Saturday I went out to work on the boat. This time I promised myself I wouldn't go sailing no matter how good the winds were. I fixed the head and did a little sanding on the rails. Then I couldn't find where I left the Jack Saw. Then I noticed the wind was perfect for sailing out of the slip. Before I knew it I'd slipped the lines and was out of the harbor. Damn, sometimes I hate my weak will power but the wind was so perfect. I heard someplace that you have to accept there's a higher power than yourself, and, being a certified heathen, I accept that I hold no power over the wind and sail gods.
As I was out I noticed there were at least 18 sailboats in view. I also noticed only a single one-design, J-24, in amongst the crowd. This raised a concern since I've decided to sell Slow Play and get a dry-sailed, one-design boat. Yes, that's right. It's the start of the long goodbye.
I nearly ran into Hotana Muratius before they saw me. Trey yelled for me to head up and chase. This seemed like a lot of work but I did it anyway. I was well into lightening the boat by a few cans by this time. We sailed around together then headed back into Cypress Cove. Tied up at the dock and everything I said from then on was total fabrication.
Left before the horizon completely disappeared. Motored back across the lake talking on the phone to my brother. It was another great day.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Can't find the cheese???
A couple decades ago there were very few people who circumnavigated the globe single-handed, non-stop, no assistance.. These pioneers navigated with compass and sextant. Each position marked on a chart was sweated over, checked and re-checked. These marks were important because they could represent the last known location on the globe for days to come.
Sometimes these guys disappeared without fanfare.No chance to get back and and write the book. They spent days, weeks and sometimes months without speaking to another human being.
That was then, this is now. We have JPS, EPIRBS and Sat Phones.
There's been a flock of teen slackers the last couple years trying to out-young themselves. Started with the Australian Jesse Martin in 1999. He set the record at 18 years-old then wrote a decent book about it but ended it badly by trying to drum up support to start a young-only sailing paradise in the south sea islands. I was waiting for the Pirates chapter to come out.
More recently an American slacker, Zac Sunderland, tried to do it but had boat trouble and had to make about a million stops so he could raise money to continue being a slacker adventurer. I read his blog as he did it and I have to say I was excited at first but when all his relatives started flying to all his stops around the world to 'fix' a bad spark plug I stopped paying attention.
Then a Brit teen, Mike Perham, started out. He was an impressive communicator in his blog.Made an extra effort to keep the fans informed. Although the boat he choose was fast, an Open 50, it had lots of problems and he had to stop a few places too. He broke Zac's record a couple months ago.
Ignoring the 2-year-old in Denmark, the latest is Jessica Watson from Australia. Last month she did a test sail and hit a freighter. The mast came down but she was all right. The official investigation faulted her for not keeping watch and for marginal log keeping. This was all hushed up and she got the boat fixed and set out.
I suspect I'll she'll be one I'll stop paying attention to- In her last blog she wasn't able to find which bag the cheese was packed into. She got on the Emergency-only Sat phone and called home to mom. Come on.
OK, I'll keep paying attention just to see how she does in the Southern Ocean.
Sometimes these guys disappeared without fanfare.No chance to get back and and write the book. They spent days, weeks and sometimes months without speaking to another human being.
That was then, this is now. We have JPS, EPIRBS and Sat Phones.
There's been a flock of teen slackers the last couple years trying to out-young themselves. Started with the Australian Jesse Martin in 1999. He set the record at 18 years-old then wrote a decent book about it but ended it badly by trying to drum up support to start a young-only sailing paradise in the south sea islands. I was waiting for the Pirates chapter to come out.
More recently an American slacker, Zac Sunderland, tried to do it but had boat trouble and had to make about a million stops so he could raise money to continue being a slacker adventurer. I read his blog as he did it and I have to say I was excited at first but when all his relatives started flying to all his stops around the world to 'fix' a bad spark plug I stopped paying attention.
Then a Brit teen, Mike Perham, started out. He was an impressive communicator in his blog.Made an extra effort to keep the fans informed. Although the boat he choose was fast, an Open 50, it had lots of problems and he had to stop a few places too. He broke Zac's record a couple months ago.
Ignoring the 2-year-old in Denmark, the latest is Jessica Watson from Australia. Last month she did a test sail and hit a freighter. The mast came down but she was all right. The official investigation faulted her for not keeping watch and for marginal log keeping. This was all hushed up and she got the boat fixed and set out.
I suspect I'll she'll be one I'll stop paying attention to- In her last blog she wasn't able to find which bag the cheese was packed into. She got on the Emergency-only Sat phone and called home to mom. Come on.
OK, I'll keep paying attention just to see how she does in the Southern Ocean.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Fall Race 4: Quads!
