Slow going

Driftaton for first Centennial Transpac starters

As the first day at sea dawned in the Centennial Transpacific Yacht Race to Hawaii, the leading boat in the forerunner fleet had sailed a mere 39 nautical miles in the 19 hours between Monday's start and Tuesday morning's initial daily roll call position reports.

That was a 2 knot average for Plan B, a Peterson 48 entered in Aloha A class by David Johnson. Soap Opera, the Hobie 33 doublehanded by Scott Self and Nigel Brown that appeared to be the early leader Monday, was slightly northwest of Plan B and marked a mile behind. Only 14 miles separated them and the stragglers.

After 33 Division V, Aloha A and B and Cal 40 boats struggled off the line in 4 knots of wind, it was hoped that conditions would improve. Instead, they got worse.

Cruising World magazine editor Herb McCormick, sailing on Mark Schrader's Cal 40, Dancing Bear, reported by e-mail: "At this rate, we’re confident of landfall in Honolulu sometime just before the 200th anniversary of the race. We are currently making about 3 knots and have just passed Santa Barbara Island. The good news: We’ve seen an abundance of sea life - porpoises, seals, sea lions, grand schools of fish. I’ve actually seen more wildlife so far than in the last two Bermuda races I’ve sailed combined."

Grant Baldwin reported from the communications vessel Alaska Eagle that it had been "a long night without much wind and quite cold. Morning found the fleet in fog and wind in the 3-4 knot range. Seas are calm."

But there was a note of hope. Baldwin also said, "AM forecast from Commanders Weather projects improved conditions with winds from [northwest to north at] 15-25 [knots]. Stay tuned."

The next start will be the division III and IV boats Friday, followed by the biggest and fastest Division I and II boats Sunday. Both starts will be at 1 p.m. within view of shore off the Palos Verdes Peninsula at 33-42.8 N latitude and 118-20.3 W longitude.

All of the boats in Transpac Village at Rainbow Harbor in downtown Long Beach are receiving ceremonial sendoffs between 9 and 10:30 a.m. Crew members are introduced as the boats sail past the end of the Pine Avenue Pier and saluted by shotgun fire.

On Sunday the big boats - including Morning Glory, Windquest, Scout Spirit, Beecom and Renegade - will be led out of Rainbow Harbor by the local outrigger canoe club at 09:30am. Windward Passage, one of the more historic Transpac winners, will join a ceremonial fleet as part of the procession to the starting line.

Camille left quietly by itself Tuesday. James and Ann Read's 37-year-old wooden Stewart 42 from Inverness in Northern California was supposed to start Monday but was left behind to gets its sail repaired. The Reads suffered damage to their main sail and roller furling headsail en route down from San Francisco last week, but after quick repairs they were almost ready to go.

"My wife isn't as ready as I am," Read said Tuesday morning. "She wants to get things a little more organised."

It's their first voyage offshore after a decade of day sailing the boat on San Francisco Bay. They are not hardcore racers, so they weren't concerned that their scoring clock started Monday when the rest of the Aloha B fleet started - although it appeared that they hadn't missed much the first day.

"We didn't really expect to be competitive," said Read a retired IBM test engineer. "We're complete greenhorns, but you have to start somewhere. People shouldn't worry about us. We'll fly the [spinnaker] during the day, not at night. We just wanted to pry loose from the shore and start cruising."

The only other member of the crew is Sweetie Pie, a Havanese dog.