Saturday, April 26, 2014

Monday Night Storm. SHTP Qualifier

Talked to Brian on the VHF and basically just managed to get a few miles further North from Half Moon Bay, maybe 6 or 8 miles than where I was when he called. Wind around 3 to 10 knots...Became very bored and tested satellite phone.

The wind then completely died at night, literally died. It was glass all around the boat. I had dinner on deck, under the stars. The sails were flapping badly but I decided to keep them up. Easier to reduce sail area than to hoist new sails, particularly with the main.

I decided to go to sleep since there wasn't much sailing to do. Not happy about prospect of drifting all night in the middle of nowhere so close to home. But usually in sub 5 knots I make a face...No risk of any lee shore, I was at least 7 or 8 miles away from the closest shore and the non existent waves would have been from the North (yes I did not see this Westerly that was so promised...) basically blowing me to no man's land, perhaps Carmel, somewhere 70 miles south of where I was.

Just boring...

Was alone with a sea lion that was swimming around the boat maybe hoping for some of that tuna salad I had for dinner. Talked to the guy but didn't hear back. Maybe a deaf sea lion. 

Fell asleep but set timer to keep  a regular watch schedule. I either slept through the timer or storm came up while I was asleep but I woke up to a boat on its side lying a hull (ie hove to but with so much power in the main that it is pinned to the water). I look around and see winds of 25 knots, black cloud over black sea, really dark seas full of white foam. Quite a sight! Totally surreal. Took me a couple of seconds to adjust to reality.

Priority 1: regain control of the boat and have her on a sustainable safe path. Vertical deck does not qualify. I freed up the main and set the boat downwind in an upright position. I had full sails up as I was coming from a no wind time... I got situated and noticed that the wind was coming form the north, straight from where I wanted to go.  25 knots is just fine, that's what I had most of the time so I was getting ready to point NW and start tacking my way up (breeze was coming straight from the North). It started to rain, really rain. Next time I look at the instruments, the wind was up to 40 knots and the rain had increased in intensity further.

Whatever last set of dry clothes I had was now very wet, including my butt. Definitely too much sail up for the conditions so I double reefed the main which stabilized things immediately and then went forward to put the #4 back up. I had left it on deck and all hooked up. What a brilliant idea that was! I never hoisted a head sail that fast. A heck of a wake up call. 

After that, things were pretty much under control again and it took less than 10 minutes to get all this done (less than 2 for the reefing.So I looked at my options. I could a) beat back up to the gate for about 40 miles or rather 30 miles and then 10 miles on a reach. Unpleasant. I probably was a little tired after this time at sea, and it would be pushing the boat and rig much more so that a lower apparent wind speed downwind. 40 knots of true wind might bring it up to 45 knots of apparent wind. I also did not know if the storm would increase further in intensity. There is forecast and there if reality and the two don't always match. I could b) heave to and wait the storm out here. Not fun. Boring. Plus I didn't know how long this would last. The west shift I had so anticipated I never saw. So 'short storms' could last for 48 hr for all I knew. I was pretty well rested because I had just slept but did I want to exhaust myself waiting around in a storm I actually probably didn't have to weather since I was very close to a safe harbor. I could c) have fun surfing downwind which the boat was naturally doing already. I am sure that there were other options like pointing the boat to hawaii and just go but I ran out of attention span. 

The apparent wind was very manageable - around 30 knots which is what the boat had seen with a spinnaker up during coastal cups several times. Other than unpleasant rain, the sailing was actually really nice now and the sail area seemed just fine for the downwind conditions. The boat was easy to steer and seems to thrive.

I could try to reach toward the coast and half moon bay but that option would soon not be available without an upwind portion. The problem I thought with half moon bay is that it is very much 'you miss this buoy and you end up on a rock, miss that one and other rock' so I didn't really want to have to deal with this in a low visibility, rain everywhere type situation. Probably pretty sheltered from northerly but since the sailing was pretty good, and the AP was doing just fine driving the boat, I could actually get down below for a while to rest from the weather and just go downwind. Santa Cruz harbor should also be quite protected from the northerly.

So I kept going downwind and decided to pull into Santa Cruz, some 50 miles south of where I was. I remember from reading Skip Alan's storm story that it was good practice to give the Coast Guard a heads up of my situation so they would be more efficient if a search and rescue operations had to be underway so I called them to let them know of my situation. They asked some questions about my safety equipment (and my weight and height) and I confirmed that I was not requiring assistance just wanted to communicate the situation, my position and my plan to head into Santa Cruz. (I called them when I got there so they could close the case). 

I also called Nathan Bossett to see if he could contact SC harbor or Monterey for a spot and to notify them of the change of plan (well I left a message...it was the middle of the night...) but he called me back and we spoke. That was helpful because I didn't have that info on sat phone. The rest of the night was actually fun. I had well slept and the boat was now just surfing nicely in very nicely formed and regular swell. The rain wasn't fun but the sail didn't feel like a stormy sail at all, more like a fun ride downwind, typical of a lightship race or something like that. Boat in its element. If boat can handle situation and likes it, skipper can handle boat and like it. Closer to Santa Cruz, the wind abated to 20+ knots, even at the corner and I emerged from the dark cloud and rain to find a beautiful starry night.

I don't know if my decision was a good one. continuing upwind might have been just fine. I guess I will never know. It certainly didn't seem to be a bad decision except it is costing Elise participation in the Vallejo race...

Bummer.

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