Crew: Nat, Wilson, Greg and J.
At the start, wind was about zero and we were in a strong ebb. We had to anchor and were OCS at the start (on the side of the start line) - on anchor for a long time, then westerly finally filled in and we could make it back to the line, rounded the start mark and finally started.
Under the gate and to Point Bonita into 8 to 15 knots of wind. We could see wind pick up by looking at the vessels west of us (most of the fleet drifted onto the start line on time and had started well before us). Shortly before Point Bonita we took down the #1 (genoa) and put up our #3 (jib) as wind speeds were around 17 knots and will not decrease for the foreseeable future.
Soon after that and as we entered the potato patch, we started seeing winds around 20 knots, gusting 25 and swell height raised to probably 10 ft, with some unusual waves at 15 ft or so. Quite typical of the area. We still had the strong ebb with us and we easily cleared Point Bonita. Very roller coaster like with big bangs down waves but nothing unusual for this time of year, and not as bad as several other lightship or Farallon races in the past done on Elise.
Boat feeling strong, cutting through waves or banging down on them. Steering easy. Some crew feeling a bit queasy because of the condition.
Clear skies, sunny and excellent visibility. We steered north as wind was North, veering NorthWest and tacked West when on a good line for the Farallon. Boat was pointing great and sea state very manageable. Actually, a lot of fun from the perspective of our boat. Heading into the largest waves, going down the side of the them. No knockdown, boat was kept flat and going really nicely. I keep being in awe of this boat - quite an amazing little vessel. Because of the undersized sail area and the weight on the rail, we were doing really well. Boat speed through the water about 5 knots in heavy swell, really slowing us down, sometimes 5.5. Pretty happy about performance.
After we reached deeper water, sea state calmed down a bit with waves from 8 to 10ft instead of 10 to 15ft we had just seen with a few very large waves at an estimate 17-18ft height - made it for easier steering. Wind speed increased to steady 25 with gusts at 30, and an average of 27 knots. However, still fine. Not even considering taking a reef in as standard depowering moves for the main sail largely sufficed in keeping boat flat and fast. The swell was quick but because the wave size had largely decreased, it was really easy to steer in, and absolutely not unusual conditions (again, from our perspective) - overall, a magnificent set of conditions for this race. We had two reefing points in the main and a #4 in reserve in the event of worsening wind speed. We never had to use them.
We had no idea about the other boats. 5 boats anchored with us and suffered the same fate at the beginning of the race. We could still see 2 of them on the northern side of the course, all looking just fine.
J had gotten very wet in the heavy swells washing over deck and started complaining about being cold. He moved to the stern of the boat to stay in the sun. Made the boat slow down but did not adversely affect steering capabilities.
Greg a little queasy at times and got sick a couple of times from going below but admirably managed the situation (ie got sick and then returned to what he was doing, pacing himself, getting used to going below and overall dealing with the seasickness bout in an experience manner, and still operating)
Wilson not affected by sea state and quite obviously having a lot of fun.
We were constantly monitoring each other's state with 'you ok', 'how are you doing'
J's equipment may have been on the light side and he kept complaining about being increasingly cold and with blurred speech.
Concerned by that, we decided to turn around and see if the situation would improve, back in the sun and downwind (much warmer point of sail) - wind at 27 to 30 knots, surfing happily down waves, making headway back south/southeast to get back into the channel. We were about 16 to 17 miles out of the gate, past lightship buoy (as we sailed past the lightship, leaving the mark to port on our way back)
J's state did not improve. We removed his wet clothes and each crew contributed sweaters, jackets to keep him warm. We kept him lying down on the low side of the cockpit in the sun and shielded him from waves with our bodies, cushions and spare lifejackets. One crew helped with sails, one person drove and one person took care of John and we took turns.
We radio'ed race committee at that point, indicating that we had turned around, were abandoning the race with a sick crew member. Just a heads up and not asking for assistance at that point - as we had just made a change in J's circumstances which we hoped would be sufficient. We monitored the situation closely.
We wanted J to go below deck so one crew member could lie down next to him in quarterberth or v berth and provide body heat and a dry environment but because he was also very seasick (he threw up several times), he was adamant about not going below. Lying down below would have probably been fine (at least in my experience, even when I got seasick in the past), but the few minutes required to get to that state represented an unbearable barrier for him. We did not insist. His clothes were now mostly dry and he was protected from the spray by a lot of our high quality foul weather gear, out of the wind and in the sun.
