Aquavit: Pac Cup 2016

It�'s a long way from SF to Hawaii! Many, many cycles of our 3 hour shifts and 6 hour breaks. It becomes routine. The one thing sure to change over the time is the sailing. We had the cold fast sailing at the beginning. Some lighter winds after that. As we turned downwind we had a go at the spinnaker, but it turned out to be too big for the stronger winds and larger surf. There also seemed to be more gusts that we were accustomed to and together with the surf was too much power to handle. So we settled on a broad reach - down wind, but just off to one side about 30 degrees. If we sailed any more down wind than that, our jib would luff and snap, which isn�'t good. So, on we went. We headed south to stay in some stronger breeze. But then we felt we were getting too far south so we jibed and headed back to the west. This was a disappointing point of sail because we had planned for the spinnaker. on the other hand with 25-28 Knots of breeze we were routinely doing 9.5 - 10.5 Knots boat speed. Which is good for our boat.

As we entered the last third of the race we started to get desperate. The wind was blowing directly at Hawaii from our position, yet we were forced to jibe back and forth. First 30 degrees to the left, then 30 degrees to the right. Hurricane Darby was on the war path to Hawaii and we wanted to beat it there rather than slow down and let it pass. We decided, rather than sailing the broad reaches we had been on to head straight down wind; wing-on-wing. This has the main sail on the normal leeward side of the boat and the jib pushed out to the windward side using a pole. We have something called a whisker pole that is used to hold out a spinnaker on the leeward side, but it�'s not intended for poling out on the windward side. We threw caution to the wind. We were in a hurry. We set it up and, although a bit apprehensive, found it worked perfectly. We were going just as fast, but now were headed on a direct path to Hawaii. Very satisfying. We sailed like this for hours. The sun went down, I turned in for my 6 hrs of rest. When I awoke our whisker pole had a big dent in it and it we were back on the broad reach. Dang! No big deal though. We had positioned our self about 30 degrees below the direction of the wind blowing towards Hawaii. We soon jibed to that direction and were, and still now, are headed straight to Hawaii.

The sailing has been great. Cruising along at 9 or 10 knots seems really fast. We can hardly hear each other over the sound of rushing water. Giant swells grow behind us. They are quite intimidating. They seem huge; like they are going to completely eat up the boat. But, as they approach, the boat smoothly rises and the swell passes underneath. Another very strange and scary sensation with this is the view you get while peering over the bow of the boat from the cockpit. The boat is perched on top of a precipice with a canyon right in front of it. I get that feeling one gets when at the very top of a roller coaster. You can�'t see the bottom, you just know it�'s way down there and that�'s where you are going. The only difference, with our boat that is, is the boat doesn�'t go down, it actually backs down the back of the swell as the swell passes underneath. Soon, instead of a canyon, all there is to see is the bow sticking way up in the sky. This happened over and over and over again.

But�..... the swell doesn�'t ALWAYS pass underneath. Every once in a while, again with out boat, some combination of swell that I don�'t understand all act in unison to push the boat forward at just the right time and right force to accelerate it down the wave, or a series of waves. The boat gains tremendous speed. Water from the bow is rising several feet above the deck on either side creating a tunnel or what I think of as a gauntlet. It�'s like those log rides at the water parks. Whoosh. Whoever is driving immediately is aware of the speed, and although they should be looking where they are going, they take the time to glance down at the boat speed. I his 16.4 knots. Michael hit 16.9. Then yesterday, I hit 17.9! It�'s so fast; so noisy. Everyone is having on for dear life since we really have not become accustomed to this. In the end though the boat continues straight down and glides to it�'s normal sailing speed. What a rush. This is what may of the entries in the Pacific Cup are out after. The sail �'sleds�'. Boats that plane and can routinely surf down the waves.

Our current estimate for arrival at Kaneohe is early Saturday evening, ahead of Darby. Tonight will be crucial, but if the usually winds of mid 20kts, gusts over 30 hold, we will make it without trouble.

Aloha, Bill