Pacific Cup Day 7 – Halfway Means Halftime

It’s been a rough 24 hours. There’s more wind than we want, bigger seas than we want, and a few items at home that we wished we brought (notably, our little whisker pole for poling out headsails.

We tried valiantly to keep the A4 going, and we could for a while, but it was one of the most stressful situations you can imagine – make a mistake, and you are at the farthest possible point from the race start and the race finish, to deal with your mistake. Add lack of sleep and muscle fatigue – it’s a recipe for disaster. We took it down and rode out the night on the main alone. By morning, I was hallucinating and kept thinking that Justin was calling out to me while I was on watch – I’m sure him getting woken up periodically by me asking him, “what?” got old.

So, we’ve reevaluated. We have our #4 up with a reefed main, and we’re driving the boat sitting on the floor of the cockpit. It’s comfortable, supports your back, and only douses you every 15 minutes or so instead of every 5. So, our spirits are up a bit. Our GPS now says we have less than 900 miles to go, and watching it count down is pretty nice.

I just wish everything weren’t wet. We’ve done 15-something sail changes, have soaked out foulies, and haven’t taken off boots in days. My fingers ache and have open wounds from the salt water. We’re handling the muscle soreness with plenty of ibuprofen.

I heard a hailing on the VHF this morning and spoke with crew on Nicole – a Monday starter in the cruising class. They are having some issues with their SSB, their rudder, and because of the rudder, some water inside the boat, but they are managing it all and are continuing to Hawaii. I sent Pac Cup a text with our sat phone, so am hoping they received it. The position of Nicole at 1040am was 30 01 N 142 18 W.

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