News
July 21, 2019, 0600
Lat. N 21.55.237 Long. W 155.38.944
With roughly 100 NM to go, we have a nearly cloudless sky and 17-20 knot tradewinds sending us to the turn at Molokai, then the final stretch to the Diamond Head Buoy. The evening sky last night after sunset was resplendent in its Indigo accents punctuated by the Milky Way and so many stars with brilliant Mars and Venus showing. The energy on board is peaking as the fleet converges and gains are made in the last run to the finish! The 4-on / 4-off watch schedule was suspended this morning by the Skipper as we prepare for the approaching classic experience of storied winds and waves of the Molokai Channel. Families and friends can still watch the live Yellow Brick (200NMS version) presentation of this last leg while preparing the perfect Mai Tai and donning a fresh Island Lei.
The boat is remarkably clean, from the perspective of an offshore racer - family & friends should probably delay entry until the sailors do their thing; the food has been really good - only one freeze dried meal of Mac and Beans Chili with the prior night's Sabatinos sausage leftovers added for flavor. We have eaten all the water, carbs and proteins needed for this final 100 NM showdown. We have also caught up on sleep and we greatly anticipate these final 10 hours as the fleet sorts out who is where and execute the critical gybes required at the optimal moment off the wall at Molokai. Some will make it, some might not. The high winds and vertical short period high wave chop are so focused within the narrow passage between these Islands that anything can happen to affect the final outcome.
Talk on board from the Transpac veterans is that this has been a race to remember, winds at high levels throughout the race except for a normal first day. The crew is happy and stories are being exchanged this morning comparing the race to earlier editions. Conversation also surrounded various on-board injuries sustained so far, such as our navigator Brad has a sore hangnail from holding the spinnaker during a douse, and Gio stabbed himself with his rigging wire as he repaired his 3:1 down-pulley for the 6th time. Other than one minor kite wrap on a gybe in 33 knots, we have had little major damage or issues, which is truly remarkable given the size of the seas and the wind velocities with one terrifying exception, news of which we determined would be best to withhold from you all to avoid any emotional concern that might cause family and friends unneeded consternation, which would further distract from our race and the attention required to be applied to repair of the boat.
So, on Day 3, we experienced a heavy clunking and thumping underfoot while steering the rudder on the driving platform. We didn't see any movement in the rudder post so we tried to put it out of our minds, for a while. However, the constant thumping and clunking grew worse and our concern grew. If the rudder is not firmly ensconced in its upper bearing, it can break loose and tear a hole in the boat from the inside like a can opener similar to what OEX experienced last week before sinking by ripping open a hole in the bottom and filling the hull with seawater.
The difference between our situation and that of OEX is that we were now 1,000 NM from land and were pressing forward to keep the boat racing while trying to devise a fix that will get us to Hawaii. So, we had a team meeting racing at full speed while making plans to abandon the boat in case we experienced the same fate that OEX did. Having a diverse crew on board is of such help with Gio being a rigger and Steve, Brad and the newest addition to the crew, Kate Shaner, being engineers. With the satellite phone we are, under the Racing Rules of Sailing, able to contact the boat builder and architect to derive a fix for the structural issue, which Gio had scratched out and the on-shore builders and designers confirmed the potential efficacy of. Gio's father and famous boat builder Geno Morrelli provided great reassurance that we had derived a stabilizing rudder repair, so while half the crew was supposed to be sleeping, they were working on the temporary fix while the rest of us kept focus on racing onwards in the high winds and seas. The repairs seem to be working and included Gio's "Spanish Windless" that Gio (and his father) had devised (they separately came to the same conclusion alone and confirmed that each thought the solution to be the best one) and it was installed after being sketched out by Kate. With Gunnar's help, they constructed a supporting structure to an area of the hull that seems to be strangely void of necessary bridging structure in an area of high stress. Removing the pad-eyes from less necessary uses supporting lee-cloth bunks, the spare parts kit was also rifled through for screws, nuts and washers. Gio and Gunnar then fashioned the lashing supports with Dyneema line that now holds the deck and hull together to avoiding a potential disaster. So, with fingers crossed and a strong engineering resolution to the problem at hand, we continue to rip along and we feel very confident that the repair will be adequate to get us across the finish line. The quiet confidence and fortitude of the entire crew was remarkable in keeping focus on moving forward while the steering below was being repaired.
As we breathed a sigh of relief, the deities were not done testing us. The monster of all squalls dubbed "Big Evil Bastard" reared its enormous, dark, devil winds and its advance upon us was quick and dangerous. We got everyone up and with our Number One Driver, and most capable helmsman, Payson Infelise, we sailed faster than hell to the right to try to out run the squall as it advanced upon us at over 25 knots. Eventually, we were comforted by out-running it but we did harness its tremendous power to advance our position on the fleet hitting speeds over 23kts plus in the downpour.
This will be a race remembered by the fleet for generations, much like the Ticonderoga vs Storm Vogel and Windward Passage versus Ragtime storied-races in the 60s and 70s that are fondly remembered and embellished. The lore of Transpac has been further tattooed on the minds of those participating this year given the loss of OEX (with crew saved by Disney's crew on Pyewacket), however, the low number of boats dropping out due to gear failure is remarkable and the speed at which we have arrived at the Molokai Channel is at a record pace. Our original routing had an expectation of 10 days 7 hours and it will be more like 9 days 4 hours as we expect to cross Diamond Finish line around 5PM today.
