Archive for the ‘transpac’ Category

Post-TP repairs

Saturday, September 15th, 2007

So we didn’t lose the mast or keel or anything horrible, but there is a handful of stuff to be repaired/replaced/maintained before sailing starts again. Here’s the the list (ongoing):

  • Spinnaker pole car, replace
  • Mainsail headboard slug, repair
  • Galley sink pump, repair, add new hose
  • Diesel shut off valve, replace (finally)
  • Tactical compass light, instrument power connections
  • Re-rewire mast electrics
  • Epoxy repair main stringer

Remember the sunsets

Wednesday, September 12th, 2007

Because my last two posts were complaining about hassles and expenses, I thought I’d post a couple images that show why it was all worth it anyways.

Sunset Day 14

A sunset six hundred miles from land

Rainbow Day 16

A double rainbow ahead of a deep squall

Evening Day 16

The evening before landfall

Squall

A squall with our name on it

shipping – what I’d do differently

Friday, September 7th, 2007

Per my previous post, getting the boat home is probably the main reason I’d think twice about another HI race in my own boat. If I did do another one, here are some thoughts about what I’d do differently (besides race on someone else’s boat):

1. Consider a trailer-sailer. This is sort of a joke, but I sure was jealous of the Hobie 33 and Fast 40 guys who had their boats hauled and ready in a morning. And they were able to pick up at the Pasha yard with a F-350 and go home.

2. Consider sailing home or hiring a delivery skipper.

3. Use a different boatyard.

4. Stay later or buy a ticket to HI to oversee the (complete) de-rigging/loading myself.

5. Arrange the Pasha shipping myself. Dealing with them can’t be any more difficult than anyone else in this process. Handle the “documentation” myself.

6. Arrange the CA shipping myself, using uShip or references to get a couple quotes.

7. Motor or sail up from Long Beach over a couple weekends, rather than ship this last distance. (This is kind of a no-brainer in retrospect, but we considered it and decided not to based on the original half-price estimate).

Home safe – shipping nightmare over

Friday, September 7th, 2007

I spent about half a day at KKMI yesterday getting the boat off the semi trailer and on the hard. From the finish line off Diamond Head to my local yard, shipping home took 41 days and cost me almost half of the boat’s actual value.

Nightmare is too strong a word, but it was by far the most stressful/least enjoyable/most expensive part of this whole project. I’m definitely happy to discuss with anyone considering shipping a boat point-to-point, especially from Hawaii. I’m also considering an article for one of the sailing mags (maybe latitude), but here are the points that jump to mind:

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SBYC article

Thursday, September 6th, 2007

Race writeup in the yacht club newsletter, for anyone who’s still interested:

http://www.southbeachyc.org/Documents/Wave/Wave_09-07.pdf

wavelength cover

Got back from India today. 26 hours airport-to-airport. HKE still AWOL with video camera in the Himalayas…

Stay Tuned

Monday, July 30th, 2007

I’m really grateful for all the positive feedback I got on this blog. It turned out to be really rewarding to write, and I’m glad people enjoyed it (more people than I thought, apparently).

In the next few weeks, I will try to post some pictures, and maybe a video, of our race. Also, I’ve got a few wrap-up posts (more of those damn lists) and then on to writing about the next phase in the ocean racing journey, whatever that is…

Open offer and thanks

Monday, July 30th, 2007

Posting from Northern CA again.

I got so much help on this race from so many people, but as far as I can tell, there’s no such thing as too much information about a race like this (at least from folks who’ve done it). Sometimes I was a little too intimidated to write the more experienced sailors out of the blue to ask them a question.

This is my open offer. If you are thinking about doing the TP (or the Pacific Cup), especially in a small boat, feel free to send me an email at Jon@[thenameofthisblog].com, and I’m happy to give you any advice I can.

Also, I want to mention how great the other racers were. We especially got a lot of great advice and good laughs from Al Jr and Al Sr on Narrow Escape. I hope to sail again with or against these great guys.

Also, we got some really nice feedback about our “first time” performance from the crew of California Girl and Brown Sugar. Thanks for the kind words guys, and see you on the race course.

DAY 19 (and in…)

Friday, July 27th, 2007

Done. We crossed the finish line at 1250 HST this afternoon, about 10 minutes before “official” close of race. 2300 miles in a 30 foot boat with three great guys.

We would have been earlier, except that we broke/ blew-out/ disintegrated the spinn pole mast fitting hauling ass about 4 hours before the finish, in the middle of Molokai channel in about 35kts of wind.

Thanks everybody.
Crew with Mai Tais

Day 18 (Running and closing)

Thursday, July 26th, 2007

Yesterday turned into a real classic tradewinds day, windy, with swells and squalls, which was just what we needed. We ran 170NM off the clock, got scared and drenched, and today looks the same. We are just about 180 miles to the finish, which puts us in Friday afternoon or evening.

That puts us in a few hours after 1300 HST, so no hoopla at the finish for us, just four tired guys in a little boat passing a big red buoy.

The fatigue is really setting in as we get closer, whether it’s cumulative or just because we are start to visualize the finish line.
Everyone sleeps most of their off watches, and the night watches, with the squalls and the lack of caffeine, can be real horror shows.

Big disappointment today when the RC announced that boats finishing after 1300 tomorrow would not have “follow-me” boats to escort them to harbor as promised. In this race, this is probably 10% of the fleet. However, they came back and clarified that we will have follow-me boats. That’s a relief.

Here’s to a solid day and night of sailing.

Day 17 (Running)

Thursday, July 26th, 2007

Another day of light-to-moderate running 300 miles from Hawaii. Squalls in the early morning can be pretty hairy, reading about 28-30kts on the anenometer. By 10AM or so, back to 10-15 TWS.

The best joke in the house right now is to ask someone off watch for something preposterous from the galley. Like, “Hey Colin, while you are down there, I’ll take a Manhattan straight up, stirred, with a half dozen of the cherrystones on the shell, if it’s no trouble.” Food porn, a laugh riot.

Not so funny, we heard on the radio that some other boats may be getting into tight situations with drinking water.

-JE