One Boat Yet to Finish Singlehanded TransPac

Brian Cline’s diminutive Dana 24 Maris and Barry Bristol’s Catalina Capri 30 Fast Lane arrived at the Hanalei Bay, Kauai finish line of the Singlehanded TransPac this Wednesday and Thursday respectively. 

Maris, one of the smallest boats in the fleet, logged 2,192 miles on her crossing from San Francisco — the fewest miles traveled by any competitor so far. "At no time did I feel in danger or terrified," recalls Cline. "Overall it was a really nice experience save for the first few days — which were pretty awful for everyone. After that everything turned pretty harmonious."

Although it took Maris 17d, 23h, 6m and 31s to complete the crossing — three days after the barn-door winner, Scaramouche V, Maris‘ 242 handicap placed her third in the Full Galley Division and ninth overall, according to race officials. Not too shabby for a first-time competitor.

Fast Lane arrived after 18d, 16h, 50m and 38s, placing Bristol second in the Capri + Division and 13th overall. Although this was Bristol’s fourth SHTP, it was one of his slowest. "The big southern tropical storm created a cross swell that took almost two days to get through," laments Bristol. "The swells would come across, pick up my boat, slide it over and set it down again — 30 degrees off course. It was just the opposite on the other board." Aside from the frustrating swell pattern, Bristol met up with few obstacles along the way, save for some broken windvane control lines and cloudy weather that limited his solar-power generation. 

A potential disaster was narrowly averted when Fast Lane was struck by a piece of debris, one of Bristol’s worst fears, and perhaps the low point of his crossing. "A big 12" x 12" x 8-foot-long beam hit the side of my boat and scared the bejesus out of me. It could have broken the rudder off. I scrambled around the whole boat to make sure that there was no puncture, because a small hole can turn into a large one pretty quickly."

Cline and Bristol were two of the last three racers still on the Pacific. As reported earlier, Stuart Paine’s Capri 25 Jack continues to make slow but sure progress toward the finish under a jury-rigged mast. He’s expected to arrive sometime Saturday morning after spending 20+ days at sea — hopefully in time for the awards dinner that evening at the famed Tahiti Nui restaurant and bar.