Magnitude 80. Image copyright Rick Rosen.
by Lynn Fitzpatrick
Magnitude 80, Doug Baker’s Andrews 80, is about to pull to within 100 miles of Diamond Head and claim the Barn Door for the fastest elapsed time in the entire Transpac fleet. There are a handful of boats within 200 miles of Hawaii and then the troops will start to march in. Sunday will be a light day for Aloha welcomes and the parties will go around the clock in Ala Wai on Monday and Tuesday.
Eyes are peeled to the Pegasus 50 blog where Philippe Kahn had demonstrated earlier today that you need very little other than a dry, fully charged iPhone with the FullPower MotionX application on it to navigate to Hawaii when he and Mark "Crusty" Christiansen lost their battery power. With nothing more than enough juice to send messages via e-mail, the two-man boat is navigating through the darkness and squalls without electrical power. Says Kahn, “Bad. Safe, but bad.” Relays Kahn, “All down - Down to flashlights, mechanical compass and add-on batteries for iPhone MotionX and hand held iridium. Trying to fix.”
As FullPower MotionX went to no power and plenty of motion and commotion while sailing along at a VMG of 18 knots, Kahn’s iPhone displays distance to the Waikiki Beach Waypoint, ETA, COG, VMG and his headings, is running low also. They are due in at 2:00 am on Monday.
Kahn’s nav station is all about redundancy. His barometer rivals those found in the most well-equipped weather stations. He loves navigating and has aptly demonstrated his celestial navigation skills. He also has an incredibly talented co-skipper with him. Not to fear, the pair is resourceful. The boat has completed the Transpac before and won the Pacific Cup. Additionally, their growing audience is willing them on.
The excitement of the World’s most enduring and greatest ocean race continues for another week, because not only are the competitors arriving, so are their spouses, friends and family. It takes a bit of time to recharge after sailing for such a long time, and there are few places better to recharge than Hawaii.
Transpac Race
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