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Wind Fills for Solo Racers

The tracks of their tears. For the first three days, the Solo TransPac racers were frustrated with light-to-no winds but the breeze has finally filled in.

© 2008 Google Earth

Looking a bit like a giant squid in the throes of death, the position tracker for the 2008 Singlehanded TransPac shows the meandering and (until yesterday) slow progress for this year’s fleet. As mentioned in Monday’s report, the fleet of 22 boats had moderate winds as they sailed under the Gate but then came to a screeching halt as they approached the Farallones. For three days, the racers bobbed around in circles while they waited impatiently for the wind to fill in. Late on Monday, several boats finally found the breeze, with the rest of the fleet getting it yesterday morning. As of this morning’s roll call, everyone was clipping right along, with some even able to fly their chutes.

From the very beginning, Dwight Odom had trouble charging the batteries on his Sausalito-based Saga 43 Na-Na. Odom did an about-face on Sunday and headed back to port to effect repairs. He restarted the race on Monday, only to have to turn around again by Tuesday as the problem was persisting. This time the race’s website said he was "retiring" from the race. But Odom was in a cheerful mood this morning in the marina parking lot. "They finally found the problem, so I’m heading out again," Odom reported. "We hope the third time’s a charm!"

Third time’s a charm. Dwight Odom had to return to the Bay twice because of electrical problems but still hopes to finish the race.

latitude/LaDonna
©2008 Latitude 38 Media, LLC

Na-Na isn’t the only boat with electrical trouble. Barbara Euser on the Bristol 34 Islander is also having a problem charging her batteries. "Apparently, just running the tricolor navigation lights will run the batteries down overnight," wrote Mark Deppe of the J/120 Alchera. "The fleet gave her a number of suggestions to try — hopefully one of them will work."

Follow the links to track the racers’ positions and to read their log entries.

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He’s not the type of guy who would unduly worry people with bad news, but the fact is that the great Bay Area sailor Mark ‘Rudi’ Rudiger has been battling lymphoma for several years now.