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Loco-motive Day 1 Report

Calamari anyone?

July 7, 2017

All is well on Loco-motive. Daily position report has us still in 1st and gained a bit in our division. Wind has been progressively getting better with more consistent 14+ knots. Our best 24 hour run is 188 nautical miles and we are pushing to get 200+ for tomorrow. Top boat speed currently goes to Larry, Doug and Charlie who have all hit 12 knots. Previous to that, it was held by Sean and Mickey at 11.8 knots. Still kind of a hazy cloudy day. We’ve had to do 2 back-downs due to getting fishing net stuck on keel. One was this morning at 6am and the other at 3pm. Both requires everyone on deck as we drop the kite and back down the boat by pushing out the mainsail. We are getting fairly proficient at this and getting the whole process done in a couple minutes.

We finally switched over to drinking from the water maker or the many water bottles we brought. Previously, we were drinking from the boat bladders which is hose water – not very good.

Dinner last night was bbq pork and again, very good. Still looking for the clouds to break up and see the sun and especially have a nice moonlit ocean at night.

We’ve seen some more flying fish and had two baby squids jump up on deck and died. Doug argues for us to keep them and cook them up for some nice calamari.

Looking forward to our halfway mark in a day or two.

Mahalo!

Team Loco-motive

Last Wave Starts 2017 Transpac and Fleet Is Headed West

Beautiful SoCal conditions sends off Divisions 1, 2 and 0 towards Hawaii

Los Angeles, CA – Another perfect Southern California summer day yielded perfect conditions for the final wave of 17 fast monohulls and five fast multihulls to set off on their 2225-mile odyssey to the finish in Honolulu of the 2017 Transpac Race. The breeze started at a light 6-8 knots, but quickly built up to 10-12 knots after the start allowing the fleet to speed towards their first – and only – mark of the course at the West End of Catalina.

In this 49^th edition of this classic biennial ocean race there is a healthy mix of sentimental favorites – such as Bill Lee’s 68-foot Merlin, a boat of his design and build who made its debut exactly 40 years ago to set a course record then and re-write ocean racing design on the West Coast and beyond – and the newest generation record-breakers, such as Jim Clark’s 100-footer Comanche. Both were out at the start today, Lee with some of his original 1977 crew, such as Jack Halterman who like Lee is an integral part of Santa Cruz racing history.

The Fleet Is Away With the 3rd Start Day

Hear from Ken Read and Stan Honey (Comanche), Roy Disney (Pyewacket), Lloyd Thornburg (Phaedo3), and Kelly Holthus (BadPak, youngest sailor in 2017 Transpac).

Ken Read on what brought Comanche to Transpac this year: "Comanche is here on the west coast because this is one of the big five races, one of the classic ocean races that this boat was really made to do. We always chase records, that's kind of the boats M.O., and this is a really prestigious record."

Roy Disney, who has sailed the Transpac Race over 20 times has advice for any young Transpac sailors: "My advice to somebody who's starting out, the 12 year olds on this race, the 14 year olds is cherish every job that nobody else wants to do, listen to the people that know how to do it, learn, and be open.

Hana Ho Retires Due to Mechanical / Engine Problems

Hana Ho, Mark Dowdy's Santa Cruz 52 has retired from the Transpac Race Thursday evening due to a mechanical/engine problem. They didn't feel comfortable continuing with the issue at hand, and will return to Long Beach by the weekend. All is well with the crew. Hana Ho actively races in the San Francisco Bay Area and in offshore events up and down the west coast, so we'll be sure to seem them back in action very soon.

Live Stream of Transpac Multihulls