Cal Maritime: From tragedy to support within the Transpac community
by Transpacific Yacht Club 20 Jun 2023 00:46 BST
27 June - 1 July 2023
Transpac - Cal Maritime © Transpacific Yacht Club
On Thursday, June 8th, the support trailer for the Cal Maritime's Andrews 77 entry of the same name in the 2023 Transpac was reported stolen to the Port of Los Angeles police. In this trailer were the sails for the boat and other valuable equipment, undoubtedly of no use whatsoever to the thieves. This immediately put the team of 13 cadets, alumni cadets and coaches at jeopardy of not participating in the race.
The news spread quickly throughout the community of Transpac sailors and supporters. The message was not only to hunt down whoever perpetrated this senseless theft, but to find any spare sails that could come close to matching the huge dimensions of this very large offshore race boat. At 77 feet long, she is the second-longest monohull in this year's fleet.
To illustrate the size of the sails, consider these dimensions: the hoist for the mainsail is 85.8 feet (26.1 meters), the hoist to the masthead for the spinnakers is 93.8 feet (28.6 meters), the foot of the mainsail is 30.6 feet (9.3 meters), the foredeck from headstay to the mast is 29.9 feet (9.1 meters), the end of the bowsprit 39.1 feet (11.9 meters) from the mast and the largest spinnaker is a whopping 4719 ft2 (438 m2).
This search was critically important: CAL MARITIME is due to start the race on July 1st. Even if they had the funds to cover the massive cost needed to replace these with new sails, there is no way this could happen in such a short time frame.
Fortunately spreading the word among the Transpac community bore fruit. With help from Alan Andrews, the Reichel/Pugh office, and Doug McClean from George Hershman's Reichel/Pugh 63 GOODENERGY it was determined their rig dimensions were similar. Within a matter of hours found some sails in their spare inventory that could be a close enough fit. Program manager Jib Kelly then set to work arranging to get them hauled over to load on the boat.
"My part was pretty easy," said Hershman. "Jib reached out and I said absolutely! Help them out, and we were excited that they will work. The sail plans are close in size."
Fortunately, the mainsail was on the boat and not the trailer and only needs some help with battens. And the numerous headsails and spinnakers may need a few tweaks to fit better, but the team already has help offered from local sailmakers.
"This was a complete set of sails from 2018 and had been used on the boat when raced as LOKI, then as LUCKY in a campaign they pursued in Europe, we never used them," he said. "We're parked only a few slips away in Cabrillo Marina [in San Pedro], and will make our container available to them to help in any way we can."
GOODENERGY has thereby demonstrated the true spirit of sportsmanship and camaraderie we all value in offshore sailing. The Cal Maritime team has had to endure this unfortunate speed bump, but will be back on track soon this week in their final preparations before the race.
"We are stunned our community came together and within 48 hours provided us with this donation of sails," said the team's Offshore Coach Kerry Deaver. "I was in Alaska without phone contact last week but had email and WhatsApp access to monitor and help. The turnout of support has been tremendous and will allow us to focus on all the other preparations we need to race to Hawaii."
Both boats will be among 7 teams competing in Cal Maritime Division 1 in the race, starting at 1:00 PM PDT on Saturday, July 1st.
For more information on the 2023 Transpac, visit transpacyc.com.