Thank you so much for all your great support, it means the world to us. We’ll be at Richmond Yacht Club, slip D04 from 8-9 am this morning, at which time we plan to shove off for our start at 1125 in front of the St. Francis Yacht Club. It’s a very competitive fleet, and we’ve stripped everything off the boat that isn’t needed to make it go fast or be safe. Our bags are packed and we’re ready to see what we can do in this fierce fleet of competitors. We did a test sail yesterday and everything checked out A-OK. We also did a test of our email over satellite phone capabilities, so we should be good for posting some brief updates along the way if everything goes as planned.
See you on the other side!!! 🙂
Shawn, Doug, Cliff, Mike, Lori and Gabriel
Team Limitless
Express 37 #18513
Also, our updates while we race are most likely going to be text-only, but we’ll try to sneak a picture in or two if we can. We’ll add photos and videos once we’re on land and have fast internet again. 🙂
Bob helped with a lot of last minute things. Also again, thanks to Fox Marine!Shawn driving Limitless back to RYCTest sail!Cliff inspecting the sailsLori on the bowReady to cross the ocean to Hawaii!July 12, 2016 Weather briefing
Today was quite a busy day! Doug Johnstone, our fearless navigator, arrived just in time to attend the mandatory skippers meeting along with Shawn and Gabriel. Items covered in the meeting included safety, weather and routing, check-ins, the YB Tracker that each boat is equipped with now, and the ti leaves brought over from Kaneohe for each boat to bring back to Hawaii.
Following the skippers meeting was the official Pacific Cup Bon Voyage party. With 5 out of our 6 teammates present things are really starting to come together, and a fun time was had by all.
2016 Pacific Cup Tracker – Limitless
You can now track exactly where Limitless is! This will be a 6 hour delayed position, but will be updated at all times. They did emphasize that if we for some reason disappear off the YB Tracker site DO NOT WORRY, it is almost certainly just a glitch in the tracker, not some disaster with the boat. Click here to check out the live tracker page: http://pcup.org/track.html
Notable accomplishments today:
Mike and Shawn got the hood that goes over the sliding hatch re-bedded and fastened
New starboard spinnaker halyard installed
Water tanks plumbed
Lots more fiddly little projects, each important and necessary to get done before we go. Feels like the list is endless, but we’re almost there!
Click through for gallery of today’s pictures.
Skippers meeting
Skippers meeting – Coast Guard
Skippers meeting – Finish line
Inspection of the boat at the finish line
Brent came and talked foredeck options with Lori
Doug the navigator getting settled in
Shawn enjoying a moment of relaxation
Mike “Pops” Kennedy… can’t wait to surf to Hawaii
Amber and Lori
Gabriel and Amber
Hey skipper!
The Pacific Cup
The Carl Schumacher Perpetual Cup is awarded for the fastest corrected time in the Pacific Cup in a Schumacher designed boat (i.e. an Express 37)
Mike arrived from out of town late last night to help get the boat finished and ready to race in our start on Tuesday. He worked on installing the new hatch cover today and also on the covers for the bottom instruments in the forepeak. Lori was also on board helping get the new jib halyard installed and the second / bottom spinnaker pole track car connected to the top one with a short Spectra line. Meanwhile Shawn got a lot of work done on the refrigeration system. The new propane tank locker installed by KKMI will make an excellent princess seat (and keep everything safe). Things are coming together bit by bit, lots of small tasks to finish before we cast off for Hawaii.
Tomorrow is the skipper’s meeting and then Bon Voyage party at Richmond Yacht Club. Looking forward to wrapping up the final preparations in the next couple of days and then casting off for our start at 11:25 am on Tuesday 7/12/16.
Lori working on rigging the spinnaker cars together
Limitless has a number of electronic systems for measuring data about our environment that are useful for safety and performance. Each has its purpose and reason for being on the boat. Here’s a quick summary of some of the key components:
NKE instruments
Garmin chart plotter
Vesper AIS system
VHF Radio
SSB
Satellite phone
Dustin at Fox Marine (shop located at KKMI in Point Richmond) is helping make everything talk to one another, so the chart plotter, wind instruments, depth sounder and AIS all can coordinate together for a complete picture of how the boat is doing at any given moment. He’s also helping to get everything fused and wired correctly for safety.
We prepped everything for inspecting and passed our Pacific Cup safety inspection (with a couple of minor homework assignments). Michael did a great job of checking everything over and also sharing some useful tips that would help make it a better trip for us on the way over and back. Limitless is now ready for finishing the last projects before we leave in less than 2 weeks!
Starting out in her home harbor of San Pedro, California, team Limitless worked together to bring the boat up north to the Bay Area for weighing, measuring and inspection in preparation for the start of the Pacific Cup 2016 race.
