June 30 - after briefly loosing the steering cables, First Sight drives forward again under spinnaker.

Day 1 6/25 - " beat out the straits in the eve aftr anchoring for hours e race rocks. I am 8 to 12 / 4 to 8 shft . We get past neah bay at dawn then sit fer 2hrs at mouth of straits. Finally break free aftr 2hrs "


Swept Away leads First Sight on a tight reach in the Straits of Juan De Fuca, 1 hour after the start.

Day 2 6/26 - " beat in 0 to 10 down WA coast. I am 2 to 8. Weather flukey 3 or 4 boats ahead. Lost scop but feel ok. Sum puked 4x. Night: the wind came up and we power reached thruout the night w/ # 1 up in 20kts midnight to 4. The winds eased a bit after 5 but still blowing 10-15 SW. "


John E and Ron S hard at work fixing the battery charging problem on day 2.

Day 3 6/27 - " power reach in 10-14 @ 180 down coast 100 m off Astoria. Turricum (mojo?) was w/ us this am but we horizoned them now in the last 6hrs. JE had a go at the battery problems and now both batts are being charqed and we have CD too. At 1 wind is 14.9 SW and steady. We are out of sight of land now and we have only seen turricum and 1 comm. Vessel since dawn. "


Summer L. drives a cold windy beat down the coast of Washington, into a brewing storm.

Day 4 6/28 - " the 8 pm watch started w/ us collectively changing to #3. Progressively the wind built overnight first we did a single reef, then another. During the 4 to 8 watch we noticed the mains hanks were ripping out-the top 5-6 were already gone. So we took down the main and lashed it to the boom. By roll call we were driving under #3 alone in 35 knots and so was everyone else on the course. Mojo was still near us, swept away and time bandit are about 60 miles ahead while the rest of the fleet is near us. Around 7pm the wind abated and by 9, while still blowing 20-25, the storm was over. We put up the cruising main with 2 reefs and were finally able to drive a favored course. I went off watch at 8 and when I came on at midnight the seas were flatter and we were driving 210 with unreefed main and #1.

Thoughts on the storm:
the problems w/ main were only the beginning of worries. So far the trip had been mellow but throuqhout the night and into the heavy seas and winds of the next day, 1 prblm aftr another cropped up that made storm life hard: the taking down of the main in 25 kts, the loss off all instruments due to a short in the cracked mst knotmtr, JR myself & Don seasick, taking on water thru fwd sail locker and bilges not working due to clogging stuff in bilge filter, beginning stages of hypothermia were all concerns. This was no easy storm that forced Swept Away, a race leader, and Fasttrack to retire. It made me more confident in myself as a seaman, the boat, and crew to ride out this storm and fix all problems encountered. The boat drove surprisingly well in 30-35 kts under #3, despite losing 2 of the 3 battens (we found them on deck). I was not concerned at all about driving the boat throuqh the storm-it was really fun! "

Day 5 6/29 - " the midnight - 4 watch featured flat seas, 14-22 knots of wind, full moon, stars - just an awesome night of sailing. By the time we came up the winds slacked off to 8-12, so we changed mains during the lull. By noon the wind has come up enuff for us to drive fwd, but not fast. This is a slow race so far-5 days into it and we are still abeam of the OR coast. Later: the wind has finally filled in fr 6 to 10 steady and the boat is hauling upwind again in the 7s. Swept away and Fasttrack have both retired at this point. Saw black-footed albatross. Caught and ate a 5-6 lbs tuna! 6pm still 10 kts and the boat is still motoring along. "


Cam G. drying out after the storm as First Sight heads south in brisk winds and clear sunny skies.

