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| Portland's Dave King Completes Singlehanded Transpac - Takes Second Place even With Broken Boom |
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 | | Submitted Photo | | Saraband passes under the bridge under jib, reefed main and staysail |
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By Peter Marsh
Portland's Dave King has been sailing his Westsail 32 Saraband for as long as I can remember, taking long cruises across the Pacific every few years, and occasionally entering ocean races. It was back n 1988 when he stunned all the racers in the Pacific Cup by beating everyone on handicap, crossing a modest but consistent speed in 14 days, 17 hours. This year, he raced over 2,000 miles to Hawaii again, without crew and proved he still knows how to make his boat go.
He was competing against 14 boats of all types, broke his boom, and finished in 17 days 3 hours to place second on handicap to Seattle's Adrian Johnson on the ultralight Olson 30 Idefix. The race began on Saturday June 19 with a fresh 20-knot breeze and a massive ebb to flush them out of the San Francisco Bay. Saraband passed under the bridge under jib, reefed main and staysail. Conditions were severe under the bridge, and got worse out in the ocean, It was so rough that Second Verse, a Cascade 36, was hit by a wave and knocked down until the spreaders were under water.
Sunday, June 20 Dave began sending emails back to his wife Ruth. What follows is excerpted from them. The first message was: "It's not fun yet! He said nobody is racing really...just hanging on. That evening Saraband was under a double reefed main and a storm jib sail doing 7 knots and heading for Mexico! The day's run was172 miles-over a 7-knot average.
Tues June 22: "Ocean sailing does not get any better than this. A little slow for racing but very pleasant. Made many sail changes the past 12 hours but now have a full Main, full Staysail, and nylon Drifter. Saraband is on a close reach making 5.1 knots in 4.9k of apparent wind. We're right on course for Hawaii." 169.2 nautical miles in last 24 hours.
Wed June 23: The good sailing did not last. "The past 8 hours have been in very light and variable headwinds. I have made good on course only 18 miles the past 7 hours. At present I am close hauled 50 degrees off the wind and 50 degrees off course. I am discouraged by this turn of events."
Thurs June 24: "Ahoy, Saraband has arrived in the trade winds. They are currently light at about 7-8 knots. The tri-radial spinnaker has been up all day. I'm using the 1.5 oz now as it is much stronger and there is enough wind to keep it up. It's not as pretty as the 3/4 oz but Kern, the sailmaker gave a good price on it if I accepted the colors he had laying around the shop. So it is Red and Orange. The wind is dead astern so I have gybed twice today to try and stay on the favored tack. Saraband caught its first fish on this trip yesterday. A 12" flying fish landed aboard." 24-hour distance is 88 nautical miles
Fri June 25: I made it through 2 slow days of frustrating sailing. Apparently the other boats had a tough time too as I did not lose any ground. This has been the easiest day so far. Slower than I'd like but Saraband is on a starboard broad reach averaging 6k with the main and drifter. The wind is now from the N. and may be from the NE tomorrow. Still no sun."
Sun June 27: "The wind did not come after all. In fact if faded away again for the night. "Big Red" is half the size of Montana yet it could not catch enough air to keep me at 4k most of the night. It has been over 8 days yet Saraband is still 70 miles from the halfway point."
Tues June 29: Ahoy, I slowly drifted past the 1/2 way point today. That is 9 days from the start. That is a very slow time. The sailing is quite pleasant but it's too slow for racing."
Thurs July 1: "Hello, all boats now have more wind than they would prefer. Big Red came down about 4pm."
Fri July 2: "The winds are here. 20-knot NE Trades and big seas. Saraband is wing and wind with a reefed Main and Yankee on port pole. I am on course for the first time in days and averaging over 7k. The ride is acceptable. Disaster boom just broke. I'm OK but must go!"
Hello, I have splinted the boom by using 2 windvane rudders, one on each side of the boom. They are each about 4' long. Saraband continues to average nearly 6 knots at this time using just the Yankee and Staysail wing and wing. The problem is the sea state. An accidental gybe occurred while I was talking to you last night, all of the forces of the mainsail were transferred to the vang twice."
Sat July 3: "Saraband has been sailing well all day. Just a little slow. The boom repair is not holding. I spent another 4 hours today with the sail down trying to make a better fix. I have other sailing options though so don't worry. I will be into Hanalei in less than 3 days regardless of the boom. The cabin has taken on the appearance of a teenage kid's room. The repair is holding but I can't push the issue."
Monday July 5: "Another squall has just passed. They are what causes the broken halyards, the torn sails. A squall will typically double the wind strength and cause two direction shifts--one at the beginning and one at the end.
Tues July 6: Another stressful night but probably the last of this crossing. At about 5 AM the Genoa sheet broke. It was not until about 11 AM that I had everything back together and pulling again. I hadn't actually used my Genoa for many years. The sheets appear to be original issue--perhaps, 30+ years old.
The seas have built a bit again, partly due to the influence of the Hawaiian Island chain rising from the sea bed. The combo of sail trim and sea causes a horrible roll - and Culebra, an Olson 34 and a nice boat is in sight.
Dave crossed the finish line off beautiful Hanalei Bay, Kauai at about 11:30AM local time. He happily received his Hawaiian lei welcome, and his mango smoothie from Ruth. Saraband sat at anchor while Dave and Ruth moved into the Hanalei Inn and enjoyed their stay. At the awards dinner, Dave made a short speech and received his first in class award, the Single Handed Sailing Society's belt buckle, and the Foxxfyre Trophy for creative ingenuity under sail, because he not only repaired the boom, but kept racing! |
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