First some appreciation for this group of people making this possible!!!

I entered this race in a new boat J/88 that I purchased with the intent of daysailing on the bay. I had some training in offshore sailing and navigation and had about 3,000 offshore miles prior to this event.....however they were in larger boats with a crew.

If you are thinking of doing this event......I would highly encourage a week or two offshore as part of a crew and either informal or formal education.

My experience of the Long Pac was similar to most of the stories already reported.......what follows is a distillation of what I learned now looking back on it a week or so later.

The four priorities in order of importance

1) Sail the boat
2) Manage the crew
3) Navigate
4) Communicate


1) In general I knew what sails I needed for what conditions. However, I didn't have a plan book for when to move from my small jib to my storm jib. The last day beam reaching in 20-25knots I was way overpowered so put in the first reef then the second(in part because this was easy). At this point it was getting dark and still overpowered. I ended up rolling up the jib and continuing along with double reef. This worked.....but it would have been better for me to go to storm jib before putting the second reef in. At this point the wind/sea state would have been more conducive to changing out the sail. If I had been underpowered I could have always taken out the first reef. Although I knew intellectually that sea state/wind waves develop more offshore than in bay......years of sailing in 25 knots in the bay left me a little complacent.

2) Manage the crew. This is basically food and rest. I would encourage skipping any notion of regular meals and go with a variety of options. Definitely some gatorade or pedialyte (this was Dave's idea..thought he was crazy) but in rough sea state....being able to sip on a little fluid solution was helpful. Keep an eye on your urine color as a measure of hydration status.....goal is pale yellow. Some freeze dry was nice, and some fruit cups worked for me. Sleep is where I could have done better. I am used to sleeping when tired. And essentially sail till tired and then sleep. I would in further make more of an effort to sleep/rest very early on. Figuring out a way to cat nap in the cockpit would have helped. With time I figured out how to see instruments from my bunk so could rest....check direction/check AIS etc.

3) Navigation. Make sure you are comfortable coming by the Farallons, crossing the shipping channels/or bypassing them at night when tired and in rough conditions. I had done this quite a few times so felt comfortable in this area. A single Farallons outing would not be enough.

4) Communicate. Although I had a new radio installation and all tested fine in bay......I experienced some difficulty communicating with other sailboats....not sure why....but communicating with the large ships fine...although this is important I would put it as the last priority.

Fair winds,
Chris