No report

This morning we've put the kite up which is quite unusual at this time of the race from what I hear.  Right now it's a pretty high reach in 20 knots of wind average.  We're slowly rounding the High, trying to be conservative by not cutting the corner too tight and then find ourselves in light winds.  We sailed the first 24 hours in sight of another boat, mostly within 2 miles from each other, but right now they put some west in their heading.

A big part of the race is happening right now: sail too far south and you sail too much distance, turn west early and get stucked in a light air zone.  Based on the 9 am roll call the rest of our fleet is further west from us, which we think must be pretty light.  A very experienced boat '2 guys on the edge' is further south east from us.  We kind of like our position in between.  Time will tell who did the right thing.

We've had few technical problems which we've been able to fix, some are temporary fixes like the GPS antenna but most likely it will last until Hawaii.  The antenna is currently in a zip lock bag, upside down, taped on the rail.  It's working best this way, better than on the mount.  We have absolutely no idea why.

We had a batten go through the mainsail 15 minutes before our start.  We took the sail down and sewed the batten pocket.  We hoisted the sail back up and started on time.  Good crew work.

We had some problems with the instruments because of water which found its way to the connections but it's been fixed.
The biggest problem, which we won't be able to fix, is that we blew a spinnaker few hours ago.  Lesson learned that a .6 oz spinnaker doesn't do well reaching in 20 knots.  We will miss this spinnaker later in the race but we'll just have to do without it.  Down to 4 spinnakers.

I'm doing very well.  Trying to sleep while off watch.  It's hard to tell if I'm sleeping, guessing resting is a better word.  Always very conscious how the boat is doing: heel angle, water flowing against the hull (after all your ear is really close to the water), listening to conversations about the conditions evolving...

I feel very lucky to be here, not quite realizing that one of my dreams is happening.  The ocean is beautiful.  It is like a fire, you could watch it for ever, it's never the same.  We had the moon until 2 am last night.  It sure helps to read the waves and position the boat accordingly.  Going to climb back in my bunk for half hour to get some rest before I get called on watch.

We had another beautiful day under spinnaker in 20 knots of wind average.  This is the second full day under spinnaker and it should last all the way to Hawaii.  Pure pleasure!  Exactly why people sail the Pacific Cup.

The boat is amazing to sail.  We maintain between 9 and 10 knots at all time, getting to 12, 14, sometimes 16 knots in a surf.  It is a real pleasure to drive.

We're slowly starting to head west, changed our heading from 200 to 205-210, still trying to stay away from the High.  We found out at the 9am roll call that we're now the most southern boat.  Everybody is trying to cut the corner.  Time will tell if we're doing the right thing.  In the next 2 days we should have a pretty good idea.

We're starting to settle down with the life aboard.  Everybody is starting to get some real sleep, fatigue is helping.

We started to see some flying fishes; and some people are starting to think about catching some fish.  During the day we saw a ship.  Other than that just water.  It is a big ocean.

Just got off watch (9pm), time for a quick dinner to try to get some sleep before getting back on at 1am.

No computer... no updates

Computers don't like salt water...  Our keyboard was not working for few days but a fan plus a magic product we sprayed on the keyboard slowly revived it.  We couldn't download weather faxes or grib files anymore, making the navigation a little challenging.  And now I get to type emails again ;-)

Here we are half way to Hawaii...  Far away from any land...  No other boats around us.  No ships.  We sometimes see some flying fishes.  Those are amazing, they truly fly like birds above the waves to escape predators.  We saw 2 birds today.  They came to check our boat and then left.  We have 1,100 miles to go to Hawaii.

Right now we're on a rhumb line to the finish line.  The wind is down to 12-15 knots.  Unfortunately we have to sail low to escape the lighter winds north of us.  This is a very challenging angle to sail.  The waves get the best of the boat in this light air/low angle of sail and make the kite move right to left.  This driving requires maybe more concentration than surfing down the waves at high speed.  Luckily we are south of our competition so we hope we have more winds than they have (we've hoping for that since the beginning of the race ;-) and this will allow us to catch them up.

At the roll call this morning we found out that we moved up into 4th place in our division (10th overall).  We're pretty happy about that.  We've been waiting for our southern option to pay off and right now things are looking pretty good.  Our navigator and skippers have good nerves.  It's tough to find out day after day that you're last.  It's tempting to change the plan for a short term gain but it's a long race, you have to keep looking for the long term gains.