Light winds this race. Not as light as expected but light enough. John, Jon-Eric trimming. Me on main and Renee on helm. We fell in behind Zydeco on starboard tack at the start and ended up in the middle of the pack. Over Keel came up fast and rolled over us. Once he past us we tacked out of all the traffic on to port which we knew wasn't the favored tack but getting the boat into clear air out weighed the disadvantage since the boats were all relatively close together.
Over Keel tacked after us and it looked like they might try to cover. Not so. Once we tacked back they continued on after De Nouveau, a Pearson Triton, which had the best start and was out in front. The starboard tack was still favored and we were in the center of the course, starboard tack, with clear air. Going out to the right side of the course ended up killing both boats. They went from leading the fleet to middle back of the pack. Sometimes you can look over and see other boats sailing in a bad place. This was one of those times.
Zydeco was still out in front on the same tack but we were slowly closing. This was pretty satisfying since Zydeco is the same boat, a Hunter 28.5, with a slight sail advantage. Zydeco having a dirtier bottom definitely made things in our favor with the light winds.
The last third of the upwind things got more interesting. Zydeco, still in the lead by a few boat lengths, headed out to the starboard lay line with us following. Renee decided to tack back to course middle. At first there was no advantage but then we got a lift and we could see Zydeco getting a header. Renee looked like a genius but I wanted to know what she saw. She started talking about wind patterns but I think she finally ended up saying she had a 'feeling'. We turned the mark at least 10 lengths in the lead.
The downwind leg was painful for us and everyone. Zydeco went on the opposite side and at first looked bad. But we got in a hole and the rest of the fleet made gains. Luckily it was a short run. We turned the mark first and Zydeco was one length back but had sail issues after the turn and dropped back a couple more lengths to kindly give us room.
We heard on the radio that RC was going to shorten the race at the next windward mark. We just stayed out in front. Had some radical shifts around windy point but were far enough ahead so it wasn't an issue. Coming into the finish was interesting. We went far beyond the starboard lay line but kept getting lifted, almost turning a circle around the finish pin. We finally tacked into the header and at first we were not making ground towards the pin. We could see the finishing flags were flying beam to our course so we kept going. Gradually we started heading more to the finish till we tacked back to get home.
Zydeco, Blue Duck then Over Keel finished well back. De Nouveau corrected into 3rd. Over Keel must of had a good upwind because they were looking ugly and well back before the leeward mark. They were so far back it was the first time I'd ever seen a calm look on Damon's face when he was behind. He even joked as we went by! Any time I was ahead in the past he has this amazing purple colored face with a rictus scowl. We could tell how well we were doing by the color of his face.
Humana Mutaka had a leisurely sail. With Deb missing there was no one to light a fire under their asses.
Another bullet for the boat. We had another great race and the crew cohesion is fun. Compared to series past our tacks are getting much cleaner. We estimate at least 10 boat lengths improvement. Jon-Eric came back from a hiatus and loved the gear improvements.
Break next week for RC and the last series race in two weeks. Hopefully we have strong winds so the last class will be in conditions where we really need it.
Over Keel tacked after us and it looked like they might try to cover. Not so. Once we tacked back they continued on after De Nouveau, a Pearson Triton, which had the best start and was out in front. The starboard tack was still favored and we were in the center of the course, starboard tack, with clear air. Going out to the right side of the course ended up killing both boats. They went from leading the fleet to middle back of the pack. Sometimes you can look over and see other boats sailing in a bad place. This was one of those times.
Zydeco was still out in front on the same tack but we were slowly closing. This was pretty satisfying since Zydeco is the same boat, a Hunter 28.5, with a slight sail advantage. Zydeco having a dirtier bottom definitely made things in our favor with the light winds.
The last third of the upwind things got more interesting. Zydeco, still in the lead by a few boat lengths, headed out to the starboard lay line with us following. Renee decided to tack back to course middle. At first there was no advantage but then we got a lift and we could see Zydeco getting a header. Renee looked like a genius but I wanted to know what she saw. She started talking about wind patterns but I think she finally ended up saying she had a 'feeling'. We turned the mark at least 10 lengths in the lead.
The downwind leg was painful for us and everyone. Zydeco went on the opposite side and at first looked bad. But we got in a hole and the rest of the fleet made gains. Luckily it was a short run. We turned the mark first and Zydeco was one length back but had sail issues after the turn and dropped back a couple more lengths to kindly give us room.
