Archive for July 2014
Day 1 (7/30/2014) 8:51 A.M. Hawaii Time (2070 Miles to San Francisco Bay)
Though the week long stay in Kaneohe Yacht Club has been fun and eventful we are all ready to head back home. Angie arrived back on the boat last night at about 11:30 and Nico made it back sometime after that (he has made some local friends) and we all had a good nights sleep. This morning has been spent preparing for departure by cleaning up the boat and stowing everything from food, plants, clothing and gear. Yes plants, we are taking back 2 special plants from some sailors that raced the Pacific Cup back in 1998 and are still here but plan to return back to San Francisco soon. In exchange for taking their plants we were able to get a pickup ride to the fuel station to top off the remaining 13 fuel jugs. This gives us a total of 160 gallons which should be able to allow us to motor over 300 hours. Are plans are to only run the engine if we can not make 4 knots under sail.
The route we plan to take is a little different than the downwind run we had for the race. The normal Pacific High which is the engine for the trade winds blowing out of the East, Northeast is a little obscured by a series of four tropical lows south of Hawaii and large Low just south of Alaska. The High is week so the winds right now shows more of a motor boat ride than a sailing experience. But of course that is the conditions now, who knows what they will be like in 3 weeks. We have capability of obtaining weather information both by Sat Phone and by Single Side Band Radio, so we will be constantly monitoring the conditions.
Our planned route is to head North by Northeast on a starboard tack. The rule of thumb is to stay on starboard tack until the wind dies then head east under power to cross the high then catch the winds on the eastern side of the high to take us to San Francisco Bay. Our plan is to keep a close eye on the weather on the coast, this can be treacherous. The recommendation is to either make a run for the coast to avoid maj0r weather coming or hang out in the comfort of the high waiting for weather on the coast to dissipate.
We have plenty of food and water to last over 3 weeks and plenty of fuel. No body ever complains about having too much fuel when the arrive. The last thing we want is to be stuck 100 miles offshore not able to get into the bay because the wind has died or we need to power through heavy seas.
I will update once we are underway.
The Kaneohe Yacht Club is amazing and sailors that have completed a 2070 mile race really know how to party. Juan always thought the Hobie Catters (sailors that race small 16 to 20 foot catamarans known as Hobie Cats) could really party, but they do not hold a candle to Pacific Cup sailors.
July 22, 2014 will go down as one of the most memorable day of my life. It started with a 4:06 am finished of a 2070 mile sailboat race and it ended with me having a fiancé.
A while back I had purchased a beautiful antique ring for my girlfriend Lindi that she had fallen in love with before we were together. She was planning a major sailing delivery last March from Cabo San Lucus to Seattle with a friend on his sailboat. Prior to her departure she asked me if I would like to have brunch at one of my favorite Brew Pubs in Berkeley. I never turn down an opportunity to enjoy good food with good beer while being with good friends so I told her what an excellent idea. While in Berkeley Lindi suggested that I make a slight detour because she wanted to show me something. She gave me the directions and when we arrived to where ever we were heading she said find a place to park. There was an open parking spot in front of a small antique boutique; she got out of the car and went into the shop. I followed and as we entered she introduced me to the owner by saying, “this is the wonderful guy I was telling you about”. Oh boy I thought, what is this all about. She asked if she could see the ring that she had looked at before and of course the owner knew exactly which one it was. When the shop owner gave me the ring, Lindi said, “I’m going next door to Peet’s Coffee, bye”. I just stood there quite dumb founded. The ring was lovely and not too extravagant and obviously something that Lindi really liked and would love to have. Now as to what her expectations were concerning the ring, I had no idea. My thought was to buy the ring and either eventually give it to her as an engagement ring, a friendship ring or just as a gift.
For Four months I thought about which it would be. As this trip approached I debated to take it with me, to leave it in Alameda or to wait until we had a better idea as to how our relationship was developing. The morning of the start of the race it dawned on me that I had left the ring in the safe at my office so asking her to marry me in Hawaii, could very well be problematic, if that was going to be one of my options. Al and Michelle were at the docks that morning planning to take their boat out to watch the start with Lindi and other friends on board. When Lindi wasn’t looking I pulled Michelle to the side and asked her if she wouldn’t mind going to my office before she left for Hawaii and pick up the ring. We had been talking about when we could have an engagement party in Hawaii so she was aware of my dilemma; I wasn’t sure if the party we were planning was going to be a finish celebration and/or an engagement party. She told me that she would take care of the ring, which turned out to be the best option because who knows what would have happened to the ring during the 14 days, 20 Hours and 39 Agonizing Minutes on the boat crossing the ocean.
