News
July 8, 2017, 1745
In the last 24 hours, Varuna witnessed something that very few sailors will get to see - multiple hundred footers blowing past them days into the race at close quarters!
We picked our routing line a few days ago and so far it has done us well (first in class). Anyway, as we tracked ours and our competitors progress we had to take notice of Comanche to see if/how they might break the record. Well they passed 1/4 mile to winward after 400 miles of sailing (day 2) We greeted them on the radio as they blew past us doing 25 knots with a full triple headrig. Of course, we were proud that our 'line' had been vindicated by the venerable Stan Honey driven Comanche!
That alone would normally make a great conversation piece for the race, but then the very next day (18 hours later - 600 miles down the pike)) another hundred footer,RIO, came right down our path and this time, they went a 1/4 mile to leeward (very nice of them). We chatted with the owner on Rio 100 who offered us some broiled chicken in place of our MREs (he also said hi to his realtor who is one of our regular crew).
So there you have it, a little 46 footer racing neck and neck (okay getting blown away) by two world class hundred footers, hundreds of miles in to the race and having nice chats with each. They looked impressive, especially since 2 of our boats could sit on their decks!! (oh and I still think we picked the right line!).