We’ve been galloping along and making such good progress it was looking like we’d get to Kanehoe earlier than expected. But then Derby showed up on the scene and it looks like he may have the upper hand on our plans.
A few days ago Derby was rated as a hurricane, the good news is he’s just been downgraded to a tropical storm, the bad news is…that’s still bad news!
Tropical storms can mean 50-55 knot winds and a raging white frothy ocean, not the deep inky blue that’s been mesmerizing us for days. Tropical storms you want to stay the hell away from.
Current reports indicate that Derby will be putting on quite a show right when we and a number of the other yachts anticipated arriving in Kanahoe on Sunday.
The situation is being closely monitored by the race committee and Honolulu Coastguard to make sure we all take the safest precautions to avoid Derby.
Some of the yachts are close enough they should be able to make it in before Derby kicks off. Yesterday, we thought we could too and sailed like billy-o through the night to gain as much ground as we could. Today though, we realized we were cutting it too close and could potentially end up in the middle of the worst of it, so we’ve put the brakes on and are resigned to the fact that we will spend at least an extra day, possibly two at sea while we slow Rapture down and hang back until the coast is clear for us to continue on.