Short and to the point

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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”

From our friends on Holua….

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Hi to all with loved ones and friends aboard J/World.

As of this morning, they were at:
28 28’N 153 17’W with 9-12 kts of wind from 090* and all is well, as of 0900 PDT Friday.

This was relayed from my friends Mike, Ted and Tom aboard Hulua, returning to Southern California. They are at: 34 10’ N 138 50’W.

They reported that they spoke with Eugenie this morning via the SSB radio (Single Sideband high frequency radio)

“we had weak connection, but the gal on J World was asking if we were “posting” positions anywhere, I said I’d fwd to you that JWorld was at 28*28’N 153*17’W with 9-12 kts of wind from 090* and all is well, as of 0900 PDT Friday. ”

Also from Mike on Holua” “There is no formal network or schedule for the returning boats and we all have different data capabilities, so we try to share info and keep a loose log of daily reports for each other. As “lead dog” out of Waikiki, HOLUA has been the contact/list keeper. Now that we are charging east it is harder and harder to hear the boats just getting started. If someone were to find themselves in trouble we could figure out who, if anyone, was close enough to render assistance.?”

Euge sent a direct email from the boat… I’ll post that soon.

Barry and the J/World Crew

Getting there as fast as possible, without a spinnaker…

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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

——————————————————————————————————

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

Bad Ending…

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Forwarding on excerpts from a “personal” email…

“fyi we blew up all our spins in the last 24 hours. Really squally and tough. Surprised the 1.5 oz went… not that windy, but they go thru a lot of abuse…

We tried to nurse the last one (a big .75) and I [Wayne] was driving when it went. Wind went from 15 to 25 real fast at 1am. Had some great rides for about 20 minutes, I thought we had it made, then no luff, no shock load, just pop. No chance of repairing any… so nothing to do but jib reach… 700 miles? ouch…”

Barry

This is why we do this…

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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

Oh what a difference a day makes….

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Oh what a difference a day makes….

Tonight, as I sit here writing this, we have the spinnaker up for the first evening, and the sound of water sizzling past the boat again fills the cabin. The breeze finally stabilized and filled in, and we have been enjoying a nice NNW 9-11 knots all day, and now well into the night. The J/120 loves this stuff, and we have been scooting along at about 7 knots in very smooth seas. Good times are here again.

I give my commendation to a great team, who persevered in truly difficult conditions. And their efforts paid off. We came out of the ‘uglies’ in pretty good shape relative to our fleet. We are still sitting in second in our class. Unfortunately (for us, at least) the bigger boats who started three days behind us are missing the tough stuff we ran into earlier and enjoying markedly better conditions, and hence will be tough to beat overall.. but those are the breaks, are there is nothing we can do about the luck of the draw on starting times. We are focusing on our fleet, specifically seeing what we can do to reel in the ultralight Relentless, who sprung to an early lead in the light winds. Our team is jazzed to be back in the breeze, and ready to chase them down. We have been scraping off a couple of miles at each position report, so I am optimistic that we’ll get to them!

We had the great fortune to come across a small pod of Orcas earlier today. They passed by relatively close on our starboard side, but then as quickly as the come in the scene, they were gone… leaving us alone again. Very impressive animals, and it’s a humbling experience to see them out here in this vast space which is really theirs…

Anyhow, it’s coming up on 4am right now, and I’m going to head back on deck and get ready for the watch change… Charles has been driving, Bill is stepping up to the helm, and Eric is here in the cabin earing up to trim for an hour before he starts driving. It’s going to be a nice morning.

All the best and pleasant dreams of far off shores to all those back home,

Wayne Zittel and the J World Team

The Pacific lives up to its name.

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From the J World Radio News: The Pacific lives up to its name.

Yes indeed. Well, at least the part of the Pacific that is currently the venue for the 2009 Transpac race. There is a lot of activity many thousands of miles away, but that seems to have disrupted our little party way down here, much closer to the Equator. Team J World (and the rest of the fleet) have been working hard in some really trying conditions. Very, very light breezes have made going painfully slow. Every mile (in fact, every boatlength) seems to take a tremendous amount of focus and patience. There is encouraging news, though, as today we started moving along with a bit more breeze. And knowing that the weather patterns should be changing in the next 24 hours and that boats which made gains now should reap increasing rewards kept us working. It seems to be paying off. We have been holding a strong second place in our class, even taking over the lead for a day…

On board, there is a rumor sweeping the crew about a Sea Mall with an impressive food court. The EPIRB has been re-wired to become the “Emergency Pizza Indicating Radio Beacon,” designed to expedite pizza pie delivery to the remote aquatic regions. And thru it all, Bill just sits on the transom, staring back towards the mainland, continually muttering (occasionally hollering) something about Blueberries…

