Captains Blog Sea Date July 15 2009

Captains Blog
Days at Sea 15
Distance to go: 50 Miles !!!!!

Aright at about 0900 this morning i made are 100 mile check in. ( we are still on LA time.) as of right now we are passing Kalapapa, Molokai. The wind is picking up a bit and we are moving along. The whole crew is very very excited to see all of our Addiction support crew at the Waikiki Yacht Club, everyone is invited, if you want you can bring a lei, a bottle for the luge, or your favorite pupu, or just bring your self, we will be happy to see a new face other then these 4 ugly mugs we have been looking at for the past few weeks. our ETA at the finish line is between 9:30 and 10:30 this evening. see you all then. LA

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Happy to be Home

In the early evening of Wednesday, July 15, 2009 Addiction crossed the finish line at the Diamond Head lighthouse. Lindsey and crew hit the dock running and a great welcome home party was had by all.

There are some more finish photos in my web gallery. Bill

Captains Blog Sea Date July 14 2009

Captains Blog Sea Date July 14 2009
Days at sea: 15
Distance to go: 230
Miles Traveled in 24: 160nm
Moving average: 5.8k
Wind speed: 5 to 8k

Well as you can tell the wind has died a bit. We are so close yet so far. most of us on board are keeping up good spirits. Mike gave Chase a fishing lesson today, with in an hour Chase pulled in a 15 pound Mahi Mahi. Once the fish was in the boat Mike got snagged in the foot by the hook, not bad at all, (i don't even think he has a band aid on it) but close. Mike then showed Chase how to clean a fish. My favorite thing to do once the fish is cleaned, is to cut open the stomach sack and see what the fish has been eating. I know that sounds odd, but it is actually very interesting. Our fish today had absolutely nothing in it. poor guy.
Yesterday at dinner time Richard made, what we now call hotter then lava spaghetti, the reason for its name came about after Chase serve him self a heaping blow, went to sit down on a bean bag chair, spilt half of it on his stomach, proceeding to give him self second degree burns. i know right. Chase took it pretty well, he did not want any help with first aid, he took care of it him self. the worst of the burn is about the size of a deck of cards, surrounded by some not so bad spatter type of burn almost all the way to his belly button. we will keep you up dated on that.
As of right now i think we are doing 4.5 knots, we just did a spin change. Now we have a .6 oz light air kite up, it quickly earned the name F.U.G's. it is not important how or why it is called that. It seems to be working well, it is white and purple and full of light air, and that's a good thing.
My mom made a really nice lunch of bacon quesidilla and salsa. i bet for dinner we will be having fresh fish. i cant speck for anyone else but im enjoying it out here.
so 230 miles left to go! I really don't think we will be arriving in Honolulu by tomorrow morning, sorry, we are trying. Please keep a look out on the blog for party time updates. thank you all for the great comments.
Hi MP and Nancy, my mom is glad you guys are following along. Nancy, glad to hear you are spending time with your mom, we will be thinking you u.
ANY ONE AT UH that knows Kimball Millikin (Mikes boss),please let him know that Mike Rush will unfortunately be later for work than previously estimated(that is if he still has a job!),Friday at the earliest,Monday would probably be best. Thanks!
Alright that will do it for now. LA

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captains blog sea date july 13 2009

Captains Blog Sea Date July 13 2009
Days at Sea: 14
Distance to go: 384nm
Mile traveled in 24: 160?
Average speed: 7.0k
Wind: 8k ENE

First off i have to tell you all just how incredibly HOT it is on deck and how much hotter it is down below!!!! Its hotter then lava.
Moving on, yesterday was pretty uneventful. At some point i was standing on the stern when a part of the RADAR reflector tried to Van Gouh me. Im not kidding, its made out of aluminum and has some pretty sharp edges. Im ok but then we had to hull Mike up the back stay to fix it. Chase got him up there were he sat for about a half hour. he looked like a human wrecking ball.
we also did some jibing. as of right now we are on the port tack, with very light wind. i don't know what the deal is but every weather chart i have looked at tells we there is 15 knots of wind right here and for here on out. i would like the wind to fill in a little more.
Since the wind is light, we decided to put up the Daisy. What is a Daisy? well its a sail that i think you are meant to fly inside your spinnaker. its really light and triangular. so this is how it went down, Mike went up to the foredeck and put it up, Richard tweaked the sheet while i drove. The Daisy inside the shoot looked very wrong, like some kind of weird spinnaker bondage act. so Mike ran the halyard out side the spin and that looked a little better. i was not totally sold on the Daisy idea yet. Meanwhile while all of this was going down i could not help but take a look at the deck, its a yard sale. let me try to give you an idea. First we have the main up, attached to the boom is a boom brake, it goes from the boom to the toe rail then back up to a winch on the cabin top, on both sides. Then we have the kite up with working sheets and lazy sheets all 4 of those lines are ran back to the cockpit, there is also a chafe sheet on the working spin sheet as to keep it from rubbing on the boom. Once you are on the foredeck you have to get over and under the starboard pole that is not in use and the reaching strut, not to mention the spin fence that is run from the bow to the mast. oh i forgot the number 3 head sail that is lashed to the deck drying. then to top it all off we throw the Daisy in to the mix. its a total labyrinth. We keep looking for the talking spider. back to the Daisy, i really did not like the way it was working, so i went up to the foredeck and tied a line to the clue that added about 3 feet and then brought the clue back further on the deck. that worked really good! it looks like a staysail, very nice. but to be honest i don't really think it is giving us that much better of speed.
oh we talked to a car carrier ship on the VHF, he was about 8 miles away. i guess they had left Hawaii yesterday morning on there way to Panama, the man on the radio told me they had seen to other sail boats with colorful sails like ours. he seemed pretty jazzed about the colorful sails. After that entertainment mom made us some chicken salad with tomatoes, cabage and pickles, it was good. she also trimmed Richards beard, he was looking a little wild.
To wrap it up, last nights watch was unreal!! the sky was completely clear and you could she every star in the sky. Chase saw a few shooting stars, and yes D we saw 7 satellites! it was a very nice change from the past few stormy nights. well i guess that is it for now. we are trying to get home as fast as we can!!! LA

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Captains Blog Sea Date July 12, 2009

Captains Blog Sea date July 12, 2009
Days at sea: 13
Distance to go: 542nm
Distance traveled in 24: 187nm
Current position: Lat. 21'59 Long. 148'11
Average speed: 7.7k
wind 10k east

Really not much to report today. we sailed through the night with the black, red, and white spin up. it was a really beautiful evening. it was mostly cloudy, but for an hour of my watch it cleared and you could see a ton of stars. ( sorry D no satellites) we did not get hit by any squalls till early this morning but we weather it just fine, we have done this a few times now.
its getting really hot on board now. the swell and color of the ocean looks a lot like Hawaiian waters, i keep forgetting that we are still out in the middle of the ocean. Last night Chase mad a killer diner with the left over Mahi Mahi, yes believe it or not there were left over's. he made fish tacos, it was ono!! today for our Sunday brunch my mom made pancakes, eggs, and bacon, it was IHOP with a view.
Kirstin: mom said not to worry about putting any food in the house, she says thank you for everything.
Dean: you are to classic!!!! i bet when you knocked the flag off the stern you were eating a box of candy by the fist full, and not offering any to anyone else. the crew loves ya.
See you all soon. LA
P.S. Chase would like to send a "shout-out" to the nurses at LKMC. Thanks for following us on our journey. Your support is much felt and appreciated!

