11 July 2006

Sailing Goals

I made a vow after sailing to Ireland that I would never do an offshore sail that gets colder every day again. I'll only sail cold to warm.

Right now, there are three races going to Hawaii (Singlehanded Transpac, Pacific Cup, and Victoria to Maui). Hmmm, leaving from cold West Coast to Hawaii in the Summer. Much of it downwind. That sounds like cold to warm.

I'm in no position to make this sail any time soon. My boat would suck at it, I don't have any real spinnaker experience, and I have two young kids at home. Sounds to me like time to make a goal.

As this blog is my testamanent, I vow to sail and/or race to Hawaii by 2012.

There's a thread over on Sailing Anarchy about the best boat under $200K for this race. The original poster dismissed the Cal 40 and yet about every 3 responses says something like "why not the Cal 40?". 9 of them did the Transpac last year, and I believe there are 3 in the Pacific Cup right now. It's a downwind machine with excellent handling characteristics practically built for this voyage. And they're affordable (~$50K + another ~$50K to outfit for the voyage).

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Photo Credit: I stole this from a guy on yachtworld who I believe stole it from Sailing World

And that just looks plain old fun. 2010 or 2012 is just around the corner!

13 comments:

Zen said...

Nice, mine is 2014.

Tillerman said...

Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans.

EVK4 said...

are you saying that I have to live my life while waiting for 2010/12? Or that I've wasted time by not having these plans already in place?

Hmmm.

Nobody is commenting on how pretty the Cal 40 is. Maybe I need another picture up there.

Anonymous said...

It's a very pretty boat!

Anonymous said...

Cal 40 Sinn Fein was overall winner of the Newport Bermuda race this year under ORR. I think they won their division last time around as well. I know from personal experience doing a Cal 40 delivery some time ago that it is a fantastic boat, particularly off the wind. One thing to be aware of is the sometimes overwhelming weather helm that one can experience on this boat...pretty insanse sometimes. A lot of Cals have been retrofitted with wheels as a result. Obviously this won't get rid of the helm issue, but it does make it far more comfortable to deal with, plus it opens up the ockpit a great deal. By the way, the picture you have there is of the winning Cal 40 from I think two years ago just off Hawaii before finishing the transpac. At thay moment they were clocked at 15 kts....not too shabby for some classic plastic!

Anonymous said...

dude, we're (you, me, Tim, V, MR) going to South Africa in 2010 to watch world cup. I guess I hadn't told you yet.

suggest you make Hawaii 2012.

b

Anonymous said...

actually, I don't think I've informed T, V or MR either. anyway, here's your chance to sail around the cape.

b

Anonymous said...

How about building a James Wharram Cat? Inexpensive, stable, seaworthy and fits the whole Hawaiian theme. Did you read several months back in Lat 38 about Glenn Tieman? He built the Pahi 26 and sailed the South Pacific for 10 years.

Or...how about an Olson 30? That's a great boat, it can easily do the passage to Hawaii.

Anonymous said...

P.S. It's a great goal....I plan on doing it also.

EVK4 said...

I think an Olson 30 just finished the singlehanded transpac...2nd or 3rd with a very good likelihood of correcting out as the winner. They broke a boom too, but somehow were still doing 180 miles a day on the way home.

EVK4 said...

Anonymous, I'm trying to think in which ring of hell Dante described travelling halfway around the world to watch soccer. I know it was in there someplace.

Anonymous said...

I think it's the 6th ring. The 5th, closer ring, is sailing across the Pacific on a 30 foot piece of fiberglass eating tinned food.

To each his own. I vowed to ride 100 miles this year. May we both acheive our goals.


B

Tillerman said...

My earlier comment was really trying to say that having set yourself that goal to achieve something by 2012, the real payback for you will not be the few days you spend sailing the race in 2010 or 2012 but all the preparation and planning and practice and so on that you do in the next six years.