PACIFIC LOOP

CONTRASTING PASSAGES ACROSS THE PACIFIC TO HAWAII AND BACK REVEALED THE IMPORTANCE OF CREW DYNAMICS TO TOR JOHNSON

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After two recent deliveries across the Pacific to Hawaii and back, on two very different boats, with two very different crews, I’m starting to realise that, more than anything else, it’s really the crew that makes the voyage.

Crossing the Pacific from San Diego to Hawaii is widely considered a bucket list trip. It’s mostly downwind in the trades, it gets warmer by the day, and the goal is well... Hawaii. It’s a paradise, and one that I call home. I had the great fortune to skipper a fine sailing boat that I knew well: a 2017 Jeanneau Yacht 53 named Kaimana.

Best of all, my crew were what I would call the ‘Dream Team’: my two nephews, both 24 years old, who – after a number of ocean crossings with me – are capable offshore sailors. Rounding out the crew was retired Navy ordnance chief Tracy Dixon, an old surfing and sailing friend who has also done numerous crossings with me.

TROUBLESHOOTING

The dominant weather feature of the California coast is north-westerly winds. In summer, the Pacific High lies offshore, spinning out strong north-westerlies where it squeezes against the West Coast. The tradewinds that would propel us to Hawaii are also a product of this high pressure zone. San Diego owes its balmy climate to Point Conception to the north-west, which protects the city from most of these winds.