Morpheus was designed by Carl Schumacher, built by Davie Norris Boatbuilders in New Zealand and launched in 2002. She spent her first 18 months cruising the South Pacific before reaching her home port of San Francisco. Since that time, Morpheus has been raced and cruised extensively. This blog will document her ongoing adventures.
Hi,
Happy Birthday Mom! From all of us on Morpheus! We had hoped to take you to dinner tonight but that doesn't look like it will work since we are still 125 km out at sea.
I just got off the 7am to 9am watch. The watch started with 33 knots of wind and gusts to about 37. With huge waves! But now we are down to 24knots and large waves.
We expect to get to
Love to you all,
Kath
Well, we have about 107 miles to go. It is 11:00 on Sat, 8/12, so we should get into the Bay at about 11 pm tonight. So much for our party! O well.
Patrick is on a mission to make it all the way home without putting a shirt on?? It's getting to be a bit of a challenge, but I'm betting he makes it!!
Waves are HUGE! But, they just keep rolling under us, so we just keep on going. Hope all is well. We'll see you all soon.
Deb
300 miles, 1.5 days about. see you Sat pm or Sunday am. wind is up, ,dbl reef main, no jib, sea is up. back on sea sick meds, but no one's sick. all well.
deb
290 miles out. Will be in touch as we get closer. Look for us late afternoon/evening.
20-25 a bit bumpy, but not too bad.
All well,
-Jim
- Jim Gregory
Well, the past 4 days have been very light. Once we worked our way north towards the center of the high and turned right, the high has been elongating towards the coast and keeping us right in the middle of an area of light air. Looks like we'll be in some better winds this evening, and then get to look forward to 25+ on the way in!!
When it rains, it pours??
Anyway, we will continue to motor East for now. Will put in a bit more to the North for insurance and look forward to an arrival sometime late Sat. most likely.
See you soon,
-Jim
- Jim Gregory
Hello All,
So,as you all know, Tom and I became very familiar with a lovely bucket in the cockpit of Morpheus during our first couple days of travel. When we were not adding to its contents I was becoming very familiar with the floor boards while Tom preferred studying the stars and clouds in a reclined position.
That time has passed. Now every morning we give thanks to the goddess mama of mal de mer medicine(Deb, of course!). She has good stuff!
We are now enjoying this voyage that never ends. We do our watches (Tom spotted a ship the other night), we sleep, we eat, we read, and we listen to Jim profess his greatness. He certainly got all the modesty genes in our family! I am most enjoying learning about the weather patterns and tracking our progress. Tom is most enjoying playing Pat's guitar and writing songs on his computer. We both enjoy the watches even though Tom brought to my attention that we have seen more garbage than sea life. I let him know that sometimes the trip doesn't quite match the travel brochure.
The Gregory's are great hosts and we are enjoying our time with them except we really miss Scott, KK, and Mike.
From 987 km west of the
Yo, ho, Yo, ho a Pirate's Life for me!
--Kathleen
PS: The Activitie's director has just announced today's activities:
10am: Sea Chanty's contest
1pm: Carving toothpick's from the fish bones Chris has caught
Should be a great day!
- Jim Gregory
Everything is well here. I just got off watch, and thought this would be a good time to send an update. It's also good to stay awake for a few minutes after my watch to make sure Patrick, who follows me in the watch rotation, stays awake. He has a tendency to fall asleep with his eyes open on watch. So, I throw a few things at him, then he stays awake.
Jim MacGuyvered the engine into working, so we are currently motoring through the high. Thank Goodness. It would have been a slow slog through this no wind zone with no engine. We have successfully avoided most squalls so far. Knock Wood.
Food is good, books are running low, maybe tomorrow we'll break out the cards. Have seen some birds, a few flying fish, and Jim saw dolphins, but didn't wake anyone up! Otherwise, just a lot of ocean. Moon is getting full, so we can usually see a bit at night, unless it's really cloudy. Stars last night were unbelievable!
All is well.
See you all soon,
Deb
- Jim Gregory
We are still here and all is well.
Last night was a bit of a challenge until we figured out what was happening. Scary to remember that only 3 inches of kevlar and balsa stand between you and the deep blue... O well, the boat is not sinking, the engine works to charge the batteries, and 50/50 as to if the drive shaft will stay together well enough and if the winch grease we have will last to a high enough temp to grease the drive shaft. If not, we sail through the high as ships have been doing for centuries.
