Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Pictures from the Three Bridge Fiasco!

"Red Sky" with a red sail - Brian's boat!


Spin walk and Elise is second from left.

Sue - the photographer who took all these wonderful pictures!

Joe on Archimedes

Elise under spinnaker while there was still wind, right after the Bay Bridge


Small traffic jam at the end of the Berkeley Pier. Elise is third from the left.

Elise beating up toward the Bay Bridge


Elise getting close to Dazzler!

Thank you so much Tom and Sue - on Dazzler!

The link is here
Since it seems like a public library, I have extracted the "Elise" pictures!

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Corinthians on Marishana - pictures

As usual, when the photos look that good, courtesy of Dayne!

Getting ready for the second day of the event but the first day of racing since the previous day's race was bagged due to lack of wind.
Dr. John.
Sailboats on a beautiful sailing day meeting for a great sailing race.


A poor lonesome cowboy...
A sea of chutes.
Gusty
Rusty Nat
Bill and Heather in opposition of phase.

Bill helping Nat on the foredeck - thinking "this headsail isn't going to fall over me is it?"
Nathan - Bill and Heather. Triumphvirate.

Beauty impersonated.


Triplets!
Tourist Heather.
Surreal sight.

Whale Story Slide Show

Extract from the OCSC Jan 29th Newsletter - this event is primarily held for OCSC members. If you are interested in any OCSC offering and activities, please contact OCSC directly at info@ocscsailing.com.

A Whale of a Tale Slide Show
Saturday Feb. 16th at 6:30pm
Pacific CupOCSC graduate, Nat Criou, was helping deliver XL Mureadretta back to San Francisco after the Pacific Cup 2006 when a sperm whale rammed into the boat and sank it. The crew documented the adventure from the time of impact to the end of their rescue operation - and it is now available as a slide show.
These are pictures that you won't get to see very often! Nat will be racing double-handed in the Pacific Cup '08, thus returning to Hawaii through the same course that left her stranded two years ago. This time, she is racing for life, as she is raising funds for cancer - and more specifically sarcoma research. www.beatsarcoma.org

Come and hear the story told firsthand by a survivor and find out real-life tips about sound passage making preparation.
>>Learn More..

Want BeatSarcoma to come and present this slide show near you? Email us!

Three Bridge Fiasco - 26th January 2008

This is a double-handed one-design race for the Express 27. Crew on "Elise" was Nathan and Nat. Nathan was the skipper on this race because he attended the skipper's meeting...(Nat was in Seattle for work on that important date)

I will try to do a little writeup even though I am the least qualified person for this.

The forecast was rain, wind between 20-25 knots with gusts of 30. The perfect storm for a long-distance double-handed race. We had 15-foot waves breaking on deck, had to constantly rely on the GPS not to head into one of the Bay Bridge towers. It was wild out there.
Just kidding. This bout of bad weather never materialized during the race. Instead, it waited until Sunday evening to make sure that my evening flight to Seattle would be nicely delayed. Hmpf.

We had winds of about 10 knots, gusting 15 from the SE to start with. Then, down to 5 knots from the same direction. Then down to nothing from no direction. Then up to 5 to 10 with the breeze filling in from the gate. We started with a light ebb and ended with a flood.

The first decision one has to make during this race is which bridge to go to first as we are free to choose the order in which we are rounding the marks. We opted for the Bay Bridge first as the leg between the Bay Bridge and the Richmond bridge is the longest and we wanted to be downwind for that. Also, the part in the ebb would be pretty short and we could get current relief after Treasure Island. So that's what we did.

The first upwind leg, we were slightly overpowered in gusts with a #3, little to no backstay and the main up, lacking weight on the rail. We tried to depower a little by adding some backstay, bringing the traveler down yet tucking the main sheet in hard. This seemed to help. I was hiking out as far as it is allowed in the class (not much :)) The boats near us at that time were Strega, Peaches and El Raton. Elise was keeping up.

We set the kite after turning in the direction of Berkeley/Richmond and we held it until Red Rock. Elise felt very good in the puffs and was going nicely. We were still keeping up with all the other boats. El Raton and Peaches opted for the Northwest side of the course and we sticked to the closest side to shore, far out enough to clear the Berkeley pier and jibed once to get to Red Rock. We seemed to have just as much wind as they did, favorable current and a nice short distance to the mark.

We noticed a current line and we stayed on the right side of it all the way to the island. The wind dropped dramatically before we got to Red Rock and we made tactical mistake. Even though, the wind had gotten very light, we didn't think of changing head sail while we were under spinnaker. We switched back to the #1 jib only after rounding the island and lost ground to the other Express 27, including El Raton and Peaches who had chosen the other course. We had all caught up at the mark so our choices seemed equally valid. This is where we lost time in the race. Elise uses hanks so it is costly to change sails upwind.

