Hello Beethovens -
BeatSarcoma and the Express 27 fleet (Elise's buddies) are championing a regatta to raise funds for sarcoma research!
Heads up for everyone: the date for the Sarcoma Cup is Jun 28-29 2008.
It is planned to be a 2-day event with a possible 1-day registration.
It will be hosted by the Richmond Yacht Club.
The format is still t.b.d. as we are getting input from the fleets but we are thinking about 1st day around the buoys and 2nd day pursuit (long-distance) race around the Bay.
Spread the word!!
and Happy Thanksgiving to all.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Crew Dinner and "Elise" gear up for sale
Last week, we had our annual crew dinner. It celebrates the end of a season and marks the beginning of a new one. It was a pot luck and there was some amazing food - esp. Eric's stuffed mushrooms (see picture attached).
It was also the time when we distributed the new "Elise" gear! This gear is available for sale and the proceeds from the sale go directly to BeatSarcoma. This is GREAT timing - think about Christmas and what a little frog can do to bring a smile on someone's face!
You can email us to inquire about shipping cost - but the gear is pretty light.
If you'd like to purchase some of the "Elise" gear, please mail your check made out to BeatSarcoma and order to:
BeatSarcoma Inc.
C/O Nathalie Criou
143 28th Street #4
San Francisco, CA 94131
USA
And specify what sizes you'd like as well as the shipping address. - if you live in the Bay Area, we might be able to do a hand delivery!
Prices and sizes:
Windbreaker Fleece: $50 + shipping
T-shirt Dri-mesh: $20 + shipping
Cap: $16 + shipping
S, M, L, XL
"Elise" cap
"I dry super quickly" Elise dri-mesh t-shirt
The elegant "Elise" fleece. Windbreaker on the outside, warm fleece on the inside.
It was also the time when we distributed the new "Elise" gear! This gear is available for sale and the proceeds from the sale go directly to BeatSarcoma. This is GREAT timing - think about Christmas and what a little frog can do to bring a smile on someone's face!
You can email us to inquire about shipping cost - but the gear is pretty light.
If you'd like to purchase some of the "Elise" gear, please mail your check made out to BeatSarcoma and order to:
BeatSarcoma Inc.
C/O Nathalie Criou
143 28th Street #4
San Francisco, CA 94131
USA
And specify what sizes you'd like as well as the shipping address. - if you live in the Bay Area, we might be able to do a hand delivery!
Prices and sizes:
Windbreaker Fleece: $50 + shipping
T-shirt Dri-mesh: $20 + shipping
Cap: $16 + shipping
S, M, L, XL
"Elise" cap
"I dry super quickly" Elise dri-mesh t-shirt
The elegant "Elise" fleece. Windbreaker on the outside, warm fleece on the inside.Friday, November 9, 2007
Life Vs. Life
This is not about the Pac Cup but it is something that has given me the will to do the Pac Cup. And it is a bit of my story "Life Vs. Life - Nat's story". Enjoy!
You can also find the video at : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFGg3yyDNYs if you want to rate it or leave a comment.
And remember that sarcomas are cancers that are hard to detect, hard to diagnose, hard to treat with a high relapse rate in general. And none of this really is due to the nature of the cancer, primarily because research lags so far behind that of other types of cancer. You can sponsor the "Elise" crew on the Pac Cup 2008 on www.beatsarcoma.org - every single donation goes to the cause, we are covering the race expenses.
You can also find the video at : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFGg3yyDNYs if you want to rate it or leave a comment.
And remember that sarcomas are cancers that are hard to detect, hard to diagnose, hard to treat with a high relapse rate in general. And none of this really is due to the nature of the cancer, primarily because research lags so far behind that of other types of cancer. You can sponsor the "Elise" crew on the Pac Cup 2008 on www.beatsarcoma.org - every single donation goes to the cause, we are covering the race expenses.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Cruising World publishes the whale story
Hi Beethovens,
Cruising World is publishing an article about the XL wreck in their November issue. Reference available at http://www.cruisingworld.com/capable-cruising/voyaging/distress-call-from-xl-54987.html
Buy that issue and you'll find out if the whale's OK (since this is the first comment that someone posted on that page...)
