100 - 199 posts
Ken, I think you misread. We are telling him he DOES NOT have to do an official qualifier.Originally Posted by Harrier
I am telling him to start sailing his boat single handed and start outfitting it.
I am in a similar place as Tushar. Although I have some experience I have a new boat that I have not sailed solo and does not meet the requirements. So what I'm telling Tushar, I am also telling my self. Get it done!
Peterson 34 "QUIVER"
several of us are in the same boat. ie- have done the race, but have new boats that need to be prepared/ 400 mile qualified.
Adam and I are planning another "LatePac", such as we did last year. basically, a handful of guys will wait for a weather window and then head out at the same time, monitoring the same ssb frequencies. this will probably take place this fall or next spring. the more the merrier...
Retiree Adventurer
OK, Phil
Of course your advice to him is the same as I or most anyone would give. Learn to sail your boat. Become comfortable offshore.
Some of the earlier comments pushing such as the Long Pac and Guadluope Race elicited my comment. This is called singlehanded sailing. I don't encourage buddy-boating to get prepped!
100 - 199 posts
I'll add my 2 cents. The first 4 days or so of the SHTP is the hard part. Very windy, seas on the beam, no sea legs (for softies like me), and you're really working hard to navigate, eat, sleep, sail the boat, and stay warm and dry. After that, everything gets relatively easy if you haven't broken something. So if you can do a LongPac or similar qualifier in windy conditions (don't pick your weather window) and afterward feel totally confident, then more than likely you're fine. But if you really want to be prepared, don't just do a qualifier or sail a ton of day sails with friends or even doublehanded. Do half-qualifiers solo, several times. Sail overnight solo from point to point, have a hot meal, pat yourself on the back, sail back again overnight, and pat yourself on the back again. You'll probably stay awake the whole time, and that's okay. Then do it again in lousy weather conditions. Then try staying alone on your boat for 5 or more days, on a coastal cruise, sailing both day and night, but not continuously, go ahead and anchor at times and have fun with it. Definitely try out a watch system--sleeping while sailing solo is eerie at first if you haven't done it before. Just don't do that in the shipping lanes! And have your AIS on. Get familiar with shipping, fishing vessels, etc. Get intimate with every part of your boat. Practice reefing, heaving to, change the headsail out of your furler in a seaway and hoist the small jib. That sort of thing. And have fun. If you aren't having fun, then that's a sign. If you're having fun, well, then you're hooked like the rest of us.
Paul/Culebra
Olson 30 "Idefix"
That sounds like a pretty good training program. I had very little solo time on the boat before SHTP. About 2 days of an aborted qualifier, 5 days of the real thing, and a couple solo sails on Puget Sound and the lakes. I also had maybe 8 or 10 days of doublehanding, with one overnight trip. Next to that I had maybe 30 or 40 fully-crewed day sails.
The qualifiers revealed more about myself and the boat than anything else. I agree with Ken that there's something to be said about doing the qualifier on your own. Being on the Pacific alone felt like I was doing something very forbidden. There probably wasn't another sailboat on the ocean that day within a thousand miles (the Pacific Northwest coast in November isn't particularly pleasant), and the only people who knew where I was were most likely passed out drunk. Then I got the sh*t kicked out of me in the Strait of Juan de Fuca in what seemed like fairly benign conditions, stopped having fun, and promised myself I would never do the transpac. When it came time to head for Hanalei I was glad I'd had that experience, because I knew what the boat and I were capable of, and having other boats within 100 miles, radio check-ins and people on shore tracking me made it feel like a walk in the park.
That being said, LongPac (and LatePac) sound like a lot of fun...
If you don't have many opportunities to sail, do it solo, challenge yourself, do your qualifier early, and take lots of notes.
1 - 9 posts
Hey Guys: What is the official word on a Qualifier? I am planning to smash my way out into the big pond for a few days. Its not practical for me to get to California to do some single handed racing. For anyone interested I had my Hobie 33 shipped back to Oakland from Oahu by Matson cost $3200 and that included shipping the trailer to Oahu. It was super easy and the people were great to deal with.
Olson 30 "Idefix"
John,
If the rules haven't changed, it's 400NM nonstop solo, under sail, going at least 100NM offshore. I started out of Pt. Townsend, sailed out the Strait about 120NM and back. Tried to keep a nice log and sent that and the GPS track to the RC. Should be a little easier to get offshore if you make Victoria your start. The hardest part is timing it for good wind. I had to beat through the Strait both ways... Unlike Swiftsure you can choose when to go. It took me a couple tries to get a good weather window in October/November...
Here's a little description of my qualifier. It was way harder than the SHTP. The qualifier took me about 92 hours, and I basically went 110 hours without sleep. With a better weather window you could probably do it in 80 or so. If I were doing it again I would stage out of Pt. Angeles instead of Pt. Townsend, and just sail further out to get the 400NM.
200+ posts, OMG
What year was that? Sounds very low.
1 - 9 posts
I shipped Por Favor back after the 2010 Pac cup. I can pull up the keel so I paid less than the fixed keel boats. You pay by cu ft volume. So I paid for a package 8'x8'x40' this included the trailer tongue and mast overhang. There were about 20 or so Pac Cup boats as well as at least one SHTP boat so maybe we got a deal. It will be the same for 2012 as the Pac Cup starts on the 15 July. Cheers John
1 - 9 posts
Qualifier
Hey Guys, I just finished my qualifier 453 nm and got m102nm off Leonard Island off Vancouver Island. Got to be the weirdest thing I've ever done. I managed to sleep and everything. I'll try to post my short story when I get it together. Had a crazy Kite run down Juan de Fuca strait in 25+ kn of breeze. Adrian I know you will appreciate that. Cheers Johnny
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