Day 13---yeah haaaa land under our feet- Pictures speak a thousand words!

Day 11- Getting there but tired....

Last night was a brutal squall filled night and the crew is getting   tired. On the 4am shift and particularly nasty squall smacked us down so   we dropped the spinny and went to jib. Then got into a 2 hour squall on   Marks watch that would not let up. The crew slept in and I filled in on   some morning shifts so they could sleep. During the day we recover and   regenerate from the night sailing and then do it all over again. This   Pac Cup seams much more taxing and challenging than previous years. We   are hearing the same from other boats on our SSB discussions.    Ryan sleeps in the v-birth with wet spinnakers, the mosh pit is always a   jumble of minutia and the quarter birth is the sanctuary for the Captain   however Tyler is now sharing this since the V-birth is too much for him   to handle. Noisy and the pointy end of the boat is always on the move   up/down side to side.    We have noticed that stubby pole may have an issue on the mast end with   a missing stop ring that holds the pin into the male fitting end of the   pole. We have a temporary fix to make sure it does not come apart. Our   goal is to sail conservatively and not break anything else that would   further delay our finish. It looks like we will finish now on Monday   morning around 8am. We all can't wait to plant our asses in a recliner   at KYC and have a fresh iced down Mai Tai and just chill!    time for dinner.. curry chicken .. Aloha Team Tiki

Sent from my iPhone

Day 12-good 24 hour run and Tiki record for speed

Another typical day--get up after my 4am shift (torrential down pour)
and see Pig Pen trying to open a bag of cheerios, he struggles a bit and
then poof the bag pops open with cheerios flying all of the place. I say
good morning Oscar as he scoops cheerios out of nooks and crannies
attempting to get a complete bowl so he can try and splash milk into the
bowl. He does a good job and gets about 50% of the milk in the bowl. I
think we have a pilot for a new reality TV show, Felix and Oscar at Sea.

Rune has about 400 graphs, charts, tables with all sorts of predictions,
fuel usage and day use left, water usage and averages with and without
showers. Also ETA, other boats average daily performance and rolling
averages as the days continue on. He is quite the brainiack and keeps us
grounded to reality and data. When I start spewing comments like---
maybe if the wind dies and we dive way south and then head north 150
miles from the finish we can capture a podium position. Data master
brings me back to reality along with Pig Pen--the race was won in the
first day.. those boats that got to the synoptic wind first (just past
the Farallone Islands) are all in podium position. Ok smarty pants!

While all this is going on somebody is sailing the boat. Last night Mark
at the helm positioned Tiki on a enormous wave with bow pointed straight
down the pike and hit 19.6 knots a new all time speed record for Tiki
Blue. I was in my quarter birth at the time and was unsure what was
going on other then I knew Tiki was going fast and was praying that she
would stay up right. With Pig Pen's fine helmsmen skills he manage to
keep Tiki upright through and over the next wave. He was screaming his
lung off like a pirate gone mad. Once I realized it was out of sheer
excitement I put down the rosary beads.

Young Jack Sparrow (Alex) is really in tune with the ocean, his eclectic
music and fearlessness on the bow of the boat. When we are getting
spanked by squalls and decide that it is time to drop the spinnaker, who
do we send- Fearless Jack Sparrow. He nimbly goes to the pointy end
while sails, booms and rigging are screaming the sailors tune "bring me
down before I bring you down". Some how every single time he gets the
spiny down without dumping it in the ocean.

Tyler is part of the A team (Pig Pen and Tyler) and seem to be making
all the speed records for Tiki. They have bonded and I see a graduate
degree scholarship coming from the Howe foundation. Ryan has endured the
most difficult sleep conditions of the entire crew, sleeping in the v
birth with wet and dry spinnakers. Sometimes we don't even know if he is
up there. We laugh, that possibly on the next spinnaker hoist we will
see Ryan clinging to the spinnaker in the middle of the night. Ryan's
payoff with the v-birth is he gets his own private head and I can say
after 12 days the main salon head is fully ripe. In 2008 Pac Cup Judy
(the only women on the boat) insisted that all males sit to pea. We did
as told and heads remained relatively clean. I tried this in the
beginning with the crew however Pig Pen led a mutiny and now they all
stand up spraying wondrously at anything that looks like a toilet. So
I've implemented a back up rule to make sure all nozzles are in stream
mode and not spray mode before release. It's still a losing battle.

