Looks like they might be incorrect and that Moonshine gets 2nd place instead. Given that I hadn't really looked at the results (just met Sapphire crew who bore the news and carried a trophy), hadn't really checked anything.
Sounds like crappy new downwind ratings...Not many people in E27 class like them (Delta Ditch apparently confirmed that we would race with the old rating)
Monday, May 31, 2010
Full DH results - spinnaker cup
Division=DOUBLEHANDED
Looks like Trunk Monkey finished right as the wind was dying on Monterey Bay. We got to Monterey Bay at 00:15 (with radio on so we could tell who was finishing when) but it took us another 4 hours to cover the last 5 miles or so...no wind...
Wind went from 28-30 knots to zero within minutes. Weirdest thing.
Date: 05/28/10 StartTime: 12:31:00 Distance: 0.0nm
| Pos | Order | Sail | Boat | Skipper | PHRF | Finish | Elapsed | Corrected | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 19 | GBR 9830 | Trunk Monkey | McCormack | 21 | 1|00:12:58 | 11:41:58 | 14:20:33 | 1 |
| 2 | 44 | 101DH | Elise | Criou | 129 | 1|04:43:19 | 16:12:19 | 16:42:23 | 2 |
| 3 | 41 | 8398 | moonshine | benjamin | 111 | 1|04:21:46 | 15:50:46 | 16:46:52 | 3 |
| 4 | 38 | 28390 | Pegasus | Sykes | 75 | 1|03:54:40 | 15:23:40 | 17:14:30 | 4 |
| 5 | 43 | 97707 | Plus Sixteen | Disario | 129 | 1|05:40:01 | 17:09:01 | 17:40:51 | 5 |
| 6 | 48 | 44 | Galaxsea | Willey | 81 | 1|08:54:39 | 20:23:39 | 22:37:27 | 6 |
| DNF | 46 | US-3510 | Recidivist | Olcott | 15 | 8 |
DH Spinnaker Cup (after pics)
Nat and Heather after a celebratory dinner (Half Moon Bay on the way back):
Heather+Nat and the results of rounding down:
Heather+Nat and the results of rounding down:
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Monterey (Spinnaker Cup) 2010 - DH Second Place!
(Nathan posting, crew was doublehanded Nat and Heather)
Elise, 2nd place DH division Spinnaker Cup 2010 (6 finishers in division)!
https://event-manager.compete-at.com/Manager/download?inline=false&fileid=zm22h1275149639315
Great job guys!
32 Overall out of 43 finishers (noting both that overall is including the fully crewed divisions and that the overall results favor the faster boats which get in before the breeze shuts down in the middle of the evening- Elise being relatively small for this event)
Further details from Nat when she gets back since I was on an Olson 40 (Spellbound, 5/7 division 24/43 overall).
Elise, 2nd place DH division Spinnaker Cup 2010 (6 finishers in division)!
https://event-manager.compete-at.com/Manager/download?inline=false&fileid=zm22h1275149639315
Great job guys!
32 Overall out of 43 finishers (noting both that overall is including the fully crewed divisions and that the overall results favor the faster boats which get in before the breeze shuts down in the middle of the evening- Elise being relatively small for this event)
Further details from Nat when she gets back since I was on an Olson 40 (Spellbound, 5/7 division 24/43 overall).
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Elise Health Update
- Elise got a new marine friendly lock (last key was lost) + a blue floating key ring
- V-berth cleaned of all mildew and de-salted with fresh water + treated with mildew blocker (I question the effectiveness of that though frankly, there's mildew every year after the rainy season!!!)
- Connections in the V-berth all cleaned (with sand paper and sometimes with specific electrical cleaner), in particular, terminals for the large battery
- Fixed auto-pilot 2 (+ node was not connected to the bus)
- Fixed 'comp', cigarette lighter (+ node not connected to the bus) and confirmed that it can charge up the VHFs
- Connected steaming light
- Put correct labels on the switches of the instrument panel so they become meaningful
- Checked all switches: deck-level navigation lights, mast head light, VHF, GPS, autopilot, comp
- install stereo (but the circuit breaker looks corroded and defective so may have to try again
- re-charged small battery which in turn fixed Nick's problem. tried autopilot again and it worked fine
- Bought a second instrument panel but not installed yet. Trying to move individual circuit breakers into a more durable solution
- Picked V-berth light (above the stove) to see if it can be fixed. One of the terminals for the batteries is not working. Checked all other connections and those work. As circuit is broken, light does not work
- Check compass light and cut off the current LED - totally corroded. That still needs to be fixed
- Re-sealed everything I could on the port side, as there clearly was a leak - although not clear what the cause of the leak is
- Bought accessory to the stereo so it can be used with iPod
- fixed holder for VHF mic
- bought knee-pads to reduce the number of bruises on my legs (I look like a battered woman when I am back from a day of racing...)
