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Here he is!

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DAY EIGHTEEN: George and Taz!! FINISH

It is official. George's race is over.  George and Taz!! crossed the finish line at approximately 9:16pm Hawaii Time on July 6, 2010. CONGRATULATIONS GEORGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   By the sound of his voice over the VHF radio, he sounds just like himself.  We are about to find out for ourselves in person.

We'll post photos of George and goodness knows what else in the next few days, so stay tuned.  And thanks for being out there in the world reading this -- writing for all of you gave me something to do other than worry and wonder over these eighteen days. 

DAY EIGHTEEN: The Anticipation is Killing Us

We are listening to George's voice over the VHF point-to-point radio Race Committee loaned us as he comes within one hour of finish.  They are chit chatting with him, joking about one thing and another.  We are in our Taz!! t-shirts and we've prepared a first meal of three hotdogs and ketchup and mustard at the ready, which we'll give him when he reaches land. 

For those keeping track, yes we will be giving him a lobster dinner!  Tomorrow night's dinner for 15 is at CJ's in Princeville, and while they always serve lobster we feared they might run out so they have promised to make sure they have at least one lobster on hand for our sailor. 

DAY EIGHTEEN: FINAL Evening Check-In

At the 9pm check-in George had 23 miles to go, and after a period of being becalmed in the mid-afternoon he was by 9pm pulling 6.8 knots.  Race Committee is assembling the motorboat to go meet George on the finish line with his cranberry juice with lime, and a lei.  The sun is setting and he is expected to be in at 9:15pm Hawaii time (12:15am California time, which is the time zone of the 9am/9pm check-ins).  He will be the first boat to finish at night which rankles both George and Race Committee just a  little bit.   

We went down to The Tree tonight to suss out our plans for greeting George.  There, I spoke with Jeff of Hecla, Adrian of Idefix, The General of Harrier and Paul of Culebra.  Paul said, "I think George deserves the award for the one who complained the least but had the most to complain about."  He then went on to list George's food having rotted, the black eye, the wet pillow.  It's clear that at least one of George's fellow skippers has a great deal of admiration for how George stood up to the challenge.

Indeed. 

We're just thrilled to have him on the horizon, almost in our sights, almost in our arms. 

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TransPac 2010 position report
date/time: 201007062100

Boat,Lat D,Lat M,Long D,Long M,DTF,COG,SOG,time of report,

Bandicoot,24,25,156,4,229,230,6.1,,
Blue Moon,26,55,152,46,462,223,4.7,,
Culebra,fin,,,,,,,,alt comm
Dream Chaser,22,33,158,43,48,250,5.5,,alt comm
Harrier,fin,,,,,,,,
Hecla,fin,,,,,,,,alt comm
Idefix,fin,,,,,,,,
Mirage,dnf,,,,,,,,
Pakele,23,45,157,7,160,236,5,,
Saraband,fin,,,,,,,,
Second Verse,24,32,151,10,479,235,4.6,,
Solar Wind,fin,,,,,,,,
Southernaire,25,15,152,16,433,225,4.5,
Tazz!!,22,25,159,8,23,231,6.8,eta 9:00pm HI time
Warriors Wish,fin,,,,,,,

DAY EIGHTEEN: George's Last Log Report

George called us at 3pm Hawaii time, reporting that he had 41 miles to go but that he was "becalmed" meaning little to no wind.  At that rate he was projecting a finish at 10:45pm Hawaii time.  We immediately reported this to Race Committee, who had predicted 8-9pm for George.  We are in touch with them multiple times a day at this point and they are very supportive of our big surprise.

Here is George's Log:

Day 18

Hi!!!! -- I'll be finishing at around midnight California time/9pm Hawaii time today or a little later.  At the moment I have 63.2 miles to go and Taz!! and I can smell the finish line.  I decided not to hoist the Spinny today, I decided I'm too tired and too much can go wrong.  Instead I'm sailing wing on wing with the number one pulled out on the port side.  I'm doing 6.7 knots on the flats and 9 coming down the waves.  it's nice to finish this way.  I've been making good time for the past 3 days.

During my morning inspection I noticed xx pins almost gone, falling out of my starboard lower shroud.  Losing that would not probably bring the mast down but it would be a real pain to replace it underway.  In heavy wind it could have been a stability problem. 

These 2100 miles have put a lot of wear on Taz!!  The hull and the standing rigging look fine but the rugging rigging -- jeeps, halyards, twings etc. are fraying.  Then there's the sails.  Number 1 is fraying, Number 3 is trashed, Number 4 is fine, the Main is tired.  Spinny looks good but it's probalby stretched out of its original shape.  I've burned out two auto pilot rams, I hope the third one (and my last) holds up.  I've lost a few blocks and my main sheet... traveler car. 