Ryan just got off the helm with a smile, said just hit 15 knots of boat
speed in 30 knots of wind. That's a PR for him! It's amazing how fast
these young guys learn 12 days and nights of squall sailing.

As we get closer to our destination reflection starts to creep into our
thoughts and discussions. While it has been a very challenging voyage,
the events, interaction and bonding are very hard to duplicate on land.
I know someday when I'm long gone the boys will be telling stories about
the 2012 Pacific Cup race to Hawaii with smiles and a fondness that will
remind them that life is good and to keep sailing on through the squalls
and gentle trades that life brings.

Cheers Capt'n Gary and Team Tiki Blue

Day 11- getting there but tired

Last night was a brutal squall filled night and the crew is getting
tired. On the 4am shift and particularly nasty squall smacked us down so
we dropped the spinny and went to jib. Then got into a 2 hour squall on
Marks watch that would not let up. The crew slept in and I filled in on
some morning shifts so they could sleep. During the day we recover and
regenerate from the night sailing and then do it all over again. This
Pac Cup seams much more taxing and challenging than previous years. We
are hearing the same from other boats on our SSB discussions.

Ryan sleeps in the v-birth with wet spinnakers, the mosh pit is always a
jumble of minutia and the quarter birth is the sanctuary for the Captain
however Tyler is now sharing this since the V-birth is too much for him
to handle. Noisy and the pointy end of the boat is always on the move
up/down side to side.

We have noticed that stubby pole may have an issue on the mast end with
a missing stop ring that holds the pin into the male fitting end of the
pole. We have a temporary fix to make sure it does not come apart. Our
goal is to sail conservatively and not break anything else that would
further delay our finish. It looks like we will finish now on Monday
morning around 8am. We all can't wait to plant our asses in a recliner
at KYC and have a fresh iced down Mai Tai and just chill!

time for dinner.. curry chicken .. Aloha Team Tiki

Day 10- Finally reached nirvana

Last night was our first real beautiful/pleasurable spinnaker sail with
moon light and stars. Makes driving the boat so much easier. And today
was a sunny warm mild sail with the big spinny and stubby. Big spinny
does not like stubby pole, prefers the bigger pole so a bit more
difficult to handle in 25 knots however we are managing as we get closer
to rum line. We spread out on the boat today, Mark took a nap on the bow
just forward of the mast... yes the pointy end.. Also took ocean bathes
on the stern platform and dried out in the sun. We will all take fresh
water showers the day prior to arrival at KYC. I know the significant
others will appreciate this! We are on the aft tank of water and want to
make sure we don't accidentally drain it. So all the faucets in the two
heads have been taped down. They seem to be easily knocked into the on
position so when we turn on the water pumps we have water running in the
bathrooms and right out into the ocean. This can easily lead to dry
water tanks like our 2008 Pac Cup. So extra precautions are necessary.

We saw and passed a boat today on the southern horizon. Not sure who it
was but we were going much faster. We are still over 600 miles away and
think we will arrive KYC Sunday night around midnight PST. We will see.

All is good with the boat. All systems are working and provisions are
more then adequate so this down hill leg of the trip should go by fast
and we are sailing as fast as we can with the Tiki stubby pole. We are
sailing about 95% of our spinny polars so not up to par but a lot better
then NO spinnaker! Dinner time on Tiki with this crew is always fun. We
can get bit whacky out here and what seems funny out here may not
translate to land bound humans. We have all started getting that
hallucinogenic syndrome where you hear people screaming off in the
distance at night or you see outlines of ghosts, monsters or whatever is
in your head. We like to share this at dinner time. Once of the simple
pleasures of ocean racing.

We have nick names for each other as a term of endearment and team
building. We call Mark pig pen. He is always spilling dumping whatever
he is near. Last night he spilled coleslaw dressing all over the floor
and made a slick grease pad at the base of the stairs in the salon. He
washes clothes in the bath room and then hangs them up inside the boat
over someone's bunk so they can drip dry on their place of rest. Of
course those of you who know me understand that I'm on the neat freak
side of the equation so we are like Oscar and Felix. Of course Mark
tells me that neat freaks are born out of a overwhelming sense of
insecurity and that for my own growth and development I should join the
pig pen club and learn from his total disregard for organization and
cleanliness. So I'm learning. ha ha.