When we arrive there was Lindi, Angie (David’s sweetie), Al and Michelle. After we got off the boat I asked Michelle if she had the ring, she said it was back at the house we had rented. During those nearly 15 days I had a lot of time to ponder where my life was heading. The only time I wasn’t able to think about stuff was during the 1 hour of every 6th hour where I was focused on the helm. During that time I was able to decide that the life Lindi and I were planning was the direction I wanted to go since I am close to retirement. She is fun loving, free spirit, adventurous, a great cook, outgoing, funny, and for some reason adores me. This adventure I just completed reinforced the fact that I want to go cruising again and similar to my late wife Jean, this is also Lindi’s dream. I have been looking for someone like her for the past 5 years and everyone I know that has met her thinks the world of her; my family in particular.
Once I came to the understanding that I did want the ring to be an engagement ring, the next question was, how do I pop the question. Obviously it wasn’t going to be at the Yacht Club right after the finish. So after we all had a few Mia Tais the crew decided to check out the rental unit we had and chill for a while. When I saw the house I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I told Lindi that I want to talk in private so I fixed her a drink and lead her upstairs to the balcony overlooking Kaneohe Bay, right on the water. We could look out and watch the boat that were behind us finish. The setting was perfect; beautiful views, romantic setting and we were both excited about re-uniting after the arduous 2 weeks apart. I had thought a lot about doing this proposal right; my prior attempts were far from stellar. I could tell that Lindi was a little anxious not knowing what it was that I had insisted on wanting to talk to her about. I made sure she had her drink that I fixed, was sitting at the little table facing the water and I kneeled on one knee, took out the ring box from my pocket, opened it and looked into her eyes and said, “I would love to have the honor of you being my wife.” She let out a screech that I was sure was heard back in Alameda. I was thinking that the crew and friends on the level below us must had been thinking something terrible must just had happened. After about 5 minutes of hysteria I asked, “Well, what is your answer”, as if I didn’t know. She said Yes, Yes, Yes…… I am absolutely amazed that I am able to make any person that happy.
Tuesday night we had our planned engagement party, ironically Lindi made most of the arrangements on food and drinks for the event. My brother Kirk and his Wife Nance was in Hawaii and was able to attend along with the Avion Crew, Angie, Al and Michelle and a couple of David’s friends. The house was perfect for this party, having an enclosed pool, with the water exposed but the area around it covered and wall to wall, floor to ceiling sliding glass doors exposing the water front of the house; we could not have picked a better setting.
Wednesday the Pacific Cup organizers had a Luau, that was spectacular. Kent’s family arrived on Wednesday so they joined us in the fun. The food was amazing and the performance was the best Luau show I have seen. What made it so spectacular was the way in which they engaged the audience and sailors aren’t shy, which made it even better.
Thursday night was the Mount Gay Rum party so you can only imagine how the Mia Tai’s flowed. The band was great, they played 60’s and 70’s party rock and roll songs, and Lindi and I danced the entire night, for that matter all of the sailors danced the entire night. Based on the band’s reaction they had never seen such a livelier crowd. Many times they mentioned that they wanted to take us with them to their other gigs to show people how to have a great time. I’m not sure the mass quantities of rum had anything to do with it coupled with having just completed a 2070 mile race across half of the Pacific Ocean, whatever the case everyone had a wonderful time. Like I said Pacific Cup sailors really know how to party.
After the band was finished playing I saw Lindi talking to the band leader. I started to think that I had made a big mistake when I told her she could have whatever wedding she wanted. I said that knowing that Lindi is very fiscally responsible on everything else and naturally assumed this wouldn’t be any different. I pointed out to the crew members what Lindi was doing and they all gave me a ribbing on the possibility that I would be buying 6 round trip airline tickets from Hawaii to the Mainland. When Lindi was done talking to them, I was sweating and it had nothing to do with all the dancing I had been doing. She walked up to me holding a piece of paper that I was hoping wasn’t a contract. Turned out all she wanted was their play list because a friend of hers will probably be our entertainment and she wanted to let him know what kind of music she wanted his band to play; what a relief…..
