Interview with Seth Radow
Skipper of 'Bull', Transpac 2001 Overall Winner, Division IV Champion

"Bull" Specs

About Transpac 2001

First of all I'd like to congratulate you on your winning Transpac on overall corrected time. It's truly an amazing win. A new boat with no real tuning time. An all amateur crew. How do you feel about your achievement?

In sailing terms, as an amateur, this is about as good as it gets. 

Please elaborate on that some more.

Let me clarify that statement a bit.  There are two distinct types of racing, inshore and offshore.  This is the granddaddy of offshore sailing on the US West Coast.  To compete in this event is a massive undertaking in and of itself.  To compete with the intention to win is an exponentially greater undertaking.  The modifications to the boat took months to compose, numerous emails and phone calls, a few iterations and finally the search for subcontractors who could put the program together.  This all takes time.  Then throw in the beef problems in Europe and when the boat finally made it to the States we had but 4 or 5 weeks to get the boat and the program together.

Tell us about your team. How did you make the preparations for the race?

To say that I am impressed with the effort of the Australian team that I put together is an understatement.  I have to give heaps of credit to Peter Franzen and his team for getting the boat together and in World Class trim in such a hurry.  I was and remain to this day utterly impressed with the efforts of the crew.  The Valdez brothers (Rick and Vince) put in hour after hour of their free time working on the boat and learning the systems.  Mark Van Gessel and Joe Dervin were at the boat regularly putting in time getting the boat together and learning systems.  Steve Steiner and Lee Lewis did their best to get to the boat as often as possible and made credible effort to assist in the workup as well. 

What about on the water tuning?

After three days on the water with Dave Armitage, lead sail designer for Halsey Lidgard and Main Trimmer for the America True America’s Cup Team and Team New Zealand ’95, we got up to speed very quickly.  Team Bull is comprised of terrific sailors.  To say that they learn quickly is an understatement.  We had no experience with asymmetric kites and by the end of day two we were gybing them with no effort and no mistakes.  After, a few days of sailing with Andy Halsey, partner and founder of Halsey Lidgard, we were dialed in.  The team knew how to sail the boat fast.  We progressed each and every day on the water.  It was a lot of work and loads of fun.  Learning how to make a boat sail fast, really fast, is sometimes the most fun one will ever have aboard. 

Tell us about the teamwork within your group.

One of the best things about this team in particular is their ability to work together.  I can’t remember ever sailing with a team that was so excited to sail and race with one another.  The team knew, when they saw the boat in the yard, that we had a fast boat.  I believe that everyone was impressed with the modifications once they had a chance to see them in person.  When we hit the water on the very first day, everyone knew the boat was fast.  It was so fast that we thought we calibrated the B&G’s incorrectly.  We went back on day two, did a few more calibration runs, learned a bit more about the boat and the boat seemed to get faster.  We went back on day three, recalibrated the B&G’s again and the boat was faster still!  We now had nine calibration runs in the B&G’s so we knew that they were, if not spot on, very close.  I think we were just getting better on the water.  Teamwork made us better… teamwork made us faster.  The faster we sailed the more confident the team grew.  

How did you all feel at the beginning of the race? 

When we left the dock the morning of the race, we knew we had a good shot to win our class and an outside shot to win the overall… so long as we pulled together as a team and minimized our mistakes.  After our port start (I think Steve Steiner, our tactician soiled his shorts with that maneuver), the confidence was unmistakable.  We had a strategy laid out by Steve and myself and we began to execute with a “take not prisoners attitude”.  The ability to execute, unwaveringly, over a 10+ day period is difficult.  Like I said earlier… I remain impressed.

One of the most amazing details about your winning the Transpac was that you did it on a new boat where the crew did not even have a chance yet to know how the boat performs. How long did it take for the entire crew to get in the groove?

We didn’t have much time to get in the groove.  I believe we had six days on the water before we left.  Having Dave Armitage and Andy Halsey aboard and having a crew that wanted to learn and race together accelerated the learning curve dramatically.  We simply got faster and faster each day at sea.  The faster we sailed the harder we worked.  By the time we left the dock we knew how to get a lot out of the boat… but we knew we had a long way to go to get all we wanted out of the boat.  One of the keys to sailing any boat fast is to know the inventory.  I spent months working up the race inventory with Halsey, Armitage, Parr and others at Halsey Lidgard.  Much time was spend on materials and design.  The only sail we didn’t use was the blast reacher… we simply didn’t have enough wind.  We had no holes in the inventory.  I think we sailed this race on paper a few dozen times looking at every possible scenario on the water.  I couldn’t find an occasion where we didn’t have the ideal sail.  And NO, we did not bring a staysail.  I have tried this in the past on a modern 40 footer… I like to call this sail a “hand brake”. 

