Transpac Wrap Up….

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So as the spray settles and I am on the eve of leaving Hawaii and the 2011 Transpac in my wake, I have a couple of final things to add…

First off, a huge congratulations to James McDowell and the whole crew of Grand Illusion for their first-in-class and first overall in the 2011 Transpac.  It couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch.  I met James years ago when he came to one of our J World Racing Weeks.  He’s one of the nice guys in the sport, and clearly one of the fast guys.  The string of GI successes is long and strong, so the win in the 2011 is not terribly surprising.  And I have to say, not only is is great to see the success he has had in sailing, but it’s also great to hear that he still has fond memories of his positive experiences with J/World…  thanks for the kind words, James, and a seriously huge congratulations to you and your crew!

The SC52 Prevail entering the Molokai Channel

As we prepare to take leave of Hawaii and sail Hula Girl back to California, I want to thank all the people who made this event so memorable.  The crew of Hula Girl were all (as I have mentioned numerous times already) fantastic.  Thanks to all the family and friends who sent notes of encouragement, and who let their loved ones skip out on their work and home responsibilities for the sake of adventure.  Of course there are the Transpac volunteers who work so tirelessly to run the event.  And the fabulous Waikiki Yacht Club who accommodated Hula Girl at their wonderful facility.

Of course, thank you to our sponsors:  title sponsors Waterfront Hotel in Jack London Square and Miss Pearl’s Jam House…  when you come visit J World in San Francisco Bay, this is definitely the place to be!  West Marine, Atlantis Weather Gear, Spinlock, McLube, and Expedition Software.  These are the suppliers that help the best sailing teams in the world, and the most fun boat you’ll sail this weekend (yours!).

A huge and special thank you goes out to our hosts in Hawaii, Joe and Christin Shacat.  When we came ashore late at night, they had a reception waiting that outdid anything I have ever seen before.  Let me paint the picture:  after nine+ days of offshore racing, of freeze-dried dinners and sleep deprivation, of showers-in-a-can and stinky clothes, we flake the sails, fire up the iron genoa, and follow our guide boat to the marina.  Much to our delight, Geoff’s wife Debbie and the crew had a cooler of icy beers and tequila which they passed off to us to take the edge off the trip!  As you motor into the marina, the Hawaii Yacht Club announces your arrival over the PA system, and a cheer goes up from all the revelers waiting…  Aloha indeed!

When you tie up at the reception dock on the Waikiki side of the marina, there is a flurry of activity: paperwork gets checked, agricultural compliance verified, boat inspectors do their thing…. the boat gets lei’d, each crew gets lei’d, there are photos going off everywhere, and somehow a Mai Tai appears in every hand.  As if that isn’t enough, you barely have a chance to peel your lifejacket off, and you are whisked away to the yacht club where the spread that Joe and Christin had arranged is waiting.  This was a serious spread.  We’re talking platters of food, sushi, veggies, drinks, and every delicacy that we’d been dreaming of!  We were thrilled to see our good friend Jeff acting as BBQ master (this man cooks some seriously amazing things!), and all the friends and family of our team there to welcome us.  It was impressive.  We didn’t get our gracious hosts out sailing on the Hula Girl during this visit since the quadrant issues consumed unexpected time, but they have a standing offer, and we sure hope they’ll take us up on it…  they are a real pleasure, and we owe ’em!

And on a personal note, thanks to my lovely wife Lisa for putting up with my sailing habits, and my parents for the continual support my life aquatic…  but I know they ‘get it’ and they have more than a little salt water in their veins too!

Aloha!

Wayne Zittel
s/v Hula Girl, Honolulu, Hawaii

Transpac Photo Gallery…

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J World’s Hula Girl, heading for Hawaii…  Spinnakers went up early this year.  It was great.
Halfway there.  At this point, we are farther from land than you can get anywhere else on the planet.  All hands on deck for an evening toast to the powers that be.
Man that’s one big kite.  Over 2000 square feet of spinnaker alone.  Then toss in the spinnaker staysail and main, and we are talking about some real acreage for a boat that weighs in at just over 17,000 pounds.  The water color is something else too…
Uh oh…  the secret to J World’s successful coaching programs gets exposed…  pay no attention to the coach on the tiller…  “You’re doing a great job driving, Mark!  Keep up the good work!”   Actually we’re just horsing around.  After the steering quadrant broke, we sailed the last 120 miles with reduced sail (double reefed main and #4 jib) and the emergency tiller.  Since we were still trucking along at 10+ knots, it was a bit of a handful.  Despite watching hopes of our podium finish evaporate as our competition reeled us in and passed us (being passed by Deception almost within sight of the finish line was painful), spirits remained high and we still ended up 4th in our class, and 22nd our of all 55 boats.  It was a testament to the great team we had aboard!
And here’s the team at the awards ceremony last night at the Waikiki Shell.  L to R:  Mark, Jason, Tom (‘Carbon’), David, Tom (‘Sug’), Josh, Wayne.  Not shown are Geoff and Tom (‘Chef’).  Awesome job, Hulagins!  It was a real pleasure!!
Wayne Zittel and the J World Team
 