Friday was the awards ceremony but first the crew and friends wanted to take Avion out to the sandbar in the middle of Kaneohe Bay. Even with an 8 1/2 foot keel we were able to beach her with an anchor into sandbar and swim just a few feet off the bow and stand on the sandbar. We had a great time swimming and enjoying the cool breeze and warm water out in the middle of the bay. We then returned to the awards ceremony to applaud all of our fellow sailors that won trophies. I was heartened by the fact that the only standing ovation was for those sailors that were given special recognition for assisting other competitors that had major boat damage out in the middle of the pacific. Both involved broken rudders and lending assistance with transferring water, fuel and equipment to help. All boats made it to Hawaii without further incidents. This proved that the most important criteria for this race, and for that matter any race, is the safety and welfare of the competitors.
By this time even Juan was partied out!
More to come, we will be blogging on our return. Also you can follow our progress on Yellowbrick Road web site that you can link to through the Pacific Cup web site. Our plans are to leave on Wednesday.
Blog for Day 15
Agonizing Finish (An Adventure or an Ordeal?)
Day 15 5:20 A.M PDT (2:20 HST) (Less than 5 miles from Finish)
When I awoke and looked at my watch, I was surprised to see that I had exceeded my off watch schedule by an hour. Either I was more tired than I thought or we were really close to the finish and Tom wanted to stay up. This also concerned me because my last check of the GPS was showing that we were scheduled to finish at 3 a.m. local time so I figured we were really close. As I climbed up the companion way I could see Kent at the foredeck changing the head sail from the Jib Top to the #3 jib. The wind has lighten considerably and had clocked around to our nose requiring an upwind sail change; 28 headsail changes for Nico, 1 for Kent. I saw Kent reach for the magic marker and place one hash mark on his forearm!
Tom told me that Red Cloud, one of our primary competitors from the same yacht club, had called into the race committee at the 5 mile mark right after us. Cool I thought we passed them over the past day or so. As we got closer to the finish line the winds continued to drop to less than 5 knots and our ETA continued to rise. This is the psychological battle you face racing, due to decreasing wind speed, the finish line continues to get further and further away relative to your ETA though the distance is actually getting closer. I have never enjoyed this aspect of racing and after 2065 miles, it is even worse.
Within one Mile from the line we heard Red Cloud call in to tell the Race Committee they had finished at 3:15 AM. How the hell did they pass us over the last 5 miles? They must have had a better angle on the wind. The Race Committee called back and asked if they had a light on their sails because they couldn’t see them. We interpreted this as a good sign and hoped that they were premature and hadn’t crossed. Red Cloud called back and gave their coordinates which was on the finish side of the line. Finally the race committee calls to indicate they had them in site and that they were finished, damn! Can you believe that after 2069 miles two boats that haven’t seen each other for over 13 days are this close together!
The finish line was a virtual line that the sailors were instructed to line up with a beacon on top of Pyramid rock and a flashing white beacon on the water. We got within a tenth of a mile, a mere 528 feet and the GPS wouldn’t change (this is slightly over 10 boat lengths). We would point towards the line and the GPS would indicate a 90 degree turn so we would tack thinking we could make the line. But when the distance made good to the line went negative we tacked back. We did this through an additional 4 tacks and finally we decided to just point the boat towards the line and let the waves simply drift us across the line. 45 minutes later we finally saw the two beacons lined up and Tom told David to shine the spot light on the sail and he called the Race Committee on the VHF radio to tell them that we had finished at 04:06.00 local time. The Race Committee responded with a congratulations and welcome to Hawaii. The entire Avion Crew let out a simulations yell and high fived each other. The 2070 mile race was finally over after 14 days, 20 hours and 39 agonizing minutes tacking back and forth. We changed tack more over the last 1 mile than we had over the previous 2069 miles!