We heard that one of the major things you did to prepare for Transpac was that you spent many months of time studying the weather to plan the routes to Hawaii. Tell us about that. Will your win change the way other boats plan Transpac in the future?

Very simply, Steve Steiner and I have been tracking the weather for months… many months.  We watched the weather every day, 2-4 times a day and ran 24-hour animations each day.  By the time the race began, we were both convinced we knew what the weather was going to do and how we were going to react to each possible change in the weather.  We had no doubts about what our game plan was.  Steve and I plotted the course each and every day and frequently sent emails back and forth and occasionally to the crew.  During the last month, I got the crew involved in the emails and suggested that each of them watch the weather sites 1-4 times per day.  I wanted everyone to get a feel for what we were getting ourselves into.   

The best navigators do what we did.  I learned much of what I know from speaking to them.  If one is not going to bring the high paid professional navigators on board and intend to run an amateur campaign, one had better do one's homework if one intends to win or even compete to do so.  One cannot start looking at the weather the week before the race and expect to do well.  Much of racing is about anticipation.  One must know what one's opponent will do in a certain situation.  The weather is simply part of the game of chess one plays at sea.  In any given situation, one must know what options his opponent must have.  In terms of weather, one must know what the weather could do in any situation and the probabilities of such a move.  One must know were one must want to be on the racecourse in anticipation of moves in the weather.

Your first Transpac was in 1999. What was that experience like? What lessons did you learn from that race that instrumental in winning the 2001 Transpac?

The first Transpac was a great experience.  I’ve now done the crossing three times including one Pacific Cup.  I could do a Hawaii race every year.  I learn something new every year.  My first crossing taught me a few things.  #1. Don’t go to sea with people who drink too much alcohol, especially if you even question for a moment that they might not be able to get along without it.  I don’t care how good a sailor they are… leave them at the dock. #2.  It is more important to have better people aboard than great sailors.  A team of very good sailors that can and will work together will out sail a team of great sailors that cannot work together any day of the week.  It is critical when at sea that people get along.  It is critical that they can work together.  Bring people that can build confidence amongst and within each other.  Leave the primadonna at the dock.  #3. A good navigator that has the confidence of the crew is critical.  #4. Everyone on board should have a position for every maneuver.   Repetiveness develops experience, consistency and confidence.  Keep the same positions all the way to Hawaii for every maneuver. #5.  Weight is absolutely critical… keep it down.  Appoint someone on the boat to be the weight Czar.  Give him free reign to cut thing down to a bare minimum.  Be willing to make concessions.  Believe me you will still have too much and have extra when you get to Hawaii.  A world famous racer friend of mine told me the following:  “When you get to Hawaii, you should be hungry and thirsty… and have nothing left.” 

I could go on at length about this subject.  These are some of the big ones.

Tell us a little bit about your new Sydney 40 boat "Bull". Why did you pick her?

I knew that, but the fact remains that I knew that if I could get out front that it would be much easier to stay there.  When you put pressure on the competition they are prone to mistakes.  In the end, he went with my keel design concept and he drew a beautiful work of art.  The proof there, as the say, “is in the pudding”. 

Most importantly, I wanted a true “offshore racing boat”.  An inshore boat would not be acceptable given the racing that I prefer to do.  Sydney Yachts makes boats for the Southern Ocean.  The Pacific would be like a lake in comparison.  The Sydney range of yachts are all very strongly built.  I don’t believe that there is an equivalent American competitor in terms of US production yachts. 

Tell us how you started sailing when you were young. I heard you started sailing with a Sunfish.

 I actually started on a Sailfish (same rig as a Sunfish but with a smaller platform).  I sailed that for a year and then moved to a Sunfish.  I love that boat.  I still think this may be the best learning platform in the world.  The class still, to this day, has some of the best class racing anywhere. 

Did you do any racing as a kid?

I started racing Sunfish at the age of 8 while away at camp.  By the end of my first summer of racing I was skippering a boat (as children we raced with two on board) and beating all of the older campers.  From the time I was 10 years old I remember only losing one regatta.  I took second in a very light air race.  My boat was about 60 pounds heavier than the boat that won.  I continued to race the Sunfish until I was 15 years old.  Great Boat!!!

When did you start getting good in racing?

