What Boat Came in Second in the TransPac this Year ?

[Ken on Satori]

Give a hint. Sometimes called a "Wetsnail". Even with a broken boom half way through the race it only came in second by three hours. Ken

[Vasco]

Those old tubs still sailing. ? Every owner will tell you how it won the TransPac once.

[Gudgeon]

This is not a Transpac year, it is a Pac Cup and no one has finished yet.

[cal40john]

It was the single handed transpac.

A.) Proves that handicaps do sometimes work. Idefix owed Saraband 59 hours, so she came in 2+ days later. I'd be more impressed if Saraband came in before Idefix on elapsed time. Though personally if I had to choose between an Olson 30 and a Westsail 32 to spend 14 days on out of sight of land by myself, I'd choose the Westsail.

B.) Unusual weather this year. At the pre race weather seminar they were told the north route was going to be fast. Some competitors didn't believe that and went with the statistics of going south. 4 days out there was no wind north or south and some boats in between stayed in wind. There are boats that needed to finish hours or days before Saraband to tie with her that are still on the course. This says that skill or luck in weather navigation won the race, not the boat.

C.) Idefix lost her spin halyard block 3 days before the finish, so wasn't carrying it.

D.) Congratulations Idefix from our club.

John

[RTB]

Great job by Idefix. Third across the line was Ronnie Simpson on Warrior's Wish. You remember....................http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ice-20095.html Not sure where he will correct in, but a really nice job finishing.

Congrats to Ronnie, and everyone in the SHTP!

[Ken on Satori]

Really, it's about the people sailing them. All are winners in my book. Ken

[Bash]

Originally Posted by Ken on Satori

Really, it's about the people sailing them. All are winners in my book. Ken

That sentiment is reflected in this race's culture. A buddy of mine "won" the Singlehanded Transpac a few years back, but he refuses to call himself the winner, because everyone who finishes wins. He merely placed first on corrected time.

[Randyonr3]

Someone needs to go ove the corected time issue befor the W32guys get a big head and start bragging all over again..
Sometimes certain boats fall withing the numbers and correct out higher as with downwind runs..
Because the design of the boat is so old and the numbers have been on the books for so long, its very hard for YRA to modify the numbers to reflect new sail materials and design.. which will make an old boat out-run its numbers..
An example of this is the Catalina 22 with a SF rating of 270 which was established back in the 70s.. with numbers of 40 years old its hard to have them modified and with new materials for sails, rod rigging, fairing compounds, a C22 can run in the numbers down around 220.. Its a way to cheat the numbers.. The same is true about the early Santana, the J22, and a good number of the boats built in the same era.
I know this as I raced a C22 , and a J22 for a number of years and would often correct out above many newer racers..
When you understand how the PHRF numbers work, you'll realize how much easier it is to win a race with a slow boat, than it is with a racer.......
a simple discription of corrected time is as follows..
If my slow boat is rated at 260 and your faster boat is rated at 200, thats a 60 second handicap I have per mile over you or 1 minute per mile.. over a 10 mile race, I can come in 9 minutes and 59 seconds behind you, BUT I correct out 1 second faster than you for the race..
so even thou I'm behind you, I'm still in front of you..
and the numbers are set for "Around the mark" times so a downwind run gives the slower boat an advantage..
Figure the miles across the pacific and the down wind run.. the W32 has a big advantage by the numbers

[Bloodhound]

Thanks for the info Ken. What some refer to as "old tubs" still cross oceans, in safety, and in good time when sailed by good sailors. All races have handicaps so what's the nitpick? (No need for anyone to answer that... I understand the nits quite well, thanks.)

[dcstrng]

Originally Posted by Bloodhound

"old tubs" still cross oceans, in safety, and in good time...

Was just chatting with a Hanna Tahiti skipper at the boatyard this week, he admitted that modern boats beat him and that over four Atlantic crossings and a decade of sailing his average is just a hair over 4.5kts, but like he says, this is his home so he’s not in a hurry to get back to anything… seems like a pleasing average, and attitude, to me – especially for someone who doesn’t admit to much motorsailing -- but I guess it’s all relative…