The Mia-Tais were still 2 hours away. Even though as the crow flies the finish line is less than a mile away from the Kaneohe Yacht club the entrance to the bay is 2 ½ miles the other way. The organizers of this event are fabulous; they had an escort boat lined up for each yacht coming in. We were immediately hailed by the skipper of our escort boat to turn to bearing 320, now! We fired up the engine, placed it into gear and turn sharply to starboard until the campus read 320. We then followed the escort boat for over an hour and a half to the yacht club where we were handed off to another smaller skiff that directed us to a slip. We thought how cool is that we will have our own slip and we don’t have to worry about rafting up to another boat. Now picture this, it is 6 a.m. in the morning local time, we just had two different escort boats bringing us to the dock and we could see at least 20 people on the dock clapping and taking picture as we were arriving. Inter mingled with those people is my sweetheart Lindi, David’s sweetie Angie, my good friends Al and Michelle along with 4 lovely ladies carrying Mia-Tais and Leis; Juan’s thinking, yeah now we are talking We are 20 feet from the dock and Avion stops dead in the water; she ran aground. The port captain on the dock said to backup and navigate closer to the stern of the boats before making the turn into the slip. Tom throws the engine into reverse and she pulled herself off the bottom, he then steered more to port and accelerated and was greeted with another tormenting stop; Juan is thinking the ice in the Mai-Tias aren’t going to last much longer. The Port Captain makes an executive decision, he told Tom to backup and end tie next to the really big boats; those that had passed us so soundly days before; Juan’s thinking now we can hobnob with the big dogs. Well this turned out to me easier said than done. Avion was stuck in the muck and was perfectly content to stay; Juan could only visualize those ice cubes melting away to oblivion. Our second escort skiff throws us a line and with trepidation and considerable fossil fuel consumption was able to slog Avion off the bottom and into clear waters.
I know Juan is thinking that we can finally have those Mai-Tias; well not exactly. The Hawaiian government had to make sure that we hadn’t brought any foreign contaminant to the island. Tom’s thinking that he shouldn’t declare Juan for fear of being quarantined. Then we had to be inspected to make sure that we still had all of our safety equipment in place and our 6 gallons of water safely stowed; Tom actually had 7 gallons to cover Juan, just in case the Race committee took his best crew nomination of Juan to heart. Finally the crew could be served their Mai-Tias. Juan told me later that it was the best Mai-Tia he ever had and doubted he would ever have one better; for once I agreed with Juan.
After being at Sea for just under 15 days I have learned a lot about myself. I have learned that I do enjoy extreme adventures. I learned that through trust and fortitude I can accomplish any reasonable attainable task. I learned that I can overcome fear and apprehension through preparation and accepting the fact that I am capable and those around me are as well. I leaned that I must understand and accept my limitations so as to not extend beyond my capabilities but to push them to their limits. I learned that solitude can be my friend and my enemy; the difference is simply in my attitude because there is a fine line between an adventure and an ordeal. I had an amazing adventure that will live with me the remainder of my life.
Day 14 Post By Jon
4 Over 10
Day 14 July 21 8:00 A.M. (154 Nautical Miles (NM) from Hawaii)
204 NM Made Good to Hawaii over the past 24 Hours. Another record for Avion!
Day 14 3:25 P.M. (911.8 NM from Hawaii)
GPS is indicating 14 hours to destination @ 3:00 A.M. Local Time
The wind has dropped considerable since I left the helm 1 hours ago; from 20 to 25 down o 15 to 16 Knots. It is hot, humid and the nav station bench broke so this post will be a relatively short one.
Juan woke for his morning watch at Noon. and felt totally miserable. He got very little sleep because the boat had been pitching from side to side navigation the 10 foot swells for the past two off watches. Every muscle in his body ached so he grabbed the vitamin I bottle (Ibeiprophin) and popped 4 pills and took a health gulp of water. Everything was wet, his shirt, his pants, his body and his sole; it is now crunch time. As he struggled to get on his wet gear he realized that he was bonking; a biking term when your body runs out of fuel and water. Before going up on deck he decided to scrounge around for some food, his portion of the small Mahi Mahi last night wasn’t cutting it. While filling his bottle from the second water bladder he discovered it too was empty, time to break into the backup water supply. They included an additional 22 gallons 1 gallon jugs strategically placed throughout the boat to create the most bodily harm as he discovered the previous morning. As a requirement of the race they have to make sure that there is 6 gallons remaining when Avion crosses the finish line or she will be disqualified. Now for food, all of the bagels are gone, he wasn’t up for making oatmeal, too hot, so he settled on fixing himself two salami burritos. After eating the burritos and downing a bottle of water, the Vitamin I was kicking in and he started to feel human again. As he came on deck he could see over cast skies, 3 fellow crew members huddled together on the high side of the cockpit and all still managing a smile, but all looking like Juan was feeling. As in any long distance race the last portion is always the hardest. There is the psychological aspect of getting closer to the finish line which tends to appear to not get any closer. There is the fatigue factor where the lack of sleep and constantly supporting yourself due to the perpetual listing. There is the emotional factor where any little task becomes a monumental challenge. For example last night the crew had a difficult sail change that resulted in a lively discussion about us all being sure to be even more safety conscious because now is the time accidents will happen. So far so good and the entire crew, especially Juan, is being very careful.