- took home toolbox for inventory, to make sure that it is complete and helpful
- bought more electrical spares (connectors mainly)
- found some dead weight on board (speaker wire) and removed it
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
More photos from the Farallon race
At the finish, trying to do wing on wing. Pretty hard on an Express with a jib - and quasi impossible in heavy swell
At the Finish
Finishing
At the start
http://cbergstedt.myphotoalbum.com/albums.php
Monday, May 24, 2010
Sunday Sail Photos
On Sunday, we went out around 4PM with Jason, Amy and Heidy. It was blowing 30+ knots, at the gate probably gusting 35 to 40. To be more comfortable, we took a reef in. We went around Alcatraz, up to the entrance of Richardson Bay, then up to the Golden Gate and back to the Club to drop off Jason.
The ladies left again to go to Sam's for a twilight sail, dinner and night sailing back to the Club. The food was as usual delicious, and there is something special to sail into a restaurant...
Amy: with whom I had shared brunch and dinner on that day
Heidy who picked the Chocolate Decadence dessert...
OK, yes it is by butt sticking out
Heidy on land
Butterfly Amy
Angel Island getting ready for Sunset.
Elise is docked and will wait for us patiently while we are having dinner
Getting rid of our foul weather gear before heading into the restaurant
Docking the boat under sail (and with my eyes closed apparently ;-))
Arriving at Sam's. We will dock opposite that other boat, port-side to.
Beating over to Tiburon (now that does not happen often)
Taking the reef out except for a really not so quick release knot in the sail ties that were actually just there to avoid leaving the sail dangling...In the end, I just pulled out a knife...
Amy is driving!!! And she picked it up just like that!! and frankly she was much more dependable than Nick was the day before...
Amy is coiling up a dockline, so it can be stowed away.
The ladies left again to go to Sam's for a twilight sail, dinner and night sailing back to the Club. The food was as usual delicious, and there is something special to sail into a restaurant...
Amy: with whom I had shared brunch and dinner on that day
Heidy who picked the Chocolate Decadence dessert...
OK, yes it is by butt sticking out
Heidy on land
Butterfly Amy
Angel Island getting ready for Sunset.
Elise is docked and will wait for us patiently while we are having dinner
Getting rid of our foul weather gear before heading into the restaurant
Docking the boat under sail (and with my eyes closed apparently ;-))
Arriving at Sam's. We will dock opposite that other boat, port-side to.
Beating over to Tiburon (now that does not happen often)
Taking the reef out except for a really not so quick release knot in the sail ties that were actually just there to avoid leaving the sail dangling...In the end, I just pulled out a knife...
Amy is driving!!! And she picked it up just like that!! and frankly she was much more dependable than Nick was the day before...
Amy is coiling up a dockline, so it can be stowed away.
some SSH photos (not mine)
I started squeezed between these two boats
We're off
when I wrote that Elise was going to fly downwind, I meant it quite literally. She's on the right in the picture behind Wetsu ;-)Erik got some great shots, from what I think was the bridge...
Singlehanded Farallones Race
Conditions were fabulous - in short a blast. Now onto the details.
Most of the boat had been set up the night before. All I had to do in the morning was to run the lines, bring out the horseshoe + strobe and tow line, hoist the main, pick my headsail and put it up.
I connected the autopilot (and turned the switch on so it basically could be turned on and off from the driver's seat) and put away docklines and fenders. I checked in around 8am. I asked Nathan for the latest forecast (I still left early and I wasn't getting the latest, NOAA typically updates the forecast every hour or so)
10-25 NW all the way. Flood on the way out and likely flood on the way back.
I also tried the autopilot (and it has a handy remote control so you can steer the boat from the bow) as I exited the harbor and set up the headsail. It was behaving beautifully.
Looking at the wind conditions right outside the harbor, I opted for the jib, instead of the genoa. I could probably have held the genoa right at the start but changing down immediately afterwards would not have been worth the time gained. Wetsu did a perfect start at the pin and bang on the gun. I started a few seconds later having to carve my spot in-between two other boats (nice racing boats...). Also started at the pin, tacked as soon as I got clean air.
It was flooding so I tacked back toward shore as soon as I hit the current line. I was monitoring current through GPS (comparing speed over ground on the GPS and speed over water with the boat's speedo: if GPS speed is greater, then current is helping you, if it is the same, there is no noticeable current and if it is less than speed over water, you're in adverse current).
