us by 3.6 miles. Glad we're not the only ones watching out in this fog.

Seeker out
47°09.8'N
132°07.7'W

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Fog

They say that this is a big ocean, but the sailor would never know, having never seen more than 2 miles of it at any time. Amd with current atmospheric conditions, our world has shrunk even smaller to about 100 yards right now. Our radar seems to suggest that there is open ocean beyond the wall of grey, but it is rather unconvincing.

We are sailing along well under somewhat lighter conditions, winds have eased and come forward to the south at 12 kts, we are sailing NExE at about 6, plus a half knot of current. We are currently at:

46°22.3'N
134°26.9'W

Seeker out.

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favourable winds continue

Seeker still has favourable winds today, with15-20 kts on our quarter as we reach along at about 7kts toward Cape Flattery, less than 600 miles ENE. A little bit of drizzle now as the next front approaches, and where a couple of days ago the crew were trying socks again for the first time, now it's fleece and foulies.

Seeker Out

44°47.9'N
138°02.8'W

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In Between Gales and Headed For Home

Seeker saw about 30 minutes worth of a gale yesterday morning, which delivered about an inch of rain, and today we've been cruising along in decent breeze following the passage of the front. The big storm that they've been calling for in all the forecasts should reach us tomorrow night or wednesday. Or, at least the very edge of it might reach us and give us a little bit more wind than we have right now, but most of the storm is going to pass north and west of us.

Seeker Out
43°31.4'N
141°22.8'W

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oops

Forgot to post last night, we're making good progress with west-southwesterlies, and we're heading straight for home. Last nights position would have been:

42°32.4'N
144°38.5'W

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Movin' right along

Good prefrontal southwesterlies today, Seeker was averaging 7 kts for the better part of the day. A system is likely to pass over us tonight, but the one we have our eyes on is still developing off the aleutians. The 96 hr forecast is showing a 975 mb low tracking along 50° N, with gale force winds stretching down below 45°, hence the easting that we're putting on to avoid it.

41°32.1'N
148°09.2'W

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a thousand miles from nowhere

Seeker was today about a thousand miles from any point of land, actually 900 miles from an island in the aleutians. Even though it's 300 miles farther to cape flattery, I think we'll head east. Decent breeze (relatively speaking) today and more on the way tomorrow. hopefully not to much.

40°50.2'N
151°41.4'W

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Two Ships

Seeker saw two ships this morning. There was a little breeze for a while. Then there wasn't. Now there is again. Tomorrow there will be more, if the forecasters have any idea what's going on.

39°31.0'N
153°11.4'W

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a little wind

Today was not so bad for wind, we had a few knots for most of the day, which then died out right before sunset, so we have the motor on again for now. The most recent forecasts are more promising, however, so we may be in the westerlies before too long. We'll see.

Seeker Out
38°23.6'N
154°16.0'W

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Still becalmed

The high is still parked right on us, motored for a good part of the day.

26°53.6'N
155°04.1'W

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Under Pressure

Seeker motored most of the day today in light and shifty winds, as the north pacific high shifted basically directly on top of us. Saw a shoal of dolphins and a bit of junk floating about and a couple flying fish. still no sign of the great north pacific island of plastic, however, and we should be pretty close to where it would be.

Seeker out

35°16.6'N
155°43.1'W

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not done with the North Pacific High yet...

Seeker was plagued with light headwinds again today, eventually becoming light and variable enough that we switched on the motor and motored north for about 3 hrs. We then picked up some light but favourable breeze from the northwest, and went back to being a sailboat.

Also, while motoring, we saw some large debris in the water ahead, and upon approaching, what appeared to be a round bouy and a mooring bouy turned out to be a round bouy and an albatross sitting on the water, which proceeded to unfold its great wings and soar off in the trough of a wave.

Seeker out

34°00.0'N
156°20.0'W

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More Mahimahi

We caught another mahimahi today and had half for dinner, the other half is waiting for tomorrow in the fridge. We have plenty of food, so we're probably not going to be doing any more fishing for a while, unless we sail through a school of tuna.

Last evening we sailed into a ridge of high pressure, which left us with glorious cloudless night watches, then we hoisted the iron spinnaker to try to pick up a front that was going to pass to the north of us. The morning was still clear, so we shut down the boat for a brief swim, then motored for another couple hours before we started to get weak but steady southwesterlies. Now we're cruising along with 11 kts from the WSW, making decent time toward home!

Seeker Out
33°15.4'N
157°51.1'W

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ridges

The thing about crossing an ocean is, if you've got wind, you've got clouds. But every once in a while you have to cross a ridge or skirt a high pressure center, which you pay for through a shortage of wind, but at night you reap the rewards! New Moon to boot! It's just too bad that the next big meteor shower is not for about 10 days.

As I said, right now we're crossing a ridge between the two dominant high pressure centers, trying to get across in time to pick up a front that a low will be swinging by here tomorrow or tomorrow evening. We'll see if we can pull it off. If we can it will significantly help our ETA.

