Vic-Maui wrap up...

It is September 27^th….. where has the past month and a half gone???  

To complete the VicMaui return story... 

We got into Victoria at 7:30 am on August 14^th after a long night of motoring through the fog, dodging ships and fishing boats down the Straight of Juan De Fuca.  Jason B from the race crew and Dave's family were at the docks to greet us and we all went for breakfast in Victoria. Elisa and I left Victoria on the boat by about 11am and had an uneventful motor to Vancouver arriving at about 7pm, where I loaded the dinghy and promptly left for Secret Cove.  

Two hours after leaving Vancouver, the sky totally covered over and there was a long lasting electrical storm. I guess the ocean gods figured I had too relaxing a trip home from Hawaii to let me off easy. The wind came up to about 25-30 south east and I ran under jib alone from Gibsons down to Merry Island hoping the storm would not take out the electronics.  I arrived in Secret Cove at 1:30 tired, but safe and a greating by my dad at the dock.  It was GREAT to be back J. 

A couple of days of tidying and converting the boat back to a cruiser (well… a comfort cruiser, I don't think it ever really turned into a racer;) and the family moved on.  The kids and I spent the next three weeks cruising up and down the coast with Catharine spending everyday she wasn't working on the boat with us. It was an amazing way to wrap up the summer. 

Catharine and I are currently anchored just on the east side of Gabriola pass spending a weekend with just the two of us out on the boat. We had a nice relaxing sail across from Vancouver today, and it looks like it will be a motor home tomorrow. 

The first rough version of a Vic Maui video has been posted to the channel (turnagain50) on Youtube.  There is hours of footage to still go through and there should be more videos coming.  

Catharine is working on a book of the entire trip, and I have been asked to speak at a couple of yacht clubs about our experience on the race. 

Again. Thanks to everyone for such an amazing experience. 

Travis

And they're OFF! by Catharine (Part 1)

For a while I've been telling myself it's not that big a deal that these guys are sailing across an ocean, starting today.  I've now come to the conclusion it IS a big deal.

There was a frenzy of last-minute stuff to do first thing this morning.  The bimini had to be disassembled, the filters on the water maker changed, weather routing planned, new sails hoisted, final stowing of gear, water tanks filled, all before 0830.  Check!

Here are the guys in their snazzy Helly Hansen Crew Midlayer jackets.  From left to right: 

Adam, Steve C, Steve T, Jason, Travis, Darin, and Ty

And just to switch up the order, here's Ty, Steve T, Steve C, Travis, Adam, Jason, and Darin

We were really lucky to have Edward and Jane host us on Halcyon as Turnagain's official spectator boat.  Here's Ed and Jane wishing the guys well :)

Some emotional goodbyes...

At 0900 they left the dock, and said their final goodbyes to all of us left behind.  This was an emotional time, and it's all finally starting to sink in.

Vic-Maui Eve, by Catharine

The guys spent July 2nd running around like crazy people.  Food shopping, buying dry ice, getting delivery of some new sails, stowing everything away, last minute trips to various stores, sending Steve C up the mast.

Travis nearly had smoke coming out of his ears as he tried to troubleshoot email via the Sat Phone.  The rest of the guys arrived (Adam, Steve T, Jason, Ty), and there were meetings, and an overall sense of stress and maybe a bit of panic, at least for some of them.

The guys decided to re-purpose the dry ice chest as a cheeky tool to psych out the competition. They wrote Lamb Day 4 on the side of it and positioned the chest on the transom for all passersby to see.  The looks on people's faces were priceless.  Of course there is no lamb for Day 4, but it doesn't hurt to have other people thinking there is!

By evening most important things had been sorted out, and we all went out for dinner at Cactus Club.

Canada Day and Vic Maui, by Catharine

Steve C, Darin, Travis, and I attended the Phase 1 send-off party on July 1st on the docks.  Just in case the Mai-Tais and leis weren't enough to put the guys in a festive mood, we had the background Canada Day celebrations of the inner harbour.  

There was certainly an air of excitement among the various crews as they exchanged preparation stories and past experiences, but I could tell there were a lot of nerves too.  Give the current unsettled weather, a crew member from Bedlam explained they'd likely be navigating using Tea Leaves and Horoscopes :)  It was fun to see how various boats were set up.  

Travis sporting his rainbow loom bracelet Sylvia made him :)

Vic Maui 2014 Official Flag

Maybe Turnagain will have this many one day!

It Starts

I have just left the dock in Coal Harbour to begin the delivery to Victoria.  The last week has been even busier than the previous months of prep. Moving food onto the boat. Final equipment setup and stowage of all the spares etc.

The boat is about as ready as it will get (once we pack the fresh foods in Victoria) and has lowered down closer and closer to the waterline with every trip down to the boat.

