Aloha!

We are back on shore having place 2nd in Double-Handed Division I!  

The race began in light conditions once we were outside the Golden Gate.  It took nearly half a day to reach the Farrallones Islands. 

The wind picked up after that with a windy close reach for a day or so, Then it became calm again so we headed south to get back into the wind. This maneuver allowed us to move ahead of Rubicon III. 

We then entered the trade winds, they were the strongest I have experienced of the three races I have been in--especially the squalls which came one after another at night with high wind gusts up to 35 knots.  Two especially nasty squalls rolled the boat on its beam ends, once when Tony was at the helm and once when I was steering.  In both cases we had to let the spinnaker run free to right the boat, The roll down when I was at the helm caused enough water to wash over me that my automatic life jacket inflated.

Our aggressive sailing eventually lengthens our lead to 74 miles over Rubicon III.  We finished the race at 10:44 HST.  We now begin the party phase.

The crew, though exhausted is in good spirits but not ready to take on this adventure on anytime soon.  We attended the parties at the club.  Plus Sixteen served us well; due to the high winds we blew out two spinnakers of the 5 on board.

Mahalo for your thoughts and good wishes.

For pictures and more information see:  
http://pacificcup.org/08/arrivals/pc08-arrival.php?yacht_id=42