August 11, 2008 (From the Skipper!!)

Hello from Kauai,
Things have settled down now that the race is over, the boat is on its way back to San Francisco, and Ruben of Sparky has made it safely into Hanalei Bay. I have had a chance to catch my breath and begin to reacquaint myself with my wonderful wife, Jeanne, who has done a beautiful job in keeping everyone informed on what was transpiring with the TransPac.
So much has happened since that fascinating morning of July 12th when so many family and friends came to see me off at the start of the race. As I sailed out of the slip, it seemed so odd to be joining such a varied group of boats. I have a great picture of Black Feathers (a 20 footer) crossing tacks with Dogbark (a 60 footer) as we all prepared for our starts. So much time and preparation goes into an event like this that it seems unreal when it is actually happening.
The first three days of the race were very strange. We had some good wind the first afternoon, but then we were stuck in very light winds, and nobody really knew where to go to find the real wind. After day four, we were all moving well, but on some very different paths to Hanalei!
Black Feathers was a bit south of most of the boats which was not originally intended. I got into some very stiff winds and felt the safest point of sailing was in that more southerly direction. Off I went for a day and a half with a double-reefed main heading a bit too southerly. During these days I took on quite a lot of water as it splashed across the bow and trickles shot through the little cabin. It was then I knew for sure this would be a wet ride.
By day six of the race I had made it to a point where I had hoped I would be in order to follow a pre-race guesstimate at what an ideal route might be. Once on this Hanalei, I kept it all the way to the finish. Twice I was passed by racers competing in a different Hawaii race and they gave me much appreciated encouragement. They had all sailed Cal-20's in their past and truly applauded my efforts.
The halfway point (1060 miles into the race) was reached on the eleventh day. A wonderful tradition designed to lift the spirits of everyone involved in a TransPac race is the giving and receiving of a half-way gift. I had no idea my gift from Jeanne would be so powerful. She had written a small book of the mystical story of a knight and a mermaid. As it was intertwined with many elements of our actual lives over the last four years, its emotional effect on my was profound. There is a bronze mermaid awaiting me at home to complete my half-way gift...it was much too heavy to make the trip. My gift to Jeanne was a silver charm of a small sail boat, not unlike Black Feathers, which came from my mother's charm bracelet.
The boat was moving well and a comfortable daily routine had settled in. The next day all was fine until late afternoon when the self-steering went crazy and I could hear an ugly scratching sound at the back of the boat. Black Feathers had broken her fairly new, high-tech, fiberglass rudder. It snapped off at the waterline. All TransPac boats are required to have an emergency rudder. Most of these rudders are smaller versions of the actual rudders and nobody want to use them. Fortunately for Black Feathers, I had her original 1961 all mahogany rudder which had resided the last five years in Jeanne and my living room. It was a thing of beauty once I had sanded off some 45 years of paint! This full-sized rudder was my emergency rudder and after a short, but stressful struggle to get it in place and attached to the self-steering, we were off and running again. It functioned beautifully the rest of the trip.
There are many moods to our Pacific Ocean. It can be bright and warm and welcoming, and there was some of that - particularly during the last fourth of the trip. It can be bumpy, overcast, cold and a bit hostile - and it was, particularly in the first fourth of the trip. But EVERY NIGHT, it was magical! Once the sun goes down you can't see the water unless the moon casts its glow, but with the many overcast skies there was little evidence of our moon. So there you are moving through a corridor of darkness where the 5-6 knots of speed feels like 50. I would find myself standing in the hatchway area with 10 foot of boat before me and 10 foot behind me, holding on as the boat would rock from side to side and the wind whistle through the rigging as we shot across the water towards Hanalei. If any person could not find such an experience magiical, I'm afraid they are missing much of life's fascinations.
For the last half of the race I intended to go as fast as I could without breaking the boat or getting hurt. I had heard about Sparky, the second smallest boat in the race, getting dismasted 670 miles from the finish by an unexpected squall. Each racers heart sank as they realized what a difficult task Sparky's Skipper, Ruben Gabriel, would have in attempting to get some type of emergency rig standing so he could limp to the finish. Ruben rose to the occasion and brough her in after 11 very difficult and emotion-filled days - a truly splendid accomplishment which will be remembered and admired by all.
About 200 miles from the finish a rather amazing thing happened. It was nearing dusk and there were many sea birds flying around the area as Black Feathers headed west. Every time a bird would fly close to the boat to check us out, I would attempt to encourage its friendship with whistles and welcoming gestures. Having never had any success with this approach, I was astounded when not only did an albatross do serveral slow and close fly-bys, but then actually landed on my solar panel! Finding the solar panel slippery and unstable, my visitor jumped on to an adjacent rail with its funky but reliable webbed feet and settled in - not only for the night, but for the next two days! I enjoyed and photographed my feathered friend until the morning of my arrival when, at the Kilauea Lighthouse (a well-known bird refuge) he rejoined his bird friends just as the sun was dawning. I had 6 miles to go.
Black Feathers crossed the finish August 1 on a glorious sunlit morning. We had done well in this unique race coming in second in our division and 8th (out of 22) in fleet. Division first place went to Wildflower who took First overall on corrected time.
My reunion on the beach of Hanalei with my wife, Jeanne, in my arms, and surrounded by my son, Winston and his wife, Sarah (with their soon-to-be-born son, Sebastian) and my daughter, Kendra, with her best of friends, Bill, was a thing I had envisioned and anticipated for weeks. It's as good as it gets...!
The original return plan was for me to sail Black Feathers home to California, however, during the ride to Hanalei, I realized sailing her home would be anti-climatic and unnecessary to accomplish my goals with the TransPac. So after a few days of cleaning her up, I sailed Black Feathers to Honolulu, a short but rough passage, and she is now on a freighter headed for San Francisco Bay. I was able to return to Hanalei in time to announce Sparky's finish over the VHF from the Princeville Bluff. A great end to a super adventure.
I thank you for joining me on my adventure. Your good wishes and prayers were with me and greatly appreciated. And, of course, I am so pleased that you could follow Black Feathers through the tremendous efforts of my wife, Jeanne; my son, Winston, and Drs. Charles McKelvey and Phil Grossman of Twain Harte Family Dental.
Thank you all.
Robert Crawford of Black Feathers