News
July 21, 2019, 2030
To all who followed or were involved in Katara's journey across the Pacific,
We are official members of the double digits club! Just moments ago we cross the 100nm line from the Diamond Head light finish line. We are making excellent way at 12-14kts in a pleasant 18-20kts of breeze. We've got a heck of a ride ahead of us down the Molokai Channel and it should be all the more sporty for having to do it in the dark.
We are projecting a finish sometime near 0600 HST, or approximately 9.5 hours from now.
I will attempt to send a final alert when we have finished, but by then your individual crew should have cell service and I'm sure they'll be eager to reach out directly.
From all the crew aboard, thanks so much for following along on our journey. I know those of you who emailed crew directly made their day, and often a watch would begin or end with several heads sticking in to my station "hey, did I get any email?!"
- All the crew
Roger Gatewood, Captain
JA Booker, Watch Captain
Sean Motta, Navigator
Michael Booker
Clay Morris
Bill Wingrove
Sam Heck
Liam McCarthy
Cat Gatewood
July 21, 2019, 1800
Land Ho! Approximately 20 minutes ago we caught our first glimpse of the tips of Maui above the clouds. What a sight for weary eyes!
We just came out of a nice little squall that had Liam screaming us down the fronts of waves at 18+ knots for as much as several minutes at a time.
Also, rarely spotted outside of it's natural habit, there are reports of a navigator spotted wearing foul weather gear and on deck taking a drenching with the rest of the crew.
July 21, 2019, 0630
We're on the final approach! Yesterday in the afternoon we took some of our medicine and went West to get to the corner despite non-ideal VMC numbers. We gybed on to port tack for the 500+ mile run in to Molokai where we'll gybe again near Kalaupapa in the accelerated pressure zone that surrounds the NW corner of Molokai. From there we will gybe down that coast and around it's western edge before lining up for a final gybe over to startboard to finish the race off Diamond Head in Honolulu. We're told that channel has some of the finest big-boat surfing conditions seen anywhere. I'm looking forward to the ride. Might be a bit more excitement than we originally anticipated as we're almost guaranteed to hit it at night. Luckily we've had an excellent near-full moon to guide our way each night.
Wind pressure was lighter than hoped for yesterday afternoon and in to the night, so our arrival has been delayed slightly. Estimating some time in the early morning on Monday.
Conditions being more quiet we've been able to get most of the crew caught up on sleep and everyone seems to be doing well.
Just witnessed an absolutely stunning sun rise on deck with the Blue watch. They've got the reigns until Green takes over in about an hour. The fight to capture the most miles in this final push is on, and the helmsmen are focused as can be.
Inventorying the food reserves we appear to have sufficient rations aboard to sail right past Honolulu and head for Fiji instead. The only things running low are the chocolate covered espresso beans and the trail mix.
Our trusty little water maker has been treating us right. We run it about an hour a day during charging and it whips up 6-8 gallons of good tasting safe potable water straight out of the sea.
It's pretty weird on port tack at the moment after nearly a week on starboard. Exercising muscles we haven't tried in a while and we had to do some clean up as everything went flying from its starboard tack optimized positioning. Roger was threatening to lead crew-yoga on the foredeck to get everyone stretched out again, but it's still mighty wet on that end of the boat.
The captain just gave up the helm a bit ago and is now sitting back and enjoying a nice hot up of tea as he surveys our progress. Seems to be having a blast.
Hopefully the next time we update you it'll be with the Hawaiian islands in sight.
July 20, 2019, 0930
We are on final approach! A loooooong approach, but final none the less.
Last night was fairly productive. As discussed during the day, we down shifted to our smaller A3 reaching kite to protect our lite air A2 for use today for the forecast lighter air. We reached the right hand edge of the course where we called our gybe. We now have our bow pointed essentially right at Molokai, where we'll make our final plays down the Molokai channel and in to Diamond Head for finish. Latest models are suggesting that, barring any unforeseen complications, we will finish sometime in the early hours of Monday morning.
The A3 that is up now has sustained some minor holes and tears throughout the night and we hope to effect repairs on that later today when it comes down for a swap to the A2.
Crew is definitely getting a bit behind on rest, but everyone has been a trooper and seems to be enjoying themselves.
The cabin had, until yesterday (or the day before that? Wait, what day is it? Where am I? Why is everything shaking around so madly?) been very dry and dare I say even pleasant. With a few emergency douse-sets (an operation the crew is getting entirely too good at - not something you should be practicing as much as we are) the cabin is pretty well soaked through and has become a somewhat unpleasant environment from a smell perspective. It could just be the sailors she's been forced to protect and house for going on 8 days now.
