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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