Sailing It Like it’s Stolen…

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Sail it like it’s Stolen…

That became the motto amongst the crew yesterday when we realized that it was show-time. We had a fantastically close race going in the 2011 Transpac Race, and after 9 days of open ocean racing, it was all up for grabs.

We had a phenomenal night, blasting along an ocean alive with moonlight and swells. Some 18-22 knots of breeze had us getting many back-to-back prolonged surfs at 15, 16 , 17 knots. It’s almost impossible to describe the sensation with any justice. Water searing by with a steady hiss. Spray sheeting off the bows as the helm grows light and the boat lunges down the wave. It’s one of my favorite things in the world. It is a complete rush and requires full concentration. It’s part science, part art. Park me in the back of a fast boat on a moonlit run anytime!

Dawn broke and were were all a bit tired, and we were faced with a need to gybe. That’s where things started to go south. In short, we botched it and blew up our 2A spinnaker, yes, the one that so faithfully dragged us nearly all the way across the Eastern Pacific. We got that sorted, and were off with the 4A chute when we got the morning standings… we had dropped to fourth in class, but 2nd place was still right there, so we certainly weren’t out of it.

Then the final straw: while blasting along on a great broad reach expecting to see Molokai at any moment and report in with our “100 mile to the finish” required check-in, the steering went out. The boat rounded up, and the crew did a fantastic job of rallying to get the spinnaker down in trying conditions. A quick look below revealed that a corner of the steering quadrant had broken off, allowing the steering cables to go slack and rendering them useless. So. After 2125 miles, we are now proceeding to the finish line with reduced sail area and our emergency tiller rigged.

What a roller coaster ride! As we reach toward the finish, after all the great surfs, and after all the trials and tribulations, the thing I am most thankful for is the great crew we have aboard Hula Girl. Coaches Josh and Geoff worked tirelessly to make sure things went smoothly, and to make sure all of our guests had an enjoyable and beneficial time. Thanks to Mark, Jason, David, Tom, Tom, and Tom. It truly was a pleasure sailing with each and every one of you!

Anyway, that’s it for now. Going to go sit on deck in the sun, maybe take a nap, or watch Molokai slip by, or just let the whole experience soak in. I’ll post some great pictures and a wrap-up in a couple of days.

All the best,

Wayne Zittel and the J World Team

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Shuffle Play

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Shuffle Play…

Ok, we knew the racing out here in the 2011 Transpac Race from LA to Hawaii was tight, but this is ridiculous. So we were a bit slow at the start and dropped to fifth place early, but immediately started coming on strong and reeling the fleet in. Then we got past Deception and into 4th, but the next day they rallied and managed to get back in front of us. A couple of good moves and hard sailing moved us into third behind Horizon and Allure the following day, then an incredibly close day yesterday saw us still in third, but now it’s Deception in front of us, and Flaca in 4th with Allure dropping to fifth. So, did you follow that??

Cliff notes version: it’s crazy close in the SC50 fleet right now. Basically after nearly 2000 miles of open ocean racing and a little over a week underway, one shift can make or break it all (and it’s shifty out here!). With Horizon sitting in a solid lead, second thru fifth places in the six boat division are completely up for grabs. The team has been working hard non-stop. The resolve of the ‘Hulagins’ has been strengthened.

