The Game is Afoot

Hello Westward Fans!

We are just starting Day 6 out here in the middle of the Pacific and we've certainly had an exciting 24 hours. First: the sailing. Last night, our closest competition, Dorade, was off our stern. But after some squalls and corresponding calms, they sailed below and out in front of us. We spent the rest of the day and night chasing them down. They seemed to have gone stealth last night, using their deck-level running lights instead of their masthead light (at least we hope that's why we can't seem to find them at the moment). We are all very excited for the sun to come up to see our relative position.

There is a pretty important reason that we're so interested in Dorade's position: We need to finish about seven hours before they do in order to beat them in the race. Races like this one, with so many different kinds of boats competing, have handicapped scoring. Each boat gets a rating based on certain characteristics like length, displacement, and the kinds of sails used, among others. The actual elapsed time from start to finish for each boat is then corrected using that rating to calculate a corrected finish time. Dorade's and Westward's ratings are such that even if we beat Dorade across the finish line, if we don't do so far enough ahead, their corrected time will be better than ours and they will win our little game. So, even though we are almost 1200 miles to the finish, we are paying close attention. Plus, it gives us a pretty fun and productive way to pass the hours. We've even converted our binoculars to Dorade Espionage Devices, which we use to keep track of their every move. We can only imagine, and often do, what the conversations in the cockpit of Dorade are like when they see Westward.

But that's not the only game we're playing. Our speed competition is still going strong. Sam is showing us how it's done with the highest 30 minute average at 9.2 knots. The kids aren't giving up easily, though, and are nipping at his heels. Willie has been dubbed the boat whisperer, because even in the lightest conditions, he can make the boat move through the water. We've got a squid count competition going, counting the number of squids on the deck in the morning. Alli is leading with four. Also, plastic figurines have started appearing the oddest of places. We've got a small community started taped to the dinghy davits on the cabin top. We suspect that we'll have a small town before we reach Diamond Head.

The conditions are just beautiful and we're having a great time. We couldn't feel luckier.

Aloha!



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