Everyone is over their Mal de Mer. This is causing me to go hungry. I keep cooking what I think is enough for 6 people, 3 of whom are teenage boys, and I keep getting the last of the pot! O well, between no alcohol (we don't drink at sea) and the boys appetites, maybe I'll loose some weight!
Kath and Tom both feel well enough to read, so the books are beginning to make the rounds. We have about 20, which isn't near enough. I think Jim may even have to resort to reading my dressage magazines!
After 5 days, we've gone about 1/3 of the way. We'll be home in maybe 10 more days, depending on the engine and the high (where there is No wind.)
See you all soon-ish. Party at the dock in
- Deb
Boat Skipper Lat Long Weather Radio Call Destination
Bequia Dennis Ronk 36 43 150 37 East motoring WDA6026 Vallejo,CA
Elyxir Skip Ely no report WCU7764 Santa Cruz
Green
Hooligan Alice Martin 22 42 158 54 25kts 070 WDD2903
Horizon John Shampain 35 27 139 39 21kt030 squls WDA6773 Oceanside CA
Morpheus Jim Gregory 33 59 152 21 15kts 080 WDA7721 SF
Rainbow Cliff Shaw 39 01 151 45 no wind WDC9996
Riva David King 42 42 143 57 5kts 310 WDC9061
Spirit Patrick Lewis 38 46 148 50 8kts 110 WCZ5810 SF
Stray Cat Blues Bill Parks 39 02 149 24 10kts 045 WCZ6367
Valis Paul Elliott 40 11 153 36 9kts South WDB2898
Kyrnos Frederic Laffitte 37 44 150 49 10kts 070 WDA5034
The Contessa Shawn Throwe 32 16 153 16 12kts East WDC9358
Basic Instinct Jan Borjeson At HYC, shipping boat home SF
Irish Lady Denis Mahoney Returned to KYC, rudder broke off at hull exit,
shipping boat home
Locomotion Ted Morgan At Keehi loading on barge for shipping
Mureadritta's XL Nick Barron Sunk, crew safe on
Orizaba Doug Hannam In Honolulu with leak in rudder bearing. May restart ?
Bounty Jam Lightning Not in rollcall
Weather August 3, 2006, Thursday
Today: High at 41N148W at 1034 mb. Winds 10 kts from West at 42N138W. Winds
10 from NE or East below 38N. GALE at 38N125W offshore San Fran. 40 kts..
Suggest staying above 139N approaching the
24 hour fcst (midnight Fri, 4 Aug, HST): High 1033 mb at 41N 144W almost
stationary, moving toward 150W. Cold front has moved North of 50N. Gale off
SF 35 kts from North, inside 128 W.
48 hour fcst (midnight 5 Aug;, Sat): High 1032 mb at 38N150W stationary.
Winds generally light North of 40N, changing to West 10 from N 15 at 135W.
35 kts from N, seas 4 meters off San Fran
96 hr fcst: (midnight 7 Aug, Mon) : Seas 1.5 to 2 maetersSouth of 40 N, 2
to 3 meters Nothe of 40N. Winds SW 10 South of 40 N, 15 – 20 kts at 41N
from SW to NW, Off San Francisco winds 20 - 25 kts from N, 15 kts S of 38N.
- Jim Gregory
It always does....
Just before sunset, time to charge the batteries. Send young Patrick back to start up the engine. He forgets to put the engine in neutral first and starts it in reverse. Ouch, that can't be good for the engine. Luckily, he figures it out quickly and by the time I get to the throttle control he has us in neutral. Nice heart attack for all onboard in the mean time.
Now I figure that the prop is flipped into reverse position and I need to put the engine in fwd in order to properly feather the blades and return to neutral. I slow the boat heading into the wind and then shift into fwd.
"All holy hell" breaks out from what sounds like under the boat?? )*$%%$^ what was that?? I try again slowly this time, and those below scream up on deck that something is seriously wrong down below!! Seriously wrong??? How bad is it?? I ask about water entering the bilge??? None seen. Well that's good. I shut the engine down, put the boat back on autopilot and run below to see what's up. Chris already has the cover off the shaft and with a couple of flashlights (remember sunset?) we try to see what's happened?? Is the strut loose?? Cracks?? Holes?? Nothing...
