News
July 16, 2019, 1200
No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problem. Boots are appearing with less frequency and some even did their overnight watches in shorts and a light jacket. Salopettes are quickly being stowed away for the duration and board shorts and bare feet are becoming de riguer (sp?).
Sleep deprivation. While the first couple of days were as advertised (i.e. miserable (unless you're Jon Ziskind who is a compulsive optimist)), nobody escaped the sleep deprivation that resulted. The tide turned last night as almost everyone got more sleep than any previous night, resulting in a few late watch arrivals.
Learning. Learning more and more each day. Not just sailing, but also life aboard. Becoming comfortable with how to use the stove, take of personal belongings, manage time, and instinctively where the handholds are while the boat lurches through the seas and glides down the waves.
Comfort. Life onboard is certainly becoming more comfortable, but so is the sailing. Not only because of better conditions, but confidence. Gus was trimming while I was driving and we're having a nice chat while he sips his coffee with the other hand and I'm guiding us down six foot set at 15 kts. Easy.
Tacticians Secrets. As we click off the miles, the question of the halfway party becomes inevitable. "Bill, how do you do the math on the halfway point? Is it when the DTF is half of the course length?" Bill: "Sorry, can't share that with you. Long standing tradition, proprietary secrets, that sort of thing." Scott: "It's Wednesday at 5:00." '
Proud Papa. Before Matty got his drivers license, we would have the occasional drive down to Rincon at daybreak for surf. I have great memories of watching the sunrise with a cup of coffee in hand while he paddled out. This morning was equally as special as Lucas was guiding us down the course at the helm of a 52 foot boat in the middle of the Pacific ocean while I trimmed and watched the sun rise behind him and the Jesus rays peered through the clouds on the horizon. It has been fun to watch him soak everything up learning more each day about driving a big boat, packing kites, and looking over Bill's shoulder as he searches for the fastest way to get us to the barn.
In the Moment. While the whole idea of racing is to get this over with as quickly as possible, Marcel is always there to remind us to enjoy the moment. This isn't something you get to do every day and we are constantly reminding ourselves of how special and unique of an opportunity this really is.
The Dream Team(s). As we rotate through the watch system, each group has apparently named itself the "Dream Team". Since not all watches overlap, those naming rights can happen with consultation of the others. Perhaps each watch can come up with its own moniker; or, perhaps we're all, collectively, the Dream Team. Lucas, Matt and I stand watch together. We're entertaining the name "Dinghy Dorks". Speaking of that particular watch, we're talking about three Transpac newbies with limited big boat experience while everyone else is down below sleeping. #whatcouldgowrong
I could keep writing all day, but I've been reminded that we're paying for bandwidth by the byte and that this is supposed to be an daily update, not a novel. So, with that I will sign off. If I had to be stuck on a 52 foot boat with 8 other stinky men, I just might choose these guys. Morale is good.
One last thing. I just finished a breakfast burrito and a chocolate chip cookie. I would kill for a glass of milk.
July 15, 2019, 0800
Last night at twilight we sailed through thousands of sailors (jelly fish) dotting the surface reflecting the setting sun. Enjoyed a full night of spinnaker reaching under a nearly full moon and star filled sky. A great relief from the first two nights.
July 14, 2019, 1330
Every day in every way things gets better and better... that may be the best way to sum up sailing in Transpac. You pay a price before getting to sail 24/7 downwind through blue water. In our case that price was a forced diet for all and a cleanse for some but last night things starting getting better. After agonizing about when to make sail changes and whether putting up a kite would cause us to lose the leverage we paid dearly for the night before (by staying north of the fleet) we split the baby, threw up our super reachy kite and sailed lower and faster for most of the afternoon. At the point we started seeing a few boats coming our way we decided to head back to a higher angle put up the blast reacher and started debating when we should put the kite back up.
This morning we had a full and complete discussion of which kite we should go with next. After a lot of back and forth we decided to go with the A5 to keep our tight angle.....no sooner was it up and along with it our boat speed when the debate began anew.... should we put up the A3?? And so it goes after doing a number of these races it always seems the same, to do well never get satisfied or complacent things are changing around us and we need to keep up.
After all our strategizing we looked forward to the morning position reports to confirm our wisdom so you can imagine the disappointment in finding we had moved from 3rd to 4th. Of course, being the positive group we are the discussion pivoted and we rationalized... it's early, it doesn't mean much this early in the race, we're all very close lots of sailing left to do... etc, etc...
Then we learned that this morning report had a few glitches and a new report was issued showing we had moved to second in class and 10th overall for line honors... good news... but it's early, it doesn't mean much this early in the race etc, etc...
We have boats in sight which is keeping us focused, layers are being stripped off, teeth are being brushed, food is being eaten, we had our first jelly fish land on the deck this is where it starts to get very fun. We enjoyed our first hot meal of breakfast burritos prepared by Lauren, the last of the croissant sandwiches thanks Shari, and many of Laura's ginger molasses cookies that kept us going through the long rough first night and days. We're looking forward to digging into the rest of the provisions as we enjoy a flatter boat and easier living.
Thanks again to everyone who helped us get here. The crew sends their love more to come...
July 13, 2019, 1000
This is the part of Transpac you don't hear too much about. Close reaching in 20 knots of wind with a 4-6 foot swell banging into the side of the boat bringing with it a slap of cold water across the face. The occasional waterfall into the cabin making life down below only marginally better. The unpredictable motion of the boat while down below explains why no one is asking when breakfast will be served. The meat pies before dark and before the winds kicked up are keeping us all content until the wind shifts further north. (Thanks to our Kiwi meat pie Chef Lauren)
In another day or two this will all be a distant memory. For now we're waiting for the first daily position report to see how those boats that peeled off to the south have done. Don't be fooled by the early reports we still have 2000 miles to go. We'll do our best to keep everyone posted. Thanks to everyone who helped get us off the dock. We look forward to seeing many of you in Hawaii.
Aloha