Getting ready for Oregon Offshore & Swiftsure...

Has been a bit quiet on the Orizaba front, but Orizaba is on the hard at Schooner Creek getting some fiberglass work done (cockpit core wasn't in very good shape), and generally getting ready for Oregon Offshore, and the Swiftsure race.  Should be heading down the river to Astoria this weekend, and then Offshore next week.  Will keep folks posted.  Boat looks great inside with all new floorboards by Dr. John's boat flooring and diesel repair shop.   Will provide some updates/pics/etc. as we progress.

What's up with Orizaba?

Been a year since the last post! Orizaba is relaxing in Astoria this season, and with work/life getting in the way no Offshore/Swiftsure plans this year. :( Has been talk about doing PacCup again in 2010, stay tuned...

It's been awhile since we've added any posts here, time to dust off the keyboard... Upon returning from Hawaii, the boat spent a much deserved summer rest up in the San Juan Islands, and is now back down in Seattle. Looking to do some racing this Spring in Seattle, then hopefully another Oregon Offshore & Swiftsure....

Yup, isn't working, will fix shortly! Staytuned!

Based on request, have posted the PacificCup movie out to an accessible spot on the internet. This is a REALLY big file, ideally if you have a good broadband connection this will stream off the internet into your media player. Run time is 22minutes...

A Solid Swiftsure Run in the Logbook...

Winds continued to build after our last post, making for a record breaking Swiftsure event, with quite a bit of carnage on the race course. We ripped our heavy #1 genoa, the big front sail good up to about 18 knots of breeze. Shown on the left is our much smaller #3, which we'll carry until we get into storm/survival mode. Nice work by Manske and Dr. Hanna had the sail patched back up, and ready to use later in the day. Can't say the same for our favorite 3/4oz spinnaker, which blew into pieces in a 34+ knot gust right before race rocks on the way home. By the time we got it sorted out, and jibed without a spinnaker, the angle was too tight and we carried the #3 through race rocks, and all the way to the finish. Wind stayed strong all the way in, and built through the night for folks still out, and Orizaba finished at 1:10am on Sunday. Fastest run by us by a couple hours, putting us in 2nd place in our class at the turn (corrected) and finishing 4th, just 1/2 hour out of 1st, and less than 15 minutes out of 3rd. Complete results can be found here: http://www.swiftsure.org/files/Swiftsure_2007_Preliminary_Results.pdf Apologies that the race tracker didn't seem to work very well, one of these days they'll get it right.

Stories continued to roll in a the dock, with one boat losing their mast, a man-overboard (MOB) forcing another boat to retire, WyEast from Portland was on their side long enough with a wrapped spinnaker for the coast guard to show up and offer to lend a hand.

After a relaxing Sunday morning (nice not to be sailing) we all met up for a nice dinner at Spinnakers, and then all went our separate ways via slow ferries (http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries), fast ferries (www.clippervacations.com), and even seaplanes (www.kenmoreair.com) back to Portland on Monday. Dr. John and the Davis' took the boat over to Friday Harbor staging Orizaba for a much deserved summer break of cruising the San Juans.

Photo credit Sean Trew.

Good so far...

Hey gang,
Checking in from the Straights, has been a good run so far, with winds consistently above 15-20, with some big ones up in the 20-25+ range. Hanging tight with our competition, hoping the wind holds.
Check us out at: www.swiftsure.org on the race tracker.

Orizaba out!

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3. Hours to Swiftsure start

Great looking wind, 15 reaching 30,out ofthe West. Getting the boat ready to leave at 8am. Race tracker looks cool at www.swiftsure.org.

Sent from my GoodLink synchronized handheld (www.good.com)

A First to Finish for Orizaba

A solid Oregon Offshore performance for Orizaba. Passed Navitae Juvenis ~7pm just before race rocks, they weren't carrying any spinnakers in 20-27 knots, and we were powered up. Turns out it was Time Bandit (J120) behind us, not Riva, and bringing new wind they were close enough to correct out over us, so looks like a 2nd place overall. Riva had a good run as well, but far enough beyond to not correct over us. Finished at 8:55pm, in time for a nice (late) dinner in time, and then to bed. Day of boat clean-up and fixes, should have us ready for Swiftsure in a couple weeks. Some pictures from the run, including one of us coming up into Race Rocks.

