Hi awesome friends of the Figure 8 Voyage Well after long conversations about logistics, weather, Fleet Week and other shenanigans we’ve landed on a return date. Randall and Moli plan to sail under the Golden Gate Bridge sometime on Saturday October 19th 2019. If you’d like to be there (on land or on a, Read More

September 14, 2019Nome, Alaska Mo makes her slow way against this implacable current and night drags on. A full moon, lights ashore glimmer across the glassy water. Two tankers appear as dark hulks on the horizon; they are anchored miles out and still only in 60 foot water. Even now tugs are ferrying their, Read More

September 13, 2019 Days at Sea: 284Days Since Departure: 349 Noon Position: 64 57N 167 16WCourse(t)/Speed(kts): SE 6-7Wind(t/tws): NE 15Sea(t/ft): NE 2Sky/10ths Cover: Overcast 10 Bar(mb): 1001+ and risingOn-deck Temp(f): 53Cabin Temp(f): 57Water Temp(f): 53Relative Humidity(%): 63Magnetic Variation: 8.6 Sail: Working jib and main, broad reach on port.  Noon-to-Noon Miles Made Good (nm): 118Miles since, Read More

September 12, 2019 Days at Sea: 283Days Since Departure: 348 Noon Position: 66 54N 167 71WCourse(t)/Speed(kts): SxW 7Wind(t/tws): E 25+Sea(t/ft): E10+, steep and breakingSky/10ths Cover: Overcast 10 Bar(mb): 995 and fallingOn-deck Temp(f): 51Cabin Temp(f): 57 (no heater today)Water Temp(f): 48Relative Humidity(%): 60Magnetic Variation: 8.3  Sail: Triple reefed main and working jib, reach.  Noon-to-Noon Miles Made, Read More

September 11, 2019 Days at Sea: 282Days Since Departure: 347 Noon Position: 69 06N  165 53WCourse(t)/Speed(kts): SSE 5Wind(t/tws): ExS <10Sea(t/ft): E 3Sky/10ths Cover: Overcast 9 Bar(mb): 1005+ and fallingOn-deck Temp(f): 51Cabin Temp(f): 68Water Temp(f): 52Relative Humidity(%): 53Magnetic Variation: 9.3 Sail: Working jib and main, reaching to port Noon-to-Noon Miles Made Good (nm): 153 (another 26, Read More

September 10, 2019 Days at Sea: 281Days Since Departure: 346 Noon Position: 70 47N 160 77WCourse(t)/Speed(kts): WSW 5.5Wind(t/tws): ENE 12Sea(t/ft): ENE 2Sky/10ths Cover: Rain 10Bar(mb): 1007, falling slowlyOn-deck Temp(f): 51Cabin Temp(f): 63Water Temp(f): 49 (49!)Relative Humidity(%): 49Magnetic Variation: 11.2 Sail: Twins poled out full Noon-to-Noon Miles Made Good (nm): 115Miles since departure: 35,726 Note, Read More

September 9, 2019 Days at Sea:280Days Since Departure: 345 Noon Position: 71 28N 154 46WCourse(t)/Speed(kts): W 6Wind(t/tws): S <15Sea(t/ft): SW 3Sky/10ths Cover: Clear, a hing of cloud landward  3Bar(mb): 1010On-deck Temp(f): 53Cabin Temp(f): 68Water Temp(f): 45Relative Humidity(%): 55Magnetic Variation: 14.5 Sail: Main and working jib; close reach Noon-to-Noon Miles Made Good (nm): 158 (Today, Read More

September 8, 2019 Days at Sea: 279Days Since Departure: 344 Noon Position: 70 52N 146 50WCourse(t)/Speed(kts): WxN 6Wind(t/tws): SE <10Sea(t/ft): SE 1Sky/10ths Cover: Overcast. Clear earlier, rain later. 10Bar(mb): 1009+On-deck Temp(f): 43Cabin Temp(f): 65Water Temp(f): 36Relative Humidity(%): 40Magnetic Variation: 17.6  Sail: Motoring, main up.   Noon-to-Noon Miles Made Good (nm): 146Miles since departure: 35, 453, Read More

September 7, 2019 Days at Sea: 278Days Since Departure: 343 Noon Position: 70 25N  139 36W Course(t)/Speed(kts): WxN 6Wind(t/tws): ExS 5Sea(t/ft): E 1-2Sky/10ths Cover: Clear, 0 Bar(mb): 1015, steadyOn-deck Temp(f): 45Cabin Temp(f): 65Water Temp(f): 37Relative Humidity(%): 41Magnetic Variation: 19.7 Sail: Under power. Main up, doing nothing.   Noon-to-Noon Miles Made Good (nm): 148Miles since departure: 35,307 8am., Read More