I stayed out of the current until the South Tower and then crossed over to the North shore. Most boats seemed to have picked that route. I was catching up Wetsu and I had left the two boats that had started with me well behind by the time I was near Point Bonita. I opted to go way out instead of going north because the breeze allowed me to steer about 240 / 250 west which was basically the best VMG I could get. Not being sure how the wind would change (it was supposed to veer more West later in the day) I decided to increase the distance there. There was plenty of wind where I was and I wasn't sure I'd get much wind benefit by going further North. I was still North of the gate - but South of the islands.
Wind was about 17 knots at that time. I saw a couple of boats take a reef but I just put on a bit more backstay and Elise behaved beautifully, staying at a nice 15 degree of heel angle max. I was very happy with the way the boat was pointing and I concentrated on steering through the waves which were the major cause for slowdown. Not huge huge, but a few of them were pretty high and steep and caused the boat to go up a small mountain before falling back in a splash, with the bow airborne for a short period of time.
I tried to go up the waves at an angle and quickly adjust to get the most distance on the way down. That seemed to be working. My average boat speed was about 6 knots. Wind picked up a little bit to about 19 knots, gusting over 20. A bit more backstay was all that seemed necessary, Elise was very stable and comfortable.
Loads of water gushing over the bow with the waves and flooding the entire boat. 2 hours into the race I was pretty much soaked...But my foul weather gear held out perfectly and my 'city' clothes remained dry. That's the drawback of not sailing with a crew...There's no one to take a shower in your place. I was sitting forward of the traveler to keep the stern out of the water and was up on the rail, steering by hand.
I clipped myself onto the boat as soon as I went under the gate. I didn't have to use the autopilot when tacking. I would do a slow tack, bring in the jib before it filled again and hardly ever needed a winch handle. If I needed to get a winch handle to do fine trimming, I would easily block the tiller with the tiller extension. Knowing that the boat will want to go more upwind as I bring in the jib, I made sure the tiller would counter that and positioned it that way. It worked like a charm. I used that trick to adjust the cunningham (to flatten the main sail ever further) and to give a little pull on the jib halyard which seemed to have slipped a little bit.
By clipping myself behind the main sheet post, I was able to adjust pretty much all the working lines from where I was, without ever having to engage the autopilot. Granted, with the autopilot, I could have been further out and up on the rail. But given the swell, I think it was better to have an active driver than rail meat.
Looking around, I was able to point higher than most boats, yet keeping up nicely or overtaking boats. I think that I overtook Wetsu shortly after Bonita Point, then lost sight of the boat. I even overtook boats that rate less than Elise (eg. that are faster) and I was beating them boat for boat as we were traveling alongside for a while.
The Coast Guard were out on a boat and tagged me for a while - not sure if it was because they thought I was in danger or because they liked my hair style but I certainly preferred clean air and I was rather pleased when they moved downwind of the boat...(they checked out all the boats that were sailing their way)
Had to tack out of the way of a big ship (way out of the shipping channel, to the North of it, never seen a ship there before) and I sailed alongside it for a (very short) time as it was zipping forward at 15 knots and I was still doing about 6...
Wind remained stable more or less throughout the upwind, oscillating between 17 and 25. No need for a reef, Elise settled in a really comfortable groove, I got a good handle on how to deal with the swell (I could tell because at times, up one of these big waves, boat speed would slow down to 5.60 or so, but after a while I didn't go below 5.85. Not much but I call this progress.
The tack up to the island (West) was definitely better both from a wave and a VMG/point perspective so I stayed on that tack longer than on the other tack (North) - it was also easier to call the layline when close to the islands so I did most of my tacking up there.
The autopilot seemed to still be working upwind as I used it before my visit to the quintessential bucket. It was set on wind mode as that seemed to be the most effective way of steering if I was going to be away from the helm for only a short period of time (Vs being loyal to a compass course). Just for fun, I played around with the remote which I was wearing around my neck when inside the cabin and felt the boat turned slightly. You feel powerful :-)
I was really quite impressed with how the autopilot was handling the waves, some of which were definitely quite big as well as handling the gusts. I had released the main slightly by lowering the traveler before engaging the autopilot to allow for a wider range before the boat would feel over powered, to make Nick's job easy but I am not sure it was entirely necessary. Nick is Elise's autopilot. He's definitely a pretty good driver.
