We're Going to Hawaii!

In four days, we will all be reunited in Hawaii to do some sailing and race training for the Transpac in Honolulu on TRADER for the first time. That’s a crazy sentence. We are so excited. I’m typing this during a packing break. Sarah and I are leaving Charleston and driving back to Connecticut early Tuesday morning to hug our moms, get some COVID tests, and finish packing before we fly out to the island. Megan just got back to CT from completing her junior year at the University of Rhode Island. Lindsay has all of our new Mustang Survival gear ready to go and has been working on a packing list for Flow State Sailing in Hawaii.

TRADER sailing into the finish in TRANSPAC 2019

We have a packed schedule and are set to sail about 1,000 nautical miles in the two weeks that we’ll be on island. Training will include 5 long day sails in the range of about 8 hours per day, at least two official team meetings, and two blue water sails, one that will be three days long and another that will take us about five days. We should feel very well prepared for the Transpac at the end of training as we’ll sail the finish of the race during our second blue water sail. To put it into perspective a little bit, the longest race that the four of us have done was the 625 nautical miles to Bermuda in 2019 which took us about five days. The Transpac is about 2,225 nautical miles of blue water offshore sailing. Big number!

Gear bags are being packed, COVID tests are coming back negative, check lists are being checked off and the ball is officially rolling! I asked my teammates what they’re most excited about and what they might be worried about going into training this week. Personally, I’m super excited to sail the blue waters of Hawaii. I’m hoping to take a surfing lesson on an off day, if there’s time. I’m excited to see the boat - I’ve never raced one as big as TRADER. I’m worried about my sea sickness and my energy levels with the jet lag after my flight lands. I know that this will be a tough two weeks. My goal is to get my sea sickness dialed in and figure out what specifically I’ll need to train when I’m home from the end of training until the race start in mid-July. My other goal is to have some discussions with teammates about sustainability in daily life and on the water. Training will be a challenge physically and mentally but with these three goons by my side, I know it’ll be great. We are up for it. Plus, all these problems are good problems - we’re doing the Transpac!!!!

As for Megan, our teammate who has just finished a particularly rough finals season, as she was finishing classing, taking exams, and preparing for Transpac simultaneously, is hoping to see some cool sea life and get nice and tan and blonde. Her goal for training is to become comfortable with the main functions of the boat and the maneuvers on board. She recently injured her foot a little, so she’s slightly worried about that. But, as is normal with Megan, her spirits are high, she’s cracking jokes, and she’s ready to keep us entertained on our various long flights and car rides to, from, and in Hawaii.

When I asked Lindsay how she was feeling about training coming up, this is what she sent me:

“It will be two years since I've done any offshore race training, and I feel optimistic but cautious. As much as I've tried to piece together frostbiting and dinghy sailing and cruising as I could throughout COVID, it's nothing compared to training with the intention to race offshore. I want to be good enough. I want to go in with a growth mindset, but I also don't want to diminish my skill and previous experience.

"I always feel like I'm better at the onshore preparations and that it has to make up for my sailing ability. Having logistics and shore-side skills definitely helps me be a well-rounded teammate for campaigns, but I am looking forward to flipping the switch to sailing mode and putting my efforts towards improving onboard. In all, we are so close to getting to Hawaii.

What started as a crazy concept last fall is so close to becoming reality. I have three more days of work. My Out of Office message is already set on my work email.

"Annie and Sarah are headed north and our reunion is near! Finally being a team in person will be epic after the hours of Zoom calls, countless texts, and too many late night emails.” Lindsay expresses some concerns that I think we all have. But like I’ve said before, we have each other to lean on and that makes everything better.

Here’s what Sarah has to say during our last few days in mainland USA:

“I'm naturally nervous about meeting a group of people I have never met before. But, it was really nice to be able to connect with everyone via Zoom meetings all winter and into the spring. We were able to put names to faces and get to know each other a little bit better. The road to the starting line has been a collective effort thus far, so we've had a lot of interaction with the team. For training, my goal is to get comfortable on the boat and learn the nuances of running the bow on the Andrews 70. I think we really want to come out of training feeling confident in our boat handling so we're ready to execute maneuvers at night in any condition!”

Megan, Lindsay, Sarah, and I keep texting back and forth about how excited we are to get out to the island. Lindsay sent us some pictures of the puppies we’ll be staying with for part of training - another thing to get excited about. Our fundraising is coming along, which is awesome. If you want to help us keep this momentum going, click here to donate!

Stay tuned over the next two weeks to see what we’re getting up to in Hawaii. We are so happy to have an audience to share this with and so much support from our families, friends, and everyone else all around the world cheering us on! It means a lot.

Sail fast and have fun!

~Annie L