We finished late Monday evening on July 25th, thirteen days and 12 hours after the start. Yesterday we indulged in the simple pleasures of civilization, hot water (showers), food cooked by someone else (that is handed to you), ice (in a bag for $1), laundry service (just give the dirty clothes to someone), barbequed fish (ahi), cold water (lots of it), and lots of conversation (with other sailors). The stories are about what broke (lots of stuff, on other boats), how many sails they tried to use and lost (many spinnakers), how heavy the wind was, how fast they went, how tired they got, when they finished, and if they got an award. Records were set in the heavy wind. We have not been following the Pacific Cup web site, so we know very little about this topic, and turn that into questions.
What interests me is the stories about what went wrong on other boats. One sailor friend said, “If this was my first Pacific Cup, I am not certain I would do another.” He was referring to the heavy wind , confused sea state, and all the things that went wrong on his boat. Putting together the stories, not including blowing-out various sails, there were issues with rigging, securing with the mast, engine harness melting, refrigerator failing, head failing, through hull valves blowing out, satellite phones failing, instruments failing, autopilots failing, water tanks leaking or being contaminated with salt water, and more.
As I hear the details, I feel secretly proud of Avion, as she had none of these issues. Plus, we drove by hand 95% of the time. Some boats used the autopilots the whole way, and the sailors just pushed buttons and hung on (“hiding behind the dodger”). We drove Avion by hand (tiller, not wheel), in 3 hour shifts (very demanding), because we could adjust to the sea-state and waves better than the autopilot. But when the news about Darby came out, and we slowed down to avoid it, we started using the new NKE gyro-pilot, and we were very happy with the performance. In moderate conditons, it drove the boat as well as we did. This is important knowledge for Megan and I as we prepare to do some cruising around the Hawaiian islands.
I was protested by the race committee yesterday. I violated a new rule about not throwing trash into the ocean. When I threw the S4 spinnaker back in the water, after retrieving it to get the lines and hardware off it, it became ocean trash. At the time, my calculation was that the sail was beyond repair; and it would be a big wet mess on the boat, I had no where to put it. But now I have been educated; I do not want to pollute the ocean with a big piece of nylon that will not degrade for years. I agreed to a 24 hour penalty to avoid going to a hearing.
Yesterday I looked at the blog, and was surprised that there were over 70 comments that needed approval. I am flattered that over 20 people regularly logged-in during the race. It is one of the wonders of the internet that it is possible to follow sporting events in real-time. Today, Megan and I have been consolidating our pictures, and after this posting, I will start to upload pictures from the race. Stay tuned.
avionbianca 
I was anxious for you about Darby and it really didn’t look like you could avoid nasty weather around the islands, even veering south the way you did before heading back north to the finish line. I was awaiting updates every day. So glad you are there. The S4 thing was unfortunate, and I guess the committee protest was kind of predictable considering you posted about it via blog entry…! But good for you and Megan (and David) for persevering. I can hardly believe the 3-hour watches and hand-tiller efforts most of the way! Around Boston Harbor, I often use my “Otto” just so I can have a beer and s sandwich without attending my catboat’s wheel..
Spenser: Thanks for you concerns. We did slow down and started to use the gyro-pilot for awhile. Good to know it works. We plan to use it in cruising mode, much as you do.