Then there's me.  Other than being tired and physically weak I'm just fine.  All the cuts from the first brutal three days have healed.  The cut over my eye from the face plant is healing and I never even had a headache from it.  I've had no gastro-intestinal issues which is a surprise given all the questionable food I've been eating.  Over 2.5 years of pre-race physical training have paid off in spades.  My back, legs, arms and core strength have all me the challenge.

I have loved this isolation.  This log is all I've needed.  I did talk to myself every once in awhile when I was reading a sail or fixing something.  It was more of telling myself what to do first, second and third, what to slack before I crawled up to the the foredeck type of thing.  It's a drag crawling all the way up to the foredeck to do something only to find out you have to crawl all the way back to un-cleat a line. 

So that's all I have to say.  Looking forward to the finish. I'm becalmed right now, I'm doing 4 knots.  It's FRUSTRATING as hell.  I can literally taste lobster -- I'm telling you, I'm having lobster somewhere.  

I love you guys. I'll talk to you later.

Bye!

DAY EIGHTEEN: More Coverage in Sailing Publications

George's Log Reports are getting picked up by the sailing publications, as is news of our family surprise:  "He doesn’t know it, but George (“the 2010 Single-Handed Transpac is my Mount Everest”) Lythcott will not be greeted by the one or two family members he has been led to expect. No, the welcoming party is going to look like this, but a lot more jumpy and feelie in the moment. They just haven’t told him . . ." 

Check out one of links (all identical stories):

http://sailmagazine.com/racing/singlehanded_transpac_finishes_up/
http://www.boats.com/boat-content/
http://kimballlivingston.com/

Another Write-Up for George: Kimball Livingston's BLUE PLANET TIMES | Commentary and news abou

http://kimballlivingston.com/

So it goes with distance events as well. The 2010 edition of the Singlehanded Transpac has been slow going much of the time, with difficult seas and opposing sets kicked up by distant storms. A thirteen-day crossing is certainly not the best-possible time for a 54-foot trimaran, but that was the reality for Jeff Lebesch’s Hecla, first to finish over the July 4 weekend.

DAY EIGHTEEN: Harrier (The General) Finishes

Sawyer spotted what looked to be Harrier rounding the bend this morning and immediately sprang for the binoculars.  Both kids confirmed that it was indeed Harrier, and we resisted doing a big shout and greet since it was only 7:30am...

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DAY EIGHTEEN: Rainbow

This symbol of Kaua'i greets us in part each morning, but today we got the full 180 degree arc. I couldn't get the full arc on my phone camera so I am posting one half then the other!

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Rainbow, part 2

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DAY EIGHTEEN: Hold On To Your Hats HERE HE COMES!!!

Like some of the rest of you I imagine, I'm an emotional fool at this point, so when I checked this morning's check-in all of a sudden tears sprang to my eyes.  Our beloved intrepid fighting sailor made 74 miles overnight.  He is now at 97 miles to go, and is in the 8th position, having overtaken Dream Chaser by a net of 19 miles through the night.

Below is the map you're used to seeing, followed by the position reports, but then I've pasted a blown up map below that so you can see the detail of those nearing the finish. 

We have canceled our plans to go down island for a luau tonight.  Our beloved George is coming in, coming home, earlier than expected and we will be here with 14 sets of open arms. TEARS STREAMING DOWN MY FACE. Good lord where are the tissues... 

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TransPac 2010 position report
date/time: 201007060900

Boat,Lat D,Lat M,Long D,Long M,DTF,COG,SOG,time of report

Bandicoot,25,25,155,10,305,221,6.8,,,
Blue Moon,27,31,152,0,517,223,4.7,,,
Culebra,22,22,159,3,27,258,5.5,,alt comm,ETA - 1100 Hi Time
Dream Chaser,23,2,157,46,108,250,6.5,,alt comm,
Harrier,22,17,159,20,9.9,250,6,,,
Hecla,fin,,,,,,,,alt comm,
Idefix,fin,,,,,,,,,
Mirage,fin,,,,,,,,,
Pakele,24,14,156,19,212,236,5.3,,,
Saraband,22,28,158,55,35,260,6.1,,ETA - 1300 HI Time,
Second Verse,24,53,150,19,532,240,5,,,
Solar Wind,fin,,,,,,,,,
Southernaire,25,31,151,22,484,221,5.1
Tazz!!,22,58,157,54,97,259,7.1
Warriors Wish,fin,,,,,,

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