heh heh heh heh heh

Report #2 from the mighty Restless Transpac 2025 Team.

Let’s start where we left off late on the 5th. We did have the shrimp and rice for dinner. It was a nice light fare that would have paired well with a Sauvignon blanc (which we didn’t have). The nights have been quite dark with low cloud cover every night but we finally had some stars in sight for a welcome change. See where they are.

That is until Greg and I were midway through an early AM watch, and it started drizzling. Mind you, we have been itching to get out of foulies during the evenings for a couple days at this stage so we’re only in long pants and light puffers over tee shirts. No rogue waves this time, but the light drizzle turned into a bit more as we sat in silence.

Eventually I said, “this is real rain and it kind of sucks.” Greg responded with a simple “yeah” before I suggested maybe we should put some proper gear on. Again, I was greeted with a dumbfounded, “yeah” and I quickly lept below and tossed on bibs and a jacket before relieving Greg on the tiller for him to do the same. Once he came back on deck, we both burst out laughing at our lack of urgency, like we were maritime versions of Beavis and Butthead.

Morning of July 6th and the clouds lifted early for another beautiful day of sailing. We are VMG running with the S-2 and trying to get south to avoid an incoming swath of light winds hot on our heels. Hopefully the big guys behind us hit this speed bump on the course as the tracker has them eating up our lead in a hurry.

The breeze has been quite soft at times but we did try some of our staysail inventory out with little success. A few major boat prep projects like water maker, alternator, and rudder in the 60 days leading up to the start made prioritizing some of our sail inventory testing impossible, which has left us with some staysails that are too big for moderate conditions and can’t be used effectively. Like Maverick said, time is your greatest adversary!

Not sure I am ready to deplete the onboard sail repair kit for a mid-ocean recut, but who knows… food wise, we had a brunch of bagels with cream cheese, fresh tomatoes, cucumber, and onion. Homemade beef jerky is also a fan favorite. Dinner was pasta with sausage and veggies. Having a proper galley on a race boat is a rare luxury that we are taking full advantage of.

Overnight, the high pressure finally swallowed us as anticipated. We actually made it about 4-5 hours further than we thought before it caught us. The team worked hard to change the mode of the boat, adjusting the sail stack, trim setups, and sail selection. We learned a ton and improved at managing these tricky conditions, but they are always tough mentally, especially when it’s so easy to check our competition in real time.

Worth noting here that the way the tracker works is that it takes a snapshot in time and extrapolates from that data so it is not super accurate. It also doesn’t take into account the weather across the course, only the boat’s geometry. Better for us to just sail our own race and let the scores work out at the finish.

By now we have also sailed 1000nm west, but onboard we have stayed on Pacific Standard Time so the number on the clock feels really different than the daylight on deck. I am currently typing at 10pm but its really only early evening out here.

At approximately 1400 the wind finally filled and we have started chugging down the track again. We are one of the few (maybe only?) day one starters to have stayed below the rumbline which is going to minimize our overall distance in the second half of the course. Our sail de jour this afternoon was the S-4 which is pretty versatile as long as the pressure stays up above 13-14 knots on our “specially calibrated ” instruments. CBTM for a bit here.

Dinner was black bean enchiladas, and for the first time the whole trip the entire entree was finished so maybe this meal is leading the onboard culinary competition. Chef Greg also caught another “rogue wave” (check the boat’s IG for more onboard footage and back story @cal40_restless) right down his back to the tramp stamp.

Evenings are still chilly and occasional rain showers persist. Some of the team is running low on fresh clothes, though the water tank is full and ready for mid race showers for us which should help the general smell onboard.

Overall, the boat is exceeding expectations for livability and comfort. Lots of opening ports and good air flow are a welcome change from the dark and wet bowels of modern race boats. Man, I’m sounding old…

Time to head up for some moonlight surfing on deck. Heim out.