Ultimately though I decided that I was a better driver than Nick and I took the commands again. Kept myself hydrated and fed (did not feel sick the entire time even though it was pretty bumpy going up) - was not too hot or not too cold just wearing synthetics underneath the Elise crew jacket.
The weather was sunny, Elise was shooting through the water, I saw 4 or 5 boats on their way back as I was nearing the island and rounded the islands at the same time as one other boat. There was a big surf so I left a pretty wide margin between the boat and the island. Reaching while I was rounding the mark (that did not tip over thank God), saw a couple of seals looking bewildered. In the lee of the island, I was getting ready to set up the kite. Everything was ready to go, just had to bring the kite up on deck and hoist. We're talking a one minute job. Except that at that time, whenever I'd press 'auto' to engage the autopilot, I'd get nothing.
Hmm...going downwind in heavy swell (which I was looking forward to as this is a recipe for great surfing) you can't just leave the tiller still. It has to play with the swell or you jibe or round up, one or the other...Breeze was at about 16 knots in the lee of the island and the kite just felt right.
I tried to adjust the sails as well as I could to keep the boat stable (would actually have been easier with a kite) and took short trips down below to switch over to the second autopilot (the crappier spare one which was set up on deck but not turned on). It didn't start either. I went back down below, racing to switch over to the other battery, thinking that maybe there was an electrical/low voltage or connection issue. I never had enough time to take the multimeter and check before having to go back up to gently push the tiller...and I knew that the big battery was fully charged.
No autopilot and the display went blank in a beep...Probably some connection issues (the cables attaching to the big battery looked a bit corroded...) - shoot, now is really the moment when I need Nick and he goes on strike.
I looked at a boat behind me well in the distance that looked like Wetsu hoist a spinnaker (not entirely positive it was Wetsu, I couldn't remember exactly what Wetsu's spinnaker looked like) - a lot of boats had only white sails up.
Darn. I was fuming. The conditions were PERFECT. Nice stable 20 knots of breeze, lots of swell definitely pushing the boat around but in short great conditions for surfing. After about 5 minutes of swearing in every language I knew except sign language as that would have meant taking my hand off the tiller, decided that I should make the best of this situation and go on with racing. Crap crap crap. All of the sudden, Elise felt slow (even though she was going at a happy 8-9 knots)
Couldn't even switch to the bigger jib, it would have taken longer than hoisting the spinnaker and forced me to go barepole for a short while. I wondered if I should heave to and just try to sort things out that way...Decided against it. Not sure an Express 27 can heave to + given the not so friendly swell, if it can't be stable heaving to in the first place, it will NOT be in these conditions.
More crap crap crap.
Wasn't I glad that I was able to go to the bathroom on the upwind when the autopilot was working? ;-)
So I decided to continue like this and pray for the speedo and the electrical system to come back to life at some point...
I was steering 60 pointing right at the gate and I was at a pretty hot angle (barely sustainable with a spinnaker anyway) - so I decided to do what was going to make the boat get as fast as possible to the finish line
1- cut on distance as much as possible
2- use the swell to accelerate the boat (and Elise DID surf up to 12 knots with just the jib up!!!!)
3- keep a hot angle (broad reach) which conveniently pointed me right at the gate.
Getting closer to the gate (Coast Guard out again) I followed the current to take advantage of max flood wherever I could. I sometimes gained 2+ knots in current.
I passed the boat that had rounded the island pretty much at the same time as I started to see the gate (had two jibs up) - not a lot of spinnakers around, but a few, and the boat that looked like Wetsu had to go way South with the spinnaker, probably not able to stay at a high angle. This would also mean having to drop the kite at some point to come back up to the bridge.
I played the main on every shift, I tried to catch as many waves as possible and surfed for as long as possible (so even without the spinnaker it was fun fun fun) - Elise was going about 10+ knots over ground (my GPS was a handheld one on batteries and it worked the whole time) under jib and main!!!
Getting to point Bonita, the speedo decided to get back to life just like that, I hadn't done anything more to it. I shouted 'hooray' and tried to engage the autopilot. By then, there was 25 knots where I was. Stupid autopilot wouldn't start; Wondering if it was because it was drawing too much power and the battery just wouldn't give it...
More crap crap crap...
Wind actually didn't come from behind, shot up to 30+ knots at the gate; I had to do a short jibe out of the way of a ship, jibed back and then headed for the Club. I heard Mirage finish on the radio, then Wetsu (we had to announce our arrival) and I finished right next to Rainbow who had a spinnaker up.
In the Bay and right behind the South Tower, the wind dropped to 10 knots, then picked up again slightly. I finished around 8pm and got straight back to the dock.
