Daily Report - July 9. Longboard Puts in Miles, Brad Baker Speaks

by Race Committee, July 9th, 2014

A couple of days running with winds over 20 kts has taken its toll. In addition to steering cable failures reported yesterday and the major failure of Anduril’s steering cable system, there has been a toll on spinnakers. Several boats report spinnakers in tatters, or having to be cut down. 

But after the two steering cable problems on Kinetic, David Sutcliffe commented “ocean racing is a marathon, not a sprint”. In addition to finding the right wind lanes and maximizing boat speed, husbanding equipment and resources is another key variable that must be managed in order to do well. There are no sail lofts or hardware stores on the high seas. 

At this evening’s roll call, Peter Salusbury’s Longboard has made most of the conditions and stretched out a lead of over 30 miles. But Longboard continues to take a southerly course while others are edging toward Hawaii - all have challenging decisions ahead. Because of course angles, the Yellowbrick Leaderboard actually shows John McPhail’s JAM ahead on fastest predicted time to Hawaii and JAM and John Mortimer’s String Theory are both ahead on corrected time. 

But the fleet has already started to sail into lighter winds – in the range of NW 15. This is easier on the gear, but it spells trouble the navigators and weathermen aboard. John Leitzinger on Kahuna has already decided he does not like what he sees and has abruptly turned to the east for more wind. We will see what the others do and what impact lighter winds have on the Leaderboard. 

Brad Baker, a many-time winning Vic-Maui navigator and owner of Swiftsure Yachts, has produced a great commentary for Northwest Yachting magazine on the race so far, and how these decisions will be made.

To read Brad’s article, please go to:

http://www.nwyachting.com/2014/07/vic-maui-update/

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