Call from Megan: 7:00 EST

We are "Very Excited" and our "Spirits are high!"
Meg called and asked for certain clothes to be sent from home. With all the sores and blisters they acquired, they are also asking for "Mu Mu's!"

There are no more hurricanes in site for the forecast! And possibly, no more Sunday calls! The next time we talk will finally be in person.
Megan has a special beverage request of Lime and Club soda in gallon jars with lots of ice!
(That's all??....You got it Megs!)

The winds subsided from 20-24 knots to 11-15 knots pushing them towards Hawaii. The seas are a little "Sloppy", but nothing at all like it has been. They're hoping these "Nautical days" will be over soon as they cruise over into Hawaii.
The first point of land they look forward to seeing is the Light House at Makapuu ( See above photo)
This is the light that can be seen 19 miles away from the island of Oahu.

Call from Vicki 8:30 p.m. EST

We are "Tired, but have more left in our tanks!" There was a lot of rain during the day when the storms were close. But now the skies have been blue during the day with some rain at night. It has also been "Very hot without shade."

Now that the storms are gone, the winds have died down to 10-12 knots. The waves have also calmed down which makes rowing a lot easier. But, the rowing is not as fast as when we were in high winds.
We will be changing our rowing schedule so that we'll be rowing together more often but with different shifts. 
The cabin is so hot and humid making it difficult to get any sound sleep. We don't plan on any restful sleep until we actually arrive in Hawaii.

We have a big old Frigate bird with a 4 foot wing span hanging around our boat. It dives down for fish and follows us! It's so nice to have its company.

From our AIS, we were able to pick up a few sailboats and could see a mast light on the horizon!  They were part of another race between California and Hawaii. SO AMAZING!!

Flying fish are still jumping into our boat. One hit Vicki in her chest harness and another hit Megan in the eye. 
No worries, they are "OK"!! 
These fish are only 1-4" long. They were more "Surprised" than anything else. They tried to rescue as many as they could.

Both Vicki and Megan are so happy Hurricane Darby has missed them and mostly they are very excited about being so close to Hawaii !!

It's your turn West Coast and Megan will be on deck!
Los Angeles #1 Hit radio station 102.7 KIIS FM to interview at sea this Tuesday, July 26th, 1:15pm, PST, with D.J. "Alex", iheart media.
Prerecorded with airing at several L.A. radio stations. We will let you know its broadcasting and when to listen!!

 

You can find a daily report of the Great Pacific Race at http://www.greatpacificrace.com/news

Sunday, July 17th, Call from Vicki 6:30 p.m. EST

Questions have been asked..,
"What happened with progress?"

Our Fight the Kraken team have endured multiple category three hurricanes and tropical storms in an El Nino year with conditional events affecting the tropical Pacific region:

Hurricane and Tropical Storms; Agatha, Blas, Celia, Darby and the newest and latest.. Estelle !

The current remnants from Hurricane Celia have caused all the classic rowers a direct hit and to sea anchor for a couple of days and ride out the storm. They have been seeing swells with an upward of 12' with winds from the NE at a steady 28-30 knots, and gusts up to 35 knots.

There were strong winds and ocean currents that were pushing them in the wrong direction. The Great Pacific Race Directors advised all affected rowers to "Sea Anchor" until ocean conditions were favorable. Within 36 hours and two hours of this message, our girls at Fight the Kraken HAVE STARTED ROWING ONCE AGAIN!!!

Within a few hours of rowing, they saw a bunch of Dorado fish and also a 7 foot long Thresher Shark! It was swimming next 'Sedna', their boat, and was actually rubbing up against her!!! So Very exciting!!

They just ate their last package of Ramen Noodles. They have plenty of other provisions; a combination of healthy condensed calorie packaged foods, and MRE'S, but Ramen Noodles were their favorite.

Vicki and Megan would like to send their gratitude to everyone who have offered their well wishes and prayers through the ground team.  A very special "Thank YOU" to all who have been thinking about them and tracking them!

