SY TRADER

Sharing this last video from Transpac 2023 of Greg reflecting on the race and experience. We'll never forget the memories made on this boat!

https://www.instagram.com/p/C9FiqAkOmnB/?hl=en

In honor of a year later, and as a sort of post script, here’s a second @transpacrace video with mostly unseen footage. Greg was responsible for a lot of good things that happened on the boat, and his interview succinctly but beautifully captures the spirit of our little adventure: Emotionally charged, arduous, but light hearted.

You may have heard the news, but our time with TRADER has come to a close. Here is a note from Doug:

"Today brings a close to the TRADER chapter; from 2014-2024 this small scale veteran outreach sailing program has operated from Kewalo Harbor in Honolulu and has been a consistent sight around Hawaii and off Waikiki.

In her 430 days at sea, Skipper Doug & Admiral Karen have spent 15% of the last ten years sailing this boat, and averaged 52 sails per year serving the veteran sailing community.

TRADER has transited Hong Kong to Malaysia down and up the South China Sea and through the Straights of Singapore and Malacca - twice, and then Hong Kong to Hawaii (2016), Hawaii to California (2019 & 23), several Lanai, Maui & Molokai inter islands, and was sailed routinely during weekly training sails off Waikiki.

TRADER and her team received the “Pacific High Trophy” in TP19, and won the “Dillingham Trophy” in TRANSPAC 2019 & 2023 for the 1st Hawaii Boat.

TRADER has hosted admirals, generals, and a variety of military outreach events, and shared the camaraderie of sailing with more than 1200 veterans and veteran family guests.

TRADER has trained near 100 core crew and we are most proud of all our crew and what they have accomplished. We have marveled and watched crew advance on the sailing ladder, from zero experience to sailing instructors, open ocean racers, and around the world sailors. TRADER launched crews on their own boats like Maya, Angel Eyes, Annie Oakley, and Fisheye to name a few. And TRADER enabled eighteen veterans to race TRANSPAC as firsts. One dear friend would say TRADER saved his life.

Skipper Doug would say TRADER found him in Hong Kong and he never imagined what adventures this boat would bring. He married “The Admiral” Karen on her bow, racked twenty five thousand sea miles, and met friends that will last a lifetime.

It’s amazing how a boat can bring people together. We will always love our chapter with TRADER for doing just that.

Team TRADER wishes you sporty winds and following seas, and for TRADER to race on!"

When it's grey and cold but you have an awesome team + ramen! Make that lemonade… 🍋

More often than not we didn't have time to take our phones or cameras out, but our helmsman/photographer was able to put together this short video from some of the more docile moments of our trip. Wishing we were back out there!

https://vimeo.com/845397410?share=copy&fbclid=IwAR2jqlqIbSENvRSIHLZc8828DBOvFedxqiOzzUlslsEsxyDmUrk2i2G5Bxo

Across the Pacific // Transpac 2023 This is "Across the Pacific // Transpac 2023" by Andrew Rizer on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

At Saturday’s Transpac ceremony, TRADER was awarded the trophy for the Fastest Hawaii-Based Team (Corrected Time). It was an honor to celebrate with our crew. Congrats to all of TransPac 2023’s participants and award winners!

Skipper’s final update (from 2 days ago).

Family, Friends, and Fans,

When I was growing up in Minnesota many moons ago, I had a friend whose older brother got a new Pontiac GTO. It was a muscle car of the early 70’s and the envy of many young gear heads of the day. It had great classic muscle car lines, with a 440 six pack engine, and fat beefy tires. Compared to the sportscars of the current era, the GTO wouldn’t hold any ground in speed or performance, but being the classic that it was, it still turns heads. If you ever owned a GTO, you’d wished you would have kept it, and at classic car auctions they still draw lots of interest and strong bidding when one happens across the auction block. Classic cars like the GTO are iconic muscle cars that are still fun to drive.

TRADER was in the final stretch today of the Trans-Pacific Yacht Race of 2023. Albeit not fast, it took us just over 11 days to cross the Pacific, logging 2,492 miles on a 2,225 course from the Point Fermin Buoy in Long Beach, California to the Diamond Head Buoy off Waikiki, in Honolulu, Hawaii. Many of you have been diligently watching the tracker, and you know that TRADER wasn’t the fastest SLED out of the ole muscle car barn, but we can tell you as a crew – she’s still fun to drive.