Orizaba out.

Entering the straights...

Continued wind up the coast has us about 10 miles out of the entrance to the straights. A great run for us, currently only Navita Juvitea (spelling) ahead of us (but they are rated faster), and the boats behind currently out of sight except for Riva. Hopefully the wind will hold, we can grind down the one ahead, and keep our "handicap" separation on the rest of the fleet. Orizaba out.
Couple pics coming down the straights. Lost the mainsheet at one point, here's Matt trying to re-run it. Almost got it, eventually had to drop the main some and swing the boom back over the boat.

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Out to the start

Headed out to the race course, and the breeze is already up to 15. Looking great out here, and will hopefully hold through the night. Start is at 8:55. Sting is out due to engine trouble, so we picked up Mike P. from them for some extra solid hands and numerous offshore experiences (pictured here). Looking good, more later.

Orizaba

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Ready to run

After a nice winter break, time for some more Orizaba racing. After some time in the yard at Schooner Creek getting some keel and transmission work, splashed last Friday and down the the river on Saturday. Posting this as we drive down to Astoria Wednesday afternoon for some final projects, provisioning, and the skipper's meeting this evening. Looks like slack tide is around 6:30-7:00am tomorrow, so think we'll be starting around 9:00am. Looks like some decent wind, coming from the W to NW at 12-17 knots, making it good conditions for the run of the coast for Orizaba, but looks a little light as we turn the corner into the straights. Looking forward getting back to some racing! More tomorrow.

Safely Home

The Trifecta Perfecta is planning on a full update, but just wanted to let folks following their progress know that they made it safely into Astoria this weekend. More to follow.

Three is company

So, as it happens when left to amuse yourselves for long periods of time, the conversations turn weird and the crew pool grows. For instance we invent new crew members such as Ray, the autohelm, just to have a new personality to add spice to the stew. Ray it turns out isn't the best driver, esp. when under sail. Then there's Gerome, the token gay guy, Biff the jerk, and Martha.... the bitch. These characters all come and go on their own time and seem to lack much in the way of concern for the mission which the three of us are completely invested. What we've got here is a reality show cast in the making.

Now your thinking, "oh crap that's my boat they're bringin' home."

Not to worry, if one of these other people get any funny ideas, Jimmy's gonna go ballistic with his famous can o' whupas, or whupsedaisy, I'm not sure which. Rumor has it that it's second only to the infamous Left Hand of Thor.

Uh, gotta hide Martha's coming after me with a towel and a baby wipe, and Jimmy's blabberin about living in a sustainable bilge.

"Who left the light on in the garage."

Coming Martha!

XOSOSXO

Trifecta Perfecta.

600nm out all's well.
42 01n, 138 19w
Brg 051

'

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The High Life

Hello Land Dwellers,

We are now in the middle of the north pacific high about 799 miles from Astoria. We still have breeze, but only enough to make about 5kts SOG (speed over ground) so we are motorsailing to get across this thing and into the north westerlies that will bring us home. We have all decided that we like the J130 very much.

Position:
40 54N
141 06W

Brg 045
ETA 8/26 afternoon (J and R's anniversary)

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Update

Hey folks,
sorry I guess it's been awhile since our last post.

The highlights thus far include two beefy Dorado's, which have handily been incorporated into curry dishes and soup by our foodie Robin. Yesterday morning we were greeted and followed by one or two pilot whales which we could hear singing through the hull of the boat. At first, not having seen them and not sure what it was coming from it freaked me out a bit, and then when Jimmy showed that he could produce the same sound with by whistling even more. Now I hear it all the time and am never sure if it's whales or our Skipper. An albatross also swooped and glided overhead today, and we found numerous flying fish and a type of jelly fish the takes to the air off of waves and glides on a parachute like apendage, all on our deck.

