Tuesday 3rd July 2012
Into yet another glorious day of fabulous sailing in the NE Trades - and still no squalls in sight!! I could get used to this! So unlike the sailing I've got used to in the Southern Ocean...
Midday
Just got back down below after an hour on deck in bright sunshine - hot, sticky & salty.... Finally decided it was relatively calm enough to lower pole and stow it - always a bit of a struggle in the swell with no-one else to stand either in the bow or at the mast - so some to-ing and fro-ing needed... (and always with a few curses!) Had already unfurled remaining genoa and trimmed all sails .... all prompted by seeing speed down to (only!) around 6 kt .... so action was needed to get it up again. Wind is definitely down a bit now, though - 14-17 kt, rather than the 18-20kt we've been seeing over the last few days.
Have persuaded PC to behave for time being - think I might have conquered its quirks & know what to do when it turns sulky! So back to emails/weatherfaxes - although for quite a time yesterday, Honolulu was NOT transmitting - as confirmed when chatting to 'Charisma' later in the day.
The SHTP racers are finishing their Day 3 now. They started around noon on Saturday and are headed to Kauai. Looks as though conditions are set for a fast race with the High in a good position for their sail down from San Francisco - unlike when I did it in '06 when we went N to Pt Reyes looking for wind - and got becalmed...!! (The High was playing all sorts of tricks that year...)
Last time I headed up to Hawaii (from New Zealand in 2010), I managed to meet up with them all in Hanalei Bay on their Awards Night - Friday 9th July - last official day of the race ... and party night! It was good to see them all again! This year, my timing has worked out similar, but the 3-week Race will unfortunately be finishing too late for me to wait around for it - I need to get N to prepare for October... (My original plan, before weather and repairs got in the way from Cape Town on, was to be in SF for the start of the race...! "The best laid plans o' mice and men..." ?!)
DMG at 2pm LT was 161 n.ml.! Distance to Kona: 400ml; Honolulu: 533ml
Lovely moon again tonight... Just let out more genoa to keep up speed- wind still down a bit...