Max Crittenden takes on the Transpac
Some Q & A with instructor Max Crittenden who just returned from the Single Handed Transpac.
2010 marked the 32nd year since the Singlehanded Sailing Society(SSS) started racing the "TransPac" from San Francisco to Hanalei Bay, Kauai, Hawaii. On June 19th, 2010, one of our beloved instructors took on the challenge.
CN: What made you decide to do the Transpac?
Max: It wasn't a longstanding dream to do this race, or even to sail to Hawaii. But I've been very involved with SSS for a long time, and this race is the Big Deal in our club. And most people who have done it said it was a great experience, so I figured I'd give it a shot.
CN: Was it an expensive endeavor?
Max: I haven't added up my expenses, but I think I did the race for a lot less money than average. I bought a new autopilot (Raymarine X5), solar panels, and 3 used sails. Apart from the entry fee, those were the major expenses. Friends lent me an SSB radio and a Monitor windvane, and I stayed on the boat in Hanalei. Oh! And the whisker pole, that was expensive.
CN: What did you do to keep yourself secure?
Max: My rule was to always clip on when going forward, and even in the cockpit at night. But I broke the rule now and then, such as if I discovered that I wasn't wearing my harness. Except near SF, I wore just a harness instead of my PFD with harness, because if I fall overboard it doesn't matter too much how long I float! I made a rope ladder that I could theoretically pull down from the water, but I didn't test it.
CN: Did you have a strategy?
Max: I didn't have internet access on the boat, so my plan was to study the predictions for the first few days of the race, pick a course and stick to it. It looked like the high was going to be ususually far east and south (like I know what's normal!), so I dived south from the start to avoid it. Everybody had strong winds the first few days, but after that my strategy paid off for most of the race. There were a few days in the middle and at the end where I lost some ground.
It took a long time to really get into the trade winds. Even though I could fly the spinnaker in the middle of the race, the wind was out of the north so I was almost beam reaching much of the time.
CN: Did you get sea sick?
Max: I've never been seasick on a sailboat, just once on an ocean liner when I was 5. So I didn't bring any drugs for it.
CN: How did you like the solitude?
Max: I cope pretty well being on my own, but I'm sure it helped having the twice-daily radio checkins. Especially since for most of the race I didn't see any ships or boats.
CN: When were you able to sleep?
Max: I slept more than I planned to. Both my nap timers quit working after I dropped them in salt water, so I slept a few hours straight almost every night. Because I saw no traffic and because I had an AIS detector, I didn't worry about it much.
CN: Were you really pushing to win?
Max: There were a couple of days where I really pushed hard to go fast, making a lot of sail changes, but I started cussing a lot, especially at myself, and realized I just wasn't having a good time. So I backed off the competitiveness a bit after that and enjoyed the rest of the trip a lot more.
CN: Did you have any major problems?
Max: One spinnaker blew out. One spinnaker guy almost wore out; I respliced it once to move the worn spot, and it still looked bad after that. The engine's water pump stopped working, and I had to work out a way to prime it (fill it with water) so that it would keep pumping when I wanted to run the engine. One night the house battery bank ran low twice; I still don't know why that happened. Motoring through the High on the way home, the starting battery got overcharged and boiled out some of its water. I had trouble starting the engine once when it hadn't run for several days. Wet cabin from too many leaks. ... Not too bad overall.
CN: Were you thrilled to see land after weeks at sea?
Max: Seeing Kauai and coming into Hanalei Bay wasn't as emotional an experience as I've heard other people describe. I guess I'm pretty low key about that sort of thing.
CN: How was the sailing?
Max: The sailing was all pretty straightforward. Having done it for years on the Bay and outside the Gate, about the only difference was that it eventually got warm!
CN: What did you do to pass the time?
Max: It was hard to pick up short wave radio, which was the main form of entertainment the last time I did a long ocean passage in 1981. I read a lot, but I guess I'm an internet addict now so I had withdrawal symptoms.
CN: We saw in the pictures that you had a little stuffed mascot. Who was that?
Max: Hanno is a stuffed cat that my friends Alan and Joan Hebert (Alan has done this race) gave me just before the start because they know I love kitties. He's named after Hanno the Navigator, the Carthaginian king who explored the coast of West Africa around 500 BC. If I have a sailing dream, it's to retrace Hanno's voyage and write a book about where he may have actually gone.
CN: What was on the menu?
Max:
Breakfast: Instant oatmeal with peanut butter, honey and dried fruit. Tea.
Lunch: Cheese, cucumbers and bread while they lasted, then peanut butter and crackers.
Dinner: Heater Meals (like military MREs). Or Trader Joe's canned chili or bean salad, or TJ's roast beef hash or Indian vegetarian entrees in boiling pouches. Or Dinty Moore beef stew. Or canned tuna with boiled lentils or pasta.
Snacks: Dried fruit and nuts, turkey jerky. Oranges and cookies while they lasted. Kern's fruit nectars and V8 juice.(I didn't try fishing.)
CN: So, no injuries?
Max: While I was sailing I just had a couple of minor cuts, but in Hanalei I tore up my foot pretty badly on an exposed bolt. It got a little infected so I went to the ER in Kapa'a. They cleaned it up and gave me a shot of antibiotics and 10 days of oral antibiotics.
CN: How did you do?
Max: On corrected time, I finished 4th (out of 15 starters) overall, and 3rd out of 5 in Division B.
CN: We understand you took home some trophies! What did you win?
Max: The big bowl in the photo (see below) is for being the first displacement monohull to finish. (The three boats that finished before me were a multihull and two ultralight monohulls.) I also got the Latitude 38 / Nelson's Marine trophy for the first monohull from northern California on corrected time. (The three ahead of me were from Seattle, Portland and S. Calif.) I don't have a photo of that one yet.
CN: Would you do it again?
Max: Overall the experience was ... worthwhile, satisfying, but not life changing. I may do it again someday, but I want to be sure the boat stays drier and I'll probably have internet access.
View the tracks of the boats and the race results.
Thanks so much to Max for sharing his experience with us. He's currently back at work struggling to adapt to life back on dry land!
Max and his trusty companion, Hanno
The light air "Miami Vice" chute that rarely sees the light of day on the SF Bay
The cockpit
The whisker pole working its magic
I wonder what THAT noise was...
The heavy air chute
The heavy air chute after a squall
Self portrait at sunset
Solar Wind safely at anchor in Hanalei Bay, 4th boat to finish after 16 days and change.
Home again!
Back at the slip in South Beach
Award for first displacement monohull to finish!
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