Stealth Mode

Here is our first Transpac on board report from Tim Beatty on his Perry 56' Stealth Chicken. Enjoy.

Sat, 16 Jul 2005 19:11:56
The race started Fri, July 15 at 1300 hours in interesting Southern California conditions with the breeze from 90 to 100 degrees variable to non-existent. It was as if Donald Trump had the fans on the eighteenth fairway turned to the west. We started on the committee boat end of the line with good speed (one to two knots) to leeward of the Cone of Silence. Shortly after the start the breeze shifted farther to the left requiring the fleet to set spinnakers on port tack sailing at a heading of 250. The lighter small boats had an advantage in the shifty, puffy conditions that prevailed to the West end of Catalina.

Into the night the breeze built to 15 16 knot with gusts in the low twenties. Compared to the 2003 race the sea state was and has been rather moderate and the breeze has been roughly half. The anticipated moonlight from the two week delayed start date has been non-existent, last night we had visibility for some periods less than fifty feet. There were however large schools of fish illuminated by the phosphorescence and at times the fish could be felt hitting the rudder as they were chasing bait fish.

Around 0300 we were forced to make an unscheduled all-hands sail change from the barber hauled number one to the number two jib, as that the number one developed a thirty inch tear caused by both a twenty four knot gust and its accompanying wave. The change was seamless and we were glad that we brought the number two (worth the 125 pounds). In the morning we switched to a jib top with a genoa staysail, as the wind veered above 300 degrees true. Generally we had an uneventful day with steady breezes, a visit from a pod of dolphins and boat speeds over nine knots. We are attempting to gain some north when possible preparing to cross the ridge, which should happen some time tomorrow.

7/19/05