Such Fast crew has had an incredibly busy week in San Diego, CA doing the final punch list to be race ready...and today's the day! I had my last conversation (well, not my last last conversation) with Dave (Skipper/Boat owner/Boyfriend extraordinaire) just a few minutes ago and they are ready to go. They have the first start of the race with four other boats at 12pm noon today (Pacific Time). Approximately 30 boats are participating in this race. Download the YB Race app and add PV Race 2020 to follow their progress. It will have a 4 hour race delay per the race organizer.
Let me remind you, Such Fast has no paid crew. These guys have various levels of experience (the total years of ocean experience is pretty impressive though!) but the team as a whole brings this boat together to hopefully perform excellent. To get a boat and crew ready for ocean racing, months of planning and preparation goes on. Most people who do not race, have absolutely no idea the amount of work prior to ocean racing. It's truly remarkable. The amount of detail that goes into racing is crazy. Like making sure that one little wire is not pinched and lays perfectly on the wall or making sure your epirbs are up to date and registered with the data base. One of a thousand little things. If you don't know what an epirb is...look it up! You should learn something new everyday, right!?!
The crew has been meeting for months, planning and discussing roles and responsibilities. Countless hours have been spent upgrading boat electronics, discussing boat roles, food choices and water consumption (optimal number of calories each sailor should have each day), navigation tools/weather, communication, safety, tactics...to name a few! I've mentioned this before, but we are truly thankful for everyone who participates in this with us. Many people give time and their expertise to help Such Fast do these ocean races (from rigging experts to 3D printing speaker mounts). We are so appreciative of each and everyone of you (coming along side us, housing us, utilizing your skills) and more than anything, we really love the friendships that are built along the way. It's such an amazing journey and so fun to share the love of sailing with you. Sailing is truly a community. Throw in a little rum and it becomes a pretty fun party! 😎
I was on the weather phone call this morning and for the most part, the weather looks pretty light for the week. Fortunately, Such Fast generally does pretty well in light air. It's going to be a tactics race! One of our crew, Spencer Kunath, is our navigator for the race. He's been working endlessly on numerous weather models, research and consulting with experts, as he plans for the race. We're so excited to have Spencer on the crew this year. We are so fortunate to have him! He's also been the lead to keep everyone on task. Not an easy job. He's done a phenomenal job.
This video is right before they pushed off to head towards the start of the race...from our fearless captain, Dave (Bad Robot).
I'll keep you posted with updates as I hear from the boat! Below is a couple shots I just received after the start. They are really pleased with their start! Yay team Such Fast.
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