Day 6 6/30 - " today we powered along in 16-20kt SWerlies. The wind was clocking aft all day. I dont remember all that much about this day, other than at about 4pm, while my watch was putting in a 2nd reef, we lost our steering cables (they jumped track). After bobbing around for an hour with JE and others fixing, we were on our way. A short time afterwards Ron convinced us to hoist the chicken kite. So w/ 2 reefs and the chicken kite, we started the downwind ride. We had turned the first corner! "


Confused seas and 25 knots of air made some of us think twice before hoisting the spinnaker, but the boat was stable downwind even in these conditions.

Day 7 7/1 - "all thru the night we flew the chicken kite. In the morning we did a bear headed peel to the 1.5oz, and a short time later we took out the reefs. The day dawned awesome, with puffball cumulus ciouds, and Jeito passing us in the distance to stbd. A fine day w/ winds frm 8-22 frm the N. We are steering 210. At 1800 the skies have become overcast and qrey. "


The crew repairs many blown hanks on the racing main.

Day 8 7/2 - " The high moved 100s of miles S overnight and caught us completely today. In the morning the winds were ok but started getting lighter and lighter-then by noon had dropped to below 4 kts. Cams watch is not as patient w/ the light air and not much progress was made in the afternoon-the main was taken down. When my watch came on, we put up the main and chased small squalls. Winds were between 4-10 kts, and we made 17 mi. in 4 hrs. But our total mileage was only 75 mi. for the 24 hrs. At 4am we came up to only a hoisted jib, so we put up the main again and resumed the light air work. "

Day 9 7/3 - " Wow, day 9 already and we are still light air beatinq to try to get S. Cam's 8am watch dealt w/ ligthter conditions for their watch, but it was tolerable. After my shift came on the wind started filling in to 10 kts steady w/ gusts to 12."


Cam G., John E. and Summer take the evening shift.

Day 10 7/4 - " the darkest hour is just before dawn the 10th day was spent beating into a consistent sw 10-13 knt breeze all day. I was am shift-strange days, the last few. Beating into a breeze coming from Maui, 10 days into the race. of the 10 days weve been at sea, only 2 have been under spin. Mojo Riding is still far to the S. We have finally caught Greyhound and Charlemange. Jeito is logging terrible mileage (for their rating) about 110 mi S. Finally, Surt is behind us. The 8pm - 12 shift was spent beating on a slight lift and then changing down to the 3. I got no sleep. 4 - 8 was black w/ heavy rains and squalls. The wind went from 7-25 and back in minutes, but clocked around so that by dawn we launched the 1.5oz. We lost a guy overboard. It was a wet, miserable, very black watch. "


John E. shows off the mahimahi.

Day 11 7/5 - " under spin again now, at first in very confused seas, now getting more consistent. Many high clouds and diffuse light. Our frozen meals (3 left) were all thawed by yesterday. I am on afternoon shift and then midnight watch too. Not much sleep the last few days. "


Crossing tacks with Charlemange, 11 days into the race. They were only one of two boats we saw all race - Jeito had passed us to the South several days earlier, before the High caught us all.

Day 12 7/7 - " 8am shift started w/ a gybe S in 10 kt NEerly. The rest of the day proceeded on a gybe S at 180-200 with no change other than a slight header all day. Sunny warm day, slow progress S. Only Surt had as good a day as we did yesterday-130 mi made good. Greyhound and Charl both had 110 mi. days. Oriole is doing poorly at the moment, and Jeito is also doing poorly to the S. We are flying the .75oz again, all day. High pressure set in today in the N, and the gybe was timely. We escaped the building pressure and dropped from 1024 this am to 1021 and steady now at 210. "

Day 13 7/8 - " We made fair progress overnight in 10-15 kt E, veering SE after midnight in light airs to where Cam put up the #1. When we took over at 4 we were on a steady beat in 10 kts. We had an interesting dark watch. At one point we negotiated a commercial vessel, one of the few weve seen. At 7am we went through a dramatic transition from a cool SE breeze to a warm, light, and humid E. We drifted for an hour before the wind built enough to fill the large .75. Later in the am, when Summer was driving, the chute gave up the ghost, and we changed to the .75 C&C chute, which we've been carrying all day, reaching along at 210-220. The wind has been getting lighter and lighter, right now blowing only 7 kts from the ESE. Not much to do. I am ready for some real boatspeed. "


Trade wind sunset.