KATARA is holding up well and save a few minor mechanical failures is putting up with the abuse well.
Time to raise the 1000 watch. It was weird having it be bright as can be out at "2200" last night, but we've kept the boat on PDT and we've sailed west through a few time zones.
A safe flight to those of our shore support team who are en route to Hawaii today and tomorrow. I know we're very much looking forward to seeing you!
July 19, 2019, 1700
After a fairly rocky start this morning we're back to a full head of steam. Repair efforts were made to the A4, and it now lays in reserve if the need were to arise. We down shifted to our much smaller reaching kite, the A3, for several hours. We were making acceptable way, but we weren't able to get the angles or speed we wanted. Cautious of blowing out our only other runner kite, our lite air A2, we held off. After a few hours the breeze subsided somewhat and the call was made to hoist the A2. That helped significantly with the angle and speed and we're back up to a full head of steam.
We are tentatively planning to downshift back to the A3 overnight in order to protect the A2 for use in the final approach or in lighter air if it appears again tomorrow.
We've got a full boat worth of projects going on with cleaning, splicing, minor tweaks or repairs, and just generally cleaning up a week of hard use. Most everyone is on a second or third pair of clothes and we had a dry enough day to get the boat opened up and aired out a bit.
Overall a pleasant day as we run towards the right edge where we will gybe over to port tack for our final (though over 500nm) approach in to Molokai for the final push in to Hawaii. Hard to tell for sure at this point but sometime very very late overnight on Sunday in to Monday morning hawaiian time is looking somewhat most likely at this point.
Time to rouse the 1800-2200 watch,
July 19, 2019, 0900
Down but not out. Overnight we had another two failures in our spinnaker system. This morning the Tylaska clasp holding the head of the kite to the mast failed and the A4 was damaged during the recovery operation. Onboard sailmaker Sam effected the best possible repair but gives chance of a successful launch a 50-50. We down shifted to our smaller A3 reaching kite, though it's not nearly as effective for these angles. We have the lighter air A2 runner left, but are concerned with its longevity in these conditions. The call for now is to make due with the A3 and wait for the forecast reduction in wind pressure later today and in to tomorrow. This severely limits our ability to effectively play the angles we need, but given our current fleet standing Roger has made what all agree is the appropriate and more conservative decision.
It will take a little while to dial in approach numbers but it now looks like a middle of the night Sunday arrival is most likely. No crew injuries in any of the recoveries, but we're starting to get a lot of sailors running on very little sleep. Otherwise it looks like its setting up to be another beautiful pacific day.
July 18, 2019, 2200
Good evening warm, dry, no bashed around shore friends. What a ride it's been this afternoon! The breeze has just kept comin' and the seas have built. We had one additional spinnaker collapse after the last event but, again, due to incredible team work, we were able to continue under main alone at more than 9 kts while a repack and rehoist was effected, something less than 14 minutes I believe this time. We have seen gusts well in to the twenties with the 1800-2200 watch reporting one sustained gust near 30kts. We are right on the edge but just absolutely SCREAMING downwind with our A4 up.
Roger threw up an insane 22.5kts and then almost out of nowhere less than an hour later Liam posted 23.5 kts - the current boat and race record. We also (subjectively) think Liam is currently sporting the longest sustained surf - SCREAMING down a wave at some 17-19 knots sustained for more than a quarter of a mile. WILD. RIDE.
Our current watch is a little weary after two "all hands" calls but seem to be going well as they try and tame this beast. There is some discussion about downshifting to the smaller A3 for these conditions and we continue to monitor the wind shifts for an opportunity to start our southerly march in to Hawaii.
Conditions this evening are far more sporty than last night, I think it might be a long night for many of us.
Enjoy your warm soft non bucking beds.
July 18, 2019, 1600
'm Sean Motta, reporting live from the middle of the Pacific Ocean aboard the sailing Yacht KATARA. Here with me now is a recovering crew after heroic efforts to recover from the first significant mechanical issue of the trip.
