Awesome.  Cant' wait to see how it goes.  

Above - Tortuga W32 and Randy Leasure head out under the Golden Gate Bridge in heavy fog. (contrast correction applied) 

Dave King, Joe Leaber and I were on Pygmalion for the start of the SHTP 2012 race and saw Tortuga and Randy out the GGB -- and into the fog bank!  Winds were the usual 15-20 knots thru the Golden Gate.  I'll be posting more images soon of the start.  You can follow the race as all the boats have transponders at http://yb.tl/shtranspac2012.

Randy will be using snail mail to Daniella (the Admiral) and I'll post to this forum.

I was talking to another skipper and he stated quietly that he was "afraid" of the Westsail - meaning they really don't want to correct out behind a Westsail!!..

I've started an album with many images of the start of the race.  I'll have a few more as the race progresses.

Below is the 6/29/2012 (pre race - email)

Jay

ahoy dear friends and family!

the time has finally come! after countless hours of preparation and more boat dollars spent that i've long since lost track of, for tortuga and i to start the 2012 single handed transpac race to hanalei bay hawaii!

the race starts this saturday june 30th at around 1130/1200 in san francisco bay, just off tiburon, out and under the golden gate bridge and ends about 2100 miles later on kauai at hanalei bay.

for those of you in the bay area that may want to watch the start of the race there are 2 options. you can see the start from corinthian yacht club decks or if you are feeling adventurous you can watch the boats sail under the bridge from the walkway on the bridge.

as most of you know, my communication will be very limited during the voyage but i will have the ability to send very short text based email updates during the journey. because of the limitations of the email through single side band radio, i'll be sending these updates to dani from my sailmail address who will then forward them on to the group as i'm not able to receive and answer multiple emails.

additionally, all of the boats in the race will be carrying transponders so you'll be able to see our progress and cheer team tortuga along the way once the race starts. the transponders are just a way of tracking and with all things electronic they can stop working, so if there is a time when there is no update, have no fear, the transponder has likely just stopped transmitting and we are happily sailing along.

tracking info:
http://yb.tl/shtranspac2012

race info:
http://singlehandedtranspac.com/

mahalo! - i would not have made it to the starting line without the support of team tortuga’s admiral and my north star, danielle.
additionally team tortuga’s westsail owners association pit crew who gave countless hours of blood, sweat and tears (okay, that was me) helping me prepare the boat: jay, jim & julie, dave, doug & duke.

xoxo
team tortuga

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain

The weather looks perfect for the first week...might be a fast run. Wonder if Randy is going to come up a bit...or is the high moving down?

here we are on day 3! it had been a pretty rough ride throughout the night and was almost like the longpac qualifier race i did last summer but not as windy. i'm sure the guys on the littler boats are checking their sanity. i feel their pain knowing how cush i've got it compared to them. it's got to be super wet and cold for them. i've been keeping dry aside from the starboard scupper drain area still leaking (sorry dave!)  luckily it's the port rail in the water or i'd really be in water triage mode since all my electronics are there. good thing i've got extra towels to cram up in that area to mostly keep the dripping to a minimum. it's hard to do anything with the boat moving so much so you've got to plan out your moves on deck or across the cabin :) it seemed to ease a bit today and i was self steering on and off all day to keep up good boat speed. the auto pilot does well but you can really get in the groove with the waves self steering. saw a couple 9's on the gps sliding sideways down some of the bigger seas. sweet! i can feel the wind speed is in transition, just when i start to get ready to shake out the 1st reef it starts gusting again some more during us back up into the 7's. maybe it will settle in sometime over night or in the am. no sun to speak of so hoping it peaks out tomorrow to help charge up the batteries and lift spirits! had a tasty dinner; mixed green salad and "chicken" parm with some tcho chocolate to top it off. ok back to boat yoga and holding on. xoxo team tortuga

location 32.44N 133.29W speed 6.9 course 240 sail config full main& drifter
happy birthday america! live from planet tortuga, all is well! last night was a bit of a rough and rolly night. what i thought were some squalls ended up being the weather pattern through the night so i ended up carrying my drifter way too long and the boat was over powered and i was hand steering for quite a while thinking it was one big squall that would pass anytime. i finally had to drive down after midnight so i could drop the drifter and pull it all back aboard and then put up the staysail with a reefed main to balance things out to get some sleep. we were were still chugging along at 6 knots and the autopilot could handle it with the bigger seas and then i could get some naps in through the night. i woke this morning to see our speed had dropped quite a bit so i put back up the drifter right away and shook out the reef. none too soon as i looked around i saw another boat gaining on me quickly. it was harrier! once i got some speed back we were able to keep him at bay but i thought what a patriotic way to spend the 4th of July being tailed by the general! (for those who don't know,ken on harrier is an ex general in his 80's and this is his 11th single handed transpac!) no sunshine yet and the wind is still just forward of the beam to beam reachy. heard from others at radio check in this morning of unsucessful kite flying so i'm holding off for a bit as well. i caught my first fish today. (you'd be proud ed!)ok, it was a flying fish that landed in the cockpit and i tossed him back in,but hey tortuga caught one! :)  just spoke to the cargo vessel moku paku headed for crockett. they are carrying sugar from the islands and knew about the race and some of the people in it. saw him on my AIS about 75 miles out and hailed him when he was about 8 miles from me. got to love technology. there is a lot more shipping traffic than i would have thought still this far out. hope team tortuga can keep up the pace! xoxo