News
July 19, 2019, 0800
Hello friends and family from, well, somewhere in the Pacific. We just wrapped up day 6 of the 2019 Transpac aboard the SC52 Westerly. Another wonderful day of sailing.
Yesterday was marked by crossing the halfway point on the race from California to Hawaii. Out here, it is said, you are farther from any dry land than you can get anywhere else on the planet. It is more that 1000 miles in any direction until you reach terra firma. And even though we know there are a lot of boats out here – we see all 90 of the racers on the position reports – the ocean still feels like a very big place and sightings of other boats are uncommon… although that is starting to change as the three different fleets begin to compress.
The sailing has been wonderful… nice breeze without being too crazy. Wednesday's run was 265 miles. It’s was lighter yesterday, but still some fantastic conditions. Earlier this afternoon we took our first hitch south. We started to see some pretty big right shifts and after a while were sticking around. Could this be the shift that we were expecting? It was earlier than forecast, but we jybed to the favored angle anyways. By evening it was clear that it wasn't what we had hoped, so we jybed back, heading more west than south, but by morning we should be able to point directly at the islands. The breeze came up in the afternoon too, so just before sunset we peeled to the A4, a heavier spinnakers and that’s a good thing. We have been ripping along in 25+ knots of breeze for a couple hours now. The sky has been dark too, a like a big squall bringing breeze. But it's clearing behind us and the moonlight just hit the boat, so maybe the sleigh ride is about to tame down...
Whoops, just got called up on deck to drive for a bit… wait here, I’ll be back soon...
Ok, I’m back. A challenging night… some light squall activity has breeze bouncing from 16 to 25 knots and shifting back and forth some 20 degrees or more. When it is windy, there is some pretty fun surfing, but when it is light, the confused sea state just bounces us around. Ah well, still a beautiful night. But now I am a bit bushed and going to hit the rack for a bit. But overall, life onboard is great. Everyone is having a blast, and they are a fun bunch to sail with… even if they do smell a bit right now. Actually, I think we've been pretty good with the showers. The new watermaker puts out a healthy dose of fresh water, so there is no need to be conservative with the bathing!
Ok, signing off for tonight. Have a good evening tucked in wherever you are, and we'll take the night watch out here…
Wayne Zittel and Team Westerly
July 16, 2019, Midnight
Ok, here's the update. Transpac 2019. The 50th running of the famous race from California to Hawaii. Three starts, some 90 boats, and 2225 miles of blue pacific ocean between Pt. Fermin and Diamond Head.
Our Team Westerly is one of three boats fielded by J/World Performance Sailing. Stable mates Hula Girl and Cazan are setup just the same as our boat: three J/World coaches providing support for sailors from all over the world who have dreamed of being part of this event... some racing to Hawaii for the first time, others are, shall we say 'repeat offenders.'
Our start last Friday turned out to be quite nice. I was a bit worried it would be pretty light, but we had enough breeze to get us away from the coastline and into the offshore winds. We passed Catalina Island to port (the only mark of the course!) and beat into a building breeze. By Monday, we had shifted down from the big #1 jib to a reefed main and a blast reacher. This is the stretch where teams pay their dues. It can be lumpy, cold, and wet. Gear gets tested too, and it is not uncommon to see some boats head home... sorry to hear that was the case this year.
Team Westerly really pulled together and did a great job. By Sunday we were into the Code 0, then out came the spinnakers, first the 1A when it was a bit reachy, and earlier today the 2A, trucking along nicely and drying out from the early days!
Our fleet for this Transpac is highly competitive. There are eleven Santa Cruz 50/52s in our group, and many of them have sailed together for years. So getting a leg up on anybody is going to take a ton of work. And now, some 700 miles into this race, we have almost continually been within sight of at least one of our competitors. I've done a lot of these races and it's pretty common that you don't see any of your fleet for days and days on end. This is some good close racing, and a good motivator to keep working hard. Every little bit matters.
On board everyone is in great spirits. We got our first little samples of Pacific surfing today. The swell isn't too big right now, but a steady diet of 18-22 knots made for fun driving. Current top speed is 20.2... that was coach Randall showing how it is done!
It's coming up on midnight out here, but still pretty bright out in the cockpit, with Chris, Michael and Bill on watch. We were treated to a spectacular early evening moon-rise, and now with the lunar disc high in the sky, the night is illuminated in hat particular light. An appealing seascape, worthy of a fine painting, but the shimmering, dancing moonlight on the small waves was we fly past betray our speed and movement. Better material for a movie, maybe, and let the masters keep their still-lifes!
The boat is grunting and groaning, and my berth is directly below the primary winch which is currently handling the working spinnaker sheet. Sigh. You think I would know better. But it's not like there is anywhere quiet on the boat, and when slumber takes over a tired sailor, there isn't a groan, growl, roar that will keep him or her awake.
Ok, looks like a watch change coming up here. Geoff just passed by to grab a handful of something from the galley. So I think I am going to wrap this up and maybe go sit in the cockpit for a bit. And maybe see if Simon's tea bag is still stuck to the boom. He says it's not his, but c'mon. The English and their tea, sheesh.
Cheers all, have a wonderful slumber and we'll check in again with you soon!
Wayne Zittel & Team Westerly
July 11, 2019
Our 3 boats [Cazan, Hula Girl, Westerly] and teams are in Long Beach making final preparations for the 2019 Transpac to Hawaii! Man, this is going to be fun. It is the 50th running of this iconic race, and there are over 90 boats setting off to the tropics in the coming days. J/World is contributing 27 sailors on three boats, and we are chomping at the bit to get sailing! Check out the YB Tracker for latest positions, and we’ll try to get some blog posts here while racing!