Check-ins from the Transbac

Sue Everett pinged us about Merlin’s return from the Transpac. She reports that Bill and Lu Lee’s 1977 68-ft sled is expected back in Santa Cruz this afternoon, between 1 and 2 p.m. Pizza will be delivered to the dock, according to reports. 

Don Ford, normally race crew on Bill Helvestine’s Bay Area-based SC50 Deception, is currently aboard the Beneteau First 40 Onde Amo, helping to deliver it back to Long Beach from Honolulu. Don is also a TV reporter/videographer (aka ‘one-man band’, aka Multimedia Journalist) for KPIX 5 in San Francisco. (We didn’t make up ‘Transbac’ — it’s what Don called the delivery back.)

"On board are two of us from Deception, myself and Mike Arrajj, along with Onde Amo owner Steve Ashley and SoCal sailor Tracy Gallucci," he writes, in 160-character bytes using inReach. On Tuesday, "We snarled a fishing net in the prop. Mike dove under the boat, cutting loose the net, while Steve and I handled safety lines. The amount of debris out here is remarkable  — almost all commercial fishing gear. Hell yes we took time to go swimming in the middle of the ocean! The water was absolutely delicious." Onde Amo is past the halfway point.

We’d be interested in hearing more tales from the ‘Transbac’. Email us here.