Arrivals in Singlehanded Transpacific Race on Holiday Weekend
July 4-5
The first arrivals in the Singlehanded Transpacific Yacht Race were almost a photo finish — although it was too dark for decent photography. On the night of July 4, Michael Polkabla on the Cal 40 Solstice was leading the way to Hanalei Bay, but Loren Brindze on the Hobie 33 Topaz was in hot pursuit. We were watching on the Jibeset tracker but also on the edges of our seats.
Ten boats had started the race (a day late, due to gales offshore) on Sunday, June 22, from Golden Gate Yacht Club in San Francisco. Upon arriving in Kauai, the sailors cross a virtual finish line north of Hanalei Bay proper, then sail or motor into the anchorage, with guidance from the volunteers from the Singlehanded Sailing Society.
It turned out that the wind on the night of July 4-5 made for a dead-downwind finish — conditions more suited to a Cal 40 than to a sporty Hobie 33 that needs to sail hot angles. Michael was exhausted from 20 hours of hand steering with a patched-together tiller (the autopilot wouldn’t work with the broken tiller). But Solstice held off Topaz to claim first to finish and first place overall.
During the daylight hours of July 5, three more boats arrived — Perplexity, Starship and White Rose, in that order. Reverie finished at nightfall that evening.
July 6-7
A gap followed until Sunday evening, then Chris Case arrived — with a broken boom, no less — on the other Cal 40, Fugu. The catamaran Rainbow and B-25 Akumu are Monday morning finishers.
The one Westsail 32 this year, InnFall, had some gear damage. Her skipper, Chris Rusin, has told the race chair that he’ll head straight for Honolulu rather than finish the race in Kauai. His primary goal is to complete a circumnavigation of the Pacific High, starting and finishing from his homeport of Blaine, Washington.
As in 2023, the Kauai Sailing Association in Nawiliwili will host the awards party, on Saturday, July 12. We’ll have much more in the August issue of Latitude 38, and we’re also planning a podcast for Good Jibes.
Welcome Aboard, Chloe Eenmaa, ‘Latitude 38’ Junior Reporter
We’d like to introduce Chloe Eenmaa, junior rear commodore at St. Francis Yacht Club. Chloe is one of StFYC’s junior flag officers and a competitive racing sailor. As a student at University High School, she is also an avid writer and has recently joined our crew as junior reporter.
Chloe started sailing on San Francisco Bay when she was 9, joining summer camps out of
St. Francis Yacht Club. “I immediately loved the sport,” Chloe tells us, “sailing Teras in the chop off
Marina Green. It was a difficult place to learn for sure, with strong winds and ripping current, but I enjoyed the challenge.”
The summer camps taught Chloe the basics, — how to rig her boat, how to tack, and how to right the boat after a capsize. “But I’ve learned the most from the people I sail with now: coaches, teammates, and older sailors who take the time to talk me through tactics or rig tuning,” she explains. “I love the feeling of sailing — it’s fast, exciting, and totally unpredictable. It’s great to spend time on the water, especially on days when everything clicks and the boat just flies. The Bay is also beautiful. I love spotting birds and seals and watching the fog roll in. And honestly, I love the challenge of racing. There’s always more to experience and more to learn.”
Chloe also sails 29ers with the team at San Francisco Yacht Club. “It’s an exciting high-performance
boat, and I love training in the wind and waves there.” She says one of the best parts of being on
the team is the community. “We’re a close group of friends who really support each other. I sail with kids from all over the Bay Area, so it’s been a great way to meet people who go to different schools and live in different neighborhoods. We also have an amazing coach who’s super-passionate about sailing and always pushes us to improve.”
“The whole experience has made me a much stronger sailor and teammate,” Chloe continues, and adds that she races and trains aboard her own 29er. “I haven’t named it yet, but I probably should, considering how much time I’ve spent fixing it and racing it. I’m open to any suggestions!”
