Lat: 33.40.7 Lon:119.47.5 / Wind 3kts / Sea: Calm / Barometer: 1022

June 6th position report

 

Lat: 33.50.5N Lon: 122.26.9W   Wind: From West 8 kts Sea: Calm  Barometer: 1022

Lat: 33.43.0n Lon: 125.24.6w / Wind: Variable and light / Sea: Calm / Barometer: 1021

 

Lat: 34.20.8 Lon: 129.24.1  Wind: North 20-25 kts

 

 

Lat: 35.25.100  Lon: 132.39.700  Wind: North @ 25 kts  &  Sea: Swell 6-8 ft

Barometer: 1030

Distance last 24 hours: 145 Miles

Current Speed: 10 kts 

Heading: 110 True - 99 Magnetic

 

Crew is fine and working harder, now that they are in stronger winds and larger seas. They estimate they are 3 days out of Avalon (Catalina Island), where they are considering a stop, before heading into Long Beach. 

Lat: 25.51.700n Lon:136.15.700w  Distance traveled: 96km

The wind was calm last night, but now the wind is picking up -

Wind NE at 10kts and Barometer 1037 (very high).

Current Heading is 094 True (084 Magnetic) and boat speed is 7.5 knots

 

Crew is fine.

================================================

Today, the high pressure that has been slowing them down, moves a bit west, as the boat moves farther east. Boat sailing speed should increase with the  forecast 15 Knot winds from the NE.

 

Don L. Notes: The high pressure area the boat is sailing through will result in light and variable wind. The high is forecast to move west, while Chasch Mer moves east. For the next few days, the forecast shows wind speed will increase slowly to 15 knots,  and wind direction will be  favorable for the direct course  to Long Beach.  

May 25th Delivery Report

Position: Lat 2912.7  Long 15216.2
Wind 12knots ENE
Seas: 4feet
Miles made good last 24 hours: 186
Crew Condition: Very good, everyone doing great & sound great.
                          Chicken Curry & Bread delicious.
                          Picking up speed.

 

May 24 position report

LAT 26 09.1

LON 153 07.1

WINDS 15 NE

SEAS 4 FT

DIST 166

ALL FINE

 

 

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Follow the race on the satellite tracker http://live.adventuretracking.com/transpac2011

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FINISHED!!!

Wed July 20

They finished at just before 1am Hawaii time (12:52am is the believed-official time), and they all touched solid ground around 2am Hawaii time. Eddie says they misunderstood what they were supposed to do and had taken the sails down but they had to put them back up because the race rules wanted them to sail past the finish to some other point. After they got to that point, they were towed in (most other boats motored in, but they had no engine to do that.)

So they are at the welcoming party.

Jackie (Gib's wife) and Robin (David's wife) chartered a boat and saw them across the finish line. Wayne's family, Dave & Lisa Johnson (from "Plan B"), and Steve Steiner (sp?) were among those meeting the boat when they docked. Will from the navy, who goes to school with Mary, was also among the greeters.

Eddie gave me some sound bites and I will try to get something from each crewmember for those of you out in email land. So the rest of this email will be me trying to type as fast as I can to take down everything they said as they passed the phone around.

Eddie - We blew out 2 spinnakers, 1 in a bad squall and 1 in the Molokai channel about 40 miles to the finish. And we didn't put another one up. Finished with the jib. The roar was when Rob was driving like I've only seen one other time before and didn't appreciate. The sail just couldn't take it. It didn't "pop", it just exploded. I think everybody was relieved. Everybody was very fearful of the main going. It looks like one of those rags from the pirates of the caribbean all taped up.

It was quite an adventure, but it really shows the resilience of a sailboat. The only real concern was water. We started conserving several days ago because without so many things working we were afraid if it took us another 10 days we would run out.

Mary was a big hit. She was busy fixing the sails a lot. She got an infection in one of her fingers that started turning color and giving her pain up her arm. Chris, the surgeon, had to do a little surgery on her. She's all good now.

Rob did some amazing driving. He's like a sailing god. At the end he really just went for it.

Here's a breakdown of the watches:
Chris Jordan (the doctor and watch captain me (Eddie)
Gregory - hadn't done much sailing before but he was really good Mark Wislocki
Wayne (watch captain)
Rob
Gordon
Mary
David - off watch - navigator
Gib - off watch - skipper

Hey Waikiki yacht club just showed up with ice cream!

