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Great Pacific Race

P

peter00

New member
On June 7th a whole slew of people are leaving Monterey rowing to Honolulu. This is the first Great Pacific Race (at least that is what I googled). Apparently it will take them up to 2 months to finish. So not only do we have to watch out for drag web, Tsunami debris, etc but now we have to watch out for a lot of rowers. At least they should be awake and looking backwards. It sounds like our paths will very likely cross. Perhaps the race committees should talk.
 
Hello Peter,
A very good point. I will contact them and see what their expected course is likely to be . It also could present a problem for the 80 boat Pacific Cup fleet.
 
Hi Peter,
I have made contact with the Great Pac. Race brain trust. We are getting together to discuss logistics. All their boats are similarly equipped with communications gear, i.e. VHF and real time tracking. I will be meeting with them shortly.

Thanks for pointing this out.
 
I just read about it in the local newspaper Brian, and thought that should be interesting. If the Pac high is in it's normal position and if rowers follow the rumb line (what I know about ocean rowing could be written on the head of a pin altho I'm pretty handy around an anchorage) then the hundred boats in the two sailboat fleets should be crossing the rowers rumb line twice. I remember approaching Kauai in 2012 a few of us were quite concerned about the weather buoy floating around on our path but imagine 20 or so row boats (I just invented that number) that are all moving and have the right of way. On the upside, it would be better than hitting a shipping container or five ton steel weather buoy. As well, they should always be on watch. Perhaps as one approaches their rumb line put on the strobe light and make sure the VHF is on 16 and crank it up to nine when going for a nap. The always consoling thought is that it's a big ocean but....
 
Very interesting development! It would be amazing to see these guys out there. For what it's worth and as far as I have found, there is no mention of human powered craft in the COLREGS. They have always seemed to have fall into a hole of ambiguity, though if anything they are more of a "powered" vessel than a "sailing" vessel. Of course, if there is wind, I would do what I could to give these guys a wide berth and a grand toast to their achievement! With little to no wind, they are likely to be the more maneuverable vessel.
 
peter00 said:
I only have 3 more things to say on the subject AIS AIS AIS
Click to expand...

Do the rowboats carry AIS transponders? I can't tell from their rules document, but I am trying to find out. The Pac Cup honchos have talked with the Great Pacific Race folks, and we will have some access to the fleet positions, but real-time AIS data would be great.

The odds are pretty slim that there will be an issue. How often do we see other Pac Cup or SHTP boats? These boats aren't converging in Hanele or Kaneohe. Still, it's good to stay aware.
 
It only takes one, and you won't see them until you're on top of them (and not even then if at night).

This is like the big Bay swim during the 3BF (every friggin' year!) - a bad combination.
 
I just got a reply from The Great Ocean Race, and yes, the rowboats carry AIS Transponders, as well as Radar Target Enhancers. The rowboats also have VHF DSC radios, and should be monitoring channel 16. They should be easy to spot.
 
I have a meeting arranged with them. If they have AIS transponders that is awesome. I also alerted the Pac Cup Brain trust, which ends their race within a few miles of the rowers destination. I am hoping we can exchange files on boat positions several times daily with at least our comm. boat so our fleet and their fleet will know when the separation is closing up. We should be able to publish an email to shared with the fleet daily. Chris seemed very open to sharing information.

We should consider the placement of our AIS antenna's. The row boat will have a low antenna. If the sail boat also has a low antenna, like a rail mount, that will limit AIS range to just a few miles. Going up the mast a ways will make a huge improvement.
 
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