New Boat 4 Sled

[sleddog]

What do you think about Eos taking the northerly route? I haven't seen him slow down less than 5 knots and is cutting the corner.

EOS has admitted he doesn't know what he's been doing..The northern route was not available to the SHTP fleet Days 1-3 as it was blocked by the elongated High to the West. Now the High has repositioned, the northern route (Great Circle) may be a valid way to get downwind. Most of the LA Transpackers are choosing the GC, although they started 400 miles further south.

 

[sleddog]

It's getting down to short strokes now with two Cal-40's in line to finish late Friday/early Saturday. BUFFALO has the inside track with less than 400 miles to go, followed by sistership SOLSTICE 30 miles (4 hours) behind...both have an ETA of sometime Friday evening/early Saturday morning HST. But this could change as the trades begin to die when nearing the island after dark. As they do, the wind becomes offshore drainage off the higher elevations inland and become light, often <5 knots.

Interesting to note Jim's downwind spinnaker reefing technique as the boat begins to have AP control issues in squalls 20-30 knots. Just pull the snuffer partway down. The stronger the wind, the more you snuff. Can't imagine SOLSTICE does not know this trick also.

On this subject, Jim e-mailed yesterday, 4th of July: "Squall at midnight laid me out... boom in the water... okay, time to see if that snuffer works (in 28k of wind)... and IT DID! Eased the fore guy and sheet, ground in the snuffing line which was pre-led and already on a cockpit winch. 20 minutes later the real problem... no wind. Rain... bit of wind... 50 degree wind shifts... more no wind... more rain... spinnaker all over the rig...6 hours later the wind filled in. Yuck (later calculations showed I lost 3 hours in this one "incident"). Now I did get much better at working the snuffer... 10% snuff... 20% snuff... 40% snuff. Have had a few passing clouds deliver wind in the upper 20s to "practice makes perfect". I also learned Otto needs to be put to bed when the wind is in the upper 20s... though snuffer+Otto will take me to 30k of wind.



Kauai Windward Waters-7/5/2023, 12:55 PM HST

FRIDAY:
East winds 20 knots. Wind waves to 5 feet. Scattered showers, mainly in the morning.

FRIDAY NIGHT:
East winds 20 knots. Wind waves to 5 feet. Isolated showers in the evening, then scattered showers after midnight.

SATURDAY:
East winds 20 knots. Wind waves 5 to 6 feet. Scattered showers.

SUNDAY:
East winds 20 knots. Wind waves around 6 feet. Scattered showers.

Hawaiian Offshore Waters-
1107 AM HST Wed Jul 5 2023
THIS AFTERNOON
E winds 10 to 15 kt. Seas 6 to 7 ft.
TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY
E winds 10 to 20 kt. Seas 6 to 7 ft.
SATURDAY AND SUNDAY
E winds 15 to 25 kt. Seas 6 to 8 ft

 

[sleddog]

There are many techniques that apply offshore but seldom used inshore. The skipper of one SHTP racer today discovered the wisdom of taping sheet, guy, and halyard shackles closed when his headsail halyard shackle opened and the sail became a diaper under the bow. Fortunately he was able to extract the sail undamaged. The sail was rehoisted on a spare halyard, and off they went with minimal time loss.. All in a day.

 

[sleddog]

"Bring what ya got" has always been the cornerstone of Singlehanded Transpac. Here we have a classic example of last century boat designs duking it out for First2Finish and First Overall on corrected time: Cal-40's vs Westsail 32's. GREEN BUFFALO vs. HULA. Tradewinds, currently in the 12-15 knot range, rising to 18-20 over the weekend, have slowed the fleet somewhat. BUFFALO has a 250 mile lead on HULA....Both skippers are previous winners. Here's the wx map for Saturday. One arrow barb=10 knots; half a barb=5 knots...

 

[sleddog]

Singlehanded Transpac Race Committee: Greg, Synthia, Jackie, Dennis, and Race Boss Hedgehog, are about to get very busy on the water and brown sand beach of beautiful Hanalei Bay, Kauai. Four racers in close succession will be finishing within a couple of hours of each other. In the following possible order (subject to squalls, breakage, or light winds approaching the island): GREEN BUFFALO, PERPLEXITY, SOLSTICE, and SUCH FAST.

Breeze for this front four should be increasing trades, 15-20 knots. They are currently averaging 8-8.5 knots in pursuit of fabled Mai Tai umbrella, with Kauai dead on the bow just over the horizon. I won't jinx anyone predicting who will be First-To-Finish and who will win Overall on corrected time.

Shit can, and has happened on those final 100 miles..to tired boats, sails, and sailors. A blown last jibe, a wrapped spinnaker, bypassing Hanalei in the darkness....But the skipper's have been well briefed on what to expect ahead. Carry on, Gentlemen. Watch out for each other. You have a race to finish. Aloha!

 

[AlanH]

I remember getting close to island, a few miles off and...

...the smell. I remember the smell of a tropical island, even though I was upwind. The lead boats will be getting that scent in about 8-9 hours!

