Crew Blog

The wind seekers

13 March 2008

Some of sailing’s best and worst moments are closely tied with the amount of wind whistling through your sails.

If there is quite a bit of wind and you have the right sail plan and correct trim, you will be cruising along nicely balanced and enjoying the odd breaker over the bow, giving all present a bit of a good-natured soaking. However, a bit too much and the boat can quickly become overpowered and the sea state jump to the equivalent of riding a bucking bronco.

Now the opposite of course is light or no wind. As many a sailor can attest, sitting in a becalmed sea, when you desperately want to be moving towards your goal, can be one of the most frustrating aspects to the sport.

Right now we would settle for something in between. We have endured some dramatic wind shifts over the last few days; as much as 60 degrees within a few minutes. As well, the force of the wind has been very inconsistent. This irregular pattern of weather has us scratching our heads as to what our best course will be.

At the moment we are close hauled and making way towards the eastern edge of the Hawaiian Island chain, some 115 miles from our present location. We are trying to avoid a large high pressure area south of us that has little or no wind in it. If all is successful we should be set up for the final 1000 miles to the finish.

Each watch is trimming hard to get the most out of the boat so we can catch up with the rest of the fleet and Rob continues to keep us motivated to do our best, and continue to look for wind in all the right places. We hope this strategy will help us wiggle back up the standings, and get us to Oahu in plenty of time to enjoy multiple burgers in paradise.

See you on the water.

Dave and Terry