Elise Quote of the Month

"This boat is amazing and such a pleasure to sail" - Dayne.

If you have any quote that you'd like to submit to this blog, please write to us. Since we might be overwhelmed by requests and faithful to our fairness principles, we may not be able to post all of them on the blog. If it seems to you that the quotes do not reflect a balanced point-of-view and may be slightly skewed toward the extraordinarily positive end, it will be the product of randomness.

Elise Cruise Last Day

Beautiful winter sailing on a clear crisp day...What is the secret of such felicity?
Here it is - but don't tell anyone please.

Elise Cruise Day V - Fast, Food and Fix

After two days of sailing blind, we decided to fix the masthead fly. I walked into the store and asked for two of those as they weren't on the shelves. The store clerk looked at me, raised his eyebrows and said "how many masts do you have on your 27-footer"?

I will now carry a spare masthead fly at all times.
We were pretty well equipped and we didn't need any ice this time around. Ambient temperature did the job!
Little frog is sailing the boat fast.
Trimming the sails really nicely.
We could have been heading to a new adventure out of the gate - but we had a prior commitment so we sailed around the Bay instead. The amazing Cirque du Soleil was calling for us. We would sleep in our own bed that night but we would go out again the following day...Only to find very little wind and motor around...We were invited at a Holiday Party in the evening but we would go out again the following day...to take Elise out of the water!

Elise Cruise Day IV - heading toward Clipper Cove

There are sacred moments in life. This was one of them.
We anchored for the night - we were carrying a really light racing anchor so the only conditions it would work in would be very little to no wind. These conditions were met that night and it's fun to try out Elise under every possible sailing situation. Anchoring is definitely part of it, even during races! The wind was moribund but not completely dead when we got into the cove, so we could anchor under sail. We will have to use the engine in the morning to leave the anchorage.
After a day of cleaning up, we didn't have the strength to replace the masthead fly, so we decided to fly the spinnaker without it. Actually, during this "cruise", I floated the kite several times (flying it without the pole), did a lot of light air upwind driving and downing trimming/driving to trim - so I got a very very nice feel for the sails. Feeling them react and sense every move at the tip of your fingers is quite magical. Whenever I was in charge of a sail, the outside world would disappear. I would concentrate on the slightest detail on the sail and make sure that it'd be kept happy and full.

Sailing without a masthead fly teaches you to use the gentle touch of the wind on your face to find out about its direction and guess its speed.
Floating the kite really helps you during gibes as for a short moment, the chute will be flying loose. I felt such a strong communion with the sails and as an extension with the wind.

At sea, your life revolves around very basic things - driving and trimming, a little bit of navigation, satisfying the most basic biological needs such as eating, going to the bathroom and sleeping. A little bit of cleaning up here and there and that's pretty much it. It is so simple that it is extraordinarily relaxing.

Elise finally free again after a night at anchor at Clipper Cove. The anchor is left on deck to dry as there is little to no wind early morning as we are heading out for a breakfast at Sam's in Tiburon.
Nathan is getting ready for bed.
Nat is preparing the "bedroom". Since we were not at sea when night closed in, we used the V-berth at the bow. During the Pac Cup, we will be using the quarter berth to port which is the one that won't be acting as our sail storage room.
A nice celebratory dinner on Elise. We had other dinners and lunches on board, primarily underway. This one was at anchor. Little frog is enjoying our little Cotes-du-Rhone red.
We have a nice table, nice food, comfy settees with our cruising cushions and wine. What more could we ask for? Heating? Nay...

Elise Cruise Day IV - Clean up

It was decided that while I would drive to get a new masthead fly, the boat needed some cleaning...Nathan did a great job at taking everything out so things could dry and air out...We used Heather's present to funnel air through the cabin.
Foul weather gear, radar reflector, anchor and anchor line, rags, dock lines, motoring cone and anchorage ball, buckets, etc...everything was taken outside and we recharged the batteries with our two solar panels.
Elise looked pretty clean. Here's our bags, coat room, living room and emergency storage (you can see Elise's EPIRB)
Our communication center.
Sail storage room.
The other half of the sail storage room as the genoa doesn't fit into one picture.
But it was all so worth it. Nothing can capture the beauty, peace and magic of a night on the ocean.

Elise Cruise Day III - Back to the Bay

On the third day, we rose again and ascended into the Bay. My digital camera may be waterproof but it's not an expert at taking night shots...Artistic proof posted above. And no, this is not the effect of alcohol.

Elise was definitely ready to go for another ocean leg.
Nathan so not much.
Still we decided to leave and return to the Bay or head out to the Farallones, it would depend on how long things would take. We weren't looking forward to gibing back and forth from the Farallones without a masthead fly though, so we were tempted to get back to a place where we could replace the critical item.
What started as a nice downwind got quickly converted into a typical HMB-SF wet upwind...We noticed a couple of holes on the spinnaker so I went below and applied some sail tape to it...It was so bumpy though, that the only stable place I could find was sitting on the floorboard. I tried to find a nice flat surface to put the spinnaker on and the nav table, or counter near the sink seemed to be the only option. Despite my best efforts at keeping everything nice and tight, there's a little fold beneath one of my bandages...Yikes!

