SIGHTINGS transbac, part 2 Although the 49th edition of the Transpacific Yacht Race came to a close the night of the awards ceremony, every racing or delivery crew knows that there's still plenty more sailing to be done before the event is really 'over'. With more days at sea, more miles under sail and more time under power while traversing waters that are generally more challenging, the return delivery is a huge component to any Transpac team's adventure. Two days before the awards ceremony in Honolulu, a series of tropical storms and hurricanes began moving in lockstep toward the Hawaiian Islands. The long series of predicted weather systems threatened to significantly delay the departure of any boat that did not leave before the awards on July 21, forcing several teams to advance their preparations and get out of Dodge. While the systems never materialized as originally predicted, they still impacted many crews' deliveries home. As was a theme during the race, the Pacific returned to relative normalcy with tropical systems dying out upon crossing north continued on outside column of next sightings page
During the delivery from Hawaii to the mainland, each sunset and sunrise is a photographic event.
Page 60 •
Latitude 38
• October, 2017
editorial: if everyone We'll concede this: There's no way to definitively prove that this season's string of powerful hurricanes that battered the Caribbean had any direct connection to climate change. But it's kind of like visiting your doctor when you're healthy. You may be fit as a fiddle today, but they can't tell you whether you'll get sick tomorrow. Or it's like talking to an advisor about your 401k; they can't tell you if its value will be cut in half after you leave the office. However, both will recommend behavior that you can modify right now to reduce the likelihood of either (reminder — get a flu shot). We view climate change the same way. Beyond helping the islands recover by
