Chatter - Ocean Navigator

Transpac Race wrap up

The 2023 edition of the Transpac Race is in the record books. Fifty-seven boats in eight monohull and one multihull classes entered the race with 52 finishing and five retiring for a variety of reasons. With some big sleds in the Whitter Trust division three — like the well-known Andrews 68 Pyewacket, owned by Roy Disney, along with five Santa Cruz 70s — you might expect a boat from that division to take first place. Due to the effort of a well-run race and the benefit of a good race rating, however, it was the Santa Cruz 52 Westerly, owned by…

El Nino and hurricanes

It’s officially an El Niño season. That means that certain climate conditions have aligned. Sea surface temperatures are above normal in the east and central tropical Pacific Ocean and are expected to stay that way for at least several months, and air circulation in the atmosphere has shifted away from the “normal” state of rising in the usually warmer far western Pacific and flowing east to sink over the usually colder water in the east. The circulation reverses, with air rising in the east and sinking in the west to flow back east over the ocean, with lighter tradewinds. Air…

Yacht fire traced to oily rags

On a sunny July afternoon, the owner of the 79.9-foot yacht Pegasus and an employee refinished wood surfaces with teak oil at Peninsula Yacht Basin in Gig Harbor, Wash. The task involved applying the oil with a brush then wiping away and excess with a cloth. They wrapped up for the day at about 16:30 and left the oily rags in a bag under a wooden table on the vessel’s aft deck. Some nine hours later, smoke and flames were visible on Pegasus’ aft end. The fire continued to burn until the stern sank into the water. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators traced…

ON photo contest sponsored by ICOM

Don’t forget the Ocean Navigator photo contest sponsored by ICOM. The ON Photo Contest will be awarding an ICOM handheld radio to each of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners. We will announce the winners in the Jan/Feb ’24 issue. Send your photo (high res and one entry only please) and a brief description to tim@maritimepublishing.com. To be considered for the photo contest your email must have the subject line “ON photo contest.” Send us your best photo today!

Self-steering issues in the Golden Globe Race

Golden Globe Race winner, see “Kirsten Neuschafer wins the Golden Globe” in the Short Tacks section of this issue. Solo sailboat racing and mass-produced self-steering systems rose together in the 1960s. These so-called windvanes made such races possible. For retro events like the Golden Globe Race, in which racers sail similar yachts and equipment to what was available to Sir Robin Knox Johnston, the winner of the first race in 1969, they are required gear. But problems have plagued these systems from the start, and are still doing so. Self-steering failures in both the 2018 and 2022-23 Golden Globe Race…

A schoonerman passes

Eben Whitcomb, Jr., the moving force behind the building, maintenance and operation of the schooner Harvey Gamage from 1973 to 1994, died on May 13 at the age of 98. He and Shirley, his bride of 64 years, were living in an assisted living facility in Connecticut. Eben Whitcomb Jr. was born in 1925 into an old Maine family and was raised in Washington DC. Eben Jr. attended Yale taking a degree in engineering and upon graduation served in the Navy for three years. After his discharge he went to work at Brown Company a large paper company in Maine.…

Ocean Navigator photo contest

With high quality phone cameras in every pocket, there’s no excuse for not taking some great photos. Send us one of your best pics from your voyages. Every issue we’ll publish the best ones, both in the magazine and on the ON website. Send your photo (high res and one entry only please) and a brief description to tim@maritimepublishing.com. To be considered for the photo contest your email must have the subject line “ON photo contest.” Get clicking!

Voyagers effort to aid Vanuatu

A group of voyagers organized by liveaboard Luc Callebaut — who, along with his wife Jackie was interviewed in ON’s 2022 Ocean Voyager annual issue — is pitching in to assist the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu after it recently suffered two tropical cyclones — Cyclone Judy and Cyclone Kevin — and also a magnitude 6.5 and a magnitude 5.4 earthquake. The assistance effort is being aided by such groups as the Seven Seas Cruising Association; the Grand Large Yachting World Odyssey 500; Byond Disaster Relief NZ; Bay of Islands Marina, Port Opua, New Zealand; and Noonsite.com. Callebaut wrote:…

Citizen science for voyagers

Cruising sailors leaving home often want to be useful in places they visit along the way. This can take the form of applying skills from their lives on land, like teaching or carpentry, or distributing supplies to distant places. But another way to contribute to the greater good is through citizen science. Citizen science happens when the public voluntarily helps conduct scientific research. Citizen scientists may collect data, analyze results, and even design experiments but the specific problem and the tools to address it are set up by professional scientists. Employing volunteers can broaden the geographic reach of a research…

Transpac Race gearing up

More than 60 boats have been entered in the 2023 Transpac race from Cabrillo Beach, Cali. to Honolulu (Ocean Navigator is a Transpac Race co-sponsor). The pace quickens now for the competitors and the race committee as the first start on June 27 approaches. Before the start there will be a skipper’s meeting and an aloha send-off party on June 24 on board the former US Navy battleship USS Iowa, which is docked in Los Angeles as a museum ship. There will be three starts: Tuesday, July 27 for 17 boats (some boats slated for this start are provisional as…