Lighter than hoped for breezes have slowed the pace a bit, but we are still working towards a finish sometime tomorrow, probably in the evening. How’s this all going to play out? Anybody’s guess at the moment… We’ll keep you posted…

All the best,

Wayne Zittel and the J World Team

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Wound Up…

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Wound Up…

Well now, a lot has changed since my last posting from Hula Girl, out here in the mid-Pacific in the 2011 Transpac race from LA to Hawaii. After a string of days with light to moderate breezes, the real winds that make this race so famous have finally come out to play. We knew they were coming. We’ve been watching it for days now. So yesterday afternoon when the breeze slowly climbed from 10, to 14, to 17, to over 20 knots we shifted Hula Girl into high gear. All night was spent in 20-24 knots of breeze, tearing across a moon lit sea. And what a moon. It somehow seems bigger out here. Or maybe we feel so small. ‘Carbon’ was saying that at any given moment we can see about 600 square miles of ocean around us, and it’s pretty rare that we see anything at all taking up space out here. Only the march of squalls, each one with its own personality. We try to line them up, to flirt with the beautiful increase in wind along the font edge but not get caught in the light breezes and the vacuum behind them. Like a woman, observed one of our crew. Ok, clearly we have been out here too long.

Anyhow, last night was a wild an lumpy ride. We’d take off on prolonged surfs of the north swells at 15, 16, 17 knots, then go bouncing across the remnants of a southerly swell. I hear our top speed was close to 20 (Josh), but didn’t crack the barrier. I was below (but at 20 knots in this stuff, I can guarantee I wasn’t sleeping). We have a real race on our hands, so we kept up the big A2 spinnaker and I’m quite relieved (and a bit surprised) to say that she made it thru the night in great shape. She’s our MVP at the moment… the big White and Red and Blue chute that we hoisted last Sunday… yes, SUNDAY… and haven’t taken down yet. She’s done us right for some serious sea miles!

So the race: yep the Barn Door (fastest elapsed time) was claimed by Bella Mente early this morning, but most of us are still out here in quite the slugfest. In our class, we dropped a position that we had gained yesterday, but the whole fleet tightened up. While Horizon has maintained their best in fleet position and are proving extremely difficult to gain any more miles on, there are four boats in a very close race for places 2 through 5… at this point there is about 1.5 hours (corrected time) between all four boats! And that’s after a full week of non-stop ocean racing! And no one is rolling over. Two nights ago, we saw Allure (one of our fleet) about 12 miles off, south and east of us. Two days later, they are still down there… albeit a bit farther off and out of view, but we know they are still close…

So that’s where we are right now. This wraps up the week… our second Friday night at sea. And we all really need a weekend. Mark is lightly snoring atop a pile of sails here in cabin. Josh is dipping pretzel sticks in a spoonful of mustard (??). Tom K. is driving us at a steady 11 knots towards the west and hopefully a nice right shift to bring us to the islands sometime on Monday.

You all have a great weekend. We’ll keep you posted from our here.

All the best,

Wayne Zittel and the J World Team

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Ups and Downs…

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Ok, we are approaching the halfway point on the 2011 Transpac Race. We are still in light-ish breezes (8-12 knots), as was the case thru last night. Our team did a fantastic job at working the boat hard all night long, and at the 6am position report we found out that ourselves and Allure posted the highest daily runs in our fleet of Santa Cruz 50s, tying at exactly 199 miles. That’s good close racing! This made for a nice gain on everyone (except, of course, Allure). But about an hour later we got caught in what has subsequently become known as “the blackhole”… 2-3 knots of breeze from the east for two hours. Ouch. Still not sure what it was, maybe the back of a forming squall that we didn’t see in the darkness? Regardless, we struggled thru it in the early morning hours. In the position reports we are getting just now (remember all the reports of our competitions positions are delayed six hours), it looks like we were singular in this experience, and it looks to have cost us some of those hard earned miles… so it goes…

Onboard life is good. We are all dried out now. Everything that got a dousing in the upwind days, from sails to sleeping bags, has found it’s way on deck and the sun here makes quick work of it. Been a big lack of wildlife for us so far. Dolphins at the start, and then not much. One unfortunate squid on deck this morning. Hardly any flying fish at all so far… hmmm… where are our friends?

The upside of the blackhole experience is that we have seen what a difference the constant work can make, and we are eager to get back at ’em. This crew is fantastic… they are tireless, committed, and fun. We are really fortunate to have gotten such a great bunch together for this race, so win, lose, or draw, I think we are going to remember this one fondly.

Right around happy hour this evening we’ll pass halfway mile marker. At this point, apparently we’ll be farther from any patch of dry land than you can get anywhere else on the planet. We’ve got a little surprise for the team which I’m sure will make ’em all happy, and we’ll offer up a couple of toasts to the grand Pacific for contributing a spectacular view, for the good fortune that got us all out here together, for the fine sailing vessel Hula Girl for taking good care of us and giving us a fantastic ride, and to all the friends, family, and loved ones back ashore.

But then it’s back to the grinding pedestal and tending the spinnaker sheets. We have some unfinished business out here. Half-finished, if you want to be precise.