I was trying to imagine heating up water for a cup of coffee...worse, pouring hot coffee into a mug without serving the bilge at the same time...This is going to be hard, we definitely need leecloths...

Little frog was pretty happy on the way back - on our nice little cruising cushion. This cushion will prove very useful I am sure on the way to Hawaii, as two weeks on fiber glass will probably turn out butts into hard steel...

Flying colors...
Getting ready for another cold and windy night. There was no swell and the seas were not choppy. Getting closer to the gate, we had a mirror-looking water AND wind, enough for us to sail, it was quite a rare combination.
The wind died right at the gate so we had to start the engine 15 min away from the Saint Francis YC. We were planning on going much further but given the (late) time, the fact that we were a little cold and the availability of a sauna and hot shower at the club, we gave in and gave ourselves a luxury pre-night, even if going back to the home port before the end of the cruise sounds a little weird...

We parked Elise right next to some huge floating RVs getting ready for the lighted boat parade and playing Christmas songs, so we even got entertainment for the night! - and that shower must have been one of the best one I have ever had!

Elise Cruise Day II - at Half-Moon Bay

Wiping out the waterproof charts, got a little wet. See what's hiding behind the gas cans? It's the BUCKET!
Green energy boat...
Reading with little frog.

The day after, we woke at the crack of dawn, around 10:30am, looked up at the mast and saw that the VHF antenna might require some work. The radio was still working so perhaps it was only cosmetics. In any case, this might need a little examination.

We headed out for a nice warm breakfast at Cafe Classic, and as we were walking back, Nathan suggested to use this day for repairs, including sleep repair. In other words, some farniente in Half Moon Bay. The weather was beautiful and the air warm enough to spend a day outside without any problem.
The only problem I had with this cunning plan was that it didn't seem to include sailing at all. We compromise on an afternoon of sailing and the rest of doing nothing.




We concluded this wonderful day with a very festive dinner - the best oysters ever!!!
Living dangerously...
In the afternoon and until dusk, eg until the solar-energy-powered Taktik ran out of juice, we played around in the Bay with Elise. We set, jibed and doused many times, switching roles. There was just a nice little breeze and the whole experience was just extraordinary. I had never spent much time in Half Moon Bay and it is a beautiful bay - so long as you avoid kelp forests and rocks.

We also practiced something that we actually need to practice before the Pac Cup: retrieval of a man who has fallen overboard. We determined that the weather was a little too cold to be our own guinea pigs so we used a baby fender instead. Nathan innocently threw the victim overboard and I had to retrieve it. The OCSC method of figure of eight was a bit long and was taking the boat a little too far away...so we opted for a faster method. All of these retrieval techniques are based on the same concept. The boat sails below the victim and then head upwind to stop the boat. There is indeed only one direction a sailboat cannot follow - that of the origin of the wind so putting your boat head to wind is a good way to stop it since I haven't yet seen boats that were equipped with brakes. The idea is to stop the boat right next to the victim.

We haven't lost the fender - in fact, I think that we retrieved it every time. We did this little game quite a few times, it really was a lot of fun!



In the morning or what was left of it, we decided to take a look at the "damage". We were faced with the decision of who would go up the mast. I looked at the combination of Nathan-my biceps and got the feeling that hoisting Nathan wasn't going to be a fast business. So I went up there and with a pair of pliers could straighten up the VHF antenna again. There was nowhere we could buy a new windex fly in Half-Moon Bay so we decided to sail back the following day with yarn attached to the shrouds to give us the wind direction.
Playing around in Half Moon Bay.

This cruise also taught us a lot about power consumption of lights, instruments, etc...and in the morning, we recharged the battery with a big solar panel. We will buy a MUCH bigger one for the stern of Elise for the Pac Cup but if this one can keep up with our luxury habits, then we should be in good shape when I bring the 150 watts stereo ;-)
Our electrical grid is a lot of loose jumper cables right now, so we use manual switches as per the picture above...
The beauty of being in a harbor, even if it is right next to fishing vessels that attract a lot of seabirds who think that Elise is a toilet, is that you can take a hot shower in the morning AND you have plenty of time to dry up your towel - or T-shirt if you forgot to take your towel...
Nice view. Can you tell the difference between this picture and the other one? If so, you win an Elise bucket experience. I was using a rock-climbing harness - picture this in the middle of the ocean with a kite up!
Hanging out...

Elise Cruise Day I - down to Half-Moon Bay

Searching for clouds
Benita Point Take I
Benita Point Take II
Slick foredeck. The yellow line is the jack line. We chose yellow because everything else that's not white on Elise is blue. This color choice creates a harmonious environment which encourages a "let's not kill each other yet" atmosphere among the crew.
Driver Take I
Drive Take II

We left mid-afternoon and set out for Half-Moon Bay. The wind was on the light side but enough for an extremely pleasant sail. Just not enough to fill France so we used our lighter kite. We started upwind but the seas were not choppy past the gate so it was a very dry ride. It became a little cold and wet at night - primarily because of condensation.