We had a fast day today switching to the #3 and close reaching at 9-10kts on a TWA of 89 degrees. Now the wind has backed of a little and we are just settling in to our evening routine of shifts. I get the first one w/ no moon, then Robin at 10, and Jimmy at 12... then back to me. DMB help set the mood.

It will be very sweet to smell the land again, and see some green hues for a change. Soon after I'm sure i'll want to be back out here.

Fun Factor 5000 still pegged at 11.

Trifect Perfecta Out

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Rollem' Rollem' Rollem'

Hey blogsters,

were at 26 25N, 153 11W Heading @ 025M for Kermit. SOG is 5.6, TWS 10.2kts, TWD 149M.
We just reset the kite after motoring for a couple of hours...Nice to take the earplugs out. We've traveled 468nm so far, and just finished our 3rd day at 10am. You do the math.

Looking forward to some fresh Mahi Mahi tacos for lunch today. Caught a ~ten pounder last night, small but just right for us, and saw a bigger fish chasing it on the line.

Finally figured out how to go really deep with a sprit rig. Drum roll... Take the main down.

We all decided to bath yesterday and went for a dip in the sea. It was nice, but I just couldn't stay in very long. I think i'll stay on top of the food chain, if you know what I mean.

Keepin' this wagon rollin'

Trifecta Perfecta
Out

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PIN WHEEL 5000

Howdy Ya'll,
Perfect night of sailing. Half moon, 8 knots breeze, NO clouds. Steered by the handle of the little dipper on 015 for my 2-4 watch. Today I woke up to Jimmy in my face smiling as if he'd been trying to get me up for a while. We set the reacher, but decided that we had passed below our 5 knot threshold. MOTORING and counting the gallons, hours and miles to get across the high. Think we've got just enough. Reefed the main to save it from the slatting. Presently we're at 26 15.2652 N, and 56 22.944 W heading still 010ish at 7kts. It's amazing how fast the day goes bye with our shifts. I'm on from 2-4, and 8-10 in the am and pm, followed by Robin and then Jimmy. Joan Jet keeping us all groovin'..."Crimson and Clover". Nothin' like some power chords to get you through the High.

Pray for ahi.

The trifecta perfecta,
Audi 5000 ;)

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Orizaba 2 step

Hey People,

Jimmy Robin and Greg checkin' in from the return trip Hawaii to Astoria Oregon. It's Monday at 6:48 and we're at 25 01.443 N, and 157 11.053 W. Had a 160 mile day yesterday and still hummin' along toward the Kermit Sea Mount bearing 015. All good. Just wondering how long the Fun Meter 5000 can stay pegged at eleven.

out
P.S. Hi Heidi and Skippy

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Orizaba targeted to leave Sunday

Nice dinner and boat detail discussion with Delivery Skipper Jim Roser & First Mate and Wife Robin Hirsch-Roser (most recently off Icon - www.iconsailing.com) with Greg Barkert heading out tomorrow with the goal of setting out on Sunday. Hope to hear blog updates along the way.

Delivery Update

The original delivery crew has all returned home safely. Per John the boatyard in HI has been great to work with, and is finished up the work on the rudder as well as some keel bulb damage. Another delivery skipper and crew have been lined up and are leaving for Honolulu this weekend to go over the boat and set off. If all goes well, hopefully Orizaba will be home for Labor Day.

Approaching Honolulu

Quick update from Doug H. via Doug S. After a couple days at Waikiki (arrived Sunday PM), Orizaba is approaching the boatyard in Honolulu to be hauled out for the rudder to be dropped to address the bearing issue. Replacement parts are in route, and John has been getting good feedback/support from the Jboat folks. The crew is targeted to fly out of Honolulu tomorrow. Post boatyard plans to get the boat delivered back to the mainland are still being worked.

Delivery Update

Appears the attempts to post from the boat haven't been working the last couple days. Just spoke with Doug H. on his cell phone, and requested I do a quick post to let folks know their status. The eMail below was sent Thursday from the boat by Doug H. As of today they are just North of Oahu, heading to Honolulu, expecting to arrive later this afternoon.

