The following is an except of a memoir written by Charles Howard Duffy while sailing on the “LADY JO” in the Honolulu Classic, a yacht race between San Pedro and Honolulu, Jan 7,1939.
10:30 AM
We ran all night under jib and staysail on a SW course, and we mane 59 miles with all hands below. Ed is never satisfied unless he is bending on more sail; so now are are running with the ballooner, staysail and main in a moderate breeze and a smooth sea compared to yesterday. We tried setting the sqauresail this morning, but the wind wasn’t quite far enough aft to make it draw properly. We have just clean up the ship and it certainly makes it nicer. I looked in the mirror this morning, and my whiskers almost frightened me. I let them grow because it is inconvenient to shave, and they also protect my face from sunburn; however, so far we have only had one sunny day. Sam just started the motor to pump out the bilge. This is going to be a daily feature from now on. Apparently the SW-3 radio receiver is going to work, at least for a while. We had a small dinner last night and a good breakfast this morning. Probably the most appreciated food on board is a box of chocolate creams presented by someone on our departure. They were excellent for recovering from seasickness because they are so quickly and easily digested. We attributed our seasickness to indigestion tablets for settling down the stomach, recommended by Dick Smith of the Naitamba, no doubt in good faith.
8:30 PM
We are really in the trades now. We are roaring along SW on a pitch black night in a strong breeze. The moon should be up a little later unless the clouds obscure it. I sailed the boat directly toward the setting sun this evening in the best sailing yet. The swells are coming in under the stern, which gives the boat a boost along instead of a kick in the face like yesterday. We are carrying the full main and big ballooner. We broke the staysail sheet this afternoon, and we just furled it. This is the first gear to carry away aside from the becket and jib outhaul. We did get a couple of small rips in the jib the other night in the gale, but we sill use it. We saw a whale following our log rotor today, and we also sighted a floating log.