We’ve had several Transpac updates relayed to us from Raisin’ Cane. They had some unspecified challenges that slowed them down, but they’re back up to speed and chasing hard. Here are some of the updates in chronological order:
•Raisin’ Cane is now 41 hours into the Transpac and doing OK. Typical early passage bugs and deficiencies are being overcome and conditions aboard are improving as we settle in, shake down, and sort out. It also helps that the wind is drawing aft.
We set our first kite 30 minutes ago and, if your typist’s collected weather forecast data can be relied upon, we expect to be under spinnakers for the foreseeable future.
The deck guys are busy flaking and stowing jibs so I can get away with being brief with this message by passing none of their remarks along. This is good because it is “peppy” at the nav station as it is everywhere on board.
Regards from Raisin’ Cane.
•Raisin’ Cane had an issue yesterday that affected their speed for a while. Issue appears to be resolved and they have been steadily gaining speed through out today and are doing their best to catch up. Let’s all send them pleasant thoughts for good wind and increased speed.
Not sure how close they were or if RC saw them but Comanche, a 100ft competitor, passed by them earlier today.
•Update from Ted Naughton: Good relative speed of 11.8 knts. 78 miles behind 1st place Varuna. 27.6 mikes behind Resolute (showing 12 knts) but have dropped further south. Fast Exit (white boat furthest north) continues to do well (showing 11.4 knts) and closer to HI by 15.3 miles. All distance calculations are based upon differences in Distance To Finish (DTF).
Other boats with Northwest connections are all speeding along just fine. In the tracker class leaders are designated with a little crown icon. Triumph, with the Hedricks aboard, wears that crown for Division 4. The young crew aboard the Oregon boat BlueFlash are close to Raisin’ Cane on a more southerly route. Carl Buchan aboard Merlin finds himself in a cluster of 70 +/- footers on a northerly route. Kinetic V is steadily losing ground to the Pac 52s Bad Pak and Invisible Hand, but had this report posted yesterday on the Transpac site:
A big moon brightens the night sky, broken cloud scuds. Navigation lights from some of the other race boats are still visible. Boisterous conditions continue. This is definitely a challenging start to the adventure. No easing in gently …
Waves pummel the boat, creating a violent motion onboard. Wind and boat speeds continue to produce a wild ride with waves sending sheets of salt spray over the deck and on-watch crew. Three crew seasick.
A blood-red sun rises through horizon haze to announce the official arrival of day. A few plump seabirds flap comically along the rough sea surface and scatter as our bow cuts a swath. The slowest-rated boat in the fastest-rated monohull division, we are at the back of our division, chasing the faster boats, now unseen in the distance, somewhere ahead of us.
We have stacked our not-in-use sails, as allowed by the rules of this race, along our weather deck, improving stability and creating a partial shelter for the crew from the waves and spray. Onward we press.
Comanche is doing what Comanche does, and will soon have passed all the boats that started two days before. The big trimarans are of going faster, of course. The Mod 70 Maserati has veered off almost due south, but no word on what that’s about, or if it’s a tracker glitch.
The tracker is delayed by four hours, so we’re a little in the dark about this instant. But we’ll keep checking in and get onboard updates if we can.
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.