While on watch the crew were talking about last night’s Children’s Hour. While the crew was munching on the Dorado that sacrificed it’s life for their dinner nourishment, Skipper Tom, paid Juan a supreme compliment. He placed Juan’s name as Avion’s nomination into the Outstanding Crew competition. This should cause some consternation with the Pacific Cup’s Race Committee because there is not a Juan on Avion’s crew list. Tom explained the Juan was a stowaway and was being nominated for providing entertainment for the crew and his eloquent, verbose and embellished blog posts that had very little concerned for accuracy. Tom then made a shameless plug for his avionbianca.com web site.
After an hour on watch it was Juan’s turn at the helm. At this point Juan is a bit anxious. Could it have anything to do with 20 to 25 wind, 2 foot wind waves over 10 foot swells, 9 plus knots of boat speed, the fact that the display on the digital campus he has grown accustom to lost its display or that fact that he is totally exahausted? Juan gingerly scoots back behind the main sheet traveler and gets into helm position just in front of John as he is concentrating on the new conditions and displays while John explains the apparent wind angles for the course that is making Avion sound like a freight train. John hollers, “Do you have the tiller”, as he slowly releases his pressure on the helm. Juan yells “No”. Both Juan and Jon simultaneously pulled the teller as hard as possible as Avion started to round up. They managed to recover her before she went into a broach. By this time Juan had been acclimated to the conditions and was ready to take the helm. Over the course of his hour at the helm he reached a personal best in the Rocket Club to 11.20 Knots with 3 other entries into the club; 4 over 10 knots in an hour not bad. Nico commented that during that time Juan’s expression oscillated from deep concentration to big ass smiles. John is still the Chairman of the Rocket Club with 11.76 Knots, Nico Vice Chairman with 11.4 knots and Juan holding the Secretary slot with his 11.2 knots.
Day 14 5:00 P.M. (80 NM from Hawaii)
We just replaced the smaller spinnaker with our largest with wind speeds around 15 knots. Nicco now has 26 marks on his forearm, if any more he will need to go up to his biceps. Juan explained to him that Avion will not have enough headsail changes during this race for him to worry about the tattoo marks going across his face.
So much for the short post, the nomination must have gone to his head.
7:30pm, Sun July 20
Last few nights the sky has been incredible as I’ve come on watch at 11pm. This morning we had a wrap around sunrise, 360 degrees of pink clouds. We kept the watch schedule on PDT, so as we’ve gone west through 2 or 3 time zones, when the sun rises and sets changes a bit each day. Sunrise is about 10amm boat time. We put the fishing line in the water 2 days ago, yesterday we got a hit, got away before we landed it, beautiful dorado, or mahimahi. Today we got anotheer hit, and landed another dorado. They are iridescent blue and green for about 2 minutes, then fade fast to yellow, heartbreaking beautiful as they slash through the blue water. We ate more than half of it as sashimi, the rest will get cooked for dinner. While I was cleaning the fish another one hit, but got away before I could land it. Hard to believe that we’ll be ashore sometime Tuesday.
