Dave Young completed the Transpac Offshore Sailboat Race over the summer and shared the story with us. His team won Division 2!

“I’ve been with Mike and the crew at Strength Happens for over 10 years. My team and I just competed in the 50th annual Transpac Offshore Sailboat Race from Los Angeles to Honolulu (2,225 miles). We won Division 2! I’m 6’3”, 245 pounds and in a couple months I’ll be 64 years old. This is an extremely competitive Division made up of 70 foot race boats. I raced on a local Santa Barbara Boat, Taxi Dancer. This, my fifth Transpacific race, was my most rewarding. Over the last couple of decades I have 30,000+ miles of offshore racing experience as a Crew member/Grinder on International Grand Prix race boats, occasionally at a pro level.

My primary position on Taxi Dancer is a grinder/sail trimmer. The grinder is the person that spins the handles and turns the winches, as seen on America’s Cup. This is what brings the sails in and out, and, up and down. Grinding is a very physically demanding position that requires relatively short bursts of all out energy and endurance for long watches. Sound familiar?

I owe a great debt of gratitude to Mike and the crew on Haley Street for the training over the years. The Transpac Offshore Sailboat Race is both physically and mentally challenging. With a crew of 11, we need people working around the clock, 24 hours a day. We work on a rotating watch system with 4 hour shifts. Two people change watches every two hours, we have people that are rested and those that are well into their shifts. This way, everyone stays dialed into the conditions on deck.

As a crew member, even when you are off watch, you are prepared to be called back on deck for a sail change, maneuver, or if something has gone wrong. If you are lucky, and get to take your off time off, it consists of eating freeze dried food (anything to save weight) mixed with boiling water. The water comes from an onboard desalination water maker, again, to save weight. The crew serves themselves out of an ice chest whenever convenient, ideally keeping their caloric intake high. This is also your time to sleep and 2 1/2 hours of solid sleep is considered great. That’s because the boat may be moving aggressively with the state of the waters, the engine may be running to charge all of the electronics, and the deck activity may be extremely noisy. The bunks are on individual pulley systems so you can rack your bunk up so you don’t fall or fly out in an angry sea state.

Eight days, six hours, 2400 miles, and hitting a top speed of 24 knots (about 27.5 mph) we won Division 2 by just 2 minutes and 50 seconds. That’s close!

Mike, thanks again for extending my sailing career. Strength, endurance, balance, and mental toughness along with the thought of “Your Evil Workout Laugh” helped me through many late night watches.“