The 46ft DSS-equipped Maverick reaches at 20kt out from under her ocean-racing nemesis, the Botín 65 Caro, to cross the finishing line (just) in front at the end of this year’s Transpac. And with not a lot of life left before that cobbled-together repair on the A2 shouts enough already
Crossing an ocean
‘I did 20 transatlantic crossings and races by 2000 and then I waited until 2016 to do the 21st and now 2019 for a first Transpac. I will not be waiting so long again. There is something magical about the rhythm of the ocean race that is lost in the frenzy of a Fastnet.’ Gordon Kay enjoyed his first race to Hawaii
In the end it was all about the finish. After three days’ racing neck and neck with the Botín 65 Caro the last few hours saw us come from behind to cross the finish line just 39 seconds in front. Boat speed in the low 20s, an A2 far beyond its design wind range with a widening hole from a previous repair, and a diminishing amount of track to run all made for an exhilarating final push that none of us will forget. In those conditions we were always going
to be faster, but fast enough to edge in front before the finish line? That was the tricky bit. We had crossed swords with Caro a few times over the years, notably in the 2016 Middle Sea Race – that time we ran out of runway as we caught her at the finish. We tried on several more occasions but until we passed Diamond Head in July we had not finished in front of her on the water. The tale of the tape is 46ft versus 65ft – Caro sport- ing a deep-draft lifting keel versus the canting keel and DSS of Maverick. Halfway down the Transpac course
Caro caught up with us with around 800nm left to run. For the next couple of
days we held a loose cover and while it got close from time to time we held her off until the last night on the approach to Hawaii. Smart work from Caro saw them in front of us as dawn broke with a final challenge of recovering about 1.5nm in 18nm of sailing. For the last gybe into the finish we set up to leeward and behind, both boats carrying A2 and spinnaker stay- sail in wind around 18kt… but building. On Maverickwe had a few more consid-
erations… ours was a hurriedly repaired A2 from a previous indiscretion a few days earlier, which became ever more apparent. We could also not peel to an A3 as we were down to a single masthead halyard. The breeze built and the speeds built and slowly we hauled through to leeward of Caro who looked magnificent in the morning light, sailing at 20kt+ with the backdrop of the Pacific Ocean and tropical islands. The hole in the tack panel was getting bigger (furling the staysail made it worse… because then we could see it!). In the end it was an exhila- rating ride to the finish, obviously made considerably sweeter by finishing ahead of our friends and longterm rivals. For the old-timers – and there comes a
time when one must recognise the unfortu- nate truth – it can be hard to hand over the wheel to the kids, but Dave Gilmour did an awesome job. Given free rein by the owner, he drove it like he stole it. The finish topped a fantastic race for us. We did not win and we did not achieve all our goals, but the next time Maverick enters this fantastic race we will be wiser and smarter.
We did not optimise the boat for the
Transpac, other than build an R1 with Doyle NZ which was invaluable, particu- larly when the synoptic breeze moved off- shore after the start and we spent a critical day ghosting away from the coast. We have conservative spinnaker areas and the boat is still very much in IRC trim from the more varied courses such as the Fastnet and Middle Sea Race. So what did we learn? Firstly, it might be
warm and downwind but this race is by no means a ‘point and shoot’. Stan Honey’s comprehensive navigational tutorials do a very good job of explaining the subtleties of the race and where it can be won and lost, but if we ran our race again we would undoubtedly do a few things differently – and as we learned more about the yacht and how she goes downwind we would have made some other calls. All invaluable as we continue to learn
what makes this rocket tick. The Dynamic Stability System (DSS) makes for an inter- esting VMG discussion. We know that Maverick, now in her third season, is quicker with the foils VMG downwind – something that is never really shown in the design process but is seen on the water. The question is the crossover. What we
found, and talking to other competitors we were not alone, is that in the Transpac the wind at the masthead rarely reflected the wind on deck. It just felt as if the wind was layered and, being a small yacht with a short rig, we felt this keenly compared to our bigger competitors.
SEAHORSE 43
SHARON GREEN/ULTIMATE SAILING
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