IN HOT PURSUIT

Day 6 – July 12th
We got up on deck at 10 pm for the graveyard shift. Coming on deck a star
lite sky left us breathless. The Big Dipper and Polaris to our starboard and
the tiniest of crescent moon was glowing orange just above the horizon on
our stern.

To stay on course I put a star between mast and the starboard shrouds and
kept it there. The slightest deviation from our optimal course is instantly
visible – no instruments needed. The winds diminished a little bit but
Zelda, our light A-sail is pulling Turicum along steadily at an average of 8
knots.
It’s a wonderful night and Turicum enjoys dancing with the stars, getting a
little nudge every now and then from one of the waves pushing her to pick up
the rhythm a bit.

2 am, time for us to get some rest before a new day will start at 6 am.

It is now 8 am and we are cruising along our course. The sun is up, the
foullies come off and sunscreen gets lathered on. Two of the on watch crew
get the “tough” job of hiking to windward, their face in the sun. It is hard
to see if they pay close attention to sail trim or just drift off into
dreamland.

I have not introduced the team yet. On black watch we have Gunnar, skipper
and fearless leader, Dave, Mike & Christof. On Red watch there is John,
watch captain, Mort, Don and Terry. While Red watch is made up of Vic-Maui
veterans, Black watch is the rookie team with only Gunnar having done
Vic-Maui. Other than for a brief moment during watch changes and for all
hands on deck manoeuvres we hardly see the other team. Currently Red watch
holds the 6 hour record of 57 miles. Black watch is only two miles behind.
(Red watch would like to add we have the all out 2012 Vic Maui World Speed
Record on Turicum of 16.3 Knots by two stellar drivers Don and Mort). We
hope the tie can be broken.

We have now logged 950 miles since the start in Victoria and have just over
1,500 miles to go to Hawaii. Light winds are in the forecast until we will
hit the trade winds a few days from now. The crew is in good shape, really
well fed (we had chicken “a la parmesana” with pasta yesterday), thanks so
much to Mort, Marie and Ede for the grub and we are in hot pursuit of
Kinetic who is currently leading our Division.

We are feeling like it is time to get to business on this race and Terry
yells to Mike “DRIVE IT LIKE A RENTAL”.

Lunch time, back later.