We really do have one hell of a laugh everyday and so this journey will
be another memorable one for us all to cherish!

**PS: Kelly - The boys are doing well and everyone is safe and sound.

Aloha for now- Team Tiki Blue

Day 9- Giddy up giddy up Tiki to the Mai Tai Hut

First let me clarify that the halfway party was a jubilant success and
as you can tell the last post was not edited by the Captain. Our
navigator (Mark) let some of his random thoughts get posted. Can be
dangerous for our PG rating we are closely monitoring.

Its 2:30pm on Wednesday and we are on port tack with our big kite up
headed for the islands. The Tiki Stub pole is working great even with
the big 3/4 oz. I understand that a few close friends are making some
sort of connection between the stub pole and Capt'n G. I have to say the
repaired Tiki Stub pole is as sturdy as the day it was born. We have had
some serious knock downs and the stub pole has not let us down. One
knock down (Tyler at the helm) filled the port bathroom full of water
because we had the window open. That's some serious layover for the big
Tiki.

On our current course coming down from the north pacific avoiding ice
bergs, we are hoping to be headed about 10 degrees that should take us
right into Kaneohe Bay. if not then we will take a hitch and get on
course. Kelly, the filet mignon, garlic mashed potatoes and salad really
hit the spot and the after dinner treats really satisfied everyone's
sweet tooth. After the party we continued to sail under our shy kite all
night long. It really seems to get crazy around 4-6 am with squalls,
those dastardly masses of clouds, wind (random 20-35) and rain. Trying
to drive the boat in total darkness when a squall sneaks up on you is a
monstrous challenge and white knuckles on the wheel. We hope as we get
south that we encounter few and have less stressful nights sailing.

As our fleet all re groups for the final run it looks like quite a race
to the finish. Tiki J is really doing well and had a good day yesterday.
Bequia has slipped a bit and we hope our better angle to the finish
helps us move up a spot or two. Like Mark keeps saying Tiki Blue can
smell the islands and we are trucking along!

We can't wait to see family and friends at KYC.. Aloha Team Tiki Blue

Day 8 - SQUALLS!!

Team Tiki has finally entered the squalls zone.  These short 'storms' bring occasional rain showers as well as bursts of wind up to speeds of 35+kts, making boat handling very challenging amid the sea state.  We sailed most of yesterday with the 1.5oz spinnaker and made great progress.  We doused the spinnaker at dusk and sailed with the jib to give the crew a 'breather' from the interactive problem solving on the spinnaker pole and adjusting to driving in squalls, heavy seas, and the joys of not being able to see much in the darkness.  We covered over 190 nautical miles, which was not too bad given the circumstances. 

We popped the spinnaker this morning at day break and continued down the race course.  New speed records are being set almost every hour.  So far, Tyler Troxel holds the record of 16.6 knots!!  Who knew this was a flying tiki?  This speed record, did identify another 'problem' area as we lost the main sheet block where it attaches to the traveler, allowing us to adjust mainsail trim.  Some quick thinking and deck scrambling by Mark resulted in a repair in less than 15 minutes.  The crew is quickly becoming accustomed to driving "fly-tiki" in these very exhilarating conditions.

We are anxiously waiting for the warmer conditions further south on the course.  We hope to be out of our foul weather gear completely and into shorts and t-shirts as we approach the finish line in Kaneohe.

Another major milestone was passing of the HALF WAY POINT in the course! 



ARE WE GOING INSANE OUT HERE?
OK here is a crazy Tikian idea we need some sober shore side folks to chime in on.  Here it goes..  When we are sleeping -- oh I mean trying to sleep -- one's body is constantly flexing to remain in its berth or to prevent ,for example, oneself from arriving on top of one's berth mate un announced - which from the viewpoint of some could raise some questions.

Back to the constant flexing point  --  I noticed when I went cruising for a year,  I got in really good shape -- but being 31 years old helped too!.   I think this was due to the 24 hours flexing -- even when asleep.  So the idea is to build a bed that rotates right and left, forward and backward and emulates the constantly undulating platform we call a sailboat.  It will be an exercise machine.  We could have states that mimmick various races and include sex toy features. 

Any takers?