July 20, 2014 Less than 300 miles to go
Well it seems that we keep getting closer to Hawaii and yet the ocean doesn’t seem too change much. Excitement is getting high as we talk about our last full night of sailing and there seems to be much anticipation around the Mai-Tais that await us in Kaneohe Bay. Less than 48 hours to go and yet still so much ocean between us and the finish and a bit more between us and dry land. The excitement is bitter sweet. I have come to really enjoy this ocean: beautiful and blue and ever changing, but always the same. There has been some discussion about taking a leaf out of Bernard Montesiers book and say forget the finish, we are going to keep going. Of course we don’t have enough fresh water to do that but the notion seems to please all of us at least when we talk about it. Those on the boat who have family and friends waiting on the dock are anxious to be with them. I for one am looking forward to spending some time in Hawaii, visiting with the other competitors, old friends, new friends, and playing on the beach and in the warm water! About as timely as can be in the middle of writing, the call “FISH ON” comes from the cockpit we have hooked a nice Mahi Mahi just as I was thinking of what we should have for dinner. Mmmm Sashimi! Off to fillet a fish!
20 Juillette 2014 Mions de 500 Km
Il semblerais que on continue a s’approcher de Hawaii mais l’ocean na pas laire de beaucoup changer on commence a s’exciter en discutant notre dernier nuit complet aboard ce soir. Et il y a beauccoup de anticipation atojur des Mai-Tais qui nous attends a Kaneohe Bai. Moins de 48 heurs et comemme tellemt d’ocean entre nous et la ligne de finisions et encore un peut avant terre. L’excitement nes pas sans penser que je commence a vraiment aimer c’ette ocean: Mainifique blue de touts les varieties et toujour en train de changer et tojours la meme. Ca discuter de prendre apr Bernard Montesier et de dire oublie la course on vas continuer. Bien sur on n’a pas asser d’eau fresh pour fair ca, mais l’idee nous plait au moins au moment que on en parle. Ceux sur le bateaux qui on de la famille qui les attends sont anxious de les voirs. Pour moi je serais tres content de passer un bon moment a Hawaii, de discuter avec les autres participant, des vieux amis, des noveaux amis et de jouer dans le sable et l’eau chaud! Et Juste au moment ou j’ecris ca on entand le cris “POISSION” qui viens du cockpit. On viens d’acrochers un beau Mahi Mahi juste au moment que je commencer a me demender ce que on mangerais ce soir. MMMM Sashimi! Et maintenent pour decouper un poission!
Day 13 Post By Jon
Dodging Squalls
Day 13 8:00 A.M. (358 Nautical Miles (NM) from Hawaii)
167 NM Made Good to Hawaii over the past 24 Hours.
Day 13 10:35 P.M. (334 NM from Hawaii)
GPS is indicating 48 hours to destination.
In the middle of a blissful sleep Juan was rudely awaken by the strangest sensation of being clobbered over the head. Was this another result of escaping the bad guys in his dream after watching another marathon session of Breaking Bad like last time when he fell out of the bunk on Antigua scrambling away from someone trying to shoot him! No, that couldn’t be, he realized as his awareness became more focused, he hadn’t watched TV in nearly two weeks. He looked around for the cause of his sudden shock into reality and found 3 one gallon water jugs lying next to his head while his body was bunched in a ball on the leeward side of the bunk. It appeared that the 3 bottles dislodged from their compartment on the windward side of the bunk. He looked forward to see John standing at what appeared to be a 45 degree list to Starboard while wrestling with his life jacket looking back at Juan with a big grin on his face. Juan took his ear plugs out and over the noise of the engine charging the batteries he could hear flogging sails. He reached over grabbed his pants and literally slide into them. He them slip on sandals and his lifejacket and joined John at companion way. Looking out he saw Nico’s smiling face telling John to help douse the big spinnaker and to Juan to go squirrel. As Juan hustled to the peak of boat to await the dropping of the sail he thought with a smile on his face, how cool is this, as he worked his way through the cabin making sure to brace himself with the various hand holds along the way. He climbed onto the stack of sails and soon was greeted by Nico lifting the hatch cover up and said for him to chill. “The wind is back down to 13 knots so we are in a wait and see mode.”
Juan relaxed in the sail locker, realizing that this was by far the most comfortable place on the boat and may return later on his next off watch to read or take a nap. A short time later Nico re-opened the hatch and said, “Go back to bed, we are staying with this kite.” Juan worked his way back through the boat and stuck his head out the companionway and saw smiles on all four of his crew member above deck. “Glad to see everyone happy” he said and thought what a comfortable feeling to be awaken with such a potentially bad situation and find out that everything is under control; definitely instills confidence in your crew and the boat. We are going to be fine for the next 48 hours or so dodging these squalls.