We're down to 2 spinnakers :-(  A .6 oz and the shy kite.  Since it look like the winds are going to remain light until the finish we're trying really hard to protect the .6 oz as much as possible.  We made a fix with tape on another one but we hope we don't have to use it.  We tried last night but we had to patch it again.  We reserve 'pinky' (pink spinnaker) for the finish line (the story is that the original owner of the boat put a pink stripe on the side of the hull).

Lack of sleep is adding up but feeling great overall.  We all had our first 'salty' shower yesterday using a bucket at the back of the boat.  It felt great putting a clean t-shirt.  We only use fresh water for drinking.  That means we even use salt water to brush our teeth. I must admit it is not as bad as I thought it would be.  Part of the racing life at sea.

I found out that France lost the World Cup against Italy.  JP (another French guy on the boat) and I are very disappointed but we plan to 'party' for Bastille Day.  As a surprise I bought some fireworks and downloaded "La Marseillaise' on my ipod.  Hopefully the rest of the crew won't throw us over board ;-)

Aloha!  2nd in our division, 7th overall as of today.  Shaka brah!!!  We're working hard to keep going up in our division.  We're watching closely Orizaba, Sapphire and XL but we only get updates on their positions once a day so it's kind of difficult.  We have to keep focusing on our race but as we get closer to the finish (still 900+ miles to go) we have to start thinking tactically as well.  Until the next roll call we'll keep going through different scenarios: what if...

The good news is that we're flying pinky again (pink kyte).  We spent a good hour to tape every seam of the detached corner and so far it's holding well.  Quite a lot of money in tape but pinky is helping us to go a little faster in light air.  This way we're giving a break to the blue kite which has been our money maker so far.

Life aboard is going well.  Last Sunday we had a 50th birthday party for Dave.  Yesterday we had a half way celebration party.  In couple days we'll have a 14th of July celebration.  I must say those celebrations are pretty simple but it's good for the spirit of the crew to think about something different than racing for a moment.

I started this email after I got woken up to come on deck to do a jibe.  Good thing I didn't go to bed right away because we just jibed back ;-)  Hopefully the wind will be steady for a while as I need to get some sleep.

We just found out at this morning roll call that we're 1st in division and 2nd overall.  Emotions are high on the boat...

In 2 hours it will be exactly 7 days since we left San Francisco Bay.  We've been racing hard but the last 4 days we're going to have to push a little more.  Still a long way to go, something like 750+ miles, but we're going to do everything we can to keep sailing fast and furious.

The good news we're still first in our division (now 4th overall) after a tough day yesterday.  We just don't like light air sailing.  12 knots of wind, a confused sea, and you're struggling to find a sail trim that will make you move in the optimum direction without having your sails flop around from right to left.  Unfortunately we have no options left to go find more wind, it's fairly light everywhere to the finish line and the forecast around Hawaii currently looks terrible.  Let's hope things change.  Our strategy is to sail the rhumb line, going as fast as possible on the shortest distance.  During the day it is not too bad but the nights are difficult as we call everybody on deck every time we have to jibe.

After 8 days at sea everybody is quite tired but I guess being in contention for a first place gives you that little extra energy to do it.  Getting in and out of your bunk is always a problem, especially with the boat moving all over the place.  It is hard to describe what you have to do to get in and out but I would say that many of us would be ready to trade our bunks for the type of drawers they have in morgues.  In any case the amount of space you have once you're laying down is probably about the same.  The bunks can be tilted at an angle with a system of strings, adjusting for the average heel of the boat.  It works well if you're laying flat on your stomach or back but no way to sleep on your side or you'll roll even more than the boat.

Today we've made good progress towards Hawaii at about an average of 9 knots.  The computer says we'll get to Hawaii in 2.5 days, that would be sometimes Sunday, but all this is based on past performance.  Our most dangerous competitor (Orizaba - J130) has an advantage on us given the current weather conditions.  We're dreaming about 20-22 knots and wild surfs but we have to play with what we have, part of sailboat racing.  We're going to fight to the end to arrive within 11 hours and 30 minutes of Orizaba so we don't have anything to regret.  520 miles to go...

Friday - still 1st in division (3rd overall) but by the smallest margin: 3 seconds!!! (after 9 days of racing)  Still 400 miles to go...  It is now a battle between 4 boats for the first place.

