Brushing the dust off for OYRA Duxbury

Hello everyone,


Cipango will be racing Saturday, April 28th for the OYRA Duxbury race.  While we will be as competitive as we can, our focus will also lie with assessing existing sail inventory and gear so improvements can be reviewed.  


During the last two years, Big Blue has made a few trips to the yard to repair several urgent issues after the last TransPac, but largely she has been at rest.  I hear some running gear is already being replaced, and winches have been serviced.  


A few of us took her out for a spin a few weeks ago, and she felt great.  If you have not yet been contacted about this race and are interested in joining, please contact me directly at kevinhurleymoon@hotmail.com.  




Logistics and further details to follow.

Day 12 Report 1

Monday, July 13th, 01:00 pm

We passed the finish line at Diamond Head at 2:41 am Hawaii time. The
escort boat welcomed us and guided us to our peer where friends and
family were waiting.

Rossi monopolizing the navigation station the last 12 hours of the race,
I have not had a chance to write a message.

We sailed on port tack toward Maui. Gary was the first to see land and
was jumping like a kid on the boat. Then about 20 miles out of Maui we
jibed.

The Transpac brochure advertises strong wind and big swell in the
Molokai Channel. I am afraid this was a lie this year. The most wind we
have seen has been 30 knots in a short squall. We jibed couple of times
before crossing the finish line. Jibing at night with accumulated
fatigue becomes another exercise than during the day. Some were
successful ... other, let say, a little less. In the jibe battle our
"AP" spinnaker, the R2 one, blew up. We quickly replaced it with the R4
and were able to finish with it.

Our host, Creekside bar located in Kailua, welcomed us with an awesome
party. There was plenty of Mai Tai, fresh fruit and other food that we
were all graving to eat! A big Thank You to Shawn and her team!

At the end we finished the 2nd in our class.

I would like to thank the Barton's, Bob and Rob, for having me on the
boat. And extend my thanks to the rest of crew with who I have had a
really good time.

Finally thanks to all of you who followed us and encouraged us!

JB

Day 11 Report 3

Saturday, July 12th, 01:09 pm

Calm night with wind between 14 and 18 knots coming from 080 degrees
which allows us to sail on port tack almost directly to Diamond Head
(the finish line). We most probably will do couple of jibes in order to
place ourselves ideally. The sky looks more and more like the one we see
in Hawaii. We have seen Akila on our stern this morning at 07:30 (boat
time), and she is now on our bow as of 11:15. The current running joke
is: How far are we from the finish line? And the answer for the past 48
hours has been: 24 hours. The calm met during the past 2 days keep
delaying us. We are at 158 miles from the finish, we are going at about
10 knots of speed over the ground, which makes us arriving at around 3
am … not an ideal time to party. But we can count on our host Shawn who
owns the Creek Side bar in Kaneohe Bay to welcome us. We are all excited
to see her and her team again!
I can also feel the excitement of every body on board at the idea of
seeing their loved ones. Every one is taking a shower at the back of the
boat today ... hum why not the other day?

JB
-----

Nuit calme avec des vents compris entre 14 et 18 noeuds venant du 80, ce
qui nous permet de naviguer babord amure presque en direct ligne en
direction de "Diamond Head" (la ligne d'arrivee). On fera probablement
quelques jibes pour nous placer idealement dans le chenal de Molokai ou
en general le vent et la mer sont forts (35 noeuds et 7 at 10 metres de
houle). Nous avons vu "Akila", un autre participant, premier que l'on
voit depuis 10 jours. La blague du jour est: quand est ce que l'on
arrive? et depuis pres de 48 heures, la reponse est: dans 24 heures. Les
faibles vents rencontres nous ont retarde. Nous sommes a 158 miles de
l'arrivee. Nous avancons a environs 10 noeuds de moyenne ce qui devrait
nous faire arriver autour de 3heure du matin. Pas une heure ideal pour
une arrivee festive. Mais nous pouvons compter sur notre hote Shawn qui
est proprietaire du bar Creek Side de Kaneohe Bay pour nous acceuillir
comme il se doit.
Je peux sentir l'excitement de l'equipage a l'idee de retrouver des
visages familiers a Hawaii. Et tout le monde passe a la douche
aujourd'hui ... hum mais pourquoi aujourd'hui et pas les autres jours?

JB

Day 11 Report 2

Sunday, July 12th, 01:03 pm

Nickname game results:

JB --> KGB
JP --> Osama
Kevin --> Moon beam
Rob --> I'll kill you
Bob --> Ashy
Ted --> Gilligan
Chris --> Dictator
Gary --> Par4
Johnny --> Hypotenuse
Rossi --> Overtrim'
Cipango --> Ashstray 56

Day 11 Report 1

Sunday, July 12th, 4:51am

After a beautiful sunset, tonight the moon is shinning high. Conditions
are a little soft but very pleasant. The wind finally headed and we are
now sailing in direct line to Hawaii. The wind is between 13 and 16
knots, swell coming from east of about 8 to 10 feet, mostly clear sky
and some squalls but low in intensity. We are on port tack under R2 and
are debating on putting the stay sail or not. The moon is shining so
bright that we even saw a moon bow after a squall, quite unique.
Our ETA keeps changing and we are now looking at early Monday morning.
We have 240 miles to go.

JB

Day 10 Report 4

Saturday, July 11th, 10:38 pm

Slow progression again today. Conditions a lot like yesterday. Big
squalls going West-North-West while we try to go West-South-West; this
results in light wind in between. But there is one thing we do well
during this journey; it is that we learn from our mistakes. And today at
the reverse from yesterday we have been more aggressive in staying in
front of squalls by jibing several times over the course of the
afternoon. Going at 20 knots of speed even on the non-approaching tack
is better than going at 7 on the approaching on!
So at the end we have been able to maintain an average speed above 11
knots over the day. Squalls are forming at the horizon behind us and the
night promises to be wild again.
Several flying fish ended in the cockpit today. Water temperature is
warming up making the shower a nice moment!

JB

Day 10 Report 3

Day 10
It's hot!!!! Tired, but we're almost there so I'm excited. 345 Nm tell
we get there. Everyone is already talking about Mai Tai's… psh. I'm just
looking forward to real food instead of the freeze dried stuff. I think
I'm going to get some Mickey D's the second I get there ha ha. Dad an I
have been talking about hamburgers from there sense day 2!!!! Connie can
you have 2 big mac's waiting for when we get there?The problem is that
when we have sweets like brownies, no one ever says that they are out so
they're almost all gone by the time I notice >=/!! O well. Today we saw
a cruse ship way off in the distance and then they turned to come see us
for about ten minutes and then that darn ship just mooned us and left.
We decided that we were going to turn the jets on from here on so here
we go.

-Ted