July 24th, 15:00 utc – lat 22 42 N, lon 149 03 W, Squall Riders

We rode squalls all night and that worked well for us.

This morning is bright. Richard and I worked hard all night. We jibed 5 times in front of squalls to stay in the big breeze. We can now jibe this huge ‘OceanGizmo’ Melges-style, just the two of us, and do it quickly in up to 22 knots of wind. The Open specialists told us that ‘you never do that, it’s too risky.’ We don’t like risk as much as we like to go fast and stay in front of squalls. That’s fast. Fast is fun. We rode a big line of squalls for 6 hours to the South and then jibed West before being overtaken.

This is the best sailing that I have ever done… It’s like crossing an ocean on a 505. The boat is that nimble and that ‘on the edge’ and with the two of us, it’s exactly the same dynamics as a 49er, 505 or a 470 crew. The sails are a bit bigger! What is remarkable is that we are pacing a fleet of fully crewed racers… It’s just amazing… And fun.

This morning at 6 am pst, Honolulu is 512 nautical miles away on a bearing of 250 degrees magnetic. We can almost see the Lighthouse from here!

A Squall-Rider’s sunrise