Where in the World is No Ka Oi - IN HAWAII!

At 5:07 Pacific Time, No Ka Oi arrived in HI with a finish time of 12 days, 15 hours and 3 minutes (no we don’t have the seconds) for sailing 2,070 Pacific Ocean miles to beautiful Kaneohe Bay, Oahu, giving them what we believe to be a solid 6th place finish in the 2008 Pacific Cup. They sound elated to have completed their journey and at the time of posting were in the process of motoring into the marina in search of a dock, a lei, a mai tai, and a toss in the pool.

For nearly a year, we worked, they practiced, we played with food options, again, they practiced, we packaged meals in different ways during different races to see what would work, they practiced, the skipper upgraded the boat, and again they practiced, we did work deciding when to go to HI to meet them and, yes, you guessed it, the men taunted us with threats of turning their under garments inside out to avoid laundry, if they brought any at all!

We keep mentioning July 14th, ensuring you that this is a monumental day. That Monday represents the day that the crew embarked on the realization of a dream. Challenges the weekend prior to the race presented potential heartbreak and a chance to walk away and close the door on the dream. Special people did special things to make sure that this, the dream for so many of them, could continue in motion.

From the NKO LBC, this journey presented an opportunity to learn and help and appreciate some of the challenges that face people, everyday (not surrounding how to take off work for several weeks and sail across the ocean, but making sacrifices with time to achieve something big).

While many of you know that the food aboard, perhaps doesn’t represent any significant suffering (unless they ran out of cheese), we were provided with the chance to help and know in our hearts that we put food in their belly, good thoughts in their midst and their knowledge that so many people support all of the crew (and everyone involved in the race) with the dreams dreamt by young hearts.

Thank you all for your support of the NKO OBC by taking the time to read these. We look forward to the next opportunity to regale you with the adventures of the sea.

Until next time, we bid you ado,

Gayle (and Jane)