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The transbac

Sunday
July 30
Day 14 6pm (California Time)

300nm to the Farallons!


Ships, Showers and Calm Waters

Ships
In the last 24 hours we have passed within sight of 4 ships... from 600 to 1200 feet long... closest approach 2 miles (10 boat lengths for the big boys). Never close enough to need to chat. The boats were headed for Long Beach, Mexico, Korea and the Panama Canal.

Showers
With just two days till landfall, and with bright sunny skies and a warm sun, it was time for SSS (sxxx, shower and shave) so we could be respectable when we arrived. Everyone aboard cleaned. Jim even did a bit of laundry. To be 350 miles offshore showering in the cockpit was a real privilege (so many times this is where one can get the crap beat out of the crew and boat with big wind and waves).

Calm Waters
This morning the sun came up to blue skies horizon to horizon and wind under 2k... the ocean "slicked off"... not a ripple to be seen... just long period ocean waves. The question was if we should stop and go swimming... but the crew voted to keep on keeping on. We saw a pod of dolphins.

So as expected the crew wants to know "when will we be there?". "Sometime Tuesday" is what we expect (early or late afternoon?). A lot depends on how hard it blows the next 300 miles (the weather forecast is for a "brisk" breeze... and we could use it... having left Hanalei with 110 gal of diesel, we are now down to 18 gallons (which should be enough).

Last...
Mac and cheese with string beans and bacon bits for dinner... extra portions tonight as the crew was getting a bit surley about needing more grub.

From Mary... This morning I had the pleasure of watching the sun rise. Reflections of the morning sun danced from wave to wave. Last night we had an almost full moon. I have pictures of all of these sightings. We are so glad to have the extra peanut butter and jelly!

Cheers,
Jim, Mary, Glenn and Jeff
 
Alexander Benderskii (via inReach)
5:56 PM (14 minutes ago)
to ssspol23

7/31 Mon - all good aboard Reverie, found some wind, finally making miles in the right direction!
 
Alexander Benderskii (via inReach)
4:49 PM (1 hour ago)
to ssspol23

Wed 8/2 - all good on Reverie, 600 nm to go!
 
Alexander Benderskii (via inReach)
5:38 PM (1 hour ago)
to ssspol23

Sat 8/5 all ok on Reverie, getting through the coastal flow zone (big wind, big seas), less than 50 nm to Channel Islands - should be calm from there
 
I hadn't checked the tracker in a while. Is Gary Burton (Elizabeth Ann) checking in with someone? His tracker pings stopped a few days ago.
 
No. Is Hula (Bill) on his way home as well? Tortuga (Randy) is. Those Westsail guys may be staying in touch with each other.
 
08/09/23 - The RC (David H.) communicated with Elizabeth Ann over Email and she reported “all is well”. He gave no indication as the why his tracker is not running. As far as we know Hula is not sailing home. The latest information can be found on RC notes on the raceTV screen.
 
As of 19:45 tonight, Iniscaw is back in its Oceanside slip after a 26 day return trip. Sorry I didn't post more (or at all!) during both the race and the return. As some of the racers know, I had repeated problems getting email working over the Iridium Go – many thanks to Gary Burton for the time he spent working through my issues.

I had some other potentially interesting failures and breakages going both ways; at some point maybe I'll do a bit of a recap, if I can read my logbook.

Many, many, many thanks to David, Synthia, Greg, Jackie, Christine, Jonathan, Kristen, and anyone I've forgotten to mention who worked so hard to make this race happen. And it was such a joy to see these old friends again after five years of separation.

Max
 
Hey everyone:

Greg and I had a pretty good trip. Too much upwind of course but we only used about 20 gallons of diesel. We also dodged a couple of bullets - the first may be of interest. We heard a rattle while the engine was in gear. Discovered that the transmission dipstick had fallen into the transmission (whu?). We had a magnet and were able to fish it out but anyone with a kanzaki transmission might want to check their dipsticks (the plastic cap was essentially disintegrating). Lee says this is common (really?).

Our second moment of excitement occurred in Pt Townsend. It was very windy in the marina and when I used reverse there was a big vibration and little power. Then I put it in forward - same problem. Meanwhile we are drifting quickly toward a rock jetty~ We managed to eek out enough forward motion to avoid it. What was the problem? A wad of poly line that must have been trailing behind the prop for days - until we put it in reverse for the first time when it gummed up the prop. Oy.

Other than that, a pretty smooth, albeit long as always, trip home.

I would like to echo Max - Thank you to Dave, Jackie, Synthia, Greg and everyone else who made SHTP 2023 happen. It was also great to meet all of the racers and I hope we meet again soon!

John - Perplexity
 
Greg didn't mention that you were drifting toward rocks. He's a cool customer, that Greg. He did send this photo of the dead polypropeline line. Poor dead rope.

IMG_6432.jpeg
 
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