Yesterday winds hit 25 knots, today hit the 30's with large seas. Today we've had a double reefed main and partially furled jib. This morning we've encountered lot of water along the port side at the nav station w/the heal of the boat. We have bailed 10 + gallons today in a short amount of time. We've traced the water leak to the rudder post. In these sea waves we have a lot of rudder action, and the water is pouring in close to a gallon an hour. Weather predictions says weather will be worse for the next 2 days. Bilge pumps are not in the wrong locations to be of any help. If the leak continues to get worse we will not be able to sustain bailing. Sorry to say we are headed back to Honolulu.

Mureadritta XL

Us Orizaba folks have been closely following the story unfolding about Mureadritta XL (the boat that finished one spot ahead of us in our division) hitting a whale 500 miles North of Hawaii as the boat was being delivered home, and sinking. The owner of the boat has been keeping us up to date via the Sailing Anarchy website forums, and this is from the front page:
They were rammed by a whale just forward of the starboard chainplate. They saw a pod of whales that came along side and swam down the starboard side. They think there was a mother and calf, the calf swam down the port side. The mother turned and rammed them to either protect the calf or just trying to get back to it. They tried stuffing some sails in the hole and wrapping another sail around the outside but couldn't get the water flow under control. They had time to grab a bunch of MRE's, water, GPS, sat phone and EPIRB for the life raft, and then watch the boat go down.
At one point we thought Orizaba might be one of the closest boats to help, and sent a note to Doug H. and gang to keep their eyes/ears open. As it turns out they were quickly found by the Coast Guard given their safety equipment, given some additional supplies, and then coordinated a pickup by diverting a nearby freighter that later had them transfer to a fishing boat heading to HI. They are safe and sound, soon to be back on shore, and being lauded by the Coast Guard as an example how a well prepared crew/boat can deal with such a catastrophe and be OK. More info/pics here: http://www.latitude38.com/LectronicLat/2006/0706/July31/July28.html#anchor1085433

John having a bit more fun that repairing the spinnaker. Being safe with his harness and tether on, not to mention sunscreen... 

The "cubicle away from home". Up on the laptop is the software we used to view and optimize our route to the downloaded weather files from NOAA (via Saildocs/Sailmail) over the single side-band radio (SSB). Also noticed that in the background on the B&G instrument system (just to the left of the laptop screen) we're trucking along at 12.4 knots...

John makes a valiant effort to try to repair the North spinny. 

Manske & Chris laying down some miles... 

Looking forward looked like this for days... Showing (from front to back) our Doyle spinnaker aka the "green hornet", the staysail, and the main.

One way to wash your hair... 

Evening "Soup watch" with Matt & Eric.

Time to tidy up... Unfortunately at this point both the green spinnys were blown out. 

Some more from the trip. Apologies for the delay, was having issues uploading photos.

Photos

We didn't post any pictures underway because our bandwidth was very limited. We'll do better next time! Most of our pictures are still on the boat computer which we won't have access to until the delivery crew gets it back to the mainland. In the meantime, here's a link to a photo of us just after the start and below is proof that we actually made it to Hawaii

Where are they now

I fixed the "Where's The Boat Now" link on the right and will update that if they keep posting their position.

First Report

We decided to leave early because of hurricane Daniel. It was predicted to hit the Big Island on Wednesday so we thought we'd get out of Dodge. Departed Kauai at 1930 hrs yesterday July 24. Immediately started sailing fast!! 8+ knots with a few 10's thrown in for good measure.

It is currently 1030 HRS and we've sailed over 100 miles with 2148 to go.

The boat handles like a dream and we're having fun.

Doug S, the navigator didn't seem to pay attention. Can you send a step by step sailmail to viewfax. Don't seem to be able to convert the sailmail weather to viewfax. Please help.

Your loving return crew.

1500 7/25 Position: 24 degrees 30.07 min N x 158 degrees 04.56 W

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Heading home...

