Mail from the Peregrine - Days 2, 3 and 4

Today we received the mail from the Peregrine summarizing days 2, 3 and 4 of the race:

Tuesday: Day 2
Like Ernest Shackleton once wrote... "South!" We are driving south like crazy, to avoid a high pressure system containing light headwinds that lies right on the direct path to Hawaii. We plan to come around underneath it and head down to the strong winds of the trades. Weather is gloomy and the wind is off the nose, so we are beating down the course.

Over the evening radio call, other boats report dining on sushi and stroganoff. We have a delicious meal of spagetti, followed by dried pineapple of an almost molasses like quality.

Wednesday: Day 3
Morning roll call. All boats are hailed over short-wave radio and report their 6AM position. The much-vaunted transponder system was supposed to make this process obsolete, but due to a programming error, they have failed in their only useful task to the racers.

We are the most southerly and least westerly boat, putting us dead last. Navigator Jeff mimes hanging himself, then mimes shooting himself in the head as a coup de grace. But Andy reminds everyone that things are exactly as we planned. Our boat needs brisk wind abaft the beam to perform its best. By heading south, we are staying in those breezes, and it shows. We've gone twice as far as the boats that struck out due west. But, they went in the direction towards Hawaii. We hope that our south move will pay off as we get to the strong trade winds quicker.

In the middle of the day, the clouds burn off and the sailing turns glorious. We whip through smooth seas with our big jib top set, making 6 to 8 knots on 10 to 14 knots of breeze.

Suddenly, the foul weather gear comes off, revealing the foul smell of the the clothes underneath.

The night is even more beautiful, as the breeze holds steady and we cruise along under an incredible dome of starry skies, graced by the occasional meteor. A pod of whales of an unidentified species surfaces alongside the boat and cruises with us for a while. They are long and sleek, with black smooth backs and a small dorsal fin.

Thursday: Day 4
Morning roll call and the race is crystallizing into two strategies. Five or so boats are challenging for the southermost position. While other boats are struggling west through the light adverse winds.

Forecasts show the high we've been dodging will slide west and blump out into a long fat sausage of high pressure, almost 2000 miles long, right along the direct path from LA to Hawaii. That's good news for us, 'cause it will make life tough for the Transpac boats that depart on Thursday, and even Monday. But it's bad, because it forces us ever more southward to get away from the light, calm breezes that will lie in that high pressure zone.

It's looking like a long trip. At least the weather is awesome where we are.

Major crisis: the catering crew somehow packed only three Tecates and a bottle of rum. We shared one can of beer this morning, carefully sharing out the beer like castaways in a life raft doling out water.

At 8am this morning, a spinnaker hove into view on the horizon behind us, about 5 miles back. Like Jack Aubrey fleeing the "Waakzamheid", we cracked on all sail (our biggest spinnaker and a staysail) and heated up. Slowly we drew out of cannon range to safety.