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Captains Blog Sea Date July 11, 2009

Captains Blog Sea Date July 11, 2009
Days at sea: 12
Distance to go: 719NM
Distance traveled in 24 hours: 180NM
Current Position: Lat. 22'05 Long. 145'0
Average speed: 7.2k
Wind North East at 15+K
Sea temp: 83.7F

Alright, well it was another busy night aboard. we sailed through the day with our black, red and white kite, (we have a name for it onboard, but it might offend some blog readers). everything was going well, Mike and mom were on watch, i came up to revile my mother at 2200. she is giving me the run down on how the boat is handling and what not, she tells me they have been watching a squall behind them, to keep an eye on it. as she finishes that sentence it starts to poor rain. Mike was on the helm, and this squall frikin came on us super fast. i looked at Mike, the squall behind him and it just looked like a scene from a very bad movie. he was driving really good. we took one bad round up, quickly followed by a round down, then back on course. At some point Mike yells at me, " why am i steering?" i told him it would be a death mission if we tried to change out, but that he was doing a really good job. so we kept sailing on the edge of disaster, we were holding a steady speed of 11.6k up to 12.8k. with a big following sea, that you could not see. Im working the sheet, while Mike is death grip, white knuckles the tiller, this went on for about 20 minutes when Mike pipes up again, " Lindsey!! We're not surfing!!!!!" But the way he said it was classic, i could not stop laughing. i told him, i know Mike we are sailing this fast. It was such a trip. all and all it lasted for 45 minutes. Mike was spent after that.
Chase came up to relive him of watch, Chase took the helm for a bit while i looked around the deck for anything we may have broke. we were moving along alright, so i sat down looked up at Chase and it was like dejavue, death squall all over again. i got up and asked Chase for the helm, he was telling that he could handle it no problem, i told him to take a look at the storm coming up behind him, he moved quickly to the sheet, while i drove. we were in a good position in that squall, high and i front of it. we got plenty of good wind, we got the boat up to 12.8 to 14.6k. but we were on edge the whole time. I steered the rest of my watch like that. By the time Richard came up to relive me the wind had died down a bit. Mom came up a few hours latter to relive Chase, but by then it was the worst it had been, the wind was gusting up to 30k, the boat was out of control and the crew was beat. a bit before day brake Richard called down to below to take the shoot down. Mike was on foredeck, Richard was helm, mom and Chase were on the lines. once the kite and the fence came down we put up the number 3 head sail. to tell you the truth it did not impact our speed that badly.
0800 i do the radio check in, then i go on watch again. The head sail was flapping around, so we sent it up for some wing on wing action with the reaching strut. that was ok for awhile, but we really just needed to get a kite back up. and that is just what we did, the guys and i worked to put the black, white and red up, it seems to be going well, but i tell you for all the work we are putting in to this it seems like we should be going a whole hell of a lot faster.
Other then that, I don't know if everyone is reading the blog comments but i have to make a retraction regarding the Addiction finish party, Julie has given me a heads up that any food is welcome. so it would be great if you could bring A) a bottle of booze to shoot down the luge, B) Leis, C) your favorite pupu dish, D) or just bring yourself as we will be happy to see you. thank you all.
Mike you like to let everyone no that he needs a new ass, the one he is sitting on now is raw, wet, monkey butt and has become so flat that it no longer serves the purpose of holding up his knife belt. if any one could help him out with that, he would appreciate it. As for his views towards Jerome, Mike has been thinking of French retorts, the first being unsuitable for the blog, the other is douche.
Hi Nate dog welcome home to Hawaii, we are trying to get home soon, but take some advise from your big sister, don't do anything stupid while your dad and Donna are gone. you don't want to piss Donna off right now, trust me im on her shit list right now, you don't want to be on it too. Have fun be safe, see you in a few, call D if you want to go for a skate, Kristin or Julie will have his number. Your dad sends his love. Hi to Arron.
Mom would like to say hi to MP and Tutu Nancy, she misses you guys tons.
That should do it. LA out.

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Captains Blog Sea Date July 10, 2009

Captains Blog Sea Date July,10, 2009
Current Position: Lat. 21.50 Long. 141.49
Miles travailed in 24 hours: 190NM
Distance to go: 896 NM
Average boat Speed: 7.9k
wind: NNE 12k
Water temp: 82.0 F

Wow so yesterday was a busy, on edge type of day. I got off watch at at 1500 wrote the bog and laid in my bunk, Chase came down to wake me up. Richard and he wanted me to have a look at a squall line ahead of us, yep it was a squall line. i told them to try and hold our course, but to fall off if it got to be to much. That squall line was not to bad, but it set the tone for the rest of the evening. a few hours latter, after dinner, Mom and Richard were on watch, Mike was on deck getting ready to relive Richard when we took a round up. it was a sad moment in time watching the quilt kite take its last flogging. i must say she went quietly and with out a fight. if you were not looking at the kite you would have never know that she had blown out. We worked quickly, mike got on the foredeck and spiked the pole while mom was on the helm and Richard and i hulled her down below. Richard grabbed one of the new Sobstad's, and we went up with that one. it went pretty smooth, we didn't even wake Chase up.
Mike and my mom sailed for about 2 hours with that kite, they went through a few squalls and took a few knock downs, but were doing pretty good for awhile. when i came on deck to relive my Mom, the wind had picked up and i counted 5 squalls coming down on us. i don't think we had the kite set up right, or it was not the right kite for our wind and course, because it made a lot of noise, i mean on top of it being new sure, but the foot made a lot of noise. there for it got the name Opu Wala'au, roughly translated to belly talks to much. After a few more round ups, the sound of the rig shuttering, the noise of the spinnaker piercing my brain, and my mother standing in the companionway ringing her hands, it was time to try a different sail. So we got out the black, red and white spin (still have a name for that one), Mike got on the bow, mom was in the pit, i was at the helm and Richard was pole and sheet. that change out went off with out a hitch. we must be really good because Chase slept through that one too.
it took some time to find our groove but it all worked out very well. I got relived from my watch by Richard, about two hours latter Chase and Richard took a little round up, when Chase got the boat back on course the final snap of the kite filling blew the sheet shackle off the kite. Mom was half dressed to go on watch, Mike flew out of his bunk, Richard and Chase were already on deck so i sat in the hatch way while the crew worked out the situation. it went something like this, Mike took the blown sheet attached to the pole clue, blew the after guy, mom dropped the spin on deck while Richard hulled down on the new sheet/after guy, Mike acted like a human spin bag, all the lines got reattached properly, and back up it went. something like that. I have to say what a good job Mike did on the foredeck last night, there were no screw ups, and that's a good thing. Chase did a good job on the helm too, he is still learning and does not get pissy when i take the helm for an hour and a half at a time.
This morning Mike asked if he could fish, he said he really wanted to beat something to death. i can definitely get behind that, but i don't care to do the clean up. i told him so long as he did all the work he could kill any fish he wanted. So we put out my pink and white with a sunrise inner skirt double hook lure my big brother Phillip, the fish whisper, made for me. i guess it had been out for about 5 hours then we got a strike!!! Mike pulled in a whopper of a Mahi Mahi. he is calling full four and a half pounder. as my mom said there is something to be said for a fish that try's to eat a hook that is a little more then half the size of its body. after Mike cleaned the fish all the meat could have fit in a sandwich size zip lock. we are stoked, it is the perfect size for us to have for dinner.
I think that is all we have for now. From here on out i will be posting at the top of the blog distance to go. that is how many mile we have to sail till we get to our party. keep an eye on that mile count down, it will help you to prepare the things you might want to bring to the party. oh i don't know, things like a bottle of booze you might want to suck down the
luge, or a few leis. don't bother with food we've got that covered. the party is at the WYC there will be more info to come. if you would like to help set up please give Julie Downes a call, her number is on the comments list somewhere. cool beans. LA

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Captain blog Sea Date July 9, 2009,

Captain blog Sea Date July,9, 2009
Days at sea 10
Current position: Lat. 21'33 Long. 138.20
Distance travailed 187NM
Average Speed 8.4k
Wind direction: N
Wind speed: 12-15K
water temp: 81.0F

