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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