After nearly 1,600nm approximately 1 hour ago we executed a near flawless gybe on to port tack, our first for the course. Just moments later however the lashing that holds the tack block to the bow sprit failed and the kite went skyward, now an unleashed beast screaming in the 20kt stiff breeze. An immediate all hands was called and some of the finest seamanship displayed so far on this trip ensued. Clambering out of the nav station and to the helm I freed up bowman Michael who like a cheetah hauled butt to the bow followed immediately by watch captain JA, crewman Clay, and crewman Sam. With shocking speed and agility the team wrangled the now unleashed monster back aboard and through the forward hatch. While the bow team cleaned up the mess and re-rigged an alternate tack the cabin team of Cat, Sam, and Liam laid down what has to be a world record for re-zipping a kite and preparing it for relaunch. During the mayhem Captain Roger pulled off some sort of octopus style shenannigans as he was on mid deck untangling and rerunning what looked to be 4 or 5 lines simultaneously. Bill pulled an excellent impression of a cow boy as he straddled the mess in the cockpit and man handled two or three sheets simultaneously. After less than 16 minutes (all in a sea state and all while continuing to make 8-9 kts towards the finish line) the crew had fully recovered and re hoisted the renegade kite.
As if this wasn't enough of an adventure for them, after a quick consultation we ran the numbers and determined the wind had shifted sufficiently for the port tack to no longer be favored and we executed our second gybe, now back on to starboard tack. This gybe was also nearly flawless but was accompanied by much less mayhem afterwards.
An incredible recovery from all aboard. No lasting damage, no injuries, and in the grand scheme no significant time lost on the race course.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming/
July 18, 2019, 1300
We continue truckin' along towards Hawaii. The sea state got kind of squirelly overnight with a bit of a washing machine vibe which was a small bit unpleasant, but in to this morning that settled back down to a nice following sea, more pleasant and better for surfing.
Several times in the last 24 hours it's looked like we were at the split where gybing on to port tack would actually give us better angles on Hawaii, but every time we monitor it it flickers back and forth, and by our numbers Starboard tack is still favored. We anticipate this will change sometime in to this evening or overnight and we'll execute our first gybe of the trip. In preparation we sent Michael up the mast to inspect rigging, the sails, and make sure we were clear, and we've moved the stack pack of unused sails from the starboard rail to midship. Everyone seems to be enjoying their time on the helm, and we just flirted with the edge of a few of our first squalls, which gave a bit of a nice little push.
Morning slop was a southwestern hash, spicy and another crew favorite - I think we have one round of that left - maybe saving it for the final morning.
Braver than I surely, I'm looking forward in to the forepeak and I see our captain with shaving razor in hand cleaning up. He looks quite dapper. It's been baby wipe shower day and clothes change day for many of the rest of us as well and the boat has a decidedly less unpleasant smell to it now. Or maybe, like with the freeze dried rations, our sense of what is and isn't pleasant have faded away entirely?
Just over 1 Pineapple cup regatta worth of distance left - hardly anything at this point.
July 18, 2019, Midnight
TRIPLE DIGIT CLUB!!!
I write this as we sail through 999nm to go on our way towards Diamond Head. We're officially members of the triple digits club! I think an excellent insight in to this race and how it warps your sense of time and distance is when I hear Michael Booker just moments ago exclaim "wow, ONLY 1,000 miles to go!". For reference, that's still a Newport-Bermuda Race PLUS a St. Pete to Havana race, or 1.25 Pineapple Cup Regattas for comparison, but after 1,400 nm it doesn't seem all that daunting.
I meant to share before, but we've been tracking our best 24 hour runs and it's been interesting to see us learning ways to push the boat harder every day, combined with the conditions we've seen making those an ever increasing (to date) climb:
Day 1: 209.11nm (8.71 kts)
Day 2: 224.5nm (9.35 kts)
Day 3: 225.7nm (9.4 kts)
Day 4: 259.7nm (10.82)
Day 5: 263.3nm (10.97)
Those are the maximum distance covered (over ground) in a given 24 hour period during each of those days at sea.
Tonight's freeze dried chef's selection was another crew winner; Caribbean Jerk Chicken & Rice. We seem to be leaning towards the spicier meals and those that include rice. That or we've been without properly hydrated foods for so long we no longer have any sense of what is and isn't palatable? Chocolate covered espresso beans and starbursts are crew favorites for dessert.
It's an absolutely gorgeous evening on deck under a near full moon, a relatively comfortable cool air, and a sea state that has calmed and clocked in such a manner that several drivers have described it as "the best driving experience they've ever had".
The wind has stayed slightly forward of where might be "typical" for this portion of the race and, as such, we have delayed our initial southerly attacks towards Honolulu and remain on Stbd Gybe. As JA put it just a few minutes ago "this is almost kind of boring in how straightforward it's been". I think he's just jaded by the marathon sprint of a race that was the Caribbean 600 earlier this year. To date we have executed 5 headsail changes (J1-J2-J3-A3-A4) and a grand total of TWO tacks (to sneak around the tip of Catalina on day 1). This compares to our 42 headsail changes in 71 hours for the C600.
