The 18th running of the Singlehanded TransPac, a biennial 2,120-mile jaunt from San Francisco Bay to Hanalei Bay on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, started off Corinthian YC at noon on Saturday. A mild 15-knot breeze and an ebb helped racers get out the Gate without too many issues — other than dodging schooners, woodies, ships and the usual collection of recreational boats  —  but light winds greeted the sailors on the ocean, causing some consternation throughout the fleet. Yesterday the breeze picked up enough that racers didn’t have to go in search of it anymore.

As of this morning, most of the fleet are looking forward to their current boisterous conditions easing a bit for a more comfortable run to the Islands. "It blew 16-22 knots from the beam all night long  —  with building seas  —  so it’s been quite unpleasant," noted Jim Quanci on the Cal 40 Green Buffalo. "Still on water-only rations, and very much looking forward to the wind going aft so I can start eating again (or my sea legs to come in, though it usually takes three days for my stomach to acclimate)."

As expected, Alex Mehran on the Open 50 Truth has pulled far ahead of the fleet, while the rest are whipping their steeds into a lather to lead the pack. Green Buffalo, John Lubimir’s Quest 30 Flight Risk, and Peter Heiberg’s Palmer Johnson 50 Scaramouche are neck-and-neck, while Mike Jefferson on his Garcia Passoa 47 Mouton Noir, Brian VanderZanden on his Hobie 33 TurboCamper and Whitall Stokes on his Tartan Ten Slacker are nipping at their heels, though the latter three are spread farther apart. The smaller boats have fallen back, with one exception: Jerome Sammarcelli on the 21-ft Pogo 2 Team Open Sailing is pushing hard to keep up with the lead boats. Defending ’10 overall monohull winner Adrian Johnson on the Olson 30 Idefix has dived south, a drastic change-up over last race’s winning tactic of rhumblining it.

This year’s new tracking page has proven a hit with shoreside family and fans, and racer updates are being added to the Updates page as they come in (or when the race committee has a few moments). You can also download the Yellowbrick Race Viewer from your app store, then purchase the race for £1.99 (a little over $3). The trackers update every two hours, and, with the app, you can watch the race unfold all day.

The final event in the 2011-12 AC World Series Championship — raced in purpose-built AC45 catamarans — drew to a close yesterday at Newport, RI, with Jimmy Spithill’s Oracle Team USA campaign taking series honors in the fleet racing, and Sweden’s Artemis Racing winning the Match Racing Championship. The 2012-13 series will begin August 21 in San Francisco Bay.

During the Newport event, specifically, the two OT USA teams were both in the spotlight, with Russell Coutts’ team finishing first, and Spithill’s team finishing second. Luna Rossa Piranha took third.

As you can see below, when points were tallied for the entire season, combining match and fleet racing, Spithill’s team emerged victorious also.

2011-12 AC World Series Overall Championship Leaderboard
(Team, Match Racing Points, Fleet Racing Points, Total Points)
1. Oracle Team USA Spithill…47 – 55 – 102 points
2. Emirates Team New Zealand…41 – 52 – 93 points
3. Artemis Racing…50 – 32 – 82 points
4. Energy Team…38 – 36 – 74 points
5. Oracle Team USA Coutts…39 – 29 – 68 points
6. Team Korea…33 – 33 – 66 points
7. Luna Rossa Piranha…26 – 26 – 52 points
8. Luna Rossa Swordfish…15 – 16 – 31 points
9. China Team…15 – 16 – 31 points

See the event’s official website for more.

Jim Gibbs raced his Express 27 Moonlight in last month’s Coastal Cup with his three sons as crew. "Two of them, Nick, age 17 and Jon, age 16, had only limited Bay racing experience, so this was a ‘coming of age’ adventure for them and the realization of a dream for me," said Jim. "My older son, Matthew, 38, and I have raced Moonlight to Santa Barbara now six times, so we knew the way, but we were uncertain as to how well we would do." The Coastal Cup was sponsored by Encinal YC, with starts on June 13 and 14 off the St. Francis YC race deck.

"Nick and Jon were terrific as crew – and they learned to drive fast in wind and waves and pitch dark. Nick set our speed record of 13.5 knots at night, and Jon was great as foredeck, jibing and dousing in big waves and wind." It took them two days and a bit less than four hours to reach the Santa Barbara finish.

Moonlight placed fifth out of 18 boats, which was "pretty good considering our average experience and the fact we were the smallest boat in the race. Most of the fleet were fast sleds with experienced crews." They won the MORA Perpetual Trophy, for the first yacht of 31.5-ft or less in length on corrected time in PHRF, and the Carl Schumacher Perpetual Trophy for the Schumacher-designed yacht with the fastest corrected PHRF time.

For complete results and more, see www.encinal.org.

Planning to get the boat out to celebrate Independence Day? Why not drop into a race? With so many to choose from, there’s probably one near you.

During the day, Tiburon Yacht Club’s Brothers and Sisters Regatta sails from Paradise Cay in the North San Francisco Bay, into San Pablo Bay, around the eponymous island pairs, and back to the clubhouse, where a family-friendly party and barbecue awaits. See www.tyc.org. Monterey Peninsula YC’s 4th of July Regatta consists of three races for Shields and PHRF boats. See www.mpyc.org.

A little later, several clubs host Wednesday night beer can races. Here are a few from our Calendar (click on their names to go to their websites):

• Coyote Point YC (San Mateo)
• Richmond YC
• Wet Wednesday in Santa Cruz (a DIY race not officially hosted by SCYC, but followed by a barbecue at the club)
• Sequoia YC (Redwood City)
• Shoreline Lake (Mountain View) Laser racing
• Vallejo YC

Looking for fireworks you can watch from your boat? If you’re going to Barron Hilton’s Fireworks extravaganza at at Mandeville Tip in the Delta, better go a day early – they’ll be on July 3 this year. Further up the San Joaquin River, Stockton will set off fireworks on July 4 at Weber Point. You can also sail over to Benicia, Martinez, Sausalito, or San Francisco’s Pier 39 to see fireworks on July 4.

The Latitude 38 office will be closed this Wednesday in observance of Independence Day, and the hard-working ‘Lectronic Latitude will get the day off too. Happy Fourth!