I finished about 15 minutes behind Wetsu and beat Taz. With a kite up, I could certainly have found 15 minutes on the downwind. Basically all the ground I had made up upwind got lost on the downwind. Finished 5th (out of 10 starters, 14 registered) but could have been 4th easily.
Crap crap crap ;-)
Anyway! It was a ton of fun!!
Nick and I are going to have a short conversation about mutiny...
results
Most of the boat had been set up the night before. All I had to do in the morning was to run the lines, bring out the horseshoe + strobe and tow line, hoist the main, pick my headsail and put it up.
I connected the autopilot (and turned the switch on so it basically could be turned on and off from the driver's seat) and put away docklines and fenders. I checked in around 8am. I asked Nathan for the latest forecast (I still left early and I wasn't getting the latest, NOAA typically updates the forecast every hour or so)
10-25 NW all the way. Flood on the way out and likely flood on the way back.
I also tried the autopilot (and it has a handy remote control so you can steer the boat from the bow) as I exited the harbor and set up the headsail. It was behaving beautifully.
Looking at the wind conditions right outside the harbor, I opted for the jib, instead of the genoa. I could probably have held the genoa right at the start but changing down immediately afterwards would not have been worth the time gained. Wetsu did a perfect start at the pin and bang on the gun. I started a few seconds later having to carve my spot in-between two other boats (nice racing boats...). Also started at the pin, tacked as soon as I got clean air.
It was flooding so I tacked back toward shore as soon as I hit the current line. I was monitoring current through GPS (comparing speed over ground on the GPS and speed over water with the boat's speedo: if GPS speed is greater, then current is helping you, if it is the same, there is no noticeable current and if it is less than speed over water, you're in adverse current).
I stayed out of the current until the South Tower and then crossed over to the North shore. Most boats seemed to have picked that route. I was catching up Wetsu and I had left the two boats that had started with me well behind by the time I was near Point Bonita. I opted to go way out instead of going north because the breeze allowed me to steer about 240 / 250 west which was basically the best VMG I could get. Not being sure how the wind would change (it was supposed to veer more West later in the day) I decided to increase the distance there. There was plenty of wind where I was and I wasn't sure I'd get much wind benefit by going further North. I was still North of the gate - but South of the islands.
Wind was about 17 knots at that time. I saw a couple of boats take a reef but I just put on a bit more backstay and Elise behaved beautifully, staying at a nice 15 degree of heel angle max. I was very happy with the way the boat was pointing and I concentrated on steering through the waves which were the major cause for slowdown. Not huge huge, but a few of them were pretty high and steep and caused the boat to go up a small mountain before falling back in a splash, with the bow airborne for a short period of time.
I tried to go up the waves at an angle and quickly adjust to get the most distance on the way down. That seemed to be working. My average boat speed was about 6 knots. Wind picked up a little bit to about 19 knots, gusting over 20. A bit more backstay was all that seemed necessary, Elise was very stable and comfortable.
Loads of water gushing over the bow with the waves and flooding the entire boat. 2 hours into the race I was pretty much soaked...But my foul weather gear held out perfectly and my 'city' clothes remained dry. That's the drawback of not sailing with a crew...There's no one to take a shower in your place. I was sitting forward of the traveler to keep the stern out of the water and was up on the rail, steering by hand.
I clipped myself onto the boat as soon as I went under the gate. I didn't have to use the autopilot when tacking. I would do a slow tack, bring in the jib before it filled again and hardly ever needed a winch handle. If I needed to get a winch handle to do fine trimming, I would easily block the tiller with the tiller extension. Knowing that the boat will want to go more upwind as I bring in the jib, I made sure the tiller would counter that and positioned it that way. It worked like a charm. I used that trick to adjust the cunningham (to flatten the main sail ever further) and to give a little pull on the jib halyard which seemed to have slipped a little bit.
By clipping myself behind the main sheet post, I was able to adjust pretty much all the working lines from where I was, without ever having to engage the autopilot. Granted, with the autopilot, I could have been further out and up on the rail. But given the swell, I think it was better to have an active driver than rail meat.
Looking around, I was able to point higher than most boats, yet keeping up nicely or overtaking boats. I think that I overtook Wetsu shortly after Bonita Point, then lost sight of the boat. I even overtook boats that rate less than Elise (eg. that are faster) and I was beating them boat for boat as we were traveling alongside for a while.
