Thanks to Tiki Blue Crew 2016

Exchange of Yacht Club Burgees Sandgate YC Brisbane Australia and Kaneohe YC

Last 60 miles to go

Last sprint to finish. Encore and Tiki are having a drag race along with a lot of other boats converging. We shredded another kite and down to two. Using a small asym right now. Yesterday I finally got on the leader board for all time fastest speed record for Tiki at 24.06 kts. Tiki is about 25,000 pounds a displacement boat so analogy is a tractor plowing a 7 foot trench at 24.06 kts. No joke we have it on the strip charts and expedition nav program. We are eating all that we can and dumping water to speed the boat up. A squall dumped buckets of rain on us and Larry has no more dry cloths. We are all looking forward to clean everything and a full night sleep.

Will is at the helm assuring us we don't lose another sail. haha or maybe just the opposite so i place orders with him after the race. (He is a sail maker) Understand the storm will hit Hawaii so will be on the watch for the rest of our sailors. Activity above deck have to run Aloha Gary.

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yes getting close

Just had a 221 mile day another record for Tiki and Will now has the fastest recorded speed of 22kts. Can you believe that! Maybe my instruments need to be calibrated. A lot has happened since the last post, busy, tired, sleeping or eating keeps us all very busy. We blew our small shy kite two nights ago however master sail repair expert Will Paxton fixed it within an hour. Now it has been up under strong windy conditions for two days and all is holding together. We did manage to take an ocean wash down on the stern deck sooo badly needed. Cabin of the boat is a mess but when your going this fast nobody cares not even Felix the skipper. We have about 230 miles to the finish and still blowing 25-30+. We may get in on Friday during day light hours and before my mom and Tyler arrive. Kelly will be here so will be glad to see her and sit in a recliner at KYC and share the stories and Mai Tai with big local pineapple. We are fighting for 4th place in division and 9th place overall, a lot can happen so we are staying focused. If we hold on to the current pace this will be a 10 day run fastest ever for this boat and this skipper, stubble beard, brother stubble and Chef Larry.

I just heard one of the storms is going to traverse the course and impact boat that arrive on Sunday Monday. God speed to them, stay safe. Capt'G out.

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What day is it?

We have been sailing Tiki hard and now 700 miles to go. We have had the best day runs, best back to back 200 plus mile runs and fastest boat speeds since doing this race in 2008. With that said we are in 5th place in our fleet. This is one tough fleet and next time i will have to remove all furniture. ha ha. Our position out of all the fleets is 10th place and that is the best we have ever done, so some validation for the effort made by Tiki crew to keep this boat moving at her top speed. So far top speed was 21 knots performed by Mr Stubble Beard (Chris). We did have a pretty good wipe out yesterday just before sunset. Rounded up then rounded down and broke the topping lift, fortunately nothing else broke. Will is a master at getting the boat running again after these small little disasters. We did manage to get a lot of water in the boat. I got the bilge pump going and all is back to normal. More stories to tell at KYC bar and sooo looking forward to it. Looks like a Saturday ETA if all holds true. Still more racing to do. Hope all is well on the land grid. Cheers from Tiki and Crew.

PS. playing a CD that my son Ryan made for me 10 years ago for my birthday. The crew loves and so does Dad!

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Day 5 and 6

Losing count of days however yesterday we reached the halfway mark and this early evening we will have our Tiki Blue gala. Yes we will all take a baby wipe bath. Put on the fresh socks, shorts and T shirts and break out the tooth brushes. We will sprinkle a little rum about the cabin to freshen up the aroma and put on an old monkey butt media CD that i produced for the high sierra regatta in 2001. Reminds me of Gary Albright and the fun we had lake sailing together. We have been eating like kings so now we will dress and smell more like royalty than salty sailors. The sailing has been rigorous, we blew up the large kite at sunset and then put up our shy kite that was a donation from Mark and Ann Thomas. Thanks Mark and Anne! Even Will thinks its a sporty little kite. It took us through 30+ knots of breeze last night, posting more speed records and gaining ground on our fierce competition. Speaking of the competition Will asked how did we get in this Express 37 fleet, he said I should have talked to someone at PCYC who has authority, Larry said you know Gary is the current Commodore, Will replied NO Sh-t and laughter ensued.