We have been seeing tons of these small jelly fish, no bigger than a pack of cards, with their little sails up (luckily, none have actually succeeded in going faster than we are!). If you look closely, odds are you’ll see some of the small white (albino??) crabs that scoot across the surface of the water. Not sure what they are doing out here, over 500 miles from the nearest patch of land, and in water some 60,000 feet deep! Occasionally, flying fish surprised by our presence (and probably our keel), take flight, arcing away from our bow, but other than that, it’s pretty lonely out here…

Other happenings: The raspberry crumble served up at 3am last night seems to have been a hit. Nothing like some tasty treats to take make the graveyard shifts a little more pleasant. We made a sacrifice of Rum to the wind gods today; it wasn’t much, but we are hoping to get credit for the fact that it was 100% of the rum aboard. Josh has been threatening to light all sorts of things on fire in honor of the holiday. Luckily his hurricane proof lighter seems to have run out of butane… can’t image how that would have happened…

Anyway, late at night now and I am taking the chance to catch up the latest weather faxes, and we are all cheered at the fact that the big spinnaker went up this afternoon, and we are able to fly it from puff to puff… and although the holes out here are still big, it’s looking like the worst is behind us. We are all looking forward to surfing in the tradewinds in the upcoming days…

More later, and happy Fourth of July from all of us out here at our quiet outpost at 20 25’N by 126 35’W…

Wayne Zittel and the J World Team

It was as if they were motoring!

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Well, I have certainly had easier sailboat races.

So not only is our destination halfway across the Pacific Ocean, and our route taking as far from dry land as you can get on mother earth, we are also being thrown some quite interesting weather. Usually by this time in the Transpac Race from LA to Hawaii, the spinnakers are coming out as the breezes freshen and get behind the boats, giving crews the thrilling surfing conditions in warm weather that contribute to making this event one of the all time classic yacht races.

Not so right now… After our last post, the breeze lightened up, and has been shifty and challenging for the past day. Last night, we were slatting away at about 1 knot for far too long. It was phenomenally frustrating to see the lights of a boat which had been about 5 miles astern all day, just take off like we were standing still (which we were), and they were motoring at full steam (which they can’t of course, since it’s a sailboat race). Demoralizing, to say the least. But much to our happiness at the morning position report, we learned that the mystery boat was in fact the Alaska Eagle, the escort boat and communications center for the fleet who reported that in the middle of the night they had, in fact, started motoring to keep on their schedule. Much relief aboard, followed by satisfaction when morning roll-call indicated that we had gained nicely on most of our fleet. One notable exception is the One-Design 35 in our class, Relentless, an ultralight which does not seem to be struggling as much as us heavier boats in the light winds… They are currently winning our class, with us in holding onto second.

So what to report of life onboard? The day was warm and mostly sunny. They layers of clothing are getting peeled back, but the nights are still a touch chilly, so the foulies haven’t gone too deep in the sea bags yet. We pulled out the sextant for a bit today and practiced taking sights. It was a bit bouncy (trust me, it’s surprisingly hard to get an accurate reading), and there’s a bit of room for improvement… let’s just say for now that if all our GPSs took a dive, we could probably see the islands before we sailed past them. Probably. Like I said, a bit of room for improvement, but that’s what we are here for. We cracked into the freeze dried rations this evening, with a dinner of Lasagne and vegetable medley. Not too shabby… We were accompanied by dolphins earlier this evening (I seem to have slept thru it). The moon rises an bit before dark, and the early evenings are glorious. It’s now late night (around 2:30am) and dark dark outside. Really puffy too, with breeze at 2 knots, then 12 knots… but at least we are still moving.

Yes, I have certainly had easier sailboat races. But not many more enjoyable.

All the best from Wayne and the J World team from out here in the wide blue Pacific. More later…

Day 3, already?

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So here we are, some 300 miles from our start off Point Fermin in LA, and really not that much has changed.

We started in a building breeze, working upwind in an effort to lay the West End of Catalina Island. We took a couple of hitches to make it around the point, changed down to the #2 jib, then cleared the island. The breeze softened to about 12 knots and we changed back to the #1 headsail, and headed off into the first night on a tight reach into some moderately confused seas.

And so it has been. The past two days we have seen 10 to 16 knots, all from pretty much the same westerly direction. That has put us on a tight starboard reach as we dive south. All the while, we are nervously watching the weather reports, which are predicting our first big speed-bump. There is an area of light and variable winds developing smack in our path. So most of our class is heading south to get around it as quickly as possible, but it will still take us a couple of days. And the big question is, how far south to go? The farther we go, the more wind, but the greater the distance… so we are all gambling a bit out here, watching the weather, trying to make our most informed choices… The good news is that we are currently sitting second in class, but the tough stuff is still to come.