September 6, 2019Tuktoyaktuk, Nunavat Another long night of sleep with no thought to course or speed or set of sail. Just sleep.  In the early morning, a light breeze from the SE and a low overcast that allowed but a sliver of blood orange sun as it crested the horizon.  Quietly I rose, crossed, Read More

September 5, 2019Tuktoyaktuk, Nunavut Days since Departure: 343 Mandragore, containing her crew of Pablo and Pablo, made Tuk this morning, and together we warped to the pier next to the Northern store for fueling and watering.  Fuel can be taken by jerries from the store pumps, a distance of 200 feet, or by calling, Read More

September 4, 2019 Days at Sea: 276Days Since Departure: 340 Noon Position: 69 56N  132 25W Course(t)/Speed(kts): SW 5Wind(t/tws): SE <10Sea(t/ft): SE 1Sky/10ths Cover: Altocumulus 9 Bar(mb): 1011On-deck Temp(f): 44Cabin Temp(f):  57Water Temp(f): 38Relative Humidity(%): 50Magnetic Variation: 20.9 Sail: #1 and main, full; wind on the beam. Noon-to-Noon Miles Made Good (nm): 135Miles since departure: 35,128, Read More

September 2, 2019 Days at Sea: 274Days Since Departure: 338 Noon Position: 69 41N  199 42WCourse(t)/Speed(kts): WxN 4.2Wind(t/tws): W 5Sea(t/ft): NE 1Sky/10ths Cover: Overcast 8 (Squalls with light snow till noon)Bar(mb): 1019On-deck Temp(f): 40Cabin Temp(f): 65Water Temp(f): 36Relative Humidity(%): 34Magnetic Variation: 19.5 Sail: Under power.  Noon-to-Noon Miles Made Good (nm): 119Miles since departure: 34,807, Read More

September 1, 2019 Days at Sea: 273Days Since Departure: 337 Noon Position: 68 48N 114 43WCourse(t)/Speed(kts): N 4Wind(t/tws): NW 10+Sea(t/ft): NW 3 – 4Sky/10ths Cover: Overcast, some light snow. 10.Bar(mb): 1022+On-deck Temp(f): 38Cabin Temp(f): 64Water Temp(f): 39Relative Humidity(%): 33Magnetic Variation: 16.9 Sail: Under power; main 1 reef Miles since departure: 34,688 Winds are finally, Read More

August 31, 2019 Wind: NW15-20Sky: Low and squally with SNOW6am Temperatures–On Deck: 37Cabin: 45 (before I fired up the heater)Water: 39 Snow.  It’s too warm to stick, but that it’s falling at all I take as a sign. In the Arctic, the dog days of summer portend winter; autumn is coming quickly, and I’m, Read More

August 30, 2019 Wind: WNW20+Sky: Low and squally with some pea-sized hail6am Temperatures–On Deck: 37Cabin: 43 (before I fired up the heater)Water: 40 (this is up from 33 degrees in Dolphin and Union) The title of today’s report was going to be, “Images of a DEW Line Station,” but all day it has been, Read More

Aug 28, 2019Dolphin and Union StraitTotal Miles: 34,658Days at Sea: 272Days since Departure: 333 We depart in the early morning from Disappointment Harbor for … for where? I’m not sure. I want to stage for a leap into Dolphin and Union Strait in the forecasted lighter winds of the next day, but where to, Read More

August 27, 2019Coronation GulfTotal Miles: 34,600Days at Sea: 271Days since Departure: 333 Winds are on the nose all day but at not more than ten knots. What slows us is the rolling chop from higher winds further W. Still, I can’t complain. By late afternoon, we’ve come abreast of the Richardson Islands, which decorate, Read More

August 26, 2019Total Miles: 34,464Days at Sea: 269Days since Departure: 331 The forecast calls for SW20, but the wind is highly dynamic all day, light to the Finlayson Islands, strong enough and far enough S thereafter to sail close hauled for a few hours, then light again as the day waned.  In the night, Read More

August 25, 2019Cambridge BayNunavut Sunday morning. I am kick-the-dog frustrated. Wind is still hard and cold from the SW, day after day, relentlessly the wrong way, pinning us down in Cambridge Bay. And it is the same for as far out as the forecasts care to predict. How can we get home in such, Read More

August 24, 2019Cambridge BayNunavut The blow blew itself out overnight, but weather has continued to be unsettled. Today, strong winds from the SE, rain and a heavy, ragged cloud. In the morning I shifted Mo to the pier in town for fuel only to find the wind increasing still and the pier foaming with, Read More

August 23, 2019Cambridge Bay, Nunavut69 06N 105 09W Sitting out a gale at anchor is not the same as riding out a gale at sea. In the former case, one is moored in a secure harbor as the storm rolls over, and in the latter, he is being swept along with the forces of, Read More