The Coast Guard were out on a boat and tagged me for a while - not sure if it was because they thought I was in danger or because they liked my hair style but I certainly preferred clean air and I was rather pleased when they moved downwind of the boat...(they checked out all the boats that were sailing their way)
Had to tack out of the way of a big ship (way out of the shipping channel, to the North of it, never seen a ship there before) and I sailed alongside it for a (very short) time as it was zipping forward at 15 knots and I was still doing about 6...
Wind remained stable more or less throughout the upwind, oscillating between 17 and 25. No need for a reef, Elise settled in a really comfortable groove, I got a good handle on how to deal with the swell (I could tell because at times, up one of these big waves, boat speed would slow down to 5.60 or so, but after a while I didn't go below 5.85. Not much but I call this progress.
The tack up to the island (West) was definitely better both from a wave and a VMG/point perspective so I stayed on that tack longer than on the other tack (North) - it was also easier to call the layline when close to the islands so I did most of my tacking up there.
The autopilot seemed to still be working upwind as I used it before my visit to the quintessential bucket. It was set on wind mode as that seemed to be the most effective way of steering if I was going to be away from the helm for only a short period of time (Vs being loyal to a compass course). Just for fun, I played around with the remote which I was wearing around my neck when inside the cabin and felt the boat turned slightly. You feel powerful :-)
I was really quite impressed with how the autopilot was handling the waves, some of which were definitely quite big as well as handling the gusts. I had released the main slightly by lowering the traveler before engaging the autopilot to allow for a wider range before the boat would feel over powered, to make Nick's job easy but I am not sure it was entirely necessary. Nick is Elise's autopilot. He's definitely a pretty good driver.
Ultimately though I decided that I was a better driver than Nick and I took the commands again. Kept myself hydrated and fed (did not feel sick the entire time even though it was pretty bumpy going up) - was not too hot or not too cold just wearing synthetics underneath the Elise crew jacket.
The weather was sunny, Elise was shooting through the water, I saw 4 or 5 boats on their way back as I was nearing the island and rounded the islands at the same time as one other boat. There was a big surf so I left a pretty wide margin between the boat and the island. Reaching while I was rounding the mark (that did not tip over thank God), saw a couple of seals looking bewildered. In the lee of the island, I was getting ready to set up the kite. Everything was ready to go, just had to bring the kite up on deck and hoist. We're talking a one minute job. Except that at that time, whenever I'd press 'auto' to engage the autopilot, I'd get nothing.
Hmm...going downwind in heavy swell (which I was looking forward to as this is a recipe for great surfing) you can't just leave the tiller still. It has to play with the swell or you jibe or round up, one or the other...Breeze was at about 16 knots in the lee of the island and the kite just felt right.
I tried to adjust the sails as well as I could to keep the boat stable (would actually have been easier with a kite) and took short trips down below to switch over to the second autopilot (the crappier spare one which was set up on deck but not turned on). It didn't start either. I went back down below, racing to switch over to the other battery, thinking that maybe there was an electrical/low voltage or connection issue. I never had enough time to take the multimeter and check before having to go back up to gently push the tiller...and I knew that the big battery was fully charged.
No autopilot and the display went blank in a beep...Probably some connection issues (the cables attaching to the big battery looked a bit corroded...) - shoot, now is really the moment when I need Nick and he goes on strike.
I looked at a boat behind me well in the distance that looked like Wetsu hoist a spinnaker (not entirely positive it was Wetsu, I couldn't remember exactly what Wetsu's spinnaker looked like) - a lot of boats had only white sails up.
Darn. I was fuming. The conditions were PERFECT. Nice stable 20 knots of breeze, lots of swell definitely pushing the boat around but in short great conditions for surfing. After about 5 minutes of swearing in every language I knew except sign language as that would have meant taking my hand off the tiller, decided that I should make the best of this situation and go on with racing. Crap crap crap. All of the sudden, Elise felt slow (even though she was going at a happy 8-9 knots)
Couldn't even switch to the bigger jib, it would have taken longer than hoisting the spinnaker and forced me to go barepole for a short while. I wondered if I should heave to and just try to sort things out that way...Decided against it. Not sure an Express 27 can heave to + given the not so friendly swell, if it can't be stable heaving to in the first place, it will NOT be in these conditions.
More crap crap crap.
Wasn't I glad that I was able to go to the bathroom on the upwind when the autopilot was working? ;-)
So I decided to continue like this and pray for the speedo and the electrical system to come back to life at some point...
I was steering 60 pointing right at the gate and I was at a pretty hot angle (barely sustainable with a spinnaker anyway) - so I decided to do what was going to make the boat get as fast as possible to the finish line
1- cut on distance as much as possible
2- use the swell to accelerate the boat (and Elise DID surf up to 12 knots with just the jib up!!!!)
