Determined by Weather

By Stan Honey

The primary feature dominating the Transpac is the Pacific High. Typically, there is no wind in the center of the high, but it has increasing wind as you get farther south - up to a point. The central question of sailing the race is how close to sail to the high, or inversely, how many extra miles to sail to get farther from the high.

In years when the Pacific High is weak, or weakening, and positioned well south, there can be strikingly more wind to the south. There have been Transpacs when yachts ten miles to the south of their competitors have experienced one knot more wind. A sled in those conditions can sail a half-knot faster and would therefore gain 12 miles per day on their northern competitors. This condition can persist for the entire middle-third of the race and can eliminate any chance of recovery for the yachts positioned too far north.

In other years, the Pacific High will be strong, or strengthening, and located far to the north. In these conditions, it is then possible to be too far south. The boats that sail closer to the high will not only get more wind, they will also sail the the shorter distance. Typically, in these years, the wind stays " reachy" throughout the middle-third of the race. Then the boats that paid extra distance to get south cannot cash in the southing to reach up in front of the northern boats because everyone is reaching fast.

The Start and Beat to Catalina

Generally, boats should tack up the Palos Verdes' coastline from the start until the Westerly has filled in and they can at least lay Catalina's isthmus. When they tack onto starboard to cross the channel, they should continue all the way across, and not tack in mid-channel. There is substantial adverse current and lighter wind in mid-channel and it is better to get right across into the accelerated wind and reduced current off Catalina.

Transpac's Three Sections

It is helpful to think of the Transpac as having three sections: the windy reach to the Pacific High's ridge; the " slotcars" section in the middle; and finally, the run to the finish. The Pacific High nearly always has a ridge extending off its southeast corner, which is visible on a weather map as a U-shape of the isobars. After rounding Catalina's west end, yachts have a windy reach for a couple of days, depending on their speed. When they get to that ridge, the wind lightens up and veers very quickly.

The most critical decision of the Transpac race is where to cross the ridge, because once a boat gets to it and the wind comes back, it cannot get farther south. It is already sailing as low as it can on its polars and it cannot jibe without a huge penalty.

The middle-third of the race, " slotcars", begins as soon as a boat crosses the ridge and the spinnaker pole comes aft. Throughout this part of the race, everyone sails as low as they can, e.g., sails their downwind polars. Back at the west end of Catalina the decision was made as to where to cross the ridge, and once there, all must live with that decision for the next three days or so.

If a boat is too far north, it will be slowly outdistanced by the yachts to the south and there is nothing that can be done. If it is even further north, all on board will experience unbelievable torture, for as the wind gets lighter, the boat's polars will force it to be sailed higher and higher, until it " spins out" up into the high. When it is eventually jibed to avoid starvation, the angle on port pole has the boat heading due south, far behind the competitors' transoms.

The " slotcars" leg ends when the wind eventually veers far enough so that both jibes are symmetrical along the course to the finish and the yachts can sail either jibe. They are into the final leg, and the reason why we sail Transpacs - " the run" - surfing the trade wind swells.

Generally, the right hand side of the course is favored during the run because the wind slowly veers as boats sail further west. The wind speedlly even across the course in the final third of the race. The best course is to favor starboard pole until the last jibe to the vicinity of the Islands, and then come in on port pole to approach Molokai at Kalaupapa.

Special Consideration - Squalls

In contrast to popular perception, squalls do not work the way " catspaws" do. Catspaws have diverging wind in front of them, whereas trade wind squalls have converging winds at their leading edge. The wind converges because there is an updraft in front of a squall. Also, the average wind in a squall is veered about 15 degrees to the right of the path of the prevailing surface wind and the squall itself moves about 15 degrees to the right of the path of the surface wind. Behind a squall the wind is light, particularly near dawn.

In general, heavy boats should jibe to port pole as a squall approaches, stay on port pole right through the squall, and then jibe back when the squall has passed completely over and wind speed and angle has returned to the prevailing conditions. To jibe back to starboard pole too early risks crossing behind the squall and getting into the light air in its wake.

Light, fast boats should jibe in front of any squall within reach and then jibe back and forth in front of the squall for as long as possible. Each jibe " back" towards the squall will be at a horrible angle because of the way the wind toes-in in front of the squall, but it should still be done as the boat's velocity makes up for the angle. When the squall finally passes, again boats should exit on port pole. That allows them to diverge rapidly from the light air behind the squall, which is moving to the right of the prevailing wind.

Approaching the Finish

Yachts should jibe close to Kalaupapa and sail as low as possible on starboard pole along Molokai. When they get to the west end of Molokai, if they have been lifted away from shore, they must jibe back on port to get close to Ilio Point where there is accelerated wind. At that point, they should jibe onto starboard and cross the channel to Oahu.

Oahu should never be approached much above Koko Head, but it is fine to sail close to Koko Head and then straight for the finish off Diamond Head. As boats approach the finish line, they should plot their track on the chart and take GPS fixes as well as periodic bearings with a hand bearing compass. The finish line is deceptive and many yachts get too close to shore when they cannot see the red buoy. The best technique is to plot the course and navigate to the buoy, rather than expect to see it. With spectator boats around, the buoy often cannot be seen until it is within 100 yards.

When to Break the Rules

Although all of the above information is relevant to a typical Transpac, there are unusual races in which the rules must be broken. To know when, crews must pay attention to their boat's polars. If they are on a sled, it is worth sailing extra miles to get extra wind because, no matter how hard it blows, the boat will go faster if it gets more wind.

On the other hand, if the boat is of moderate displacement, it should not be sailed extra miles for any more wind than necessary to reach hull speed. If it is sailed farther to get even more wind, the crew will have more fun, but their average speed won't increase enough to pay for the extra distance.

Crews should also watch for tropical depressions. Their inverted troughs that extend north can cause the trade wind direction to shift from normal and can make a huge difference in picking an approach to the Islands.

Stan Honey (USA) - Navigator

Stan Honey is one of the world's most successful sailing navigators. As Navigator he has won seven Transpacs (California-Hawaii) including setting the monohull record for Los Angeles-Hawaii and San Francisco-Hawaii on Roy Disney's Pyewacket. He has also won the Newport-Bermuda Race, his class in the Admirals Cup and various other ocean and coastal races. He is currently navigator for Steve Fosset's Playstation, a 125' foot maxi-catamaran entered in The Race.
Born on April 8th, 1955 Stan is a competitive sailor as well as navigator, holding the monohull record for sailing to Hawaii singlehanded. He has also taken third place in the World Championship for 505 sailboats and won the collegiate North American Championship in big boats.
A businessman and inventor, Stan founded Etak, Inc, which developed vehicle GPS navigation technology. At News Corporation he led the development of the FoxTrax hockey puck, and he is currently Chief Technology Officer of SporTVision.