Alright what have we got today, this morning at around 0300 i plotted our course and i had to flip the chart, so in my book that means we are about half way. I know it is a very technical way of doing things. The GPS is telling us that we are about half way too. So that is good news, another mile stone.
The crew is well, the wind picked back up this morning. i adjusted course last night so now we are on more of a close reach, it has been difficult for a few crew mates to steer and not round up, but they should get the hang of it soon. Richard and i put the reaching strut out too. the boat can hold the course we just need to get everyone on board able to steer it. despite all that the Quilt kite or Frankinkite is still flying, i thought for sure we were going to lose her a few round ups ago. i could just picture the guys at north sail if i brought the quilt in to be repaired.
Last night Mike and i were on watch waiting for Chase to relive Mike. we were just sitting there spacing out when all of a sudden Chase, with a red head lamp on, goes flying across the cabin and in to Richards bunk. you should have seen his haole boy limbs flailing across the cabin trying to knock Richards teeth out. Mike and i really had to hold it together to ask if he was ok, we got a thumbs up, then mike and i just lost it. i don't know what it is about other people falling that is so funny. Chase took it pretty well, he said he went for the hand rail and got a hand full of gloves, and then went down. we have been calling him Fred Astaire.
We also have a new friend following us, a white blue footed Boobie bird. it flew over the cockpit and its shadow looked like a pterodactyl. That is another good sign that we are on our way home. i was going to work on some celestial navigation today but it is really overcast, but warm out.
i think that is all we have for now. I have yet to retrieve the comments for today but when this gets sent out the comments will come in, if i need to reply to any of them, the replay will come shortly after this blog posting. see ya
LA

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Captains Blog Sae Date July 8 2009

Captains Blog Sea Date July, 8, 2009
Days at sea: 9
Current position: Lat: 21'31 Long. 135'31
Distance travailed in 24 hour: 222
Average Speed: 8.3k
wind out of the North
wind speed: 12k
water temp. 81.0f

ok well not much to report on end. the wind has backed off a bit, but we are still moving along nicely. the seas have backed off too, making it a bit easer to steer, giving us a little brake. today we took down the black and red shoot, and put up the Quilt Kite or the Farnkinkite if you will. I like the under dog, i think that is why i like this kite so much, it would be funny if it is the only kite that makes it the whole trip.
Mike took a shower today, he is the first one on the whole boat to do so. i guess we could all take a personal hygiene que from Mike Rush, haa haa haa. other then that we saw 3 Tropic birds, or Tropic Tern or a Ferry tern, i don't know im not a bird watcher. its the bird with the long yellow/orange tail feather. it has been my life goal to pluck one of those feathers and ware it in my hat. also it means we are getting near to home.
Last night Mike and i were on watch all of a sudden the cockpit got bathed in the brightest light, i almost swallowed my tongue, i thought it was a ships spot light, no it was the moon. i guess we forgot what it looked like since we have not seen it in a week. the moon hung out for about 5 minutes then went behind the clouds again.
Our GPS is playing hang man with us, when you look at the screen on the right side it has the west coast and on the left side it has these letters LULU. we cant for the life of us figure out what it is trying to tell us.
oh, yes we do see the tropical depression developing behind us, should not be a problem.
as for the shirts, i am sorry to those who's names did not get put on the shirts, the shirts went to print about 3 months before we left for the mainland. so if you bring your shirt and a fine point sharpy to the party i will be sure to add you to the shirts.
Thank you everyone for there comments, we love it!
we are getting close to party time and Julie is looking for all those Addiction shore crew for some help, so rally and give her a call, her number is posted on the comments.
Julie and Ben you guys are doing a rocking job!!! thank you so much. Julie you got the phone number list i sent you?
Badge names: Derrick Ontivrous, Kevin O'lary. i don't know the others last names.
LA

Oh and how could i forget, Sheena please give Adam a big hug from me!

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captians blog sea date july 7 2009

Captain blog Sea Date July 7, 2009
Days at sea 8
distance travailed 217!!!
Average speed: 9.4k
True wind: ? 15 ?
Apparent wind: 8.5k
Water temp: 78.4f

Well there are a few more sheep in the pasture today. that means there are a few more white caps on the water. there is not much to report. Yesterday for lunch my mom made some really good ham, egg, and cheese breakfast burito, it was yummy! i slept through dinner, but what ever envelop surprise it was smelt good. The evening was uneventful, the wind and the seas stayed steady, it is still 100% cloud cover, but the moon makes all the cloud very bright, so we are not totally in the dark.
This morning Richard berried the bow twice in a wave so we thought it best to move some weight around. all that means is now i have the biggest jib onboard as a bunk mate. ah yes i love sailing.
This afternoon it came time to change out the spin sheet because it had been chafing, so we got it together then decided why not give the old Quilt a brake and out up a different spin. so we did. no we have a red, black, and white one up. it does not have a name but i am sure that will change by tomorrows blog. this kite is an 1.5oz that we had north sails cut down after we blew it up a while ago. it seems to be working fine.
thank you everyone for the news updates. the crew and i cant believe that tickets are being sold for the Michel Jackson memorial service. to odd.
alright i guess that is all for now. LA

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Captains Blog Sea Date July,6, 2009

Captains Blog Sea Date July, 6, 2009
Days at sea:7
current position: Lat. 23'40 Long. 128'35
Distance in 24 hours: 190
Average speed:7.9k
Apparent wind: 5k
True wind: ? 11k ?
Water temp. 76.6f
Cloud cover: 100%

Alright the past day of sailing has been good to us. the wind is steady, right on our quarter, and pushing us along nicely. the swell has picked up a bit making it easer to surf. you got to love it!!! we still have the pink and white patch work spin up. We call it the quilt or Fankinstine. this spinnaker has more patch cloth then original cloth, its kind of funny, no the funny part is that we have a few new sails down below, but the quilt is doing great, so why mess with a good thing.
not much to report on our end. yesterday was the day of communication, i sat and talked with Alaska Eagle, the communication boat, during liars net. liars net, or happy hour, is an informal radio check in at 1900, on 4A. They call liars net because you can make up all kinds of crap about the weather you are in and the speed you are making and its expected. usually there are lots of people talking so i just listen. but last night no one was around so i called in and talked with the communication boat, i cant remember the mans name that im talking to but he is always very nice. we had a bad copy so we switched to 8A, and it was like we were in the same room. we talked about all the fireworks we fired off for the forth and the lobster dinner we just had and so on. after talking to him i tried to give my dads friend Ron Ellis a call on 12A, it was just a shoot in the dark as we had not arranged this, but what do you know he came back loud and clear, but after that first transmition i could not understand a thing other then him saying, at least we know it works.
Richard made a killer MRE dinner of what i think my have been baked beans and ham or possibly cat, with herb mashed potatoes and peas, it was not half bad. after dinner we all settled in, i was just about to fall asleep when my mom poked her head in the hatch to let me know there was a boat off our starboard quarter. i checked it out, you could tell from the lights that it was another sail boat on the same tack as us. it was for sure a transpac racer, and a big boy because they were moving pretty good. i gave up a long time ago trying to call fellow transpac racers, they never answer and i have to tell you it really irritates me. i monitor 16 incase of an emergency everyone else should too. anyways i crawled back into my bunk and just as i was getting comfortable, what do you know, they hailed us on the VHF. we switched from 16 to 68. it was Criminal Mischief. we talked for awhile about how fricken happy we were to be back in the wind and surfing our way to Hawaii. i told him that we were sailing along pretty well at about 7.5k and he came back with there boat speed of 12 to 13k, i told him how sorry i felt for him and that since they were going to get there before us they had to come to our welcome party. he said Lindsey we know all about it, its at the WYC and well be there. I don't recall telling him my name or that the party is at WYC so i guess word has gotten out that Julie Downes is a kick ass party planner!!!!! Anyways i suited up for watch sat on deck and Mike and i did a little mores code in to the main sail. Criminal Mischief did some light show back at us, but it didn't make sense to me. then they were off into the wild blue yonder, with us trailing behind on the same course. I will have you know that yesterday they were last in there division and today, yes after following us, they move up 3 standings.
This afternoon Chase got the sat phone up and ready for our reporter friend Ron from KNX 10.70 to call. the phone did a little chirp thing and i answered it Papa Johns Pacific Ocean, we did about a 5 minute interview on how things are going so far. (pictured) i asked him to post a comment letting everyone know how they can listen to it on the net, so look out for that. it is always nice talking to you Ron, thank you for calling and for the news updates.
i think that is it for now, LA

captains blog sae date July 5 2009

Captains blog sea date July 5 2009
current position Lat. 26'51 Long. 126.15
distance travailed in 24 hours: 137
average speed: 5.6k
wind direction: north
Apparent wind: 3.7k
water temp. 74.3f

hi all, well it has been a good day at sea. the wind is here and i think it is here to stay. the wind is blowing right over our starboard quart, with a swell to match. there is a cross swell on our starboard beam kind of pushing us around, but what ever.
we sailed most of yesterday evening with our main and spinnaker. as the night went on the wind calmed down and the main sail was no longer staying full. Chase was on the helm while Mike and i took it down and flaked it. This morning Richard, mom and Chase put it back up. when i came on deck it seemed we could be going faster so, we pulled out the pink and white spinnaker. mike went on the foredeck, mom was on the wheel while Richard and i handled the lines. i think we squeezed about a half a knot more out of it.
it is very nice to be moving again! i hope all had a safe 4th of July. tomorrow we will be doing a sat phone interview with KNX 10.70. we will keep you all posted with that. that is all for now.LA