Quick update for folks following the where-abouts of Orizaba, and the gang bringing it home. After a shorter than planned stop in Hanalie Bay on Kauai due to hurricane Daniel slowly rolling towards the island has them heading out tonight (~11pm) to take advantage of the favorable winds and to avoid any issues later this week. Unfortunately no scuba diving and limited Kauai enjoyment after all (sorry guys), but spirits appeared upbeat tonight as they were seeing Orizaba make 8-9 knots North without breaking a sweat, and the comfort of getting out well ahead of any hurricane imapact (see attached NOAA picture, still off a ways, but good call to leave well in advance). Also glad to hear the weather downloads/routing are working, helping in the decision to head out tonight, as well as some final questions about the electronics/etc. systems on the boat answered today, will look forward to additional blog updates coming directly from the boat. The weather simulations show a run of 13-14 days to Astoria, but that assumes "race mode" with no motor or motor/sailing involved, so might be pretty close.

Posted by Doug S. on behalf of Doug H. and gang.

Pre-Delivery Home Test

Pre-delivery check-in, on the boat going through the communication/weather systems with the folks bringing Orizaba home, want to make sure they can post to the blog and keep folks updated on their progress. Doug Hannam (Tim's college roomate) is heading up a gang of 5 friends/family that will be spending a bit of time in the islands, then heading off for Astoria.

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Aloha!!

Sorry for the late add, but has been an interesting couple days on Orizaba, and the good news is we arrived in Oahu on Sunday at 6:25am. At approximately 5pm on Saturday - BANG! What was that? We looked forward to see our forestay (the wire holding up the mast from the bow/front of the boat) broke near the top of the mast. Luckily it didn’t rip another spinnaker on the way down, and even more importantly it didn’t take the mast/rig down. We kept the spinnaker up to continue pulling forward on the mast, and a quick “all hands” had a couple genoa/jib halyards run forward to support the rig forward. We were able to continue sailing, but took it back a couple notches to make sure we didn’t break the rig. Some good squalls came up Saturday night/Sunday morning that we weren’t able to take advantage of, and in some of the bigger ones we even took the spinnaker down just to be safe. It was a bit of a stressful night, and none of us got a lot of sleep (a bit of the excuse for the late blog here). We could see the planes coming through before we could see the navigation lights of Oahu, but shortly after we were able to successfully orient ourselves with respect to the lights of the marine base on Mokapukuu point – our finish line. It all matched what we had put into our Nobeltec software as the finish line, but some wind shifts at the end required us to do a couple additional jibes to come in at the right angle.

We finished at 6:25am, for a total of approximately 10 days 17 hours and 15 minutes. Given the 8.5’ depth of our keel, we had to go through the main channel into the marina, which took about an hour and ½, but gave us a chance to start cleaning up the boat. The hospitality of the Pacific Cup folks and Kaneohe Yacht Club was quickly apparent, with a power boat escort in from the shipping channel, followed by leis, mai tais, and cold fresh pineapple when we reached the dock. Arriving in the morning worked out well, with the families waiting to greet us on the dock wearing their Orizaba Hawaiian shirts. Swimming in the pool with the kids, and enjoying all the boats coming in to the yacht club we lost track of time and given the lack of sleep it made for a very early evening with a couple of us sleeping right through dinner.

Today we’ll have a work party cleaning up the boat, and figuring out what to do about the forestay and some additional items that need to be dealt with for the delivery gang to bring the boat back the week after next, but largely transitioning into vacation mode. It looks like we’ll end up either 4th or 5th in our division, and 16th or 17th overall depending on how a couple remaining boats wind up. Given some of the difficulties we had we’re all pretty happy with the results. It was an exciting adventure for us with lots of talk from Dr. John and the gang about how we’ll do it differently next time around - but not sure we’ve gotten Sandi’s approval (yet?) to borrow her cruising boat again. J

Everyone is well rested (and thankfully showered) today, sharing stories of what happened on Orizaba as well as on shore while we were gone. Hope folks enjoyed the blog, and appreciate everyone’s nice comments and support. Mahalo!


