From the Home Front - Part 1 (by Roberta)

Day 8

I feel like a war bride... I know he's out there battling for something; a trophy for the team, bragging rights perhaps or is it  more than that, is it the courage to face Mother Nature's best and worst she has to offer? When speaking to others who have either done Vic-Maui or the wives of husbands who have survived this race (I'm talking about the wives); nobody mentioned what it would be like for me. They spoke about Maui and how much fun it is once the boys show up... The guys prepared him for all the good, bad and ugly... But not once did anyone help prepare me mentally for the emotional battles I would incur.

My emotions change hourly with their every move in the race: anxiousness, excitement, fear, happiness, the list goes on....  I am consumed by it all!

I can say honestly that I am very proud of my husband and his team mates for working together to keep everything in order, I know that their #1 goal is to get to Maui fast but also safely as well.  And having a little bit, ok a lot of fun along the way is well heart warming to know that 7 guys can survive on a 50' boat, and oh the shenanigans.

Between the hourly updates (seeing them inch their way to Maui), the daily blogs (from laughing my guts out to having my heart in my throat), to the other loving wives on the team in which I can turn to for support, I feel blessed to be connected to this ongoing roller coaster ride (note: they aren't quite at the half way mark yet).

My nights are sleepless as I wake to see where they are, my days go by hourly, again as I watch to see how they are doing. I find myself in a time warp, living my life right now 1 hour at a time... With each hour brings us new information, whether it is a change in their mileage, change of direction or even change in ETA, it's always changing.

One thing I have learned about myself in the past week is how strong and brave I am for him. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and after 21 years of marriage and 3 kids and him thousands of miles away, I can't help but keep falling in love with him every day even though he isn't here beside me.

So ladies of Vic-Maui virgins my advice to you: love your husband and support him, this is an opportunity of a lifetime and he WILL have the time of his life and that's ok, because he will miss you more than anything and you will learn a lot about yourself as you sit up many sleepless nights literally watching the boat on the tracker move tiny paces.  The support we show him comes back as an internal reward to ourselves because nobody can be our husbands biggest fans but us. Encouragement has its own rewards.

Well the clock has just turned the hour and it is time for an update - 4am!  (I work at 9am)

Missing my man tremendously, and I can't wait to see him on the shores of Maui....

Roberta

The First 24 Hours, by Jason

The First 24 Hours

We had a great send off from Victoria Harbour with friends and family seeing us off. There were a few teary eyes and heavy hearts, both on the boat and ashore as we pulled away from the Causeway Floats in front of the Empress Hotel.

We were fortunate to have Edward & Jane Karadontis escort us out to the start line with some of our family members aboard their beautiful Sabre 36. The weather at the start couldn't have been better with a 15-20kt westerly blowing and a strong ebb tide to push us along. At the starting gun we trimmed in the sails, were at the line and off we went on our 2,300 mile journey to Maui.

The sail out the Strait of Juan de Fuca was an excellent way to kick things off with constant winds from the West in excess of 20 knots pushing the boat as fast as she could go up wind with the occasional reef. Shortly after the start Turnagain, along with Turicum and Passepartout, begun to break away from the other boats in our early start (the remaining ten boats start on Saturday). The day was spent jockeying  for first place up the straight through Race Rocks and all the way to the tip of the Olympic peninsula. After over 12 hours we were still gladly diving and dodging one another as we closely swapped tacks with Turicum and Passepartout.

As evening approached, Darin prepared the first of many excellent meals (beef fajitas). I am happy to say that despite rolly-polly sea conditions we are all still holding our food down! During dinner Travis asserted his dominance as captain by cleaning up our dinner time game of 80's trivia, hosted by Ty. Travis' knowledge of Don Johnson movies is second to none.

After dinner, as we rounded the tip of the Olympic peninsula and took our first steps into the Pacific, the team soaked in a wonderful sunset with a small group of sea lions harping at us from astern. As night took hold and the temperature dropped, the wind bobbed around us as we struggled to get around the Cape Flattery bell bouy, our sole mark between Victoria and Maui. Shortly after rounding, the wind picked up for an hour and we had our first run under spinnaker with only the stars to navigate by. After an hour of screaming downwind the falling temperature took the steam out of our thermal breeze and left us with little do aside from bob around watching the navigation lights of our competitors in similar conditions at unknown distances, also waiting for more breeze. 

We spent the night on 4 hour watches listening to a mix of Adam and Ty's music (U2's  Joshua Tree right now), trying to keep the boat moving and spirits high as we charge towards Maui. We are having a blast and keeping busy with Steve Corcoran walking us through hoisting and dousing each sail in our inventory as we try to lock in a solution to our wind problem.

We are seeing lots of wildlife including: orcas, humpback whales, dolphins, great white sharks (possibly just a menacing looking dogfish), seals, sea lions, and millions of floating jelly fish with sails on them.

It's Friday morning now, time to turn the computer back over to pulling weather data. As we get into Tuna territory the focus is shifting from sail changes to getting the hooks baited. Stay posted for results from the first daily Turnagain Tuna Derby! <queue banjo music>

Check back for more news later today! 

Happy Birthday to Ty's daughter Daylie ( July 2nd) and Jason's Daughter Katherine (July 3rd).

Miss you all already,

The boys on Turnagain