June 20, 2021

On Friday, June 18, the 11 skippers, their supporters, and the volunteers from the Singlehanded Sailing Society gathered at Richmond Yacht Club the day before the big departure of the 21st solo race to Kauai.

The morning began with a skippers meeting. The large contingent of sailors from Washington, unfamiliar with some local details to which we Bay Area sailors are accustomed, listened with not absolute clarity to the description of starting at Golden Gate Yacht Club's yellow Mark X, and not St. Francis YC's yellow Mark A, several yards to the west. Those trying to give advice could not even agree on the color of Golden Gate YC's building.

On Saturday morning, the Hobie 33 Aloha and Express 37 Perplexity started in front of the yellowish-tan Golden Gate Yacht Club on the San Francisco Cityfront. ©2021 www.norcalsailing.com

Regarding the finish line in Hanalei Bay, race chair Brian Boschma joked that they moved it 300 feet to the south so that the race committee could see it from the bar of the condo they were renting in Princeville. Although the graphic in the Sailing Instructions shows buoys, they are not yellow — they're imaginary, just GPS coordinates. The main trick is to avoid the reefs that surround the point. Brian said that in 2012 a Mini Transat scraped its keel on the reef. Brian had been just behind him, yelling to warn him.

Greg Ashby, who completed the SHTP in 2018, had some advice for nighttime arrivals. He had looked for the anchor lights in Hanalei Bay but couldn't distinguish them from lights on land in the pouring rain.

Skip Allan gave the weather briefing, as he has for the last several editions.

Accomplished ocean sailor Skip Allan (standing) gave the weather briefing at the skippers meeting on Friday. Skip was overall winner in 2008, and raced in the first edition in 1978. ©2021 www.norcalsailing.com

Because of the strong ebb at the start, Skip advised the sailors to head out to the middle or even the north side of the Gate for favorable current. "Check for current on the starting buoy. If the wind is light you could be swept over." Some good news: no tropical storms are developing in the Eastern Pacific region. More happy news: a full moon on the 24th and three bright planets. One time a racer saw a planet rising and thought it was a steaming light on a ship. He was not able to raise it on the VHF.

The Pacific High is positioned where it should be, said Skip, at 40°N, 140°W. It could get pushed a little to the southeast by a cold front to the northwest, "but I don't see the Pacific High blocking your path." Skip thought the sailors would find steady northwest synoptic wind about 25 miles west of the Farallones. "It's moving slowly offshore. Your job is to catch it."

A southerly surge is moving up the coast. "The tongue of the southerly surge has reached Morro Bay," advised Skip on Friday. "The forecast for outside the Golden Gate is for 6-10 knots from the southwest until tomorrow night. The southerly surge will arrive with low clouds, fog, and cool air. The wind will back to the south or southeast. Think port tack."

Skip advised that the transition from the southerly surge to the synoptic wind could be 5-20 miles. "It can be slow and frustrating."

Philippe Jamotte, the overall winner in 2018 with his Olson 30 Double Espresso, said, "We came out of beefy winds through the Gate. Seasickness was setting in. We got in a hole of 2-5 knots from the wrong direction. I thought it was over. I put the spinnaker up, trimmed it like a code zero, and went north. The northwesterly finally came back. When you get into that first hole, keep the spirit up."

Skip thought the fleet would get into the NW wind on Sunday or Monday. "Be patient. Keep weight in the boat forward. Check your blades for kelp.

"The ocean water is a little cooler now. El Niño is fading, so there may be fewer squalls. Approaching Kauai at night, the trades move offshore starting about 6. By 8 p.m. they're 2 miles off. It stays light on the beach until about 10 a.m., when the trades move back in. Coming in at night is slower. The wind blows off the mountains and out of Hanalei Bay. It may be upwind the last 1 or 2 miles."

Some ecological advice: "Hanalei Bay is a very special place. It's a good practice to keep any plastic in your boat. Don't put it in the trash cans on shore. Kauai has almost no recycling. It would have to be barged off (too expensive). The landfill is almost full."

The boats have enjoyed more wind than predicted so far. The skippers are looking for the shortest route through the light air. Up north is Jim Quanci on the Cal 40 Green Buffalo. "The brisk breeze at the start carried well offshore, most of the way to the Lightship,” said Jim, as posted on the SSS forum. Past the Farallones, the breeze lightened. “Wind is now 7 knots and oscillating from 185 magnetic to 210 magnetic. Hard to sleep when the wind has the big oscillations every 10-20 minutes.” Will Lee on Sea Wisdom, a Hinckley 42, wrote, “The wind is light, 8-13 knots from the SSW. Iʼm hoping I can get to the NW synoptic wind soon, maybe Sunday night? It seems like Iʼm the southern most boat. Everyone else are up north and further west than me. I hope Iʼm making the right decision!”

To handle the 20-knot westerly with no rail meat, several boats were sailed with conservative sail plans. ©2021 www.norcalsailing.com

We'll have much on the Singlehanded Transpacific Yacht Race in the days and weeks to come. You can check the boats' positions on the Jibeset tracker.