Monday, July 23:
WE FINISHED!! We crossed the finish line at 6:54 AM Hawaii time. Probably only 24 hours later than if we had been able to use all of our sails. We had anticipated as much as two additional days to do it, since we were sailing with just two headsails, but the wind was very helpful. Considering we had precious little room to sail "off" the wind in that configuration, we were extremely fortunate to be able to head nearly straight to the finish line for the three-and-a-half days it took.
Thursday, July 19:
On our 11th day at sea, just a handful of hours after seeing another Pacific Cup race boat, Runaway [future link to story and photos], and about 460 nautical miles from Hawaii, we had trouble with our spinnaker. We had the same problem the night before, wrapping the spinnaker around the forestay, but not as badly as we did this night. This time around, following my failed attempts to free the spinnaker from the forestay, and with too much of the crew preoccupied with spinnaker take-down preparations, the wind caught the boom, throwing it to the other side of the boat, and THE BOOM BROKE at the point where we had a solid preventer in place meant to hold it.
For those who don't already know, the boom is the part of the boat that sticks out at a right angle from the mast, parallel to the deck of the boat. Without it, we were unable to fly our mainsail, so we were no longer able to race competitively. And in the near term, we weren't sure if this meant it would take one additional day to get to Hawaii, or many more days . . . [link to full story coming]
Monday, July 9:
We head out this morning! The last-minute prep has been hectic, but I think I'm gonna make it.
I have updated the tracking options below. There is only one live tracking method, but it's a good one. Delayed by six hours so racers can't login and cheat! The wrong link was supplied before, so if you've tried before today and were confused by what you found, try the new link and I think you'll be pleased. It's funny seeing all the different boats in their docks at this wee hour . . .
Wish us luck!
Wednesday, July 4:
HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!! All the resources for this page are now in place, so scroll on down to check out all the ways you can be a part of my race to Hawaii, including receiving the daily updates from the boat during the race [UPDATE: participatory links removed post-race]. A place for pictures is still under development, but I'm also still cooking all my meals for the next two weeks, doing some last-minute paid work (much needed!), and racing at Tiburon Yacht Club today, so it might be a day or two before I'm able to update again.
Monday, July 2:
Posting this page today. By tomorrow I will have pictures posted from the boat renovation project. The information resources are not in place yet, but those should come in the next 24 hours. For now, the boat name is "Highlander" and our skipper is Bob Horton. With that much information, you can look us up at the Pacific Cup website.
The race began July 9, 2018 and took an average of 16 to 17 days for most of the boats involved. My experience didn't end with the race, however, because I stayed with the boat, which needed repairs before it could begin the 17-day return trip. All told, I was away for 7 weeks and had many tremendous experiences. Keep reading and perusing the sections below to learn more.
