Kinetic report 7-16, post finish

Kinetic report 7-16, post-finish

Challenge – Adventure – Teamwork!  We had it all.

The weather was great, and challenging – a Vic-Maui for the ages.  Compared to earlier races, we had more wind, and more consistent wind.   Moderate to strong winds prevailed near the rhumbline and were sufficient for displacement boats like Kinetic to sail at or near hull-speed, while near-gale force winds were in a band between the rhumbline and the West Coast.  We started near Victoria, beating out of the Juan de Fuca and reaching/running around the North Pacific High making good distances of over two hundred miles per day for eight consecutive days.  We gybed for Hawaii, still in great breeze, sailing hard to protect our lead, and spent the last two days clawing our way through weak trade winds and variable conditions to finish the race in Maui.  We took just twelve days to complete the race, which compares very favourably with the sixteen days that we took in each of our previous Vic-Maui’s. 

The adventure lay in sailing across a vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean, seeing one landmass sink into the horizon behind us, and hoping to make landfall at another where the world’s highest volcanoes rise from the ocean floor.  We set sail as sailors have for time immemorial, without assurance of safe passage.  The scale of the ocean dwarfs both boat and crew, who must be self-reliant for the entire passage.  There is raw nature; wave skimming albatross and spinning dolphins, frigate birds soaring and whales blowing, bright sunrises and burning sunsets, dark squally nights and blazingly sunny days, and starscapes that defy description.  There are memories to last a lifetime. 

Our crew of five adults and four teens bonded well into a team.  We had two watches of four people on each, plus the skipper/navigator floating across the two watches.  The Port watch was Greg, Bill, Gord and Jeff; the Starboard watch was Peter, Adam, Sebastian and Graeme; the skipper/navigator was David.  Watches were four hours on, four off at night, and six hours on, six off during the day.  Beyond the twenty four hour per day routine of helming the boat and trimming the sails, there was a host of work to do including many sail changes, bagging sails, banding spinnakers, chafe prevention, maintenance, cooking, dishes, cleaning, log entries, navigation, communications, and so on.  With two adults and two teens on each watch, it was critical that the teens pull their own weight, contributing fully, and they did.  Teamwork, including support from Gaylean onshore, got us through the pre-race preparations and to the start line, and teamwork got us through the race to the finish line. 

All the boats have finished now, and unofficially, we believe that Kinetic has won both her class and the race overall.  Results will become official in time for the awards banquet on July 24^th. 

Finally, thank you to everyone who supported Kinetic and the 2010 Vic-Maui Race. 

Kinetic

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