We heard on the radio that RC was going to shorten the race at the next windward mark. We just stayed out in front. Had some radical shifts around windy point but were far enough ahead so it wasn't an issue. Coming into the finish was interesting. We went far beyond the starboard lay line but kept getting lifted, almost turning a circle around the finish pin. We finally tacked into the header and at first we were not making ground towards the pin. We could see the finishing flags were flying beam to our course so we kept going. Gradually we started heading more to the finish till we tacked back to get home.
Zydeco, Blue Duck then Over Keel finished well back. De Nouveau corrected into 3rd. Over Keel must of had a good upwind because they were looking ugly and well back before the leeward mark. They were so far back it was the first time I'd ever seen a calm look on Damon's face when he was behind. He even joked as we went by! Any time I was ahead in the past he has this amazing purple colored face with a rictus scowl. We could tell how well we were doing by the color of his face.
Humana Mutaka had a leisurely sail. With Deb missing there was no one to light a fire under their asses.
Another bullet for the boat. We had another great race and the crew cohesion is fun. Compared to series past our tacks are getting much cleaner. We estimate at least 10 boat lengths improvement. Jon-Eric came back from a hiatus and loved the gear improvements.
Break next week for RC and the last series race in two weeks. Hopefully we have strong winds so the last class will be in conditions where we really need it.
Fall Race 3: Trip Aces
A half hour before the start the wind was blowing enough so that all the milling boats reefed sails. Within 10 minutes the wind slowed enough that all boats started shaking their reefs out. Except for us. The crew in their diligence kept hinting about shaking the reef out but this boat is so tender I felt we could wait till 5 minutes before the start before making the decision. When we pulled the gib out the boat had enough power that we decided to keep the reef until the first mark. This worked out very well: we stayed on our 'feet' while boats around and behind us struggled with too much power. We made just two tacks then suffered through one of those long-assed tacks going up the middle of the course. We all thought we'd have to do some short-tacks to get around the mark but instead got lifted right around the first mark.
We had enough distance out in first that the trailing boat's covering had minimal effect. RC called a real short coarse so they had no time to catch up before the race was over.
17 foot rise in lake level!
We had enough distance out in first that the trailing boat's covering had minimal effect. RC called a real short coarse so they had no time to catch up before the race was over.
17 foot rise in lake level!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Fall Race 2: Back to school'n
A fantastic fall day of sailing. Temps in the 70s and just enough wind. The weather sure brought the boats out. We had 11 boats on the start compared with 6 last week.
This week the start was set up closer to Cypress Cove and 2 minutes before the start we ot one of those gawd awful 70 degree shifts that set 9 boats way off the start line. Us included. Luckily, Renee saw we were out of position early and ducked behind a mass of boats heading off in the wrong direction. We finally got over the line over a minute late but 3rd place was good considering.
Out in first was Endorfin, then Zydeco, then Us. The rest of the fleet was strung out behind. The start caught a few badly and their day was over early.
We were pretty far back from Zydeco but had clear air and the boat's been fast since the bottom job last January. We tacked a few times looking for the right shifts, sometimes losing ground, but mostly gaining. Halfway to the the windward mark John and I were trying to guess how high blood pressure can possibly go. We looked back and thought Over Keel was way back in the fleet.
Later I did a double take when I saw them out on the starboard side of the course even with us. We'd been looking back at the 'other' cream-colored hull.
Before the windward mark, Endorfin was overtaken by first Zydeco, Over Keel, than us. We all came together in that order around the mark. After reaching to get clear of shallows, we got a slight lead then the three of us traded the lead back and forth for a couple miles.
Finally Over Keel got sideways distance from us and Zydeco. This wasn't good. Zydeco stuck next to us and there wasn't much we could do since they had rights. They tried to force us to peal off at the finish line pin but it is considered an obstruction and Renee said it in such a forceful manner that Bob on Zydeco had to give us room. They continued to stick on our shoulder and it looked like we were on a cruise to the north shore. At least Over Keel wasn't gaining on the south part of the coarse, although Renee was trying to convince Bob that was the case.
Finally, Renee steered away then we ducked behind and John and I gybed over in an all around smooth move. Just like that we had clear air and Zydeco had swapped places and lost the overlap.
The three of us gradually came back together with Over Keel a few lenghts behind.
We turned the leward mark 3 boat lengths ahead. Over Keel and Zydeco were stuck together as they turned.
Back in clear air we just took off. In two tacks we had a healthy lead. We had a mild scare when we had a sheet get jammed for half a tack, but we still had enough sail to keep the speed up before we cleared it.
Then school started again: Renee started talking crazy talk about how it no longer matters where the shifts are when you're out in front and some other things... I was saying to myself, "no more beer during the race for Renee...", I couldn't quite grasp what she was saying and had to draw pictures later on to completely 'get' it.
