Thursday Update from the Crew of J/World…

We are at 38.10N and 143.09W. Winds are out of the north at 8-12, and it’s overcast today, and colder – for the first time I have long pants on. We have arrived in these northern latitudes. We are heading NE, but on a port tack now! After 1,000 or so miles on starboard tack, we did a few readjustments, and off we go…

We’ll be heading up this way for another day, and as I see on the gribs [weather charts], we will be getting a nice northerly around latitude 40, across the beam, and we should be off towards land and arrive in no time… sounds like a plan!

We are doing well. Lots of discussions and good communicating… as a great crew should!

Cheers, Capt. Eugenie and Team

From Holua:

J/World was at 32-34N 147-05W 12kts wind from 090*

Here

relaying from an email receive today. sent at 10:17 PDT:

all on board are in fine spirits and super well. we are eating well, trying to get used to this waking up all the time, all day and nite, but seem well enough rested. we heave to for lunch and diner for an hour because we have been pounding into the waves since we left , making it hard to cook. nobody has been seasick. we stopped to swim in the big blue ocean, and we havent used the motor yet- yippeee. as of friday am we are at 28.28.4 by 153.17.1 –roughly 540 miles north of hawaii. winds have been clocking to the east, now we are making a course of 030. there is a high above, we’ll motor east then continue north after for a bit.

Eugneie, from onboard “J/World”

Bummed to pass this one along… But, people have friends and family meeting them on the island, flight schedules, jobs to return to, etc… Apparently, the decision to retire was a democratic vote and unanimous, with the objective to get to the island as directly and quickly as possible. -Barry

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J World
23 35
147 30

Transpac Race Committee:

Please be advised that the vessel ‘J World’ is formally withdrawing from the 2009 Transpac. Vessel and crew are fine, and there are no issues beyond significant damage to our downind sail inventory!

Due to a variety of commitments, the crew has elected to engage the motor and to motor-sail a portion of the remaining distance in order to arrive in Hawaii in a timely fashion.

Please advise when convenient as to instructions for our arrival in Hawaii (whether we should still radio upon our arrival, and who to check in with for berthage assignments).

On behalf of the entire J World team, I thank you tremendously for a fantastic event! We look forward to participating again in 2011.

All the best,

Wayne Zittel

Ok, it’s 2:30am. The light winds of this race have drawn out the first half to a painful 9 days. We’ve drifted for hours, prayed for wind, sacrificed anything we could think of to Mother Nature/King Neptune, and taken stock of the onboard food supplies.

[editor’s note: I hope they didn’t offer Josh’s shoes!]

But that was then, and now it is a whole different race.

Two days ago we had a 198 mile day… oh, so close to that 200 mark. Undaunted, and newly challenged our team rose to the challenge to knock of 215 miles yesterday. I just crunched the numbers, and we are looking pretty good for today too. We are in the trades. They blow all day, all night. A bit off pace from normal, we are seeing steady 15, occasionally gusting to 20. The seas have gotten more organized, and the surf is indeed up. Top recorded speed so far, 15.3 knots. Nicely done, Jon.

Life on board has fallen into good routines. As a group, we have gotten to know the boat and to know each other. Our onboard communication and teamwork continues to progress, and I think it will show in the end. Most of the magazines have been burned thru, and all the bad jokes have come and gone… now we are all stuck with each other! But we have a fun bunch aboard; the interaction is great, except that I have a hard time falling asleep when I hear the hoots and laughter in the cockpit.

Good times indeed.

Way up north of us, the 100 foot maxi Alfa Romeo is blasting along, gunning for a new course record. They got to start after all the weather anomalies that we had to deal with had dispersed, so they get to sail a much more direct route, along with the fleet of 70+ foot boats. Down here to the south, we are slowly being overrun by the 50 footers. Saw one off on the distance in the late afternoon, and are thinking it was the Japanese Team in Tachyon III.

And tonight the moon came out. The night started off coal black, with the only the nights from the instruments and the eerie glow of phosphorescence. But early on, the moon came up, peeked out of the clouds, and wow, what an evening. Trucking along, 9, 10, 11 knots with regular bursts over 12, with a lunar-esque sea scape surrounding us. Yes, this is why we do what we do…

Wish us a good watch, and we’ll catch you sometime tomorrow…

Wayne Zittel & the J World Team