Double-Handed Farallones 2009

We did not finish the race. After getting up at some ungodly hour in the morning, and getting to the boat around 6:30AM, we managed to be late for the start (had to get a tow to get out of the harbor, no wind). We crossed the line a minute or so after the gun went off. 

We caught up to the other Expresses though. A lot of them went a little South and we stayed North. Initially there was still some ebbing current which pushed us along nicely but it very quickly turn to a flood. We were happy with our choice of #1 given the light winds, and getting lighter and lighter...and lighter...and lighter...

We spent hours trying to go past the point, waving at friends as we were drifting past them. And again. And again. And again as we were periodically crossing the same boats' path...

After we finally managed to creep around the poin, still fighting a flood, we could only head North, to Point Reyes, because the minute we tried to tack to lay the island, we would get no wind. At 2PM, we did the math and realized that we would not finish the race before midnight...

And the buoy observations (Lightship) were still quoting 10 knots, so it looked like there wouldn't be a lot of wind for quite a while.

Turns out that after a big gap (1/3 of the way to the island), there was plenty of wind...how frustrating. 

We were so much looking forward to the downwind leg. After mucho excitment during the Pac Cup surfing waves, zooming along under spinnaker, we take very possible opportunity to get but a glimpse of this!

Still - we were fortunate not to have any damage or drama. Remember, the sea can do anything it wants with your boat. Be humble and respectful and above all, prepared. This is what saved these two sailors' lives, and mine after XL got his by a whale.

Jim Antrim's View of Double-Handed Farallones

Interesting - from 1995

"The Double Handed Farallones Race has a history of rough weather and unfortunate accidents.  In 1982, eight people died when monohulls sank or went up on the rocks.  In 1984, a Stiletto capsized and one crew died of hypothermia.  Again in 1995 bad weather took its toll - a fishing boat capsized at Ocean Beach with the loss of a life, another boat capsized in Santa Cruz, a charter fishing boat suffered major structural damage in the ocean and had to be escorted in, and there were dismastings and other carnage in the race fleet.  Waves were breaking on both north and south bars outside the Golden Gate, and were big all day."

http://www.sfbama.org/fs/antrim950412.html

More photos from Double-Handed Farallones 2009

Clear Saturday morning...What a great way to spend time :)

Heading off to the Ocean...well, 6 hours later we were still roughly at Point Benita.

Elise is dressed up for offshore sailing...Attentive driver

David and Goliath

David and Goliath II

Photos purchased from Lyons Imaging (www.lyonsimaging.com)

Pictures from yesterday

Great White and Rachel, who will be doing Pac Cup 2010 Double-Handed.

A solitary Moore 24, dangerously close to breaking waves by the point...

It tooks use hours and hours to finally pass the point!

In the washing machine, a very large eddy of tormented waters, taking us back and forth in a circling motion...We spent a few hours in there, with basically no steerage, trying to avoid other boats with the same problem!

Elise is the tiny boat with the kevlar headsail!

More in the washing machine...

"Many thanks to Rich and Tom, and Stephen and Jennifer, for the photos. You can see more athttp://picasaweb.google.com/rnutball/DoubleHandedFarralones# andwww.flickr.com/photos/jenmck/sets/72157615962835417"

Near Disaster in 2009 Double-Handed Farallones

First-hand report from the Skipper of the boat that capsized yesterday, on Sailing Anarchy

"Yes we're both very glad we are ok. It was a very scary experience and I don't wish it on anyone. I was amazed when my buddy (Dave Wilhite) dove under the overturned boat to recover our VHF radio from a sheet bag. That's what saved our lives for sure.
I think I spent about an hour trying to stand on top of the boat leaning against the rudder talking to the coast guard on the VHF and holding a flashlight over my head.
To answer some of your questions -
The keel did fall off. We were going really fast down a very large wave with a reefed main and the jib. All of a sudden I had no helm and the boat turned 90 degrees (very weird thing to have happen when you are going fast and actually a little low - i didn't feel i was in danger of wiping out at that angle and speed at all, we had been doing it for hours). The boat turned 90 very quickly and the wave we were riding broke over us and rolled the boat. At the beginning of the roll we heard what sounded like a tree cracking and falling down. That would have been the keel falling clean off. We were left in the water, teathered to the jack lines under the boat. We ended up cutting our teathers so we didn't get dragged under.
About an hour later and lots of talking on the radio, 2 coast guard boats, a pilot boat and a helicopter all found us at the same time. They tossed us a line and I got my buddy off the boat as he was much colder than me due to the fact that he had been in the water the whole time while I was standing on the boat (though I think i got washed off the boat about 50 times). Then another coast guard boat told me to swim to them so I did.
Neither of us have any serious injuries, just lots of bruises and pretty sore bodies.
The coast guard did a great job of finding us and getting us to safety, lots of thanks go out to them.

