Category: Preparation

7:1 odds! Wish I had known that going into the start!

A good start had us in the hunt with the main competition, Elan and Sweet Okole, a very cool Farr 36 that had sailed to Hawaii so many times it could have got there uncrewed! We quickly worked into a small lead and covered the fleet as needed while we made our way out of the bay and into the Potato Patch, an area so called for it’s confused sea state in wind against tide conditions. A couple of whale sightings to guide us out and we were well on our way. We had started with a small jib and full main, but by the time we got past the Farralone Islands we were into a reef in the main and the Blast Reacher. We maintained a lead on our class although we were sagging more to the south early on. I had wanted to be left of the class, but was a little concerned about how much ground we were giving up. All day on the 13 and into the 14 was reefed main and blast reacher, accompanied by big wind, big waves, no appetite, general queeziness and malaise. Drive, sleep, drink water, don’t eat, repeat! Roll Calls via SSB revealed a bit of attrition in the fleet due to the conditions. On the 14th we got into the A3 spinnaker and then quickly into the A4 with a full main. The hammer was now down.

Adios!

Racing in a competitive fleet

Start line

Elan, another Express 37

Whale sighted!

Whale sighted!

PacCup ReCap, The middle part:

It’s the end of the 14th, day two. It should be blowing 15 to 18, but it is still in the 20’s. I had estimated a nearly 11 day race at an average of 180 miles per day. We had already run a 200 mile day on day one and just ripped off a 218 mile day with reaching sails on day two. Hmmmm, this was not as the brochure had indicated. Spinnaker reaching with the A4 (not really the right sail) but sailing right down the line slightly to the south of rum and moving like a Rhino on Crack. The morning of the 15th we spotted a huge floating cylinder type thing. About 15 feet in length and four feet in diameter. Called it in for the others at Children’s hour (the afternoon SSB chat show). Everyone was now into the routine of life board and the watch cycle was working very smoothly. Appetites came back with a vengeance and the marine toilet started to face the first of many major challenges thrown at it. Every thing was still pretty much wet, pretty much all of the time, and major decisions involved how long one could stay in this wet gear before getting dry gear wet! The other big headache involved the sat comms. I could call in daily positions but I could not download weather files. With help, we tracked it down to a bad USB cable of all things. We found a new cable and voila, we had e-mail and weather files. All things were now all good. We were wet, mostly cold, which was better than always cold, fed, going the right way in the lead and knew what the weather was going to do in the next day or so. What could possibly go wrong?……………..

PacCup ReCap, The middle part, part II:

July 16, Day 5. Morning roll call shows us with another 200 mile plus run, again better than anyone in our class, more importantly because we have chosen a more direct or rumb (rum!) line route, we are losing less mileage to the goal then our competitors, with the exception of Bullet today, but at 59 miles behind us, it doesn’t matter. We are making ground on both Sweet Okole and Elan. We have been getting steadily lifted (turning to the right) so call for a gybe to port (left) which gives us a great angle with the swell and towards the goal. There has been a strong southerly swell component the whole race that has made steering on starboard gybe tricky, but now on port gybe much easier. It is a little atypical to be on port so early, but this race has been anything but a typical run. Into July 17, we did one spook the herd gybe back to starboard after being lifted for a while and then to port again. We have stayed on port since and are making big gains on anyone who did not gybe, read everyone else! Around midday after e-mailing our position report I go to plug then USB cable into the satphone cradle and “pop”. Off comes the USB socket! This thing was only mounted with soft silver solder. The whole unit is way too fragile to be on a boat and we are now totally with out weather downloads. This is going to be challenging! But the bad news bears are not done with us yet. Around 0500 July 18, we get passed by a squall, with a bit of rain and some breeze. Mike hands over the helm to me and goes to get some coffee started. Literally not 5 mins later and the breeze builds to high 20’s then 30 plus. Launch off a big wave at around 15 knots,and lose it into a massive round up. Boat is on her side sails flogging, no helm. Dump the kite sheet, slowly get upright, sheet on and then massive round down the other way. Call for help, or rather scream like a little girl, and it’s all hands on deck. Slowly get the boat upright again, then sheet in and we’re off. Breeze now in the mid 30’s when another puff comes in at 42. Boat speed is 16.56 (about 19 mph), when she tries to accelerate more, and the kite says…….No. Leech explodes and we are in take down mode. With the kite finally on deck we are still doing 10 knots under main only. Go to a jib top reaching sail while we gather ourselves and take a bit of a breather. After that we grab an old kite that says 1.5 oz (or does it?) Put that up and continue on as the clear air squall has left us in it’s wake. Roll call 0800 reveals that we were not the only carnage that morning. Lots of teams went through pretty coloured sails and pairs of underwear. Just after 0800 the 1.5 oz blew up. It turns out that it was in fact a light weight .5 oz kite, that was mis-labeled. The only thought this kite could have had at being launched in 30 true, was…..This is the end!