Soon, within 14 days or less they will land in Waikiki. 
Vicki is looking forward to a well deserved vacation with her wonderful and supportive husband, Chris!

Call from Megan: 8:30 EST

They are in great spirits!  When the wind shift clocked around East, about 20 knots, they decided to get rowing. They pulled up their sea anchor, and Vicki started to row. They are taking off heading North West. They saw a bunch of Dorado fish hiding out under the anchor (Also known as Mahi-Mahi) the fish didn't want to leave the boat!

The girls have positive spirits and were ready to leave the confines of cabin life and start rowing.

The breeze was blowing SSE. This put the wind on their stern, although the seas were confused, the winds were in the right direction pushing them towards Hawaii!! The winds have now downgraded from 35 knots to 20 knots.

Celia is now a tropical disturbance. Our girls had gotten the brunt of the storm requiring them to hunker down.

The entire FTK Ground Team, Families, Friends and Supporters, would like to very much thank the Great Pacific Race Team and Skipper, Rod Mayer, of the Galen Diana for their amazing support. 
"We really appreciate you being in the trenches with Vicki and Megan during these difficult times while facing the same disturbing conditions."
 "Thank you so much for your support and keeping an optic view on them!!"

It appears Tuesday-Wednesday- Thursday will be beautiful trade winds pushing our girls towards Hawaii.

The Trade winds are consistant winds blowing 18-20 knots which sets up a pattern against confused seas.

ALOHA...They're on their way!

You can find a daily report of the Great Pacific Race at http://www.greatpacificrace.com/news

FTK inquiries, and donations contact:  484-888-8808

Frigate Birds:
A "Frigate" is a war ship, which was the source of travel for this certain bird known as the "Frigate Bird." These birds are found in tropical and subtropical conditions, and are able to soar for weeks on wind currents.
The girls are tired but doing well. The Frigate Birds were keeping them company. However, as entertaining and pretty as they were, they kept trying to eat the boat's antennas.  

Fight the Kraken Mission:
They've seen lots of plastic floating in the ocean. They've seen everything from milk crates and jugs, laundry containers and lots of fishing gear; nets and buoys. These are some examples of the plastic wastes found in our oceans everyday. This is why we want to raise awareness and education of the damaging effects we are causing our oceans.

Waves:
2 meters is approximately 6.56 feet tall
A good day for us is experiencing 2 to 4 meter waves. An average day is 5 to 7 meters. Every now and then a big wave will crash and fill up the cock pit. They would then have to manually pump the bilge. (The bilge is the area on the hull where the bottom curves to meet the vertical sides). The person rowing is in charge of the bilge. Pumping is very important in helping to make the boat lighter. While Vicki was talking on the phone with her husband, Chris, twice she was soaked by crashing waves. The whole cabin was completely soaked. The waves can be really steep and sometimes "Scary." 

Smelly Cabin:
The cabin smells like a "dead homeless person"... All thanks to those wonderful expedition meals! Don't ask. Whether it's a reconstituted MRE tasting like "lasagna or roasted chicken"....it's all the same.  Fresh food after four or five days would spoil. Freeze dried packaged food heated by jet boil fuel, are new to our systems. Add two salt water soaked athletes and everything that should be dry for two months at sea...and BAAAM!

Meteor or Meteorite:
July 4th, Vicki was on deck and thinking about fireworks. There was a 'New Moon' and it was really dark. ALL OF A SUDDEN, the whole boat lit up like it was under a "Spot light." She woke up Megan. As they both looked up, they saw a huge bright light in the sky,  and it started heading east. Leaving a trail across the sky,  little fragments started breaking off as it moved away. It was beautiful and AMAZING!  They both watched as it traveled beyond the horizon. Was it a meteor or a meteorite?

Weather:
They're still feeling some little effects of Hurricane Blas, which had been down graded and is now helping to push them along. 

