avionbianca   Blog for s/v Avion

Day 9 Post By Jon

Halfway There!!!

Day 9 8:00 A.M. (1086 Nautical Miles (NM) from Hawaii)

Note the nautical miles left for Day 8 at 8:00 A.M. should have been 1218.

132 NM made good over last 24 Hours

Wind lightened last night and we only had the Jib Top up and didn’t want to change sails until sunlight so our distance made good did decrease from the last few days’ average. This became evident when I wrote down the locations of all of our competitors during the morning roll call; all made gains on us. As we approached the halfway mark of the race I felt a bit disappointed that we are not doing better, and then reality struck. The fact that we are out here in the first place and have made it as far away from any land mass in the entire world, in itself is a major accomplishment. We are all health, happy, and proud of our accomplishments. I should in no way feel bad about the fact that we are being bested by sailors that have done this multiple times and in some cases have professional crews and unlimited budgets. When you are racing against boats that are capable of racing to Hawaii you are only racing against the best.

Skipper Tom and John were studying the latest weather forecasts recently downloaded and I poked my head down the companionway for a suggestion. When we made our major course corrections a while back to miss the lessening winds forecast for Friday I was concerned. We couldn’t hold the course by flying the spinnaker so we changed to the jib top. At that point we decreased our boat speed by about 1 knot an hours. I was curious if the difference in our planned locations by the change was worth the loss in boat speed. We all agreed to fly the spinnaker and lower our course heading.
At this stage of the race you can’t feel bad about your current position. You made your best guess as to how your course changes and sails sets will get you to Hawaii relatively faster than the next boat. The only way to know is when you arrive in Hawaii. So for now, we have made our bed, we can’t change it so only time will tell if we ultimately made the correct decision.

Day 9 5:30 P.M. (968 NM from Hawaii)

181 NM made good over last 24 Hours

It is good that our distance made good is back to about 200 NM per day, at this speed we should arrive in Hawaii in 5 days. It was definitely an E-Ticket ride this afternoon during my watch between 10:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. My first rule of business after the 9:30 A.M Roll Call check in was to see if we made it to the predicted halfway point at around 9 A.M. which I confirmed. There will be a Halfway Party later today; hopefully the weather and waves cooperate.
Nico was on the helm and since I had the GPS in hand after verifying our position I decided to see what our maximum speed over ground is showing. There are multiple different speeds we monitor, speed through the water, speed over ground and velocity made good. I have been primarily focusing on velocity made good to Hawaii, after all that is our goal. Speed through the water is calculated by an impeller that is in the water by a transducer through the hull. This is what we are using to determine who joins the Two Digit Rocket Club. The last indicator comes from the GPs that show speed over ground, same calculation as on your car navigational unit. The GPS recorded a maximum speed for Nico at 12.8 Knots and John at 13 knots. While I was on the helm for my one hour rotation I reached a new personal best at 9.76 knots of boat speed through the water. This is what happens while driving. The helmsman is constantly adjusting the tiller to compensate for the changes in wind direction and velocity in addition to the wave action as the waves pass under the hull. Avion was experiencing winds constantly in excess of 15 knots with gusts to 22 knots. With these sustained winds we were also experiencing larger swells; close to 10 foot seas. The trick to join the Rocket Club is to catch the wave just right at the exact same time a gust of wind passes through the sails. Think of a surfer waiting for that perfect wave to ride, only on a sailboat you are riding every wave. Just like a surfer the secret is to catch that perfect wave right at the crest and surf down the front side before it passes all the way through the hull. Without surprise, taking advantage of his vast experience of 9 previous Pacific Cups, John Dillow was the first member to join the Rocket Club. At precisely 12:56 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time on 7/16/2014 Avion reached speed through the water of 10.56 Knots. Juan let out a “Yeeee Haa” to the roar of the wave rushing off the hull.

My watch ended at 2:00 P.M. and I was ready for some Me Time. My last two sleep cycles started with the engine running to charge the batteries and I had to come up early this morning to catch the Roll Call. I came down the companionway, took off my harness, shoes, shirt and pants and climbed into bed only to be greeted by flogging sails, the bed listing to 45 degrees and a significant BANG; so much for getting sleep. I crawled out of bed, grabbed the hand holds and pulled myself up to the companionway to see 4 crew members all scrabbling for lines. Nico yelled to the other crew members that Jon was below to squirrel so I assumed my role as the squirrel in my skivvies. I went to the peak of the boat, through the head thinking of Kent a few days earlier and started pulling down the spinnaker as Nico and John were above shoving it to me. After it was secured I asked through the hatch above the sail locker, “What the hell just happened.” Nico explained that the boat broached (laid over, rudder came out of the water and Avion rounded up) and while the spinnaker was flogging it broke the end off of the new spinnaker pole. My first thought was, glad it was the spare. The crew decided that we were pushing the boundaries of the boat and decided on replacing the spinnaker with the next smaller size; one of the advantages of having 10 head sails. I went back to bed after taking advantage of the head right next to the sail locker.

As I crawled out of my bunk at 6:00 P.M., I drug out the halfway bag my sweetheart Lindi gave Nico the morning we shoved off from the dock. I knew something was up with Lindi because the weekend before we left I came aboard my sailboat Antigua greeted by Lindi in the cockpit frantically hiding the contents she was placing into a black bag telling me not to come aboard. I hefted the heavy bag up the companionway and untied the knot. I pulled out 6 plastic pineapple sippy cups, two jugs of pineapple juice, coconut milk, a bag of various candies and a bag of party favors. The party favor Nico immediately grabbed was the squirt gun, oh great, thanks Lindi! Lindi and Angie had bought a large bottle of spiced rum that Kent had decentered into a stainless steel bottle that was packed in his bag. Juan went below and used the tea kettle to mix up Mia-Tais to let the party begin. Now what could possibly go wrong with this picture?

The crew of Avion is the farthest points away from any land in the entire world coupled with 20 knots of wind gusting to 25 knots with 1 to 2 foot wind waves over 8 to 10 foot swells and introduce copious quantities of rum into the equation. Seriously what could possibly go wrong! We now have created a new club that we are affectingly calling the Broach Club. Prior to 6 P.M. there were only three members; John, David and Kent. I am shocked that Juan isn’t on that list, obviously superior seamanship isn’t a criteria for not being a charter member. As of 7 P.M. we have a new leader in the Broach Club; Nico who was given the helm by our skipper just as the Mai-Tais were served. Now we know why Avion was originally designated a dry boat because through those 3 broaches no crew member was left dry, figuratively or literally! To Nico’s credit he really didn’t have much help from his crew in releasing the boomvang to help prevent the broaches.

10:30 P.M.

Just got off my last watch for the day and had to report that I joined the Rocket Club (10.33) and the Broach Club within 45 seconds of each other. They go hand in hand; they are both on the edge, one slightly under and one slightly over. One results in a state of euphoria the other a state of panic but both gets the adrenaline flowing. After that joy ride I’m ready for bed.