For those who have our email address, we're collecting funny news stories. If you have come across any absolutely ludicrous news events in the days since we've been gone send them our way (SHORT and TEXT ONLY please!). The crazier the better.
Let the Katara train keep on truckin,
July 17, 2019, 1430
Today has been another beautiful one. WE HIT THE HALFWAY MARK! Less than 1,110nm to go! To celebrate it appears some of the crew have gone tribal. There is much singing and dancing and to do on deck. Turns out Roger and JA have quite the inventory of songs at their disposal. As to any actual singing TALENT aboard....
We finally found a universally liked freeze dried food! Creamy corn chowder went over so well we've torn the boat apart looking for additional servings. There is much talk about cheeseburgers and ice cream though. So glad we've got an awesome pair of hosts ready for that awesome finish party.
We took up a finish time buy-in list. All times in PDT (less 3 for Hawaii time). Captain's rules say it's absolute closest guess, not "over and bust"
Roger: 2332 Sun
JA: 1946:27 Sun
Sam: 2000 Sun
Cat: 2259 Sun
Liam 1838 Sun (Always the optimist!)
Clay: 2015 Sun
Bill: 2319:07 Sun
Michael: 1821:14 Sun
For some reason they wouldn't let me guess.... :-D
In all of the weight saving the stereo and speakers had to go. In hindsight, we needed a waterproof bluetooth speaker. Need more jams on deck, the natives are getting restless.
Less than 2 Newport Bermuda races left... we can almost see Hawaii.
Off to dream about coffee ice cream,
Sean
July 17, 2019, 0600
KATARA has had a good evening but a tiring one for many of the drivers. There has been a fairly patchy layer of clouds above us and these have often come accompanied by 10, 15, 30 degree wind shifts with as much as 8-10kts of different pressure. Sure keeps the helmsman busy trying to keep our feet under us and the kite filled. Michael, Liam, JA, and Sam were responsible for most of that magic last night. Things have calmed a bit in the early AM here, but Roger's band going on watch right now still has their work cut out for them.
Speaking of drivers... my record didn't even last as long as my nap after I'd made it! Never to be outdone Liam came oh so close and joined us in the 21kt club posting a 20.9 (SOOO close!). Roger laid down a 21.2, just exactly enough to kick me off the throne, and then Sam didn't even flinch when he slammed down a 21.9 - the new boat and race record. I know everyone else (including me!) is going to be hot after it again as soon as the conditions are right. We know those records are going to fall coming in through Molokai Channel as there is supposed to be some of the best breeze and seas for yacht surfing in the world through there.
It appears all of the crew is staying reasonably well rested - most are taking to their racks right after their watch and keeping their strength and stamina up. I mention again that Clay aced it with the camping pads he acquired, and all report comfortable rest for the most part. Sam brought a whole box of ear plugs, and those have been a blessing as well.
Based on the latest weather it looks like we've got another couple of days on this starboard gybe before we start looking closely at where we want to make our attack on Hawaii from. The weather forecasts have been incredibly accurate and stable thus far, which hopefully will aid as I do our work to get set up for that.
Lastly, most likely on the 1000-1400 watch today we will reach the halfway mark - a serious achievement!
I know those of us with significant others or family flying over to meet us are looking forward to landfall so we can catch up and tell stories.
July 16, 2019, 1830
WHAT. A. DAY. Conditions have been just absolutely incredible. Sunny, bright, not unbearably hot, and just excellent pressure and angles for us to fly along. Unfortunately that of course means it's to our competitors advantage, as they're faster than us in these conditions, but it sure makes for a fast fun trip to Hawaii.
Drivers were laying down huge numbers. Even ye old Navigator spent quite a lot of time on deck today - conditions were just far too perfect to miss out. We had a 19.8, and then a 20.4 posted (Liam and JA I think - I was sleeping at the time). I got to drive the last several hours and, with Bill's hard core trimming to my driving, was about to lay down a 21.1 kt run. A boat and race best so far. My favorite part about that is everyone else is now itching to de-throne me and we'll just have bigger stronger numbers.
Tonight's gruel was supposed to have been some sort of Shepard's pie concoction. This crew member took a single bite and chose to abstain, but most others reported a reasonable fondest for it.