 

Don't under estimate a Swiss Army Knife and an Eagle Scout

Tiki Blue is back in the race after the catastrophic  breakage of its spinnaker pole late last night or should I say early this morning.  After multiple roundups and downs in heavy breeze and a chaotic sea state., our fore guy ran through the blocks, which let the pole be flogged along with kite during one of the many violent round ups. 1.5 feet at the mast end of the pole was the victim. But the hit to morale was worse!.

Depressed, thinking our race was over, after a record days run, we un furled the jib and ran Expedition models that said we would only arrive a day later than with the kite. We all slept in and ignored our regular watch schedule.

After breakfast the pit crew led by Captain Digger, Dr Probe and Pig Pen  explored what was first thought to be a hopeless fix  As Tiki luck would have it, our carbon hacksaw blade was able to cleanly cut off the damaged section of the carbon tube, which just left us looking for a tool to cut four 1/4" holes.in hard as rock carbon.  After experimenting fruitlessly with corkscrews and such, Ryan Troxel our trusty Eagle Scout pulled a Swiss Army knife out of his bag with a reaming tool. -- and it worked -- yeah!.

So the A Team lives to fight another day - despite our compromised pole length

Day 7- Pole Buster

Last night around 4am on target for a fantastic 200 mile day run we
suffered a major equipment failure. The foreguy broke free and skied the
carbon pole in a gust (24 k) and smashed the pole against the mast
breaking it in two. A big set back for Team Tiki Blue however not
detouring us from continuing on and competing under white sails.
Everyone is safe and sound, plenty of water, food, fuel. Captain and
crew will be re assessing all resource today and provide more data in
the next post. Dr Rune and mathematician Mark has some ideas and we are
running calculations on new routing with our current sail plan.
more to come.. Capt Gary

Day 6 - Covering Some Ground

This morning we arrived at our 0800 position to find, after our first
challenging night with the kite up, that we had covered 183 miles -- a
new record for the TIKI crew. The crew is looking forward to the
legendary free Mai Tai's served at the dock when a boat arrives - with
the exception of 18 year old Tyler Troxel who has been assigned the
dubious job of "designated skipper" during the half way party. Even
our loyal steed "Tiki Blue" senses the barn is near.

Last night we discovered that our bow deck lights were not working and
in an attempt to replace the bulb on the bow in the dark with one hand
busy with the screw driver and the other fumbling with the light cover I
dropped the spare light bulb in the water..ooops. Now what do we do. No
Tr color lights and now no bow deck lights. With no hardware store
nearby we decided to duck tape one of our head lamps on the inside of
the light cover and put it back in place. It lasted all night. Today
Rune swapped bulbs from aft light to bow so now we just need to jury rig
a stern light.

The boys (Ryan,Tyler) are doing very well and really getting a handle on
steering at night with the spinnaker up. So much so that I can sleep
below when I'm not at the helm. On our 4am watch it was raining and
running through squalls that we know will get more intense as we push
west. It is getting warmer and we are sailing with the hatches open and
trade's flowing through the salon during the day. This morning after
some more showers the sun broke through and in a jubulint mood we
cranked up the stereo and listened to the Beetles "Here comes the sun"
and more that Rune has on his Ipod.

Rune developed a spreadsheet that tells us how much fuel we need to
charge batteries at the current rate and at an accelerated rate with the
refer and freezer on. We believe we have plenty of fuel to keep all
systems running. Also we did a physical check on the water tanks and
we seem to be conserving water nicely. This mean a shower for the crew
every 4 days.

No fishing today because we are going to fast. Mark pegged a 12.4 knots
today and hoping to get to the 15 plus in surf mode once we line up
better with the waves.

PS Kelly we found the paper goods. Thanks!


Today during "childrens hour" the afternoon radio call in show a
limerick contest was started in an effort to pass the time. Our entry
below is titled:


"A DAY IN THE LIFE OF THE TIKI BLUE CREW"

Our no wind start was a drain without a gain

Here comes the rain - what a pain!

We like the sun it is way more fun.

Our food is delicious although a bit inauspicious..

We all want to know the right way to go. we are all looking for were the
wind may blow

Some have gone North and some have gone South - the one who wins will
have a big mouth..

And to end the day we listen to likeable Michael whose humorous comments
are like a shot from a rifle

He has earned a rum drink from Tiki Blue the rest of the fleet should
also make do.

Day 5 - GO TIME!!

