From Cat's-Paw IV at sea:

We are charging along in bright sunshine under spinn........spoke too soon. Just as I was writing that Barry yelled at me to "HELP". I scampered on deck and the spinnaker was in the water, not a pretty sight. I went up to the bow to try and haul it in and was making headway until it got under the boat. Then Barry came up and managed to get the heavy, heavy wet spinnaker on deck. We are not sure what happened but it looks like the sail parted at the head where it connects to the halyard. The halyard seems to be still at the top of the mast and I guess that means another trip up there in Coos Bay, hope it is calm.
Anyway we HAD a wonderful run under the spinnaker, 8 hours with no problems, in glorious sunshine, the sunshine has been sadly missing the past few days. The wind was picking up and when I finished my watch said to Barry that I was happy with what was happening with the sails but it was getting close to time to take the spinnaker down as the wind was building, guess we should have done it sooner than later!!!
We had a Coast Guard helicopter divert course and come right over us about 1000 this morning, and then Barry spotted a whale, so it has been a great day. We are headed to Coos Bay, Oregon and will most likely get there in the dark. We talked about it and if conditions are right we will attempt to enter the port after dark,that would be another first, I will let you know how we made out.