Seeker Out
32°03.4'N
158°56.1'W

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Where are we now?

It has come to my attention that to many of you the latitude and longitude given at the end of each post is probably fairly meaningless... to give meaning to these numbers, I would recommend downloading Google Earth for free from the Google Applications website. I think if you google "google earth" you probably can't miss it. then simply copy and past the lat & lon to the search field in Google Earth, and it should make a little mark at our position. You might also be able to do this without downloading anything with google maps or whatever online mapping tool you like to use, but I can't guarantee it will work, or if it does, you probably won't be able to save any kind of track. Good luck!

Seeker Out
31°44.4'N
158°50.3'W

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How going oceanbashingwise?

A big squall today kicked up some nasty cross-seas, there were easily identifiable wave trains from the NE (wind direction) as well as N, E, NW, SE, and S. If you looked hard enough you probably could have spotted waves from the south and southwest also. Combined with the wind direction backing, it made for slow, rough progress today, but progress nonetheless. And the cool, cloudy weather did help make it a little more bearable below, probably worth the tradeoff of not being able to stand.

Seeker Out

29°53.5'N
158°35.4'W

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Continuing Northward

Seeker plugged along northward today, the most interesting thing that happened was the discovery of water in the fuel line, a consequence of taking so much water on the deck that it has been splashing up into the vent line. But that's all sorted out now, and mostly these updates are just to take the place of the race tracker. so our position is:

27°44.7'N
158°41.6'W

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At sea again

Today we saw some birds, and some clouds, and some waves, and a couple of flying fish. Back to life at sea!

25°14.0'N
158°56.0'W

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Homeward Bound

Just before noon today (HST) Seeker turned her transom to the Na Pali coast and headed north close reaching against 18-25 kt trades and moderate confused seas.

Seeker Out

23°12.4'N
159°28.0'W

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In a land called Hanalei

In preparation for leaving Kaua'i, Seeker has nipped around from Nawiliwili on the southeast side of the island, and dropped anchor in Hanalei Bay, one of the most beautiful places in the world. Tomorrow we weigh anchor early, nip down along Na Pali, then turn North toward home. You'll have to wait quite a while for pictures, unfortunately...

Seeker Out
22°12.6' N
159°30.0' W

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Kaua'i Bound

Seeker slipped her mooring at Lahaina this morning bound for Li'hue, Kaua'i. We've found the trades which we were missing for the last week of the race, and are making good progress with the 20-25kt easterlies. Hopefully it'll lighten up a bit when we turn north though. Right now we are about 25 miles north of Kahuku pt, Oahu.

Seeker Out

21°52.3'N
157°44.8'W

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Seeker Finishes

Seeker finished the 2008 Vic Maui at 18:23:46 on July 10. Looks like 2nd in division, 3rd overall, and 4th across the line.

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Official ETA

After a night of light air, Seeker's ETA has been updated to 2000 HST. We're 50 miles out now.

Seeker out.

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Land Ho!

Seeker raised Haleakela at 1900 tonight, just after sunset, the mountain appeared fine on the port bow on the horizon beneath some high cloud, just over 100 miles distant. We'll be there tomorrow!

Also, Seeker's crew has been seeing boobies today.

Seeker out

22°00' N
155°00' W

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Seeker Crosses Under the Sun

At local noon today the sun was at a declination of 22°13.3'N, and seeker was at 22°19.5'N, meaning that the sun was less than half a degree from directly overhead. And boy is it hot!

Seeker's Unofficial Official ETA at the Finish Line is 1600 HST tomorrow June 10th.

Seeker Out

22°19.2' N
154°29.0'W

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Seeker Enters the Tropics

Seeker crossed into the tropics a few minutes ago, and boy is it hot! Actually today there is increased cloud cover so the temperature is a nice comfortable 80° on deck. Below decks it is a slightly less comfortable 85°. Tomorrow at noon the sun will be directly overhead.

Seeker Out

23°25.1' N
152°45.9' W

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Mahi Mahi

Seeker's brought aboard fresh provisions for dinner this morning in the form of a 2 ft mahi mahi.

23°38.5' N
152°28.9' W

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Trade Winds?

After a long, slow, hot day slatting around in breezes that were for the most part under 5 kts, Seeker is finally stretching her legs once again as 9 kts from the East has set in fairly steady with squalls blowing up to 17. Moving toward Maui again has a marked positive effect on the mood of the crew; it's incredibly frustrating to be this close and then be becalmed right where the winds are supposed to be the most reliable. Only a couple of days left!

Seeker Out

24°09.0' N
151°39.2' W

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A Fine Sailing Day

Seeker found herself sailing broad under spinnaker today with bright sun and warm temperatures and east-northeasterly breezes. A few squalls in the afternoon went a long way toward cooling off boat and crew, in addition to rinsing some of the salt (etc.) from the crew's clothing. As night set in once again the brilliant field of stars has shone on our path, with the crescent moon following the sun in the west. The squalls are easy to see looming up astern and to port, and with an easterly shift they've made for some fun reaching!