3- keep a hot angle (broad reach) which conveniently pointed me right at the gate.
Getting closer to the gate (Coast Guard out again) I followed the current to take advantage of max flood wherever I could. I sometimes gained 2+ knots in current.
I passed the boat that had rounded the island pretty much at the same time as I started to see the gate (had two jibs up) - not a lot of spinnakers around, but a few, and the boat that looked like Wetsu had to go way South with the spinnaker, probably not able to stay at a high angle. This would also mean having to drop the kite at some point to come back up to the bridge.
I played the main on every shift, I tried to catch as many waves as possible and surfed for as long as possible (so even without the spinnaker it was fun fun fun) - Elise was going about 10+ knots over ground (my GPS was a handheld one on batteries and it worked the whole time) under jib and main!!!
Getting to point Bonita, the speedo decided to get back to life just like that, I hadn't done anything more to it. I shouted 'hooray' and tried to engage the autopilot. By then, there was 25 knots where I was. Stupid autopilot wouldn't start; Wondering if it was because it was drawing too much power and the battery just wouldn't give it...
More crap crap crap...
Wind actually didn't come from behind, shot up to 30+ knots at the gate; I had to do a short jibe out of the way of a ship, jibed back and then headed for the Club. I heard Mirage finish on the radio, then Wetsu (we had to announce our arrival) and I finished right next to Rainbow who had a spinnaker up.
In the Bay and right behind the South Tower, the wind dropped to 10 knots, then picked up again slightly. I finished around 8pm and got straight back to the dock.
I finished about 15 minutes behind Wetsu and beat Taz. With a kite up, I could certainly have found 15 minutes on the downwind. Basically all the ground I had made up upwind got lost on the downwind. Finished 5th (out of 10 starters, 14 registered) but could have been 4th easily.
Crap crap crap ;-)
Anyway! It was a ton of fun!!
Nick and I are going to have a short conversation about mutiny...
results
Friday, May 21, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
More photos of Elise at the Crewed Farallones
at the start
proud looking boat
that is not Elise...
Courtesy of Charlie
some racing tips
I must have written somewhere else on this blog that I love to race because it makes me a better sailor. When I race, I pay attention to details I would normally never pay attention to. The tiniest change in wind direction, a puff over the water, current lines, half a knot change of wind speed, heel angle, etc...when racing, you constantly look at all of this...
We talked about a few racing tips (full crew) with Suzanne and Mark. During a race, everyone's very focused on a set of jobs, THEIR jobs - and the more they can focus on that job, the better. If the driver also has to figure out where all the other boats are on the course, the strength of the current, whether the spinnaker sheets were run properly, etc...he or she will do everything but drive. (yes Nathan, I hear you...)
On Elise, we typically have the following roles
- Driver - the driver drives - stays focused on boat speed, controls the main (we found that if another person controls the main, it takes too long to react as the driver often first senses a change in boat reaction - except perhaps at mark rounding) and the backstay. If there's a mark, not lose sight of the 'target'
- Tactician - looks everywhere OUTSIDE the boat. Where is the wind on the course, are the boats on the right headed? does the current seems to be better on the left? are we pointing as well as the other boats? competitive on speed? are we on the layline for a tack? Which end of the start line should we be on when the gun goes off? This person calls all the shots. And a boat is not a democracy, once the tactician says 'we tack', we tack.
- Trim 1 - this person will trim and tack the jib upwind and will trim the spinnaker (on the sheet) downwind. He/she also jibes the spinnaker on the sheets
- Trim 2 - this person helps tack the jib upwind if necessary and will help trim the spinnaker (pole work and twings)
- Foredeck - is responsible for everything forward of the mast.
Certain roles are more or less active upwind or downwind. Upwind though, particularly in heavy wind, there won't be constant trimming and in-between tacks, the crew will be on the rail. It does not mean that the crew is idle though.
The tactician will keep looking around and develop the next steps
trim 2 (or pit) and foredeck have other jobs, resp.
Trim 2 will scan the water and call
- puffs
- lulls
- waves
Foredeck will
- at the start call the distance to the line
- upwind look at the jib trim (particularly top telltales) and call out pinching moments, or assist the trimmers. this person has the best view of the headsail
- Help the tactician and look at traffic for rights of way
During tacks, the foredeck person will help walk across the genoa (jibs are usually small enough not to require any help) and may help skirt the sail as trim 1 trims it back in hard.
It is helpful to have a pit person to handle halyard work. At times, we had the tactician do halyard/topping lift, downhaul work. At times, we tried w/ trim 2. We haven't figured out the best way to do that yet.
