Transpac –– Oh! Ho! Ho! It's Magic.

Oh, Oh...Never believe it's not so. This is truly not one of the better tunes to have playing on repeat in the gooey jukebox between a person's ears, but alas.

Plus, since Pilot included two former Bay City Rollers, this song is extra Velcro®ish.

Wait, seriously, how can I resist posting a YouTube of those classic Bay City Rollers tunes?  

I can't...but later in the post. It will be a special treat and possible ear-worm infestation. 

But back to this particular song.

Pilot's soaring and incessant declaration ("Oh! Ho! Ho! It's magic!") played in counterpoint to the couple of weeks of prep and racing of the 2019 Transpacific ocean Race –– the Transpac.  Because of course, my favorite skipper sailed this 2250-mile-long offshore race aboard the famous Bill-Lee-designed Merlin*.  

*Quick word about Merlin: this is the Merlin that set the course record in 1977.

​It's the Merlin after which the Merlin Trophy is named.

The current owner is named Chip Merlin –– you can recognize him by his enormous white grin in every picture of him on the boat.

He acquired the boat about a year and a half ago...​I think if there's a famous boat with your name on it, you might just have to get it.

The boat could hardly have been better prepared for the trip from Long Beach, California to Honolulu, Hawaii: the crew included two fire-fighters among her experienced and talented team; new sails; higher degrees in engineering, MacGyvering, and meterology; a redesigned physical plant and dozens of Pacific passages under her keel; extra duct tape and A & D ointment; and the latest in safety gear and information technology 

And yet.

It's not a safe world and we all need some good luck to get us along. Sailors especially.

So while playing brave little toaster on shore, I wasn't about to ignore the encouraging messages of a magical world.

Just because it's magical thinking doesn't mean it's not true, right? Like the song says. Oh! Ho! Ho!

In a mere 8 days, Merlin's race was run.  

Several Transpac boats retired because of technical difficulties. One of the catamarans ran into a mysterious nighttime something and tore a hole in her bow.  Another boat actually sank (the sailors were rescued by their competitors, naturally, because, well –– sailors). Nobody, thank goodness, was lost at sea.

Merlin finished a quite respectable third; their stories range from the sublime (rainbows around the moon) to the ridiculous (anything to do with using the head, also, two people beaned by flying fish). They shredded some sail and lost their electronics for a bit, but it worked out safely in the end.

Here's the link to the Transpac YC's amazing images of Merlin.

And a brace of BCR for your listening enjoyment: