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July 5th, around ⅓ of the way to Hawaii on the fine yacht Restless ( brought to you by Driscoll’s Boatworks), Alli Bell’s classic Cal 40, which has recently undergone a complete refit. We have a great team onboard with everyone bringing unique skills and perspectives to the table. Alli Bell needs little introduction; she is currently Vice Commodore of the San Diego Yacht Club and Rear Commodore of the TPYC. 3rd gen transpac racer and childhood friend to all of us. Her husband Stephen Driscoll comes from a family with a long history in yacht racing, and he is our de facto boat captain as well.
When Alli and I discussed the Restless Transpac plan shortly after she bought the boat, I said I was only in if Stephen was coming. Graham Bell is Alli’s cousin whom she has sailed thousands of ocean miles with and our navigator for the race. His mellow demeanor hides a sharp mind and wit within. Chef onboard is Greg Reynolds who also happens to be a world-class helmsman, and his class clown nature means we are never taking any situation on without some humor. I round out the team.
We started July 1st in what was forecast to be the best start day. Yay! But the change this year to Forecast based ratings for overall aim to neutralize this advantage. Boo! Felt great to finally cast the dock lines and head out to the start. Speaking of starts, the RC postponed with about 40 seconds to go due to the pin drifting. We were all tee’d up for a nice win of the boat end. Our strategy was that we are a smaller/slower boat and wanted to minimize getting rolled on the long starboard tack to Catalina.
They reset the pin a bit more to weather but we stuck with the game plan and won the boat on the restart as well so boy to get pinched off by some of the faster more modern boats. Made the best of our lane and beelined for Parsons Landing near the West End then 4 tacks to clear the rock and we punch in next waypoint. Diamond Head buoy a bit over 2200 miles away. Kept the new AP #1 genoa up through the night slowly easing sheets and eventually settling on an outboard lead for night 1. Felt like a good escape compared to last race in 23’…
More from Eric Heim can be found here.
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