Shootin Hoops?

2011JUL07 - 0600, 32.54N - 122.33W, Bar 1014, Wind 8 knots @ 310, Sea 1 meter - long N swell, Cloud - 100%, DOC 98 miles.
This Message, containing some hilarity just received from the boat:

I replied how You try to think of everything but Murphy always has some other trick you didn't consider up his sleeve.And I scrutinized every possible bit of information I could discovered and I have developed a surprising theory:

They were faster with the Basketball attached!Actually that is probably not true. But as it turns out, over the last 24 hours they either lost very little, in some cases held their own and in others they and actually gained back ground on some of the Monday starters. Based on the light upwind race so far I was worried it would be much worse. And they shaved more than 100 hours from Transpacs Estimated Corrected Ttime - which means little this early in the race!

The longest days runs came from boats in the Aloha Division.

My research has lead me to conclude that in a rich get poorer kind of NHL Draft sort of way the wind out west was not as good for the leaders and progressively improved the closer you got to the shore. Our boy cleverly positioned themselves at the back of the pack to take most advantage of those conditions. I also have to wonder how things might have worked out yesterday without the basketball too.

And still more good news all of the weather gurus are predicting that the light winds of yesterday are a memory today so I hope NE will not have to endure that pain ahead.

In another message I received from the boat Doug observed how the better breeze offshore - which moves around - could move away from them faster than they could move towards it. In keeping with the good news nature of this report I am pleased to report that it appears that situation is also reversed. Over the course of this afternoon and evening the synoptic wind is forecast to move shoreward scooping up the Monday fleet and hurrying them along toward Hawaii in earnest.