Well after 2068 miles of sailing and a bunch of squalls, we finished in 12 days, 20 hours and 22 seconds. We were very fortunate to take first in our class by 16 minutes and also get the first Cal 40 award. It was a long hard fought battle with Viva, where we were changing places daily. We definitely pushed harder than any other Hawaii race in very challenging conditions.
We were very fortunate to not break anything on the boat. This was not the case for others, who lost multiple sails, and did substantial damage to various parts of their boats. The most common damage is to the rudder. It is very common to hook fishing nets, or hit debris, or hard objects like turtles. We hit something that left a mark in our bottom, but missed the rudder. Two boats hit sharks, which did major damaged and caused both boats to retire.
Azure is now packed up and on a ship on her way to San Diego. I will be flying down in a couple of weeks to driver her up to Richmond and put her back together again. Most boats sail back to the west coast. The trip back can take up to three weeks and requires a different strategy to navigate the Pacific High.
Special thanks to a great crew! You can see all our instragram posts at azure_cal40

We did 185 miles last night and are now 152 miles from the finish. The evenings have been very challenging due to the squalls. You need bigger spinnakers between them and smaller when they hit. So it is difficult to sleep with so many sail changes. Here is a picture of a squall with a water spout in the center. Good thing we missed the middle.
After 12 days and nights on the boat we are staring to run out of everything. The frig, once stacked with meals and food, is almost empty – although we still have plenty of ice.
We will do all of check in’s today. 100mi, 25mi and 5mi. We should arrive in the wee hours of the morning. ETA is 6am PST and 3am local.
Sail Fast!

We did 363 miles over the last 48 hours and are 348 miles from Kaneohe. There have been several boats that have had rudder issues due to hitting something or snagging a fishing net. Here is one land mine that floated by during daylight. Who knows how many have we have narrowly missed at night.
The squalls have been crazy out here. Definitely the worst I have seen in my seven crossings. We usually get two waves of them each day, from 2am to 6am and from 9am to 11am. It is so strange how many there are. The wind will pick up to 35 knots and pound you. Last night Thad and I got hit with a huge gust. It took two of us on the tiller to straighten out the boat. We were hitting speeds of over 15 knots which is quite sporty for a Cal 40. I am amazed we did not blow out our spinnaker. Today we are taking a proactive approach of changing spinnakers way in advance.
We are on a four hour watch schedule where you drive for two hours, crew for two hours, then sleep for four. One thing with sleeping so little is the crazy dreams you get. We change spinnakers a lot, so everyone is up for the takedown and hoist.
Tonight's delight is Turkey Chili

We have been battling squalls all morning. So much so that I have not recorded a position report. As captain Ron Says, They come on you fast and leave you fast! Lots of repairs to our spinnakers. Spinnaker up, spinnakers down...run around.....repeat.

We did 190 miles over the last 24 hours and are now 697 miles from Kaneohe. We had a great halfway party yesterday, and King Neptune was pleased with the sacrifices made. We just gibed and are now on our final approach to Kaneohe. We had some gnarly squalls last night and all of us saw boat speeds over 15 knots.
We have heard of several boats in our race that have hit things in the water. Some have snagged fishing nets. Depending on when this happens, it can be very challenging to get the net off. Most head up into the wind, and try to sail backwards to clear the net. The last resort is to send someone over the side. This morning we heard two thumps on the hull as we hit something. Not sure what it was and I did not see anything surface behind us.
We are in a very close race with two other Cal 40's, Viva and Green Buffalo. Anything can happen over the next few days that will change the outcome?
Last night Ted prepared short ribs for dinner, wow they were good and messy.

What do these three things have in common? It must be time for a halfway party! We did 197 miles over 24 hours and are now 867 miles from Kaneohe. We are getting close, so starting to estimate our arrival time. If the wind holds we should arrive on the 27th in the evening.
We have special ceremony that happens at the halfway party for first timers. Since we now have our Elon disc and instagram you may see some action. Other than Champaign, Ted has some nice short ribs for an appetizer.
Sail Faster!