You can click on a link on that page to hear the initial message that Nick (the skipper) left to the Pacific Cup communication manager. That was before we abandoned ship. It is the original message as recorded by the Pac Cup folks.
At the end of the article is a reference to BeatSarcoma, and a call to action. Remember that our Pac Cup initiative is a fund raiser for sarcoma, a rare form of cancer, which I nicely inherited. We are covering all the race expenses so all the money goes to sarcoma research.
This cancer is hard to detect, hard to diagnose and hard to treat. It also has a high relapse rate and affects a lot of children (20% of childhood cancers!) as well as adults. All of this is not simply due to the nature of the cancer but because research is WAY behind...as in years behind. This cancer so far gets less than 1% of all funds allocated to cancer research. So we can change that situation!
Visit www.beatsarcoma.org for more info.
Cruising World is publishing an article about the XL wreck in their November issue. Reference available at http://www.cruisingworld.com/capable-cruising/voyaging/distress-call-from-xl-54987.html
Buy that issue and you'll find out if the whale's OK (since this is the first comment that someone posted on that page...)
You can click on a link on that page to hear the initial message that Nick (the skipper) left to the Pacific Cup communication manager. That was before we abandoned ship. It is the original message as recorded by the Pac Cup folks.
At the end of the article is a reference to BeatSarcoma, and a call to action. Remember that our Pac Cup initiative is a fund raiser for sarcoma, a rare form of cancer, which I nicely inherited. We are covering all the race expenses so all the money goes to sarcoma research.
This cancer is hard to detect, hard to diagnose and hard to treat. It also has a high relapse rate and affects a lot of children (20% of childhood cancers!) as well as adults. All of this is not simply due to the nature of the cancer but because research is WAY behind...as in years behind. This cancer so far gets less than 1% of all funds allocated to cancer research. So we can change that situation!
Visit www.beatsarcoma.org for more info.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Images
Spinnaker net
Spinnaker sock
Trysail (the dark little triangle)We got lucky as we might be able to use the spinnaker net and trysail (and maybe sock, I can't remember) of another Express 27 that is now sold: Lazy Hotel. This is the hotel that is off watch, not in use at that point in time but waiting for its turn. As you can imagine, this is the type of gear that you don't get to use very often, so it doesn't "decay" very fast and buying it second hand is a much cheaper proposition.
(the real name of the boat is Salty Hotel which is better from both an accommodation and an ocean crossing perspective. However, my ultra cheap joke doesn't work anymore...)
ps: BeatSarcoma has a new look.
Offshore Vs Bay sailing
Hello Beethovens,
We picked up and delivered Elise back "home" last Thursday. We are now thinking about everything that's missing to make her ready for a trip across the ocean. Yes, there are a few differences between a boat geared up for coastal sailing and one fitted for an ocean passage.
What drives most of the differences is the fact that when you are out in the ocean for a few days, you need to make do with everything you have on board. You can't go back and get what you need. So it's important to pack well. Also, it will be a sustained effort for both the crew and the boat. We need to make sure that the lines are in good shape, the sails are solid, the rigging is strong and maybe reinforced in some places.
There are several areas which need to be buffed up a bit. Let's take a look at the main ones over the course of the next few posts.
1) Rig and sails.
When you set out for a passage, you don't really know what the weather conditions will be like. It is a good idea to take a sail for every kind of condition you might encounter. Granted, if you end up in the middle of a tornado, it is a problem at sea just as it is on land. Tsunamis, on the other hand, are not a problem at all on the water.
- Making sure that your main sail can be reefed eg. the area of the sail can be shortened by not hoisting the sail all the way up the mast. Carrying a trysail (imagine a tiny little triangle of a sail) is also a good idea.
