Transpac Day One

Greetings from day 2 of the Transpac 2011 Race to Hawaii. The starting gun fired at 1:00 p.m. on Monday. July 4th and we had a fast sail to the West End of Catalina Island. We rounded with the leaders in our class and headed in the direction of San Nicholas Island. However, the wind got progressively lighter as evening approached and we struggled to maintain 2-3 knots of boat speed throughout the night. Daybreak found us approximately 30 miles north of San Nicholas Island and sailing in light wind well south of the Channel Islands. Our noon position of 33°45' N x 119°40' W puts us 68.9 miles closer to Diamond Head, but we actually had to sail more than 90 miles to accomplish this distance. Right now it is late Tuesday afternoon and we are south of San Miguel Island. We expect to get into the heavier offshore winds at some point tonight and it will be rough, wet, and cold but we will be making much better progress toward the land of pineapples and palm trees.

-Brian