Urban Renewal

Duct tape on our windows outside and in
Patches on sails ready to trim
After chili for dinner, the odors were abundant
I guess you can say the air was rather pungent
Junk yard dogs of the sea, we took on the fleet –
Victory in reach would be rather sweet.
We turned north, though our margins were thin,
we were taking a risk but we knew we might win.
While we thought we’d go fast, instead we ended up with our thumbs up our….
Ask us why we did it!!!
If it would have worked out we’d have cleaned the fleet out.
We look a little ghetto although we’re pretty cool.
After all, the boat is called Urban Renewal.

Aloha,

4:50 HDT, Sunday evening

Friends and family, We notified the race committee that we are 100 miles from the finish. YAHOO!! The sight of land is still 9-10 hours away. This adventure was greater than my expectations. The scope of things learned, about sailing and personally, rivaled any college credits one could amass. (Even though some of us are challenged by wind direction, like East vs. West).

Our current position: N22*33 W156*21
Wind: NE 12-16 nmph
Boat speed: 7.5 to 14 nmph
Swells: 2-4 meters

0200 hrs Sunday just coming off watch, Squalls and stars, driving constant 8-10kts / even hit a 16.1 my personal best / crashing water on deck / pitch black one min / stars and the milky way just unbelievable / on our watch 36 nms average 9 kts for four hours - -that is some hot stuff for me!!!. What a great adventure this has been for me. We started preparing about a year ago, then did the delivery and now the race - - WOW!!!

Aloha,

5:22 p.m. Saturday

"Ready or not, here we come." In San Francisco we met a captain, his quote, from his wife, "How can I miss you if you never go away." Well girls, we've been away, but I don't think it will become a habit. You are stuck with us. We are anticipating a Monday morning landing at Kaneohe Yacht Club. For those interested, we will be radioing KYC from 100 miles out, 25 miles out and 1 mile out. Then calling KYC at the finish line for an escort into the club.

Aloha,

Time: 6:48 p.m. pdt Friday July 25

Support team, "Urban Renewal" is charging towards the finish. We jibbed a few hours ago, yes, finally we are heading south. We could, conceivably, keep this tack right across the finish line. As noted above, we are 492 nm to R2 buoy. For the last few days we've been averaging 175 nm. Ahhhhhhhh, the flying fish,(inedible) have been landing on the deck every day, during the delivery and race. One of which is our mascot. We should have had this little guy leading us out of the "parking lot", 5 days ago.

Our position: N26*36 W150*47
Bearing: 221 degrees
Wind: NE "Trades" 10-16 knots

Aloha Family and friends,

After spending nearly two days in the parking lot looking for good deals, I mean wind, it was time to push forward. Yesterday, we recorded more miles toward "the finish line", than 6 of 7 yachts in our division. Finally, we gained a little ground. Today, was another very good day. There is hope of at least a respectable finish?? We currently have 668 nm to the finish line. Looks like a Monday or Tuesday finish. (Always, subject to change.)

Current position: N 27*33 W147*01
Wind direction: NE 10-14 nmph
Boat speed: 8.4, averaging 8 nmph for the last 5 hours
Swells 1-3 meters, surfing rarely.

Aloha,

7:36 p.m. pdt What a concept, we kept the boat moving all day and night long. A few days ago, not sure how many, we spotted a hundred to one hundred and fifty dolphin swimming in front of our bow. They were in a big hurry, splashing as they went. The line of dolphin stretched over one half mile. It looked as if they were herding other fish, but they swam a straight line. Perhaps they were the prey, not the predators?

Today was gorgeous, skies and water were blue and company was good. We are currently 828 nm to the finish line.

Our position is N27*55 W144*22
Bearing is 233 degrees
Wind is NE, blowing 10-15nmph,

We are out about 885 from Kaneohe Finish line. moving pretty close to the mark, but at least away from the effects of the HIGH PRESSURE SYSTEM that haunted us for the last 3 days. we figure we lost at least 2 days, mostly going 1 to 2 knots, sometimes we had to drop the main because the heavy sail created such a disturbance to the spinnaker when the boat rolled. This put us out of the hunt for 3rd place which we were close to when we ran out of wind. now we are trying to get out of the lace where we were yesterday, a short way ahead of the other j-35. Last night we had our half way party, nice steaks on the bar-B beer and wine and Ice cream sandwiches for desert!

Aloha,

A day and night of intermittent squalls provided us with wind. Not enough to keep us from dropping like rocks toward the bottom of the fleet standings. Nonetheless, great fun, laughter and experience is being had by all. We will have stories to tell. This morning we reached the half way point, 1038 nm. That equates to filet mignon BBQ tonight. Sounds like more entertainment to me. Randy caught a 30-35 pound Aku (tuna), early this afternoon. We released it. It would have caused much havoc on deck, plus dinner was already planned. Perhaps, tomorrow will bring similar success. The real success will be brisk winds all day long, we don't want to miss too many festivities at Kaneohe Yacht Club. We will keep you posted.