Shawn and Bryan delivered her to Santa Barbara, where Gabriel joined the crew after a one-day delay due to needing to check on the engine. From Santa Barbara the next stop was Morro Bay, where Bryan got off the boat in order to make it back home in time for his wife’s birthday. Shawn and Gabriel then set off for the 26 hour trip from Morro Bay to Santa Cruz. After arriving in Santa Cruz and refueling and relaxing for a few hours, they then made the final push from Santa Cruz to Berkeley, leaving at 0430 in the morning, successfully arriving Sunday evening in time for the weigh-in to happen Monday morning.
Winds ranged from 3kt to 30+kt, averaging 20-25kt out of the northwest (i.e. directly on the nose). Seas ranged from 2-3 foot waves to 9-12 foot waves. Typical conditions for a delivery from southern California.
Gabriel making his way to Santa Barbara from Oakland
Provisioning for the delivery
Taking Greyhound from Oakland to Santa Barbara
Stopping for donuts at 24 hour donut shop on the way down to Santa Barbara
Stopping for donuts at 24 hour donut shop on the way down to Santa Barbara
Made it to Santa Barbara!
Beautiful pier in Santa Barbara
Arrived at Santa Barbara Marina
Gabriel arrived at Santa Barbara Marina
Santa Barbara Yacht Club
Time for some delicious breakfast at Dawn Patrol in Santa Barbara
Taking the train to San Luis Obispo and back to Santa Barbara after the delivery got delayed by a day
Train back to Santa Barbara
Beautiful countryside
Gonna be driving Limitless up the coast soon!
Wind conditions building over the next 5 days
Meeting up with the boat in Santa Barbara, getting underway to Morro Bay
Delivery mode
Installing hardware for the jib tack
Bryan
And we’re off!
Autopilot working A-OK
Smoke from the wildfire on the horizon
Smoke from the wildfire on the horizon
Wildfire smoke over the ocean
Beautiful light coming through the smoke
Heading to Morro Bay
Our route to Morro Bay from Santa Barbara
Driving at night, checking gauges
Wet trip in the dark
Sunlight! Almost to Morro Bay!
Getting closer…
Beautifully calm approach to Morro Bay after a night of bashing through waves
Bryan driving
Shawn is glad to be almost done with this leg
Otters in Morro Bay
Otters in Morro Bay
Otters in Morro Bay
Approaching the entrance to Morro Bay harbor
Famous Morro rock
Hey, we’re on land again! 🙂
Limitless in Morro Bay
We made it!
Next leg of the delivery: double-handing Limitless from Morro Bay to Santa Cruz – 98 nm
With enough fuel to make it to Santa Cruz, we set off from Morro Bay shortly after lunchtime. Building pressure and winds means we don’t have a lot of time to spare before we need to get going again.
Starting our trip from Morro Bay to Santa Cruz
Passing by Big Sur
Rounding Point Sur
Sails up!
Beautiful sailing conditions
Rounded the point and headed for Santa Cruz
Just sailing along!
Almost there…
Full sails on the way to Santa Cruz
Tightening the spectra lifelines on the way
Final approach to Santa Cruz
Drying out our gear on the dock in Santa Cruz
Yay we made it!
Tasty salad for dinner
Delivering Limitless from Santa Cruz to Berkeley – Monday 6/20
The final leg of the trip was from Santa Cruz to Berkeley. Traditionally this involves getting some rest, then leaving early in the morning (think 0400) to avoid some of the heavy winds and waves that can be found rounding the various points along the way. This was again a wet and boisterous trip leading to spotting the Golden Gate Bridge and passing under on the way to Berkeley. We got kind of emotional about that. 🙂
Charting our trip from Santa Cruz to Berkeley
Sunrise over the Pacific
Moon setting over the Pacific
Moon setting over the Pacific
Sun rising
Happy skipper
Moving right along
Approaching the turn to the Bay
Can just barely see the Golden Gate
Approaching the Golden Gate Bridge
Almost there!
Happy crew
Wind shut down just outside the bridge
Shawn driving
Limitless going under the Golden Gate Bridge
Limitless going under the Golden Gate Bridge
Limitless going under the Golden Gate Bridge
Limitless going under the Golden Gate Bridge
Limitless going under the Golden Gate Bridge
Limitless going under the Golden Gate Bridge
Happy? You bet!
Thumbs up!
Passing under the Golden Gate Bridge on Limitless
San Francisco in sight
On our way to Berkeley now
Approaching Berkeley, surfing the little waves
After all that, arrived successfully in Berkeley to a warm welcome and parked at Berkeley Yacht Club’s guest dock to prepare for weighing and measuring at Berkeley Marine Center the next morning.