After days of marginal wind speeds and teaser spurts, the winds filled
in early this morning and the crew launched the spinnaker (for real this
time) at 6:40 am. We are making great headway and hope to break the 175
miles per day mark today. To celebrate, Rune made his first shirt
change of the trip (to the entire crew's delight). In addition, hot
showers were enjoyed by the crew as we had a bit more water on hand that
we needed to waste in order to keep our total boat weight on track. The
increased winds cheered our spirits and we also engaged in a thorough
house cleaning binge to get Tiki sparkly clean.

The crew is enjoying the food prepared by Chef Kelly and Chef Theresa
(Chef Anna is later in the week). We had some excellent lasagna last
night with garlic bread and today we are feasting on BBQ'd chicken for
lunch and Chicken Davine for dinner.

As you can see by yellow brick tracker we are north of the fleet
following navigation directives by Mark (and insight from expedition).
Rune and Mark have lively discussions on formulas, predictions, gribs
etc. that is very re-assuring that we are on the right track. We hit our
top speed of the trip so far with a 10.7 peg on the knot meter (Captain
G at the wheel). I know that will thrill NASCAR fans :). As we get
further into this leg the wind is predicted to build so higher speeds
expected. The first part of our trip we were sailing 85% of our polars
and today with the spiny we are sailing 107% of our polars. Yes that
means we are sailing faster and on a much better leg. This could improve
our arrival time which we will surely keep you posted. We still have to
give our competitors a lot of time so not sure how the standings will
shake out. We are having a great time also enjoy the daily children's
hour chat on the SSB with Mike on Valis. He definitely injects, humor
and aloha spirit daily too keep the FUN cultivated in this race

Kelly we are taking notes of your email messages. Did we really take the
TP paper off to lighten the boat? I thought I removed the one gallon
container of pancake syrup?

Hey sis, got your messages. Tell Mom and Dad I'm glad they are enjoying
the voyage via the Tiki blog. Grand kids are safe and now have beards. LOL

Aloha for now from Team Tiki Blue!

Day 4 - First Fish Caught!!

Last night we experimented flying the shoot at night with very shifty winds and then around 12:30 decided to go back to white sails. Ryan did very well steering with the shoot up since you have to rely on your instruments and for him that’s like gaming with his buddies. We sailed with very moderate breezes today 7-10 knots and super calm and flat waters which is nice. We know we will get more breeze over the weekend and predicted time of arrival for division B is July 31 give or take a day if the predictions hold true.

We caught our first fish today, an albacore which was very tasty both sushi style and BBQ style for lunch. Alex has fined tuned the fishing gear to make sure we catch one fish per day. We only catch what we can eat unlike 2008 Pac Cup where we caught 7 in one day. After lunch we decided we need to try and fix the tri color (navigation lights and the top of the mast) and discussed the possible candidates to be hoist 60 feet up the mast while under sail. Tyler was the perfect choice with lean body mass and light frame however after thinking about this knowing that Kelly’s absolute number one requirement is that both boys arrive safe and unhurt or my life would be forever changed. I had an epiphany… why don’t I go up the mast.

I was quickly hoisted up to the tippy top of the mast. This was the first time I’ve been up the mast under sail and in the middle of the ocean. It was breath taking and really an experience that was quit enjoyable for about the first 30 minutes. I quickly found out that after an hour of trying to solve the problem with equipment being hoisted up and down to me perched at the top and swaying with every swell of the ocean I started to feel queasy. It got to a point where I thought if I puke from way up here it’s unlikely that I will shower the boat and crew with the forward progress of the boat. My effluent should carry well behind the boat. It was quickly decided that I should come down and we will figure something else out which I heartily agreed.

Most of the day has been overcast and seemed a bit cooler. The water is getting bluer with streaks of turquoise. The fleet is moving along pretty well with the fast boats catching us and likewise we are closing in on the fleet ahead of us despite the lost day at the Farallones. Division B is very competitive and we are in the thick of it. Tike Blue has to give everyone time and so we need to figure out how to turn on the Tiki Turbo charger.

When Alex discovered we had bananas on board he strongly pleaded that we needed to rid the boat of the bananas. They are not good luck and so a discussion ensured. Finally the Captain performed an exorcism to ward off the evil dastardly banana spirits and we through the banana’s overboard. Alex is happy now.