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Captians blog Sae Date July, 4, 2009

Happy Forth of July
Captains Blog Sea date July 4th
days at sea 5
Current position Lat. 26'09 Long 124'29
Miles Travailed in 24 hours 127!
Apparent wind speed: 2.1k (taken with hand held, no true)
True wind Speed: broken
Wind direction: west
Average speed: 5.5k
water temp: 74.3f

*** Ron from KNX 10.70 see note at bottom**

Hold on to your hats. thank goodness the wind is here, i think. yesterday afternoon we were clipping along with the just the hot pink spinnaker in very fluky, shifty, light wind but we were moving at least. it took everyone's concentration to keep the kite full, if it flogged at all it would take a good 5 minutes to fill again. but we were moving. i have noticed that by 0200 till 1100 in the morning the wind is the lightest, that is not unusual, but seeing as how there is not much wind it is very noticeable. right now we have 2 whole sails up, what a novel idea.
i did our radio check in this morning, it seems that we are all spreading around the course, lots of radios are skipping and there have been lots of relaying. i learned that our friends aboard Silent Running have retired the race due to time constrictions, bummer.
The Addiction blog has been band. i love it. Chases mom sent him an email saying how much her and her fellow nurse colleges enjoy reading the blog. i guess someone at the hospital did not like it so much because our site has been blocked. to funny. mike and i pictured it along the lines of, "can we get a nurse over here we got a flat liner." "wait i think my sons boat has found wind."
Mike worked on the bilge today. i guess at some point it sucked air and so all it needed was to be primed. I tried to hail my dad and Ron on the radio, i was really excited to talk to him, but i guess im still to far away. Did you guys hear me? My mom would like to say that driving this boat is like going to a sub title movie. you spend the hole time reading the gages that you miss the big picture. its true. she would also like to let Bill know that she misses his interesting story's and playing trivial pursuit with Caroline.
As for our forth of July we are presently we are enjoying an all American classic 4th of July meal, beef quesadilla, chili and even cool water. i love it.
well i want to eat, thank everyone for there support!!
LA

Aloha Ron, thanks you for pumping the blog! we would love to do a sat phone interview. you can send the info to the blog, we check our comments at 0600 and 1700, i will respond to the info. we have a few great pictures of us with your mic thing you gave us. look forward to hearing from you.

Becky you are the best for helping out Julie with the party action. Julie thinks you rock.

Dman and Oopu check you email, sail mail is the boat account. olive.

Dad shoot me out an email when you want to set up a radio check in again. hope all is well, have you heard from Phillip? news on him?

Captains Blog Sea Date July 3, 2009

Captains blog Sea Date July, 3, 2009
Days at sea: 4
Current Position: Lat. 27'27 Long 123'05
Apparent wind: 5.8
True Wind: Windx broken
Miles Traveled in 24 hours: 80
Water temp: 75.2 F
Bar: 1013

Well thank you all for the wind dances, chants, and rally caps. We did a little on board too, i scratched the luff, leach, and the foot, ( i could not remember witch was the right one ), we through some coins in the water, and i even whistled. I never do that on a boat, but we were desperate.
Yesterday after my blog it seemed like the wind was filling in, we all ate dinner on deck, we had a fresh salad that was almost blowing off our plates, we also enjoyed pasta, and for desert chilled peaches. by the time i came on for watch the wind had gotten even stronger. Strong enough to take down the number 1, ( its only meant to be sailed in 8 knots or less.) Mom stared the boat while Mike and i did the change out to the old number 1. Mike and i were clipping along at a whole 5 knots, there was even a squall line on the horizon. But by the time Chase came up to relive Mike the wind had died completely, it was so sad, i think i did 2 360's by accident but the sails did not tack or jib once. Richard came up to relieve me and and tried his all for 5 hours to get the boat moving. Chase said that by the time Richard got off watch he looked like one of the 300 Spartan's, battling an army of no wind.
By this morning it was like it got worse, you could not tell the ocean from the sky, it was all flat gray. as most people no the longer you go with no wind the more touchy people get.... thank God some wind arrived around 0800, nothing you would call wind back home in Hawaii, but a huge improvement out here. mom chase mike and i doused the head and main sail and put up the hot pink kite up, with just a hope and a prayer that it might fill. if nothing else at least it was quit. slowly the wind picked up and our average speed has been around 4k. yeah i know, hold on to your hats. other then getting us home the wind has made most of the crew happier. im walking on frecking sunshine. I really really hope it does not leave us again. i have to say the other then wind everyone's comments are putting a smile on our faces. so thank you Addiction shore crew for keeping us going.
on a different note, tomorrow Mike will be serving up some special 4th of July Pina Coladas... life savers that is. thank you Kate and Roxy, we will try not to get to out of control. this evening we are looking forward dinner we are gong to enjoy some Salsa barbacoa con pollo, frejoles negros y papas. that in what the MRE package says, it really just BBQ sauce with chicken, black beans and potatoes, but it sounds much better in Spanish.
well thats it for now.
LA

P.S. D-Man, could you please send us some interesting news clippings? Olives...

Captain's blog Sea Date July, 2, 2009, No Really

Captain's Blog Sea Date July, 2, 2009
Days at sea 3
0600 Position Lat 28'32 Long. 121'59
Distance travailed in 24 hours Noon to Noon: 99.4
Wind speed 3k
wind direction 220
boat speed 1.7k
Bar 1000 -1

well i would like to give you more tech stuff, but there really is not to much going on out here. since last blog, the wind dropped almost to nothing. the sails were flogging, and it sucked. so we decided to throw up a kite and see what happened, we got it to fly for a bit but the main seemed to be sucking the wind out of it. so we dropped the main. i know for all those cool guy racers out there you must just be shacking your head, oh well, it was what would work the best. we ran like that for half the day and into the night. we had the poll down almost on the head stay and the kite strapped. really i cant stress how it was the only sail we could get to stay full and keep the boat moving in just barely, almost, kind of, not really a good direction.
When i came on watch with Mike last night we still had the kite up, the wind was coming and going, there for the most part (at a whooping 4K) but then it would leave, Mike brought up a good point, that we could probably light matches and burn them down to our finger tips. By the time Chase came up the wind had dropped even more, yes that is possible, he saw 3 shooting stars, i did not see any. i guess i was to busy replaying the weather forecast in my mind, and wondering what went wrong. The moon went down and took the rest of the wind with it. oh im not kidding, we could see the reflection of the stars in the ocean, sounds romantic, not when your doing a 2300 mile ocean race.
Richard relived me from watch and about an hour latter Chase came down to wake me up, I guess i forgot that we weren't doing the Ensanad race, cause that's where we were headed. Chase took the helm while Richard and i took down the shoot and put the rest of the sails back up. I tell you Richard is a mad man when it comes to sail changes, i kept wondering were the fire was. we got that whole change out done in less then 5 minutes. i guess for the most part it was working.
I woke up this morning to a discouraging fleet standing at radio check in. the up side to it was according to the weather from the other boats its a lot of the same across the board. after that Richard and i too a look at a new weather forecast, maybe we are to optimistic but i guess, you know it can only get better. Thank baby Jesus for the new Sobstad no. 1. its pretty to look at and is doing a good job. today has been the day of tacks, we just keep tacking toward the wind and trying to stay on a good course. whatever
just ten minutes ago we put up a shoot, it didn't work for us, but we looked back and the boat behind us took our lead and put one up too, now the guys on deck say there is a boat in front of us doing the same. its not going to work for them but at least they are slowing there boat up just as we did. now we are trying to figure a way to make it look like we are flying a shoot well, but really still have our white sails up, you know just to mess with the other boats around.
our windx is broken, i could careless sense there is no wind to read, but we all figured that since the wind was light we might as well send Mike aloft, this is after Chase and Richard tried to fix it deck side. My mom was at the helm, she a really good light wind helms lady, Mike was not swinging into space, and the boat was on course. but it was all just a wast of time, no fix on the windx, oh well.
The highlight of our days is the food, my mom is in charge of lunch, she has been making some killer sandwiches, today was the best, chicken salad sandwich with avocado and tomatoes, with chips and pickles, finished off with famous amous cookies. Richard has been doing dinners, he boils sea water and adds a little ketchup salt and pepper and severs it with crackers, no not really, he puts our MRE packages inside to heat, last night was chili with rice and corn, (he made the rice and corn). Chase and Mike are on clean up. it was so good that for the ten minutes you were eating it you had no idea there was no wind.
The crew of Addiction wants to wish my big brother Phillip a safe trip. he just left for Louisiana, he will be the chief mate on an American Marine tug. we love you Phill, have fun! Mom send her love, she wants you to be safe and to not make anyone cry. thank you Bill Meyers for posting the pictures of us leaving Long Beach, we got a great send off! Hi Dean we all missed seeing you at the start, Mike has no idea what you are talking about. Richard gives all his aloha form the coast of Mexico to his new grand nephew and congratulations! Olives D and Oopu. also Dad and Ron i got your email, i will try to radio on the 4th.
LA out