Today was our best downhill run. The wind, wave, swell and sun were all working in our favor, and at sunrise we set our little 2800 square foot asymmetrical kite for the prevailing conditions, and ran for more than 180NM before we gybed and sprinted like a muscle car across the finish line in the dark. Fortunately, most of us can call this home and we were racing back to our families; regardless of our standing this is a treat that few sailors in this race enjoy. Unfortunately, due to our timing and arrival in the night, we may never see the classic Diamond Head picture from our finish, but regardless – it was a great race, and just like the muscle cars cruising on “State” street, TRADER is still fun to drive.

Over the vast expanse of ocean we traveled, I saw this team grow in capabilities that can only be achieved with the hardship and challenges posed to sailors at sea. We were fortunate with the weather, but still battled an elusive high-pressure pattern and round the clock schedules that challenged many a crew to be their best when they were not always feeling their best. I slept calmly during my off watch with complete confidence knowing that my crew had our back while battling the wind and waves up on deck. That’s a comfort that is impossible to fully describe.

I saw our primary helmsman - Andrew and Pawel, take the con of this 70-foot sailing vessel, managing all of the power, sometimes with just their finger tips on the edge of the wheel, and confidently maneuver using the power of the wind and waves to navigate the most colorful of squall alleys, and propel them to exhilarating speed. Pawel’s is a cool, calm driver with a polar efficiency on the helm over 110%. And I saw Andrew drive a start in TP23 that will live forever in the annals of Pacific Yacht Club sailing lore - as we passed by as the closest racer to the committee boat during the Division 1, ,2, and 3 start, crossing the start line with ten other performance SLEDs.

I saw Sherry and Sarah manage the pit, which is where the lines cross on six different winches, and command our grinders into action as they furled, unfurled, and hoisted and dropped sails. I saw Sherry and Sarah also take the helm of the monstrous steed, not intimidated in the least by the power they had at the wheel, and got into rhythm with the motion of the ocean that gleaned smiles across their faces, and a memory that will last forever.

I saw our mainsail trimmers Fred and Greg master the main, and refine their understanding of performance boat sailing. I saw Tyler, an unknown sailor from Chicago, take charge of our navigation suite – keeping everything running through our crossing and race return, and take the helm during repeated night time shifts, steering TRADER under kite with comfort and ease.

I saw Evan thrive in the challenge of running our rig, prepping sails, rigging lines, commanding the main, and steering a wicked 17 knot reaching run. I saw Jen scamper around on the foredeck, rigging spins for the hoist, and undaunted by the task that had her poking out on to the pitching and rolling prow of the bow to spike the tack, sometimes in the dark of night.

And last, I saw Ken rebuild lines, climb, and swing from the mast, and command a watchful eye on every evolution, knowing when and what to do and stepping in when needed. He knows this boat like the back of his hand, he knows the crew, and he understands our mission—to bring veterans and sailors together to share in the spirit and camaraderie of adventure - like no other.

That brings us to the close of our TRANSPAC 2023 adventure. I hope you were inspired. We were. TRADER is still fun to drive, and we all enjoyed the ride.

S/F, Doug
Skipper - TRADER

Family, Friends, and Fans,

There is a lot about life on a racing boat that I haven’t told you, and I need to fill you on one extra detail before everyone finds out that I have embellished some stories a bit too far. I have told you about the champagne sailing that we had for several days under kite, and the speed runs that we had while surfing waves at speeds near twenty knots. I hope that I told you that we had a hot homecooked meal each night, which Sherry and Jen worked into our provision plan and that were carefully prepared by family of our crew. We had baked ziti, lasagna, Tuscan chicken, quinoa enchilada bake, garlic chicken pasta, and the list goes on and on. While other racers were eating freeze dried meals each day, we were on a healthy preplanned and pre-prepared menu onboard TRADER. I may have relayed some details about dodging squalls, and the hair-raising exhilaration that comes when the wind doubles in speed and the boat heeeeeels over in ways that will get your attention. And I am certain that I told you about the starry nights (wherein we had only a few) and the endless scenery of the mind freeing blue ocean that wraps us all around.