The next decision was whether or not to go up Raccoon Strait, or go around the other side of Angel Island. We could see the "hole" in Angel Island, as the wind seemed to be slowly shifting. Most other boats were also opting for the Strait and we committed to this direction. Sailing under the #1, Elise performed admirably. We were as fast or faster than some of the 30 footer in our neighborhood. We lost track of the Express 27 fleet. The wind dropped almost entirely while we were painfully making our way up the Golden Gate Bridge. We constantly trimmed our sail to take advantage of the tiniest bit of wind we could feel. Initially, I wasn't concentrated enough and this may have cost us a few more minutes. We were right next to Archimedes and both Joe and we agreed that no wind was no fun :) This is where we lost the last few minutes as the boats who were closer to shore got more wind at some point, a wind that never got to us. Hard to predict and we did try to get to that area, but couldn't because of wind shifts forcing us to tack several times and putting us in the wrong direction for a little too long.

After that, we sailed well to the finish. Toward the end of Raccoon, the wind picked up again and we could set the spinnaker. We had to drop as the wind dropped again and it was hard to keep it full but it was ready to go back up quickly, from the forward hatch. The wind picked up again which was just as well as we were facing a flood by then and still had to make our way up toward the Golden Gate. We rounded the last mark and headed toward the finish in a nice light but sustained breeze. We kept the spinnaker up as long as possible on a tight reach, then dropped and hoisted again the #1.

When we finished, we had no idea of our position in the fleet as we had lost sight of all the other Express 27.

After the race, I delivered the boat back to Berkeley, my first time single-handed on Elise - and we finished up a pretty perfect day with a treat at the Cheeseboard and a safari into a local used book store...

We didn't take any picture as we were too absorbed by the race...and too busy regretting not having brought wine on board for the Strait fiasco portion of the race, fearing it would be all rainy and cold. However, I noticed a Wyliecat who took picture of Elise. Perhaps we can get hold of those.

The results can be found here. Elise finished 10 out of 17 registered and 14 actually sailing. The great thing about this race though is that we are VERY close to the boats that finished right before us and only 10 minutes behind the leaders. If we had been more alert and changed to a #1 during our downwind leg, we may have been only a few minutes behind them, and a 4-6th place finish is not unrealistic at all. This was our first double-handed race so not so bad in the end.

Learning for us:
- Anticipate, always look forward to the next big thing in the race. Not foreseeing the sail change was so avoidable...
- Our manoeuvres went all well, with Nat doing most of the trimming and sail handling before in light wind weight at the bow is a killer. Nathan did most of the driving. We did switch from time to time though.
- We noticed a couple of holes in the spinnaker which we will tape up before the next outing
- Nat needs to concentrate a lot more in light air. It is critical to take full advantage of any shift in direction and wind velocity, constantly on the lookout for current changes and best wind areas.
- Always bring wine, regardless of the weather forecast
- Put on the race sails, regardless (we left the cruising sails on, thinking that it would be nasty and wanted to preserve the nice sails, given that we would be double-handed, hence slower at everything). Elise just loves it.
- The new hatch is awesome.
- We are glad that the boat is now all sealed up given the current weather conditions!

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Pacific Cup Preparation Update

Elise spent the last week at the Berkeley Marine Center - they did a great job and I am pleased to report that:

a) Elise has a mount and an external spare halyard (which we can remove of course for normal operations). This spare halyard is mounted according to the infinite loop principle, except that it is an open loop. It starts at the top of the mast, so it can be used as a spare main halyard. In which case, it comes down along the mast on the outside and can be routed through turning blocks back to the cockpit. It is also clipped at the level of the spin and jib halyards on the front of the mast since Elise is a fraction rig. If we use it in that mode, the "rear" part will come down the mast and be routed through the turning blocks back to the cockpit. That way, we can use it as a spare headsail halyard and not take a hit in our rating, we will be flying these sails exactly from the same position as with regular halyards. This halyard will also allow us to go up the mast to fix stuff while keeping the main up (otherwise, we need to hope that what needs to be fixed is not any higher than the fraction rig attach point) - and who knows, we may use it to get something or someone out of the water...
(and I guess that if you ask for a spare external halyard mount, you also get the spare halyard, we were planning to use our old halyards...but hey :) who can turn down a line really :) Maybe we'll turn our spare halyard into the offshore foreguy)

b) Elise has a brand new super cool looking forward hatch. It's super slick and it looks so good on her. The main characteristic of this new piece of equipment though is that it should be pretty much water tight. Especially good in today's rainy weather.

c) The traveler's top cleats got changed for the 3rd time, even though it really is the bare metal plate at the top that needs changing. Oh well, I guess our explanation wasn't very good.

d) We do have a nice clean plexiglas companionway hatch, which comes in two parts and which we can open and close from both the inside and the outside.

e) Both the portholes and the shroud bases are now properly sealed. In the process, the boat yard identified a couple of small leaks near the transom, so we'll see what we want to do about that.