Humm...that noise was not imagined so we work our way up the shaft to the "universal" that connects the shaft to the transmission. Something definitely wrong here.... Grease everywhere, the coupling normally attached to the shaft adaptor by six bolts is hanging by one (barely) and there are misc bolts and parts sitting in the bilge.
How in the world did this all come apart?? Starting in reverse doesn't force six bolts to unwind all at once?? Must have been working loose for some time now.
No water, no threat of water, and everything was still basically "in place". Good we are not going to sink. But...will we be able to ever use our engine on this trip? Or will we drift through the high??
Time will tell. Frederic Laffitte is 100 miles ahead of us. His company sells this "Aquadrive" coupler and we've been on the radio talking to him about it. We know how to put it back together and have the tools to do that. But...it requires "high temperature grease" and all we have in winch grease.
So...in a day or two when the wind drops I'll spend a few hours in the bilge and we'll see what happens.
Nothing to worry about, if we can't motor, we have sails and fuel for about 80 days of battery charging!!
Just another lesson that out here, you need to think through everything that you do. There are problems and potential disasters lurking everwhere just waiting for a chance to leap out and ruin your day (or your boat!)
August 2nd, 0515 HST
30 01N, 155 50W
19 knots
110M
Misc Squalls
Heading 45M
- Jim Gregory
Well, tough to make this sound overly exciting and fun. It admittedly is a bit closer to work right now.
We are making our way NNE through a trough of low pressure that is pushing North with us and giving us some nice Easterly winds.
Last night saw us working through several large squalls that I assume are a product of the clash between high and low pressure around us?? In any case, they were big ones. Avg. wind was 12-15, but when they came through there was 25-30 knots and unbelievable amounts of rain.
We saw about 4 of those. Then this morning broke nice and clear with 15 knots and lots of sunshine. We are only 250 miles north of HI and its still plenty hot.
Hoping the coming night is a bit easier on the crew. Will let you know tomorrow.
- Jim Gregory
Beam reaching in 15-20, heading NNE. Squalls, lightning, etc. all night last night as a mini front moved over us. Better now, but still super hot and when you are heading upwind there is no way to open things up. Maybe I can sweat off the 40 lbs for Andrew on this trip!!
Racing to make the regatta in two weekends.... Its gonna be close...
- Jim Gregory
Left Kauai this afternoon at about 3pm. Have been sailing on a close reach in 20 knots of wind since then. Heading roughly North.
Nice day, but sailing under single reefed main only to keep it as comfortable as possible.
Despite my efforts, our two guests have had a difficult afternoon/evening. Both are now intimately familiar with our bucket and it is sort of cute to see them wrestling for it when they both feel the need at the same time!!
Kathleen asleep on the floor. Tom in the cockpit. Both are toughing it out as best as can be.
Forecast for tomorrow is mid-teens so they will be better soon.
-Jim
- Jim Gregory
HI All,
We are finally at sea, chugging our way north. The weather is as good as you could ask for. Wish the wind was a little more out of the south, but it's relatively light (18 knots) and the boat is riding well. Anyway, we are on our way. 2 flying fish so far. No whales.
We talked with others doing the delivery on the SSB last night. 9 others checked in. For those with SSB access (Bob) 8A at 2100 HST, or 8B if lots of noise. Then 12A at 2115HST. 4A at 0900PDT.
Kathleen and Tom sleeping well. The bucket is taking a rest. Actually, Tom stood part of a watch last night. Definitely feeling better!!
Love to all,
Deb
Very close race. Would take a lot to see a scenario where we can catch Lightning but second is still a possibility (as usual). Several smaller boats are close and if things don't work out perfectly we may fall a few spots. Close with Recidivist, Synge, ET, and Saphire.
GREAT sailing in about 20 knots all day. Waves not quite lined up for good surfing, but we catch a few.
Transpac next year???
-JDG
Wow. With the exception of Lightning which has done a pretty outstanding job, we've got ourselves a race this time!! Recidivist, Saphire, ET, Kyrnos, Elixer, all really close to us and probably a few others.
We are all happy to see that the million or so gybes that we did yesterday with an emphasis on getting south has helped. We have more wind and made time on everyone in our class other than Lightning. They have saved their time on us already at this point, and while we've not given up we are a bit realistic.
Pushing the boat like crazy. Looks like some areas of light air floating across the course between now and our finish time so who knows what may happen. We are even thinking of a pretty wild "non standard approach to the finish from the south" as a last ditch effort to win this thing. Doubt we'll do that as the odds favor staying north initially!!
