Tahina being passed at 16.2 kts

After a spectacular start in light air with great coaching by Jason and great driving by Frank, we worked our way past a very racy monohull flying Kevlar sails and led the pack of 70 boats by the middle of the race. By this time breeze was up to 25-25 with gusts to 30. The cats were coming into their own. We held that lead until the final stretch in Moorea, where we were overtaken while sailing at 16 kts by an Australian daggerboard-style cat, the crew of which says that when they passed us on the leeward side, they were going 19.2 kts! Frank made a valiant effort to force them to pass us below, but as a daggerboard cat with square-top mainsail vs. us with the mini-keels, they had point and speed we just couldn’t match. WHAT A DAY!

We’re going to check in with the events now, but we’ll update with pics soon.

P.S. We saw Kijro come in with the pack today, so we’ll have to say hi to John.