We keep trying new things to see what would be the most effective way to split the work - and we always love to hear about what has worked for people. And note that what works well on one boat may not be the best fit on another boat.
If you are quite new to sailing, and you want to slowly pick it up, it is helpful to pick a position and learn to do the job really well. In future posts, we can look in more details of what each of these jobs might mean and what to look for to do it well.
Elite Keel aborted - Sam's here we come
We showed up for Elite Keel on Saturday but we were so short-handed that 1) our maneuvres were much slower than everybody else's and 2) our boat speed was much slower than everybody else's. This in a nutshell means that we are not competitive at all, more or less double-handling around the buoys in a competitive one-design fleet.
So on the Sunday, we decided to sail out of the gate, set the kite and over to Sam's for brunch...
We also did a couple of man overboard practices to go get a hatch and a fender that decided to escape...both were successful and the lost items are now accounted for, thanks for asking.
Nat to Suzanne 'so that's roughly what would happen if you fell overboard, when we come to get you'
Suzanne to Nat 'I am certainly pleased to hear that you'd come to get me...'
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
What I think we did well on Saturday
- We swapped drivers - best to have fresh drivers to keep high performance
- We had thought about where we wanted to go, independent of what the other boats would do, based on current, wind, forecast, etc...
- We were very focused on boat speed (and in particular, boat heel, capped at 15 degrees... although I noticed that the aft lowers might be able to come in a little tighter as we max'ed out the backstay, as you can see in the photos below, pretty early on), kept a fairly hot angle downwind when the wind was a little light
- Had someone focused on puffs and waves particularly when we had 25+ knots of wind so that the driver was ready on the main sheet/backstay to keep the boat going
- Had full weight on the rail (makes a HUGE difference)
- Reacted quickly (change up to #1 as soon as it made sense)
- Called a great layline :-)
- Very very actively monitored currents to make sure that we'd take full advantage of it (there are often small zones with so so currents)
- Actively looking at other boats to spot wind conditions where they were, and potentially indications of current
- Did not get hit by the whales around the islands
- Had one person 100% dedicated to tactics so the driver was 100% dedicated to driving
- Active weight management, particularly during the time the wind was light
- Immediately hoisted back another spinnaker when the first one got a little fouled, attacked by the demon of the South Tower
What we could have avoided to get 2nd place: a short round-up by the South Tower (note: most roundups are avoidable...)
I was driving and I had to bring in the main with the sheet as it was quite windy (no way I could do this by hand) - normally, when you do this, the boat needs to be really really downwind. However, at the same time, I was busy trying to keep the kite full, hence following the kite which turned the boat slightly too high. I was trying to be efficient and jibe the main before the kite, or at the same time...next time, I think I'll do the main last...
We could have recovered a little faster (sheet on spinnaker wasn't eased quickly) but we had all the right reflexes (vang was gone, main sheet released immediately) and the boat came back up like a charm. Spinnaker got a knot and it was faster to take it down and put the spare on up.
So how these things go, we did a good job. And we'll probably have a couple more roundups during the season ;-) These things are always useful (and we like to practice them, eg engineer one so we can practice recovery) as knowing how to get out of them and limit damage to the boat is definitely a great skill to have...Bummer when it eats up into your 10 seconds...
Monday, May 10, 2010
Elise got 3rd place in the Farallones race
* 10 seconds * after 2nd place...
Well, we did sail right next to a Synergy for about two miles, so we weren't doing that bad then.
So it was all about boat speed, route, etc...(when you tack, since you are not using a straight line course to the mark, if the wind shifts to one side, you actually end up having to cover less distance to get to the mark) - we had a strategy before the race and we were joking on the boat saying that 'we did execute well on our strategy' - by then, we couldn't really see any boat behind us...
Results are: http://www.yra.org/OYRA/docs/Results/OYRA_farallones_2010_results.pdf
Nathan will do a full writeup
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Farallones - Nat's photo
Heather and Michiel, the rocking tandem!
Mark is checking the GPS to make sure we're in positive current and on our way to the gate...he also kept track of our max and average speed (over ground, the boat system keeps track of the speed over the water)
Let's see...can I see the whale??
Somewhere in the photo is supposed to be Red Sky, Brian's Olson 34...but I can't quite find it...
A race to the finish w/ that boat!
Crewed Farallones 2010 -photos 4
The wind was calming down by then. It picked up again later in the afternoon
Michiel getting ready, putting on his foulies
Putting VHF on Channel 65 to check in w/ the race committee before the race started
We're checked in!
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