 

[sleddog]

I remember getting close to island, a few miles off and...
...the smell. I remember the smell of a tropical island, even though I was upwind. The lead boats will be getting that scent in about 8-9 hours!

There's no smell, but you can watch GREEN BUFFALO, PERPLEXITY, and SOLSTICE finish live at the Hanalei Bay Resort webcam.....it pretty much looks right down on the finish line. https://hdontap.com/index.php/video/stream/hanalei-bay-resort. Be patient, it is slow to load and you don't have to hit "Continue" and "add App."
The webcam goes full screen. Looks like 15-18 knots off Pu'u Poa finish line. Boats will cross the finish line right to left on the right half of the cam, lower sail, and enter the Bay on the left of screen.

 

[dolfinbill]

Bottle Opener

Hey Skip,
Patty and I made it to Hanalei today (the easy way) and while Patty was sleeping it off (due to waking up in SD at 12:30am Hawaii time) I walked from the Hanalei Inn down the beach to the pier. While admiring Pamela out in the anchorage I heard my name called from the beach. It was Margie, enjoying the sun and waiting for Brendan to arrive around midday tomorrow. I hope you and Annie will make it or I don't know how we will open our beers without your secret opener on your flip flops.

DolfinBill

 

[sleddog]

Hey Skip,
Patty and I made it to Hanalei today (the easy way) and while Patty was sleeping it off (due to waking up in SD at 12:30am Hawaii time) I walked from the Hanalei Inn down the beach to the pier. While admiring Pamela out in the anchorage I heard my name called from the beach. It was Margie, enjoying the sun and waiting for Brendan to arrive around midday tomorrow. I hope you and Annie will make it or I don't know how we will open our beers without your secret opener on your flip flops. DolfinBill

Hey Bill and Patty, Great to hear from you! Sorry to say my flipflops and I will not be in Hanalei ....110 racing at Inverness, if you believe that. https://vimeo.com/776350780 Please say "hi" and congrats to Lily and Todd of GWENDOLYN..Todd's first ocean crossing and we're proud of him!. OK, for your Macapuno Ice cream what 30' boat is in Hanalei right now (not a racer) that I helped build and skippered in the 1st Pacific Cup in 1980. It was red back then....

 

[sleddog]

Webcam agreed with RC that showed Jim and GREEN BUFFALO unofficially finishing first at 10:53:23 pm PDT. Clean sweep.



You could see this was a well practiced team when Jim had his spinnaker net already hanked on and in place before leaving the dock for the start. Congratulations Good Sir!!

 

[sleddog]

PERPLEX, SOLSTICE, and SUCH FAST finished last night, JAMANI this morning. RC frazzled by SF's lack of finish protocol: no 10 mile text ETA, wrong VHF channel, no AIS, no illumination of sails or hull. RC had no idea SF was in area until call "just finished, woo hoo."

SIREN, PORK CHOP, and GWENDOLYN are flying now. 20 knots of wind and boats surfing/planing into double digits. What a way for small ultra-lights to finish, in daylight yet. Hanalei Bay will be crowded with Koloa Regatta canoe races. God forbid any racers anchor in their course.

No rest for the weary.

 

[sleddog]

Brendan on SC-33 SIREN crossed the Hanalei webcam at 1450 hrs PDT.. Looks like a 3rd or 4th overall after the two Cal-40's for this ULDB built in Santa Cruz. Next up is PORK CHOP EXPRESS. Chris Jordan has done a fine job of prep and sailing his Express 27, and congrats to him also for a successful passage, averaging 6.8 knots for the course. Not too shabby for a single-handed 27 footer over 2120 miles. PORK CHOP was also built in Santa Cruz.

 

[dolfinbill]

Hanalei Bay will be crowded with Koloa Regatta canoe races. God forbid any racers anchor in their course.

You're right about that. What Patty and I saw on our morning walk.

 

[sleddog]

You're right about that. What Patty and I saw on our morning walk.

In 2008 the State Canoe Championships were at Hanalei. Powers that be asked me if they could use WILDFLOWER, anchored in the front row, as a turning mark. That was fun, having crews of wahines coming within a few feet, grunting hard as they turned 180. The most impressive thing were the men, who had a course of Hanalei/Kilauea 2x around for a total of 20 miles. It was blowing fresh trades, and the men had no fear, paddling full on into the teeth of a 25 knot trades at 6 knots. Swamping was a real possibility. Canoe racing is a big deal in Hawaii.

 

[sleddog]

Yesterday was the first Tree Time of 2023 SHTP at Hanalei. As always, self steering and autopilots are at the top of the list for discussion. After all, you can't race singlehanded across the ocean without some form of self-steering, even if sheet to tiller is the means like Norton Smith used on his Santa Cruz SOLITAIRE to win the first SHTP in 1978.

I could probably write a book on self-steering. In fact, Practical Sailor is currently recycling articles I wrote in 2008 about the subject, even though technology has changed somewhat in 15 years. Hey, Darrell, am I gonna get paid for any of this reprinting my research and writing? I doubt it.