******************* and here are the other crew members comments ****************************

Mark - right now we're eating mint ice cream. this is quite the welcome this is a smorgasbord =- what an amazing welcome. They even put a big lei on the boat - so beautiful. We got several leis 3 i think one of them smells really good - "what kind of flower is this" plumeria. it really when we left hawaii for california, we had put a tea-leaf lei on the boat and it made it all the way from hawaii to california and it's still there right now. It's for luck, you know. I'm on sensory overload - in the ocean it's water and blackness but here in waikiki there are the hotels and the skyline and the colors and smells and tastes. Good time. We didn't go as fast as we could. When you're ready to quit, the ocean is not! So many things can go wrong. We had fun coming in, blowing out the spinnaker at 15-18 knots. A lot of stress on the sails and the boat. You can't give up until you are on dry land. And here we are at dinner.

Gordon ("The Hall Monitor") - The coolest part of this whole thing was that the people were really wonderful to get to know. There was some real bonding and some real fellowship. We made it! We played the hand we were dealt. I love Eddie and Robert. Rob's nickname was the most interesting rob in the world and today he got more interesting He is beating himself up over things he had no control over - perfection is not an option. - Aloha

Mary - Good to be back on dry land. Weird not being on the boat. It was a fun finish. Good party here. Good time with everybody. Having fun. It was an adventure.

Chris - I'm standing on a concrete floor in the yacht club and it's swaying forward back and side ways. Mai tais in cut out pineapples and ice cream, beautiful leis that smell so great. We had a lot to deal with, but everybody really got along. I'll get to see my wife on Friday.

David -(me: How's it feel to be on dry land?) It's a little wobbly. I'm a little tired. - he had to cut short because his welcoming party was taking off -

Gib - Kaneohe yacht club was the host for our party. They greeted us with pineapple mai tais and amazing leis for the boat and for ourselves. Amazing turnout this early in the morning. With no electricity on the boat or lights on the boat, it was kind of different coming in today. We're glad to be here, I'll tell you that.

Rob - It was a successful trip because we all made it safely and we're all still such good friends. It's not like that for every other boat. If we had had a few more sails to blow up, well, maybe who knows how it would have gone. We overcame water deprivation. We had "open finger surgery" today. Chris cut out an infection from Mary's finger. He gave her a shot of litocaine with a 3-inch needle right into the bone. She said, and I can quote, "that $h!+ hurt!" She went through half my pharmaceuticals over the course of the race.

I didn't get comments from Wayne and Gregory. I think they had both spirited away , headed for their looooong showers and fluffy white hotel pillows (or maybe they live in Hawaii? so headed for home?)

As of Tuesday July 19 at 0600 HST Roy's Chasch Mer is 172 nm from Diamond Head
- Probably a late night finish Tuesday night/Wednesday Morning

Catching up on missed messages

Sunday, July 17, 2011 06:06 AM

Wow, what a night, we broached twice, (mast in the water) i hit the ceiling a few nightmares about capsizing glad its morning time, good day yesterday 213 miles and only 540 to go. we are in our shorts andT shirts all 24 hours now, trades are nice, we are seeing more and more trash in the water. lots of birds this far out, another beautiful sunset, yesterday we woke up to pouring rain from the squalls and then it cleared up, looks like sometime Tues for a ETA.
David

******************************

Robin later got a phone call from the boat around noon Hawaii time yesterday saying, among other things, the crew won't be able to use the generator to make electricity. Bottom line from this call is it's unlikely we are going to get any newsy emails since battery power is being conserved for in-case-of-emergency.
This caused Karen (Rob's wife) to wonder if she should continue sending the weather files - they might be helpful in navigation, but they take a lot of time to download and thus might be costly to battery power. So we sent a text message to the boat (via the iridium text message site) asking about it. At just after 2am, Karen got a text message to her cell phone (first time they have communicated this way, presumably substantiating their conservation of electricity) that gave lat/long (we assume that was to convey that Karen should continue sending the weather files) and 2 sentences:
"We're just checking in. Everything is fine."

