Weekend Update - Part 1

July 8th, 2006

A quick update for Saturday July 8, 2006
In Division 3, Blue Moves II who has been sailing almost due west, looks to have tacked onto starboard to start heading southwest and more directly to the finish line. The Race Tracker shows that Blue Moves II speed has dropped, but all the miles they are making are directly towards Maui. Freehand and Passepartout are further south than San Francisco and starting to arc a bit to the west, away from the shore. Norena of Wight, the oldest boat in the fleet and one of the original four boats in the first Vic-Maui held in 1965, has also started to steer westward, although she is considerably further north than Free Hand and Passepartout. Unfortunately, Full Moon has been forced to withdraw from the race with electrical problems and head into Eureka Harbour. It is still too soon to tell how Div 3 will shake out. Blue Moves II is closer to the finish, but the boats to the southeast may yet have favorable winds over the last half of the course.
In Division 2 it looks as if staying east has paid dividends for Kahuna and Tripp Tease. Red Heather the Squamish BC based Olson 40, Kahuna and Tripp Tease are now southeast of the rest of the boats in Div 2. Meanwhile the boats that sailed a more westerly track, led by Kinetic, followed by Turicum, then Night Runner and Antares, seem to have bunched up a bit. This pack seemed not to have quite as much breeze as the boats to the southeast had over night and earlier in the day, though the recent boat speed reports show that they have picked up more wind and are now pacing the boats to the southeast. If conditions overnight again favour the boats to the southeast, Red Heather should be poised to improve their position in the fleet.
In Division 1 Cassiopeia and Voodoo Child are virtually neck and neck on the water, each with just less than 1500 nm to the finish. Voodoo Child made the most of their more easterly position heading south, but now it is a drag race to Hawaii. In the battle of old school Santa Cruz 50, Horizon versus the new school Santa Cruz 52, Voodoo Child, Horizon has continued further south hoping for better conditions when they turn for Maui. If Cassiopeia and Voodoo Child have turned west too soon and are too close to the high and its associated lighter winds, the “old schoolers” may yet prevail.
For commentaries and photos from the boats check out:
Voodoo Child: www.voodoochild.net/vic_maui_2006.htm
Kahuna: www.teamkahuna.com
Blue Moves II: http://bluemoves2.blogspot.com
Next report July 9 at 17:00hrs

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