-David Servais."

More at Norcal Sailing

http://www.norcalsailing.com/archives/Entries/2009/3/29_Capsize_and_Rescue_in_DH_Farallones.html

Dramatic Ending Crewed Lightship

A great illustration of what happened right before the line, we are past the gate at this point
(sorry for the spam, apparently the photos didn't make it to the blog the first time around

South Tower Demon (and actually I was grinding on the low side, unable to see the spinnaker, so the 'cross-sheeting' project is now going way up on the list of priorities. We could have had a 1st or 2nd with it!)

Mike (blue hull) creeping on us after our roundup, and after over 12 miles of downwind racing + some 6 minutes or so of upwind catchup at the weather mark

Byebye the line but not by much!

Still pretty satisfied with the result as more so than the actual result on paper, I feel that we have made a ton of progress over the last few months:
1) we had a great start
2) we had some great boat speed, particularly upwind (we were slowly gaining on El Raton when on similar courses)
3) we made one good informed tactical call by paying attention to wind and weather pattern (and one bad one but it was a really close call ;-))
4) really nice sail trim throughout the race EXCEPT for the last few hundred yards ;-)
5) we had very good weight management with a very active and focused crew despite our weight handicap (4 Vs 5 people)
6) we kept up with two of the top E27 sailors - in particular, this has been Mike's trademark race.7
) we didn't lose THE bucket

Certainly think that there is some winning material in there. And not getting a first this time makes us even hungrier :-)
Photos purchased from Erik Simonson (www.h2oshots.com)

Southern Approach...

Quoting Nathan

"we observed a growing cloud formation on the south side and decided that the NOAA-promised left shift was due. "

We also noticed and discussed a permanent wind shift to the West of more than 10 degrees, sloooooooooowly veering South. So we had a second indication that the predicted change in wind direction might be happening - favoring our side of the course.

And a quick plug...next Sunday morning is the annual BeatSarcoma Fun Run, in the Golden Gate Park. Walkers, runners, strollers, pet walkers and their pets...are all welcome. Free refreshments, free snacks, free massage comes with registration and a free wicking shirt to all finishers.

Cools prizes and medals for the elite runners - and a kid's category with kids-like prizes!

If you're looking for a nice leasurely walk, or a competitive running race, consider it! Registration is $25. (online or via mail, or at the event)

Details at: http://www.beatsarcoma.org/BeatSarcoma_Fun_Run_2009.html

+ Article the Examiner ran this Sunday http://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/Personal-Best-Running-for-life-and-sarcoma-41550612.html

Crewed Lightship 2009 (Mar 21)

Elise had a crew of four for the event: Nat, Nathan, Juan, and Mark M (special guest from Xena). The wind was #1 weather and a predicted adverse current both ways (flood on the way out, ebb on the way back).

While the event is scored for us as a class event, the context is an OYRA PHRF race. In the interest of getting north as early as possible, we started near the pin end (on stbd tack- the mixed fleet was dense enough to make a port tack start risky even though we wanted to get out to the right fast). Our start turned out to be pretty good after a few tense moments in the last 20 sec.

It took us quite a while to get our tacks up to speed, and as a result we suffered a bit (particularly out until Land's End). As for the previous weekend (DH Lightship) starboard tack was better VMG but much of the fleet preferred to get north (especially until passing Bonita). At first, we were in the south with Ray (El Raton) and Mark L (Xena) but then Mark split off for the north. After passing the gate, we followed Ray into the rounded Baker Beach area, feeling some very helpful ebb. Because Ray had gone in earlier, he also met the beach earlier and had to come back out- at that point, we deliberately stayed a bit further left/south and enjoyed the current all the way out to Seal Rocks.

From there to about the last set of cans before the lightship, we split tacks mostly as the wind dictated. We were consistently able to maintain pace with El Raton (close crossings each time we split tacks, albeit with us behind). Out near the last set of cans, we observed a growing cloud formation on the south side and decided that the NOAA-promised left shift was due. Therefore, we went south for the last (bigger) split with the group. It panned out in both direction and velocity and we had a healthy lead over the fleet as we rounded the lightship.

The wind was greater than the previous weekend and we had a fantastic trip back to the gate. At first, the wind angle was very tight and we (plus other boats) were driven a bit to the north (on stbd tack) for lack of ability to point any higher without giving up and dropping to jib. Gradually the wind came around and we were able to point towards the South Tower. El Raton was closest and was working consistently to the right (eventually coming abeam of us at a considerable distance toward Seal Rocks). He was attempting a hard-south reentrance to the bay (to catch flood or at least relief from the ebb). The cost is a much greater distance sailed. We opted to continue more or less for the gate because we had lots of power and were blasting along fast enough to be less concerned about the current. Zipping around the beach in obviously favorably current, we weren't sure the extra distance was going to work out for him. Also taking a southerly track was Desperado.