As we approach the finish line today, we will be remembering two former Triumph crewmembers that passed away this year. Dale Nordin who had 19 Transpacs on his resume as well as being a Commodore of TPYC and Scott Poe, who always made us better sailors with his 13 Transpacs. Both are missed but their spirit is on-board. We will have a short ceremony as we approach the Diamond Head Buoy today spreading their ashes onto a body of water they so dearly loved being on.
The all-Corinthian crew of Triumph did an exceptional job of pushing the boat, keeping her together and harnessing the strength with the bond of a team developed over the last 2 years (with the exception of Kate who fit a late-appearing crew-gap perfectly). We are thankful to the Hawaiian deities who have watched over Triumph in her trials and tribulations and especially to the Kahuna who blessed our boat in our send-off ceremony in Newport before our departure.
Steve has expressed his sincere thanks to the crew, their families and friends who have allowed us to compete in this year's 50th running of Transpac and have supported us, which provided us with this larger-than-life adventure in our life book of memories.
July 15 2019 at 1251hrs
Lat. N 28 23.064 Long. W129 45.510
Last evening, we were close to Vela, a sister-ship SC52 who shares our rating and was closing in on us. Being the 3rd time we closed ranks with them in as many days this race, we decided enough was enough and put the pedal to the metal and by day break they were 8 miles behind. Under the cover of a setting sun, we changed chutes, sang show tunes and recited movie lines with our A3 spinnaker set, which turned out to be multiple good decisions. Even a gorilla showed up on the coffee-grinder. We expected and experienced a veer last night from 350 degrees to 25 degrees with increasing pressure and it was delivered allowing us to cut the corner to the ridge against the whole fleet except Laserfiche and Westerly who were above us through the night. Upon starting watch at 0800, we decided to switch back to the A2.5 allowing more flexibility as to course. Our morning position showed great gains and the race is close. Just 1600 nm to go! The boat has not suffered any breakdowns except that Gio was the first round-up. The boat has hit 17-18 knots regularly and we are on a VMG course direct to Diamond Head. We have recorded the largest gains in the fleet and have 17-22 knots of trade winds under a beautiful blue and white sky among the rollers.
The A fleet has had some trouble you may have heard about starting with little wind and taking 24 hours to go 90 miles. The only boats to get out before a Gale hit the fleet outside St. Nicholas Island were a Mod 70 that passed us late yesterday and then the 100ft Commanche that passed us an hour ago. Other members of the A fleet were not so lucky. Pyewacket, owned by Disney, picked up the 9 crew of OEX (an Andrews 70) from a liferaft last night as OEX lost its rudder, had significant flooding and all abandoned ship while in the middle of a 33 kt gale. Pyewacket is returning back to port with 2 crew loads from 150 NM offshore and their races are over.
Gio has supplied all the crew with much to chew on as his overeager mind is running full on. The food is good and the comradery is awesome - so glad no pros onboard. Sleep is pretty good but we are all putting our touches on strategery and fixing any boat "go-fasts". Gunnar has been up the mast twice in two days to fix halyards and we are recharging batteries, the water tanks and napping whenever possible.
PS Late Update: We had an amazing day going fast with favorable winds and seas hitting 20kts and an evening sky that looks like it was painted in hues of pink, orange, red with shades of grey and blue with fair winds and following seas … so beautiful.
Sunday July 14 2019:1242 hrs
Lat. N 29.24.608 Long. W 125.21.135
The sun arrived at 10 AM this morning after 48 hours of fog, high winds and green water over the bow. No longer tipping over at more than 30 degrees, we are out of foulies and into warm weather gear eating normal food instead of Steve's favorite dry frozen corn-nut pie that has no expiration date. After saying our farewells at the start to our families making the trek to Point Fermin aboard Ron von Heidenreich's Offshore 48, we had a steady beat to the West End of Catalina and were 5th of 35 boats around the only mark of the 2,250NM course in 4 hours. The course to Hawaii is 245 degrees from Catalina and we were in heavy westerlies by sundown at 8 with San Nicholas Island to weather. The close reach had 18 - 25 knots until last night and In Brad's description, this was a very normal beginning for this 50th edition of the Transpac Race. Dramamine and scopalomine were dosed to those in need.
We are in good spirits with Gio entertaining the crew with jokes and stories of valor and chivalry while Gunnar and Zack worked their butts off taking full doses of seawater down their necks on the bow. Gunnar's foul Musto gear is deemed to have reached the end of its working life as the only thing dry were the socks in his boots, until his capilene 1st layer was so wet that it started dripping into his socks too. Brad has not slept so we can be at the right waypoint by tomorrow and wouldn't let me get to the laptop until today for this update. The kids are doing great with Gunnar, Kate and Gio being in delirious spirits. We have some new rigging that Gio created, which Steve spent a fortune on that exploded under the extreme loads our sails were experiencing. Payson and I are on separate shifts and I hardly knew he was on board until this afternoon when I had caught up on sleep. The first two nights were so noisy and wet, that we probably slept less than 8 hours in two days. But now, under our new Quantum A 2.5 chute that Steve bought for Triumph instead of a new truck for Kim, we are sliding along at 11 knots under s partly cloudy sky with increasing winds behind. With the wind now out of the North, we know we are approaching the high pressure ridge that separates the California Coast from the NE Trades. The mood is light, Kate is resplendent in her new broad rimmed butter yellow sun hat steering us to destiny. Can't believe we are letting a woman drive, but she's awfully good!
We will send missives as we can and as this was the first opportunity, we wanted to send something off to let you know we are happy and competitive with just one competitor in sight.