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Captian's Blog sea date June, 1, 2009

Captain's Blog
Sea date June, 1, 2009
Day 2 at sea
0600 position Lat. 30'07N Long. 121'32W
True wind west
true wind speed 6k
Bar 1001 up 1 from yesterday
cloud cover 45%
Sea state about 8 foot rolling swell.
184 miles traveled in 24 hours.

so the past 24 hours have been pretty good. the winds and seas are calm, we just cant wait for the wind to start clocking around. the winds have been steady but seem to be drooping off as of late. today it is actually vary pretty out, right now in mid day there is not a cloud in the sky, we have all peeled off about 2 layers of clothing, and we have a few sails drying on deck. As well as Mikes sleeping bag, it is totally wet, i guess he has been sleeping in about 3 inches of standing water.
Chase spent most of yesterday trying to get the weather program up and running, he was on the sat phone, and sail mail, but with no luck. It is just not going to work. oh well, it is what it is.
Chase and i were on watch and he read an interesting fact out of a book he is reading, i guess the term "posh" is derived from the days when people travailed by ship. If you were headed down to the South Pacific the cooler side of the boat was the port side and on the way home it was on the starboard side, it cost more for this luxury, and the people that payed for it were called posh, Port Out Starboard Home. You learned it from the Addiction crew.
My mom would like to say how much she misses her 5 star bedroom at Shateoux Relaxo. Mike would like to thank Patty for the real New York bagel.
We saw one ship last night, i talked to him on the radio, he asked how many other "little sail boats are out here?" i told him 17 and counting.
I guess that will do it for now. Thank you to everyone for your comments. LA

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Some photos from Sally Ewing via Bill Myers

The Captain is ready to go!














Off the dock.
















At the start line.

(no subject)

Captain's Blog
Sea Date June, 30, 2009
Day 2 at sea
Position at 0600 Lat. 32'11N Long. 119'39W
Wind speed 10k
Sea hight 5 foot swell

Well yesterday was the start. It was off of Point Fermion at 1300. There was about 17 boats on the line, it was an uneventful start. It was more in our favor to take the start on starboard tack right on the committee boat, and that is just what we did. with in the first hour of the race we did, i think, 4 head sail changes, not that we have 4 head sails on board. anyways the wind would get up to 17knots then down to 8. Once we got closer to Catalina it was a consistent 10k. We sailed through the night with the number 2 up, as it still is now.
Bad news is something happened to the computer that runs the weather program, and well Chase tells me that it is unlikely to work at all. Something to do with the flash drive not working or the USB port is broken. And we cant run the program on the computer that im on now because this computer is not set up for it. Whatever, this is why i am not a big fan of computers. The good news is that we are still able to sail mail and we can receive weather files that way. so we are not totally out of luck. Chase is still going to try to work on it.
Other then that, my mom made some really good roast beef sandwiches yesterday for lunch, it was good. For dinner we all just snacked on cup a soup. Last night Mike and i were on watch and he says to me i think there is something swimming next to the boat. sure enough a school of dolphins were cruising around with us. it was pretty neat.
That is all for now, LA

Mike would like to add that he caught his first fish, it's about 1 1/2 inches long, he is currently drying it on deck for lunch.

Hey Julie, i got your comment, the people that could use a badge are:
Derrick Ontivrous and Kevin O'leary, Thank you so much!!! you and Ben are doing a killer job!!

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Aloha all sorry it has been so long for me to blog. we have been very busy with banquets and party's and what not. things are going very well and Addiction is as ready as ever. our start is tomorrow at 1300, and we are going to sail fast and hard all the way home. while underway we will be receiving your comments, but please note:

* do not mention anything about the weather
* do not give us any of your thoughts on what course we should take
* do not tell me how bad my spelling is, as it will only get worse from this point on, and yes i know i cant spell.

that will do it, expect a long and detailed blog tomorrow since there will be nothing else to do but wright. See you at the finish party at the WYC. for those of you that don't attend do to some lame excuse, know that the crew of Addiction will be forced to sever all ties and friendships. LA

Meet the Press

Yesterday was a great day. Mom, Richard and I left the house pretty early and went to Starbucks, then off to Addiction. When we got there, I opened the hatch and see Mike comfortably asleep in a bunk and Chase asleep sitting on a bean bag, wearing his foul weather boots. I thought that was kind of funny, he said that the bunk was really uncomfortable, that the refrigerator was making noise and it was freezing cold. We all pretty much told him that once we get underway there will be so much other noise that he wont be able to hear the refrigerator, and so on.
While we were still dock side Mike set up to go up the mast and Richard and I hulled the brand new Sobstad light wind head sail up ( we have yet to see any light wind ), we needed to mark where we should put the spreader patches. Once we got it hoisted it was obvious there were already patches. So we all just stepped back and enjoyed the brand new sail smell, then we took it down and stowed it away.Then Mike and Chase packed a few spinnakers.

We left the dock at about 0915, the wind was still light, about 13 knots. we motored over to Queen Mary, put up the main then bared off and set our new Sobstad .75 spinnaker. Richard was at the helm for that set, I was sheet, Chase was pit, Mom on pole, Mike on the fore deck. It was so much fun!! Once we got past a the oil islands Mike spiked that shoot, then we set our brand new Sobstad 1.5, we did one jibe, doused, and headed in to Alamitos Bay to fuel up.
The man at the fueling station gave us a bunch of bottled water as a good luck gift. I cant say that i have ever really thought of water as being lucky, but now that you think of it, i feel pretty lucky to have a little extra fresh water. Richard and I worked on fueling the boat, and yes for some reason it was a two person job. As with most boats,the fuel gage on Addiction is a bit ify. So using an odd mathematical formula of it's a 20 gallon tank, so,almost on empty plus 3 gallons back in Hawaii minus one Friday night race, and a 45 minute motor to the Phoenician and a 45 minute run up the coast in Long Beach, plus 5 gallons at the slip in Marina Harbor, minus running dock side for an hour, equals a void of about 13 gallons, give or take. Richard managed to squeeze in a whole 3 1/2 gallons. Nothing was kinking the line, and the breather was breathing, and i really don't think it is possible that my math could be off, so i will have to crack open the inspection porthole today.

