Transpac Finish

Dear all,

We just reported to the race committee we crossed within 100-nm of the finish at 1800 PDT. So, this is the last ship's log during the race.

This afternoon we completed day 10 of the Transpac and have now traveled more than 2,120-nm of the 2,220-nm great circle route from the start in San Pedro to the finish off Diamond Head, Oahu (actual distance sailed is longer).  We project a Sunday morning arrival at the Diamond Head Light finish near Honolulu at about 03:00. We continue to have a great time and all is well and everyone is healthy weaning shorts night and day.

Last night was another tour de force in astronomy looking at the Milky Way and bright stars. It again went light again during the night for a while with oscillating winds. Early this morning the breeze picked up to about 17-knots and we were again flying along. We are spoiled now and wind speeds of less than 14-knots or boat speeds less than 10-knots are of little interest.  As you can see on YB Tracking, we caught many of the boats that started on Monday, two days ahead of us. In fact, in an exception to the empty-horizon-rule, we just passed a Hobie-33, about 10-boat lengths apart. As we converge on Hawaii, we expect to see other racers.

The weather files from NOAA continue to track with what we are seeing on a larger scale, but misses details. So, our earlier decision to race as if in a round-the-buoys race continues to pay dividends and has helped us make up several miles on one of the J/125 boats in our division during the last 24-hours. We have moved more to the Western side of the course to stay in contact with that fast boat/competitor who is now on the far Western edge of the course as we match race each other to the finish.

The repaired A2 spinnaker continues to do well and looks great as we reach along using this sail. We've now sailed more than 8.5-days reaching under spinnaker, making it a very pleasant journey after the first day of on-the-wind sailing.

Still no shaved beards but we are washing down on the stern in anticipation of civilization: seawater wash, fresh water rinse.

Thank you for your great support and will talk soon.
 

Credit - John Raymont