Chris doing well. Have had some moments of late night heroics. Great group, no issues on board. We all just want to keep pushing and see what happens.
We shall see.
- JDG
Sometimes it seems like nothing is really happening out here. One day often feels like the others, but there have been some events of note recently....
1) Port hand rail forward ripped off deck.
2) One galley cabinet door "fell off".
3) Rob and JC end up with the same exact ugly hawaiian shirt that they both ordered off the internet!
4) Chris has high speed record.
5) JC looking good for rookie of the race.
6) Chris dropped the glass/plastic coffee pot overboard when it slid from its plastic holder!!
7) Bob has solved the coffee problem.
8) Related to 6, we are almost out of instant coffee.
9) Tim likes to steer in a speedo??
10) Half way party soon!!
BTW - we did not like rollcall this AM. We have been living in fear of being to far north and yet the boats there seem to survive. Light winds today, and we are now gybing on all shifts and slowly working our way south more.... We will see!!
- JDG
Sorry for the long delay between emails. Tough sailing out here. Winds up and down but seem to have been avg. about 13 knots. We are sailing as deep as possible on stbd to stay away from the light air to the north. On the otherhand, we keep wondering why the boats to our north are not suffering as much as we expect??? One thing for sure, the one boat to our south, Lightning, is not suffering at all!!
Yesterday, we shifted from broad reaching to running. Perhaps that will change the balance of power?? We shall see at the 9am rollcall.
Yesterday was also the Ugly Hawaiian shirt contest!! All entries were strong this year and the group photo with your special hats will be a classic. Chris won going away. Johnny was second, and Pete with a shirt that most of us think was not Hawaiian at all was third.
Just passed half way about an hour ago. 1072 miles to the finish line. Half way party today at noon!! As the winner, Chris will be wearing the grand prize when it kicks off!!
Best to all. Let's hope for a decent roll call. Many things could have changed yesterday. We almost gybed south for more pressure. Did anyone else?? Soon we will know.
- JDG
Well, today's rollcall probably looks worse than it is.
All you needed to do to "look good" yesterday was turn a bit north and point your bow towards
Great sailing!!
- JDG
Now that's more like it!!
We were nervous going into that rollcall this AM. None too happy with the first day's standings we worked our tails off all day and night to keep the boat flying along. Great winds in the 20-25 knot range and didn't hoist the spin. until sunrise this morning!
Debbie - those hats are great!! You have outdone yourself again, wish you could see the pictures. Perhaps at the finish line.
Anyway, we watched our weather info all night, monitored the barometer and picked our spot to get around the SE corner of the high. If we went to close, we'd run out of wind, if we went too wide, we'd sail extra miles. Ugh...
Looks good at this point. We probably could have made the turn a bit more to the North, but by staying south we think we've set ourselves up well for the next few days.
Have spent today with the spinnaker up, pole forward, in 18-24knots of wind.
We have a new speed record for the trip set by Christopher!!! 19.9 knots!!
Guess what...he's having fun!!
- JDG
Still sailing with main and blast reacher. Winds now about 20-24knots. Heading south!! Probably cross 130W at 31N. May change we'll see.
Going to suggest a new contest. "The Fastest Family Contest". This contest would be the sum of all family members "top speeds". Morpheus would currently submit a number of 54.2 knots!!
We would not provide the detail, that's for people to wonder about. But for you it would be..
Bob - 19.3knots
Jim - 18.3
Chris - 16.6
Hope to have a spinnaker up sometime tomorrow AM.
Not too happy about our current position in division, but these are SC52 conditions. Hopefully, we'll hold our own better under spinnaker and grind them down on corrected time over the rest of the race.
That' all for now!
- Jim Gregory
Wow, what a night!!
Top windspeed 33 knots! Top boatspeed 18.8 knots - Pete McCormick.
Sail combo all night - reefed main and blast reacher.
Wet?? You bet!!
All is well,
All's well onboard Morpheus tonight. Conditions are windy but not overly difficult. 22-26knots of wind on the beam with a single reef and the blast reacher up we are averaging 10+ knots and heading "south".
The SC52's were slightly ahead and to leeward this evening at sunset. They were slowly working their way ahead. Will be interesting to see how things look in the AM as we think the additional winds we have now may help us.
Chris is fine!!
- Jim Gregory
