2024 Longpac

[BobJ]

Duende is back inside the Bay, Freedom is getting close and the other three are also headed back. I would be too!

[Aussie]

The Races currently being tracked by Jibeset can always be found at https://www.jibeset.net/tv.php
The Library of previously tracked races can be found at https://www.jibeset.net/track05.php

[solosailor]

If not, change the requirements for the SHTP instead of holding onto arcane requirements from the last century with a grimaced look on your face and white knuckles grasping at irrelevant rules.

You can go do your qualifier any time to anywhere as long as you reach 100nm offshore and 400nm distance covered. As for your naive and asinine comments about "arcane requirement" or "irrelevant rules" I think you owe the decades of active SSS members and RC an apology for your crass behavior as these rules were well thought out and come with again, decades, of forethought and experience.

[Grace]

Greg

For those of you who worship at Skip Allen’s altar, it may be difficult to admit that sometimes he makes statements which are misleading and factually in error. For example, he writes above:

“If you reach 126.40 degrees W and turn back for SF, you will not have completed your SHTP Qualifier required distance and may have to do it all over again.”

This is false. You can prove me wrong by using your your long tenure in the SSS and tell us over the entire history of the Longpac has anyone you know ever started at the GGYC, reached Lon 126.4, returned to the finish and sailed less than 400nm?

If you are having trouble coming up with any candidates, it’s because what is theoretically possible is practically impossible as sailing a strait line course upwind against prevailing currents forces the journey to be longer than 400 nm.

But more importantly, it entirely misses the point of preparing for the SHTP. Any sailor who singlehandedly completes this difficult journey deserves to be welcomed into the SHTP.

Skip also writes above:

“If you reach 126 Degrees, 40 minutes West then decide to sail to Santa Cruz or Monterey without finishing at San Francisco, you will complete your Qualifier distance of 400 nautical miles.”

This is nonsensical since Skip admits later that the strait line distance from SF to 126 degrees, 40 minutes is 402 nm. If so, why sail to Santa Cruz or Monterey?

As to my comments on RC’s decisions, I stand by them. David Herrigal made a good call in postponing this year’s Longpac on June 29th due to hazardous weather. However, rescheduling the race two days later on July 1st was a bad call as the forecast I posted above was available at the time the decision was made. Fortunately, all the competitors realized early that continuing on was the wrong call and nobody got hurt.

As to RC sending a 1,800 lb boat into 40 knot gusts and 15 ft seas at 9 sec, you be the judge.

Steve Saul

[BobJ]

Steve, 126.4 computes to 126 degrees 24 minutes. Skip is simply pointing out this is short of the required 126 degrees 40 minutes for the LongPac.

And it's Skip Allan. He and his family have cruised extensively and raced internationally at the highest levels, where precision matters. Most of us value his contributions here. Since you don't, may I suggest there are other sailing forums you can read?
.

[Daydreamer]

Arm chair sailors are a dime a dozen.
People sit behind their computers and judge others, never actually doing anything difficult or contributing their time, except to judge.

I KNOW it is my responsibility whether to go, or not, or turn around, and not put others in danger to come bail me out.
No one makes me sign up to race.
No one makes me start.
No one makes me continue.

We, the racers, looked at a potential forecast that looked do-able and decided to give it a go.

If I had started Saturday I would have sailed out and turned around before conditions became impossible.
Just like I did Monday.
My little 2000 pound boat bounced around on the waves like a cork until there were more breakers than not and I decided to head back.
The guys on the 15,000 pound boats weren't having any easier of a time.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/lZs0NiffF2w

I haven't been sailing on the ocean all my life and value knowledge and insight of those who have.
I respect the men and women who have done it and share freely and help the next ones.

[Philpott]

In case we have forgotten, Cliff started the LongPac on Saturday aboard s/v Rainbow.

https://vimeo.com/751402557

"There is a very good chance when I get 200 miles out I’ll decide I don’t want to come back in 200 miles then have to beat 200 miles back out to sea again, so I might decide to withdraw from the race and just continue on to Hawaii. In either case, my daily tracker will show where I am and which way I’m headed. The boat will be fully provisioned for going non-stop to Hawaii.