We were satisfied with our approach up until about a hundred yards before the gate, when we hit a wall of adverse current and less wind. We watched Ray and Mike closing fast as we got to the gate. Immediately upon reentering the bay, we had a roundup which cost us Ray and Mike. We maintained the spinnaker as long as we could (rather than just go to jib and follow them in, we were hoping for a last minute lift because we were far enough behind them and far enough in front of the next boat back that we had nothing to lose by trying for the long shot).

It didn't work out, but we got to keep the 3rd. The big thing for us was the proof through close contact for many miles with people like Ray who really know how to work the boat that we're getting our trim, coordination, and balance worked out.

(overdue) Double-Handed Lightship, Mar 14 2009

Double Handed Lightship 2009

(crewed event from this past weekend to follow)

There were 7 E27's out for this event, a very good showing. The start was on an ebb strengthened by the recent heavy rainfall, with a switch midrace to a flood- ideal conditions for a gatecrasher.

Our division (one design) had the benefit of watching a few earlier starts to see how conditions were shaping up and what side of the course was beneficial. The breeze was borderline for jib selection, but given the offshore forecast the fleet consensus was #3's. There was one dissenter flying an oversized handkerchief- I admit to a bit of curiosity on how they were sheeting it.

1st Part of the Race - Clear the Gate

Very often, being a bit to the north will help out under these conditions, from both current and wind perspectives. The start was relatively balanced- wind not from center span of the bridge but not too far off. The fleet split a bit between onshore (cityfront side) and heading towards center channel or even farther north. There were a few boats that wavered back and forth, btu a few stuck hard north (notably Desperado, the ultimate winner). Results for dodging back to the cityfront were mixed. We were roughly in the middle, with a few dodges back toward the cityfront as the fleet shuffled around. When close to other boats, we showed good speed and occasional good pointing.

2nd Part of the Race - Gate to Lands End/Seal Rocks

Several boats dodged hard north along the shore. We recognized the north side as desirable, but couldn't bring ourselves to tack over when we were basically on layline for the mark. Our speed continued to be good against boats near us (Taz being closest and behind, Dianne reaonably close until she took the plunge north somewhere around Mile Rock).

About halfway from the Golden Gate to Land's End, our southerly course (not against the shore, but relative to the northerly boats in the fleet) seemed beneficial. By the time the group reached Bonita, a positional advantage to the north was apparent- probably mostly current related because Elise was quite powered up and we didn't see significantly greater wind towards the northern shore. We were still roughly even in distance to the mark, but often being a little to the north is a positional advantage.

3rd part of the Race - out to the Lightship

After clearing land, the current starts to spread out and you exit the wind-funnel effect near the bay entrance. We had reasonable speed but the north turned out to be where you needed to be. We were largely satisfied with our boatspeed and handling. Because of the setup of wind/waves, the two tacks were quite uneven in speed and optimal trim. There was plenty of wind, but not so much that we could "waste" it (the swells and wind waves were setting up to slow us down). We needed to stay a little more powered up in order to maintain momentum and not get sucked towards the wind. We weren't really close enough to the fleet to really compare notes on trim.

The Return

After rounding the ligthship, we were a little slow getting the kite up (result of a late morning getting to the boat) but were happy with the result. The return was just a fun trip- enough wind and waves to have fun. We came back in relatively straight and Nat kept her rolling very smoothly. If we'd checked in before the race, we apparently would have had a 3rd, but instead we got the famous consolation prize, "a nice day on the water".

Crewed Lightship 2009 Results

Elise was 3rd in the Express fleet and 3rd overall (that is in our PHRF division)...A bit disappointing since we were first to reach the weathermark. Full writeup will follow soon so we can look at that! Downwind, we had some very nice conditions to plane/surf. We got so lucky!

Isn't it amazing to see that all the Express 27 finished within ~ 5 minutes of each other after a 25+ mile race???

