We are in the final stretches of the race. We hooked up with a nice squall last night that picked up to about 28 knots of wind speed. It was all hands on deck to get the weight moved aft and all the crew weight. We gybed and have been aiming from Hawaii. It’s a very close race with Magnitude right now.

Everything becomes a little more difficult when we are trying to figure out where they are with a six hour delay on the tracking. They have been doing a good job to use that delay to their advantage and sneak away from us. The outcome of this race will probably be decided in the next 12 hours depending on wind direction and strength. The boys are working really hard on the handles and the drivers are taking every wave they can. The boat is settled into a nice groove right now and the off watch is trying to get some rest before a bug push tonight. We have ETA of tomorrow morning. Wish us luck on this last push and hopefully the next update will be from land.

By the way, the tracker will go live when we hit 100 miles from the finish. So west coasters, get up early and check it out! And east coasters, enjoy a nice breakfast while we make final gybes down the Molokai Chanel and into Diamond head!

http://live.adventuretracking.com/transpac2011

Thanks,
Doogie

We definitely have a race on our hands. Magnitude found something last night that we did not have. They used some leverage and now we are working hard to figure out what the next phase of the race will be. Everyone is putting in the extra effort to keep the boat going at full pace. Moving the stack, trimming hard, and making sure all our maneuvers are all hands.

The mood on the boat is good but focused on working hard and getting there. We can all start to feel that Hawaii is arriving.

Oh and is it getting hot. The inside of the boat is getting unbearable – especially after moving the stack and getting a full sweat on.

See you all in a coupe of days.

Doogie

Zio enjoying some authentic freeze dried Mac and cheese. The freeze dried pasta meals are especially tough on the Italians!

We are having a very pleasant night of sailing. About 13 knots, clear skies and some nice seas.

We can see a few squalls starting to form which might give us some work at sunrise. The maneuvers have calmed down allowing everyone to catch up on some sleep.

Doogie

Lots of work are the words for the last 24 hours. We are defending against magnitude, trying to anticipate the breeze, and conserve our assets. There were lots of maneuvers and a bit of an issue. Are all solved now but the team worked hard all night trying to stay in phase with the breeze and keeping the boat going fast. The same routine has continued during the day with little rest.

On the food side, matty pulled out a nice half way meal. We had freeze dried rice and beans, fresh avocado and tortillas to make some burritos!

Needless to say that a few hours later the boat did not smell very fresh.

So overall we are happy but nervous about covering magnitude. I’m sure they are working hard on their boat also to try and catch us.

Hap enjoying a nice afternoon on the aft stack.