While a lot of people put time, money and effort into preparing for and supporting this crazy journey, I wanted to call out and thank Katy, my lovely bride. Katy has had to put up with crazy Matt for months now - actually years as I originally came up with the idea two New Years ago. Not to mention her endless support when tough decisions needed to be made about pouring ever more money into the boat. But most of all, for being by my side through the whole thing and her endless support of my dream. Thank you my love, couldn't have done this without you!

In case you aren't bored yet, there are some great photos of our finish on the transpac website under the images section - there is an Alicante page.

For the most part, Alicante performed great. But we did experience some hurdles. These are the things I wouldn't write in the blog while still at sea.

The first thing to happen early in the journey were a set of new creaks around the engine compartment and stairs leading into the boat. Don't know if these were the results of stress from the new rigging or four big dudes hiking up and down the stairs continuously. While these had Rob nervous most of the race, they really didn't develop into anything. Thank god!

A day or so into the trip, we realized we had water in the bilge. Since the water was brown, no one was willing to taste it to see if it was fresh or salt water. When the water tank appeared to be empty (half way into the trip), I finally tasted it and determined it was salt water. We inspected and found some weeping around the rudder (most common failure point for this race). Haven't been able to locate any other source. Basically, we ended up taking on 2-4 gallons of water a day. I am thankful the bilge pumps worked well.

We had a scare on day three when the head appeared to be clogged. Thankfully, the valve had been closed without us knowing it. That was an easy fix and better than using a bucket.

Because we sucked at jibbing the boat, every time we changed course, we broke part of the rigging. With our first accidental jibe, we broke a small piece of hardware on the vang - we had a replacement part for that. The next one destroyed the outhaul for the mainsail on the boom. We had to jury rig a new outhaul using the reefing lines. The next one ripped the vang attachment off the mast. We had to jury rig a connection to the mast collar with some dyneema line and one of noodles paul attached to his makeshift life vest for extra buoyancy. And the last uncontrolled jib while crossing the molokai channel destroyed one set of blocks on the traveler. Thank god we didn't have another jibe, I don't think Alicante had it in her.

Lastly, on our approach we noticed a number of rips and tears in our new spinnaker. No surprise since the sail was up from day two and never came down until the finish. Thanks North Sails for making such a sturdy kite.

In return, we only had a few bumps and bruises.

The picture shows the missing vang attachment on the mast and the jury rigged attachment to the mast collar.

The side effects of too many mai tai's. Check out the arrival gallery for more picts of our aloha party and arrival.

Our hosts did such a fantastic job preparing for our arrival. We had a great spread of delicious food and drinks waiting in the transpac tent. Alicante is still wearing her lei proud. Thanks to Gail, Clay, Lori, and Carol for the warm welcome.

After taking care of us for two weeks, I thought Alicante deserved a hug to thank her for keep us safe and sound.