Day 1 (Tuesday July 6)

Tiki Blue was cheered off the docks by friends and family this morning as she headed to the start line at the St. Francis Yacht Club (thanks to everyone who showed up for the sendoff party). After passing Alcatraz, Tiki Blue was greeted by the San Francisco Fire Department's fireboat at the start line *(a great surprise to everyone)....a true Pac Cup sendoff! Thanks Gary Massetani and SF Fire Dept.

Winds were blowing about 17kts at the start, but gradually decreased once outside the Golden Gate. Wind speeds around 6kts for most of the afternoon into the evening (which gave us the opportunity to watch the wales swimming around the boat). We launched the spinnaker at around 6:30 pm, with a heading of 240 degrees (north of the Farallones and Fanny Shoal).

We settled into our watch schedule (2 on and 4 off) in the early evening. We dined on some fabulous pizza as the sun set into the marine layer (well, we didn't actually see the sun go down, it was pretty overcast). We look forward to a fun night of playing the spinnaker in these light air conditions.

Its now 10:30pm and sailing about 6 knots. Tyler ia at them helm and doing well. We sailed through school of fish which lights the ocean with phospherescents and looks like underwater fire works. Looks like Pandora my (Cap'n G) favorite planet. Off to sleep for a while until my one am duty..