We’ll probably make a few more posts as we think of things and sort through all of the pictures.

Orizaba

Closer

Losing our two big spinnakers had a bigger impact than we hoped and we lost a place overnight. Our speed was OK, but we had to sail tighter angles meaning a lot of wasted distance. It's going to be real hard to make that up, but we'll try. We will also do everything we can to keep anyone else from passing us. After seeing how much time we lost at roll call this morning, we replaced our heavy-air spinnaker with one usually meant for cruising. It's old and smaller than the others, but it allows us to sail deeper angles and our progress is significantly better today.

Last night we saw a ship, two sailboats off in the distance, and finally some dolphins. It was a beautiful night of sailing, as good as one could imagine. We'll try to enjoy tonight too as it should be our last night our here. If the winds hold we should finish early in the morning.

Everyone is still healthy, happy, and looking forward to the finish and seeing our families soon.

Lat 23 08.728
Long 156 05.776

Aloha!

Orizaba out

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Getting close...

On track for almost a 200 mile day come roll call at 9am, maybe a bit less. Another day of West with little South, but plan to jybe in the morning for our final run into the barn. ~155 miles out of Kanehoe Bay, so not much less, goal is to maintain, if not improve, or 4th place standing in our Division. Losing the larger kites was a bit of an impact today, but not terrible. Everyone is doing great, excited to be done, but with a great sunset and pleasurable sailing all last night we'll miss being out here a bit as well.

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Record day...

Friday started out pretty weak, but ended with a great night run. ~220 miles in 24 hours and a top speed of 19.9 knots. Unfortunately, it came at a cost with us losing our Doyle .75oz kite last night during a 25+ knot squall. We've got the 1.5oz heavy air kite, which was great for last night, but will be tough if the wind dies too much. We are 356 miles out, and in 4th place in our fleet, 12th overall. Less than 5 hours out of first for our class... Everyone is doing great, and looking forward to catching up with our families as soon as possible!

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Thursday morning

Heading into roll call this morning with another 200+ mile day despite some light spots, and even some rain this morning. Surprised to hear yesterday we maintained our 4th in division, and only dropped 1 overall. We're less than 600 miles out, so making good time, but potentially some light stuff ahead. Best wishes to the families packing and traveling, we are all looking forward to seeing you soon in Hawaii!
Orizaba

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Tuesday Update (late) & Wednesday...

Short one today as we are running short on Sailmail minutes! The jybe South after roll call seemed to pay off. Not the best looking single days, but positioning ourselves well for today/tomorrow. Spirits are high on Orizaba, and we're trucking along. Special thanks to Sandi for letting us borrow her "cruising boat"...

Sent above to the wrong address. Whoops. Wednesday AM has us even further South, but great breeze, we'll see...

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Monday Afternoon

We were pretty nervous approaching roll call this morning because we've been in relative light winds for the last day. Thankfully it wasn't just us and we maintained our 3rd in class and moved up in the overall category. We did the one 5 minute jibe (more southbound) last night, but it was too soon and we came back. After roll call we jibed south again and this time are staying pointed south. We can't sail fast directly towards Hawaii due to the wind direction, so how well we time these jibes will determine how we do in this part of the race. We think there is more wind south now, so we've made the gamble. We're sure anxious to find those trade winds that are supposed to be out here.

It's hot today so we're all trying to stay cool. Food is still good and everyone is healthy. We rerouted a cabin speaker out to the cockpit so we can listen to music out there again. We've all been wearing sunscreen (even Dr. John) and harnesses at night or when going forward. The ocean and sky are pretty to look at and that's good because that's really all there is.

The night moon is very bright when there is no cloud cover. Please tell Sam that we haven't yet seen any sharks, nor anything else much of interest. Dad misses him Lucy and Amy and is looking forward to seeing them in Hawaii. Tell Tonka "bark" for me too.