Day 12 Post By Jon
Trade Winds
Day 12 8:00 A.M. (525 Nautical Miles (NM) from Hawaii)
157 NM Made Good to Hawaii over the past 24 Hours.
Day 12 12:50 P.M. (500 NM from Hawaii)
We are in the tropical trades, and currently they are light around 10 knots. The forecast is for them to slowly build over the next few days but nothing to the extreme; all good news.
My shift this morning from 4 A.M to 8 A.M. was eventful with 3 head sail changes while I was on the helm. I kept the helm through 2 hours because there was so much changes in the conditions that it was best for me to be at helm, where I have the most experience, and let those crew members who understand the rigging more do their magic.
We started out with full main and largest symmetrical spinnaker with 12 to 18 knots of wind. The higher winds were caused by overcast features passing along our course. We were never sure if they were thin or heavily laden clouds. As soon as I took over the helm from John it started to rain and the winds changed direction radically but not much more intensity. We were concerned that this was a squall so we decided to drop the spinnaker and raise the jib top because the changing wind had resulted in a major reach, not good for the spinnaker. As you can imagine at night this is a challenge but since we had pre-ran all of the rigging for 4 different potential head sails we were prepared and the first peel went smoothly. A peel is the process of first dropping a head sail and then raising a new one verses raising the new sail first before dropping the old called running with a bald or headless sail. If the conditions are right for a peel it is preferred because a headless boat is a slow boat besides being smelly.
The tree head sail changes from last night and then this mooring change back to the symmetrical spinnaker resulted 23 hash marks on Nico arm; it now covers his entire left inside forearm from is wrist to his elbow.
There was only one section of this race I was anxious about, that being in the trades dodging squalls. All during my shift I was constantly on edge with the changing conditions and difficulty keeping the boat going fast in the correct direction. We were fortunate not to have any extreme conditions but it is amazing the toll anxiety takes from you. I slept soundly until my next watch at noon.
Day 13 7:30 A.M. (360 NM from Hawaii)
With 40 feet of waterline, nicely making way, though we can’t see the Southern Cross we do have a beautiful sky. If the weather hold we should be in Hawaii on Tuesday. We just had a reported potential squall sighting, so I need to go topside, will probably have more to report later.
We are mow in the last 500 miles of this sailing adventure. We are sailing along at 7.1 knots in 12 knots of wind and the sun just set. We are sailing Avion at a course of 212 degrees for Hawaii as fast as she will go. We are each taking turns driving, as the boat cannot stop for a rest. We are adjusting to the weather conditions by changing sails to keep pushing forward. The level of effort and attention to detail is impressive.
Everyday the morning roll call we report our 8AM position. In the afternoon, there is a radio net on the SSB radio, and they give the place of each boat in each division in the fleet. We are no longer in the top three, but I no longer care about this external measurement. Avion is sailing her own race. She is an older boat with a crew new to this race, but we are the most motivated. We might not be first to the finish line, but to compete fairly and complete this event is an accomplishment.
It will be good to get to Hawaii. We are now looking at arrival in 3 days, on Tuesday.