We crossed the finish over 3 minutes clear of the second place boat, Over Keel.
We'd waited for Human Mutation to finish to give them a lift back to the club since they park at a floating dock because of the low water levels. I was cheering for them to beat Blue Duck since I knew the ride back would be intolerable if HM had lost. Appearently Roid Rage is a real issue and not to be taken lightly.
Afterwards, It was pointed out in subtle and not so-suble ways that Renee should get all the credit for the sailing. I have no problem with that. The first year of racing here I did the same thing. Once my limited racing knowlege was exhausted, we had guest skippers on board. We did a little better but not much. Sometimes we did a lot worse. I remember those races more from what we learned rather than how we finished.
This series is the perfect oppertunity to get these one-design racers, who can't launch their boats, to get on your boat for schooling.
Two years ago I paid $50 for a race seminar and smacked my head on a damn South Coast boom a couple times while on the water for an hour. It took me 2 of my 4 tacks to get a rudimentary 'feel' for the boat. Then I had to turn over the helm to the next student.
Now I pay beer and get hours of instruction for myself and my crew. Hard to believe but my happiness has little to do with the 2 points. Now if I get the rest of my crew to show up...
This week the start was set up closer to Cypress Cove and 2 minutes before the start we ot one of those gawd awful 70 degree shifts that set 9 boats way off the start line. Us included. Luckily, Renee saw we were out of position early and ducked behind a mass of boats heading off in the wrong direction. We finally got over the line over a minute late but 3rd place was good considering.
Out in first was Endorfin, then Zydeco, then Us. The rest of the fleet was strung out behind. The start caught a few badly and their day was over early.
We were pretty far back from Zydeco but had clear air and the boat's been fast since the bottom job last January. We tacked a few times looking for the right shifts, sometimes losing ground, but mostly gaining. Halfway to the the windward mark John and I were trying to guess how high blood pressure can possibly go. We looked back and thought Over Keel was way back in the fleet.
Later I did a double take when I saw them out on the starboard side of the course even with us. We'd been looking back at the 'other' cream-colored hull.
Before the windward mark, Endorfin was overtaken by first Zydeco, Over Keel, than us. We all came together in that order around the mark. After reaching to get clear of shallows, we got a slight lead then the three of us traded the lead back and forth for a couple miles.
Finally Over Keel got sideways distance from us and Zydeco. This wasn't good. Zydeco stuck next to us and there wasn't much we could do since they had rights. They tried to force us to peal off at the finish line pin but it is considered an obstruction and Renee said it in such a forceful manner that Bob on Zydeco had to give us room. They continued to stick on our shoulder and it looked like we were on a cruise to the north shore. At least Over Keel wasn't gaining on the south part of the coarse, although Renee was trying to convince Bob that was the case.
Finally, Renee steered away then we ducked behind and John and I gybed over in an all around smooth move. Just like that we had clear air and Zydeco had swapped places and lost the overlap.
The three of us gradually came back together with Over Keel a few lenghts behind.
We turned the leward mark 3 boat lengths ahead. Over Keel and Zydeco were stuck together as they turned.
Back in clear air we just took off. In two tacks we had a healthy lead. We had a mild scare when we had a sheet get jammed for half a tack, but we still had enough sail to keep the speed up before we cleared it.
Then school started again: Renee started talking crazy talk about how it no longer matters where the shifts are when you're out in front and some other things... I was saying to myself, "no more beer during the race for Renee...", I couldn't quite grasp what she was saying and had to draw pictures later on to completely 'get' it.
We crossed the finish over 3 minutes clear of the second place boat, Over Keel.
We'd waited for Human Mutation to finish to give them a lift back to the club since they park at a floating dock because of the low water levels. I was cheering for them to beat Blue Duck since I knew the ride back would be intolerable if HM had lost. Appearently Roid Rage is a real issue and not to be taken lightly.
Afterwards, It was pointed out in subtle and not so-suble ways that Renee should get all the credit for the sailing. I have no problem with that. The first year of racing here I did the same thing. Once my limited racing knowlege was exhausted, we had guest skippers on board. We did a little better but not much. Sometimes we did a lot worse. I remember those races more from what we learned rather than how we finished.
This series is the perfect oppertunity to get these one-design racers, who can't launch their boats, to get on your boat for schooling.
Two years ago I paid $50 for a race seminar and smacked my head on a damn South Coast boom a couple times while on the water for an hour. It took me 2 of my 4 tacks to get a rudimentary 'feel' for the boat. Then I had to turn over the helm to the next student.
Now I pay beer and get hours of instruction for myself and my crew. Hard to believe but my happiness has little to do with the 2 points. Now if I get the rest of my crew to show up...
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