It was an interesting and useful experience to have dinner and use the bucket at a 30 degree angle and in the dark for the most part.

It is truly magical to sail into the sunset and I feel so privileged to be able to face the beauty of the coast as it goes up in "virtual" flames. It was the first time that we would be sailing downwind at night. As soon as we could clear Pillar Point on a point of sail toward Half Moon Bay, + or - a few gibes, we set the spinnaker. I need to do a lot more double-handed spinnaker practice.

Setting up the spinnaker on the foredeck isn't different from a crewed event since we were still running the halyard right off the mast (that's the line that is attached to the top of the sail and hoists it when we pull on it). For the Pac Cup, we were thinking of having the option to run the halyard aft into the cockpit so we can hoist and douse without having to spend too much time on the foredeck, a more precarious location. The driver has to take care of pre-feeding by pulling on the guy and dealing with the sheet to trim and open the spinnaker, so it's a few more lines.

After we hoisted the spinnaker, we dropped the jib. We used only our #3 despite light conditions because it is a lot easier to tack and this was a cruise so less hassle was better than speed. That's also pretty easy to do double-handed, not much difference except that the driver will be handed over the halyard and will control the sail as it comes down. In a fully crewed event, our pit person would do this job.

Dropping the spinnaker is no different either since the work is done by the foredeck person. The only slight difference is that we keep the forehatch sealed at sea so we need to gather the spinnaker through the companionway. We can do the "letterbox" trick which consists in pulling the spinnaker between the main sail and the boom. It helps it collapse and allows the trimmer to collect it in very safe conditions. You can also gather it behind the shrouds and under the boom.

Things become interesting as you give the spinnaker...in the dark. You can see surprisingly well on deck. It's white and reflects any light it can get and with a clear night, the moon and the stars are good General Electric material. However, it is really hard to see a dark-looking line on a black water background. Looking down from where I was standing, I couldn't see the sheet which I was supposed to grab. I was waving my arm in the air in its general direction, thinking that I would bump into it. I had to kneel down so I could look at the sheet on a sky background. It is lighter and the line is visible against it. It is also a weaker position in terms of strength and doesn't allow you to bend over easily to grab the line. Glad that I got to practice this first on Elise in light air :) Anyway, after all these contorsions that must have looked quite funny to Nathan who was driving, I finally got hold of the line and more or less jibed the kite...Single-handed, the foredeck person needs to do a couple of extra things
1) give some slack on the foreguy
2) pull in the sheet (twings)
3) hand over the sheet and the guy to the driver who will keep the helm in-between his or her legs...It's a pretty inelegant driving position and I am sure the source of endless jokes...A conversation I do not wish to fuel at this time :)

It took forever...probably twice or three times as much time as what it would take during the day...Ahem. Nathan was pleased with my "performance". He has more experience with offshore racing than I do and he has done the Pac Cup. When I tried a similar crossing, I crossed the path of a crossed whale, remember?
Nevertheless, I don't want to be the fifth wheel of the carriage. I want to be fully part of the team and do everything that's required to get us to Hawaii fast. If I need to set and douse the kite 100 times in a row, and do a sequence of 20 jibes, I will do it. Whatever it takes.

I must be the most unlucky person when it comes to masthead flies...I am not quite sure what happened but within seconds, our masthead fly really did fly - that is away from the masthead - and our VHF antenna, on top of the mast had a funky 45 degree angle...Our assumption is that a bird tried to sit on the top of the mast and got a little surprise upon landing. I feel like I spend my life replacing wind indicators. When I bought the boat, there wasn't any; we broke one on the trip back from Monterey - on the trailer; the replacement piece that I bought was defective and lasted for only a few hours in the Delta Ditch Run...
Jibing in the dark without a masthead fly to help you is quite a feat I must say...Masthead flies typically do not break just like that, so we were not carrying spares. On the Pac Cup, I will travel with 5 or 6 of these windex arrows...
I guess that the good news is that bird Vs boat, the boat wins.

Near Half-Moon Bay, we had to consult the charts more than once as we identified the channel to navigate clear of the reefs and breaking waves over the rocks. The wind died right as we got near the harbor, around 9:30 or 10pm. The engine took some time to start and died after we got inside the first breakwater. We were dangerously drifting toward the second breakwater but Nathan had the foresight to prepare the anchor so we threw it out to immobilize the boat. It turned out that the safety plug got unplugged...

It took us a little while to find our slip given the vague directions that we got over the phone from the harbor master but we finally touched land, or rather a floating dock, closer to 11pm. Wet, cold, tired, hungry and delighted. There was no food available at that hour...so we dined on microwaved food at a gas station food mart...sitting on the sidewalk facing the pumps wasn't quite my idea of a romantic cruising evening but hey - if the engine hadn't started, we would be surviving on cold food and drink anchored in the middle of the harbor.