Trying out and tying up the radar reflector
some photos I had forgotten to upload! I am still working on the video. Will post soon.Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Heather preparing the LongPac
Trying out and tying up the radar reflectorsome photos I had forgotten to upload! I am still working on the video. Will post soon.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Long Pac 2009 Preliminary Results Posted
http://sfbaysss.org/LongPac/2009/pdf/LongPac_Results.pdf
(link valid as of 6 Aug 09)
DH Sportboats were Nancy (Wylie 30), Great White (E27, Rachel F, unfortunately crew not listed on the entrants sheet), Elise (E27), Galaxsea (Nauticat 44). Ergo (Ericson 35 Mk II) dropped out. On elapsed time, Elise managed a ~36 minute elapsed-time lead over the single-handed Express (George L).
As sometimes happens, a wide gap opened between the people who made around the 200m out longititude before the wind shut down and the people who didn't. It was a pretty mixed fleet but Elise still had a good chance on the way back to "play" with the E27 Taz and the Moore 24 Bar ba loot (Andy Hamilton).
Congrats, Nat and Heather, on a race well prepped and sailed!
(link valid as of 6 Aug 09)
DH Sportboats were Nancy (Wylie 30), Great White (E27, Rachel F, unfortunately crew not listed on the entrants sheet), Elise (E27), Galaxsea (Nauticat 44). Ergo (Ericson 35 Mk II) dropped out. On elapsed time, Elise managed a ~36 minute elapsed-time lead over the single-handed Express (George L).
As sometimes happens, a wide gap opened between the people who made around the 200m out longititude before the wind shut down and the people who didn't. It was a pretty mixed fleet but Elise still had a good chance on the way back to "play" with the E27 Taz and the Moore 24 Bar ba loot (Andy Hamilton).
Congrats, Nat and Heather, on a race well prepped and sailed!
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Sailing by the Farallons with Heather - Meet Stumpy
Nat - Oooh, look, here's the cutest sea lion ever poking its head out of the water
Heather - it's going to be eaten. It's shark season
Nat - Oooh, a seal heading for the boat!
Heather - yes it's probably going to hide under the boat and leave us right by the islands. The sharks can't see them if they are masked by the hull
Nat - er, does this mean that they will attract sharks? I mean should we be sailing around with shark food?
Heather - no, we probably look like a shark from below, we should be fine
Heather - let's get close to the Farallons, it's Great White shark season. We can see them jump out of the water!!
Nat - with my luck, they'll land back on deck
Nat - do sea birds get eaten by sharks?
Heather - oh yeah. Sharks eat anything, they're a top predator
Nat - Oh, I think that's a fin. No, wait. It kindda moves like a fin but it's a really weird looking fin. must have gotten this wrong
Heather (looking) - Oh! No, it DOES move like a shark. It's probably Stumpy!
Nat - who?
Heather - Stumpy! It's a well known shark that hangs out here. I think its fin got fouled in a prop and it looks really funky now. I can't believe I may have just seen Stumpy! It's a huge shark
Nat - ahem...a * huge * shark.
Heather - you know, these sharks are as long as Elise is. 20+ feet
Nat - oh really. great to hear.
Heather - I love going to the Farallons. I went cage diving here once
Nat - isn't that a little dangerous?
Heather - oh no, cages are pretty solid, probably more solid that Elise's hull.
Nat - gulp!
Heather - it's going to be eaten. It's shark season
Nat - Oooh, a seal heading for the boat!
Heather - yes it's probably going to hide under the boat and leave us right by the islands. The sharks can't see them if they are masked by the hull
Nat - er, does this mean that they will attract sharks? I mean should we be sailing around with shark food?
Heather - no, we probably look like a shark from below, we should be fine
Heather - let's get close to the Farallons, it's Great White shark season. We can see them jump out of the water!!
Nat - with my luck, they'll land back on deck
Nat - do sea birds get eaten by sharks?
Heather - oh yeah. Sharks eat anything, they're a top predator
Nat - Oh, I think that's a fin. No, wait. It kindda moves like a fin but it's a really weird looking fin. must have gotten this wrong
Heather (looking) - Oh! No, it DOES move like a shark. It's probably Stumpy!
Nat - who?
Heather - Stumpy! It's a well known shark that hangs out here. I think its fin got fouled in a prop and it looks really funky now. I can't believe I may have just seen Stumpy! It's a huge shark
Nat - ahem...a * huge * shark.
Heather - you know, these sharks are as long as Elise is. 20+ feet
Nat - oh really. great to hear.
Nat - another cute sea lion!
Heather - Stumpy will get it
Heather - I love going to the Farallons. I went cage diving here once
Nat - isn't that a little dangerous?
Heather - oh no, cages are pretty solid, probably more solid that Elise's hull.
Nat - gulp!
Elise Home
Elise's new 68-foot neighbor!
SF by night. We finished at 1214
Back into SF fog!Welcome home Elise and thank you for the ride.
Final run from the Farallons to the Finish
Admiring the Farallons - bare beauty.
Checking bearing to the Gate on the handheld GPS
Seal Rock (South East part of the Farallon Islands)
A few miles off the Farallons
Heather trimming the kite.
Flying the chute
Finally!!! About 10 miles before hitting the Farallones, we were able to fly the kite. Phew!!!!
Heather helping the kite from under the genoa as the air was so light.
Kite is up!
Heather getting the pole ready.
And we saw a small fishing boat about 50 miles out from the gate (closer for the fishing boat if you leave from Point Reyes r something like that
Leeward shots
Time to hoist the spinnaker! The wind was just shifting aft!
See the curvature of the Earth?
Captain Nat
Nat always took safety seriously. So seriously that she wanted to demo how a lifejacket would inflate automatically. As she reached out to trim in the genoa for Heather, the manual trigger got caught in a clam cleat and inflated the lifejacket...Always better to be sure that your lifejacket can inflate before you fall overboard ;-)Fortunately I carried a spare CO2 cartridge so that wasn't a problem at all.
I could barely do anything with this thing on! I couldn't see my hands before chest level!
That was much more typical of my kind of watches...Foggy, drizzly, cloudy, misty, damp, cold - overall crappy. and not even windy.
Eyes lost in the distance - oily seas...
It's beautiful out there...
.
I feel so privileged to be able to experience the vast beauty of the ocean
I feel so privileged to be able to experience the vast beauty of the ocean
Skippering and Project Work
When there is no wind, there's plenty of time to do project work. Here is Heather tying up on deck our gas cans (but the only one below we could actually keep from leaking!) - we wanted initially to keep weight off the stern. But we figured that this would still be better than gas in the bilge.
that was another project. We had to extend the jib track further forward with the new adjustable car system. however, sometimes, the jib sheets get caught on one of the screws. We put some duck tape to make it smooth. Haven't had a problem since! I also finished up the net at the bow to keep our sails from falling overboard.
Boat inspection before night falls.
LongPac 2009 More Pictures.
Heather is pretty focused - note the handheld VHF with GPS clipped onto her lifejacket. If she falls overboard, Heather would b eable to radio back to the boat her coordinates.
A little heeling means a little wind...the band-aid looking patch is to protect the tiller autopilot plug.
Heather checking the trim
WARMTH!
Economy of movements. The tiller had to stay really really still not to slow down the boat.
I think that this picture was taken at the same time as when I was wearing shorts...
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