Day 14 7/9 - " midnight-4 shift was pretty uneventful. Dawn was completely overcast and grey, but w/ decent winds for once. Morning shift featured winds from 8-20 w/ more constant sea state. We were entering the trades! As the afternoon shift took over the seas and wind built until John E did a series of spectacular round ups in 25 kts. Then things calmed down a bit to a steady 15-20 and voila, it was official, we were in the trades. 570 mi. to Maui. We hope to arrive Fri eve sometime at this rate. The trades have a more confused sea state than I thought. 8-12 shift is where things got interesting. Steering through the steep and confused waves in the dark and at high speeds was edge of the seat sailing! I was second to last shift when, under 1.5 and 1 reef(?) I performed a spectacular burn-out. Not quite as gripping as the double-header JE did earlier that day in 30 kts, but still exceptional! We went to the chicken kite after that, which proved forgiving and fast. "


Driving forward into the Trades.

Day 15 7/10 - " 4-8 shift was driven at high speeds under chicken kite and double reefed main. For the most part it was uneventful, but at one point Fred drove the boat for about 15 min at 30+ kts. I had the last shift in the rotation and drove til dawn. Then a sleeping pill and 4 hours of ok sleep. Now on the 2-8, winds have eased a bit and we are on stbd pole at 280-290. Winds are down to 15, and the going is slower. "

Day 16 7/11 - " almost there Within 200 ml now of Maui - tnight is our last set of night shifts. The 8-12, w/ 1 hr real darkness, is what we are on now. Skies clear, winds backed a bit and lighter (12-18). Last night and tihs morn we had to unwrap 2 separate spin wraps. We were 8-2 today and smoked a bit at 9-10 kts down course under chix kite and sometimes reefed main in 20-25 kts. Now on 8-midnight and wind has backed a bit. 180 mi to go. Looks like no squalls building. Last night was perfect! No squalls, balmy temps, 18 kt wind, real nice. The 8-12 shift was a non-event. The 4-8 shift was dark and treacherous, w/ some round ups in really bad wave action. For about half the night the wind picked up and we got a 30' header, but that was the exception. Last night was not fun-no sleep and difficult driving, and black "


A spectacular dawn in the South latitudes.

Day 17 7/12 - Land Ho! " When the 8am shift came up, it was still dark. We gybed on a lift and I went down below for about 2 hrs sleep. On avg I have been getting about 3-4 hrs sleep a day here in the trades. Now on the 2-8 shift. We plan on finishing at 11 Pacific, or 8 Hi time- I dont know how realistic that is but it sure would be nice if we finishd w/ daylight. Cant see land yet-I like this, but am way ready for it to be over! We are now in sight of Maui, 45 mi to the entrance of the channel. Its a very cloudy muggy day, but not too sunny yet at noon HI time.

(The rest of this written several days later)
The run and reach down the N shore of Maui was beautiful! Off Kahalui the wind built to 35+ kts, and we doused and reefed to the 2nd reef, still doing 8.5 kts. After gybing out of Kahalui the wind subsided again and we shook out the reefs in the main and launched the spin until we reached Pailolo channel. Here, 5 mi from the finish, the wind and swell built rapidly. Suddenly the boat was overpowered in a big gust, and over on its ear full on. It wasnt coming up even after the main was dumped and boom was dragging in the water, and sheet was released. The guy was now also eased but Fred didn't release it fast enough and the spin pole started getting pressed against the forestay. After several long seconds the spin pole snapped! The boat finally came up-after taking on water through some open hatches. The remaining 5 mi was not as eqentful."


Don, Summer, and Alex enjoy the warm greeting party!