This report from Triumph is a bit different, but if you’ve been on a race like Transpac, you know how odd people can be…
16:35 7-20
TWD 035
TWS 20.3
TWA 157
Sog 12.5
COg 240
What Day is it? We are having a great battle with Horizon. It’s a shock cord race we take miles from them then they take them back. We look to be exiting the slot cars as some boats have gybed earlier than I thought as we have been on the favored gybe the whole race.
I have been stressing since we dove south on Hoirzon on day 2 as they have been gaining bearing every day on the higher road, along with my fear that the weather is going favor the boats on the north right corner at the end of race.
Well to my surprise Horizon gybed to the south and not on a great angle to come across our transom by 11 miles. Now my stress has been relieved (well, almost) now the big guys like Artie Means have gybed south. So Back to second-guessing what is happening….
The long-range charts are showing me the north is opening up and that should be the way as the lows don’t seem to be a factor for us on our routing?
So for the fun stuff here is a report from our owner steve!
Best Jeff
Good afternoon people of the Tera Firma.
Triumph and her crew are in good spirits. The wind is behind us and consistently 18 – 24 knots. Our running kites are up and we are doing what we do – sail downwind, surfing waves. High boat speed is 21.3 knots held by Thorpe followed by Justin with a 21.1 knot ride. For some reason, several crew members are having a competition for the number of bowel movements. I do not approve of or condone this schoolyard nonsense. However, to facilitate crew harmony I let this one play out.
The Navigator’s Stew did live up to all the fanfare. Thorpe’s Yucatan Stew and Polenta was truly delicious and we spent the better part of last night’s watch dreaming up other menu possibilities. For some reason my Transpac craving for a Big Mac and a Diet Coke is back again – I can’t explain this as I am a loyal Del Taco fan.
The Law Man (Justin Law) smuggled a chair on board. This one I approve and appreciate and see many opportunities. This “Wind Chair” is a perfect addition to Triumph furniture. After 3 hours of trimming from the Wind Chair, it took 2 hearty soles to extract our navigator from the depression he had made in this chair. Even soft-spoken, perfect gentlemen Snow Man (Chris Snow) commented that the chair resembled certain female parts. (Don’t shoot the scribe – I am just conveying the highlights of the last 24 hours) and as tradition has it, the ocean spray and sleep deprivation do odd things to the mind.
Other important missives to report:
With excess water in the tank and the co-navigator Brad “Wheels” Wheeler reiterating his Transpac rule for showering, (Day 3 is suggested, Day 4 is greatly encouraged and Day 5 is required), 6 of the 8 crew took full advantage of this opportunity. Of course, Wheels is one of the 2 who has so far refused. He reminds me of Nancy Pelosi getting her hair cut. The navigator is the other criminal but he claims to have a doctor’s note so we aren’t pushing it, yet.
In the haste to get sails changed and bagged, Nick Gan’s show went missing and was found after an exhaustive search tucked inside one of the packed sails. Shows are important to avoid loss of digits and important as a bow man.
We have started to figure each other out a bit more each day. We know now that Thorpe wakes up a grumpy old man and we surmise this is due to low blood sugar. Justin Law may have solved this by dropping a dark chocolate-covered espresso bean in his mouth just before he wakes. We may have this issue solved.
Tomorrow is the traditional halfway ceremony where Nick Gan and Chris Snow will be sharing for the rest of the crew what this means to them by using the grass skirt, coconut chest coverings and various native wigs along with the yucallelle (that small Hawaiian guitar – I have no idea how to spelll this and no spell check onboard). We are recommended an Elvis or Don Ho song in praise of Hawaii and the sea gods but we will report back on this.
For now, we continue on, sailing, sleeping, eating, repeat. Everyone is in high spirits and working to the goal of safe transit to Hawaii.
Enjoy the Tera Firma with all its glory.
– Skipper Steve