Just a few more days to Maui!

Seeker Out

25°14.8' N
149°58.9' W

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Trades?

Seeker's sailing under spinnaker in nice steady 12-14 kt north-easterlies. The sun is shining bright and warm, the water is blue, the flying fish occasionally flit across the waves, and we're making good time toward Maui.

27°36' N
146°58' W

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A Hot Independence Day on the Ocean

Light winds and full sun make for a hot boat aboard Seeker, but a bucket of seawater over the head goes a long way toward cooling off the crew. Making slow but steady progress toward Maui, and hoping that other boats are experiencing the same conditions. From today's roll call, it would appear they are, except for Strum who should be finishing later today. That leaves us with only 5 days and 14 hrs to finish and correct ahead of them, which would be impossible at this pace. We'll see what happens once we pick up the trades though.

Seeker Out.

28°50' N
144°09' W

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Starry, Starry Night

A day of close reaching in weak to moderate breeze drew to an end with an excellent sunset, followed by a spectacular star specked night sky. Jupiter rises bright in the east shortly after sunset, Arcturus burns brightly overhead, and Spica guides our course to Maui. And then the clouds close in again and we're on our own with only the bio luminescence to keep us company. Saw two flying fish today, and the albatrosses expressed new curiosity in us, giving us several close passes. The tuna, however, have still not exhibited any curiosity toward our lure.

Seeker Out

31°08' N
143°09' W

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Seeker is Halfway

In addition to Canada Day, Seeker is celebrating being halfway to Maui. We were actually halfway last night, but as the crew was resting up from the waves of yesterday, we put off the celebration today. Close reaching in 10-15 kts and sunshine is a little more amenable to celebration than being tossed about by seas as large as 25 ft. A special thank-you to Sarah Elmore for our halfway treat!

Seeker Out,

33°10' N
140°02' W

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Wash & mend day.

As Seeker skirted the northern edge of a high pressure ridge on the way toward a developing low, her crew enjoyed a day of warm, sunny weather, which allowed for bathing and some general work that has been neglected in favor of racing duties. Then the wind continued to back and Seeker encountered the first couple mild squalls associated with the impending front just after a rather phenomenal sunset. The stars in between the squalls are pretty phenomenal themselves.

Also, we caught three crabs. We decided they were not quite big enough for dinner, however, so we tossed them back.

Seeker out.

34°26'N
136°35'W

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Seeker Makes Good Runs

Reaching before the 17-25 kt Northerlies of the last couple days, Seeker has made some decent 24 hr runs. At today's roll call, we had made 181 miles, for yesterday's we made 177. Now the weather chart has been set on its head, and we're making good some miles to Maui before the gale hits. We're missing you all and we hope all is well ashore.

35° 13' N
135° 07' W
29 June 0000 HST

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fair winds

Yesterday afternoon Seeker finally found some good northerlies, so we've been sailing for the trades! This morning we saw a small spout about a half a cable off our starboard beam, but it didn't approach so we don't know the particular variety of whale. We were however treated to some Dall's Porpoises riding our bow wave this morning.

Seeker Out
43d33m N
126d40m W

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A Relatively Unaventful Day

Seeker continues south along the Oregon Coast now, encountering mostly light westerlies and southwesterlies. Now they've picked up a bit so we're making better time and they're more westerly so our course is better. This afternoon we encountered a shoal of spinner dolphins, and a 4 ft shark and a couple of albatrosses this morning.

Hope for northerlies tomorrow!

Seeker Out

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Seeker Turns Left

At 2205 PDT Seeker set a new course south from Duntze Rock and Cape Flattery with a beautiful sunset bringing an end to a spectacular day of sailing in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The day started with an almost perfect start in which we may or may not have had a hand in nudging Strum over the line early. On our way out we crossed paths with the HMS Bounty, the Lady Washington, and a Brigantine on their way to the Tall Ship Festival in Victoria. At current time we are 6th in the fleet with 3 boats behind us, and two boats ahead in view. More updates tomorrow.

Seeker Out

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All loaded and ready to go!

well, we have finally finished our way through the last minute pr0jects and it is finally time to provision the boat with fresh food and have a beer before we take off!


As you can see, we have the boat completely stocked with water, food, snacks and everything else we need to get to Hawaii.




Hopefully we are hungry, I don't think we have ever seen a pretorien with the stern this much in the water. Then again, we did have 9 people in the cockpit when we took this photo. Hopefully we are hungry!




We have uploaded more photos on a different site that allows you look at them easier. There is a link on this blog, and they can also be found at: http://lbuchholz.smugmug.com/Sailing/537785.

The US Says Good-bye to Seeker

Just before we crossed the border on our delivery to Victoria, the USCG decided to pay us a visit. Needless to say, they were satisfied with our safety measures, especially our safety systems chart, and bid us a good race.

Blog Launch

You've found the site for the regular updates from the Seeker Vic Maui attempt. We had a great send-off party last night, here are some pictures.