If even possible, the stress has increased. This morning’s position report has launched us to 1st in class, 1st overall. It will be a herculean task to hold onto this spot, as the fleet behind is charging towards Hawaii, and the competitors around us are also sailing hard to knock us out of first in the division.
As of this morning, we still have 440 miles to go before the finish at Diamond Head. We have not had the expected shift, however, and this is troubling, as we have de-leveraged the right a bit to sail towards THE EXPECTED CHANGE IN Wind Direction. If we get the shift soon, we will be OK. Otherwise, we will lose out a bit to the far right boat.
We have been averaging about 8.5 knots with about 12-17 knots of wind speed. Skies are typically patchy clouds cover, with the occasional squall overhead, accompanied by the usual 22 knot gust.
Location as of July 18, 2013 16:03 EST
Latitude: 23.640615
Longitude: -151.113488
Heading: 247.5 degrees