26 hours, 39 minutes, 19 seconds

[*KK*]

http://nosa.org

Our uncorrected finish time in this years Newport-Ensenada.

First ocean race I've ever done, and while there were some moments, especially the one where we sat for 4 hours without moving more than 200 yards due to no wind at all, with a pair of sharks swimming around our boat, I'll definitely do more of them.

If anyone had told me even a month ago that I would be able to spend more than 20 of those 26 hours actively sailing -- nearly 14 of them trimming the spinnaker alone, I'd have said, oh sure, anyone can do that.

But when you're racing hard all night long, and you can't see anything but running lights randomly scattered around you, it's very hard to force the concentration and inspiration that you need to keep on doing your absolute best to win your class or beat the boats you decide you're racing against. You have nothing to measure against like you do during short daylight races and boy does it beat you down with 2 hours on and 2 hours off during the 8 pm to 8 am hours.

We drove the boat back up to San Diego over night as well, so that was another 11 hours of 2 on, 2 off.

I'm beat, and I don't think I smell too hot I'm off to get in a real shower and then crawl into a real bed.

I'll post some pics in a couple days if anyone wants to see them --