Aboard Magnitude 80, Chis Hamel (out on a limb) and Hogan Beatie set up for the drop
Photo: Kimball Livingston

Let the stories roll. Transpac 2011 is in the books, but not done and gone.

At the Mount Gay party at Waikiki Yacht Club, there was Alpha Puppy skipper Alex Farrell being poked on sailing so far north, and why, Alex, why did you go so far north?

"The fishing was better up there."

Same time, same place, Max Moosman enthusing about the ride down the Molokai Channel aboard Pendragon VI,but not on his own behalf:  "We were all so happy to see John and Susy at the back of the boat, and the boat was bombing and Susy was just giggling her head off. That's the ride that John built the boat for."

Alex Mehran and Jesse Naimark-Rowse sitting on Truth, the Open 50 that used to be Philippe Kahn's Pegasus, doublehanded record holder, and 2011 was a year when nobody could have threatened that record, but they're agreeing, having had a look at it, "That is some record."

(Philippe, meanwhile, is sailing Lasers every day off Diamond Head in prep for the Laser Masters Worlds on San Francisco Bay in August. This is the guy who says, "I have to learn how to sail before I die.")

And Michael Lawler's Traveler is unabashedly a cruiser, a round-the-world veteran at that. This is one 47-footer that could not have fit into any class other than the Aloha Division.  So, what defines a cruiser?  Well, Bo Wheeler is the Honolulu Committee Chair of Transpac 2011, and Traveler crewman Ric Sanders reports, "When Bo came to the dock to greet us, we handed him a mai tai."

Traveler got our attention as of their halfway party, when skipper Michael made a move on his longtime squeeze, Barbara Burdick, and proposed marriage. And slipped this little "ring" onto her finger.  These two met on the docks at Hawaii Yacht Club after the 2005 Transpac and circumnavigated on Traveler after the 2007 Transpac, so it's not as though this was a snap decision. And by pure serendipity, the hose clamp was a perfect fit. With just a little screwdriver adjustment. Transpac 2011, it seems was quite the hotbed of romance.

Here we have Barbara and Michael at their welcome party.
                                                                                         Photo: Kimball Livingston

And from the crew ranks of Bengal 7, we have Yasuyuki "Hei-chan" Hirano, who proposed to the lovely Jun-chan at the crew dinner....
                                                   Hei-chan and Sun-chan. Photo by Yoichi Yabe

On the Andrews 45, Locomotion, we had Dr. Jim Sears crewing, the TV guy, and Jim advises that he had been wanting for months to pop the question to Gina Liotta, but how?

"About a month before the race, I was daydreaming about the ride down the Molokai channel and had a vision of Gina, my family and friends out in a boat to watch us cross the line. As the boat approaches the line, we peel to a new spinnaker with a huge MARRY ME, GINA logo on it! I thought, "Yes! that's how I'll propose! "

Then I continued the scenario a bit farther in my mind and saw a very high likelihood of a botched peel, and a round up in full yard-sale fashion, crossing the line with a shredded marriage proposal...

"So, time for Plan B, and Plan B was to unfurl a giant banner as we were greeted at the Hawaii Yacht Club. It turned out perfectly. And Gina said yes!"

Jim walked off the boat and went straight to a knee . . .

Aloha, will you marry me? Photo by Twain Newhart

WHAT DRIVES THE MACHINE

Your correspondent has sailed three Transpacs,  but this is the first time I have ever experienced the race from shoreside operations, alongside the 600 or so volunteers in Honolulu who make the island end of this thing happen. For starters, they overhauled Transpac headquarters at Ala Wai Harbor, aka "the Shack," with new flooring, new steps, and fresh paint.  Most members of Transpacific Yacht Club have never seen the Shack looking this good.

The Shack, before the crowds arrived. Photo: Kimball Livingston

And then boats started coming in.  Here are Peter Lewis and Mike Farrell, ferrying photographers to the Diamond Head Buoy and back at dawn for the arrival of Hap Fauth's Barn Door winner Bella Mente  . . .

Peter Lewis, Mike Farrell and Bella Mente. Dawn off Waikiki. Photo: Kimball Livingston

The Shack runs 24 X 7.

Buzzing at The Shack, Zero Dark Thirty. Photo: Kimball Livingston

And the Radio Room, 24 X 7...

The Radio Room

And the information giver-outers. Below we have William Plourde, a teacher at Sacred Heart, and the hard-riding Crispin Lippincott.  

Overheard one wee hour or another:

"Where's Crispin?"

"She's taking a nap; she needs it."

"Sorry, but I really need to ask her a question. Can you call her?"

"Not necessary. She's in the back seat of that car over there."

Sorry, Crispin. I know this isn't the most flattering shot, but reality was reality . . .

William and Crispin. Photo: Kimball Livingston

Sure, boats arrive during the daytime, and each one of 48 boats gets a welcome party. But anybody can party at 4 in the afternoon. Talk to the two ladies in the pic below (they're in there, if you look) about setting up to party at 4 in the morning. . .

They're almost to Diamond Head. Gotta hurry with this. Photo: Kimball Livingston

You have your Follow Me drivers, because each boat is met at the finish and guided in. Ala Wai can be a difficult harbor to approach in the daytime, if you're not familiar with it, and at night, punchy from a 2,225-mile race and with the lights of Honolulu to confuse you, it's just no good without an escort. And there's a Lighthouse Committee 24 X 7, watching the finish and taking times, and a Pier Operations Committee getting each boat to the right parking spot, and an Inspection Committee that meets each trophy winner and. . .

I give up. More committees than I can remember. Our teacher friend teaches sailing, for one thing, and he brought along volunteers Megan Ramirez and Shelley Chen, sailors both . . .

Shelley Chen and Megan Ramirez on the case. Photo: Kimball Livingston

And then . . .

Shelley hits the wall! Photo: Kimball Livingston

The problem with writing something like this is, you can't do justice to everybody. Ivan Chan Wa, for example, or Jim Ewing, but, that said, nobody around here works harder, Transpac after Transpac, than Ben Merritt. He was honored at the awards ceremony as the outstanding volunteer of 2011 . . .

Ben Merritt, Pier Operations. Photo: Kimball Livingston

Which is not to say that his judgement is always perfect...

Just one more, Ben. Photo: Kimball Livingston

In the end, the volunteers are a lot like the racers.

They join Transpac Volunteers Anonymous.

Two years later, they're back.

Photo: Twain Newhart

Kimball Livingston