You have to go uphill before you go downhill.....

by Peter Lagergren, June 27th, 2008

The fleet has fragmented further with Strum approximately 500 miles to the south of the remainder of the fleet and starting to curve right onto a more westerly course as the wind builds. She is doing 14 knots and beginning to make inroads into her corrected time deficit as she enters the downhill slide to Maui.

In Division A Red Heather has found good winds and is making nearly 11 knots and heading south to converge on Strum's track. Expect her to begin making the right turn to the layline in the next day or two. Something Wicked and Zulu are 100 miles to the northwest of Red Heather and have yet to get into high gear with speeds of 6 and 8 knots respectively. Starlight Express has fallen off the pace and is approximately 200 miles behind her cohort.

The real action is in Division B, where there are two match races occurring. Turicum is within 10 miles of Seeker and 5 miles to the northwest of Zulu. Both Turicum and Seeker are tracking south southwest at 8 and 6 knots respectively.

The other match is between Passepartout and Black Watch. Both are within 5 miles of each other and 50 miles to the northwest of Turicm and Seeker. They are both on a more westerly track at 6 and 4 knots respectively.

The rest of the fleet should be begin to see the same favourable winds that have catapulted Strum and Red Heather ahead within the next 24 hours. Expect to see boat speeds building and miles made good lengthening by tomorrows update.

Something very wicked has happened to Something Wicked.

After a tremendous showing throughout the entire first five days of the race, Something Wicked has been overcome with a steering problem that is forcing them to head for San Franciso and forfeit the race. All crew members on board are safe, and they are using their back up rudder and storm sails to make their way to landfall.

Owners Kevin and Sandy Reath should be commended for their tremendous support and committment to Vic-Maui. The entire crew aboard Something Wicked will be greatly missed. We wish them the very best for a speedy recovery and future successes.

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