PC Express 27 - Fleet 07 Time on Time: TCF=650 / (550 + PHRF)

SAIL #	SKIPPER	BOAT MODEL	RATING	FINISH	ELAPSED	CORRECTED	PTS.	COMMENTS	YC
28050	Ray Lotto	El Raton	Express 27 ODR	129	14:34:59	4:34:59	4:23:14	**sr		STFYC
77539	Michael Bruzzone	Desperado	Express 27 ODR	129	14:35:45	4:35:45	4:23:58	**sr		SSS
101	Nathalie/Nathan Criou/Bossett	Elise	Express 27 ODR	129	14:39:00	4:39:00	4:27:05	**sr		STFYC
68	Mark Lowry	Xena	Express 27 ODR	129	14:41:33	4:41:33	4:29:32	**sr		RYC
11	Dan Pruzan	Wile E Coyote	Express 27 ODR	129	14:41:57	4:41:57	4:29:54	1		EYC

SAIL #	SKIPPER	BOAT MODEL	RATING	FINISH	ELAPSED	CORRECTED	PTS.	COMMENTS	YC
28890	Pat Broderick	Nancy	Wyliecat 30 OB	129	14:50:05	4:50:05	4:37:42	1		SYC
28315	Jack/Charles/Kathy Bieda/Johnson/Pickup	Trial Run	Passport 40	138	14:56:47	4:56:47	4:40:23	2		BYC
6332	Walter George	Sagitta	Islander 28 SM	198	15:38:50	5:38:50	4:54:26	**sr		SYC
28743	Daniel Willey	Galaxsea	Custom Nauticat 43.5	180	15:41:41	5:41:41	5:04:14	3		SSS
2707	Robert Long	Mimicat	Hinckley 38	150	15:29:02	5:29:02	5:05:32	4		Carolina YC
8862	William Ross Enright	Melody	Scampi 30-2	174	15:44:56	5:44:56	5:09:41	5		SCYC
271	Matt Rowe	Terrapin	Sabre 34-1	150	DNF	:	:	**sr		SYC

And I am super happy to see that Rachel finished 2nd in the short-handed division! (they did the

 race double-handed)

Full preliminary results at: http://www.yra.org/OYRA/docs/Results/OYRA_Lightship1_2009_results.htm

A special race committee member at the weather mark

Sea Lion thinking: "huh oh...that looks big and it's headed right at my beach"

Sea Lion: 'I am outta here'

Sea Lion: 'yeepeee they're gone'

Photos purchased from Lyons Imaging (www.lyonsimaging.com)

More Crewed Lightship pictures

Elise rounding the mark

Elise a few seconds prior to rounding the mark.

Photos purchased from Lyons Imaging (www.lyonsimaging.com)

Cool video from Sapphire in Pac Cup 2008

Video from Crewed Lightship 2009

Crewed Lightship 2009

Mark is focusing really hard to try to spot the gate in the fog.

Juan trimming the spinnaker on the way back from the Lightship

Hands-on practice

I drove the upwind portion of the race and Nathan drove the downwind portion of the race (well after he had lunch so I did a little bit of it too) - surfing surfing surfing.

Weird photos

Maybe I should have left those in the digital void...

Double-Handed Lightship

huh oh...

Our proud Pac Cup spinnaker - has not yet gone down in flames...

We can see the gate way out there! That was the fastest lightship race ever

Competition (we were actually racing one design)

Spring Keel 2009

Capturing a moment of joy right after the race

Nathan is trying to compete with Zorro in the black clothing department

Nick and Jeanne, both benefiting from a bubbly fountain of youth...

Red and Black - Stendhal Nat

Hmmm - the following requirement for OYRA racing surprised me. The hand-held VHF can NOT be the hand-held device that's independent of the main radio and capable of receiving weather bulletins..

Two hand-held VHFs will work...or some device that can tune into a weather channel.

Need to race over to West Marine.

3.29

 Communications Equipment. EPFS (Electronic position-Fixing System) The following shall be provided:

• VHF two-way radio telephone permanently installed in accordance with regulations. ■____ (Antenna need not
  
• be installed at top of mast.)
  
• A hand-held marine VHF transceiver, water tight or with a waterproof cover. ■____
  
• Independent of a main radio transceiver a radio receiver capable of receiving weather bulletins. ■____
  
• EPFS (Electronic Position-Fixing System) e.g. GPS ■___
  

For those who care about boat maintenance

Elise now has a 12-V battery charger, so if we are in port, we do not depend on solar panels anymore...

Tools have to be replaced periodically as they tend to rust after a while...it was time to wave good-bye to our old needle nose pliers...

And I got some industrial size tube of clear silicone marine sealant in preparation for our 'seal up again the shrouds base' project for Sunday.

And we got a new drogue (the last one was torn to pieces after our man overboard pole slided into the water and was dragged for a short while during the Pac Cup - culprit: ocean swell)

Old Three-Bridge 2009 pictures

'Everything is well in the best possible world' p- Voltaire, also Roger's apparent doctrine.

Roger, trying to steer by 0.5 knots of wind and 2 knots of current

Inca Elise sailing into the Sun

Practice day in the rain with no wind

Nat busy setting up the engine...

...partnering with Adrian on gas

Puzzled crew thinking: wait a minute, this is a sailboat, I see no sail on the boat and they're setting up an engine. What kind of scam is that?