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Night’s Watch Boat Blog

Finished! Sunday, July 9, 2023

Good afternoon to those who have followed us on this crazy journey and supported the Wolf Pack so completely.  Night’s Watch finished the race yesterday around 11:00 am HST and were greeted by several of our loved ones on the “Follow Me Boat” near the finish line.  At this point, it looks like we took third in our division with a tight battle between Night’s Watch, Lenny, Macondo, Wings and Favonius for the Division.

ALOHA! First Monohull Finishers Arrive in Transpac

The first of the waves of monohulls from multiple divisions have crossed the Transpac finish line at Diamond Head and are now tied up safe and sound in their slips at the Ala Wai Marina getting re-acquainted with friends, family and a return to life on terra firma having been at sea for over a week.

The first to get in at 02:12:17 Hawaii time was Bill McKinley’s Ker 46+ DENALI3. This team was leading Ocean Navigator Division 4 for most of the race, and recorded an elapsed time of 8 days 16 hours 12 minutes 17 seconds after starting on Thursday of last week. Next in was Greg Dorn’s Dehler 46 FAVONIUS, finishing at 06:38:22 HST for an elapsed time of 10 days 20 hours 38 minutes 22 seconds, the earliest finish of a Tuesday starter in Boatswain’s Locker Division 7.

Ho’okolohe Boat Blog

July 8, 1200

Under 500 miles to go and we're flying, in every sense of the word. Our boat speed is consistently averaging over 9 knots, we're getting some killer drone footage, and apparently charging hard through schools of suicidal malolo (flying fish). We gybed early this morning and the sunlight revealed about six dead flying fish strewn about the foredeck and on our sail stack. Reading other boat updates, it appears we're not the only ones.

Life is good on board the Ho'- Cecil's awesome cooking and Ty's mastery of transom grilling keeps the morale high. The boat is getting lighter and faster as we dwindle our food and wine selection down to the final meals. Every morning we wake up to crystal clear skies and a warm breeze. Two more sleeps and we'll be at the barn door.

First Monohull Finishers arriving soon in Transpac

After yesterday’s finish of the two MOD 70 trimarans in the race, there are now numerous monohulls just over the horizon to the east which are going to be crossing the finish line at Diamond Head all weekend and for the following several days as well. The first of this wave will be entries that started in San Pedro on Tuesday and Thursday of last week.

First among them is Bill McKinley’s Ker 46+ DENALI3 from Ocean Navigator Division 4, who at 131 miles out at 1200 HST and traveling at just under 13 knots of boat speed is projected to get in late tonight. Even though they may be the first monohull to finish they may still not have the lowest elapsed time on the course to win the coveted Barn Door Trophy…this will likely be the fastest of the Saturday starters, such as Sebastian Moshayedi’s Bakewell-White 100 RIO100 who is about 32 hours from the finish and started 48 hours after DENALI3, thereby about 16 hours faster in elapsed time once they get to Diamond Head.

Blue Moon Boat Blog

July 7, 1115

Today marks my 30th day sailing on the ocean, except for two days in L. A. to get groceries. I left the Aloha Dock at Hawaii Yacht Club on June 7th headed to the TransPac start line. We left later than we would have liked due to a few situations that were beyond our control, but once all that was sorted out we cast off the dock lines, blew the conch shell and pointed the bow to L. A. The same high pressure system that is now plaguing the TransPac 2023 fleet threw us some curve balls on our sail from Hawaii to the TransPac start, which caused a few more days of delays.

Once we arrived in L. A. early Monday morning June 26th and found a slip at Cabrillo Way Marina we filled the water tanks, plugged in the shore power to charge the batteries and setup any repairs necessary to sail back to Hawaii with a new start date of Thursday June 29th. I had ordered new sails a couple months before and they were already in L. A. ready to be delivered to Blue Moon. I organized new running rigging and with no time to spare Blue Moon was ready for the scheduled start.

First Finishers in Transpac

This morning at 02:48 Hawaii Standard Time Justin Shaffer’s MOD70 ORION crossed the finish line at Diamond Head as the first finisher in the 2023 Transpac. Their elapsed time of 4 days 17 hours 48 minutes fell short of breaking the multihull course record of 4D 6H 32M set by H.L. Enloe’s ORMA 60 MIGHTY MERLOE in 2017, but impressive nonetheless considering the slow start last week’s Saturday starters encountered while getting off the California coast. Among both Multihulls and Monohulls this is nonetheless the 6th fastest elapsed time in the entire history of the race, first sailed in 1906.

The ORION crew of six (photo courtesy of Mark Brouch) included Paul Allen, Hogan Beatie, Morgan Larson, Cam Lewis, Matt Noble and Justin Shaffer.

Corrected Time Sailing in Transpac

Most trophies awarded in Transpac are based on not on an entry’s elapsed time but their score in corrected time, both within their division and overall in the fleet. How is this determined?

Since the entries in this race are of varied sizes and styles of design, a system is needed to equalize their performance under handicap. Transpac uses a system called the Offshore Racing Rule (ORR), which relies on detailed measurements of the boat, its keel and rudder(s), the spar, the sails and even the crew weight to predict the speed potential of the boat at all wind angles and wind speeds. The calculated speed potential becomes the basis for rating of the boat.

This is determined using aero- and hydrodynamic models within a VPP (Velocity Prediction Program) developed by ORR for wind speeds between 6 – 24 knots and all wind angles for which the boat’s performance can be predicted.

Good Trouble Update

I guess it’s day five…but actually it’s all a blur,” said Colin at the helm. We’ve passed packages wrapped in yellow tape that look suspiciously like drug drops. Transpac care packages? (DEA, are you listening?) Not seeing much sea life, but because we’re blazing by?
Marie spilled miso soup all over the range, so we’ve decided to name our new boat band, “Miso Messy.” And please, please don’t ask what we’ve named, “The Cuban Missile Crisis.” (Hint: By-product of freeze dried Hungry Hiker Cuban Black Beans and Rice.”)

Never seen this much overcast and cold conditions this far into the trades. We’re having to rewear the few long sleeved shirts and bottom layers that we packed. Eew. 

The minute we decide to set the spinnaker, the wind direction goes forward crushing our ambitions. Hmm…whose decision was it to leave the code zero at home? Thank goodness for the peppy lil blast reacher. 

Life is amazing on this golden girl of the 90s. She was purchased from a sweet couple in Marin County, and meticulously revived by mechanical engineer and naval architect, Bill Rogers. In LA, Jib Kelly and Kelly Marine stripped down old systems and installed everything new. Bill and the crew continued with upgrades. Good Trouble’s (née Aldura) designer, Alan Andrews, has been a constant source of information and support for this program. 

As we enter whatever the heck date this is (oh wait, someone thinks it’s the 4th of July!!), we are dining well, taking care of ourselves and each other, and doing whatever it takes to make this old gal giddy-up.