Tonight looks to be an equally enjoyable evening - full moon, light clouds, cool crisp temperatures, and breeze pushing us in the right direction. Seas are building but they're a very pleasant quartering sea giving us a gentle push towards HI and also allowing for some serious surf action.
Roger and his crew of Sam, Liam, and Cat just took the reigns and they all look just happy as could be. After all he went through to get us here it's amazing to see Roger bobbing along having a grand ol' time on the race. JA's team of Clay, Bill, and Michael just laid down for a few hours of well earned rest before they take the helm again at 2200 PDT.
We knocked out a little bit of house keeping today, as we continue to rotate spinnaker halyards so as not to wear through one of them (this A4 kite is likely to be up some 7 or 8 days straight by the time we're done) and Michael found some chaffing at the top of one of the halyards so he retrieved it. JA did a quick fix and spliced up the other end. Good to go for a few hundred more miles!
Hope everyone is enjoying following along. For those who have emailed crew, I'm alerting them as soon as I see them come through, but of course their first priorities are standing their watch and getting their rest, but all will return your emails when they can. For those who have hesitated to contact a member of our crew please don't. We love to hear from you, just please keep messages to TEXT ONLY and understand there may be some small delay in getting your particular crew member to respond
Hawaii here we come!
July 16, 2019, 0530
KATARA had a very pleasant overnight sail. The breeze has been a fairly consistent 16-20 True, and the angles have allowed us to stay fairly powered up while trucking straight down the shortest path to Hawaii.
Yesterday the Liam, Clay, Michael, and JA watch laid down a seriously impressive 4-hour run of 50.4nm. Without a proper grinding pedestal this isn't a sustainable mode for the next 5 days in to Hawaii, but it was pretty awesome to see what our gal could do. We're definitely collecting valuable data that will help us improve our polars which in turn will enhance the reliability of our routing software.
Dinner last night was prepared by the Captain himself. Thus far probably the best freeze dried slop we've had. It reported to be chicken risotto however, due to a bit of a visual oversight he dumped an entire bag of 3 cheese mac n cheese in on top of it. Lucky mistake, but he just stirred it up and ran with it and it turned out dangerously near enjoyable to eat. Maybe it wasn't such an accident at all?
Most of today looks like we'll be working our way down range in healthy breeze at an excellent angle for us. We've been closely monitoring the delayed reporting of our fellow competitors via YB and are pleased with our performance. Now that the breeze has picked up some we will have difficulty keeping with our class, as most are planing speedboats and all weigh many many thousands of pounds less than us. We're also tracking our progress against the Santa Cruz 50 and 52 fleet, a group we feel more accurately reflect our handling conditions and we're holding extremely well against that fleet.
The sea state is building from the south, but they're reasonably smooth rocker and life aboard is actually relatively dry and comfortable.
The sleeping pads that Clay was tasked with sourcing before we left have been awesome, and most report that they've been getting fairly good off-watch rest.
I was racked out, but they tell me our birthday boy pulled the highest speed of the day, a confirmed 19.5 kts. Well done, Clay. I was also told that to be fair and give the whole story I had to include that this was held right before we almost wiped out in the following puff :-D. Life on the edge!
Working towards being halfway there. Early reports indicating an arrival sometime Sunday evening if conditions hold as forecast.
July 15, 2019, 1600
What a rush the last 6 hours have been! Kite up, lots of sunshine, lots of surfing, big speed numbers, and tracking straight at Hawaii. We've got a driver challenge going on at the moment and a few hours ago JA posted an 18.5kt record. Not to be outdone Michael quickly turned around an hour later and posted an 18.6. Never to be outdone JA's next turn on the wheel he slammed in a new record of 19.0kts. Can that stand all night, or will one of the other watch's drivers through that out the window as well?
Day 3 24 hour distance was 225.7nm, a best for this trip (1st 24 hour best 209.11, 2nd 24 hours 224.5).
If this holds up this is going to be one heck of a sleigh ride to Hawaii. Sam, Liam, Cat, and Roger around below trying to get some rest before their 1800 watch start though in challenging conditions of their own as the boat is thrown from side to side and the noise of near constant trimming and easing makes it a nearly deafening experience to be in the cabin at the moment.
Huge thanks to all who wrote in to wish Clay best wishes on his birthday. That feller hasn't lost his grin all day - I think he's pleased with the way he chose to spend it. We figure after dinner we'll smoosh a couple starbursts together in to the shape of a cake for him. Hey, we're on a stripped out race boat, what can you do?!
