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Singlehanded Sailing Society
2002 TRANSPAC News and Position Reports | Home |
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Singlehanded Sailing Society
2002 TRANSPAC News and Position Reports | Home |
0900 hours radio check in
via SailMail from Steve Wilson on board Westerly
| Yacht | Latitude | Longitude | DTF | Notes |
| Rusalka | 29.58 | 138.46 | 1209 | |
| Alchera | 27.38 | 139.45 | 1121 | |
| Tease | 29.09 | 138.18 | 1218 | |
| Endangered Species | 29.57 | 138.07 | 1241 | |
| Seabird | 29.09 | 138.38 | 1202 | |
| Zapped | did not check in | |||
| Westerly | 28.35 | 136.59 | 1277 | |
| Haulback | 28.11 | 136.05 | 1319 |
2100 hours radio check in
from Rob listening in on the SSB
Light winds across the fleet today, a good time to dry out, fix gear, put the boat back together and get some rest if possible.
| Yacht | Latitude | Longitude | DTF | Notes |
| Rusalka | 29.12 | 139.39 | 1151 | |
| Alchera | 27.05 | 141.11 | 1040 | crossed the half way point - no longer leaving san francisco but now sailing to Kauai |
| Tease | 28.31 | 139.21 | 1155 | |
| Endangered Species | 29.15 | 138.55 | 1189 | |
| Seabird | 28.20 | 139.29 | 1145 | |
| Zapped | did not check in | |||
| Westerly | 28.19 | 138.14 | 1210 | |
| Haulback | 27.38 | 137.14 | 1253 |
from Mark Deppe on Alchera
Alchera Log 6/21/02 1900 Hours
Position N27 05 W140 52
Good news, bad news.
The bad news is that there hasn't been any wind to speak of today. Little wind has got to be worse than no wind. At least with no wind there's nothing you can do, so you might as well get some rest or read or something. With very little wind, it's necessary to babysit the sails and the boat trim every minute, because you know your competitors are doing the same thing. Or worse, since they're in a different part of the ocean, you imagine that they are sailing along with plenty of wind, having a great time while you suffer Drinking martinis. At the next check-in you will all compare your progress, and you will come up short.
So you constantly work the sails, trying to catch what little wind there is, you try to figure out what tack is the most favorable for now and for the future, how much to bear off to maximize speed towards the target. And once you have it all figured out the wind changes velocity or direction just enough to screw it all up and make you go through the exercise all over again. It's especially fun at night, when you can't see the sails very well and you really just want to lay down for even 20 minutes. But you can't get even 20 minutes, because everything needs readjusting every 10 minutes, and it takes that long to do it. No rest for the wicked.
And the ocean waves rock the boat and make the sails collapse and lose their precious wind, the boom slats back and forth threatening to gybe across the cockpit unannounced and do bad things to you or the equipment. Bad boom, stay! Stay there! There's so much clanking of hardware you couldn't sleep anyway, you can visualize the blocks coming apart and the lines chafing through, but there's nothing much you can do about it.
Fortunately a bit of wind came up in the last hour, so now the boat is moving along, though not quite in the direction I would like. Mostly due West. But I have a rationalization for either tack: West allows me to cover my main competitors. South allows me to hopefully head for better wind. Either way I can convince myself its the right move.
The good news is that Alchera is now over halfway to Kauai and the finish. The traditional 'halfway' presents were opened up and a great time was had by all. I now have a new watch that I've wanted for awhile, and a box of Godiva chocolates. And a couple of very nice cards to help me remember the important people in my life.
The radio check-in has moved to a higher frequency, 8A, now that the boats are getting further apart. I can now hear some boats better than before, some worse. Endangered Species I could barely copy, now she booms in like next door. Westerly has been on a mission to locate and eliminate all the chafe on his boat, rigging up little blocks everywhere to redirect lines to avoid problems. Seabird managed to catch his vang in the act of unscrewing itself and put things right before serious damage occurred. Haulback lost his foulies overboard, with a knife and pair of pliers in the pockets. He didn't want to discuss how it happened. I'm sure there's a story there, we just may never know it.
- Alchera
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