The whole trip is really starting to hit home. It is way different talking about sailing to Maui for two years than actually untying and leaving.     There have been many people that have helped get Turnagain ready for this trip including (but not limited to) Catharine – my VERY supportive wife, the team at First Yachts (Brad and Adam mostly, but the rest of the team supporting them), the Turnagain team with a TON of hours from Darin, and the crew at Xprt who have taken a lot of work off of my plate to allow me to focus on this prep, and a lot of support from David and Gaylean Sutcliffe with the VicMaui committee.

We will be in Victoria early Monday am and I hope to have at least once daily updates to this blog from now until Maui and then again on the return.

Travis

Swiftsure 2014

Well, Swiftsure was a bust (again).  Excellent winds heading out around the mark, followed by glass calm seas.  Many boats, including Turnagain, elected to drop out.  Such is life in the world of sailing!

Oregon Offshore 2014 - Update

By Catharine:

Turnagain went off the grid for a while.  At 1720 the Race Tracker indicated they were off Aberdeen at the back of the pack (all the other boats had been updated more recently), but then nothing further was updated until almost midnight.  I finally picked them up on AIS as they approached Cape Flattery, then the Race Tracker updated, showing them approaching the cape shortly after midnight.

Here is what the Race Tracker shows, as of 0200 (note: the super fast boats have already finished the race in record time apparently):

Currently (based on AIS date from Marine Traffic), Turnagain appears to be racing down the Juan de Fuca straight at 11.1kts!  They are ahead of Velocity, Ion and Avalon, and not far behind Kinetic.  Turnagain is the pink boat just above the number 112.  The boats ahead of Turnagain appear to be travelling slower (7kts), so perhaps Turnagain will catch up and then they'll all just drift towards Race Rocks.

Looking forward to seeing how it all shakes down.  I wish all the boats had AIS, or that more boats were updated on the official Race Tracker :)

Oregon Offshore 2014 Update

By Travis:

Turnagain was amped to get off the dock this am. We departed at about 5:45 and made our way to the "Bar". Things were benign at the bar this am with a slight swell of 2-3 ft on the end of the flood tide. It was a down wind start in 15-18kts, which we managed to be the last ones over the line for. Shortly after the start, we hoisted out big A2 and attempted to sail that. We quickly got the active sheet fouled and had to douse the kite. We then went to the little kite for a while. The sailing was awesome, but the wind has increased and we were seeing steady 22-28 kts. After two round ups, we decided the prudent call was white sails only. Adam took over the wheel and promptly got the boat up to 18.1 kts.

Sailing is GREAT and more info to come!

Oregon Offshore 2014 Underway

Oregon Offshore 2014 Race Tracker

After a rolly trip down (sounds like there were swells coming from every direction), it looks like the race is off to a good start.  There are a few boats out in front, then a 'pack'.  Turnagain appears to be mid-pack.  I don't know what the current wind conditions are, but Turnagain is sailing along at around 9 kts according to the tracker.

Oregon Offshore 2014

It's that time of year again...Oregon Offshore.  Travis is currently en route from Victoria to Astoria, and the race starts later this week from Astoria.  Here's Travis' current update:

Travis - 22:00 May 3, 2014 - Just off Victoria BC

The trip down to Astoria started with a sunny "delivery" style commute to Victoria on Friday.  Leaving the dock in Vancouver at 9:30am was a great change from our original plan of a 5am departure.  We spend a fun night in Victoria, RVicYG.  Leaving RVYC at 8:50pm, we have started out to Astoria.  As usual, the weather has not materialized as forecasted and we are motoring towards Race Rocks as I type this.  With the delayed travel, Jason and Mackenzie were unable to make the trip, so we are at 5 currently on board.  The group has been fantastic.  Eric, found on the VicMaui crew bank, has been a fantastic find and has fit in exceptionally well with the group.  Hopefully we get some wind as I know everyone will be frustrated with continued motoring for the next 36 hours if it does not build.

It is typical boating as we leave the dock this evening.  The steering light is really dim and needs to be replaced at our earliest option, the starboard steering wheel has a slight squeak to it that needs tending to - hopefully we can resolve it in the light of day tomorrow.

That is all for now, but many more email updates to come as we have systems to test :)

VICTORIA TO ASTORIA

So Travis, Steve, and Jason left for Astoria (Oregon) on Saturday May 4th from Victoria.   Here is a picture shortly after they left Victoria:

 

 

Travis reported they were sailing under spinnaker and full main at 7-9 kts in almost the perfect direction. 

 

The kids and I watched their progress on the marine traffic website until their transmitter lost contact as they rounded the outside of the Olympic peninsula.  Sylvia and Callum were quite cute, huddled around the ipad tracking Daddy's 'race'.  

It was a little unnerving to know they were out there somewhere (in the dark) but we couldn't see them on the map anymore.  But at least we knew that the weather was favourable, so chances are they were ok.  We picked them up again on Sunday morning, and it looked like they were making great progress.   We followed them into port in Astoria, see the map below:

Looking forward to hearing how the trip was....will have to wait for an official update. 

Catharine