The Harbor Report: Remembering the early days of Transpac communications

I am writing this story on July 14 and will be starting the Transpacific yacht race from Point Fermin, San Pedro, to Diamond Head on the island of O’ahu on the 16th.

While writing my last story regarding the battle between Hana Ho and Shandu in the 1981 Transpac, I kept running into the name of Larry Somers, the communications chairman for the Transpac Yacht Club for many years.

The Somers family sailing history dates to the early 1900s. His grandfather was the commodore of the Los Angeles Yacht Club in 1916 and the Cal Yacht Club in 1925. His grandfather also competed in the Holland Olympics in 1928 sailing 8 meters.

His mother was also very active in sailing and the family purchased a beach house between I and J streets on the Balboa Peninsula where he grew up. As a kid, he participated in the Newport Harbor Yacht Club’s junior program.

In 1957, his father Harvey Somers sailed with the Farwell family aboard their 85-foot schooner Sea Drift. During this race, the Somers family took the Matson line’s SS Lurline to Hawaii.

“During the race, we were able to make our way into the radio room and obtain the race reports and keep updated on the race,” Somers said.

In 1965, Somers met Peter Davis and sailed with him in that year’s Transpac aboard the 65-foot cutter Orient. Davis later became commodore at the NHYC in 1971 where Somers worked with him on the sail fleet committee.

During this time, Walter Hoffman was the communications chairman and he was ready to pass his task over to the next volunteer. This is when Davis brought Somers into the loop and he started his first Transpac as communications chair in 1981. Somers as the communications chairman during the 1976 Tahiti Race for the TPYC, he also worked the 1978 Tahiti race.

The communications chair responsibilities are always changing and it’s a very important part of the race. Grant Baldwin, for most of the years Somers was working, was the voice over the radio taking the daily position reports.

The person behind the scene was Somers, who would be inputting the positions into an Apple computer — yes there were personal computers in the 1970s — and from there they would have latitude, longitude, miles from San Pedro, miles to Honolulu — projected elapsed time, projected corrected time and handicap positions. What this all means is the competitors and the spectators, back home, would have daily reports on what place their boats are in.

I cannot tell you how hard it was to fall asleep when you just got off watch at 0700, then the navigator would turn on the single side band radio at 0730. The radio sounded like going online during the early dial-up Internet service days and then trying to sleep through all the moans and groans as the navigator was plotting out the fleet during roll call.

Roll call started at 0800 and by 1100 each day, Baldwin and Somers would broadcast your standings. very important part of your day while racing in the Transpac.

Somers did six crossings on different escort boats ranging from 1981 Dick Steele’s 60-foot motor sailor Jubilee — later named Jamboree by a different owner in 1989. In 1985, he sailed aboard a 65-foot Hood Motor sailor and in 1983 and in ’87 sailed on Orange Coast College’s Alaska Eagle. Somers saved the biggest boat for last in 1991 when he sailed aboard Hawkeye, a 105-foot motor yacht.

“All the trips were businesslike and yet a lot of fun. Like most racers, the first one is always the one you remember and the 1981 run aboard Jubilee with Dick Steele, Grant Baldwin, Gary Hill and Billy Buckingham was one of my favorites. We would work in the morning, sail in the afternoon and motor sail at night all the time monitoring the radio,” Somers said.

Both Somers and I agree that with single side band radios being fazed out to emails and satellite phones we are losing a favorite tradition about the race — group communications. Let’s just hope that today’s organizers can find a way to keep that tradition alive — maybe with FaceTime. I have to give a big thank you to Somers for taking almost an hour with me sharing his story.

Right now on Horizon, the weather is not cooperating. We will be starting the race and if we cannot get any wind by Sunday, we will have to make a tough decision on whether or not to withdraw from the race or slug it out. Keep an eye on us on the Trans Pac website yellow brick tracking system at yb.tl/transpac2015.

Wish us good wind and following seas.

Sea ya.

LEN BOSE is an experienced boater, yacht broker and boating columnist.