It's definitely an understatement to say we had anything less than severe weather! Storm/Hurricane force winds, record boat speeds, 4-5 meter waves in short frequency, Coast Guard rescues, crossing lee shores, & 90% race abandonment has the obvious marks of stories to tell for years!! Beyond that however, I think the reason for our success was the calm diligence of the crew and adapting to the circumstances. I can remember one evening offshore we were deciding what to run with overnight and went for 'Thunder Chicken' (when nothing else will do!) and within minutes of hoist realizing we had to douse what we just put up as the winds had actually picked up and changed direction. The plan that was executed so well backfired just as quickly and we had all crew (less the driver) pull this now giant drouge out of the water in 70 foot seas - an event that still sticks out in my mind today. It was still the best decision as if we would have had to do that at night it would have made things MUCH more difficult (we ended up running the #2 headsail). What I am trying to convey with this story is the practice of: Don't get into what you can't get out of. Many of the boats at the start put up spinnakers and there was a point at the beginning where we could (maybe) have put up an asymmetrical, but that is a lot of sail in a gale. If we would have been aggressive like some of the other boats we could have had a blowout of the spin or main or (probably worse) is we could have created a very expensive drogue as per my offshore example and would have been part of the 90% abandonment with increased risk of injury to the crew. Being a relatively new crew I fully believe we sailed the boat to the best of our abilities in the conditions provided and I would consider it a privilege to sail with any of you in the future - although it looks like I will not be able to join you on any further races before 'the big one'. I wish everyone the best on their journey to Maui. My wife, daughter, and I hope to see you guys off the night before you leave.
Regards, Carl
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