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The Northwest Spirit Breaks USA to Osaka Japan Sailing record.

On April 24 1994 the Northwest Spirit departed Marina Del Rey California as part of the Pan-Pacific Race. The yacht Northwest Spirit, formally called Duracell, was crewed by John Oman, the owner and skipper, Rob Shannon and Kim Stebbens. We did not know it at the time but were just 32 days from breaking the US to Osaka Japan sailing record by nearly a week. One of the more useful pieces of equipment aboard was a Inmarsat satellite communication system which we used to send back nearly daily logs of the life aboard the Northwest Spirit to hundreds possibly thousands of listeners on EMAIL and FAX. What follows is a series of unedited logs that were sent from the Northwest Spirit to mainland. You will find information about the race, the yacht and the crew sprinkled through the logs. So enjoy.

Background The Pan-Pacific Race was probably the largest longest distance yacht race. It was organized to commemorate the opening of the new Kansai International Airport in Osaka. In a series of staged starts, over a hundred sailing sloops left Los Angeles, Australia, China, Korea and Russia, bound for Osaka. The yachts from the USA would win a million yen (about $10,000) cash if they arrived in Osaka within 4 weeks of the first place class finisher.

The Northwest Spirit The Northwest Spirit was formally called Duracell and was designed by Roger Martin for Mike Plant. Mike Plant sailed Duracell around the world twice, in the BOC 'round-the-world race and the Vendee-Globe Challenge.

After re-commissioning the Northwest Spirit John Oman wanted to test the boat and his own skills and the Pan-Pacific race was the perfect platform. For John's real goal is to sail the Northwest Spirit single handed on his own attempt to break some round the world records this fall.