July 8 Roll Call & Awaiting the Wind Gods

by Charlotte Gann & Race Committee, July 8th, 2022

The winds are out there – just beyond reach of most of the boats. Peligroso is seeing wind speeds at noon HST of 12 knots, are sailing at 11.2, and report the sea is .5^o warmer with commensurate air temp increase. Lurline is under spinnaker. Phoenix is sailing along at 6.6 knots and wanting more wind. A common refrain throughout the fleet.

Outbreak and Amun-Ra appear to have enough fuel to get them to Hawaii – gotta wonder what that penalty is going to look like. Good news aboard Amum-Ra, their watermaker is fixed – Phew!Outbreak caught a 16 lb. tuna by dragging a cedar plug – boy, that’s some hungry fish, kind of like the local deer in the PNW who haven’t heard they don’t like cedar trees. Annie M was followed by a whale for 2 hours. Millennium Seagull wonders at the sharks, humpbacks, and dolphins they’ve seen cohabiting the same bit of ocean. New Haven asked to join the Lahaina Class competitors, who were polled and the majority responded positively. Starting tomorrow, New Haven will appear on the YB Tracker in Lahaina Class.

Sharks are odd creatures. Little is known about them though they’re with us pretty much everywhere at sea. We don’t think of them being solitary creatures but they do have one quality nobody would have guessed... You know how socks go missing from the dryer? We think we now know where they went. Planet Express had a shark eat Bill’s sock – so PE won’t be swimming any time soon and Bill now has one chilly foot. Xiomara has also seen sharks – AFTER they went swimming! They’re now chasing a sail on the horizon – it’s a seagull... Millennium Seagull. Red Sheilla is consistently holding her own, seeking wind whereever she can.

Check out the photo with today’s report, courtesy of Flow. They’ve experienced their first spectacular sunset and the ocean is an incredible shade of blue. So many more of these ahead.

All crew are fine, eating well. Winds ahead look a bit fractured tonight but then start to look like the brochure. There’s a gale off the west coast of Mexico with 30+ kt winds that’s tracking toward Hawaii but is unlikely to do much more than disturb the sea state for the racers.

Roll Call July 8 at noon HST from the fleet:

Disturbance off of the west coast of Mexico

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