PacCup ReCap, The final stage:

With the large A4 and the 1.5 imposter gone we are currently sailing the code zero poled out. It works ok but doesn’t have enough power. The S2 is on the lighter side and we’ve been saving it for the final run into the finish anyway. The A3 we aren’t sure about cloth weight. Another close look though reveals it is all Airx 900 (on the heavy side), so it should be able to take the beating we are going to dish out. Up it goes and away we go. It turns out to be the Goldilocks sail. Heavy enough to take the squalls and just the right size to not drag the boat all over the ocean. The fun meter now routinely goes past 11, even though we have the damping dialed way down for better accuracy on wind info. Every now and then there are whoops and hollers from the lads or giggles and clapping from the lass as the fun meter goes to 15 plus, which registers as 17 to 18 on the gps. The next few days are exactly what the brochure described. Sunshine, breeze, squalls and surfing galore. We occasionally swap out to the S2 kite, only to get the willies when it sustains 25 true and go back to the A3. One of the changes results in us losing a spinnaker halyard, which wraps itself around the headstay. The conditions are such that we choose to leave it there rather than beating up the bow girl to retrieve it. Each 0930 roll call on the SSB confirms that we are holding a lead. Sometimes we lose a little, others we gain, buy the net result is pole position in division. We have tried in vain to repair the Sat Comms, but to no avail. We resort to borrowing other boats weather and position ourselves based on the leaders in the other start on our day, and stay between our competition and the mark. This works out to be a sound strategy. While Sweet Okole takes a dive south, we maintain the middle and more direct course to the goal. We give up very little distance to the finish and they cannot go fast enough to make up for the extra mileage. The final stretch into the finish has us with about a 30 mile lead over Sweet Okole. We call in the 100 mile check in at 2300 on the 21st. The last 24 hours we switched from the 4 on 4 off watch sked to a rolling 3 on 3 off to rotate drivers as much as we can. Our final days run was a 235, so this move paid off. There was talk earlier at the Children’s hour radio show about Tropical Storm Darby, and while we are well ahead, the sea state has picked up somewhat, and several of the slower boats/later starters are being advised to take steps to avoid finishing on Sunday. This race has been one for the books on all accounts. We call in our 25 mile check in at 0330 HST, and finish 3 hours and 6 minutes later after 9 days 22 hours 11 mins and 54 sec. That is pretty bloody fast for an Express 37! First in division, First in the Schumacher division (Very Cool!) and 4th overall.

Doug’s video of Limitless surfing:
https://www.facebook.com/doug.johnstone.31/videos/10206441807875322/

July 22, 2016

……and we’re in. Pac Cup 2016 in the books. 9 days 22 hours 35 mins.

July 23, 2016

It’s official. 1st in class and 4th overall. Also, while not posted 1st in the Schumacher division. Not too shabby for a rookie boat!