- Taking the entire collection of head sails. a #1 is a big one for really light winds, you may need a #2, just a bit bigger. It's rare to need it and the additional weight of that sail may not be worth it. A #3 is the typical windy weather head sail. But if it gets REALLY windy, we will have a #4 even smaller, and a storm jib - imagine a tiny little triangle of a sail.
- You want to take spare spinnakers. If anything happens to the one you have up, you want to be able to hoist another one while you are doing the repairs. No need to slow the boat! We will also be taking "France", a spinnaker that is designed to handle heavier weather, eg heavier load on a sustained basis.
- A spinnaker net, built to suit Elise's fore triangle and rig can prevent spinnaker wraps (my specialty), especially for us as we will be short-handed.
- A spinnaker sock helps us douse the spinnaker easily and quickly, as you can with a sock. If you want to take the spinnaker down, you pull the sock over it, it "kills" it, and then lower the sock, take the spinnaker out and put the sock back up for the next time. So you can do this in much heavier weather.
The spinnaker can also be sailed with double-lines (and super light lines which we have if the wind is SO light that the weight of a typical guy will prevent the spinnaker from flying). Double lines means that at any one time you have a lazy line for your sheet. If you are jibing, you will deal with a line that feels absolutely no pressure (the definition of a lazy line...it's waiting to be used). Once everything's hooked up on the other side, the lazy line switches place with the working line. It's a bit more work at the back though as you have to find a place for all these lines AND make sure the boat is not going where it wants to go. For once that someone has thought about making the foredeck person job easy!
Lastly, even with two people, we won't be able to drive at all time. By driving I mean hand-helm. Not even necessarily because you are tired. The best reasons I can think of for you to leave the helm are
- you need to trim the headsail for maximum performance. The main requires much less "subtle" trim after it is set for a given point of sail. That is, a small change won't contribute dramatically to an increase in speed. This is true of you changing the main trim or the wind shifting a little bit.
- you need to help your other half on a manoeuvre (say a jibe or a change of sail). If it is faster, safer and easier to do with two people, it is better to do it with two people.
- make yourself a cup of hot tea in the middle of the night to prevent the frost from completely invading your privacy.
- check the charts eg take a "fix" and make sure that we are going in the right direction. If we sail off the course we want to sail for a long time, that's unnecessary distance we need to cover and precious minutes (or hours) wasted!
- sleep. What? no sleep? Oh, OK then, I'll sleep when I am off watch
- taking a reef (eg, wrapping the bottom of the main around the boom to reduce the sail area). Elise has only one reef point but bigger boats will have more than one.
- change clothes. It is important to be as comfortable as possible at all times. It prevents seasickness and allows you to concentrate better on your job. The weather shouldn't change dramatically in a heartbeat during the Pacific Cup but if during your shift it goes from day to night, you may have to add a few layers, and you should do so without having to wait for the lazy crew (just like lines, the lazy crew is the one that's not being used at a given time, but waiting for its turn)
Having spare lines, a spare spinnaker pole, a sewing set just in case, loads of sail tape is also critical. Making sure that all the sails are marked with your sail number. It makes it easy for people to recognize you. That could be competitors, but also rescuers in the event of an emergency. Unfortunately, sometimes, it helps whales locate the boat they want to take down.
The idea is to be SAFE and FAST all the time. Being safe means being in control of the boat, and not pushing past what it can endure (you don't want a mast to collapse because you don't have the right size sail upfront). It's a pretty expensive mistake and doesn't do any good to your chances of winning. Fast means a) the appropriate sail for the wind speed, b) a fabulous trimming job and Nat at the helm. The good thing is that switching to smaller sails in heavy weather actually makes the boat faster. It is controllable, so you don't waste time recovering from an endless series of round ups - and it's faster to tack :) The ratio between the force applied by the wind on the sail and the weight of the boat that it powers is closer to being constant. That ratio by design is pretty good in the first place. Obviously, the hard bit is when you are just at the edge of a wind range. Keeping a bigger sail until the very last minute makes you go faster. However, if you have to change sail in heavy winds, it is likely to take you much more time than in calm waters. So it depends on how long you think you can carry the big sail.