Day bags- we have been jumping ahead on day bag provision to find toilet paper and more oranges. I guess the orange craving is all about preventing scurvy. Tonight we had lasagna that Teresa prepared (Mark’s better half), some home brewed Belgium pale beer (that Alex made) and garlic bread. The meal plan thanks to Kelly is hugely appreciated by ALL!

Well its getting dark and we are preparing for our night time sail strategy.

***For those of you who have sent us emails via the blog, we are receiving them.  We will respond via the blog instead of sending reply emails to limit the amount of outgoing email traffic.  Keep the emails coming!

Aloha for now. Gary and crew

Day 3 - Practicing with the Spinnaker

A fantastic day today finally in steady wind and getting this tanked up
beast rolling along! Last night we sailed in 8-10 knots of breeze. While
Ryan and I were sailing Tiki (on our watch 10pm-midnight) we had the
milky-way and bright star light help guide the way. We saw a super
bright meteor streak across the sky and looked like it went into the
ocean. Later on Mark's watch he had a much different perspective with
lightening strikes 5 plus miles behind the boat. Its amazing how fast
the weather can change out here. Also today Tyler celebrated being the
furthest off coast ever since he was very disappointing in 2010 pac cup
where we had to turn back just 200 miles off due to electrical issues.
Having both boys on this trip is really enjoyable and Alex (same age as
Ryan) are a good team. Alex (great young sailor) is very helpful sharing
sailing skills with both Ryan and Tyler and they are learning. Overall
crew interaction is really good and well meshed and very comical at
times. Kind of like frat house humor... nothing I really want to blog
about. Ask Mark about it at KYC bar. Rune's mosh pit that he designed
and built for plush sleeping in the salon is working nicely.

We are slowly digging our way out of the hole we got ourselves into on
the first day. Looks like Wednesday and Thursday starts did not suffer
the wind hole off the coast so will do well in the overall standings. We
already have seen a few of the super fast boats off the horizon. Right
now we are running parallel with Tiki J and can see them north of us.
Its unusual to see so many boats after the first day. I think the
routing programs are keeping the fleets closer together. Last night a
large container ship passed just north of us. We hailed them on VHF
radio to make sure they saw us. We had a nice chat and the wished us
good luck. This afternoon we actually hoisted the spinnaker for an about
and hour and had a nice run however not the angle we need yet to get us
to KYC so back to white sails.

We still have issues with the Tri Color (nav lights at top of mast for
night sailing) so continue to use the deck lights which draw more power.
We are charging batteries twice a day and figure we will probably charge
2 hours in the am and 1 hour in the evening. We have plenty of food,
batteries are taking a charge and water tanks are good so we are pretty
confident this will be a successful Pac Cup crossing. Alex just launched
our fishing gear for albacore this evening. We will keep you posted with
a big fish story!

Aloha Capt'n G and Team Tiki

Fwd: Day 2 - Passing the Farallones!!

What a change of pace bobbing around the Farallones most of the night and a maybe all day today. The incredible thing about being our here with no wind and flat seas is you see and hear all of the ocean life in this sancutary. Its very unnerving to be ghosting along in the wee hours of the night hearing whales breathing and snorting right along side the boat. It reminded Mark Howe of a story about a previous Pacific cup race where in similar conditions a whale come along side and sneezed! Yes spewing green lung matter 20 feet in the air with perfect trajectory to land right on the boat... Can you imagine being sneezed on by a whale. He said it took them 7 days to get rid of the stench and slime. Splitting the north and south Islands also this reminded us of the Low Speed Chase tragedy and we took a moment to pay our respects and ask for guidance and safe passage. We were greeted with 3.5 knots of breeze that allowed us to sail through the islands without incidence.

We did have some electrical issues last night. The tri color mast lights flickered on and off so we used the back-up deck lights (which consume more power). Rune thinks its a bad connection in the power panel as a result of a lot of work being done over the last few months to hook up new equipment. He is going to work on it today. I may have to go up the mast if he can't fix it. Or maybe one of the unsuspecting younger spry youngsters.

We hope everyone is doing the Tiki wind dance at home because we need it badly. Right now we don't see any significant wind in our coordinates and know that it maybe until Thursday before the wind fills in. This could be a long race or should I say ocean passage in these conditions... good news is Aloha spirit is alive and well. The young guys are playing a thumb piano creating music that is well matched to our becalmed ocean playground.

