Day 2

The website I mentioned yesterday ... it is www. kattack.com ... wait until you see the Copa Galapagos link and then click on it ... will take you to the virtual race ... you can see the different boats and where they are ... but, it does not seem to be working quite well, so we have to go back tomorrow and make sure the system is up and running.  Copa Galapagos website also updates the standing of each boat.


Today was a day of shopping in the morning (supplies ... food, batteries, cleaning items, etc.).  Today was also the first of four stages os the race.


Stage 1: Barolvento/Sotavento or Windward/Leeward or in plain English, Upwind/Downwind.  But before going into details of today's race... let me introduce you to the Tabasco Team ...

Olaf, aka Olafo, is our captain.  I have sailed the Cup with Olafo twice before.  I have also known Olafo since kindergarten!

Gustavo, aka Gus, is our second captain.  As with Olaf, have sailed the Galapagos Cup twice before with Gus.

Lars, aka Viking, is Olafo's brother and like Olafo an experienced sailor who has also sailed the Cup.  Vikingo is our tactical person.

Jinson, aka McGyver, is ou deckhand.  His nickname is exactly what it means ... he can fix just about anything with anything on board.  He is also key in keeping all the sails ready.

Ignacio, aka Nacho, is Gus' son, and the newbie in the group.  Nacho gets to skip school for a week in order to participate in the race ... I assume his mom knows about this :-)

Bernardo ... aka Berni and Elber (for "El Bernardo") There are two Bernardoes on board ... so he is now known as Junior ... chances are this name will stick.  Junior is our other newbie.  He is Olafo's daughter boyfiend .. so I give him a lot of credit for being willing to venture into open sea with his girfriend's dad ...

..and of course me.


so to today's race ... we had steady 8 - 10 knot winds with gusts here and there and a speed of 7 knots... not bad.  The 12 nautical mile course was based on 2 miles upwind, two miles downwind, three cycles.  The boats are set into three categories... Catamarans, goup 500, and group 600.  the assignemnt is based on the type of boat, construction, size, etc, and each boat is assigned a handicap... how? I have no idea ... witchcraft I say!  We are in group 600 with 17 other boats.


Today's race was a very tactical race, where each "tack" (or turn into the wind) had a significant inpact on the approach to each buoy, and involved a lot of defencive moves.  We ended up in 2nd place for our group and 4th place overall.... here an interesting fact... what separates third from forth place is 60 seconds!!!


The evening we had the opening ceremonies, which included a welcoming procession of the different teams ... boats from Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and one vessel from France ... hosted by the Ecuadorean Navy.  In addition to the opening ceremony there was the award ceremony ...


...this is our 2nd place trophy ...

...and a social event featuring live music pefomed by the Navy's orchestra....

All in all a great first day.


Tomorow we have some last minute shopping, and at 13:00 local time we start the second stage of the race ... Salinas Galapagos.  During this stage of the race I will not have any internet connection, so I hope you will be able to spot us on the kattack.com or the Copa Galapagos Website... I expect to be back on line sometime in Monday ...


Until then!

Day 1

The day started at 5 am after 4 hours sleep.  The 35 minute AeroGal flight from Quito (the capital city) to Guayaquil (the port city) was scheduled to depart at 7 am. 

This morning's flight was the first in the series of races coming up ... Our captain was flying Lan; I was flying AeroGal; his flight was departing at 7:00 am; my flight was scheduled to depart at 6:50 am; his flight boarded first; my flight borded second; his flight arrived to Guayaquil 8 minutes before my flight!  We both arrived safe ...


From Guayaquil we took a car to Salinas, the Miami of Ecuador.

This is the view of Salinas from the apartment where we are staying ... have to have a bit of luxury before moving into the boat!


The drive to Salinas took about two hours, and as soon as we arrived, it was time for a traditional "ceviche" and a Cerveza ...

This is a Lobster Ceviche, and is prepared on site once ordered.

The rest of the afternoon was spend buying supplies for the boat.  The boat is docked at the Salinas Yacht club.

The Salinas Yacht Club (SYC) is located on the south-east point of Salinas, close to the tip of the Peninsula of Santa Elena.  We transferred the supplies into the boat and did some inor adjustments to the electronic equipment.

After a little rest the SYC will host an opening reception, where we will have the opportunity to meet most of the captains and crew of the 37 yachts registered for this event.  It will also set the stage for what will be a very competitive race!

Here is another good link... it is a "virtual" link.  When you click the logo for Copa Galapagos 2011 you will see "cartoon" boats that show the position of all the yachts while in route to Galapagos.

Day 0

in route ... waiting for the flights and continuing to send the link to f&f.

use this link to find out about the program
http://www.code.org.ec/copa-galapagos/programacion.html

and this is our boat, ECU 060


this foto was during the Copa Galapagos 2008 ... (that's me with the red bandane :-)

Day - 1

Bummer with verizon as I will not be able to update the blog via iPhone ... means I have to rely on hamster-powered, ol-fashioned, slow-but-reliable Wi-Fi updates ... should work fine.

Today's activities are packing for cold (remember the Humbolt current runs up the South American coast and vears off by Ecuador and heads to the Galapagos : #1 reason why you find pinguins in Galapagos) and warm (after all, we are on the Equator) weather!

Day - 2

Setting up the Blog and emailing the link to friends and family.
Here is where we are sailng to ... look for updates on schedules..

Also checking iPhone application ...