Cheers,

Wayne Zittel and the J World Team

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Hmmmm…..

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Ok, now it’s getting interesting. We here aboard J World’s Hula Girl are about 850 miles into the 2225 mile race from LA to Hawaii, and last night things started changing. We knew it was coming. We knew when it was coming. But it still can be nerve wracking. The barometer has been rising, and the breeze finally went light, and shifted to the east. By light, we are talking 8-12 knots, so it’s not boat-stopping, going-fishing light, but anytime the progress slows, we get nervous. The big questions is what’s happening to the boats to the north of us? The weather forecasts we have been seeing are indicating that it should be lighter up there. That means that the majority of our fleet “up there” should be going slower and/or sailing higher to maintain speed.

But we just don’t know, yet. We get position reports for the other boats, but it is delayed six hours (supposedly… the reports we have been getting have been more along the lines of eight hours old… not sure why this is). So the impacts of last night won’t be seen on the relative positions and tracks of the other boats until well into the game today. We get one (near) real time report each day, and that comes a bit after 7am via email. We were encouraged to see that we traveled more distance than all but one of our fleet over the past 24 hours.

Even though the breeze has for the moment stabilized and freshened a bit (steady 12 knots at the moment), we expect that it’s going to get more interesting over the next couple of days. Expedition, our high tech routing software, has been offering numerous suggestions as to the optimal route, varying with each new weather forecast, so if it is challenging the silicon chips, it’s frying my little brain.

So shipboard nothing could be too much better. Mark is crashed out on tip of the #4 jib in the main salon (not sure why he didn’t make it to a bunk?). Geoff and Jason are getting rack time in the aft bunks. Sug just ‘freshened up’ and is sporting clean clothes (I was going to say something…). Dave is driving with Carbo, T.K., and Josh on deck. Josh is getting reprimanded for forgetting what they had talked about yesterday: fruit in the morning, beef jerky in the afternoon/evening. Apparently he was busted gnawing on a big beefstick before finishing his Grape Nuts. Bad bowman! No boy! Bad bowman! Now get up there and bag that sail…

It was a bit gloomy and drizzly out early this morning, but is getting sunny now and we are moving along nicely at 9 knots-ish, and that’s what’s important.

Comment from Tom “Sug”:
Hey guys…into the middle of it all! Its like camping in a car flying across the ocean. All crew on board keen and poised. Bye for now. Good luck “Lively” in the 300/Youngstown!!

Than’s all for now… we hope all is well shoreside, and we’ll be broadcasting from mid Pacific again soon…

Wayne Zittel and the J World Team

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On the Way… Transpac 2011!

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Ok, Ok… I’ve been lagging at getting a report out on our progress and the happenings in the 2011 Transpac. We have some catching up to do. So with no further ado, we bring you the Race Thus Far…

Our start was at 1pm on Friday off of Point Fermin in Los Angeles. The smaller boats had taken off four days earlier and struggled in light breeze before finally reaching the offshore flow and taking off. Our start had solid breeze and a pretty typical wind angle, making it a looooong starboard tack drag race out to Catalina Island. Since the powers that be (i.e. the race committee) had decided to start ALL the fleets together (for the sake of ‘spectacle’…. hmmm, what could possibly go wrong?) and us Santa Cruz 50s were among the smallest boats to be starting, we were determined to start near the starboard end of the line (even if it meant taking a ‘second row’ start) so that every 70 footer in the race wouldn’t be rolling over the top of us for the first 25 miles. So we picked a big boat as a blocker (and if you’re going to go big, why not go all in…) and let Magnitude 80, the largest boat in the race, carve a nice big hole on the line which we then took advantage of. I think we lost sight of them before we could see Catalina Island!

And so we were off. Good boatspeed. Good positioning. Good breeze. We had the Heavy #1 jib up in a building breeze. About 3/4 the way over to Catalina we were impressively keeping pace with a lot of bigger boats but alas, we had our first mishap: the strapping at the top of the jib gave up the ghost and the halyard pulled out of the top of the #1. Hmmm…. didn’t see that one coming. The crew rallied quickly, and the #3 was on deck and hoisted within minutes. The breeze was building and as we got close to the island the water was very flat, so the smaller sail didn’t hurt us much beyond the distance lost to all the other boats during the sail change. In the calm water, josh went up the rig and retrieved the halyard, and Geoff made quick work of the repair to the sail. As we passed the West End on Catalina Island, the breeze was getting soft so we changed back to the newly repaired #1. Through the afternoon and into the evening the breeze built, and we cracked off ever so slightly in anticipation of some coming weather developments (more on that shortly), changing back to the #3 and carrying that through the night.