The best AP story ever, not mentioned in PS, happened to Chuck Hawley on his Moore 24 SLIM in the 1980 SHTP. It was a slow crossing, 17 days and change, and at one point Chuck Hawley converged with Amy Boyer on her Wilderness 21 LITTLE RASCAL. As Chuck's boat neared Amy, he lifted his tiller to maneuver and to his horror, his Tillermaster AP disconnected and went overboard. It dragged astern for a moment, and then the electrical cord connecting the Tillermaster to Chuck's boat broke at the plug and the grey metal, box shape, Tillermaster was left astern.

Unbelievably, the Tillermaster AP floated just long enough for Amy to alter course, reach over the side, and retrieve Chuck's soon-to-sink wayward autopilot. An astonished Hawley came alongside Amy mid-ocean, the return transfer handoff was made, Chuck opened the Tillermaster and replaced the blown fuse, reattached the unit, and was back in business after a 30 minute detour for a mid-Pacific encounter with a 21 year old young woman.

You can't make this shit up.

 

[sleddog]

My guess is the non racing 30fter anchored out near the finish, is, ISIS

With the finish of ELMACH, there are now 42 boats at anchor in Hanalei Bay, with more to come. I can only imagine the entire SHTP RC is not getting much rest, with more to come...MVP for the day goes to Synbad who spent over an hour aboard ELMACH assisting in getting the main down and rolled up inside the boom as the boat tacked back and forth at anchor. "What could go wrong?" said she.

And yes, CBC Port Captain Howard Spruit is correct that a 30 foot Mull design, ISIS, is the boat I helped build at C&B in Santa Cruz, and skippered in the 1980 Race to Kauai before it became the Pacific Cup.

Sorry, Howard, no Macapuno for you because I related to you the answer at High Tea.. There is a shave ice awaiting anyone currently at Hanalei who can provide a photo of ISIS at anchor. Her owner, Robbie B, has been singlehanding ISIS for many years. Robbie is a very experienced skipper who knows Hawaii's sea and weather intimately.

 

[sleddog]

Sunday, 1930 hrs PDT on the CBC Race Deck

Don't look now. But here comes the thundering herd, Westsail 32 sister ships HULA and ELIZABETH ANN, in a near dead heat, with a good chance of one or both bull dozing SIREN off the podium for third place overall. Their finish should be sometime Oh-Dark-Thirty Monday a.m., but trust the RC and welcome committee will be up and in attendance for their arrival and anchor drill.

News is circulating that the SHTP Awards Presentation will be held in Nawiliwili Harbor (Lihue) at the old yacht club, now the Lihue Sailing Association and converted to a facility for junior sailing. It's a gorgeous spot, home of the ancient Menehunes, at the mouth of the Huleia Stream, with a big lawn right on the water, worth the scenic drive for the bronze belt buckles and oh, so much more. The juniors will be there, hoping to meet their sailing heroes from across the Pacific. Thanks to Jackie for the photo.



PS: Forgot to mention that yesterday's first "Tree Time" established a new SHTP record of exactly half the fleet's skippers were in attendance, i'e. 8 boats finished within the first 24 hours. Nice one!

 

[sleddog]

Mysteries abound. Westsail 32 HULA finished this morning just 20 minutes ahead of sister-ship ELIZABETH ANN. Yet HULA owes EA 1 second/ mile. As a result, ELIZABETH ANN places 3rd overall, HULA, 4th, and SIREN 5th. Congrats to all for fine times.

HULA=201, EA=202 TORTUGA=203 seconds/mile. Perhaps someone can explain what makes identical sisters 1 second/mile faster or slower? I've never heard of such a distinction. To add murkiness, a third sister, TORTUGA, is theoretically 1 second/mile slower than EA. How can that be, as TORTUGA is rated without spinnakers, yet, as cited in e-mails from onboard, is carrying both a symmetrical and asymmetrical. Something not adding up.....Laura?

 

[BobJ]

For comic relief, all three boats are listed on page 59:

http://yra.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/2023NCPHRFCertificates_AsOf062123.pdf

Then you'd need to put the numbers for each boat through the "SHTP Rating" conversion spreadsheet. I would do this but I can't find the spreadsheet. Besides, the relative ratings won't matter if you haven't weighed and measured the boats.
.

 

[Philpott]

Mike Smith
3:52 PM (2 hours ago)
to Jacqueline.Philpott

Monday Day 16
Nearly there! Can’t believe it! Hope I don’t screw anything up at the end.

So far not a single sail change. I don’t have any other sails. I did bring three spinnaker though! A strong one that Synthia sewed on a thong furling string and made me a net; a ratty old one from eBay; and a nice new one that a very generous and kind friend at Brisbane gave me. I started to try the tatty one but got scared. I got my spinnaker act together too late, or rather not at all in time. I just don’t know how folks handle their spinnakers in squalls and storms. We had another one today almost a full gale.