By the time I was 8 years old, I seem to be better than most anywhere near my age group in the Sunfish class.  By the time I was 11 years old I developed a talent for reading the wind on the water and sailing theory and hydrodynamic theory.  I know this sounds like a strange hobby for a kid, but what can I tell you.  I learned this from a sailing instructor named Noel Cavenaugh, who came to the States from England and was an accomplished sailor in his own right.  He was a counselor at the Brant Lake Camp that I attended as a kid. 

How did you hone your racing skills?

I spent a portion of every summer day on the water.  I would go out and sail every day.  I would match race anyone and everyone every time I went to the water.  I entered every regatta that I was permitted to participate in.  I was a solid athlete in every sport I competed in so I split my time amongst many sports.  Now they call that “cross training”.  I preferred to be a jack-of-all-trades when it came to sports.  I think that makes anyone a better athlete at any sport they participate in.  Remember, sailing is not my first love… that still belongs to skiing.  Sailing is what I do when I am not skiing.  I retired from competitive skiing at the age of 19 or 20 wherein I was far more accomplished than I am as a sailor today. 

When did you make a transition into the bigger boats? What was your first "big" boat?

I started to crew on big boats that belonged to friends of my dad.  I was a strong kid so I did mast and was often a grinder.  I think the first big boat I sailed was a custom Hinckley 38.  We are going back quite a ways, but I recall it being a great boat.  I also sailed an Ocean 70, a Waquiez 60, an X-Yacht 612, an X-Yacht 452, and numerous others.  No one thought a kid could trim until one day we were out racing and a sheet broke on a weather leg.  I recall we were sailing with the light sheets in light wind of 4-6 knots.  The back of the boat went to pieces.  My father grabbed a spare sheet (we had this on deck), I yelled back to the skipper to take the boat up, tied the sheet on to the flogging headsail, jumped into the cockpit, told the trimmer to get out of the way, sheeted in and told the skipper to get back on course.  He did and we only lost one place.  The skipper must have though I was nuts.  Everyone else on the boat did.  I recall the wind piped up to 16-18 knots in a matter of seconds and I did what had to be done while the rest of the crew were all looking at each other telling everyone to stay out of the way of the clew.  As a kid, one can be a bit fearless I guess.  At that point I earned my spot at the back of the boat. 

What's your advice to other sailors who race as to how to develop their skills?

Get on the water, learn sailing theory, learn how to trim for optimum speed, learn how to drive for optimum speed.  In big boats know your targets and make sure your crew knows how to sail to them.  Don’t take sailing or yourself too seriously.  Learn how to make a boat go fast.  Learn how to prepare your boat to go fast and make it so.  80% of a race is won before a boat gets to the water.  Better prepared boats are faster boats… much faster!!!  Have something else you love to do besides sailing and do it... become good at it.  That will help you keep from taking sailing too seriously. 

For the benefit of our readers who may not sail the larger and faster Grand Prix boats, what excites you about these types of boats? What's the difference in the sailing/racing experience; vs. let's say a traditional one-design keelboat like a J24?

The biggest difference is that big boats are faster.  Other than that… all else is equal.  I can’t say that I prefer big over small or small over big.  The most fun I have ever had on the water was in a NACRA 5.2 and that’s 17 feet.  In terms of racing, I prefer ocean racing (point to point) to buoy racing.  Most people don’t do ocean racing in small catamarans.  Yes, I do know that some crazies do race the Hobie 20’s offshore… but I’m not ready to do that.  I have competed in buoys most of my life and have been quite successful.  In the last few years I have started going offshore more… and I find an entirely different thrill in that.  Quite frankly, I now know why people like Brad Van Liew race around the world.  One can only understand their mindset if they go offshore.  Offshore racing is an entirely different world.  Offshore racing on a big boat is what makes big boats my preference. 

Many of our readers only do 'Round-the-Buoy' racing. Could you tell us what it is about offshore racing that gets your juices flowing?

The entire world is different when at sea.  Your entire world is different when at sea.  Life changes when at sea.  The ocean is a beautiful place when no land is in sight.  I can’t describe in words what I am talking about… at times like this I wish I were a poet.  Race offshore once… just once… and I guarantee you it will change your life.  You may decide never to do it again… and then on the other hand you may decide never to come back.  The fact of the matter is, that you will never look at the world the same way.  Of that I guarantee you.

Are different skills required of sailors who do offshore racing versus those who do buoy racing, other than navigational skills?

Without question.  They are two totally different animals.  Someone should write a book on this subject.  In a sense, they are two different sports.  The best way to describe this is with an analogy… like in track and field the difference between a sprinter and a distance runner.  The entire game is different. 

