Racing With Dummies! (Transpac Edition)

Racing With Dummies! (Transpac Edition)
Day 9
By Mike

Today the weather was partly sunny. We haven�t seen this much sun since the beginning of the race. How long ago was that?

Around noon the wind started picking up. About that same time I noticed some rain off to the left. I think they were related.

The wind increased from 15 to 20 knots. And then it was hitting 25 in gusts. The speed of the boat picked right up. We had been averaging 8-9 knots and were now doing 12-14. This was a welcome change � until the spinnaker wrapped around the forestays. I donned a harness and gloves and headed up front to pull on the ropes to loosen the spinnaker while Bob turned the boat downwind to take the pressure off the sail.

I got it loosened up pretty well, holding the spinnaker sheet (rope) as far back as I could, and said �Try that.� He eased into the wind and suddenly a gust of 30 knots hit us. The spinnaker popped right up. And there I was, with a firm grasp of the spinnaker sheet, hanging 10 feet over the water.

Bob immediately turned back downwind to remedy the situation. Next thing I know is I was skipping along in the water at 12+ knots (my auto-inflatable life vest worked perfectly). So Bob turned back into the wind. And up I came, once again hanging in the air, with my life vest smashing the sides of my face. At this point Bob figured to have some fun, so he dipped me again, raised me again, and asked �What�s it worth to get back on the boat?�

In the end he gave in and winched in the spinnaker sheet in until I could grab the side stay. I slid down the side stay and headed to the shower, leaving a trail of salt water. My only comment: �You know who gets to repack the harness?�

Only kidding. Actually we went all day without wrapping the spinnaker. We didn�t wrap it until after dark.

The wind was less than we wanted all day so in the evening we decided to jibe south. A few hours later the wind did pick up. We did go by a rain shower. We also hit our top speed for the race. The Minnow went 19 knots (in true wind of 30 knots flying a spinnaker). It�s kind of scary going that fast in the dark in a 42,000 pound boat driven by two dummies.

We proceeded to turn more downwind in order to slow down. Yes, yes, I know it�s a race, but it was dark. When it gets light again we�ll try to go faster again.

Daily Cuisine:
This morning, after I dutifully called in our position to Transpac, I fried some eggs and bacon. I followed this up with chips and salsa for lunch. And a baked another cake. Cakes go fast around here.

My body must need a lot of grease. Because fried food always sounds good to me. So tonight we had fried chicken and fried potatoes. And cake.

Fishing report:
Another bite. Still no fish caught.

Arts and Entertainment:
I have muddled my way through 14 Beethoven piano sonatas. He wrote 32 of them but this book only has the first 18. That�s all right with me because a lot of his later ones are lousy.

To keep me occupied while I ate my bacon and eggs, I turned on �Casablanca.� I had no idea what it was about, but had heard of it. It�s a good movie, although only black and white. It caught my attention that all of the people in the bar could sing so strongly and on pitch during the �dueling national anthems.� But it sure sounded good.

This evening, after the jibe, we relaxed to another movie. �Basic Instinct� is a pretty racy movie, but it�s a good mystery. I didn�t know whodunit until the very end.

Janet Evanovich�s �Lean, Mean, Thirteen� is as entertaining and funny as the other 12. At some point Stephanie and company might get too predictable and repeatable. But not yet.