race report
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 Brian Cline on the Dana 24 Maris has the Golden Gate in his sights. With a PHRF rating of 242, Maris is the slowest boat in the fleet. ©2014 norcalsailing.com |
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Singlehanded TransPac Start
June 29, 2014 The Hawaii migration has begun. In contrast to the well-publicized Pacific Cup, the Singlehanded Sailing Society quietly sent off seventeen boats bound for Hanalei Bay, Kauai, in the 19th running of the biennial Singlehanded TransPac.
This race typifies the "run what you brung" attitude, with the added adventure factor that you have to do it all by yourself. The start at noon off of the Corinthian Yacht Club in Tiburon was picture perfect, with 10 knots of breeze at the line and the plenty more in the Slot. The only snag for the romp out the Bay was a max flood three-knot current precisely timed for noon as well. But the racers took it in stride. The skippers' meeting on Friday had included a local knowledge talk for the out-of-towners, and the sailors followed each other in the current lee of Belvedere and Sausalito and so on out the Gate.
One of the attractions of this race is the mixture of boats competing. In years past there have been Open 60s and 50s, big trimarans like Steve Fossett's Lakota, compared to speed-challenged craft like Pearson Electras, Santana 22s and a Cal 20. This year the light and fast boats include two Express 27s, a Wilderness 30, and a 6.5-meter (21-ft) Pogo Mini in Division A, "The Surfers." The slow boats in D (the "Full Galley Division") include a Westsail 32 and a Pacific Seacraft Dana 24. No multihulls are racing this year.
Two of the more interesting rides are a Capri 30 and 25 duking it out in Division B, and, although you would think they would be more suited to racing in Long Beach than racing to Hawaii, both have been modified for the trip and looked good heading out the Gate.
The SSS has set up a web page with news, emails from the boats, and Yellowbrick tracking. As of this writing, about 24 hours into the race, Michael Jefferson on Mouton Noir, a Garcia Passoa 42, reports being unusually seasick: “Lying in bunk most of the time, get up to manage boat is about all the energy I have. Munching an apple and that seems to be going down ok." He expects to be in fine shape tomorrow. Conditions are reported as 30+ over the deck, rough, and fast at 36 57.3 / 122 57.5. Nathalie Criou (the only female sailor to make the start) on the Express 27 Elise also indicates that things are pretty rough and the boat is in good condition, but her wind instruments are down. Batteries seem low but Elise is equipped with an EFOY (a fuel cell that runs on ethanol) so she should have no problem getting power up. Weather is clear with very strong winds at 36 42.8 / 124 25.7.
Ken "The General" Roper, sailing his 13th SHTP on the Finn Flyer 31 Harrier reported in indicating that Daniel Wiley on the Nauticat 44 Galaxsea had done the morning SSB check-in and had reports from several vessels. Ken reports a very windy and bumpy ride, ”miserable."
David Herrigel on the Wilderness 30 Domino reported clear skies, 22 knots of wind, sailing a heading of 217 degrees at 8 knots. He is having the occasional autopilot glitch requiring pushing the reset button. Otherwise all systems are go at 36 05.25 / 124 48.3.
At this point it looks like Domino, Rick Elkins' custom Wylie 39 Lightspeed, and Peter Heiberg's Palmer Johnson 49 Scaramouche V appear to be the lead boats. Al Germain's Wyliecat 30 Bandicoot is in the hunt to the north of the others. Of the 17 starters, only one has turned back, Jak Mang's Maitreya, an Ingrid 38.
So sit back, watch the race from your favorite chair and root for your hero of choice. Which we think is all of them.
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