I thought that some of the Transpac readers might like to know that Hesperus has returned to the mainland. I flew to Hawaii in June and spent 18 nights in Nawiliwili (where I had left Hesperus after the 2006 Singlehanded Transpac) enjoying the islands, working on Hesperus, and meeting new friends. Hesperus was in as good shape as I could have hoped (thanks to Richard the Harbor Master, Doug Gibson, and other dock residents who tended the mooring lines). There was some damage to the bow which had to be fixed (damage that occured last year in the race) and other work to be done (including installing an AIS). I finally got off on July 2. Two other boats left Kauai the day before I managed to get going and we stayed in radio contact all the way across, the Anna (with Rich and Cat) was heading to the Straits of Juan de Fuca (as I was), and the Pacifica (with Greg and Melissa), heading for San Francisco. We formed what we called the Pacific High Net to keep in touch, and we all checked in with the Pacific Seafarers Net. The Pacific High Net pickup up members all the way across and included 7 or 8 boats by the end. We had great weather for the first week or 10 days, but then a low came through, Anna got driven pretty far east and Pacifica got pretty beat up for a day or two. Anna was in the lower edge and couldn't get out. Hesperus got hit by cold northerlies, but they didn't last too long (although I don't think that I've warmed up yet). On July 11, about 0130 I had a close encounter with a tanker, disaster was averted by my AIS. (If you don't have AIS and plan to go offshore, I recommend that you get one. I clearly would have run down the tanker were it not for the AIS warning, I was below resting up after a squall, neither the tanker nor his escort had active radar.) Another couple of lows came through (I was warned of one, second hand, by Don Anderson via The Fire Water, so had my storm jib up by the time I got nailed.) Another one came through, I had south westerlies, then calm, then, bang, northerlies. I spent the whole day running off to the south east in 35 knot winds with towering seas. Durning the height of the storm little Hesperus was visited by some California Grey whales. I would guess that there were 5 or 6 whales, but there could have been many more as they stayed with Hesperus for 45 minutes or so, sometimes coming as close as 3 feet (they would blow just ahead of Hesperus, maybe 10 feet, and their dorsal fin would go under maybe 3 feet ahead of my bow, at first I thought I was going to hit them, but soon decided that they knew what they were doing). I finally made land fall at Neah Bay, Washington state, on July 28 and was met by my sister and brother in law. My sister and I took two days to sail to Edmonds Washington where Hesperus was hauled, put on her trailer and towed to my sister's house to await another blue water voyage.
Best to all,
Paul Woodward
s/v Hesperus
Best to all,
Paul Woodward
s/v Hesperus