Among her most memorable sailing experiences, Chloe recalls sailing Lasers out of St. Francis Yacht Club during COVID. “It was way too big for me but I didn’t realize this at the time!” she says. “Just being able to get out on the water was a huge break from all the anxiety during those weird years. I’d get to see my friends there too, and I relied on it to find normalcy and freedom. That’s when I realized how much I loved sailing, and that I didn’t just want to do it here and there; I wanted to pursue it seriously for the long term.”
Chloe is certain that sailing is a part of her future. “Right now, I’m focused on getting better on any type of boat. I hope to sail in college, where I’d enjoy being part of a competitive team and continuing to grow as a racer. Long-term, I’d love to pursue sailing at the highest level — maybe even an Olympic campaign someday.” Recently she’s begun match racing and team racing, which, she says, demand totally different mindsets and strategic approaches.”
“I know sailing will always be a big part of my life,” she concludes, “whether it’s through racing, coaching, or just enjoying a day on the water.”
We invite you to join us in welcoming Chloe to the team and cheering her on as her sailing adventures continue.
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Transpac Fleet Underway — Four Boats Retired
The last group of Transpac starters got underway on Saturday, with somewhat better breeze than that for Thursday’s starters. The fleet of 19 boats in Divisions 1, 2, and 3 was quickly out in the winds offshore and reaching west toward Catalina and Hawaii soon after the start. With the Saturday starters on course, the whole fleet is now in the race.
As of this morning, the tracker shows Saturday’s starters with the big boat, Bryon Ehrhart’s 88-ft Lucky, leading the Boatswain’s Locker/Yanmar Division 1. She’s been rocketing along at 20 knots for the first day or so but is now in a light spot and sailing at 13.5 knots.
First in Mount Gay Division 2 is Thomas Furlong and his crew aboard the Reichel/Pugh 52 Vitesse. Whittier Trust Division 3 has Jack Jennings’ Reichel/Pugh 68 Pied Piper in first, with Roy Disney aboard Pyewacket close behind in second place.
Leading the entire fleet is Charles-Etienne Devanneaux’s Beneteau First 36 Rahan, which has just managed to get past the light spot and is hoping to stay in the breeze. The light winds in the middle of the course are tempting some to reach up for better apparent wind, while others have jibed for a painful dodge south. Those who can are trying to keep their boats heading south on starboard jibe while keeping their speed up in light winds. Not an easy feat.
Transpac reports that four boats have retired from the race. Three have safely and successfully returned to the mainland, and one is underway. On Friday, July 4, the J/125 Vortices 2 retired due to rudder issues. On Saturday, the Reichel/Pugh 63 GoodEnergy reported they’d retired, also due to rudder bearing issues. The Transpac Race Committee was advised that the third boat, the Andrews 68 Rock ‘n Roll, had retired from the race due to an injury onboard. A crew member was injured from a fall and was taken to Avalon for treatment before being transferred to a mainland hospital. The injured crewman is reported to be in good spirits, and everyone else has returned safely. Ragtime has also retired and is heading east to San Diego. [After this was posted we received the following from the Transpac office, “On Sunday, July 6, a crewmember was evacuated from the vessel (Ragtime) due to a medical issue, approximately 230 miles offshore in a coordinated operation involving the US Coast Guard and the US Air Force. The sailor was airlifted to Scripps Memorial Hospital in San Diego, where they were treated and subsequently released. We’re pleased to report they are now doing well. At last report, Ragtime was approximately 125 miles offshore, sailing toward San Pedro with an estimated arrival time of 0400 PDT on July 8. All aboard are safe, and families have been notified.”]
It’s unfortunate for all these boats, and unfortunate that the matchup between Ragtime and Merlin is now off the table.
Merlin continues to fly west at 13.5 knots in fifth place in Division 3. In 1997, Roy P. Disney’s Santa Cruz 70, Pyewacket, usurped Merlin’s 20-year-old record, sailing Transpac’s 2,225-mile course in 7 days, 15 hours, 24 minutes, and 40 seconds. That year also marked the first time that the Pyewacket team held a traditional Hawaiian blessing ceremony before their race. “I like to honor the Hawaiian culture,” said Disney, who continued this dockside tradition on Wednesday. “These people found Hawaii in a rowboat from 3,000 miles away by looking at swell patterns and birds and fish on the water. I can’t find my way down the 405 freeway, so I respect that, and I honor that,” he said.
