Long Pac - Halfway Point

Position information is only updated every two hours (and not everyone at the same time) but best estimate of the situation right now:

Elise will hit the halfway point, turn around, and set the kite sometime in the next couple of hours. She is trailing Great White and Taz slightly but gaining ground on Taz.

She's further south than the other E27's, but I'm not sure whether that will be much of a factor. Since the air is light, I wouldn't guess that any of them are on a fast layline for the gate and I don't have the detailed forecast info here (posting from mobile).

Start Day, Long Pac 2009

It was a lot of prep and a few stumbles along the way (a few more work items, complicated delivery from Santa Cruz, breaking a spreader after practice Sunday, etc.), but race day is here for Heather and Nat.

Here's Elise leaving the dock this morning, ~1045, for the 1110 DH monohull start:

I think Nat is on the left and Heather is the grey-blue blur.

The weather forecast isn't great for the next few days (light air), but the progress out the gate seems reasonable, even if it's damp.

Good luck guys!

Weather Forecast looking light

Thank you Skip for this great website pointer: http://www.passageweather.com/

Transponders are on: http://onltr.magnatrax.net/no.php?fid=10349

Please, if you lose track of us, it probably means that the transponder stopped working. Do NOT call the Coast Guard! Transponders are not safety/emergency devices and are not USCG approved. Should be cool to see our progress though if you want!

(Fingers crossed...rig needs to go back up today...)

Update on Long Pac

The last remaining item is the lifeline...and the rig which ideally will be back up...we're a good to go on everything else.

(we can take pictures of the other stuff, eg liferaft tied up to the deck) -

fingers crossed!!

Cute - Millie the Cat

She lives on Esper

http://www.followtheboat.com/?page_id=79

Update on the spreader

will teach me to be sure to tell the bow person to keep the boat perpendicular to the hoist arm...

never mind - update on the situation. Through some heroic efforts on part of Jason (who was wondering when I'd next call him with some Mission Impossible last minute project before a long distance race) and his helpers and Kit

• elise's rig is down
• spreaders are in rigger's shop
• new set of spreader is available
• tomorrow new set of spreader (or fixed spreader) is scheduled to be mounted back on boat, rig will be back up, boat will be tuned up again

If rigger assesses that rod + wire have been bent, we won't make Wednesday start. If not, we are still on, provided the SSS race direction is fine with us making some small logistical modifications to 'sailing the boat to South Beach tonight', pretty challenging with no mast. They need to check that we did swap the lifelines this weekend.

There is one thing that I was forgetting: all the shackles, including the anchor's, have been wired shut with bailing wire (and more wire was purchased to replenish our stock)

And yes, Nathan's engineering picture of how to hook up the solar panel was helpful and saved me looking things up online. I am still not quite sure why our charge controller thinks that the charge on a battery is 14.2 volts when my voltmeter tells me it's 13.6 but hey...the amount of solar amps going through does decrease as the battery gets charged up and does stop when it reaches the right voltage, so it looks good overall. I guess we need a deviation card for that as well.

And I will not give details about the 'backstay position' that we also experimented with during our practice sail. Heather's the real expert on that one.

Jelly Fish picture from Long Pac qualifying sail

and this is at a time when they were starting to be sparse again...imaging a carpet of jellyfish, it was amazing, and definitely a bad time to fall overboard.

Bit of work done this weekend on Elise

On Saturday, I ended up with a massive headache and 13 hours of sleep. Heather thinks that it could be because we were working next to this huge powerboat that was spitting out water and (I didn't realize at the time) fumes.

Anyway, I was pretty useless but I did hook up the solar panel on that day. Between our work over the weekend and Kit's work over the week, let's see what's new...