Moving on, we set sail out of the channel and headed back up the coast. The wind was a steady 18 knots but for some reason it seems like a hell of a lot more wind. I figured its because of how cold the wind is. Anyways, we had to hurry back to the dock in ordered for us to meet Lynn Fitzpatrick on time. Lynn is the press officer for Transpac. I guess Kristin Royalty did a great job on the press release because we had 3 reporters and Lynn come out for a sail with us, as well as a number of press photographer's in a chase boat. The reporters on Addiction ( pictured ) were, on the left Ron Kilgore, very cool guy, he works for KNX10.70 CBS news radio, he and i did a live radio interview while i was at the helm doing a kite run, I must say that was really hard. Next was Rick Rosen, I think he was with Lynn as the Transpac photographer, then Jeff Gritchen he works for the Press-Telegram and i think the O.C. news paper, or the local news paper. Anyways we all had so much fun!! The one downer of the sail was when the press guys phones started going off with the news that Michael Jackson had died.

Oh and the bonus, Lynn gave me the Transpac program for 2009. Wow it looks good! Addiction is at the top of the competitors list, I think it because we have such a bad ass crew and a hot shit boat. Also the Phoenician ran a killer add wishing the crew of Addiction luck. It's to cool. For those of you that have yet to hear The Phoenician is opening up a marine shop, so you could haul out, at what i think is the best yard in Hawaii, and have all the marine supply you need just a few steps away. Thank you Fred and John. Also the photo of the crew of Cirrus excepting our trophy's for the Aloha B win.

Mom and I were super happy to see our friend and mainland Cirrus crew member Chris Doutre on the Transpac boat Silent Running. He is crewing as the navigator. He is sailing with some shabby digs, A/C, espresso machine, flat screen TV, and a convection oven. Good luck guys. Also a Japanese friend of mine from Tachyon 3 came down to Addiction to say hi, we have a huge language barrier, but the Tachyon 3 crew is one of my favorite crews. Good luck to them too.  

OK i got to go LA

OK, things are starting to wined down. I am happy bout that. As you can see Chase published two blogs through sail mail. I have to tell you, and I'm sure i will sound like an idiot, but i don't know what a sunspot is, i will find out and be that much more enlightened. I cant tell you just how happy i am that the computers are working out this well. I know my good friend Bill Meyers is stoked too.

Richard put some hydraulic fluid in to the system. The whole set up on Addiction is really strange, the fill spot is like an inch from the bulkhead, so there is no way to just poor the fluid in. Richard was going to set up some elaborate hose and funnel system, but then we thought it would be easier to use a medical syringe minus the needle. What do you know, that worked out just fine, a little slow, but no clean up. Also Chase reinstalled the stereo he dismantled back in Hawaii. We thought it was broken but it just turned out that the ground had become ungrounded, so now we have music. My mom came down to the boat with some of our canned food, our cup-a-noddle, box milk, and breakfast food. For those that don't know, cup-a-noddle is a staple when doing any open ocean crossing. My mom is doing a really good job getting all the goodies for the trip, she has also found us some good deals, so that's a bonus!

Other then that we have had a lot of visitors come by the boat lately asking odd question, such as how much excess weight in food do we have on board, what type of weather program do we have, how many reefs are in the main and how many mains do we have on board, how many spinnakers do we have and what are the sizes, and it goes on. See now first off i think why does this random person want to know these things? Why do they care? And should i care about these questions regarding other boats. And well the answer is i don't need to know that sort of crap about other peoples boats. And that goes the same with Addiction. So when random people, that i have no idea who they are ask these thing, i have started to say, well I'm pretty sure we have around 4 mains on board, and well i think i may have forgot a few spinnaker's back in Hawaii so its passable there could only be 2 spinnakers below. They usually look at me like I'm crazy and walk away.

Our Mahalo pupu party was a great time!! My mom organized a killer get together. We hand lots of food, wine and fun! Rick Ross from Marina Riggers and his lady friend came down, as well as Debbie our host, she brought some delicious Salmon she smoked herself, and a lovely bottle of almond infused champagne, we are going to save that one for the half way party. Duncan showed up with some fresh berry's, he brought his friend Zack Zorne (sp?). Zack is the man you need to talk to if you are on this side doing the race and you want to ship some gear back to Hawaii, he has a container. Space is available on a first come bases. If you would like to get a hold of him i think you can call the Marine Shipyard. Two of my friends from the Shoreline Yacht Club, Richard and Jim came over to wish us luck, as well as our slip neighbors Berry and Sharl. My Uncle AL stopped by too. Along with a few other well wishers the evening was a hit. Thank you to all that came, sucks to be those that didn't.

Stay tuned for the next blog as we are going for a sail to test out the new kites and also taking out some press people. LA

Here is one of my attempts at sending a picture.

Knock on wood this works (in less than a week)

Sunspots and Radiowaves

Hey everybody, Chase here. Since we have successfully tested our ability to send blog updates through email, I decided it was time to proceed to sending blog updates from our SailMail account. Yesterday we tested our ability to transmit pictures through email and I was pretty happy to see how little time it took us. Sadly, the spots of the sun have decided not to work in our favor today. I find myself able to connect, send, and receive, but it's taking considerably more time. Knock on wood, we will be LOADED with sun spots on our trip and just maybe we will be able to send you guys photos a little bigger than your thumb. For now, I say mahalo to everyone for their help and support.
~Chase

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Yesterday was great. Richard and I ran some errands then went down to the boat. Our fifth and final crew mate Chase arrived. He is the crew mate that makes the computers run. He got to work with sail mail. We sent and received a few messages, and let me tell you that was a huge relief!!! For those of you that don't know, I'm not the biggest fan of computers. In fact I'm floored with how well I'm doing with this whole blogging thing. Anyways, once we, or should i say Chase, accomplished that, we moved on to retrieving our GRIB files, and that went off with out a hitch. The weather was right there in front of us. I love it!!! I figured that since everything was going so well, why not push our luck and send a picture. What do you know it worked. That picture up there was sent through the SSB. I think that is really cool!!  

My mom came down to the boat latter in the day to drop off some more dry stores, paper towels, toilet paper, baby wipes, that sort of thing. So things are coming together quite while.

I would like to take this time now to invite anyone that is in southern California to join the crew of Addiction this evening around 1830 for a small pupu party. We would like to get a chance to thank all those that have helped us along the way. Addiction is docked in the Shoreline Village, aka the fish bowl, in slip 5025. If we know you don't bring anything but your self, if we don't know you and you just want to hang out with us, bring some beer or what ever you my drink. Alright see you then. LA