We had a good day yesterday, we had wind all day and last night (middle of night) it was full on: dark cloud, rain, strong winds.  Who would be thinking we're getting close to Hawaii?  I haven't seen this on the brochures ;-)  Anyway, we were very happy because Recidivist loves those conditions.  We pushed hard on the boat to gain as many miles as possible.  It is still quite incredible to me that a sail boat can accelerate, slide, turn down waves just like a surf board.  The sensations are unbelievable.  It is like a Disney Land ride that never stops.

This morning, we figured out at the roll call that most likely the wind filled in first for the northern boats, which explains why the 2 Synergies came back so quickly.  Nobody is showing too much pressure but I must say inside I feel it (it's been going up every day).  Everyone is focused on their job.  Life goes on as usual.  At the moment some are sleeping, others are eating, others are making the boat go fast, one just took a shower in the rain (first shower with fresh water).

It is a fight between the hull and the waves.  The water is flowing super fast against the hull, creating a lot of noise inside the boat, but waves come from different directions and also play with the hull, making the ride quite bouncy.  Everything hanging inside the boat is swinging right and left.

The boat is in good condition.  Everything is functional but yesterday we had to do a little bit of maintenance work.  At one time the vang came crashing on the deck.  We found some spare parts and put it back on.  It will hopefully last until the finish.  A batten pocket was ripped half with the batten threatening to fall any second.  We put 2 reefs in the main, got the batten and sew it to the sail.  Luckily the conditions were ideal to do the repair at the time.  We took the opportunity to send someone up the mast to check the main halyard and making sure the headstay was not getting loose.

For the past 2 days we've been flying pinky (pink kyte).  The corner that has been taped is holding.  Just amazing what tape can do because the loads are incredible in 20+ knots, especially when the kyte fills up after collapsing.  It is pinky last voyage.  We will pay tribute to its loyal services when we get to Hawaii.  The best way to do it will be to fly pinky across the finish line (we saved a little bit of tape, just in case).

This morning (July 14th) positions were reported by each boat with a French accent.  I took the microphone: "Chers Français, Chères Françaises, en ce jour de La Bastille je suis honoré de reporter la position de Recidivist - Latitude 23'33'' - Longitude 150'46'' "  It was good fun.  One boat spotted a submerged container and reported its position.  Luckily it's behind us but I can only imagine if you hit one of those at double digit speeds.  No fun at all.

In 48 hours this race will be over for us.  Whatever happens we will have lived an incredible adventure.  Those moments are difficult to put into words but the emotions are high inside me.

Gone to bed...

Saturday - we're still 1st in division (3rd overall).  We have spotted Oahu 150 miles in front of us.  At the moment we have 12-14 knots of wind right behind us.  Not an ideal angle to finish quickly.  We should arrive sometimes Sunday morning.

I'll remember for a while 2 strong squalls I drove through, especially the one from last night when there was no moon, and plenty of rain.  It's driving just by the instruments at very fast speed down the waves.  I was wondering if it would ever stop and how I could make it stop.  Well, once you're riding it, you just keep riding until the squall passes you.  The one this morning was bringing us 50-60 degrees of course but there was no way to jibe.  We had to wait until things calm down.  Apparently my eyes were as big as the ocean.  Dying to see the picture, in t-shirt and shorts under the rain with a very dramatic background of dark grey clouds.  The ocean is really powerful.  It is a very intense sensation to go through one of those squalls.  One small mistake and the boat would be on its side, or worst the rig would be down and the race would be over.  Fortunately this boat is so responsive and forgiving.

Today we saw a ship, first time we see any kind of 'human' life in over a week.  So far we haven't been able to spot any other boats from the Pac Cup, probably later tonight as a few boats are converging towards Kaneohe Bay.  Once we reach the 100 mile mark from the finish we have to call the Racing Committee, again at 25 miles and then we need to fly our Pacific Cup 06 flag.

We're getting close but I bet we're going to get one more wild ride tonight.  It will be my first time in Hawaii, very special to me to arrive by sea.  It was a long time dream that is about to checked...

Our official result is 2nd in division and 6th overall.

The one hour penalty against a competitor, which was recommended by the on water communication vessel, was not been enforced by the Racing Committee.  From my point of view the Racing Committee was way too soft on a boat which basically played with the rules to favor a light boat over safety.  I won't go into the details and will accept the final decision but I would just say that US Sailing judges reprimanded this competitor about their energy plan.

Looking back to our race we're very pleased with the end result.  I will miss Friday's award ceremony so I'll have to wait to see what our second place trophy looks like.

Hope you enjoyed those email updates,

Stephane