We are on track for a Tiki Blue personal record for pacific crossing with a respected and esteemed fleet of boats. We are loving it out here on the greatest playing field west of Mississippi. KYC here we come. Aloha and love to all back home. ohh yeah wild life report one squid on board last night. :)

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Kiwi Aussi

Well Murray, your brother is doing just fine at the helm, swearing and cussing at any wave that doesn't make him look good and when he does get his way, they need strangulating if you get my drift. You can be reassured however that this passage is definitely no Love Boat cruise. Our hands are bleeding from rope burns, bodies bruised and sleep deprived. But we are encouraged by the master to sail faster and further, using our ears for wind strength and direction its all lots of fun and we all miss you on board but the spirit lives on.
Got to reload the fridge with the last 7 days of food and have the half way party, only 4 days to finish!
Chris

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Day 5 and 6

Losing count of days however yesterday we reached the halfway mark and this early evening we will have our Tiki Blue gala. Yes we will all take a baby wipe bath. Put on the fresh socks, shorts and T shirts and break out the tooth brushes. We will sprinkle a little rum about the cabin to freshen up the aroma and put on an old monkey butt media CD that i produced for the high sierra regatta in 2001. Reminds me of Gary Albright and the fun we had lake sailing together. We have been eating like kings so now we will dress and smell more like royalty than salty sailors. The sailing has been rigorous, we blew up the large kite at sunset and then put up our shy kite that was a donation from Mark and Ann Thomas. Thanks Mark and Anne! Even Will thinks its a sporty little kite. It took us through 30+ knots of breeze last night, posting more speed records and gaining ground on our fierce competition. Speaking of the competition Will asked how did we get in this Express 37 fleet, he said I should have talked to someone at PCYC who has authority, Larry said you know Gary is the current Commodore, Will replied NO Sh-t and laughter ensued.

We are on track for a Tiki Blue personal record for pacific crossing with a respected and esteemed fleet of boats. We are loving it out here on the greatest playing field west of Mississippi. KYC here we come. Aloha and love to all back home. ohh yeah wild life report one squid on board last night. :)

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Day 4

Another night of adventure, cloudy, wind 18-31 kt we carried the large kite all night. At around 2am I was driving in stiff breezes and Tiki was cooking along and then I heard a noise and all of a sudden the steering got very difficult. Then I knew something was stuck to the rudder must have been a fishing net or cargo net. I called all hands on deck concerned that the forces of whatever I was dragging was going to damage the rudder. I was indicating to the crew that we needed to drop all sails and head the boat into the wind to stop momentum and see if the net would free itself otherwise we would have to dive the bottom and cut it off in the AM. Just at the moment all ready to take action the rudder cleared and I was relieved. Stubble beard looked at me and thought I was hallucinating the whole ordeal and very disturbed I woke him from off watch. It was NO hallucination and could have really impacted our race. We jibed today before sunset and now headed for the 1200 mile run from above rum line to KYC. The express 37's are pretty fast competitors and look like they will take the trophies. We just want to beat the storm to Kaneohe and continue what looks like a very fast run for Tiki. Not much sun for the last few days. All on board are doing great and looking forward to seeing family friends, Mai Tai, swim, and sharing stories. Seeing flying fish and now in shorts. A few more minor equipment failures that Will Paxton has been fixing as we sail along. His sailing experience is extensive and he is a good mentor for our crew. Right now its 11pm just got off duty and will sleep til 2am and back on the wheel. Cheers from sleepy Captn G

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Day 3

New PR set for Tiki Blue a 213 mile 24 hour run. It was tough driving night last night blindingly dark no reference point felt like we were sailing in space. Today Lindsay had a nice speed record surfing off a wave at 15 kts ,computer said 18. This breaks Murray's record I believe. We are working through minor issues. Batteries are randomly charging so trying to keep an I on this. Water and food supply is great. Will is keeping us focused like herding geriatrics to a bingo game :) We just don't move like we use to. Water is getting blue and days getting warmer. Tiki is in a happy place. We do see more adventure ahead and will keep a sharp eye on storm systems ahead. Cheers Gary/Crew.

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Day 2

Had a good run today about 188 miles. Things are starting to dry out. Asym tack line broke due to chaffing. Will rigged a new lead to tack so spinny should stay on tonight. This is our first night with asym up and running. Tomorrow we will go with the big kite. We had Anna stew last night a day early due to crew demand and had Jodi's Mac, beacon and cheese tonight. Great comfort food. Looks like we may get rained on tonight. The sailing is great however spinner waves sneak up on you and toss the boat around if your not ready. Off dutie need to get some sleep here in paradise. Captn Gary

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First Day

Long day with very challenging conditions. A lot of small issues to deal with but nothing we can't deal with right now. We heard two boats were dismasted last night indicating the type of weather we experienced getting off the coast. Right now we are changing to a new watch schedule system to help get better uniformity. Seasickness did creep up on Larry however he seems to have gotten thru it. Will is fantastic to have on board as replacement and is doing his best with this crew of senior sailing pirates. We did encounter whales in the early part of the day. One was pretty close but did not wag his tale and give us a slap. All a bit sleep deprived and rolling with the ocean. Aloha more later as we get our sea legs.     Capt'n G

Last minute downloads!

Near Alcatraz last minute downloads by new navigator Will Paxton in process. All checked in with PCYC race committee.

Tiki Blue crew at RYC ready for the 2016 adventure!

TEST POST TO FACEBOOK - JULY 8

Test blog post via email to post to facebook…only a test!!

Tiki stuff is loaded in container for return crew and the Warlord