Did I ever mention that none of our crew have had a shower in 10 days? Oooops, unfortunately I left that detail out. It’s hard to believe that we didn’t have time to find time to take a shower, but frankly, with a four-hour on, and four-hour off watch cycle, there isn’t much time for that luxury on a race boat. Generally, when any of our race crew finish our duties on deck, we are anxious to get down below and quickly fall to sleep despite the bangs, bongs and quangs of grinder winches, and the rushing sound of the ocean sliding along the hull as we sail, slip, and slide on by. Until the past several days, it has actually been too cold to think about breaking out the bucket and sudsing up on the back deck. After hours on watch the cold can really get into your bones and unless the sun shines during the day, it makes for some cold days of near constant wearing of hot stanky foulies.

Well, today was the day when it all lined up. Sunny skies, warmer trade winds, warmer 78-degree tropical waters, and the fact that it has been ten days since some/all of our crew have washed their hair. 😊 So we broke out the hose for a salt water wash down on the back deck, and almost everyone got a chance to suds up and clean off the salt and sweat from ten days of sailing at sea. Mid-day TRADER looked like a yard sale was happening with all of the clothes that had been washed and hung to dry on deck. Now most are happy and clothes hanging from the lifelines and shrouds. And I suspect/hope the remainder of the crew who did not partake in the ritual today will be in line for a washdown and before we cross the finish line tomorrow.

Just wanted you to know that we are excited for our finish, and returning to see all of our family and friends. One more night under kite, and down the channel we go on the final stretch of TRANSPAC 2023.

S/F, Doug
Skipper - TRADER

Family, Friends, and Fans,

When I was dating my wife Karen she told me a story about “cruising State Street” back where she grew up in Utah. On a Friday or Saturday night, she’d get together with friends and go cruising in an automobile down State, to take in all of the sights of cars and people that lined the road to participate, and watch the cruisers that were motoring up and down ”State“ showing off their hotrods.

Well, those hotrods are just now on their final approach into Honolulu, and we are just getting onto “State”—albeit a little late, and there aren’t any crowds out here to take in on the action, so let me tell you a little about what it is like to cruise “Squall Street” out here in the Pacific.

There is a band of latitudes in this part of the world that is the breeding ground for daytime and nighttime squalls. These squalls develop from the heating of the earth and the uplifting of the moist ocean air, which as it matures becomes unstable and collapses back onto the surface of the ocean. This collapsing brings with it rain, downdrafts, and wind gusts that make navigating a sailboat down “Squall Street” both exhilarating and quite a handful.

As I mentioned in an earlier story, one of the best parts of TransPac is this part wherein you have maneuvered your sailboat onto the rhumb line and can take advantage of the wind and wave on your back to propel the boat at exhilarating speeds on sailing-surfing runs. But add in the narrow wind margin that our kite’s will fly and the route down Squall Street is akin to maneuvering your longboard in the lineup with everyone else on shorties cutting you off in a big wave. When we get TRADER going under kite, she will be humming along at 9-10 knots and eventually break through hull speed of 11 knots with enough power. If the wave action is right, and the helmsman is on their game, they will add power in the sails with a few grinds from our trimmers and the boat will take off on a wave, surfing at speeds that will pass through 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and up to 19 knots—which is the highest we have seen on this race. When we are up on plane, we can't quite "turn-on-a-dime" so we are constantly scanning the horizon for squalls that may become a problem along the way. If we see them, we can generally watch their progress and work to avoid them with mild maneuvers of the boat, or track there development on our radar. Our best strategy is to steer clear, or out in front and use the downdraft of the wind to propel us even faster forward.

So, when you put it all together, maneuvering the boat around the squalls, and managing all the fabric of sails and kites can be quite a challenge, but when it all comes together it makes for an exhilarating game of cat and mouse and some great sprint-surfing runs.

Today we dodged more than a dozen large squalls that presented us with gusty winds and some rain to help wash the salt off the deck from days of sailing at sea. As we go into the dark night, we have doused the kite, and are running with the wind and waves and hoping for one more day of cruising “Squall Street” with the kite, and before our final approach on this ole hotrod toward the Diamond Head Buoy of the Aloha State.

Hope you are enjoying the ride!

S/F, Doug
Skipper - TRADER