By now, the Festina Lente team has finished our 2024 Pacific Cup.
We saw the Islands emerge from over the horizon, closed distance on Oahu and finally crossed the finish line at dusk on 7/28/24 at 19:36:20 local in an elapsed time of 11 days 10 hours 56 minutes and 20 seconds. We beat our pre-race over/under estimate of finishing on day 12. We placed 4th in Division 4 of 8 finishers, 17th of all PHRF boats.
Volunteers escorted us in the dark from the finish line through a narrow navigable channel to KYC. As we approached the dock, a loud cheer erupted from family, friends, volunteers and perhaps even some competitors. After we secured the boat, the welcome committee presented us with traditional floral leis to wear, mai tais to drink and hugs to savor.
Showering was incredible. Sleep was deep. Land-sickness was dizzying.
The next few days included some on-boat maintenance and prep for the return delivery (underway), some off-boat vacation with loved ones, some team-level and race-level celebrations, some recovery and too much email. During the team dinner at Roy’s, we applauded “superlatives” about each other and celebrated key highs. We tried not to sink too far into the lows nor the “could’ve / would’ve / should'ves”. Of course there will be plenty of time to disect our race for lessons learned and opportunities for improvement. But now is (still) a moment to celebrate the profound satisfaction of racing Festina Lene across the Pacific Ocean, the fantastic experience that the entire campaign has been, and the unique bond that we share as a team.
All good!
— Jeremy --