POSEIDON IS NOT KIND TODAY

Day 14 – July 20th

Holy Heat Batman!!! It is 33 C at 10 am Maui time and much hotter below
decks. We are ghosting along at 3.7 knots and very flat seas. The
anticipation of landfall is delayed as it will be light winds till the
finish. Last night Terry got the fright of his life while sitting in the
cockpit talking to Mort. All of a sudden, a flying projectile came missiling
at Terry from just over Mort’s shoulder and narrowly missed Terry`s face. It
was the first onboarding of a flying fish. Christof, start melting butter in
the frying pan!! Actually we took a quick picture and set him back to the
sea. Surprisingly that is the only flying fish that came a board, as
typically many can be found on the decks each morning. We did however find a
small squid one morning.

We are now expected to make landfall within 24 hours. We vote on what to
have for our last hot meal on board and today everyone gets a shower (Our
second shower of the trip, not including rain showers). Salmon and dill
sauce will be on the menu for lunch, followed by shepherd’s pie for tonight.
Just two of many fine meals we have had on board. Food has never been an
issue on this trip as we have all ate well; no weight was lost on this trip.

The wind all but died this afternoon. To make things worse, the wind
direction changed and we are no longer able to carry a spinnaker. Up on the
genoa. The sails flap helplessly as the boat rolls in the light swell,
making a terrible snapping sound. The surface of the sea is almost glassy,
not enough wind to carry the genoa. Up goes the wind seeker Where are the
Trade Winds?? Poseidon is not kind to us today. Maybe he did not like our
earlier offering of Screech? Next time we will carry a fine scotch. Turicum
comes to a screeching halt with the finish line in site. Painful. We would
like to know what conditions our competitors are in. The roll call in 40
minutes will tell us.

If we were not racing, it would be very beautiful out here: Drop the sails,
have a swim, get the barbie going, play some tunes, string the hammock from
the pole and have a G&T. Life would be so wonderful.

Don is nursing the boat along at about one to two knots, Terry is trimming
the wind seeker. Never relent, we are still racing!
We see some ripples on the water in the distance. Are they just teasing us,
like the clouds we saw around us promising the elusive wind or is it for
real this time? John is getting ready to get Zelda hoisted.

Gunnar orders to get the water maker going again. I don`t dare to ask him if
this has to do with our expected finish time.

The wind increases to 5 knots, too much for the wind seeker, down it comes
and up goes Zelda our large A-sail. The boat speed increases to 2.5 knots.
However, this is about 50 degrees off our course to Maui. It`s more
important to get the boat moving though and get somewhere where there is
wind. Time for the roll call. Back later.

Our official estimated time to finish the race is now 0830 am (Honolulu
Standard Time) on Saturday morning (Jul 21st).
6 pm – Black watch takes the deck. More sail changes as we are chasing the
wind. We are seeing a slight buy steady increase in wind. Every now and then
we get a bit of a breeze, only to see it drop off again. The boat speed
over the last hour was only 4 knots. Not enough to stay in 2nd place.
The atmosphere is tense on the boat now. Everybody is trying hard to keep
the boat speed up, constantly trimming the sails, focused on the helm and
closely monitoring boat speed.

As I am writing this, I hear the sound of the water rustling by the hull
change, the boat heels a bit more and I hear the winches creaking. Boat
speed is above 7 knots. Let`s hope this holds.

98 miles to Maui - back with more tomorrow.

Aloha