Alright, today was a good day, Richard and I got a lot done. We started the day off with a tour of the New Port West Marines. After 2 goes we got 3/4 of the stuff we needed for the day. Once we got to the marina, after a 20 minute conversation with the unofficial harbor master English John, we got right to work on board.
While Richard ran a new fore guy i installed some new cockpit pouches. See when we are course racing in Hawaii, all of our cockpit lines kinda just get thrown in to the cabin, but since we will be in the open ocean, and living down below, we kinda need to be able to close the hatch quickly and well i just need it to be a little more organized. So now all the lines can be neatly coiled and place in the pouches, out of the way and foul free. Its a good thing.
Then Richard webbed the lifelines, with bungee, from the first stanchion on the foredeck to the bow pulpit. I did the same, only on the deck and added little plastic hooks, in order to fix a sail to the deck if we had to. It looks much better and works much better now.
At some point Victor, the guy from Captain Glass, yep that's his name, not Vinnie, came by to sand and gel coat the ding spots he and his son started to fix on Friday. I am just so impressed with what a good job he has done. Other then the color you cant even tell there was a problem. He is not finished yet. I'm sure the finished product will be better then new. He should do the whole boat.
During this time Thore the refrigeration man came down to the boat to recharge the freon. Now when i think of a man with a name like Thore, i think 6'5" like 300 lb. big guy with an accent. And that is just what he was, but no accent. I thought i was going to have to remove the stairs so he could get in to work on the ice box. I learned a lot from Thore. He informed me that Addictions refrigeration system was a Nor Cold, or something to that effect, and that they don't have freon recharging ports. The idea is that once you run out of freon you replace the whole unit. I think that is really funny!! I could not get over it. I was then informed that the units last about ten years, so i guess it makes a little more sense. But still, come on. Thore went on to say that if i remove the wood facade encasing the unit he could do a little tapping and welding and recharge the system no problem. Surprisingly enough it was effortless to remove the wood paneling. Thore squeezed in, worked his magic, and was out of there in about an hour. He let me know that there is a small leak somewhere, but not any where he could find, and that was a good thing to him for some reason, i guess that meant it was really small. He told me that in about 2 years it will need a recharge, but by that time we should just buy a new unit. I must tell you, that 2 extra years, its money in the bank, i really feel like i got one over on those Nor Cold people. Side Note: I have been under the impression that Freon had been phased out. I should have asked Thore. Oh well.
After a quick lunch Richard and i reinstalled the engine kill plunger. It had been taken out back in Hawaii in order for some work to be done down below, in the quarter bunk. I guess the parts were missed place or some crap, so this whole time we have been manually killing the motor from down below on the engine, its not a big deal, just more work then it needs to be. Now its all better.
My mom spent the day getting the dry stores and things of that nature. She came by latter in the day to drop off that stuff and our sat. phone.
On our way home to Chateau Relaxeau we stopped at Big 5 sporting goods to look for some 5 gallon water jugs. Mom and I have been to literally every Lows, Home Depot.,West Marine, Walmart, Kmart, Boat US, and Sports Authority between Fashion Island and Pine Ave. as far inland as Signal Hill with no luck. So it was a really kicker to find them at the Big 5 walking distance from the boat. One more thing checked off the list!
To wrap it up, I have to tell you all about the unreal dinner Aunt Peggy had ready for us to devour when we got home. She mad a pork tender loin seasoned with fresh rosemary, steamed broccoli, corn, rice, and a fresh green salad. The pork was melt in your mouth. I don't know how i am going to acclimate to MRE's after all this amazing food.
Lastly, I just got off the phone with Julie Downes, Addiction's finish party planer. Julie, Ben Merritt, and the Waikiki Yacht Club are pulling out all the stops for this party, as Ben says its going to be LARGE! I cant wait. Also if anyone happens to meet Julie and she is clapping wildly, its OK, she really is just high fiveing herself for doing such an amazing job.
LA

Over The Weekend

Sorry I have missed a few days of blogging, i will get everyone up to date.

Friday

Lets see, Friday was a good day. Mike Rush got into town and came down to the boat, he got to work right away cleaning the head, thank you Mike, he also fixed the leak at the Y valve connected to the head. It was a minor leak but it was getting on my nerves. Then he saddled up on to the boom to run the check stays. Once that was finished he prepped the forward hatch for the grip tape.

At about mid day a few of my moms cousins, and my cousins, and my grandma, and my uncle Gary came down to the boat to have a look around. It was my cousin Olivia and here children's first time on a boat, so we took a ton of pictures, then headed over to the Yard House for lunch. I have to say that I'm glad to be sailing home as it will give me a chance to lose some of these lbs. i have put on since being here.

Earlier in the week i had contacted a man named Steve that owns a company called Captain Glass, they do fiberglass repair. He came down to the boat to check out the damage and gave me a great estimate. He came back latter with his two employees Vince (i think that's his name) and his son Louise (both pictured). They got to work digging out the fractured fiberglass and laying some new stuff down, as to set over the weekend. Let me tell you these guys are artist! So far they are doing an amazing job. If you are ever in Long Beach and you need some repairers of this nature done give Captain Glass a call. I am stoked!

Toward the end of the day my Transpac host Debbie (pictured) came by to say hi and drop off my skippers package. It was not the first time i had meet Debbie. In 2007 while delivering Cirrus up from Hawaii we ran out of flue right out side of Angles Gate, with out a lick of wind in sight and just a few days left till our start, we called Warren Wolf to see if we could get a tow. With in a half an hour Debbie pulls up in her boat and tows us all the way to our slip. It is great to get to spend some time with her again, she is a super cool woman. Thank you for all of your help.

Saturday

Okay, let me think. Ah yes, Richard came in at the crack of dawn. Mom and i got up really early, rushed down to the boat, i hulled up the battle flag, then went to Starbucks for a tea. Richard caught a shuttle from LAX to the Haytt in Long Beach. He called from the lobby to tell us just how tickled he was to be able to see his boat from that far away. We picked him up, drove down to the boat so he could have a look around. I shit you not, the first words out of his mouth were, Wow she looks dirty. First of all, anybody that has sailed on Addiction knows that not once has that boat been rinsed off after a sail, or a single stanchion been polished, and the head is lucky to get a quick wipe down once a month. Not to mention when we took possession of Addiction after being shipped from Hawaii, it literally looked like it had been sitting down wind from an oil fire for a month. The black soot and grime was impressive. So I had to just chock it up to jet lag, I'm sure that when he said dirty he really meant, super spectacular!

We fussed around for a bit, then tried to sink the boat. What happened was we decided to flush to water tank. The tank got full, and the bilge did too. We ran the bilge pump while looking for the breather, but could not find it anywhere. Then we thought we must have cracked the tank, but that wasn't the case. After awhile i found the breather, witch by the way is not near the tank, is in the oddest place, and empties right in to the bilge. So now i am better informed, its not a problem, it is what it is. All and all the tank is flushed and the bilge pumps work great!

We decided to take a brake from trashing the boat. Richard and I tried to find Club Transpac, we even used a map, but with no luck. I guess it has not been set up yet. We ran around town buying crap for the boat. We called it a day pretty early and headed back to Chateau Relaxeau. Chef Grandma had prepared a lovely welcome meal for Richard, we dinned on BBQ ribs, backed bean and her famous home made potato salad. It was tasty.

Sunday HAPPY FATHERS DAY

Today was a very enjoyable day. We slept in all the way till 8. Mom and i took Richard to breakfast at place called R&D, kind of like Richard & Donna, in Fashion Island. It was nice. After that we headed out to the boat. We have been driving down PCH daily, passing by a bathing suit shop called Beach Bunny, we had some time so i stopped in. Now in my mind a place called Beach Bunny seems like a heaven on earth, a Utopia, right there on Pacific Coast Highway. Not so much. There wasn't one suit in there that didn't have lace or chains on it. I don't even know if you could call it a swim suit, these suits seemed more like outdoor lingerie. Now i have owned some pretty out there swim suits, even some that i would never get wet, but not even i could get behind that swimwear. Maybe I'm getting old.

OK getting back to fathers day. We got to the boat and got it together to go out for a sail. I guess a few other people had the same idea, we had to wait for like ten minutes for it to be clear to back out of the slip, the channel was as busy as the 405. We set sail in about 20 knots of wind. That seems like a lot of wind for out here. Other then all the tankers on moorings, the green water, and the occasional seal it felt like we were home in Hawaii. There was ever type of boat on the water today, from Hobbie cats to the tall ship Lynx. Addiction sailed great, the rig and the tune seemed well, and all the lines were ran correctly. Once all the crew is in we will take her out for good ol' shake down.

After we got back into the harbor, and yes the boat got rinsed, mom and i took Richard to one of our favorite restaurants in CA. Its a place called Gorges. We went to the one on 2nd street, but there is also one on Pine Ave. Gorges severs authentic Greek food. We had a wonderful meal. Its a must try when in the Long Beach area, i would recommend the the flaming cheese appetiser.

You cant eat on 2nd street without taking a walk and doing a little window shopping. I don't know were my parents went but due to my very unsatisfying bathing suit experience earlier in the day I found myself elated at the sight of a bathing suit shop. I walked in and i was surrounded by VIX, Salinas and even CIA Maritim. It was total over load, you will be schooked to learn that i did not buy a thing. I told myself that once the boat is total ready to go, and if i still have any money left the weekend before the race, i would buy one, maybe two suits. It feels good just to know i have some place to go.

Moving on, i think that brings us up to speed. We have a busy week ahead so i promise not to miss a day of blogging and i will stick to the topic of Transpac and sailing. No more bathing suit talk. Also, i am glad to see some test comments, thank you to those for the instructions.

