2016 Single Handed TransPac

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Saturday July 2nd, 24 Single Handed Sailors in 4 divisions will depart out the Golden Gate and head towards Hanalei Bay in this, 20th edition of the Single Handed TransPac!
2,120 nm of open ocean adventure, independence and self reliance. The start is 12:00 off the Corinthian Yacht Club!

Meet the 2016 Fleet, which we shall be tracking on a daily basis:










Check out the L-38 preview/mini bio on the event and the racers HERE!

http://sfbaysss.org/shtp2016

[Panama Red]

Whats the long range forecast?

[BobJ]

There will be Tree Times every day at 1700 HST.

[Alan H]

Those were the most relaxed race starts, ever... *BANG*... one minute, two minutes, three minutes goes by, then someone starts. LOL Twenty seconds later, the next person starts. Hey, it's a LONG race!

Was blowing' solid on the Bay at the start, too, but looks like it was a quiet night in the Gulf of the Farallones. Winds 25-30 from the SW this morning if you managed to get out past the rocks during the night.

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The Bug Lighters Have Departed



After months of preparations, dreams of surfing down azure blue seas towards paradise, and saying farewell to family and
friends, 24 single handed sailors worked their way to the startline of the 2016 Single Handed Transpac, a solo jaunt from
San Francisco Bay, 2,120 nautical miles to the Garden Island and the home of Puff The Magic Dragon...







The San Francisco Bay turned things on high for the sailors, who found themselves, quickly reducing sail area as 20- 25 knot
winds, complimented with a building ebb and an eye opening cold fog whipped in off the Pacific and through the starting area
in Raccoon Strait, and the Corinthian Yacht Club.







While sailors worked to get their sails in order, all while trying to avoid contact with 23 other boats
doing likewise in the strait, many lost track of time. The 1st 3 starts had a scattering of boats crossing well after the gun fired,
and only the Kanaloa division had some semblance of unity in the start, as the Westsail marched in a steady, deliberate manner.











The majority of the boats headed immediately to the center of the bay to take advantage of the ebb and steady, clear winds. Once clear of point Bonita,
the fleet saw decreasing pressure and a short lived respite from howling wind. The leaders passing the Farallones after 6 PM. From Vance Sprock of the Cal 40'
Seazed Asset via Sat Phone Sunday 0705 PDT: Vance is report sporting conditions with winds to 25 to 30 from the SW. He is hard on the wind in what he described as unpleasant conditions. About 0430 he reports passing a vessel, believed to be his sister ship Shaman. All is well with the boat currently rigged with short sails.








A bit further back wind have not been as generous, hearing from Michael Jefferson on the Garcia Passoa 47 Mouton Noir at 08:30:


All checkins on VHF. No one else heard on SSB. Conditions overnight were very unpleasant. The wind rarely exceeded 3 knots, was very shifty in both strength and direction, and stubbornly insists on coming from the South or SE. There is a vile swell from the NW which is slamming all the sails around and making life (especially of the sails) very bad. It is also pea soup fog with water streaming from every surface. Not at all what was predicted by the weather briefings. David King on Saraband barely squeaked by Middle Farallon rock last night. It was hair raising to watch on AIS. I spent most of the night hand steering to avoid as similar predicament. I finally got a tiny breeze and made it past Middle with about 1/2 mile or so margin. Gary on Elizabeth Ann passed almost directly over Noonday Rock, while drifting, but did not have to start his engine. All in all, this is not much fun for man nor boat. THe swell has the boat thrashing about like it is in a paint shaker, and the rig and sails are getting pounded. I am still pretty queasy, but perhaps today will bring relief. Regards from the “race”. Michael Note: Boats that got out past the Farallons are experience winds in the mid 20’s.


Follow The Fleet

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Wind hole over the Farallones shows up on todays windyty.com... the heavy boats did not make it through and are wallowing in little to no winds while the leaders in the ULDB's
are powered up!

[Born 2 Sail]

Really a case of the haves and have nots!

[roleur]

At least the 4 Westsails have stuck together and agreed to start their race at some to be determined time in the future...