• speakers hooked up for long distance/cruising mode (we don't have an audio source yet but they look cool for sure)
• electrical tidied up all over the place
• big anchor secured
• pig stick for C-strobe secured
• better install of the radar reflector (nice work Heather) after our practice sail shook it up a bit. the practice sail did fulfill its purpose of spotting things we would want to change. Always easier to do this at the dock
• hooked up solar panel and checked that everything worked (we also managed to charge up both batteries as we sailed mostly where it was sunny on Sunday, avoiding the north-west side of the Bay as much as possible)
• added a small cleat for the line that secures the companionway sliding hatch closed
• installed the dodger
• swapped the lifelines (and realize that Elise needs new Bay stanchions...the outhaul issue during Coastal Cup seriously bent a couple of them! and for some reason, something else must have bent another one on the starboard side)
• re-seal the side of the toerail (seemed to be dripping water in some places)
• put proper cotter pins where there were some other fasteners for the rig
• bent a spreader (which means that we are not rushing to get this fixed before the start)
• ordered chart (one we had was dated 2001 and we were asked to upgrade to a later version)
• received satellite phone
• stowed most everything away and remove what didn't need to be on the boat
• got a new squeashy water container (which turned out to be leaking into the bilge so we also need to work on that one. Heather has one otherwise, but this new one is blue. Well worth the buy!)
• did our deviation card for the set of magnetic compasses
• sorted parts to take only what we needed with us, buy a couple of stuff we had run out of (including epoxy set) and might need
• tried out the new waterproof bag that will contain the flares (it works just fine as we stowed it on deck where the liferaft will be)
• picked up the liferaft
• couldn't easily find the right part to replace the clip for the tiller extension. Installed a burgee solution instead
• saved part of the nav table that was starting to rot (a hole we had drilled as a water drain before the shroud bases got re-bedded and that had been constantly wet so unable to apply resin or at least glue to make it waterproof yet. This weekend was a perfect opportunity for us to do that
• took the boat out of the water and did some serious bottom brushing

Practice set up, jibes, take downs and driving upwind/downwind and tacking double-handed (with passengers to make things more interesting)

I may be forgetting a bunch of things - and none of these things take very long.

Tasted cookies, they taste fine.

Long Pac Class splits

http://sfbaysss.org/LongPac/2009/pdf/2009%20Class%20splits.pdf

Todos for this weekend

Heather and I will do some work on the boat on Saturday and do some practice sailing on Sunday as well as a second coat on the settees and the deck wood.

Note that some of this can happen concurrently

• swap lifelines (1 hour)
• deviation card for compasses (1 hour)
• replace clip for tiller extension (10 minutes with the right part) which means a trip to get parts
• plug in the solar panel (I will bring the blog photo :-))
• charge up batteries
• stow up items (finish the job) including making sure the anchor doesn't go anywhere
• take boat out of the water, brush off the bottom (was in the water all week for inspection and boat work)
• teak oil on settee (10 minutes, the boat is all rinsed)
• varnish deck wood (30 minutes to 1 hour)
• wire shut the jacklines
• put armband C-strobe on a stick that can be hoisted up the mast (the right way up)
• initial shopping (non perishables)

If there is time

• calibrate NKE autopilot

Kit helped quite a bit

• spare VHF antenna wire has a new connector (easy to swap at the VHF itself) and works just fine. Our main antenna is up the mast, the spare one is connected to the pushpit by the GPS antenna

and I think that we may be able to do this boat work to the sound of music! Elise may have an 'easy to remove/add' stereo + speaker system AND an easy way to plug in an iPod into it by tomorrow!!!

Elise's Genoa is getting a service and will have a foot line (finally, no more flapping!!!) that has been missing all these years...

The new blade should be ready by the Sarcoma Cup.

News on the Elise front

Elise is back at the Saint Francis after a weekend delivery from Santa Cruz (I am spending my life in Santa Cruz these days...I was there today for a work offsite)

A few things have happened since then

• spare autopilot (tiller autopilot) is all connected up (or rather, there is a plug and we can put it on at any time)
• car socket is installed (that will be the power for the laptop. I just got a universal laptop car charger that can plug right into it)
• bilge pump drain does directly through the transom now
• the adjustable cars can go further forward now for a good blade setting
• a new 3DL jib is on order
• boat was rinsed off (inside AND outside) and so was all its gear)
• new propane bottle is in place for the LongPac
• most of the LongPac stuff is now on the boat (including solar panel that is now mounted)
• the small engine is fixed

We also have the transponder for the Long Pac (same type as the one we had for Coastal Cup)

I will take a closer look at various other sheeting arrangements to see if I can come up with something more efficient. will keep everyone posted.

