Singlehanded TransPacific Yacht Race
- June 25, 2014
The Singlehanded TransPacific Yacht Race takes place every two years. Starting from San Francisco Bay, California and heading to beautiful Hanalei Bay, Kauai, Hawaii – a distance of 2,120 nautical miles.
This event has been described by some of the racers as life-changing because they have completed something completely on their own through split second decisions and sheer determination.
The following is an excerpt from Mike Jefferson’s log, a veteran of the 1996 Singlehanded TransPac, on the question of who the racers are, and why:
“The answer is that by and large they are regular people with the courage and dedication to follow their dreams. Offshore sailing by oneself is a strenuous test of a person’s inner character. Technical skill and experience are, of course, very useful. Most of the sailors in this year’s Singlehanded TransPac are pretty experienced. But no one of us would be described as a rock star…The key to success in any great adventure is tenacity, and the sidekick of tenacity is preparation. It has been said that the hardest thing about doing the TransPac is getting to the starting line. In my own case this is certainly true, and I know many others would feel the same. So, what you have here are a bunch of intelligent, reasonably competent people who have decided that it is important to them to test themselves in a quest in which their success or failure can be solely (in so far as any human activity can be) their own responsibility.”
The Course will be from the starting line located near the Corinthian Yacht Club in San Francisco Bay, leaving the south tower of the Golden Gate Bridge to port. From there the participants can head to the finish line by any route they want.
Each yacht will have a YB tracker installed which will wake up at predetermined intervals to collect and send data through the Iridium network. This data includes gps position, speed and direction. All this data will be transmitted back to YB Tracking HQ where it is visualised on the race tracker.
For more information on this race and to view the live race tracker please visit the race website.
