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Advice on equipment

S

SailingJack

New member
I plan to do the 2014 race (my youngest son's last summer home is this year). I have a Capri 25. I do a good deal of single handed sailing now in SoCal, but need advice to start getting ready for the Transpac.

I have been reading the forums and looking at solutions to meet the power generation requirements. I have a towed generator, and have researched solar and wind generation. The boat is small, and it seems a small Honda 2000 would work well and use less than 10 gallons of fuel for the passage (all my lights are LED and I only run a GPS and the Raymarine 1000 auto pilot). Is this a workable idea and have others gone this route?

I have a 10 gal. water tank built in. Is it possible to take the remaining water in stored jugs, or do I have to install an additional tank?

I have a vintage Hasler SP vane that works beautifully upwind, not so beautifully downwind. How many competitors use a vane for the trip and how many use autopilots?

Do most racers fly chutes for the passage or is it common to go to twin headsails etc.

I know the questions may be rather basic but you have to start somewhere!

Thank you,
Doug Paine
Capri 25 Jack
 
Honda 2000 Generator

We used a Honda generator on last year's Pacific Cup (crewed) Race. Our power use was low: LED masthead, SAT phone charging, HF radio only for check ins and a few "Amateur Hour" contacts. We used perhaps a gallon of gas, running the generator about an hour+ every other day. We mounted it in a closed-to-the-interior starboard cockpit locker and ran it with the hatch open. We mounted the generator "fore and aft" and the only issue we had was when on a starboard tack. It's safety feature didn't like to be tipped that way, but it quickly restarted and ran until the next large swell. We only ran it during the daytime when all 3 crew were in the cockpit. We also had a CO alarm in the cabin. It never went off.
Pat Broderick
Wyliecat 30
 
For the 2010 race I had only water jugs. My boat doesn't have tanks.

I don't have twin headsails either. Flew a chute the whole way, until the broaches started interrupting my beauty sleep. I think the fleet was maybe split 60/40 between chutes and twins, but I totally made that up.

I think the guys with vanes end up using their autopilots a lot.

For the record, I was really happy I went with solar only. Always on, always quiet, no flammable liquids in the boat, doesn't take up space, no fumes... and plenty of power.
 
Equipment

Harrier usually flies a chute of whatever weight is appropriate. We fly twins on nights that promise a lot of squalls...otherwise, the chute stays up at nite. And when my navigator doesn't call the squall situation correctly, we end up wishing we had put the twins up ahead of time! My twins are nylon 130% jibs on a single luff tape. Only the windward side is poled out. The leeward jib is pulled back as for a beam reach to reflect the breeze that is channelled to it by the windward jib. Were you to look at this from above, the curve of the jibs is sortof like a chute. I have an Atoms wind vane (French) but I stopped carrying it on the race years ago. Too much zigzagging as the vane tries to chase the varying apparent wind angle caused by the varying boat speed as we surf along. Get yourself an ST4000 AP ram and tie it into an X5 course computer (the latest mod). Defender Industirs ahs been having some good sales. I made a number (4?) of races with APs that were of the self-contained tiller type. The 4000 series has separate compass, brain and control head. A big improvement and you can even setup to sail to a wind angle if you have the anemometer set up to tie in on. The Raytheon wind gizmo has a delay built in that allows it to ignore the varying apparent wind as you surf along...unless your surfs last too long.
 
Thank you for conveying your experience

Thank you for the solid information you have provided. There is no substitute for experience and I am indebted to those who replied for sharing theirs. I am certain I will need more guidance in the future, but I have clearer direction now than I did a few weeks ago. I really look forward to getting on the start line of a race I have dreamed about doing for thirty years or so.
Thank you again,
Doug Paine
 
Singlehanded Race

Doug,
In what part of SoCal are you? There is a couple of boats down here that are being work up to do the 2012 race. If you would like to get in contact with them give me a call.
Barry 858 774 6829
 
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