LA

Lets see, yesterday was a very unproductive day. Mom and i ran around town buying crap for the boat, we got a screw we need, ( come to think of it, i lost it ) some more of that 4U stuff, and on and on. Once we got down to the area the boat is in there was a ton of traffic, so we got held up in that. We got to the boat and i realized that i needed to fax a rental agreement to the sat phone company, back on the road again, we stooped at Kinkos, then our 90th trip to West Marine, and a stop at Starbucks to jump on the Internet to purchase our Long Beach banquet tickets, the dead line for that is Friday. Then back to the boat, but what do you know, the traffic is hideous! i guess the every single member of the Watchtower group from around the entire world decided to have a little convention at the Long Beach convention center. It really threw a wrench in my day. Once we finally got to the boat my uncle Gary and Grandma were waiting to take us to at our favorite Mexican restaurant, Super Mex. So we loaded up into the car, at this point i was getting irritated with not getting any work done and being in the fricking car. We all had a very nice lunch. While the rest of the family went off and did there own thing, i headed back to the boat to polish the bow and push pulpit and the stanchions. English John turned me on to this stuff called, i think, Davis FSR, fiberglass stain remover. Now i have always been a big fan of Ospho, but his stuff is like Ospho in a gel form with a little extra spice. I like it a lot, and i think Addiction likes it too. Well I have to get going with my day. LA

Oh, could some one out there that knows how to post a comment, please post a comment explaining to people how to post a comment. Thank you.

Inspection!!!

Alright lets see, yesterday was a good day very productive! Mom and i went down to the boat, i worked on re-installing the SSB antenna, and putting the radar reflector on the back stay while mom installed a hanging system in the forepeak for our lines and foul weather gear. Some time around 1300 i called Roby, (pictured) he is the head TP inspector, i asked him if he could come down to the boat on Friday to do our inspection, he said he had to look at his calender and he would call me back. The thing is, we have all of our inspection stuff on board, but a lot of it has to be in place for the race, and we were only half way there.

A few hours latter my phone rings, its Roby, he was at the post office then he was going to come down to Addiction in 20 minutes. Wow okay, so mom and i rushed around to put the life raft in place, move a few things around to get a look at the through hulls, and a few other things. When Roby arrived i felt pretty much ready. He and i sat down below and went through the inspection list, after i singed my life away he asked me to raise my right hand, he asked me to repeat after him, I Lindsey Anne Austin swear to have as much possible fun before during and after Transpac and to consume as many Mai Ti's upon arrival in Hawaii. Yes i love you Roby!! With that Addiction was cleared to sail in Transpac.

Once Roby left mom and i scrubbed down the decks with this cleaner called 4U. Let me tell you that stuff is like a magic wand, or like a time machine that took us back to 1984 when Addiction was brand new. It is a great product, it's known in only 15 states to cause cancer, and just damages the marine life within a 15 yard radios of the boat. I'm totally joking, but that is just how strong this stuff is. But really the bottle says its biodegradable and non-hazardous. If u want to pick some up give the Captains Locker a call 562-598-6611, they will ship it.

We put our brand new Sobstad spinnakers on board, i am very excited to see those up. we also ran our Sobstad battle flag up the head stay to get a look at it, and i am super stoked!!! It looks killer. We are not flying it all the time right now, but next week it will be a permanent fixture.

Lets wrap it up, I have meet my first unfriendly pair of people since i have been here. While walking down the dock with my mom we had to pass by a TP boat, which i won't mention the name, so i figured i would introduce ourselves, I told them our names and put my hand out and they did and said absolutely nothing. You my think maybe that don't speck english, or perhaps they're deaf, no that is not the case. I'm more inclined to think they are two grown men lacking in social graces, but I'm sure they will come around.

Okay i cant look at this computer any more. LA

Yesterday was a good day, mom and i got the boat in a little better order, it almost looks live able. We siliconed the mast, arranged the food and cloth bins, and i got the electrical for the mast lights all hooked up. The windx is giving me a hard time so i will have to go up the mast today and look at that. 

After that long day of work, we arrived back at the Chateau Relaxeau, ( that's french for the house of relaxation) also known as my uncle Al and Ant Peggy's house in Big Canyon. Ant Peggy made a killer dinner of prosciutto and cheese stuffed chicken with a green chili sauce, accompanied by homemade mashed potato, steamed broccoli, and a green salad with avocado. It was unreal!!! We made a pig of ourselves, there were no left overs. I might just scratch this whole TP thing and become the pool girl at the Chateau Relaxeau and never leave. Thank you guys!!

Alright I'm just wasting my day now, i will write more latter. 

Oh Christin, i got your blog comment, thank you for putting the blog on the HYRA site, that cool. I will ask around about a spot for your friend.  

Addiction In The Water!!!!!

Early Monday morning, with the help of Rick the rigger his employ Row, my uncle Gary, mom, Howard and a few other people in the yard we were able to put Addiction in the water. It all went smoothly, and she didn't sink, that's a plus! After everyone came back from lunch we got our act together to step the mast. When we pulled the mast back at the Phoenician i noticed that there were no coins in the step, and i have always been told that is bad luck, so before westeeped it this time around, i put a silver quarter that Mike Rush gave the boat and a Kennedy head half dollar from the year the boat was built. So i think were covered.

Once all that was in order we drooped the mast and tuned the rig. After that i went up the mast to attach an antenna and a flag halyard, then we ran the lines on the deck and we were done. Before we left the yard I got the estimate to see how much it would cost the yard to fix the 3 dings on the beams, I guess i don't know much about the cost of boat repair because i wasshocked to see that it would be $3084.25. I talked to my Load a Boat guy, and i was informed that Pasha will only pay up to $1000. He wants me to wait to get back to Hawaii so he can have his friend fix it. That's not going to happen.

Mom, uncle Gary and i left the Marine shipyard at 1645 headed to Rainbow Marine. It took us about an hour to get there, and let me tell you it was COLD and windy. We pulled in to the channel in front of the Tole Mour, that was neat.

Addiction has a really nice slip, thank you Rick Sanders and English John. Our neighbor Berry was kind enough to split his power cord for us, so now we are all powered up.

Mom and I are kinda bummed that do to all the delays with the shipping, we missed anopportunity to crew on Vicki in the Hoga race. Thank you very much to Chris Welsh for the invite, good luck racing Ragtime, in what is probably her 80th Transpac. See you in Hawaii. Also thank you to Jeff on Hot Ticket for the invite to do the Thursday night beer can races, I might make it this week. Aloha to Becky.

Mom has been on the phone with our party planner Julie Downes, she is doing a killer job, I am really looking forward to the booze luge and some drunken hula hoop contest, and whacking the shit out a pinata.

Oh i almost forgot, the cat i am holding in that picture belongs to Rick, ( that is Rick in the picture). It is by far the biggest cat i have ever seen in my life, he tells me it only weighs 19 lbs but I'm calling a good 30 lbs. Its a Manx so it only has a stub of a tail. Alright that's all for now.

There it is the ding, like i said, there are two more like it. oh well shit happens. That's my mom working on the rigging. Today was another day of getting things a little more organized on the boat. Mom and I did some engine maintenance, put some of the safety equipment out one the deck, and then ran some errands to west marine and home depot.  We got our dinners for the trip in the mail, MRE's, that stands for meals ready to eat, its like freeze dried food, but some people think its better, really its food in a bag that can keep for up to 15 years, so you can imagine what that might be like. Tomorrow is a big day hopefully we can get the dings fixed, the boat in the water, mast steeped, and move into our new slip at the, oh i forgot the name of the marina, but I know how to get there.

Other then that, i hung out with the truck driver Howard, he is really funny. I don't think i have ever meet such a good ol' boy from Texas. I found out that he likes to listen to Rush Limbaugh on talk radio, he really isn't to keen on having Obama for president, because, amongst other things, he was born in Africa and is a Muslim. He thinks Eve Mendez is one of the most beautiful women alive, and he doesn't understand why she wont return his phone calls. He knows all Filipino women wield knives, and he is a history fanatic.

 I think he likes mom and I because he lent me his favorite 2 movies, only on the contingency that i fetch'em on back to him by tomorrow. So i should probably hurry home to watch Smokey and the Bandit and Convoy. I wish he could come out to Hawaii for the finish party, he is a riot!!! 

Alright that's all for now.