Did you learn anything new about making a boat 'go fast' from this experience? 

Yes… but I cannot disclose what we did or how we did it.  All aboard were sworn to secrecy.  We used a rather peculiar sail combination and platform.  No one thought it would be fast, and the sail designer still doesn’t believe it’s fast… but the fact of the matter is that it worked.  As it was described on the boat, we used a little “IOR technology” to make the Bull run a bit faster.   

Best way to get any boat to go fast… leave the weight at the dock.  Take every single pound out of the boat.  A pound here and a pound there equates to time.  Time adds up quickly over 2250 miles.  Take the weight out of every single location possible.  Use you imagination.  No matter what boat I am on… I don’t care what it is, I am convinced I can find a way to reduce weight.  My project manager has done campaigns for some of the best and brightest racers in the world including America’s Cup campaigns, Whitbread campaigns, IMS campaigns etc.  I was teaching him a few ideas.  Get involved in the design phase of the boat and start saving weight there.  Every pound you save above the waterline can, if necessary, go back into the bottom of your keel.  Every pound you save in the boat is extra speed. 

It's hard enough to focus on a race that lasts only a few miles. How do you get yourself and the crew to focus on the task at hand, which is of course to make the boat sail at it's optimum, day after day?

This has never been a problem.  I think I can speak for all aboard all of my transoceanic voyages in that you can’t help but concentrate.  You do so on a different level.  The tension of buoy racing disappears and we sail more freely.  We work together, with fewer on deck, and we focus on the task at hand, but we do so in a very relaxed but deliberate manner. 

The first year I did Transpac we tried to break the race into a bunch of short buoy type races.  After a few days we were pretty cooked and some of the crew were at each other’s throats.  We toned that down this year and we set our goals longer with moderate term objective.  We knew where we wanted to be at Catalina, at San Nicholas, at day 1, day 2, day 3 and day 4.  We knew where we wanted to be when we started reaching, when we gybed to port, and when we gybed again for Diamond Head.  The way to achieve each objective was clearly defined over a short horizon.  Steve Steiner handled the details of this game plan (tactics) while we sailed with a strategy that I developed over time (with a bit of help from Tom Leweck). 

When everyone aboard knows what has to be done to win a race and they work with a single-minded purpose to achieve those goals and objectives… it’s amazing what a terrific group of men can do.

Was your boat stripped down like Pegasus? Did the crew get demotivated from lack of simple amenities?

Yes.  At least as much and maybe more so.  We both used the same project manager, Marine Project Management in Australia (Iain Smith and Dave Sampson).   I believe there is a very good reason why we finished this race 1 and 2.  MPM did a terrific job.  I think I can make the boat go faster… at least a bit.  I know that I did a few things to Bull that Pegasus did not do, as I did not discuss them with MPM.  I do know that Pegasus did use a handful of the “go light” ideas that I developed over the years.  I know that they did not use others. 

Did you have a carbon toothbrush holder? 

No, I did not have a carbon toothbrush holder… We simply did not have a toothbrush holder.  All other things being equal, the boat without the toothbrush holder would win. 

Dehydrated food?

Regarding dehydrated food.  This is a necessary evil if you want to win.  It’s just that simple.  I asked the crew if before if they wanted to race to win or simply race for the sake of racing.  All said that they wanted to win.  I then made it clear that we would have to watch weight with a vengeance.  Cut out real food and save a few hundred pounds.  This is quite frankly the simplest way to add speed.  I figure that every pound saved on the boat would save us one second every 42 miles… you do the math.

If you could have changed something about your Transpac race, or not change, either something on the boat, or something that you might have done, what would it have been?

I would most definitely take the same crew.  These guys were awesome.  I would have wanted more time for the workup.  We could have been lighter, faster and stronger.  We should have been lighter, faster and stronger.  I will be making a few changes to the boat when it arrives back in CA.  All changes will be quite small, but they will add up to time on the water.  A second here and a second there and before long you have a minute! 

What's the next challenge for you? Are you planning on doing Transpac again? 

Transpac 2003 is a definite.  Next big race may be San Diego to Puerto Vallarta.  It depends what my skiing schedule looks like this year.  In all reality and to be quite frank, much depends on the international state of affairs.  Given the recent events in NY and the likely US response, I don’t know that I would feel right racing sailboats around the Pacific.  I’d like to see what I could do to support the cause.  There are times when we have to give up what we love to do what is right.  I believe that this may be one of those times.