July 8, 0:30 AM PSTWe are clearly entering the realm of the tradewinds. The natural path to Hawaii and it’s rich seafarer’s culture.
The Open 50 raceboat’s cabin has three satellite phones, a kevlar roof to pass wireless signals through and even Ethernet. The tour continues here.
Here’s a clip, uploaded moments ago from the Pegasus Open 50 sailboat underway in the Transpac race, using an iPhone 3G S, Wi-Fi and Satellite uplink.
July 7, 4:50 AM PST A quiet and relatively slow night. Around 10 PM it became clear that the wind was backing off and that we were entering the “Pacific High doldrums ridging zone”. That means large oscillations and significant wind speed changes.
For those interested in how sailboats work, Bruce Mahoney of Pegasus Racing continues his tour of the tech inside the Open 50 Raceboat. Here he starts into the cabin, where weather and navigation are handled (dryly, I might add).
July 6, 6:00 PM PST, Course 227° T, Speed 14.7 Knots After we licked our wounds, we made sail changes all day. With just the two of us and a lot of sail area, each change is a major project. Therefore, we think before we act, and we triple check everything. The one who’s steering watches for the one who’s on the fore-deck.
What’s this sailing race about? The Transpac isn’t the biggest sailboat race, but it’s the longest of the two oldest. The first Transpac happened in 1906, less than a month after the great SF earthquake, forcing it to start from LA.
July 5th, 2:40PM PST, 2009, Catalina Islands: Right before the start, one hour on our way, our hydraulics failed. That’s the system that helps cant the keel. It’s a must have.
Why a boat? Because the Pegasus Open 50, is laden with mechanical and material technology. And the captain is the inventor of the camphone and founder of Borland, Philippe Kahn. He’s liveblogging a race from California to Hawaii via Satellite.
Bruce Mahoney continues his tour of the Team Pegasus Open 50 Raceboat. If you like sailing and high performance vehicles, you’ll get something out of this video.
