Thursday's Aloha Send-off from Transpac Pier at Rainbow Harbor in Long Beach was picture perfect.
Tachyon III, Kanzunori Komatu's Santa Cruz 52, with members of the Japanese Olympic Sailing Team on board, led the parade out of the basin. Like each of the 18 Transpac 09 race boats that followed, Tachyon III was escorted out of Rainbow Harbor's entrance by paddlers from the Kahakai Canoe Club. Free Range Chicken, Bruce Anderson's deluxe Perry 59, was the final Transpac race boat to leave the pier. As she streamed away from the dock, the crew showered their escorts with fresh fuschia-colored leis. Long Beach added more pageantry to the send-off by having Navy seals sky dive from a blimp and splash down in between the end of the pier and the Queen Mary.
Glassy waters rippled over as the morning passed. Beyond the Port of Long Beach and Los Angeles breakwater and off of Point Fermin, the ripples turned to white caps as the wind built to 10-12 knots. It clocked right from about 220? to 280? for the 1300 start. The picture perfect send-off was no match for the adrenaline-charged photographer's fantasy starting sequence.
The 19-boat fleet of 45 to 60-foorters rushed the starting line. They were amped up with anticipation and testosterone and shot out of the blocks on their way to Ala Wai and Transpac Row. The pin was the coveted spot and Criminal Mischief, the grey-hulled boat with a crimson-shirted team roared past the pin. Thinking that they were a bit too early, they bore away and returned to the line to exonerate themselves. Just up off of their starboard hip was Wasabi, one of the Mexican entries, and Bengal 7, one of three Japanese entries. Cipango, Relentless and Passion, all US boats, were just to weather of the pack at the pin. The rest of the fleet was spread out evenly across the starting line all the way up to the committee boat. Read more...
Morning Update
Thursday, 02 July 2009 08:06
0800 PST - Transpac 09 Division 6 & 7 boats have been heading SSW since their start on Monday, June 29th. Their three-day head start over the next group of 19 larger boats has only given them a 150 to 250 mile advantage.
The Division 6 & 7 boats have been pointed in a SSW direction and coasting along at a top speed of less than 7 knots. Charisma, Alejandro Perez Calzada's Sparkman & Stephens 57 continues to be the most northerly and westerly of the fleet. Charisma has not yet dipped below 30? N and is approaching 123?. Transpac 09's only Spanish entry is sailing along at approximately 6.5 knots and is over 30 nautical miles ahead of her closest Division 7 competitor, Ross Pearlman's Jeanneau 50, Between the Sheets. Division 7 competitor, Ross Pearlman's Jeanneau 50, Between the Sheets.
The tall ship, Lynx is the laggard in the fleet. Less than 12 hours into the race, the crew was ghosting along through an area just west of San Clemente, California. The area on the shows that it is an explosives dumping area, not a restricted area, yet they were informed by the Navy that they had to leave the area, no if's, and's or but's. You can only imagine what it is like to tack a tall ship in the wee hours of the morning in very light winds. Needless to say, that effort alone, set the Lynx back several hours. The consolation - chef aboard the Lynx was trained at the Culinary Institute of America and the crew worked through the tacks with the aroma of freshly baked bread wafting through the cabin and up onto the deck.
Meanwhile, in Division 6, Relentless and J World are within sight of one another. Relentless is retaining the lead, but once again it has narrowed. We'll see what happens when the Tim Fuller and Erik Shampain, the double-handed sailors on Relentless switch their watch and Shampain takes over.
The communications vessel, The School of Sailing & Seamanship at Orange Coast College's Alaska Eagle, is right in the thick of it. The 1977-78 Whitbread Round the World Race winner is not racing although the yacht, with her professional crew of four and 9 students, did set out with the first two Transpac 09 Divisions on Monday.
Many of the boats that are reporting back to their friends, families and followers via blogs and e-mails are reporting slow and steady sailing, warming conditions and visits by playful and friendly pods of dolphins.
The 19 boats in Divisions 3, 4 & 5 receive their Aloha send-offs from Transpac Pier in Rainbow Harbor and are scheduled for a 1300 start under Point Fermin. Five Santa Cruz 50's, including hull #1, ROY's Chasch Mer, constitute Division 5. Half of the boats in Division 4 are Santa Cruz 52's. Reinrag2, the overall winner on corrected time for the 2007 Transpac, is also in Division 4. Division 3's entries include two Japanese and one Mexican boat and Bruce Anderson's comfortable and fast, Free Range Chicken. They will leave the docks under hazy skies and very light winds. While Divisions 6 and 7 have a jump on them, it could be a matter of a few days of sailing in light wind before the late starters catch up to those that left on Monday.
Stay tuned to www.TranspacRace.comfor news of about the Division 6 and Division 7 boats that started to head south after their start on Monday, for weather updates and for news of the Division 3,5 and 5 start scheduled to take place on July 2 at 1300 off of Point Fermin.
Frederick Reef, QLD
Surfing - Longboards (7' and over)
Stand Up Paddle - Paddles & Accessories
Foiling - Wind Wings