As of a couple hours ago, we started to feel the softening breeze. Now we have about 6-8 knots of breeze, and clear skies over an incredibly blue ocean (I always seem to forget how blue it can be, and am so pleasantly surprised each time again). Back over our starboard aft quarter we can see one of our competitors. Based on our positions during our roll-call this morning, we are guessing that it is the One Design 35 Relentless. They are a quick boat and well sailed, so we need to keep some distance on them. The advantage is ours early in the race during this upwind work, but later, when the spinnakers come out and the surfing starts, they will start to take off on us… so good to keep them at bay for now…

So we just had lunch… Chef Josh treated us to his sandwich stylings. ‘Fast’ Lane Hill is driving, and we are poking along doing what we can to make time. Bill not seemingly content with the freeze dried raspberry crumble we promised him for desert tonight… keeps insisting on BLUEBERRY crumble… maybe the sun is getting to him already. Too bad. He seemed like a nice guy…

Anyway, that’s about it from out here.

Wayne Zittel & Team J World, signing off…

TRANSPAC!

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Legendary race since 1906.

 


The Trans Pacific Yacht Race is one of the most renowned yacht races in the world. With a running of 44 total races starting in 1906, the Transpacific Yacht Race to Hawaii is well into its second century as the longest of the two oldest ocean races in the world. The first race was the year of the great San Francisco earthquake, which literally altered the course of the event.

The race was inspired by King Kalakaua, the revered Hawaiian leader of the late 19th century who believed that such an event would strengthen the islands’ economic and cultural ties to the mainland. But it didn’t happen until Clarence MacFarlane, a Honolulu racing sailor, invited several contemporaries in San Francisco and Los Angeles to race to the Hawaiian Islands. The race was scheduled to start in the early summer of 1906, but when MacFarlane sailed his 48-foot schooner into San Francisco Bay he realized there would have to be a change of plans. The city lay in ruins following the great earthquake 27 days earlier.

But MacFarlane wasn’t easily discouraged. He simply changed the starting point to Los Angeles, and except for one nostalgic return to San Francisco for the start in 1939, the race has started in Southern California ever since. The starting line is now off the bluffs of Point Fermin in San Pedro at the southern edge of the City of Los Angeles. And after a train of days surfing in crystal clear Pacific swells with the kite up, the boats come flying into the finish off the Diamond Head lighthouse just east of Honolulu, establishing a distance of 2,225 nautical miles.

The race is legendary. The course is a classic. The fleet is world-class.


J World is excited about our entry this year, with a our team heading off to the islands on Monday, June 29. Be sure to check this blog for updates from the boat, and also visit our homepage for the link that will be posted to the satellite tracking system which will allow you to keep tabs on Team J World (and the rest of the fleet).

Transpac Facts…

Fastest elapsed time (monohull): 6 days 16 hours 4 minutes 11 seconds, Morning Glory (Reichel/Pugh maxZ86 maxi sled), Hasso Plattner, Kiel, Germany,2005.

Fastest elapsed time (multihull): 5 days 9 hours 18 minutes 26 seconds, Explorer (86-foot catamaran), Bruno Peyron, 1997.

Slowest elapsed time (monohull): 23 days 23 hours 55 minutes 4 seconds, Viking Childe (42-foot ketch), William Merry, 1939 (Note: race started in San Francisco; slowest ET from Los Angeles was 22 days 11 hours 36 minutes 15 seconds by Camille (Stewart 42), James and Ann Read, doublehanded, San Francisco, 2005).

Total starters (44 races): 1,700.

Largest fleet: 80 boats, 1979.

Smallest fleet: 2 boats, 1932.

Largest boat: Goodwill, 161 feet, 1953 and 1959.

Smallest boat: Vapor, 25 feet., 1999.

Oldest boats: Alsumar (70-foot Sparkman & Stephens yawl), 73 years; and Odyssey (58-foot yawl), 68 years, 2005.

Oldest full crew: Bubala (Cal 40), six crew members ages 66 to 72 (average 68.3), 2005.

Oldest doublehanded crew: Tango (J/133), Michael Abraham, 70/Phillip Rowe, 70, 2007.

Youngest crew: On the Edge of Destiny (1D35), six crew members ages 17-23 (average 19.8), 2007.

Fastest elapsed time doublehanded: 10 days 4 hours 4 minutes 19 seconds, Étranger (Open 50), Howard Gordon/Jay Crum, 2001.

Longest day’s run: 393 nautical miles, Morning Glory, July 18, 2005.

Shortest day’s run: 0, Viking Childe, 1939 (7 miles in 7 days).

Closest boat-for-boat finish: 4 seconds, Kawamee over Marie Amelie (for 6th to finish in Class B), 1955.

Closest first-to-finish: 4 minutes 31 seconds, Ragtime def. Windward Passage, 1973.

Most races by boat: 14, Ragtime (first race 1973, latest 2007).

Most Transpac races by individual: 22, Thad Jones.

Most Transpac and Tahiti races by individual: 25, Bob Dickson.

Youngest crew members: Larry Folsom Jr. (Centurion, 1975), 11 years 35 days; Virginia Munsey (Silhouette II, 1957) 11 years 42 days; Samuel (Shark) Kahn (Pegasus, 2001), 11 years 11 months.

Hawaiian entries: 101.

International entries: 124 (record 9 in 2003).

All the best,

Wayne Zittel and the J World Team