They're off!

We did indeed make the dock party on the 29th, leaving Steveston after midnight on the 28th, and arriving in Victoria later that morning. Great to see familiar faces and old friends on the dock, and looking forward already to the celebrations in Lahaina! Tuesday and Wednesday were filled with the final race prep which is always barely-controlled chaos, but somehow with everyone working flat out, it all came together to get Turicum to the start line on Thursday morning.

Well, not exactly a screamingly fast start for the fleet, but hey, it's a long race. Many thanks to Linda and Scott Primrose for providing transportation to the start line and warm hospitality to the Turicum "shore support crew" on their beautiful yacht, Catherine. Turicum has managed to struggle out of Juan de Fuca; the wind picked up last night and the race tracker on www.vicmaui.org shows good progress. Andy has a blog as well -- his "view from the shore" if you'd like some observations on racing and the weather and wind http://turicumfriends.blogspot.com More news that's fit to print as it becomes available!