News
July 16, 2019, 1830
Transpac day 5. The last 24 hours has been fast. Great trade breeze, great tunes, beautiful sailing and we remain in touch with our other J125 competitors. Prior to the trade winds the game was straight forward: Sail to the right point to enter the trade winds in the desired position against your competitors. Once entered into the trade winds, the game is even simpler: sail as fast as you can to the right corner (depending on its location, on the west/southwest side of the high, or northeast of Hawaii). We did a great job executing on the first, entering the trades just to the south of our competitors. Since entering into the trades yesterday, we have sailed as fast as we could while near-parallel tracking our competitors (Hamachi north and ahead, Velvet Hammer dirctly to the north, and Reinrag2 south and behind). It was funny, about three hours ago we saw Velvet Hammer for the first time since day 1. We were sailing a bit higher and they a bit lower and we came within sight. Almost as soon as we saw each other, we again diverged to our private mission.
What happens next is the effect of the high. The wind slowly changes direction in a clockwise fashion until it is almost directly out of the east heading into Hawaii. The effect of this is that we slowly turn towards the north and ultimately jibe toward Hawaii. Thus, the boats to the north, will gain on the boats to the south. If all things stayed as they are now, Hamachi would likely be ahead of us, Velvet Hammer close to slightly behind, followed by Reinrag. Of course this slow right turn won't fully develop for a couple more days making any outcome possible.
All aboard is very good. Typical breaks and fixes, but nothing worth writing about. Food remains my most pleasant surprise. Kinda like the Jetsons... just add water and presto! A ten course meal (almost). The flying fish watch continues. No one has been hit, but one about a foot long flew over Pike's head while he was driving. Then an hour ago, a baby was found on the deck grasping at every last breath to reach Scott. He had made the hazardous voyage onto the boat only to fall a foot short. So sad. We took a picture.
Weather continues to warm I wore swim trunks, a dry shirt and straw hat today. A bit cold for 20 kts breeze, but way better than sweating in the foul weather gear.
Thanks again for all your support!
(Oh, we just hit 20 kts again. Its just not as special was it used to be.)
July 15, 2019, 2000
What a day. Some good, some less so. First, everything on Snoopy is great. More below. Want to send out best wishes and celebration that all on OEX are safe. We do not yet know any details. Only that the Santa Cruz 70 OEX had a major rudder issue that caused them to abandon ship to life rafts. They were picked up by Pyewacket are heading back to port. From what we understand, all aboard are safe and well.
On Snoopy, things have been off the hook! We crossed the Pacific high ridge this AM, and have been firmly in the trades all day. As forecasted, the trades are pumped up. Solid upper teens and low 20s. Lots of speed records rising and falling. As I type, the current record stands at 20.4 kts (Pike!). Of course, I was the first to cross the 20 kt barrier, only to have him sweep it away 5 min later. I never should have let go the wheel for dinner. Doh!
It is hard to say exactly how we are doing, but it is safe to say at least as good as yesterday, but seems that we have moved further ahead of our J125 competitors. We'll know more tomorrow at the 8 AM position report.
Two side notes. First, XM is not out this far (but we have a great ipod play list... 90 hrs of great tunes). Second, it is so beautiful out here. The water is so blue it is almost purple. Flying fish and squid everywhere (Scott has been below for the last few hours and so far been missed. Time will only tell if he'll beat the 2013 TransPac record of three flying fish hits to the head. Fingers crossed good buddy.)
Around two more days until the critical jibe towards HI. At this rate (and with the pending forecast), we should do at least 300 miles each of the next few days. Put your seat belt on!
July 14, 2019, 1400
Dear Snoopiests,
TransPac day 3... mucho bettero. After two days we are out of the washing machine, poop-fest. With 10-12 kts of warming breeze, today is "open the boat and dry it and ourselves out" day. By the way, XM satellite radio still works 450 miles offshore... 250 mile limit? My back side.
To the racing, Rob has done a great job setting and sticking to a plan. He took to a solid southerly line for entry into the trades and has not waivered as new weather comes in. Confidence. Love it! Giving us more confidence is having our three J125 sister ships in the same part of the ocean (Reinrag2 18 miles further south and behind our line, and Hamachi and Velvet Hammer have attempted to sail down to our line from the North. They'd probably have to jibe to get here... wouldn't that be nice? (Not holding my breath...) Today is continuing our transition into the trades, so only time will tell as we begin our drag race to the right shift (4-5 days from now). Some good news, we should have great trade winds with high teens to 20 kts of wind most of the way to HI!
All is great on board. How could it not be? We're sailing to HI with good friends... good friends who are great sailors. Fantastic! Ian's has a great food program, Rob's making the best of his TransPac navigation rookie debut, and Scott and Pike are super consistent on the wheel. Everyone's working hard and having fun (even the XM is working in our favor!).
Thanks again for all your support! Its great to know so many are cheering us on! Until next time...
Team Snoopy
p.s. Ian says to let you all know that we are higher (I presume in the sailing sense), faster and better looking. Sounds like he's got it covered!
July 13, 2019
Friends of Snoopy!
Day two of TransPac! Before I get started, many people have asked why we renamed the boat Snoopy. Two reasons, really. Because she was originally Snoopy, and who in their right mind would sail to Hawaii on a re-named boat!
Being the second TransPac start, we got under way yesterday with classes 3-5 hitting the course. After a good start, wind went left and one of our sister-ships, Velvet Hammer burned us off forcing us to go right early. This turned out to pay as we were the first J125 to Catalina. After Catalina, the synoptic winds slowly took over and we picked a slightly southerly compared to most of our other competitors. With our killer J1/jib-top conversion sail, we set off into the building breeze and washing-machine conditions. Not much fun, but after a long night of upper teens/low 20's and waves coming from six different directions we got to where we wanted to be this morning... just South and bow forward on our northerly competitors. We will see if this pays off mid-next week, but for now we are sailing in strong breeze, with fast sails and a nice line to enter the trades. Fingers crossed!
Spirit on board is good. Great guys who all work very hard, especially appreciated in these challenging conditions. Wet (very) and fast. Wouldn't have it another way!
Hope to get into some bigger sails tonight. More tomorrow. Thanks for your support!