[Tom Mc]

SSS Transpac

Anybody get pictures or have any updates?

[solosailor]

www.sfbaysss.org

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http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/c...-Have-Departed


http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/s...4517#post44517

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July 4th Weather Updates



The weather off Northern California has stabilized a bit and the heavy weights no have breeze and the ultralights
have sailed into more moderate winds....




Tracker

Chris Cartwright in his J-88 Ventus ins the outright leader and was making 4.9 knots with 1, 830 nm to go...

The Westsails all restarted and are chugging towards the islands at about 6 knots...

What gets real interesting later in the week is the formation of Agatha, the seasons 1st tropical storm and on her heels, Hurricane Blas




Tuesday




Wednesday




Thursday




Friday




Saturday

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July 4th Reports

Randy Leisure: Westsail 32' Tortuga

Ahoy friends and family! Well the day has finally come after many long hours and months of getting Tortuga ready again to sail to Hawaii in the Singlehanded Transpac race! This year is an extra special event because there are 3 other Westsail 32’s in the race for a total of 4 Westsail 32s. (There has never been more than one Westsail in any given SHTP race) Our class starts at 12:35 tomorrow afternoon with the next stop Hanalei Bay Kauai! For those of you in the bay area that may want to watch the start of the race there are 2 options, You can see the start from Corinthian Yacht club decks or if you are feeling adventurous you can watch the boats sail under the bridge from the walkway on the bridge. If you want to come to the club, be sure to get there before I’ll leave the dock around 11am.
As most of you know, my communication will be very limited during the voyage but I will have the ability to send very short text based email updates during the journey. Because of the limitations of the email through single side band radio, I’ll be sending these updates to Dani from my sailmail address who will then forward them on to this group as I’m not able to receive and answer multiple emails. Also I’ll be posting updates to my FB page via another Delorme tracker and you can see my position via those links as well. Additionally, all of the boats in the race will be carrying transponders so you’ll be able to see our progress and cheer Team Tortuga along the way once the race starts. The transponders are just a way of tracking and with all things electronic they can stop working, so if there is a time when there is no update, have no fear, the transponder has likely just stopped transmitting and we are happily sailing along. sfbaysss.org/shtp2016/ Special thanks and much love to Tortuga’sadmiral and my North Star, Danielle for her patience and understanding while I’ve been working so hard these last few months to get all the preparations done. xoxo Cheers! Team Tortuga “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”


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July 3rd

George Lythcott, Express 27 Taz


Oh What A Night

I passed under the Gate under a single reefed main and the #4 jib. I was a little over powered but OK. About halfway to the Farallones I shook out the reef and hoisted the #1 jib. Big hole at the Farallons but ghosted into the synoptic winds. At about 2 AM the wind picked up and I was on my ear. It was too dangerous to go to the foredeck to douse the #1 or change down to the #3 so i rode it out. Confused 10 foot seas with 22 knot winds. I had to drive all night as Auto Pilot could not handle the surges. Tired. A couple of waves broke over the boat, but all was OK. Currently on the rumb line to HI with main only in 17 knot winds on a beam reach. Speed 7 to 8 knots. It is cold. Can’t wait for some warmer days. Great send off yesterday from family and friends. Tow boat leaving the harbor was clueless and TAZ!! hit a dock, but no damage. George


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July 3, 2016 6:59 AM

Chris Cartwright, J-88 Ventus


Please edit for grammar. Hard to type

Last night was thrilling/scary. Winds built to a solid 25 with higher gusts and seas 8-12 feet. Ventus going 10-12 knots with double reefed main and small jib. Visibility was Nill. Boat was great. Skipper has a bad case of mal du mere. Slowing boat down today and making some recovery. Kites are begging to be launched as winds have eased. But given time and better stomach. Some wifi issues but solved for now. Engine charging working well.

[Wylieguy]

NorCalSailng <norcalsailing.com> has a large photo gallery of the pre-start and more.

[Tom Mc]

Nice PB,
Thanks Wylieguy, Solo.