Thanks for the stack of best wishes, folks. Back in civilization and going through all the messages now. Proud to fly the GSC flag!
The last hour before the finish in Molokai Channel was actually the hairiest of the whole race. It’s a legendarily nasty piece of water and it lived up to its billing.
We had a great time crossing the channel at 13 knots in the dark with tunes blasting in the cockpit. Then we got into the lee of Koko Head on Oahu and all hell broke loose. Still flying our A2 kite – the biggest in our inventory and technically rated for 20 kts max wind – and the 35 knot williwaws started funnelling out of the valleys. Then a vigorous squall rolled over and added to the fun.
We’d flown that kite up the mast 10 days earlier and by this point only God was going to take it down. So we just hung on for the ride and kept the hull under the rig.
The water was relatively flat and we held sustained speeds of 16+ knots for several minutes at a stretch each time a new gust hit. Too bad it was 3am because we really wanted the Sharon Green money shot from the chopper just then!
All in all we came away super impressed with the sailing machine that Hobie Alter conceived over 35 years ago. Way ahead of its time. Super stable with the new elliptical rudder, rigid with the new ring beam, and the running back stays we added sure made us feel more comfortable pushing the boat.
At the end of the day we had no injuries, no wipeouts and not a single breakage after 2200 miles of hard sailing.
That seems like an achievement to us!
Thanks for all your support guys.