July 19, 2014 A day in life of the Pac Cup
Describing what a day in life on port tack seems impossible to portray but the sun is out, the fishing line is set, I have just had a shower and am feeling great so I will give it a shot. The first part is to understand what a day means. We often find ourselves referring to things that happened yesterday when really are really referring that happened last watch, 4-8 hours ago. So assuming we are talking about a calendar day not a watch day, My day starts at 0100 my bunk mate, Kent, ever so gently wakes me up “it’s time, ” “ok” so I fall out of bed, literally, as that is the easiest way out of the slot we call bunks. First order of business is always to poke my head out of the hatch to see what those on deck are wearing so I can figure out how much, or how little gear I should put on. This varies greatly from day to day but on average has trended to less. Once on deck I am always greeted by a cheerful “good morning” no matter what time of day it might be! After checking out the current conditions and who is doing what I settle into a comfortable spot take up whatever job is not currently being occupied. Trimmer, Driver, or Vang. From then on we take one hour turns driving and switch off embellishing whatever stories we haven’t already told, and watching the moon and stars light the clouds and the bioluminescence light the the waves . After about one hour, one of my watch mates goes down to kick their bunk mate out of bed so they can get some sleep. Every set of watch mates brings a new dynamic to the cockpit keeping things interesting until it is time for me to go tap Kent. At this point it is 0500 and I am ready to sleep only waking up if the boat broaches and kicks me out of bed or if we need to change sails. At 0900 Kent wakes me again and the process starts over. At 0915 we raise an antenna for the Single Side Band radio (SSB) and listen to the position reports for all the other boats participating in the race and any other information the race committee feels like sharing with us. Usually at this time we discuss what our strategy for the next couple of days is and what course we should be steering. Also at this point someone usually gets hungry and decides to whip up some breakfast. By the time all of that has happened and I have had my hour of driving time, Kent pops his head out and tells me I am off watch. It is usually at this point as it 1300 and the middle of the day that I sit at the computer to try to understand what the navigator is looking at and write a blog entry, or at least part of one. Then I eat some lunch lay in my bunk for a couple of hours before my 1700 watch. At 1715 we once again raise the SSB antenna and listen in for children’s hour where the relative places are announced and trivia questions are asked. 2100 I go down and make dinner eat and sleep until the next calendar day. Sometimes off watches are disrupted by sail changes and watches are disrupted by emergency maintenance items but otherwise the rhythm starts to set its self. Sleep, Eat, Sail. What could possibly be better?! Until Next Time
Nico
19 Juillette 2014 Un journais dans la vie du Coupe Du Pacific
De decrir une journais dans la vie sur babord semblerais une tache impossible mais le solais brille, les lignes de peches sont mis, je viens de prendre une douche et je me sens superb doonc je vais essayer.La premier chose c’est de comprendre ce que c’est un journais. Souvent on parle des chose qui se sont passer heir c’est a dire le dernier quart il y a 4-8 heurs. Mais je vais deccri une journais comme on les compte sur terre pas en mere. Donc pour mois un journais ce commence a 0100 mon co equipier avec qui je partage un lit, Kent, me revile en douceur “c’est l’heur” “merci” donc je tombe du lit comme c’est la method la plus facile pour sortir du trou qu on appell un lit. Premier chose je pas ma tete dehors pour voir comment les autres sont habillier pour decider quois me etres pour ne pas avoirs ni trop froid ni trop chaud. Une fois sur pont on me souhaite “good morning” a n’importe quelle heurs. Une fois que j’ai evaluais les conditions, et qui fait quoi, je m’install dans un coins du cockpit comfortable et je prend charge du bulot qui n’est pas deja pris les ecoutes, la barre (qui bien sur et tout jour pris quand je monte) ou Boom vang ( la linge qui prends tension sur la boom) et de la on prends des tours a raconteur des histoirs et regarde la lune et les etoils eclaiais les nuage, et la bioluminescence eclairias les vagues apr une heure un de mes co equipier descend sortir selui qui est dans son lit, pour que lui il puis dormir un peut. Chaque noveau equipier amenne un noveau dynamique et garde les chose interassant jusque a ce que il est l’heur de reviler Kent. A ce point la il est 0500h et je suis pret a dormir. Je me revile seulement si le bateaux se couche et m’eject du lit ou il faut changer de voile. A 0900h Kent me revile et ca recommence! A 0915h on monte l’antenne pour la radio et ecoute les positions des autres bateaux qui paticipe a la course et quelques autres informations que les organizatures de la course veulle nous donner. Normament a ce moment la on discute de notre strategie pour les quelques jours qui viennes et dans quel direction il faut naviguer. Apers ca quelqun a faim et se decide de preapare un petit dejuner. Apr que tout c ace passe et je barre pendant une heur Kent sort et me dit que mon quart est fini. C’est la, a 1300h, que je me met devant l’ordinature et je essair de comprrendre ce que le navigature vois et pour quois on va la ou on va et je ecris un blog ou au mois une parti. Je mange un bout et je vais me coucher pendant quelques heurs avant mon quart de 1700h. a 1715h on remonte l’antene et on ecoute tant que les places son announcer et des question de trivia sont demender. A 2100h je descend cusinier manger et dormir jusque a la prochaine journais terreste. Quelque fois les quart libre son interompu par des changement de voiles et les quart son interompu par des tach de maintaince d’urgence mais apart ca un rhytme commence a c’etablir. Dormir, Manger, Naviguer. Il y a quois de mieux?!
A la prochaine
Nico
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