(Lahaina, Hawaii)- This year's biennial 2,308nm dash across the wild
blue Pacific had two primary elements that will make this year's edition
a memorable one. For starters, the sailing was almost epic, a
relatively fast start and a cooperative Pacific High meant fast sailing
for the top boats for most of the race. The other was a bit sad and
macabre, this year's competitors were the first trans-Pac sailing fleet
to have to deal with the massive amounts of floating debris from the
March 2011 tsunami that struck Japan. 
The
weak winds at the start held the prospect of weak winds offshore and a
slow race. But, nothing could have been further from the truth. The
winds have been strong (sometimes over 25 and 35 knots) and more
northerly, letting the fleet get spinnakers up early and sailing very
fast. The flee generally sailed south-southwest along the Oregon and
California coast to take advantage of strong following winds and to
avoid the somewhat unstable weak winds of the Pacific High. This
resulted in fast boat speed, but slow VMG (which is the velocity made
good towards the Finish in Hawaii). Ultimately, the fleet "turned right"
to go around the Pacific High, those who turned later ran into less
wind with less favorable angles, those who turned a bit early just about
ran out of wind. Taking advantage of the bigger risk-takers in the fleet, Tom Huseby's J-145 DOUBLE TAKE of the Seattle Yacht Club of Seattle, WA became the first to finish Vic Maui 2012. They took a more middle-of-the-road approach, favoring further east first but then using a favorable gybe angle to get back west to come roaring into Hawaii on a very fast, low port tack gybe angle, smoking of of the fleet on one principal move.
DOUBLE TAKE finished in on a hot, muggy evening in Lahaina after enduring 10.5 days of overcast conditions with plenty of wind. Her time to complete was 10 days, 12 hours, 39 minutes. Tom apparently wore a wide grin as he guided the boat into the dock after finishing an hour earlier off Ka'anapali Shores. Brad Baker, the navigator said that they pushed hard all through the race, but the boat treated them well and there were no gear failures or torn sails. In fact, on July 11, DOUBLE TAKE reported a large metal object 6 ft long as being “very scary” as part of their mandatory daily position reports given over SSB radio.
For
one of the members of the DOUBLE TAKE crew, it was also a
"life-changing event". Tom's son Max provides some on-board insight
about their experience. "The trip thus far has been a life-changing
event for me in the best ways possible. It took me a long time (years)
to come around to even thinking of the idea of offshore racing for
roughly two weeks, but I don't regret my decision in the slightest. All
of it redefines incredible: The food (thank you Mother, aka Janice), the
wind, the waves, the seeming-less never-ending expanse of ocean, and of
course the company. These guys are all awesome. Smelly, but awesome.
I've developed new levels of relation with friends and family alike that
I'm sure will last a life time. That, in itself, is worth the trip."However, it wasn't until last night's shift (when we were happily mobbing at a steady 19kts in the pitch black with heavy rain accompanied by wind reaching up to 30 knots, in shorts no less.. I like to call it "Squalin") that I thought to myself for the first time, 'Wow, a lot of people must think we're totally F***-in crazy.' It made me grin. Waking up every four to six hours has become practically passe, sleeping in the same clothes that you wear on your shift is expected (as well as tossing articles overboard if they get too stench-ey), and the obnoxiously loud spinnaker winch is pretty much white noise as this point.
"The only things that constantly keep me going like a freight train on auto-pilot is the knowledge (thanks to Brad's extremely helpful computer and navigating... or navi-guessing depending on the situation) that we're almost there, and Mila Kunis's company when I pass out (I put a picture of her above my bunk... thank you Maxim magazine). And we're ahead. My fingers
are crossed for an epic finish that yields some epic results. Considering how hard everyone works and how little they all complain, we deserve it." For more Vic-Maui trans-Pacific race sailing information
