Doogie on Day 1

Last night was spent mostly sailing just off the breeze. Mag was behind our line when it went dark. It’s been very wet on board with lots of water down below. Constant bailing.

We went through the changes. From the j2 only to j2 with a genoa staysail. Then a change to the jib top. About an hour ago we put up the r2 and our now ripping. Actually we have been ripping all day touching over 20 knots regularly. We have been putting reefs in and out often. We just took a reef out and had a minor issue so that meant a trip up the mast. Not that much fun.

Doogie

Hello Bella Mente Family,

I just wanted to send a short note to let you all know Bella started the Transpac Race today at about 1:00 PDT. All looked well from our vantage point on Point Furmin. Bella seemed to be moving nicely against our main competitor, Magnitude 80. Magnitude seemed overpowered sailing upwind in 15-18 knots of breeze.

Hopefully the additional righting moment we have on Bella will prove to help in this race. We should be able to use that stability for the first few days before the sailing angles get deeper, and we put up the spinnakers for the rest of the race

Current routing from this morning has Bella finishing in about 6.5 days (early morning on Friday, July 15th). This could be a record breaking run, so keep up with the boys on their way to Hawaii

A big thanks goes out to all of our suppliers and support team for getting us to the start. It was no small feat after out mast failure in March. We also added water tanks and a new bowsprit, and also shaved some weight off the keel. In addition Bella has had some creature comforts added so the team gets proper rest, and is as comfortable as possible.

Special thanks goes out to:

-Brad Fitzgerald and the team at Fitzgerald Racing
-New England Boatworks, Don Watson and Tom Rich
-Hall Spars and Rigging: Gunnar, Ben, Eric, Tom, and Dave Moffett, and the rest of the team in Bristol
-Future Fibres Rigging: Alex R., Ewan, and Alex W (who is now racing to Hawaii)
-North Sails, Chris Williams

I am headed back to Rhode Island tomorrow to continue the build of the new Bella Mente; I will be available any time and will be on East coast time. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, or need to get in touch with someone on the yacht in an emergency situation.

Thanks, and wish for the best in our quest for the Barn Door Trophy!

-Rob

Well, here we are. A couple of hours into the 2011 transpac.

We had a decent start on the leeward end of the line. The breeze was about 12 knots and quickly filled to 15 and 19 knots by Catalina. Magnitude started at the weather end of the line giving us a bit of an advantage. We tacked once to get around the island but then had to quickly tack back to port as the breeze dropped quickly and went left. We are now back on starboard with the full stack in about 12 knots. Magnitude 80 is to leeward of us. We are now settling into the boat and looking forward to our first freeze dried meal of the trip. I think beef stew is on the menu tonight. Yum.

Doogie

The last planning meeting for the Bella Boys!  Go Alice Go

Thanks to Chef Chris for all his help.

Tomorrow is the day. We will start at 1 PM on our race to Hawaii. Our big competition for the first to finish will be Magnitude 80. Over the course, both boats are rated almost evenly. Only 3 hours should separate us at the finish. So that means basically a boat to boat race.
The team has worked incredibly hard to get to this point. Many thanks goes to Ryan “Nipper” Brown who has helped untiringly to get the boat ready. Tomorrow, it’s time to focus on racing. No more mods, no more tweaks. Soapy has been running weather models to give us an idea as what we are in for. Right now it looks like an almost classic Transpac.
There are sure to be some good times and some tough times for the next week. We will work hard to keep the boat going 100%. The next update will be from the boat.
Doogie