DAY 9 - July 17 2018

Here is a little update of the crew aboard :

"We are officially on Hawaiian time: 3 hours behind California. We had an easy night. Girafon found her sea legs again and we are finally out of the bubble, although we used up all our extra fuses. I also ate an entire package of Haribo candy and I have a stomach ache… Thinking back and considering the weather we had, we did well. We lost 17 nm laterally, but gained 9 longitudinally contrary to our route calculations. The initial idea was to cut full South with an optimum angle of 135-140 heading directly to Hawaii. Experts will understand our pompous prose which would have you believe we are in control of the weather. Starting last night, our speed went up to 8 – 9 knots which is great for the crew’s state of mind. Not exactly Girafonnic speeds because a Figaro 3 comes to life around 10 knots or more. So, yesterday was still a bit slow: we cleaned, dried, showered, organized stuff, and switched sails… often. While switching spinnakers, we heard that Naos Yachts is now a Beneteau Voile (Sails) dealer: great news! Very proud of my team without whom I wouldn’t be here at 29.25N by 149.18W right now. From now on, I will sail year round… just kidding! During the night we got tangled into a long hose: it got under the foils and around the keel… the giant snake-like thing was ugly, covered with barnacles and really stunk but we were able to get rid of it and didn’t lose too much time doing it. What a mess! And then we were hit by another fishing net ball that went bump... bump... bump… several times and it was a little unsettling! We are still going at 8 – 9 knots now but expect stronger winds by the end of the day, and this is when we will launch our huge white spi, the one Matthieu nicknamed “the missile”: should be fun! This is our 8th day at sea. We found a good rest / work routine and we are OK. We manage to sleep well and we dream stupid dreams, which is a good sign. According to those dreams, I landed an A 380 with a friend on the Golden Gate Bridge so I wouldn’t miss the start of the race. Gorgeous sunset last night with Hawaiian music in the cockpit to bring on the Hawaiian mood… Matthieu has never been and I have to initiate the kid. Hugs, Charles."

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