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Around the World from West coast?

The heavy blanket of fog under the Golden Gate cleared shortly before 1 pm and our intrepid solo sailor, Philippe Jamotte, aka "PJ", aboard his CHANGABANG, passed under the Golden Gate at 1:15 pm, outbound westabout around the World, non-stop.

CaB was well heeled, making 8 knots closehauled on port tack. PJ's first challenge is to reach the synoptic NW wind, 12-15 knots, out past the Farallones, then hi-tail it south, southwest, to hopefully pass ahead of Hurricane Marie in 6 days time. This route, if successful, could well slingshot him on towards his Equator crossing 3 weeks hence.

We wish PJ fair winds and fast sailing. Au revoir et bonne chance, mon ami!
 
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In the vernacular, CHANGABANG is "launched." Under 4 hours from Golden Gate Bridge to abeam the Farallones, PJ is past shipping convergence and has borne off 15 degrees. Now averaging 10 knots, with whales nearby and a near full moon rise soon, this could be an exceptional first night.

Stan Honey "officiated" the launch, timing the start of the record attempt as "30 sept 2020 20:15:02 utc."

PS: Would be remiss not to mention there is another solo-skipper record attempt just 20 miles ahead and south of CHANGABANG. The 9' CHUBBY GIRL is attempting to become the smallest boat to cross to Hawaii. The current record is the 10 foot YANKEE GIRL in 1981. Both CHUBBY and YANKEE are shorter than my new, 11 foot, 23 pound, Costco inflatable SUP board.
 
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PJ ran a respectable 226 miles in his first 24 hours, 9.4 knots, under plain sail in winds 15-20. He's nearing the western edge of Windy Lane, north/south along 127 west longitude, beyond which there is much reduced breeze and risk of sailing off the edge if you are to believe weather models. Already his breeze is down to 14 knots, AWA at 90 degrees. PJ reports not sleeping much and feeling light seasickness, so may consider spinnaker later rather than sooner as he catches up on some shuteye.
 
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This is fun to watch and I wish PJ the best voyage!

I worry about Chubby Girl and the hurricane; Changabang is a big fast boat and should be able to sail through whatever weather she can't sail around, but C. Girl is neither big nor fast.
 
breezetrees said:
I worry about Chubby Girl and the hurricane
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Except for some big swells from the south, I don't think CHUBBY, making about 25 miles/day, has much to worry about regards Hurricane Marie, currently 1,300 miles south, moving west,northwest at 15 knots, and forecast to begin dissipation in 4-5 days when 900 miles southwest of CHUBBY.

Meanwhile aboard CHANGABANG, PJ wrote at 9 pm "I was about to try a masthead code 0 when I noticed the wind coming abaft the beam once in a while. It was not straightforward but the new small spinnaker is up. The autopilot didn't seem happy at first so I hand steered. Saw top speed at 13.5. We are fast at 140 TWA. So I tighten the sheet and overtrimmed for the night. Also set the AP to true wind mode on 150 TWA. Seems fine but a little slower. The spinny appears stable. Once in a while the sheet does a bit of "soft bang". About 16 kts tws. COG is still fairly high at 220 and some. Going to have dinner now :-)"
 
He's makin' tracks. The concept of 220 mile days kinda blows me away. When he comes back I hope he takes Chanagabang on the next SHTP....records might fall. I mean...two days and he's almost 500 miles along the track on a course not all that different from a SHTP course.
 
More good news for PJ, despite his lack of sleep, is that he ran 222 miles, 9.3 knot average, in the last 24 hours (1:15 pm to 1:15 pm). Winds have averaged 14-15 knots. from the north

PJ's routing program is recommending a gybe south in the near future. We'll see what that brings. His SST (surface water temp) is currently 71 degrees. A hurricane needs ~79 degrees SST to maintain strength.
 
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solosailor said:
These type of record attempts allow for outside weather routing, correct?
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Correct. Due to budget, PJ does not have a full time router, but is doing his own with Predict Wind. He's on the steep side of the learning curve. But aren't we all.

Off to Yosemite. Depending on smoke, expect radio silence until?
 
Well using PredictWind is certainly much easier to use than Expedition but not legal for most racing as the routing is not done on the boat but using an outside server. I asked because I do recall others using outside weather routers when making record attempts.
 
1 vote for Sail Grib which works well with the Iridium Go, is a nice alternative to Predict Wind and Pac Cup/Transpac legal.
It's not Expedition but it's easy to use and the price is right.
 
He's makin' tracks. The concept of 220 mile days kinda blows me away. When he comes back I hope he takes Chanagabang on the next SHTP....records might fall. I mean...two days and he's almost 500 miles along the track on a course not all that different from a SHTP course.
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There is very little chance a Class 40 could break the Open 50 record of 8 days, 12 hours...... of course if the stars aligned it's possible. To give a comparison a much lighter, faster, longer, fully crewed J/125 won the Transpac overall with an elapsed of 8 days 16 hours. That would be hard to do on a fast year for a Class 40 solo. It's hard to believe how much harder a fully crewed boat can push, especially overnight.
 
Below is solely my impression. I haven't talked with PJ about his motivations. They are in his blog.

We know PJ has the "Explorer's Gene," a vital component of his adventure/dream.
PJ also graciously and characteristically downplays any attempts at establishing a sailing record(s). You won't hear this from him.

But there is reason to be aboard a fast, performance, 40 footer, that has to do with his unmentioned competitive gene.

A fast boat can be sailed fast, which contrary to expectation, can lessen loads, especially downwind, as 75% of his route will be. And needs less sail to sail upwind. In addition, a 150 day, 21,600 nautical mile passage, can be more endurable than 250 days. Watermaker? We ain't got no stinkin' watermaker. (although he may wish he did.)

Unofficially, here is another reason, other than minimizing interaction with hurricanes, cyclones, and Southern Ocean gales, why PJ is sailing fast....

The WSSRC (World Sailing Speed Record Council) ratifies non-stop circumnavigations and their fastest standard to date.

CHANGABANG is potentially, and unofficially, in the running for 1) first, solo, non-stop, East to West, circumnavigation from SF to SF. (not yet a WSSRC category, but could become a new "benchmark" time.)

2) Fastest, non-stop, solo circumnavigation for a boat 40 feet and under. This WSSRC record is currently held by the late Guo Chuan, West to East, on a sistership to CHANGABANG. GC's time was 137 days, 20 hours. PJ could approach this record going around the other way. But it will be hard to break. That's a 6.6 knot, great circle, average for 21,600 miles. Actual sailed distance likely greater.

3) Lastly, PJ could break Bill Hatfield's recent record and epic East to West solo circumnavigation for a boat 40 feet and under. Hatfield's benchmark time is 258 days, an average speed of 3.48 knots.

But first he has to finish. And that is a Challenge. We wish Phillipe good sailing. CHANGABANG should be a giggle in the tradewinds. His recent counter-clockwise navigation around Hurricane, then Tropical Storm Marie was masterful and will act as a slingshot towards the ITCZ. Well done, Good Sir.
 
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