We've seen tons of wildlife. The last watch said they saw a small school of Sperm whales. We've seen thousands upon thousands of sailing jelly fish and hundreds of flying fish.
Looking forward to a hell of a ride overnight.
July 15, 2019, 1030
Now we're cookin'. Looking back the 0200-0400PDT range wasn't our finest hour. We had a combination of lighter than optimal winds, an over zealously placed southern mark (MY BAD! hey, we work with the information we have when we have it...), and a bit too much soaking by the helms team (as they attempted to get down to the point I laid) that led to less than optimal numbers for those two hours. No worries, we've got great pressure, a great angle, and a great lane set up as we enter the "slot cars" portion of the race. A nearly 850nm leg of the race where, due to the Pacific high, it's incredible expensive (painful) to shift lanes to the South if we called it wrong. The lasts several hours of tracking data I've reviewed (delayed 4 hours from actual, same as what you're looking at at home) showed us making solid gains in the corrected distance made good column.
Michael, Bill, and Clay put up just an unbelievable watch in the 0600-1000 time frame. Michael was driving with laserbeam precision and Bill and Clay were relentless with the active spinnaker trimming to back him up. Well done, gents!
Capt Roger is on the helm right now and is throwing down some equally impressive numbers. It looks like Cat is trimming main for him and Liam is working the Spinnaker for him. No time to sit back and relax at this point - it's trim trim trim.
Breakfast was more of the freeze dried mystery meats. This one reported to be eggs with ham and peppers.
Clay's been nothing but ear-to-ear grin on this fine fine birthday morning of his, and the crew is lovin' life with this great ride at the moment.
Screamin towards Hawaii,
July 15, 2019, 0700
KATARA had a difficult evening as we made a few adjustments to course for what looked to be a better eventual angle for the merging pacific highs to the north of us. Soaking down cost a small amount of boat speed and our numbers against the fleet overnight reflect that. Now that we're on a better line we've heated up to what should be a much better angle, but we seem to be consistently 0.5-1.0kts slower than both the boats to weather and to leeward of us. We just ran the kelp flosser along the hull in hopes of unseating anything but found nothing. It's possible we're in a localized are of reduced pressure, but it seems unlikely as there are boats reasonably close with better speed. The hotter angle seems to be helping and it's likely a bit of a waiting game at this point to see if anything changes.
The entire crew wants to wish KATARA TPac crew member Clay Morris a very happy birthday. Seems in talking to him he said there is no place he'd rather be for the day. Quite a few friends and family emailed in to wish him well and he appreciated them all.
The sun is just coming up and it's shaping up to be a gorgeous morning and day. Only 1,690 miles to go, not even three Newport-Bermuda races.
On deck right now is Roger and his team for the 0600-1000 watch is Clay, Bill, and Michael.
July 14, 2019
Position: 29 14.7N 125 32.2W
Speed: 9-11 kts
Distance to go: 1,813 nm
Weather: Sunny with clouds, winds 000-020 @ 12-16 kts
Sail Package: Full Main, A4 Spinnaker
Hey Everyone,
It's been a very pleasant and productive trip aboard KATARA today. At about 10:20 PDT this morning we made the decision to peel from our A3 reaching kite to our downwind runner A4 kite. As always, Michael and the rest of the bow team rocked the peel, and the aft team juggled it nicely as well.
We're currently still the most northern boat in our division which is causing me some small amount of angst as I continually monitor weather in hopes of a reassurance that we haven't positioned ourselves too close to the Pacific High and set ourselves up to run out of pressure. According to everything I can see we're in a good spot, but time will tell. I suppose on this one we will look like all starts or chumps.
Now that our Runner is up it's likely we will stay on this board with this kite up for the next 5 days or so as we work around way west being slung shot around the High in the "slot cars" portion of the race. In about 185 miles we'll be in a position where we're locked in to a track that costs very significantly to deviate from.
Everyone on board seems in good spirits. Cat, Sam, and Liam are asleep now, preparing to take over at 1800PDT while the current on-watch team is taking turns driving and trimming the kite or trying to get a little extra sleep on the rail on top of the "stack pack" of sails we have piled on the weather side. Looks like Bill is driving at the moment - he's doing plenty of grinning from where I can see him - must be having a good go of it.
So far all systems are a go, and the water maker has been chugging right along producing good clear clean water for our needs. The new battery management plan seems to be going very well, as we're only charging about twice a day for a little over an hour, a massive improvement from our previous configuration.
We all hope everyone ashore is having a nice productive weekend and that you continue to enjoy following along with us.