Report #5, 11July, 0807 HST
Aloha All,
Report #4, 09July, 0933 HST
Aloha All,
Bruce and I are exhausted but in great spirits. Saturday night we had a
midnight meltdown. The spinnaker wrapped in a 5 minute rain squall that
had a 120 degree wind shift in it. We unwrapped the spinnaker and found
the halyard stuck. It was also wrapped around the headstay. We cleaned
up the mess and reset the spinnaker. We have moved from 4th in class to
a solid 3rd. Sensation in 2nd has a 6 hour lead on us. We will have to
sail very hard to make that up. We are getting close. 731 to go as of
the morning. Our ETA is showing for Friday at noon. See you all in
Hawaii soon.
Report #4, 07July, 0926 HST
"Aloha from the middle of the Pacific, We had a good night last night
and it looks like we moved into 4th place in class and 9th overall and
are leading the double handed on corrected time. If the wind holds we
might be able to hang on and win the double handed division. Ouch is in
3rd and we have them in our sights. We hope to pass them tonight.
Sensation, the J120 is in 2nd but with the wind so square that favors us
over their bow sprit set spinnakers. We covered 203 miles toward the
finish and a total of 238 miles in the last 24 hours. The seas are
relatively flat so our biggest surfs are only 20 seconds at a time. Our
new top speed is 16 kts. It is a warm and sunny day with 30% cloud
cover, winds around 14 kts and our apparent is 130 degrees. We have
dried out the sleeping bag and moved to the lee buck so we are a lot
more comfortable and dry. Thank you all for the emails and the
encouragement. Bruce and I look forward to seeing all of you at the
finish."
Report #3, 05July, 1030 HST
"We are finally surfing! Day 5 and we have finally set the big
spinnaker. The wind is from 135 apparent and is up to 16 kts and then
down to 6 kts but so far our top speed is 14.4 kts. After 5 days of
reaching our bunk is dripping wet and the one sleeping bag is soaking.
Yesterday at 1:00 pm HST we set the big A-sym for an hour and then had
to take it down and jib reach again. At 7:00 am this morning HST we set
the big spinnaker and life is much improved.
We are south of rhumb line sailing a course of 240 direct to the Diamond
Head. The sled class has joined us on our track south of rhumb.
Our weak point of sail is reaching. The larger boats with longer
waterlines will reach faster. Now that we have turned the corner our
speeds have picked up and we are now in the strong point for our boat.
Look for our ETA to start changing.
Aloha and Mahalo to all our supporters.
Report #2, 03July, 3:30 pm HST:
"Aloha All,
We just set the A-Sym and are holding a course of 240 degrees. A little
low of Oahu but where we want to go. We will have a freeze dried food
sale on our arrival. We just are not eating the meals we planned out.
The bunks are a bit damp but the air is warm so it is a very enjoyable
sail. I am driving with the Sat phone in one hand and the tiller in the
other. What a great time.
I will be calling our Honorary Crew Member, Natalie Fraizer next and
will share my experience with you on my next sat com call.
We have been sailing next to MYSTERE for a while. Last night they put
up a spinnaker bore off and disappeared over the horizon. This morning
they came back with their headsail up and now is just out of shouting
distance from us.
Don't bet on the posted ETA of Sunday the 15th. We will shave at least
one day off that and maybe more. Back to sailing for now. "
1st Report: 01July 11:22 am HST
"We are moving along with the #1 up doing 6.75 to 7 kts. The weather is
gorgeous. We rounded West End of Catalina around 5 pm last night and
have been playing pass and be passed with Lawn Dart. Currently they are
500 feet in front of us. Lawn Dart is the 40 foot double handed entry
that started a little later than us. The borrowed headfoil was very
brittle and one of the foils broke while installing it. We have one
foil and will be doing bald headed changes for the race. We are
delighted that this race-ending disaster has turned into a minor
setback. We are in good spirits and looking forward to hitting the
tradewinds. Aloha to all."
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