Santa Cruz Weekend Photos + LongPac Qualifying Sail

A blonde moment obviously...

Back to Santa Cruz harbor late evening

Elise on a loose beat in heavy-ish swell off Santa Cruz after we took the #1 down

Already pretty wet :-)

Heather taking the #1 down and getting ready to put the #3 up. On the Bay, this is usually very quick and easy. In heavy swell, it's a super wet and long and sometimes tidious job! It takes much much longer with the boat moving all over the place!

We saw dolphins on that day! Here's one jumping right by the boat! Several of them did that, they were crossing right in front of the bow, going under the boat, playing around us for a long time! A second group (or the same one?) came later in the afternoon, so we had two dolphin visits!

We also saw a passing whale in the distance, or rather the characteristic geyser-like spout and thousands (I am not kidding) of jellyfish as we entered back Monterey Bay

and on our way out, we spotted this awfully cute sea otter, eating away its meal on its belly.

And then there was this flock of seals, surrounded by jumping dolphins (the third dolphin visit!). I tried several shots but could never get all of them. It was virtually hundreds of seals jumping and traveling fast all in the same direction. Heather also saw an otter hanging out by the boat on Monterey Bay in the morning, as we were heading out.

Wondering if the dolphins weren't protecting the seals

We were not going in the same direction so we ended up parting ways but it was a truly magical moment.

Finally, we heard several times the barking of a few lone sea lions to complete the wild life picture.

The new arrangement: we tried to bring up the padeye to see if the angle to the winch could get better and limit the tendency for the jib sheet to override but I am not sure that we have achieved much. We seemed to have only moved the problem from the #3 to the #1...ahem...And the little turning block for the adjustable car system.

Heather driving in the morning in very light air.

On Saturday, we were busy reconnecting wires and tuning up the boat and doing various other miscellaneous tasks around the boat. Most of the time was taken with these two big tasks though. notice the hammock that we use to store our foul weather gear when going offshore sailing

Heather's blonde moment.

Yellow Belly with a green hull and a yellow belly.

Heather's jeep waiting patiently for our return.

Nat calling the dolphins ahead of time to let them know of our ETA in their neighborhood.

We ended up doing 48 miles (went 24 miles out) - started in 5 knots of wind, then 5-10, then 10-15, then 15-20 (we took down the #1 then), then 20-25 with gusts between 25 to 30. Then back to nothing, then back to maybe 5-10, really nice to get back to the harbor.

Entering the harbor again...in the late evening. Elise, as usual, did a great job.

Work done this weekend

Heather and I did a bit of work on the boat this weekend. Make quite good progress and we felt that it would be good for Heather to work on the boat as it is in my opinion the best way to learn where things are at, how they work (hence where to look when they don't work)

Certainly been my experience with the Pacific Cup. I builds your confidence in handling breakages, etc...which are very likely in any given race.

In summary we:

