Navigations and Tactics

Greetings everyone! We are streaming along at 8 knots in search of the pineapples and Mai Tais.that lie just 916 miles directly ahead. It was an active night and we jibed several times successfully staying in front of wind bearing squalls. We have dropped to third in the standings but have greatly repositioned ourselves for the last two legs of the race.

Those who have competed in the Transpac know that it is best thought of as five linked races. The first race is short and encompasses the start to the west end of Catalina. We did well and positioned ourselves for the second section, the race to the synoptic wind. This is pressure generated wind that begins anywhere from 60 to 100 miles offshore in normal times. This year was not normal and it took us almost two days of sailing due west to finally get to the winds that eventually evolve into the trades. Once in this wind the race becomes a challenge of sailing as directly as one can toward Hawaii while monitoring forecast wind strengths in order to position the boat in the strongest wind lanes. The fourth "race within a race" is to set up the boat for the sprint to the finish. Again based on wind forecasts, we need to align the boat into the shortest and fastest lanes to the finish line, a process that begins about 200 miles from the finish. Finally, and probably the most exciting part of the race, is the last 50 miles to the finish line.

The first island to be seen will be Molokai, and if you see the island during the day you will finish at night, and vice versa. When the boat clears the west end of the island of Molokai it begins the roller coaster ride down the Molokai Channel. The wind and waves compress between the islands of Molokai and Oahu and create large swells that the boats will surf downwind toward the finish. It can definitely be an exciting, white knuckle ride to Diamond Head. The actual finish line extends seaward from the Diamond Head Light House to the Diamond Head navigational buoy. We cross the line leaving the buoy on the starboard side of the boat, and when the buoy aligns with the light house we have finished the race.

Let the party begin! The racing sails come down and we will make a right turn and sail along Waikiki Beach to the Ala Wai Yacht Harbor. Once there the boats are tied up in the order of their finish and individual dock parties begin that last for hours. It is a wonderful feeling of accomplishment made even better if we take home a trophy, but we have four to five hard days of sailing ahead of us to reach our goal.