Who Took the Silverware?

by Race Committee, July 22nd, 2018

Last night was the big Vic-Maui Awards Banquet on the Ocean Lawn at the Sheraton Kaanapali. What an affair with lots of silverware loading the tables and a full 7 person band to keep everyone entertained. Joy Ride started the parade of trophies as the Big Winner of Vic-Maui 2018 - taking home the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club Trophy for First Overall. Read

FINAL RESULTS

by Race Committee, July 21st, 2018

Here are the Final Results for Vic-Maui 2018 Read

Vessel Traffic Separation Schemes

by Race Committee, July 17th, 2018

The case of the Race Committee protesting Serenite and Geminis Dream for infraction of Sailing Instruction 1.4 - Adhering the Rule 10 of the Coll Regs with respect to Traffic Separation Schemes has important implications for all sailors that the Race Committee believe worthy of further comment. Read

Vic-Maui Sailors in Training

by Race Committee, July 17th, 2018

The Youth Training Program at Lahaina Yacht Club, co-sponsor of the Vic-Maui race, is on view for the whole world to see. It is an impressive sight to see a large host of young sailors take to their BIC sailboats right in front of the whole village of Lahaina. Read

Here, Here, The Gang's All Here

by Race Committee, July 16th, 2018

The last 2 boats from Vic-Maui 2018 finished early this afternoon and are now enjoying their welcome party at the Pioneer Inn. Victor Mushkatin's Serenite, the surviving boat from Cruising Class crossed the finish line at 12:31. Our now famous turtle rescuer, Doug Frazer and Oxomoxo finished at 1:43pm. Read

Joy Ride Wins Vic-Maui 2018

by Race Committee, July 16th, 2018

While results are not yet official, it looks like Joy Ride will win Vic-Maui 2018 as the 1st Overall based on corrected time. Firefly wins Line Honours and 2nd Overall and Salient takes 3rd Overall. Read

Anjo Arrives Under Cover of Darkness

by Race Committee, July 16th, 2018

Clayton Craigie and his crew aboard Anjo arrived under cover of darkness this morning crossing the line a little after 4 am local time. An hour later with dawn just starting, the boat got to the welcome party at Lahaina. Read

The Weather Eye, July 15, Final Approaches to the Finish Line

by David Sutcliffe, July 15th, 2018

There is simply no Hawaiian welcome that beats a Lahaina Yacht Club Vic-Maui greeting party, unless it's three LYC greeting parties at the same time! ... In weather news, the more "normal" weather has been very helpful to the Vic-Maui fleet as the boats have had a romping Trade Winds sail towards Maui over the past four-plus days, racking up big 24 hour runs in breezy conditions. This year's approach to the Pailolo Channel has been hotter than usual, with numbers in the TWA 80-110 degree range. The first five boats have all finished without too much drama in the Pailolo Channel itself. Read

Day 15 - And Then There Were Three

by Race Committee, July 15th, 2018

The final 3 boats of Vic-Maui 2018 are all within striking distance of Maui and will finish on Monday. At Roll Call, Clayton Craigie's Anjo (in the photo) was 122 miles from the finish, followed by Victor Mushkatin and his Russians on Serenite who are 57 miles back, and Doug Frazer and the Lucky Turtle Savers who are 68 miles behind Anjo. They will likely start arriving very early Monday and all be in Lahaina enjoying Mai-Tais by mid-afternoon. Read

New Technology Makes the Race

by Race Committee, July 15th, 2018

While the Lucky Turtle has been the social media darling of this race, there are 2 pieces of technology that have added new dimensions to race followers. The fact that a drone can take and transmit photos 1000 miles from shore is amazing. Similarly amazing are the improvements in satellite tracking which allows the whole race Finish Line process to be automated. Read

Turnagain, Salient and Kraken Finish in a Dead Heat

by Race Committee, July 15th, 2018

it was a beautiful sunrise over the West Maui mountains as one by one Turnagain, then Salient, then Kraken appeared on the horizon and made their way into Pailolo Channel between Maui and Molokai. The photo shows Turnagain passing Hawea Point on her way to a finish at 7:14 am (HST). Salient was close behind at 7:40 am and Kraken, who carried stronger wind right to the finish, at 8:04 am. Read