Keep your eyes open for the next Hurricane... Celia. Hopefully it will also help push them along, as it may take the same path as Blas!

 

You can find a daily report of the Great Pacific Race at http://www.greatpacificrace.com/news

To follow Fight the Kraken's progress from your mobile: 
Simply download the free app: 
'YB RACES'
Enter: '2016 GREAT PACIFIC RACE'

As reported by the Great Pacific Race:

"Many, if not all, of our rowers will experience during their crossing, Sore Bums."
"Gunwhale Bum, is a rash on the rump caused buy spending too much time in damp or wet gear."......"Getting Pizza Bum or Barnacle Butt is no laughing matter."

July 3rd, late evening, call from Vicki to her husband:

Her butt is doing good! She has been using Gold Bond powder religiously and only has a couple spots. She has a few blisters on her feet. Any cuts and injuries out there can get infected right away. The salt accumulation can lead to some nasty boils. Other than that, she's in good health.

(Speaking about bottoms...we heard today their boat "Sedna" now has a clean, shiny bottom after diving in and scraping the hull. So, no barnacle bottom there!!!!)

As far as milage, on Sunday when she called, they hadn't passed the half way point yet, BUT, she's calculated that chronologically, they're more than half way there.

Tropical storm Agatha was sizzling out and had turned South. They weren't affected by it but they did experience higher waves and rain. They are tired, but they are fine and doing well!

They may see the other team as they pass-by. However, they couldn't visually see a huge cargo ship that was 10 miles away, they could only see the ship on their AIS. (Automatic Identification System)

As she was talking on the phone to her husband Chris, she could hear her dogs barking. It was so good for her to hear them again and she can't wait to get home. She's in good spirits.

July 4th, early afternoon, call from Megan to her family:

Our call from Megs Sunday was very satisfying! We had been concerned over the weather situation and hearing they were not so much worried brightened our outlook greatly.  That being said, their spirits were very positive and they were mostly interested in the plans for arrival, celebration and vacation, wanting to hear we were moving ahead with those plans, which island we were considering and that there would be home cooking available. 

Apparently, Megan did break out the mermaid pants on her birthday but not the mermaid suit for bottom scrubbing the boat yet.  They should make the half way point late tonight (Monday) and are already thinking to the finish.

"Love, love, love and admire these FTK women"

You can find a daily report of the Great Pacific Race at http://www.greatpacificrace.com/news

To follow Fight the Kraken's progress from your mobile: 
Simply download the free app: 
'YB RACES'
Enter: '2016 GREAT PACIFIC RACE'

June 26th late evening, Call from Vicki:

It was stormy earlier this week, but ever since Meg's birthday, they've been having "Good Weather". They've been keeping their main hatch and everything open where they sleep for fresh air.

They recently ran into some technical problems, but they were able to make repairs at sea. 

They saw Flying Fish which is a good sign for the 'Trade winds'.  As quoted by the GPR: "As our rowers continue to get closer to Hawaii, they will eventually pick up the trade winds.  The trade winds are the prevailing pattern of surface winds found in the tropics."  The winds this week should increase and gradually change from the North to from the East. "These winds from the East will help push us along".

Vicki says, they are in "Good Spirits" and are "Staying Positive". They continue to set daily goals accomplishing milage each shift.

June 26th Late evening call from Megan:

It is now a "Day to Day routine getting to Hawaii than it had been surviving the bad weather and rough seas" they experienced from the start.

We are in "Good Spirits" and are relieved to finally be in good weather now.

They've gotten into their rowing routine of  switching "time on and time off".

She thanks everyone for their positive thoughts, prayers and support!!!

From the Ground Team: Our girls are doing well!....Your support is amazing! Please continue to send your positive thoughts and prayers!!

You can find a daily report of the Great Pacific Race at http://www.greatpacificrace.com/news

To follow Fight the Kraken's progress from your mobile: 
Simply download the free app: 
'YB RACES'
Enter: '2016 GREAT PACIFIC RACE'