Friday, July 15, 2011 06:40 AM

HI TERRY, KAHLIL AND ROBIN, 932 MILES TO GO, SAW THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SUNSET LAST NIGHT IT WAS SO CLEAR WE COULD ACTUALLY SEE THE SUN MOVE, FULL MOON STARLITE NIGHT WITH 20-25 KNOTS OF WIND 15 FOOT FOLLOWING SEAS ACTUALLY SURFING NOW TO HAWAII AT 15-18 KNOTS. BOATS RUDDER HAD TO BE READJUSTED LAST NIGHT, TENSION ON CABLES IS A PROBLEM. FLYING THE BIG SPINNAKER, CREW IS ALL HEALTHY, IT LOOKS LIKE IM GETTING LUCKY ON MY NAVIGATING. OUR GPS SAYS WE ARE HEADED DIRECTLY TO HAWAII. THIS IS SO COOL. ITS LOOKS LIKE MAYBE EARLY TUES MORN ARRIVAL INTO HONOLULU, 6 AM. HARD TO GIVE A EXCACT TIME BECAUSE THE BOAT SPEED IS NOT CONSTANT. I'M ALSO THE UNOFFICIAL COOK. I CAN'T CALL AND MAKE RESERVATIONS HERE. I COOK AND DO DISHES, STEER, AND TRIM THE SHEETS. OKAY SO LONG FOR NOW. MAY WE HAVE FAIR WINDS, FOLLOWING SEAS AND A SAFE HARBOR. KAHLIL LOOK AT THE TRANSPAC WEBSITE FOR CONFIRMATION ON ETA.
DAVID

Thursday, July 14, 2011 08:24 AM

HI GUYS, TERRY, KAHLIL, AND ROBIN, WE SAW OUR FIRST MOONBOW, (RAINBOW WITH THE MOON, WHALES YESTERDAY BLOWING RIGHT OFF THE BOAT, MADE 167 MILES YESTERDAY, 1139 TO GO, KAHLIL CHECK THE TRANSPAC WEBSITE FOR ARRIVAL TIMES FOR ALL BOATS AND TELL ROBIN. THIS IS ONLY A ESTIMATE. ALL IS WELL, YESTERDAY WE WERE BECALMED FOR 3-4 HOURS MOVING 2 KNOTS, BAD, BUT THIS MORNING REPORT SHOWED WE ARE KEEPING UP WITH THE OTHER BOATS AND EVEN BEAT "HORIZON" WHICH HAS A PROFESSIONAL PAID CREW BY 1 MILE. LAST NIGHT WE HAD OUR HALF WAY PARTY, GREAT STORYS, GOOD CREW, SLEEPING 6-7 HOURS A NIGHT, I HAVE NO WATCH BECAUSE I'M THE NAV.KEEP IN TOUCH MISS YOU ALL.
DAVID

Wednesday, July 13, 2011 08:48 PM

Just saw some whales blowing, many rainbows, great half way party, lots of jokes. Gib is giving me manners, "Please" "Thank You", no Potty Mouth, etc. dinner is cooking now, had a very slow morning, 2-3 knots, but now up to 8 -9 knots. Seas are flatttttt.
Love You David

---

July 18 1000 HST

Chasch Mer is 361 nm from Diamond Head according to the race tracker. Looks like another mid-night finish, probably late Tuesday night.
Communications have been sporatic but an 'alls well' message was received late Sunday night.

July 15

Weather is great. We're cruising along at about 10-12 knots. Everyone is relaxed and having a good time. There hasn't been any rain in over 24 hours. Our goal now is to beat Cazan for the first Hawaiian boat to finish.

Send a message to the crew:

For anyone who wants to send a 160 character message to the team. Use the link and type in 881631558544 in the "To" field. Rob has said to receive text messages are free, so send away! Iridium Satellite - Send a Satellite Message http://messaging.iridium.com

July 14 9:50 pm

Aloha from the farthest place from land on earth, or so they tell me.
Currently we're 1200 nautical miles out of Honolulu and moving at about 8
knots. We just finished our halfway party, and have renewed energy to get
back in this race. So far it's been more of a struggle than was expected,
but things seem to be finally shaping up. A squall appears to be moving
over the boat as I type this. I better get to work or get to sleep. Things
are going to be crazy for the next few days!!

July 13, 5:05 pm

Aloha,

Wind died overnight, and we didn't start moving until about an hour ago. We
had to go through numerous sail changes for the varying conditions. We're
in a completely new wind from the northwest with white puffy clouds.
Hopefully these are the classic trade winds we've been waiting for to take
us home.

Mary acted out a skit for video of her driving the boat while we threw
buckets of water on her and made wind noises. She used her best Kiwi
accent. Then the camera pans to Gordon who's basking in the sunlight with
cucumbers over his eyes and a facial mask, holding an O-Doul's in one hand
and the main sheet in the other. They usually have a prize for funniest on
-board video. I'm thinking we have a chance.