I’ll be in Hawaii, primarily in Kauai, through August then head home about the first of September, getting home in late September."

If you are interested in following Cliff's progress, find him here: https://share.garmin.com/CliffordShaw

[Critter]

IMHO, for the Qualifier you can't count nautical miles zig-zagging around. You have to reach 100 miles offshore at some point and complete 400 miles port to port, even though you may return to some other port from whence you started.

I'm staying out of the major brouhaha that's arisen in this discussion, but I'm a little surprised to read Skip's opinions quoted above. For my most recent SHTP qualifier, I sailed roughly southwest from Oceanside until I was sure I was more than 100 nm offshore, then north to Santa Catalina, south and north and south again, and when I found myself a mile off Oceanside with the log reading 403 I said "I guess I'm done!" I can think of someone else who (as I recall) did something similar out of San Francisco, getting 100 miles offshore then moseying south and north along the coast until the miles added up. Skip, am I misunderstanding what you mean by zig-zagging around?

Then: "port to port"? An experienced sailor who is well known to the oldtimers here did a qualifier off SoCal and Mexico, ran into some mechanical or weather problems, and started his engine after 400 miles and motored a substantial distance home. At the time (well before my own first SHTP), I questioned on this forum whether this was a legitimate qualifier, since he hadn't sailed to a port. He brusquely declared that it was, and afaik it was accepted by the race committee.

Skip's standards for a qualifier are certainly defensible, but I wonder how widely shared they are.
Max/Iniscaw

PS Skip, hope you're recovering well.

[sleddog]

I'm staying out of the major brouhaha that's arisen in this discussion, but I'm a little surprised to read Skip's opinions quoted above. ...Skip's standards for a qualifier are certainly defensible, but I wonder how widely shared they are. Max/Iniscaw

Hi Max, Despite the SHTP NOR calling for a 400 mile Qualifier port-to-port, I am all for letting Common Sense prevail. A Qualifier doesn't have to be straight line to a fixed turn-around point. As long as sufficient proof exists, you can sail 400 nautical miles around islands, fixed buoys, even artificial waypoints. And if you don't make it back to port, the SHTP RC has always shown compassion.

What is bothersome is the practice of using decimal degrees and statue miles for charting, STW for estimating distance, and other false assumptions for completing either the Qualifier or Long Pac when the NOR clearly says " 400 nautical miles."

Just because the chart plotter or tracker says so, doesn't mean it's true. Many cruisers and some racers with trackers have their electronic assistance set to land measurements and have run afoul in most unfortunate or unusual manners.

It was recently claimed in post #14 above:

For those of you who worship at Skip Allen’s altar, it may be difficult to admit that sometimes he makes statements which are misleading and factually in error. For example, he writes above: “If you reach 126.40 degrees W and turn back for SF, you will not have completed your SHTP Qualifier required distance and may have to do it all over again.”

This is false. You can prove me wrong by using your your long tenure in the SSS and tell us over the entire history of the Longpac has anyone you know ever started at the GGYC, reached Lon 126.4, returned to the finish and sailed less than 400nm?

If you are having trouble coming up with any candidates, it’s because what is theoretically possible is practically impossible as sailing a strait line course upwind against prevailing currents forces the journey to be longer than 400 nm.

This poster needs to wake up in his above assertion. In 2019 two Long Pac competitors vying for overall honors thought they had reached the turnaround at 126 degrees 40 min. when they had not. The RC did notice and alerted the competitors who graciously withdrew (DNF). Photo evidence on this Forum and results on Jibeset stand as proof.

FYI, my surname is "Allan," not "Allen," my grandfather and father drilled that into my brain, and I've been using that for 79 years. Thank you.

[brianb]

Here is the wording for the SHTP qualifier copied from the NOR, section 5.8: a. Except as provided below, within 24 months of the Race’s starting date, the entrant shall have
completed a Qualifying Cruise in the entered yacht. The Qualifying Cruise shall not be less than
400 nautical miles and shall be made entirely under sail, non-stop and singlehanded. The
Qualifying Cruise may be between two ports or may start and finish at the same port, provided
that one turning point is at least 100 nautical miles offshore

This description does not rule out zig - zagging in order to accumulate 400 miles of distance and going at least 100 miles offshore.