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Blue Moon Boat Blog

July 7, 1115

Today marks my 30th day sailing on the ocean, except for two days in L. A. to get groceries. I left the Aloha Dock at Hawaii Yacht Club on June 7th headed to the TransPac start line. We left later than we would have liked due to a few situations that were beyond our control, but once all that was sorted out we cast off the dock lines, blew the conch shell and pointed the bow to L. A. The same high pressure system that is now plaguing the TransPac 2023 fleet threw us some curve balls on our sail from Hawaii to the TransPac start, which caused a few more days of delays.

Once we arrived in L. A. early Monday morning June 26th and found a slip at Cabrillo Way Marina we filled the water tanks, plugged in the shore power to charge the batteries and setup any repairs necessary to sail back to Hawaii with a new start date of Thursday June 29th. I had ordered new sails a couple months before and they were already in L. A. ready to be delivered to Blue Moon. I organized new running rigging and with no time to spare Blue Moon was ready for the scheduled start.

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First Finishers in Transpac

This morning at 02:48 Hawaii Standard Time Justin Shaffer’s MOD70 ORION crossed the finish line at Diamond Head as the first finisher in the 2023 Transpac. Their elapsed time of 4 days 17 hours 48 minutes fell short of breaking the multihull course record of 4D 6H 32M set by H.L. Enloe’s ORMA 60 MIGHTY MERLOE in 2017, but impressive nonetheless considering the slow start last week’s Saturday starters encountered while getting off the California coast. Among both Multihulls and Monohulls this is nonetheless the 6th fastest elapsed time in the entire history of the race, first sailed in 1906.

The ORION crew of six (photo courtesy of Mark Brouch) included Paul Allen, Hogan Beatie, Morgan Larson, Cam Lewis, Matt Noble and Justin Shaffer.

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Corrected Time Sailing in Transpac

Most trophies awarded in Transpac are based on not on an entry’s elapsed time but their score in corrected time, both within their division and overall in the fleet. How is this determined?

Since the entries in this race are of varied sizes and styles of design, a system is needed to equalize their performance under handicap. Transpac uses a system called the Offshore Racing Rule (ORR), which relies on detailed measurements of the boat, its keel and rudder(s), the spar, the sails and even the crew weight to predict the speed potential of the boat at all wind angles and wind speeds. The calculated speed potential becomes the basis for rating of the boat.

This is determined using aero- and hydrodynamic models within a VPP (Velocity Prediction Program) developed by ORR for wind speeds between 6 – 24 knots and all wind angles for which the boat’s performance can be predicted.

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Good Trouble Update

I guess it’s day five…but actually it’s all a blur,” said Colin at the helm. We’ve passed packages wrapped in yellow tape that look suspiciously like drug drops. Transpac care packages? (DEA, are you listening?) Not seeing much sea life, but because we’re blazing by?
Marie spilled miso soup all over the range, so we’ve decided to name our new boat band, “Miso Messy.” And please, please don’t ask what we’ve named, “The Cuban Missile Crisis.” (Hint: By-product of freeze dried Hungry Hiker Cuban Black Beans and Rice.”)

Never seen this much overcast and cold conditions this far into the trades. We’re having to rewear the few long sleeved shirts and bottom layers that we packed. Eew. 

The minute we decide to set the spinnaker, the wind direction goes forward crushing our ambitions. Hmm…whose decision was it to leave the code zero at home? Thank goodness for the peppy lil blast reacher. 

Life is amazing on this golden girl of the 90s. She was purchased from a sweet couple in Marin County, and meticulously revived by mechanical engineer and naval architect, Bill Rogers. In LA, Jib Kelly and Kelly Marine stripped down old systems and installed everything new. Bill and the crew continued with upgrades. Good Trouble’s (née Aldura) designer, Alan Andrews, has been a constant source of information and support for this program. 

As we enter whatever the heck date this is (oh wait, someone thinks it’s the 4th of July!!), we are dining well, taking care of ourselves and each other, and doing whatever it takes to make this old gal giddy-up. 

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Champagne Sailing Soon to Come in Transpac

On this Independence Day holiday while the rest of us are enjoying grilled meats, libations and fireworks with family and friends, the 52 teams with 455 sailors aboard on the Transpac racecourse are still making steady progress west towards Hawaii. The sun is coming out from behind the clouds during the day, the moon is bright at night and the sailing angles are starting to turn from reaching to running for most of the fleet.

Steve Rossi on Cecil and Alyson Rossi’s Farr 57 HO’OKOLOHE reported “Right after roll call yesterday the A3 went up and the mood boosted on the boat. We saw [an albatross] for the first time yesterday and again this morning on dawn patrol. It's always great to see these majestic yet solitary birds.

“Last night's full moon was spectacular, making short appearances through the break in the clouds, so bright at times we almost needed sunglasses. The sun today has finally brought out that crystal clear blue diamond Pacific ocean water. We're reaching deeper into our sail locker, and were finally able to pull out the bigger A2 spinnaker- a much more manageable kite than the A3 we had up for the last 24 hours, which was a chore to keep under control in the confused wind conditions.”

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Passing Lanes in Transpac

With the exception of five entries that have dropped from the race and have returned to the coast, the entire Transpac fleet is now finally making good progress down the racecourse towards Hawaii. The faster entries among the Thursday starters are also converging fast with the slower Tuesday starters as shown on the PASHA HAWAII YB tracker system and will soon be finding some passing lanes, mostly to the north of the rhumb line.

Using their satellite internet access all teams may download GRIB weather files while en route on the race. These are combined with their polar performance data and is used by routing software to help guide them on where to go on the racecourse to get the fastest possible calculated route to the finish.

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Triumph Boat Blog

July 3, 1030

Quick update from the Triumph.  As you might see from the YB Tracker, we are barely holding off Deception but as we enter the downwind leg it will be a dog fight as they are a much lighter boat.  Westerly has got something we don't and I am not sure what that is. Perhaps an upwind sail. They continue to outpace us.  We continue to push. 

We have seen alot of debris today including a large chunk of foam with a 2 inch piece of rebar. Then we wrapped some plastic bag or something around the keel requiring us to back down (under sail of course).  We quickly got back underway.

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Halfway point (for some) in the 2023 Transpac

After yesterday’s third and final start of the 2023 Transpac, the fortunes of the fleet of 57 entries can be ascertained from the PASHA HAWAII YB tracker system and reports coming in to race managers at Transpacific Yacht Club. There are some in this fleet there are starting to get a taste of the champagne sailing conditions that makes this race famous, while others are still days away from having this taste too as they struggle to get off the California coast.

The leaders in the first group of starters continue their match race battle for the lead in Boatswain’s Locker Division 7 among two Dehler 46 sisterships. At 0900 PDT this morning Greg Dorn’s FAVONIUS is shown to have managed to pass and build a 4-mile lead over Ian Edwards’ WINGS from Australia. With 1219 miles to the finish at Diamond Head in Honolulu these two are sailing at about 9 knots and are near the halfway point on the course after 5 days of racing.

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Starting July 1, 2025



 Jul 1, 2025
1st Start

San Pedro
 Jul 3, 2025
2nd Start

San Pedro
 Jul 5, 2025
3rd Start

San Pedro