• tried on (again) the emergency rudder then dismounted the mount (that was tough! one bolt was totally frozen in there - someone parked his truck and came down to the dock with a set of power tools to help us out. I don't even know his name, he just said that someone had said that we were struggling a bit with this so he decided to help us out. It took him about 30 seconds to get it done.)
• fixed chips on the gelcoat (including a newly made one as we dismount the above-described item
• tuned up the boat after her trip on the highway (included Heather going up the mast until the second spreader to fix something up there)
• charge up both batteries and monitor discharge throughout the day through various navigation displays
• added cup holders in the back (to reduce the 'water bottles rolling everywhere' syndrom)
• connected up wind instruments (now dangling from the mast) - nice job Heather!
• reconnected masthead VHF and tricolor (nice job Heather)
• tried the stove for our saturday night dinner
• set up boat for offshore sailing (mainly additional safety/emergency gear)
• assembled and tried out the new handheld VHFs
• practice on the GPS + charts for navigation (nice job Heather)
• did our 40 mile qualifying cruise double-handed for LongPac
• tested the new winch/fairlead angle. Not sure we got it quite right yet
• tested tjhe adjustable jib cars (pretty helpful toward the end of the day - wondering if it goes far enough forward for the #3. May have to add more track if it doesn't. was ok for our points of sale over the weekend
• cleaned up the boat after the visit of various boat menders + remove uneeded equipment for our qualifying sail: big solar panel, emergency rudder, dodger
• thought through and re-arranged a bit of the living arrangements
• tried interior lights + flashlights
• checked that battery switch + instrument panel connections work ok
• checked battery mounts
• test AAs and AAAs (some looked corroded) and kept only the working ones

Remaining work items for longPac

Mostly on Kit's side

• Move bilge pump outlet from cockpit drain to true throughull
• Experiment more with the fairleads and the winch angle (we are trying to prevent overrides. Our former setup: winch on a wooden base and fairlead at deck level seemed to be causing some override, mainly with the #3 and mainly when there is light pressure. Our current setup: winch on a wooden base AND fairlead on a plastic base does seem to be causing some override especially with the #1. Perhaps look around at the other E27s and measure the angle between these two to inform our idea setup)
• Mount stereo and speakers
• Install power setup for laptop
• Connect up spare autopilot
• Connect up (coax needs connector) spare VHF antenna and test that it is working
• Clean up wiring near nav table, beneath the mast in v-bert, some connections may not hold for long - and in the nav table
• Check and fix moisture levels in the rudder
• Investigate and fix masthead strobe
• Calibrate NKE autopilot (can be done under engine in the harbor)
• Secure emergency rudder
• Fix tiller extension clip

And on Nat/Heather side

Before prep weekend

• Make deviation card for compasses (I actually think that there is one right under the compasses)
• A little night sailing
• jibe practice double-handed (can be combined the the above)
• practicing cooking underway
• MOB practice
• last emergency drills (we did some already): flying the trysail and try to steer the boat that way!
• Strategy
• Provisioning list
• Register EPIRB for the trip
• Send all missing waivers
• Book boat inspection
• Make sure sailmail and weather fax viewing SW is still working on my laptop
• Ask for one more patch to be prescribed?
• Determine what goes into the grab bag (out of the list of items we carry)
• Pickup liferaft
• Get small engine back and swap

Right before the race (probably Sat/Sunday before at the latest, or in time for inspection)

• Mount water bladder (and put a bit of chlorine in it to clean up the inside of it
• Mount solar panel and re-test
• Mount external halyard and test
• Do shopping
• Remove current lifelines and mount the offshore one
• Install emergency rudder mount
• Fit liferaft into place
• Setup boat for offshore: MOB pole, jacklines, etc...typical things we would do for a Farallones or a Lightship race
• Charge up both batteries and fill up the gas tanks

Jul 3, 2009 - Prepping for Nationals (and prep by Nat+Heather for Long Pac)

On Jul 3, Patrick, Heather, Nat and I took Elise down to Santa Cruz. She's sailing in the Nationals next weekend. Patrick and I took the boat and the scenic coastal (Hwy 1) route; Heather and Nat made an inland trip stopping at such landmarks as WestMarine. Also, Heather and Nat will be taking the opportunity to practice for the Long Pac on Sat+Sun.

