We had a great day racing yesterday!

We sailed all day then entered the Molokai Chanel at 11:00pm for a wild ride to the Diamond Head finish. Radio contact is made at 100 miles, 25 miles and 3 miles to go. We listened all night to hear about Tower but they had not reported in yet so we were optimistic.

Had a fun ride through the channel and then made the turn to the finish line, some of the more exciting sailing of the trip as we had 3 gybes with winds in excess of 25 knots.

We fininshed around 3:30 am and were met at the dock by Betty, Laura, JJ, Max, Ava, Eileen and Louise Diepenbrock...the last 2 being a complete surprise!

Once we cleared the technical and safety inspections we were given lei's and mai tais, kisses and more mai tais!

Oh yeah, we won our class.

More later,
Jim

Comments [8]

We had a great night with the moon and stars providing stadium lights to see the waves. We had a flawless gybe about 2:00 am Hawaii time and are now pointed at the Molokai Channel with 160 miles to go.

John has been re-named "Big Ease." One of the maneuvers we do is completed with a big ease of the spinnaker sheet. When John is not trimming the spinnaker sheet he has taken to telling the more seasoned crew members when to go for the "big ease." Last night he told Volvo Round-the-World Race veteran Andrew when to go for the big ease...we all stood back in amazement as the final straw broke the camel's back and witnessed the re-branding of Johnnie to "Big Ease."

So now we race to and through the Molokai channel, famous for big winds and high seas...oh yeah and we get to race through it at night. Then round the corner to Diamond Head and finish. We estimate between midnight Monday and 4 am Tuesday. This is going to be a very long day/night.

We are excited to once again have the lead in our class, but this thing is a sh*t fight and not yet over. The next 20 hours will be the race. So now off to the races!

Aloha,
Jim

Comments [4]

Easily the best day sailing this trip. We have entered the trade winds and are blasting to Honolulu. We are currently 480 miles from Honolulu and expect to get there late night on Monday...please oh please before last call!

On friends on Tower still lead, but they have a lot of sailing to do on the less favorable gybe. We are on a perfect reach into Honolulu and they have to gybe and sail low to come down from the North. This is our biggest advantage over them. We definitely will gain ground on them but I don't know if it will be enough. They should have had a great day today as the conditions would be perfect for their boat; big waves and following winds of 20 - 25 knots.

The sun is getting ready to set, so the winds and waves are of course, picking up. I'm glad I got a nap, could be another sh*t fight tonight.

Everybody, myself included, is excited to get to Honolulu. JJ and the kids are waiting there and I am excited to once again change diapers instead of spinnakers.

Aloha
Jim

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