Day 4 – July 4th
44 deg 06.1 ’N  135 deg 19.9 ’W

The last couple days have been challenging. 
After light winds for a few hours yesterday, the wind steadily picked up. We went through half our sail inventory starting out with the wind seeker mid day, then an asymmetrical spinnaker, and then to our symmetrical light wind spinnaker only to have to gear down again a few hours later. With winds around 30 kts and gusts to 36 kts we had our hands full through the night. It was raining non-stop and everything was soaked. Nothing like getting up at 2 am, to get into soggy pants to stand a four-hour watch in near gale winds with pouring rain. On a brighter note the bioluminescence was amazing.  For a moment on the fore deck (working on yet another reef) I watched the water flying over the bow. As it ran aft, it turned the deck into a sparkling firmament making it look like a star lite sky. The night was black and the only other thing we could see was the white caps illuminated by our navigation lights.  The white caps performed a wild dance as the waves caught up with Salient, lifting her stern up and let her surf down the back side into the trough. Mesmerizing.  Today the winds eased a bit and we flew Black Magic, our heavy weather spinnaker. The wind blew around 25- 30 kts and the Salient was a handful to keep under control. Driving was hard and required 100% focus. We were doing 10 kts and more most of the time with the top speed at 18.9 kts surfing down a particularly large wave. We thought about gearing down but it was not until we had a complete wipe out followed by a full 360 pirouette including an accidental gybe that we got off our adrenaline high and reduced sail.
Today's dinner were Chilean Empanadas with Chipotle hot sauce – fantastic!
Until tomorrow – Salient out.

Day 1 – July 2nd, 2018
46 deg 54.4’ N 127 deg 43,8’ W

Aloha from aboard Salient! Your writer is strapped in the navigation seat which is on the starboard side of the boat. With a strong westerly and us going on the rhumb line towards Maui a solid strap is required to avoid getting catapulted onto the stove top.  Not something anybody would enjoy much!

After an amazing start into the 2018 Vic-Maui race with lots of wind and sun we are now power reaching under a partly sunny sky, with strong winds (20 – 25 kts, gusting 28). Not that much wind really but combined with a light cruiser/racer and the ocean swell and waves this makes for an exciting ride.

Below deck it feels rougher than on deck. Thanks to webbing straps on the ceiling we manage to move about relatively safely. But most of us have some bruises to sport. Food is delicious but mostly ignored or fed to the fish one way or another. The winner is the box of breakfast cookies prepared by Susan Tresa – the only thing that most seem to enjoy at the moment.

On deck it is rock and roll. We are having fun playing with the waves as we try to weave our way through the troughs without smacking strait into walls of water. Sometimes we miss: Standing at the helm one minute I see the yellow hoodies of our crew and the next moment there is only a wall of white water crashing into the cockpit. Next thing I am almost a foot deep into water. Everybody laughs and on we sail.
After a bumpy ride at night and early morning, the winds eased off a bit and we are no longer seeing the high gust. The cockpit crew still gets frequent showers and they told me to mention conditions are moist.
With crew of eight, four are on watch and four on rest. During the day we stand six hour watches and at night four. We are now already on Honolulu Standard Time and it is 2 pm as I am writing this.

Until tomorrow! – Salient out.

Christof Marti