Covering Miles and Busting Gear

by Race Committee, July 8th, 2014

The last 24 hours of running in winds over 20 kts with spinnakers up has taken its toll on the fleet.

At the evening roll call, boats reported several broaches, parted halyards, more than a couple of spinnakers blown up, and both Kinetic and Losloper suffered broken steering cables. More seriously, a shoulder injury to the skipper of Alegria has taken him off the wheel (for now). He is now pacing the deck with his arm tucked away – giving orders like Lord Nelson. 

But sunny skies, with lots of wind has also produced a lot of happy sailors. These are the conditions that sailors dream of when thinking of a race to Hawaii. Warren Hale, the skipper of Turicum put it this way “surfin’, surfin’, surfin’”.

As sun sets on the fleet, we find Longboard continuing to stretch their lead in the race for Line Honours. The Longboarders been attaining boat speeds over 10 kts all day long. But keeping it all in perspective, Peter Salusbury summed it up “awesome wind, awesome waves, awesome lasagna”. One has to wonder how they can cook a lasagna aboard a pure race-boat like Longboard while surfing along. 

But Anduril and String Theory have also put in a good day of sailing and now stand first, second on corrected time. But the great wind has allowed most boats to keep up good speeds and the race for corrected time finish is incredibly close. Yhe race tracker Leaderboard currently showing 2/3 of the fleet with a chance of an overall first place finish.  

But the wind forecast still shows light patches ahead and it all can change quickly. So boats, tactics and positions will be tested overnight and into tomorrow. Stay tuned to the yacht tracker to see how the story unfolds.

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