Moments after posting last night's blog entry, after baking in extremely light breeze for the bulk of the afternoon, the team shifted into recreation mode. Adam kicked out the back table and started dealing cards. Travis dropped the fishing hook in the water. And the rest of the team assembled around the table for a few hands of cards while we waited for the wind to pick up. Ty was steering half-heartedly to keep some shape in the sails in the occasional whispers of wind.
Then everything happened, all at once.
Ty went downstairs to check on how dinner was coming, leaving Adam with two hands of cards to play while steering the boat with his foot. The wind filled from behind slightly, bucking the boat into first gear. All of a sudden everyone's attention snapped towards the fishing reel perched on the stern pulpit that screamed to life. Something had bit the other end and began to violently swim away from the boat as fast as it could. Everyone dropped their cards and Travis bolted across the deck for the reel to slow it down before it ran out of line.
The rest of the team scrambled to their battle stations as the sails filled with a pronounced "whoompf!" and the boat lurched to speed. Cards began to fly everywhere as if someone had taken a leaf blower and shot it across the table while Travis ignored the chaos around him and began to reel the beast in. The fish breached the water around fifty feet behind us, a beautiful turquoise and yellow striped Mahi Mahi, around two feet long, snapping and writhing in the air.
The boat exploded in excitement. The Invitational was back on!
Adam tried to keep speed down on the boat in sync with Travis while the rest of the team kept the boat together and then assembled for the traditional photo shoot with the fish as soon as it was on deck.
For those keeping track at home, here is the leader board for The Invitational:
1st - Travis - 22 lbs - Mahi Mahi
2nd - Darin - 18 lbs - Big Eye Tuna
3rd - Adam - 15 lbs - Big Eye Tuna
Following that gift from the sea, King Neptune continued to smile on us as the breeze continued to build from behind. We put up huge sails to insure that we took advantage of every puff we were offered. As evening arrived we plowed on in huge wind and waves and started our first heavy weather run at night, in very poor visibility, with our biggest and fastest sails up. The benefit of doing this is to maximize the miles we can clock on the home stretch. Everyone on board is getting anxious to see their loved ones as quickly as possible!
The downside of such an aggressive move is that it makes you very vulnerable and you need to have your crew work operating like a Swiss watch or someone or something could be seriously injured. Ty took the helm for the first two hours of the night run as the wind built up to a speed that required three sailors on deck that knew exactly what was going on, ready to spike the kite at a moment's notice. As the sun disappeared, Ty and Steve T. took the first shift running blind in heavy seas and did a great job of demonstrating the stability of the current rig while getting the boat screaming to Maui. The helm was then passed off to Adam, Darin and Jason for the second four-hour shift in absolute darkness. We were highly overpowered but making huge gains.
Then it all fell apart.
A light mist of rain blanketed the crew on deck from a passing storm cell (that we had no idea we had sailed under), and about two seconds later, out of nowhere, a massive squall came over our rear quarter on the port side, pinning the boat on its ear with the kite in the water. Daren and Jason responded to Adam's attempts to drive the boat downwind and regain control flawlessly. The boat was back up in moments and under full control without out damage to person or property. Needless to say our hearts were pounding a mile a minute.
Travis came on deck to make sure everything was ok. After briefly checking things out he commended the crew for getting things back in order so quickly and asked if it was time to drop the kite and put up a more conservative sail. The crew thought that they could handle the odd squall. As Travis was about head back down to sleep I remember looking at the wind-meter and seeing it ramping from fifteen knots to twenty-five knots, a clear sign that we were about to get walloped again and so yelled "SQUALL!". I am not sure if I even finished the word before the second squall gave us a much harder kick than the first. I am not sure what the peak wind speed of the second squall was but it was well into the thirties and put a humble calmness into the crew on deck. Again, there was no yelling and the crew was able to quickly get the helm back in control.
Moments later Steve C. popped his head above deck to see what was going on. After a very brief discussion it was agreed that we would drop the sail and move to white sails until the visibility increased or daylight broke. We can handle squalls, but only if we can see them coming.
The aggressive tactics of the night are paying in spades and we will be very close to clocking 200 miles today, if not more. Our competitors did not choose to ride as dangerously as we did last night and it has helped drive the distance between us and them a little bit deeper.
We now have less than 600 miles to go and favorable winds from behind that we have been waiting for! Maui should be visible in the next couple of days and we are eager to celebrate our hard-earned achievements!
Missing you all like crazy,
The boys on Turnagain
No comments:
Post a Comment