Pictured, Elise when we stopped for lunch at a small Mexican place with a great view:



After the Coastal Cup, Elise was in a state of disorder. Among other things, we moved most stowed gear far forward for weight reasons (too much weight in the stern clunks the mast on the hoist when you lift her, and since we weren't around to supervise the hoist in Long Beach we decided to be conservative). A day of mast-raising and other tasks later (Jul 3) and you have the pictured level of tidiness:



However, there was a disenting opinion:


"There is no disorder in Elise. The truth will presently be known and dissenters will be exposed for their falsehoods."
Note the trusting, credulous expression on Heather's face as the topic was discussed.

this weekend todos

1. install new cup holders (at the back)
2. put mast back up and tune up boat
3. fix tiller extension clip
4. Test spare VHF antenna
5. fix screw for port side lee cloth over settee
6. Connect up spare autopilot
7. emergency drills, including practicing putting on the emergency rudder
8. MOB practice
9. Qualifying 40 miles DH cruise, going 20 miles offshore
10. check water bladder does not leak (I will leave it full at home)
11. make deviation card for compass
12. fix a couple of gelcoat chips
13. walk around the boat and see if any part looks like it's about to break and put it on the list to replace before Long Pac (we just got a new winch handle that way)
14. Wooden Work: so she looks shiny and protected. Coat one only
15. leak oil on settees - coat one only
16. Test masthead strobe + anchor light
17. Select the pairs of shoes we will be taking with us (well first pass anyway, we'll probably have to trim it down later)

and HAVE FUN!!!!

Sarcoma Cup Registration is open

Fellow Sailors,

The Richmond Yacht Club and BeatSarcoma would like to invite you to the 2009 Sarcoma Cup, on August 22 and 23. There will be some great sailing and some great dockside activities.

What a great value for only $1.25/ft (that's $31.25 for 25 footer, or $46.25 for a 37 footer)

• Sailing World Magazine and other goodies in your skipper packet
• One Design, PHRF and Cruising Division with mark racing on Saturday and long distance racing 'the island of hope' on Sunday
• Free Wine Bar - and good ones! and free gourmet coffee (and pastries on Saturday!)
• Free Massage
• Live Jazz Band on the dock and Live Rock Band in the evening
• High Value Sponsored Prizes - the winner gets a FREE HAUL OUT - here is the full list of awards

AND, win more goodies at the Raffle. Prizes include Garmin GPS 75, Sony XR3500-II car stereo, Painting, a Logitech Webcam and much more!

AND, participate in our silent auction. Items include high value sailing items, Painting, restaurant gift certificates, premium wine, home cleaning services, personalized stationary, art glass and more!

It's not all! We will be holding a RUMMAGE SALE - get great deals on sailing parts and gear or bring yours to donate! It's all tax deductible.

YOU CAN REGISTER ONLINE NOW

(or type http://www.richmondyc.org/Cal2/EventShow.asp?event_id=189908&event_batch=1 in your browser)

100% of the proceeds from the event will go to sarcoma research. Last year's event raised over $18,500. With your help, we can double that. And all you have to do is HAVE FUN!

Mark Lowry, Sarcoma Cup Regatta Chair & Nathalie Criou, BeatSarcoma President

• Link to Notice of Race: http://www.beatsarcoma.org/uploads/Sarcoma_Cup_2009_NORv3.4.pdf
• Link to the Sarcoma Cup website: http://www.beatsarcoma.org/Sarcoma_Cup.html

Progress report Elise

• 2 new cup holders (for some reason marketed as 'can' holders)
• 2 new cups that can hang off lines or bungees
• 3 'sporks', a spoon/fork combo to complete Elise's like of cutlery
• a sea anchor
• a new handheld VHF
• a second handheld VHF w/ GPS (offshore races require 2 HH)

I got a new watch...and I have become very knowledgeable in watch marketing. It's amazing the number of models you can create around the exact same watch...

• Elise's motor mount has been strenghtened and waterproofed (there was a dip somewhere near the end if a wave ended up in there) - thanks Kit!
• Elise's rudder pin was replaced - thanks Kit!
• Elise has new adjustable fairleads - thanks Kit!

and Elise's small engine is at the engine hospital. Looks like there is a bit of a waitlist for engine surgery so it might stay there for a couple of weeks.