News
July 15, 2019, 1045
Cruising along under A2 and the elusive Spinnaker Staysail. We bought this sail for 2017, packed it aboard, and lost it. Never appeared till we unpacked the boat in Honolulu. It tried to escape again this year but a complete excavation of the boat finally revealed it hiding beneath a sea bag. So we strung it up the mast immediately where we can keep an eye on it.
July 15, 2019, 0800
Helmsman attacked at zero dark thirty by unknown airborne assailant. Sucker punched in back of head.
WANTED: Large flying fish. Approximately 13” in length, 2.5” in diameter. With “huge fighter-jet wings”. Last seen flopping off the transom into the sea. Do not attempt to approach.
July 13, 2019, 0900
All of you crossing the ocean with enclosed showers, ovens, flat screen TVs, hot tubs on the foredeck... please spare a thought for those of us making do with... ahem... somewhat fewer creature comforts.
In the attached image you will note two buckets as required by the Transpac NOR. The reason they are hanging from the ceiling is that we have been using them to catch some of the sea water that leaks through the forward hatch when we dig into a big wave. In a 33 foot boat with 4’-6” headroom and an 8’ beam, everything needs to do double duty. In fact, the bucket on the left is doing triple duty - it’s also our head.
The observant among you will note some uncommonly luxurious appointments not normally found on buckets built simply to meet the NOR standard. Check out some thoughtful touches like the sumptuously padded rim. That’s not just duct tape on a pool noodle. In our new car they called it “eco-leather.”
Dress it up any way you like though, it’s still a bucket, and to use the head, we have to take The Magical Bucket Ride.
You have probably heard about the boat busting conditions endured by the fleet over the first couple of days. Now imagine wedging yourself into the forepeak of a Hobie 33 slamming into sizeable seas at an advanced angle of heel, legs astride that high class bucket, and doing your thing.
It’s a good thing we hail from Calgary, and it’s Stampede time. Bull riders are everywhere and happy to offer advice. After 2017 we installed a mechanical bull in the basement next to the hiking bench for basic training.
Nonetheless you can see why we’re especially happy to have popped the kite and be sailing more comfortably downwind.
Yee-Haww, Pardner!
July 14, 2019, 0800
Feels like the Real Transpac started for us today. Finally sailing in the conditions Dark Star was built for. A much more civilized way to move through the water than all that bouncy, spray-infused business we endured for the first couple of days. That’s for 20 year olds. But we like to think that guile and treachery prevails over piss and vinegar in the end!
July 11, 2019
Seas lumpy 5-6’. 7/8 overcast. Wind 310-320@17-20kt. Baro 1020mb. Great start. Sun, smiles, fair winds. Cleared Catalina however and the cocktails got stowed pretty quickly. Hard, wet, queasy reaching all night and for what appears to be the next couple of days as well. The cabin of a Hobie 33 in these conditions looks as you would expect it to look. Still some dry spots but you need to be strategic. No one much felt like eating the pancake breakfast with fresh strawberries and maple syrup that I packed us back in LA! Maybe because it was discovered in the bilge under a sailbag. Right, time for a sail change. Till tomorrow.