July 21, 2008 Day 10

Black Feathers
7:00 p.m.
Lat/Long: 30.26N 136.41 W
Distance to Finish: 1320 miles
Course: 255 degrees
Speed: 4.8 knots 12 hours: 52 miles closer to Kauai
Date: 7/21/08

Some great news today. The winds were light, but Robert kept his spinnaker up for 12 hours. He said he has never flown a spinnaker for 12 hours before. He will leave it up until dark. He FINALLY got a beautiful sunny day. The water is royal blue.

He is gaining on Carroll E and Sparky...they had about a 70 mile lead yesterday, that was reduced 40 and 20 miles respectively this morning. He's hoping to reduce it more so they can have a real competition for the three of them. Sparky has the highest handicap in the race, so Robert has to give him I believe 9 hours.
Robert displaces more water than either Sparky or Carroll E so the conditions between where he is now and Kauai...Black Feathers should said better...from San Francisco to this point, they were on a "reach" which benefited the other two boats.
The other factor is Robert went further south than the other two boats, and last night he had wind and they didn't. He did 4.0 knots and they did 2.0 and 2.5 respectively.

A fun tidbit: My friend, Jeanne Hannon, and her husband are on vacation in Paris, but yesterday they were in Brussels where they observed a man crossing the street wearing a TRANSPAC T shirt! What a kick.

 

Black Feathers
Time: 7:00 a.m.
Lat/Long: 30.51 N 135.48 W
Distance to Finish: 1372 miles 12 hours mileage: 58
Course: 255 degrees
Speed: 4.0 knots
Date: 7/21/08

Robert was a few minutes late calling this morning, he overslept! That's good news that he is getting sleep. He says he now can sleep for about an hour at a time.

Winds are light, about 10 knots, but expected to pick up and be about 20 mph by tomorrow.  He saw the moon and stars for the first time last night, although when he called this morning it was overcast.