Hi Girl's, the race is going well as you've read. Breeze is back-up so making tracks. Sailing at night is awesome, lot's of stars and bright moon. I can't wait to see you soon! All my love -Brian/Daddy

It's 1:15 PST in the afternoon, I have no idea what time zone we're in but it's boiling out here! All of the previous days have been at least partially cloudy but no so today, thank goodness for sunscreen and long sleeve tee's. All my love to Sue and Sarah. To anyone at work reading this, hope your week's going as good as mine, highly unlikely but one can always hope .....Tim

Things could only get better if I had a cold BEER!! I miss you all!! All my love to u all!!
Kelly thank you for the card!! I love you all.

Hey guys, looks like we are almost half way. Getting hot, guessing it's only going to get hotter. Sailing is fantastic, especially the evening sails with the full moon. Got's to go, dripping too much sweat on the computer....hope all is well....love matt.

John is up driving, sends a best to all the Hanna clan, and looking forward to seeing Sandi in Hawaii...John (transcribed by Doug...)

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Monday morning...

Quick pre-check-in update. Interesting night with some light spots, some decent winds, and early this morning our first jybe of the race which lasted about 5 minutes until we came back. Looking to be about a 200 mile day, so not too bad.

Hello to Kelly & Meg from Dad! Hope you had a fun trip back, and are having a good time at the Lake. Say hello to Grandma, Papa, and Max for me, looking forward to seeing you next week in Hawaii!

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Sunday Afternoon

This morning's check-in had us in 3rd in class now, but making a lot of ground on the leading boat. The 2nd place boat is actually 24 miles behind us but is ahead on corrected time. It's a tough day as we are right on the edge of a high pressure system, trying hard not to cut it too close and sailing into light winds. We are anxiously awaiting our next weather download to help decide what we should do. One option is to head south towards more wind, but that path doesn't get us any closer to Hawaii. Don't be surprised if our next check-in shows us losing some time. The first 5 boats in class are very close so we can't afford to make any mistakes.

We've had plenty of cloud cover today, but it's still warm so the clouds are welcome. Sea life has still been very sparse. We can only add a couple flying fish and one tiny squid who washed up onto deck to our list. We are still eating well and have no boat problems except for the cockpit stereo speakers have quit working.

Orizaba

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Saturday Afternoon

We are still trucking along under the same spinnaker and things are pretty good here on Orizaba. We had a little spell of light wind, but it's now back up to 18-20kts. It was a cloudy and dark, but warm night. The sun has been out all day and it's getting pretty hot on board now.

Our morning roll call showed us in 2nd place in class still, but making big gains on the first boat and with the fleet overall. The boat right behind us might be positioned to take advantage of more breeze later, so we are worried about them but overall pretty satisfied with our position.

We're eating well and having a good time. Thanks to all who made it possible for us to be out here. Love to the families.

Orizaba

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Friday Afternoon

We are continuing along at over 10knots most of the time. The 9:00 roll call had us in second place in class, which we were certainly happy with. One of our competitors is doing a much more northerly course and is so far doing very well. We are betting that they will run into light air, but time will tell. We blew up a spinnaker yesterday just after hoisting it, so are currently nursing our only other one suited to the majority of conditions. Dr. John is trying to sew up the blown one, but it's pretty bad. We have two other spinnakers to use, one for heavy air, and another light air one. We also have cruising spinnaker that we can use as a last resort.

Things on board are good. We're already down to just shorts and t-shirts. We might have to get the foul weather gear out at night, but soon it will be away for good. We seem to have plenty of food, probably too much, so no dieting here. All of the boat systems are working well. Sea life has been very sparse so far, just a couple dolphins and one bird out here in the middle of nowhere.

Orizaba

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Friday morning...

Quick update as we download fresh weather. Good evening of sailing doing 9+ the whole night, along with some "e-ticket rides" with a PacCup Orizaba high score set by Dr. John @ 18 knots. Curious how we did in the standings at 9am roll call, and if our early move South is starting to pay off.

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Roll call and the spinny is up!

First roll call of the race has us ~2nd in mileage, but our South makes us look further back, banking on better breeze down here. First chute up at ~lunch, but then back down with a tear. Another one back up after, hopefully we'll be flying them the rest of the way...

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