Compare to the #1 (big genoa), #3 (intermediate head sail), 2 light spinnaker and a main sail, this is heavy weaponry :)
We picked up and delivered Elise back "home" last Thursday. We are now thinking about everything that's missing to make her ready for a trip across the ocean. Yes, there are a few differences between a boat geared up for coastal sailing and one fitted for an ocean passage.
What drives most of the differences is the fact that when you are out in the ocean for a few days, you need to make do with everything you have on board. You can't go back and get what you need. So it's important to pack well. Also, it will be a sustained effort for both the crew and the boat. We need to make sure that the lines are in good shape, the sails are solid, the rigging is strong and maybe reinforced in some places.
There are several areas which need to be buffed up a bit. Let's take a look at the main ones over the course of the next few posts.
1) Rig and sails.
When you set out for a passage, you don't really know what the weather conditions will be like. It is a good idea to take a sail for every kind of condition you might encounter. Granted, if you end up in the middle of a tornado, it is a problem at sea just as it is on land. Tsunamis, on the other hand, are not a problem at all on the water.
- Making sure that your main sail can be reefed eg. the area of the sail can be shortened by not hoisting the sail all the way up the mast. Carrying a trysail (imagine a tiny little triangle of a sail) is also a good idea.
- Taking the entire collection of head sails. a #1 is a big one for really light winds, you may need a #2, just a bit bigger. It's rare to need it and the additional weight of that sail may not be worth it. A #3 is the typical windy weather head sail. But if it gets REALLY windy, we will have a #4 even smaller, and a storm jib - imagine a tiny little triangle of a sail.
- You want to take spare spinnakers. If anything happens to the one you have up, you want to be able to hoist another one while you are doing the repairs. No need to slow the boat! We will also be taking "France", a spinnaker that is designed to handle heavier weather, eg heavier load on a sustained basis.
- A spinnaker net, built to suit Elise's fore triangle and rig can prevent spinnaker wraps (my specialty), especially for us as we will be short-handed.
- A spinnaker sock helps us douse the spinnaker easily and quickly, as you can with a sock. If you want to take the spinnaker down, you pull the sock over it, it "kills" it, and then lower the sock, take the spinnaker out and put the sock back up for the next time. So you can do this in much heavier weather.
The spinnaker can also be sailed with double-lines (and super light lines which we have if the wind is SO light that the weight of a typical guy will prevent the spinnaker from flying). Double lines means that at any one time you have a lazy line for your sheet. If you are jibing, you will deal with a line that feels absolutely no pressure (the definition of a lazy line...it's waiting to be used). Once everything's hooked up on the other side, the lazy line switches place with the working line. It's a bit more work at the back though as you have to find a place for all these lines AND make sure the boat is not going where it wants to go. For once that someone has thought about making the foredeck person job easy!
Lastly, even with two people, we won't be able to drive at all time. By driving I mean hand-helm. Not even necessarily because you are tired. The best reasons I can think of for you to leave the helm are
- you need to trim the headsail for maximum performance. The main requires much less "subtle" trim after it is set for a given point of sail. That is, a small change won't contribute dramatically to an increase in speed. This is true of you changing the main trim or the wind shifting a little bit.
- you need to help your other half on a manoeuvre (say a jibe or a change of sail). If it is faster, safer and easier to do with two people, it is better to do it with two people.
- make yourself a cup of hot tea in the middle of the night to prevent the frost from completely invading your privacy.
- check the charts eg take a "fix" and make sure that we are going in the right direction. If we sail off the course we want to sail for a long time, that's unnecessary distance we need to cover and precious minutes (or hours) wasted!
- sleep. What? no sleep? Oh, OK then, I'll sleep when I am off watch
- taking a reef (eg, wrapping the bottom of the main around the boom to reduce the sail area). Elise has only one reef point but bigger boats will have more than one.