...rob

July 12, 1:05pm pacific

Dearest everyone,

Almost halfway to paradise. Trip has been quite the adventure so far. Brief
recap. Gib has finally trained us to keep the boat clean and dry and in the
process he's developed quite the knack for making gourmet sandwiches.

Day 1: Main blown - repaired and holding nicely, knock on wood - care of
Masthead Mary and Bubba Wayne. Leaky water tanks were quickly isolated and
repaired by hydrotechnicians doctifor Chris and "The Most Interesting Rob
in the World." Later, still day one mind you, water decided it doesn't get
along with our instrument panel too well and they've been lost ever since.
Its been a blessing in disguise though as we have been sailing by feel and
have got quite in tune with the boat. Mary finds talking in a Kiwi accent
helps everything exponentially.

Day 2: Finally set kite and off and running. Gordon was voted best Filipino
cabin boy in the fleet, as well as the crew hall monitor. Food finally.
Sushi on day one was just OK. Masthead's back becomes just as fluky as the
wind. Luckily Most Interesting Rob in the World comes to the rescue with
his fully stocked pharmacy of vicodin, norco and dilotid. Thus she can't be
stopped regardless of Pappa Gib and company's best efforts, and is up and
running at max power - seriously she's OK.

Day 3 and 4: Are a blur until last night when rudder issues were
discovered. Thank God for a boat full of men with nice tools. Problem has
been isolated and been resolved without even having to drop the kite or
bringing up the emergency tiller. Halfway party preps in progress. Jackie -
big thank you from all of us for the great food. Yes, still have enough
cabage to start a peasant revolution. Life is good on the mighty Chasch
Mer. Morale is up, sailing is beautiful and the company's even better.
David and Rob have us smartly aimed for the finish line - closer to the Mai
Tais - how clever of a navigation strategy they came up with. Edward Ureno has
packaged a very attractive time share package on both lower berths. There
still seems to be a bidding war on the uppers. Mark is the current crew
favorite in the bland shrimp eating contest, assuming he manages to chew
and swallow what is in his mouth at time of writing. Gregory has quickly
learned his vocabulary and earned sea legs. Was recently heard to say
confidently "Duck you idiot!" He credits Masthead Mary with teaching us all
to "speak" like real sailors. Chris was first to shower on the transom and
has been voted most annoyingly optimistic by the crew. Gib's shower on the
transom left him a blushing red as when we all sang three cheers for Gib on
day two.

All for now,

will follow with more details after we recover from our halfway party
hangovers.

Aloha, sail fast, and love to all,

Chasch Mer Crew - mostly Gordon and Mary Cox.

Regrettably sent by Robert Rice

 

7/10 6:34am...

Aloha,

Wow, what a fast first 2 days. We don't know what's going on but it sure
feels like this would be a record-setting year for many of the classes.
Wind has been super consistent at 13-20 kts. Skies are completely overcast.
Its almost time for a spinnaker.

We are all very wet, tired and cold, but the worst should be over. We've
taken many waves over the deck that keeps us well saturated. Gib's bag got
soaked so he's been trying to dry enough stuff out to be comfortable. We've
had some instrument problems, water leaks, and other various things to keep
us occupied. Everyone is in high spirits though.

I need to go start my 6 hour watch!!!

...rob rice
Chasch Mer

July 6

CREW: Chris Jordan, Edward Ureno, Robert Rice, Gib Black (Skipper), Mary Cox, Gordon Clay, Gregory Wislocki

Not pictured: David Lawson, Mark Svenson, Wayne Ries

April 28

HEADING FOR THE 2011 STARTING LINE.

Chasch Mer SC 50 #1

On Thursday, April 21 Chasch Mer and her crew were blessed by Rev. Tim Anderson for her 2500 mile trip to the 2011 TRANSPAC yacht race. The delivery crew of four: Bill Rainer, Mark Svensen, Clive Foreman & Dave Berke departed following the blessing & have had a great 1st half of the trip reaching the "turn-right" point once hitting the northern point of the high. Those interested can follow this on Facebook at S/V Chasch Mer.

Chasch Mer is the only Hawaii entry to be sailed on her own bottom to California. This will be her eighth Transpac following her Santa Cruz launching in 1979. Commissioned by Randy Parker, she was built in a chicken coop by "The Wizard", Bill Lee as the 1st SC 50.

Chasch Mer is now owned by Hoholulu's Gib & Jackie Black family. This will be Gib's 9th or 10th crossing between Transpacs and PacCups.