Saturday, July 21, 2012

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!

4 comments:

Kelly said...

Great job team! The tracking is a bit delayed, and I was starting to think you were going to visit Santa Claus! Good to see you are making a slight move south. The excitement here is all about the match between you and Tiki J. You guys are always within a few miles of each other, and go back and forth on boat speed, so it's the Tiki Trophy contention that has us entertained right now!

I distinctly remember you telling me there was no way you needed that much TP (made me take it off as it's still in the bags in the living room!) and they could use paper towels if you run out! Ouch! :-)

Keep up the good work and go get 'em! Love to all, Kelly

Sis said...

It's been fun to watch your progress, and the battle between the Tikis :>) Come on Tiki B, any more bananas to throw over board?? If you throw any more food over then you won't need the toilet paper ;>) The weather here has turned hot, 100 degrees and being on a sail boat right now sounds heavenly. So enjoy!! Well Mitch is on a boat this evening, celebrating his 3rd anniversary with his girl friend on the horn blower. Nic latest adventure was fighting a 1000 acre fire right across from his fire station, after returning from his efforts in Utah and Nevada. They both send their well wishes and love!! Keep sailing on!!! Love Sis

Squirrely Walls said...

Ron told me the other day you were on your Pacific adventure, again. So I just had to find your blog and have been enjoying your commentary....lively as usual. We miss seeing you up at the lake, but I'd much rather be on your adventure. Sail fast Tiki Blue!
Shirl

Cam said...

Get that beast moving boys!! You can't let the other Tiki beat you in.
Thought about you guys up at Huntington and the old times. Wish you could have been there but I know you're having a blast. You'll be glad to know, Trinity kicked butt as smallest boat B-Division. J22's did it again.