- change clothes. It is important to be as comfortable as possible at all times. It prevents seasickness and allows you to concentrate better on your job. The weather shouldn't change dramatically in a heartbeat during the Pacific Cup but if during your shift it goes from day to night, you may have to add a few layers, and you should do so without having to wait for the lazy crew (just like lines, the lazy crew is the one that's not being used at a given time, but waiting for its turn)
Having spare lines, a spare spinnaker pole, a sewing set just in case, loads of sail tape is also critical. Making sure that all the sails are marked with your sail number. It makes it easy for people to recognize you. That could be competitors, but also rescuers in the event of an emergency. Unfortunately, sometimes, it helps whales locate the boat they want to take down.
The idea is to be SAFE and FAST all the time. Being safe means being in control of the boat, and not pushing past what it can endure (you don't want a mast to collapse because you don't have the right size sail upfront). It's a pretty expensive mistake and doesn't do any good to your chances of winning. Fast means a) the appropriate sail for the wind speed, b) a fabulous trimming job and Nat at the helm. The good thing is that switching to smaller sails in heavy weather actually makes the boat faster. It is controllable, so you don't waste time recovering from an endless series of round ups - and it's faster to tack :) The ratio between the force applied by the wind on the sail and the weight of the boat that it powers is closer to being constant. That ratio by design is pretty good in the first place. Obviously, the hard bit is when you are just at the edge of a wind range. Keeping a bigger sail until the very last minute makes you go faster. However, if you have to change sail in heavy winds, it is likely to take you much more time than in calm waters. So it depends on how long you think you can carry the big sail.
Compare to the #1 (big genoa), #3 (intermediate head sail), 2 light spinnaker and a main sail, this is heavy weaponry :)
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Elise at the Boat Yard
Courtesy of Joe!
These pictures were taken before we took her out for the Great Pumpkin (she is now back at the boat yard...) - she looks so lonely and sad...
The pole that you see at the stern is for the auto-pilot wind instruments. The reading at the top of the mast is better but it was kind of a pain to run a super long wire (the controls are at the stern too, below deck) so this is the next best thing. Upwind, there will probably be some distortion due to air flows from the main sheets. Downwind (and most of the time, we will need the auto-helm for that point of sail), it should be fine.
The VHF antenna now sits at the top of the mast :) And the tricolor up there will light up our masthead fly!
And the boat yard people used our jib sheet as docking lines. Elise has docking line, she even has a spring line...
Nice new halyards (main and jib on this side, the spinaker halyard is on the other side). We have since changed the turning block that was bent and re-ran the halyard so they don't take up the small turning block that we use for the downhaul.
The mast plate is now a hard reinforced plate and should last for quite a while...The fiber glass work is nicely done, you can't really see that the deck was about to collapse...The wire that's coming out of the mast is the end of the in-mast conduit: it actually contains both the electric wire to the tricolor and the signal wire from the VHF antenna.
These pictures were taken before we took her out for the Great Pumpkin (she is now back at the boat yard...) - she looks so lonely and sad...
The pole that you see at the stern is for the auto-pilot wind instruments. The reading at the top of the mast is better but it was kind of a pain to run a super long wire (the controls are at the stern too, below deck) so this is the next best thing. Upwind, there will probably be some distortion due to air flows from the main sheets. Downwind (and most of the time, we will need the auto-helm for that point of sail), it should be fine.
The VHF antenna now sits at the top of the mast :) And the tricolor up there will light up our masthead fly!
And the boat yard people used our jib sheet as docking lines. Elise has docking line, she even has a spring line...
Nice new halyards (main and jib on this side, the spinaker halyard is on the other side). We have since changed the turning block that was bent and re-ran the halyard so they don't take up the small turning block that we use for the downhaul.The mast plate is now a hard reinforced plate and should last for quite a while...The fiber glass work is nicely done, you can't really see that the deck was about to collapse...The wire that's coming out of the mast is the end of the in-mast conduit: it actually contains both the electric wire to the tricolor and the signal wire from the VHF antenna.
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