Day 14 - Two Boats Drinking Mai Tais - Overall Winner Still for Grabs

by Race Committee, July 14th, 2018

With both Firefly and Joy Ride finishing today, the prizes for Line Honours and Division 1 are sorted out. But the Overall Winner is still up for grabs. Turnagain, Salient and Kraken are sailing very hard to an expected finish around 6 am on Sunday morning - and not much is separating them. If they keep their speed up, they can finish ahead of Joy Ride on corrected time; so it is going to be an interesting 18 hours. Read

Joy Ride Finishes

by Race Committee, July 14th, 2018

John Murkowski's Joy Ride, hailing from Seattle Yacht Club, was the second boat to cross the line, finishing at 9:59 this morning. It was a beautiful day in Lahaina (aren't they all) as Joy Ride made its way along the Kaanapali coast under a colourful spinnaker, completing the course a few hours behind Firefly. Read

Firefly is First to Finish

by Race Committee, July 14th, 2018

It was a dark (but warm and not particularly stormy) morning off Honokowai Beach when Firefly crossed the finish line at 4:41 am HST. A welcome relief to Bob Strong and his crew after a challenging 14 days of racing. While Line Honours is clearly theirs to celebrate, the waiting game now starts to see how far behind Joy Ride (and potentially Kraken or Salient) will finish and who will be the Overall Winner. Read

Day 13 - The End is Near

by Race Committee, July 13th, 2018

The trade winds got stronger overnight and propelled the whole fleet much closer to Hawaii. They can't quite see it, but everyone aboard will be starting to sense it. And we finally got to see what the performance boats Firefly and Joy Ride are capable of. While Turnagain, Salient and Kraken all had stellar 24 hour runs, the two lead boats legged out by over 30 miles in fast reaching conditions and are now 170 miles away and will finish Saturday morning. Read

The Weather Eye, July 12 - Drag Racin' in the Trade Winds

by David Sutcliffe, July 12th, 2018

The weather – observed and predicted – now looks like a normal summer pattern in the Northeast Pacific Ocean. Finally! Amazingly, after sailing for 1600-2100 nautical miles and through a series of complex weather systems and transitions, the fleet are all on very similar final approach lines. That in itself is a bit unusual. A more normal situation would be for boats to be converging into the finish from a wider range of laylines and optimal gybe angles. ... So, it’s a lot simpler now, right? In one word, yes! But, there's always a few more things to think about … Read

Day 12 - Mad Dash for Mai Tai's on Maui

by Race Committee, July 12th, 2018

The drone photo shows leader Firefly last evening with reasonable trade winds at their back. They and all the boats on her tail are reporting winds over the port stern at 15-18 its and making good speed to Maui. Firefly, Joy Ride and Kraken all racked up over 200 miles in the last 24 hours. It is simply astounding that at this stage in the race, competition for Line Honours, First Overall and First in each of the Racing Divisions are all still up for grabs with the above boats joined by Salient and Turnagain in the mix. Getting the angles right for this final 400 miles mad dash will be critical for trophies, bragging rights, and the coldest mai-tais. Read

OxoMoxo and the Lucky Turtle

by Vic-Maui, July 11th, 2018

Today, July 10, Vic-Maui International Yacht Race competitor OxoMoxo saw a sea turtle entangled in a ghost fishing net, took down the spinnaker, sailed back to the turtle, stopped the boat mid-ocean over 900 miles North-North-East of Hawaii, freed the turtle from the net, and removed the net from the water so it could not continue ‘fishing’. Read

Day 11 - How Do You Spell Relief

by Race Committee, July 11th, 2018

We are now eleven days into the 2018 version of Vic-Maui and finally the fleet is getting relief from the the case of the calms and moving into the promised trade winds for the final dash to Maui with Firefly still leading the pack. Not strong trade winds, but consistent enough to get everyone sailing with spinnakers up and pointing towards Maui. While the photo shows Kraken at sunset last night still on white sails, you can bet Mark and crew having their whumper up today. Read

Day 10 - Coffee Grinding and Cookie Crumbling

by Race Committee, July 10th, 2018

Day 10 finds the boats doing everything to eek out a mile and get closer to the promised trade winds. At one time this morning, the three leading boats were all pointed to Baja, doing 1 kt with an ETA sometime this fall. This is giving time for boats like Turnagain to get lots of practice on their big-boat "coffee grinders". As the Weather Eye said this morning "the cookie will crumble based on hard work, skill, and luck" Read