They talked to Jim Antrim who had some great idea about the emergency rudder so we took the boat back there after the Three Bridge Fiasco and we look forward to hearing from them about that!

Monday, January 21, 2008

Trailer Work

On a beautiful race morning at the Saint Francis...A bunch of girls decides to work on the Elise trailer and apply some rust remover to prep the trailer for a deep painting job...Of course, it had to rain the day after, delaying the paint job by a week. It is supposed to rain all week, so with a little rinse before painting, it should be fine, no more salt!

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Christmas Sail - Portraits




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Christmas Sail - Group Shots

My updates are very timely, aren't they? This was the day before Christmas on the J130.




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Sailing on Red Sky

Mom and Brian
The coolest picture of Nathan!
The Bay...the color of the water is...Carribeanesque...
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Announcing the Sarcoma Cup


JUNE 28 & 29, 2008

Announcing a Racing Event to Benefit Cancer Research, sponsored by BeatSarcoma, Inc. and hosted by Richmond Yacht Club.

* Peak wind season
* No conflicts with other major events
* hosted by one of the most active clubs on the bay

Come join us for some great racing for a great cause!

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When:
June 28 and 29, 2008 (Sat, Sun)

What:
A Sat/Sun combination round-the-buoys and distance race (scoring
available for either or both). Dinner will be available on Saturday
night. Special scoring or other arrangements are available (one OD
class is considering making this their Nationals).

Where:
Hosted by Richmond Yacht Club, racing will be mostly between
Southhampton Shoal and the Berkeley Circle for the buoy races.

Why:
Sarcoma affects all age groups and accounts for 15-20% of cancer in children. It receives under 1% of all cancer research funding and a better understanding is desperately needed. Money raised through this event will go directly to research projects sponsored by BeatSarcoma, Inc. with absolutely no money diverted to overhead expenses of the BeatSarcoma non-profit.

Registration:
One or two day registration is available

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Host:
http://www.richmondyc.org

Important Fundraising Information

Hello Beethovens and the rest of the orchestra -

Elise will be doing the Pacific Cup as BeatSarcoma's flagship boat. We love sailing but it isn't just about the race. It's about life, freedom and generosity. Take the helm and steer the sarcoma battleship toward a cure.

Sailing across an ocean is focusing on the very basic survival tasks: what do we need to do to sail on more mile (hopefully fast and hopefully in roughly the direction of Hawaii), survive one more day - out of this simplicity, pain and effort, we will grow. Fighting cancer is also focusing on survival - and is a source of personal growth.

As the wind whips spray and salt on your face, you feel very alive. The line that you use to trim the sail gives you a direct connection with the force of nature. Sailing your boat under any condition must be a very similar feeling to the one that physicians must experience as they cure any and all patients.

Elise is empowering us. Empower the physicians and free the patients. You can support our effort by donating online - or even become a fundraiser! Remember, we cover all the race expenses so every penny will go directly to sarcoma research.

Safety at Sea

A quick update on how things are going for the Pacific Cup preparation. These past couple of weeks, we have put a strong emphasis on safety. Not that safety isn't top of mind the other weeks of course.

First, we registered for all sorts of classes: CPR, 1st Aid (Amy won't be on board so we just lost our ship medical officer), Safety at Sea seminar. I wonder what I am going to learn in the "emergency wreck" section of the class...I had plenty of practice...

I am also reserving a satellite phone through Outfitter Satellite.
You never know, it can be useful...in case I need to call someone to ask them to feed my cats.

We have taken Elise to the Berkeley Marine Center to have the (hopefully) last big jobs done - namely:
- changing the fore hatch as the old one seems to be dangerously leaking. A few days of torrential rain filled up the bilge completely.
- adding a crane to allow us to mount an external halyard. This can help if there are things you need to fix up the mast (such as, say, a masthead fly??) without having to drop any sail. You can also use it as a replacement if any of your halyard break or need to have some work done. It will be out of the top of the mast and can be a main halyard and will be driven down to the fraction rig level so that we can fly a chute off of it as well without modifying our rating.
- sealing up all the bases of the shrouds (requires disassembly)
- emergency rudder
- change our scratchy-looking wooden companionway hatch with some sci-fi plexiglas, slightly tinted hatch. It will come in two pieces and we will be able to open and close/lock it from both inside and outside as per the safety requirements.

I am going to like my girl when she comes out. She should be looking pretty cool with her new pair of sunglasses :)

A Day In The Life

The skipper
Beautiful San Francisco sunset - all photos courtesy of Dayne
Elise new look new age - just kidding...A tug...
The happy couple!
A fiery fog rolling in.

Mina is very focused on the task. We didn't hit anything while she was driving.

[Nat] And then the whale hit the boat and we sank.
[Mina] No way
[Nat] Way