Where in the World is No Ka Oi - 7/20

Ahoy Race Fans,

This comes swimming to you from the very rocky chair of the NKO LBC in an effort to catch you up on the activities over the weekend from our fantabulous crew! We received several emails and all remains well.

With a lack of sunshine and decent wind, the crew keeps sailing along. Sails trimmed and keeping the boat slicing through the water helps to mark the half way point (and hence a party) – and involves a little shin dig aboard the boat. While pole dancing and the like will be out of the question (joke for the NKO OBC), we would imagine that there could be a little cutting of the rug to celebrate! Tomorrow at 2pm Pacific Time, Skipper Phil kicks off the celebration as they are in the home stretch and should arrive in HI by Sunday, July 27^th.

Speed registered up to 10.5 knots today and according the crew, the fish are having a tough time keeping up with the lines in the water. One fish hooked and broke the lines, another took the bate and so third choice is to keep the bate attached better and double the line. Additionally, they saw two whales (potentially catching some sleep in the middle of the very safe ocean) and one of the other boats in the fleet caught some tuna. Based on the canned stuff our crew got, we imagine they would be pretty pleased to pull a real tuna up for a little sashimi snack. If only they will remember to break out the sushi provisions procured in none other than our very own San Francisco China Town. (We know, two different countries…but that is where we got the supplies!) Certainly the addition of some fresh fish would increase the half way party pleasure.

The boat leveled out this weekend (not heeling as much as their previous tack) and the water maker pumps out enough that they are all showering and even baking – can you imagine fresh baked Peanut Butter Cookies in the middle of the ocean? We believe this was the draw for the fish, but don’t have that data confirmed yet.

For those of you who missed the web addresses to get live updates of our good friends of the sea, take a look below. Some new features include race update (left side of the page) and blogs from other racers (on the right). No Ka Oi is in Division A and departed on Monday, July 14^th at 1:05pm.

Race Standings: http://pacificcup.org/08/pc08-positions.html

Satellite view of the boats: http://trackinfo.fistracking.com/pc2008/

For those planning on being in Hawaii to welcome the crew and celebrate, the organizers of Pacific Cup suggest pre-ordering your tickets for the parties you plan to attend. More information can be found at:

http://pacificcup.org/08/kaneohe-events.html

We wish you all the best for a wonderful week and our sincere thanks for tuning in and sending good wishes to the crew. More updates coming to you tomorrow.

Best,

NKO LBC