“And, by the way, in 1997, I broke the record by 24 hours,” Disney said of the tradition’s auspicious origins. Disney is racing in his 27th Transpac!
A few reports came in to the Transpac committee from mid-ocean. Cal Maritime-Oaxaca: “All is well aboard the good ship Oaxaca. Tough driving conditions through the night as the wind dropped and the swell stayed the same. Hoping for more wind soon, though prospects are bleak.”
Fast Exit II said all was good aboard and they’re now into an A2, giving them a chance to do some housekeeping after a few days of blast reaching. They had some rain this morning to rinse off the foulies and hair. They’re looking forward to getting across the patch of light air today.
J World’s Hula Girl wrote in, “Beautiful, relaxing day of sailing yesterday, spinnakers and a bit of sun, a taste of things to come. Finally separated from Heroic Heart a touch after some 24 hours of sailing within sight of them … nice drag racing! Today promises to be … ‘interesting:’ breeze already down a good amount, and nice and shifty to boot.”
Paul Kamen wrote in from his navigation station aboard Barry Clark’s Grand Soleil 44 Blackwing, which has slipped from first to second in Division 8 behind Mike Sudo’s Beneteau 47.7 Macondo. Paul reports they’re now sailing in T-shirts, and were happy to welcome the sun on day four of their crossing. They are past the halfway mark with just over 1,000 miles to go. Clark just started racing in 2022.
The boats continue to reach west, though the middle of the pack is hitting some light winds today while Tuesday’s starters continue to steam ahead in fresh breeze. You can follow them all here.
First the Pacific Puddle Jump — Then College Graduation
In 2024, three college friends and I quit our jobs and poured our savings into a sailboat with the goal of crossing the Pacific Ocean. Ranging from age 22 to 26, Jack, Lauren, Teddy, and I found Open Range, a 1989 Beneteau, and restored her in Santa Cruz over the winter. We rewired electronics, overhauled the plumbing and engine, fine-tuned the rigging, and installed a few new offshore gadgets. What had started as a shared dream during college turned into a serious commitment.
From the start we’d agreed that the California and Baja coasts would be our main shakedown sail. California proved to be a good training ground, and Baja taught us valuable lessons in coastal cruising. Sailing from San Diego to Cabo was a great shakedown and felt like our own private Baja Ha-Ha.
At our first stop in Ensenada we were greeted by a nice community of cruisers. Fellow Puddle Jumpers Curtis and Julie of SV Manna, who connected with Lauren on NOFOREIGNLAND (an app connecting cruisers), were waiting to catch our dock lines. We spent one night in Ensenada provisioning and treating ourselves to tacos as a reward for finally fleeing the United States. Between Ensenada and Cabo, we saw just one other sailboat in the rolly anchorages; Jack and Lauren used the lee cloth in the forward cabin to avoid getting thrown out of bed. We took the bad anchorages in stride, knowing there were many more to come, and that challenging seas lay ahead.
It was already late March, and sailing to La Paz or Puerto Vallarta would have eaten up time that could be spent on boat projects, of which there were many. Sailing down the Baja coast had checked all our shakedown-sail boxes, and we wanted to start the crossing as soon as possible to enjoy our time in the South Pacific before cyclone season. Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo had most of the boat parts we needed, and anything else was ordered online and brought in by family members who had come to send us off. We spent two nights docked in San Jose del Cabo to complete tasks that required flat water, like adding Spartite to better secure the mast to the deck. The slip also made it easier to load up, organize, and strip down the packaging from a mountain of provisions from the Cabo Costco. Lauren did an excellent job of categorizing and tracking every single morsel of food to ensure we would have more than enough nutrients for the entire offshore passage. The exorbitant slip fees discouraged us from staying any longer, so we spent the next few nights in Palmilla Bay, a lovely, quiet anchorage with beautiful, warm water and lively reefs.
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