Love and hugs to Kelly, family and friends. Thanks for the e-mail messages.

PS. I know the race standings looks bad for Tiki stuck in the windless death hole zone. We will get our mojo going once we get out of here! We might get a whale to tow us out of here :)

Cheers for now Cap't G and crew

 

Day 1 - Aloha Magic

After many months of preparation the grand Pacific Cup 2012 (Division B)
was off to a grand start. The fleet was off to a breezy start (with
only one minor non-serious boat collision incident that we heard of).
The fleet worked their way through the Golden Gate and then split off
into a northerly bunch and a southerly bunch. Winds quickly calmed down
and the bulk of the day was spent slowly tacking back and forth in light
winds (3-7kts). As the sun set we crossed tacks with Tiki J and sailed
side by side framed in a beautiful back drop that only the ocean can
provide. Tea leaves and flower lei still intact on the bow of Tiki Blue
keeps the aloha spirit alive and well. We know that we have challenging
light air days ahead and hope to keep the boat moving until the wind
fills in on Thursday. The good thing about current conditions is nobody
is sick, wet and cold. In fact some of us had shorts and T shirts on.
The boats on the Thursday start will most likely have a great shot at
catching the other fleets if forecast stays intact. Its getting dark and
now the chill is in the air. A pod of whales swam up to us at sunset,
guiding us toward the open ocean and more wind. Time for some rest
while I'm off duty. Tyler and Alex sailing the boat. Cheers for now. Gary

The Beauty of Madness - Day One

Madness is a funny word to describe a sailboat race. But this is more
than that. We have been surrounded by whales, exhaling all night in
absolutely no wind - And mean NO wind -- just five miles from the
infamous Farallones Islands after 20 hours at sea.

We ordinarily come out here in horrendous, survival conditions to round
the this island as our weather mark and come home to the safety of the
little bay we call home.

But today it is a peaceful as a bathtub. I like the ordinary conditions
better. And therin lies the madness. Some call in Anarchy. We call it
sailing.

TWS 3 Knots
TWD 154
BS 2 Knots

Tiki Blue B division start 1:30 pm Tuesday July 17th 2012

This tracking device should keep tabs on Tiki Blue as we make our way across the pacific. We have the boat loaded and tomorrow the frozen food goes on and we shove off! We are headed into some light wind conditions and a number of family and friends are doing the Tiki wind dance to over come the southerly effects of tropical storm Fabio. We hope to sneak through the light wind and get to the northerly pressure that will take us to the Islands. Saw Dennis roll in to RYC on Bequia, getting staged for the start tomorrow. We are both planning to shove off around 11:30am. He is the wise mentor for Pac Cuppers and I'm very pleased to be sailing in division B with him again!

RYC Bon Voyage Party for RYC Pac Cuppers --Aloha

Captain and crew enjoying RYC festivities

Unveiling of new RYC club trophy for Pacific Cup fastest corrected time. Prediction-Team RYC Condor, Sapphire, Moonshine will win Pac Cup team trophy!

We will sleep in comfort on Tiki Blue-Thanks Rune

Nice design and construction by Rune

The young guys approve with 4 inches of foam

Looks good too!

Yep this will work

Re: Hurricane Season is Upon Us

It certainly looks active out there.  We will be fine.  The last Hurrican to hit Hawaii was Kauii 20 years ago or so.  They peter out by the time they get up to 20 degrees north.

 

Mark Howe

MSH Group

201 W. Richmond Ave., Ste. C  |  Point Richmond CA 94801

(510) 215-5134 (Office)  | (510) 932-4435 (Cell)

(510) 215-5163 (Fax)

www.mshproperties.com

 

 

From: Rune Storesund <rune@storesundconsulting.com>
To: gtroxel.paccup2012@blogger.com
Cc: Gary Troxel <gtroxel@tikiblue.net>; Mark Howe <howefam2@pacbell.net>
Sent: Monday, July 9, 2012 1:55 PM
Subject: Hurricane Season is Upon Us

Hurricane Season is Upon Us

Ryan clean main salon

Ryan clean all sub-floor storage areas. We can eat off the sub-floor

Ryan helping install new MOM8 emergency equipment

Tiki likes a good wash down 

Secondary chain for spare anchor

Tyler helping with varnish