Thursday, July 26, 2007

CAPT BLOG

CAPT BLOG 25 JULY 2007

POSITION 21'21N 156'32W

DTW 68NM

oh boy it was a sad morning here on Cirrus. at around 0130 i was on the helm Nancy was in the cock pit, we were talking story having a good old time, great weather, not a cloud in the sky, all kinds of stars, and a bright moon, i felt a little something different in the wind and asked Nancy to go down and get our jackets, that we might get a little rain. by the time i got my first arm in the jacket the wind had come up about ten knots, we were flying!!! Donna could sense impending doom, she put her PFD on and sat with us on deck. i have to admit i was giving her a hard time, you know calling her a worry wort, and an old lady. while i was heckling my mom the wind came up a little more, i broke Caroline's record, i got a 9.8, then the bow started to dig, i had a minor round up, my mom eased the sheets, i got steering back, i thought i had control, we were flying like a bat out of hell!!!! ol' faithful was in all of her glory!! then we rounded down, that's when the rest of the crew flew out of their bunks and geared up. it almost seemed like we might get it back, the main jibed over hard, the kite was in the water, it felt like our stern was so high out of the water that my rudder was useless. it got to be too much for ol' faithful, she gave way, the boat righted itself, an eerie silence feel over the boat, followed by a wave of mourning. our beloved spinnaker was no longer with us.

once we wiped a tear from our eye it was time to sort out the mess that was going on on deck. Bill was already on deck manning the sock lines, Christin got to use her knife and cut some part of the kite away. i am not to clear on what happened from here on out, i was focusing on not jibing the main, and i was laughing too hard at the show going on on deck. i guess the rest of the kite had got all wrapped up in the fence, i think the fence got cut at some put to get the halyard down. ok after the remainders of the chute were packed away and put down below, it was time to get the fence down. Caroline was standing on the lower bar of the bow pulpit, she had her life line around the roller furling head sail. both of her hands hauling down on the fence. oh have i mentioned all she was wearing was a black bra and black underwear, and her PFD. Christin was on the sock halyard they were yelling at each other UP, DOWN.... NO. UP, UP, UP,....NOW DOWN. and then a whole bunch of grunting. Bill had the million candle light, he was yelling, TO THE LEFT, TO THE RIGHT CAN YOU SEE???. this went on for awhile. it sounded like some deranged work out program. it was really hard for the rest of us to not bust out laughing. it was so funny. but it all worked out in the end Caroline beat the fence. she won!!! we all cheered for her.

we put out the jib, still doing about 7 knots i went to bed. i woke up at about 0600, we could see Haleakala and another boat. as it became brighter out we realized it was The Minnow. they blew past us. we went through another squall, Caroline was on the wheel, i'm not shitting you she tied my new speed record with just the jib poled out and the main up. she is unstoppable. after the squall passed the crew pressured me in to putting up the wedding dress, so reluctantly we did. once set we sailed with it for about ten minutes, till Bill and i decided the wind and swell was to much for a 3/4 kite, we took it down. put the jib back up. now we are about to sail along side Molokai for the next few hours. i will blog more latter.
LG OUT

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

wow that must have been a rush!!! i have called every number on my list and i need to send around 30 text updates so please keep your eta updated as soon as possible so i can keep everyone posted...i cant believe your as close as molokai !!! go cirrus !!!

Anonymous said...

CONGRATS CREW WE HAD A GREAT TIME WITH YOU WISH WE COULD BE IN HAWAII TO WELCOME YOU KNOW THAT YOU ALWAYS HAVE A HOME IN LONG BEACH KEVIN JOHN AND AYDEN

Anonymous said...

Aloha,

We have followed your every move. Great job. Look forward to seeing you tonight?? Tomorrow?? Watching for your eta.

Chuck & Dorothy

Anonymous said...

CONGRATULATIONS CIRRUS!!!

I am so proud of you! I don't know where to begin. All I can say for now is that I am just glad to have you guys home safe!
GO CIRRUS!!!

Anonymous said...

Kudo's to you all!! Congratulations! Thanks for sharing your journey across the pacific. It's been exciting to read about from the big island. Wahinie's do rule. Whoo Hoo!
I am inspiried to sail a transpac due to you all.