Strum Hums over Finish Line

by Greg Harms, July 5th, 2008

The Crew of Strum sailed over the finish line yesterday, July 4th at 1822.26HST under spinnaker at +10 knots. Enduring more of the uncertain winds that have characterized the 2008 Vic-Maui, in the last 24 hours of racing she experienced everything from screaming downwind sleigh rides of over 20 knots to beating into light headwinds. This kept the crew busy with sail changes and they certainly seemed glad to arrive at the dock to the spray of champagne and hugs and kisses from family. In a fabulous welcome characteristic of arrival into Lahaina harbour, each crew and the boat itself were "lei"ed, fed and partied. Just as the dock party was getting into swing, the 4th of July fireworks started, making the crew of Strum all feel like they had just won an America's Cup. Crew from Something Wicked, having left their boat on the hard in San Francisco, were there to party too.

Now the interesting waiting begins: will any of the fleet behind Strum get here quickly enough to beat her on corrected time for first over all and each other in Class? In Class B, Turicum, Passepartout and Seeker are in a dead heat race for both class and overall corrected time wins under steadily improving light trades, while the rest of the fleet behind is still waiting for the winds to fill in. Black Watch is probably too far back to contend and it appears that Turicum may have the advantage at the moment, but this is still too close to call. Red Heather and Zulu should be set for 2nd and 3rd in Class A. We'll have to wait and see what weather tricks Neptune still has left in his magic bag.

A few words received from the boats:

Seeker
A Hot Independence Day on the Ocean. Light winds and full sun make for a hot boat aboard Seeker, but a bucket of seawater over the head goes a long way toward cooling off the crew. Making slow but steady progress toward Maui, and hoping that other boats are experiencing the same conditions. From today's roll call, it would appear they are, except for Strum who should be finishing later today. That leaves us with only 5 days and 14 hrs to finish and correct ahead of them, which would be impossible at this pace. We'll see what happens once we pick up the trades though. Seeker Out.

Passepartout
It is the 4th of July, one of my favorite holidays and the 13th day of the race. We have no fireworks aboard and limited our celebration to an extra bottle of wine - a 2005 Almansa from Compass wines. I have not had this before. Doug assured me I would like it. He was right. It is a very heavy Spanish wine. The rest of the crew seems to agree.

Things have improved a little today. I got the bilge pump fixed. This afternoon I tackled the boiler. Access is extremely difficult. It is located just forward of the transom and aft of the aft cabin - just above the steering quadrant. It is difficult to get close to the unit with my body and it is difficult to see anything because then my eyes are so close to the screws I am trying to turn. I got Kris to help. He is younger and stronger. Now the unit fires and cycles as it is supposed to. After all, we all want to look presentable for the dock party in Lahaina so we all need our hot showers.

Our competitive situation has changed dramatically for the worse in the last two days. Strum found 20 kts of wind and expected to finish by now. They owe us 4 days and 9 hours so we must finish in 4 days and 9 hours or they will take first overall. We have 687 miles to the finish. Is it doable? It is possible but it will not be easy. We need to be on our speed every minute and we need lucky wind.

Turicum is a worse problem. They are in our class. They owe us 17 -1/2 hrs. As of the roll call this morning they were 120 miles closer to Lahaina than we were. That puts them about 18 hours ahead of us. If we can't beat Strum and we can't close that gap we miss first overall and first in our class. In other words we get feathers for dinner instead of chicken.

This morning we put up the symetrical spinnaker and changed to a course of 230M. We have been able to maintain about 5 kts all day. That is a big improvement from yesterday. Our optimum course to Maui is 219M so we are westing. Turicum is west of us and has been reporting much better wind (and eating our lunch in distance made good). The weather charts do not show the difference but the pattern of highs makes the difference believable. We now have 13 kts behind us and we are making 6.2 SOG.

Today was a much better day than yesterday but we have far to go and a very uncertain outcome. Thank you for all the encouraging emails. We needed them after yesterday.

Pete & Crew

Black Watch
For those Yankees in the race, happy 4th of July! The evening of the 3rd was a gorgeous conclusion to yet another validation of our reason for being here, the sun setting through a rim of towering white clouds, squall lines running off the port bow moving east and bottle nosed dolphins playing alongside as we sailed SSW caught up in our journey oblivious to our destination. And if that were not proof enough, the night sky came alive with a million stars and the milky way to light our course -- and we didn't care to where, just glad that we were there, tomorrow a possibility just over the horizon.

Unfortunately paradise can often toss up its darker elements, some more palatable than others, it is the nature of the yin and the yang. The storm, though physically taxing provided the requisite level of excitement keeping the adrenalin pumping and the mind, albeit weary, sharp. The doldrums, however, that state of the sea when everything is static, no wind, no waves, the rising heat as we drift ever southward oppressing, drains the high spirits of adventurous sailors leaving them languishing in long faced anticipation of change, any change at all.

Today the fish are not biting, the porpoises have fled, even the ever present sea bird that has accompanied us for the last week has departed.

The crew of Black Watch wait, not patiently, no, they are anxious to once again test their metal, but they wait knowing this is part of going to sea.

Okay, so much for waxing philosophically, now on to the nuts and bolts of the day. The wind died around 400 hrs. I mean, it expired. Nothing, nada. We drifted in a quiet ballet of slow undulating circles without so much as the occasional mini-gust that causes the helmsman to glance hopefully at the windex moving wildly at the masthead, its erratic behavior the product of boat motion, the wind, as earlier described, gone. Capt Dan actually fell asleep standing at the wheel, his reserve long since depleted, the demands of no real demand not enough to make him reach even deeper to go on. Pyrot Jim managed to endure his nightly watch at the helm whistling in the dark and trading lies with Salty Dog Jerry, his cockpit companion. Shakespeare Stuart split ten hours at the night helm, a three followed by three down followed by a four with fellow nighthawk Dorothy Dulcinea, who listened attentively to his repertoire of broadway musical tunes and 60\'s folk songs punctuated now and again by her sonorous snoring as she lay draped across the hatchway sound asleep.

There was an impromptu comedy night in the cockpit that failed miserably – forgotten punch lines, really really not very funny stuff and complete lack of audience appreciation or understanding, depending upon whom you asked, pretty well guarantees there will not be another attempt. There is, however, a scheduled costume party for tonight's festivities if the wind does not pick up (we're presently racing along at an astounding 4.7 knots at 1730 hrs PDT -- not sure if that translates to 1530 or 1430 present position, too lazy to check). BYOB.

And for those readers scouring the page for some mention of Foreplay Doug, he had the night off. The extra sleep has given him new resolve and color in his cheeks that rises above the mandatory sunburn associated with those of our ilk.

As I reread this I feel I must explain to the readers that the length and breadth of the sentences found herein are the product of my love and affection for the literary works of one William Faulkner, known for his page long sentences and paragraphs that rival entire chapters of lesser writers.

View All Articles