View from the Shore - Cadillac Van Isle - Legs 7 and 8

The Kairos "road crew" is in sunny Ucluelet and once again without an internet connection that allows uploading pictures.

Kairos arrived in Winter Harbour around 8:30pm and secured 2nd place in this leg (Mad Max took first place by only seconds). Kairos is now in 2nd place overall, with Mad Max in first by 2 points.

On Leg 7, Kairos was leading the fleet from Port Hardy on a downwind run, until she was passed by "Icon", the fleet's fastest boat.

Once around Scott Point, the crew reported stong south-easterlies and an upwind run to Winter Harbour.

From my point of view, I spent the day provisioning the support vehicle to resupply Kairos in Winter Harbour and to top up the crew with alcohol in Winter Harbour.

In the afternoon I went with Claudia from "P.D.F.", who was doing shore support for this leg, to Cape Scott Provincial Park and hiked in to San Josef Bay. We were treated to a view of the lead boats in the distance. The Kairos crew said they passed San Josef Bay around 4:30pm - about the time we left for the hike back to the van and saw another boat come into view in the distance. The boats appeared to be well over 15km away from us.

On the trail we saw a black bear off to the side of a small bridge. He was watching us. Later, we both heard something that sounded like a bear in the undergrowth just off the trail - we never saw it but it was spooky.

Claudia and I arrived Winter Harbour at about 7:30pm and we enjoyed the hospitality at Dick's Last Resort B&B (thanks for the beers).

The next day (Saturday) was a "lay-day" and we all slept in. Curtis went for a swim to clean the bottom of Kairos, Dennis spent the afternoon paddling up the inlet in a kayak and the rest of us relaxed, read, wandered the boardwalk, relaxed in the hotub, visited and of course drank a lot of alcohol. In the afernoon some of us snoozed and at one point we managed to get six people in a queen size bed (we're a friendly boat).

The residents of Winter Harbour (population 6 year round, more in summer) put on a great Chicken BBQ and bonfire for the 400+ sailors and support crew.

Thanks to Pat and Phil Wainwright once again for welcoming us and giving us the use of the main house and the dock.

Sunday morning Kairos left the dock at 7:00am for the motor out to the start line for the 8:00am start of the longest leg of the race at 138 nautical miles to Ucluelet.

Latest news we have is that "White Cloud" hit a rock at the start line and started taking on water. The boat retired from the race and was escorted back to Winter Harbour for emergency repairs. Check the Cadiilac Van Isle website at www.vanisle360.com for more information on this and on "Red Heather's" status (she retired from the race after damaging a shroud on the run to Winter Harbour).

The Cadillac Van Isle fleet is required to check in with the Coast Guard every six hours and report their position. This information is being posted in a local convenience store in Ucluelet. The latest we have is that the winds are light and Kairos appears to be with the lead boats south of Brooks Peninsula and about 15-20 nautical miles off shore. We're not expecting the lead boats to arrive in Ucluelet until sometime tomorrow. Next fleet check-in is at midnight

I'm hoping to teach Don from the race ccommitte the correct pronunciation of Kairos as I haven't heard him pronounce it correctly yet. So Don, if you're reading this, start with the city name "Cairo",, add an "s" (Cairos) and then change the "c" to a "k" (Kairos).

Speaking of Cairo, for some unknown reason this reminds me of music. On the Campbell River to Hardwicke Island leg, the women of Kairos performed ballet on the foredeck to the sound of classical ballet music from the boat's sound system. Later (and I'm not sure which leg) on "Flash" a crew member played the bagpipes as Flash led the fleet 
 
More later - David signing off.