Saturday brought cloudy weather (marine layer conditions), but nice breeze. We changed to the Blast Reacher somewhere mid morning, and were posting good speeds throughout the day. Our 6am Saturday to 6am Sunday run was 244 miles. That works. And we continued to push south… now, about that: the Transpac is often a balancing act, with the shorter course being up north along the great circle route from Long Beach to Oahu, but the greater likelihood for good wind a bit farther south. So…. short distance, or faster sailing? A week ago, it looked like the whole course would have pretty reasonable breeze for us at this time, so I probably would have gone for the shortest route. But things change, and shortly before our start and thereafter the forecasts started to show an increasing ridge that would affect our racecourse as the Pacific High increased and expanded south and east. Right were we were heading. That’s not a good thing for us folks sailing wind-powered boats, so we started to take efforts to avoid the ridge early on…. hence our southerly route. It looks like the big and fast guys and gals are going to get past the developing light spot, but we stand to get slowed significantly, so we are doing what we can to prevent that! IF we sail fast, and IF we sail smart, we just might be able to avoid the really ugly stuff. Looks like most of the other boats in our fleet are doing the same.

So back to the boat and Sunday morning: we were working south, the wind was veering slowly to the right (north)… that can only mean one thing in a Transpac…. Spinnaker Time! Yep, day 2 and the kites are up?? In a nice (partially) sunny morning with 16 knots and small swells, we set the A2 and were off. Just perfect for our team to get some helm time and practice in. Soon the 10 and 12 knots we had been seeing earlier were pedestrian. Now were are talking 15, 16. Good times indeed. As the afternoon progressed, the breeze built and hadn’t veered as much as we expected so we down-shifted to the A3 to keep from going too far south. But by evening the breeze had softened again and we REALLY wanted to make up some time with a couple of other boats in our class, so we peeled back to the A2… and the team rose to the challenge. The driving for the first night with a spinnaker up (one of the toughest things we have to do) was solid.

And what a night. The moon was spectacular in the early evening, lighting up the water to the south of us, back lighting the main and spinnaker. It really is a whole different sensation of speed at night… a strange inversion where it almost feels like we on the boat are frozen in place, but with the water shimmering and rushing by you rather than the opposite. And as the visual distractions decrease, the audible take the center stage. The rushing hiss of water. The spray over the bows. The grunting and groaning of the sheets and rigging under the strains. Really, there is nothing like it in the world.

Now we are waiting for the daily position report and taking a look at updated weather. We are in 16 knots of breeze from almost due North, scooting along at 10-12 knots with A2 and spin staysail flying. Skies are partially cloudy, which is ok… we’ll have plenty of sun soon enough. Most of the gang just had breakfast. Some wet gear from the lumpier upwind days is out drying. And we are getting into a routine. Everyone is working great together, and despite the fact the we have three Toms aboard, the confusion has been kept to a minimum. NIcknames helped on that front. Tom Wood got renamed “Carbo” (short for carbon) to bring him into the era of composite construction… Tom P. is now “Sug,” short for sugar… a nickname not earned by his behavior on the boat, I might add, but by his professional calling!

So that’s about it for now. My turn to go grab some breakfast. More soon, I promise…

All the best,

Wayne Zittel & the Hula Girl Team

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On Your Marks…

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So.  Been hanging out down here in Long Beach for a bit as we are preparing for the 2011 Transpac Race.  Yep, 2225 miles from Los Angles in California (wanna be tropical) to the finish line off Diamond Head, Oahu in Hawaii (the truly tropical).  Here is J World’s Hula Girl in the staging area as we prep for the race:

The smaller boats and cruising class took off yesterday (4th of July).  They get a four day head start on the rest of the fleet of larger, faster boats.  So the rest of us leave on Friday, and we’ll do our best to catch the early starters, but they will have a pretty good jump on us so it won’t be easy!  Hula Girl is racing in a fleet of 6 Santa Cruz 50s, with a team comprised of three J World coaches and six crew from all over the world (London, Hong Kong, Canada, and the good ol’ USA).  If you keep tuned into this blog, you’ll meet everyone (virtually) as we progress.  For now, we are deep into preparations, safety briefings, boat orientations, etc. etc…  but we did take a break last night to enjoy the show:

Ok, that’s it for now.  More soon….

Wayne Zittel and the J World Team