We gybed into the channel and started heading back to the city. Boat surfing at 10+ knots over water in a 4 knot flood back to the gate. huge bow wave and amazing conditions again for the Express. We encountered a few heavy waves, two breaking on deck, one kicking us a bit to port, estimated to be about 17 to 18 ft. Boat surfed them down easily and we could anticipate (because we have an easy rudder/steering mechanism and a super responsive boat). We could keep up on a reach (wind was still north at that point, turned west only in the channel) - we did not set a) because we were reaching in 30kt winds and b) because we wanted all our attention to be available to J and c) we were going very fast already and spinnaker may not have gotten to a safe haven any faster.
We wanted J to have some sugar and more water and he looked increasingly weak but he refused. He agreed to suck on some vitamin C candy. The pulse in his arms was faint by that time when he would not move and be easier to find after we forced some movement, indicating hypothermia (blood focused in central areas of the body and leaving the extremities for survival) - we radio'ed in again, and reported an hypothermic crew to Race Committee, agreeing with race committee that medical assistance on arrival was recommended. We were about 40 min out and given sea state (high waves again before entering the channel, any transfer on other boats would probably be more dangerous than us pulling in into the nearest port)
We kept talking to J. holding his hand to reassure him.
We added a few more jackets on top of J (and he was now dry under the clothes), kept him on the sunny side, low in the cockpit and shielded him again from most water spray mainly from the bow wave.
Both Wilson and Greg were amazing. Everyone remained calm, doing just what was needed to be done, reacting quickly to commands on a boat they were unfamiliar with, and staying by J's side when needed. I (Nat) also spent some time with J's handing over steering to Greg (who did superbly well even though he had never steered an Express 27 before, and handled a nice 18ft wave ;-)) Peak boat speed was 13.4 knots down a wave, with a jib and a main. Again, showing how fast the Express is and reaffirming my trust in the boat. It is important to trust your boat...a lot depends on it.
Race committee sent out a boat to meet us right before the Golden Gate bridge, we heaved-to for a short communication spell with the power boat - we indicated that we did not think that a transfer was safe given choppy waters and still fairly high waves. We headed to the nearest Coast Guard station near the Presidio YC escorted by Race Committee boat.
We sailed into the station and pulled up at their dock. An ambulance arrived at the same time and J was taken to the nearest hospital. We gave an account of the situation to the paramedic, indicating that the fact that he was wearing a cotton t shirt (we were all wearing synthetic fabric which dries quicker and stays warm even when wet) may have made a difference. And no, J never went into the water and was never fully covered by waves. Seasickness may have accounted for a lot of the situation as well as the psychological state of our crew according to the paramedic and coast guard, more so than just being cold. They had encouraging words for us and were hopeful about a full recovery and we departed for the club, still entirely under sail. Race committee board radio'ed in to indicate that we were all safe, returning to port with one fewer crew member.
We put the boat away, had some food and drinks and learned about Low Speed Chase which definitely altered our spirit. Interestingly, we really did not find any conditions that were atypical, or even worse than some of the other races we did out of the gate so we really had not anticipated at all this kind of news. We had heard repeated calls on the radio from the race committee asking competitors for reports on low speed chase (as it turned out, the EPIRB had gone off)
We heard from J later in the day - he was back home and recovering, expecting a full recover within a day. Phew for us.
Very heavy heart as we are following the developing news for the rescue.
We were not in danger at any point as a vessel, and we dealt with an internal situation. the boat was manageable at all times, handling the swell in a nice and safe way - dealing with familiar conditions in great visibility and sunshine (in heavy rain and low visibility, things would have been much worse). The worse of the sea state we saw was up to the lightship from the gate (or the other way around on the way back) - much better after that. None of the conditions we saw matched the conditions we heard described around LSC (25 foot breaking swell inside the surf area of the Farallon) - but then we were miles away and things can change very quickly at sea, and can be very local so our account may not be relevant.
As a skipper, I think that we did the right thing, prioritizing crew safety over anything else - I think that we did not engage resources (precious and scarce resources that may be asked to go out and save people in much more dangerous situations so need to be use sparingly) unnecessarily - we did not ask for a boat to come out and meet us, we just recommended to have someone ready at the dock - given the proximity of our arrival - they chose to send a boat out. We also asked for advice from shore (and our main contact from land and with access to medical advice, etc...) giving a precise account of the situation to make sure we were not misjudging its severity - and we took early steps as soon as it was clear that the situation was worsening. I feel OK about all these steps and happy that there was a good ending for all of us on board. Thankful to have a boat that made things very easy and safe for us so we could focus on J's condition.
I welcome any advice on how we could have done things differently and better.
I hope that J will keep sailing -
and our thoughts and prayers are now with the families and friends of the crew of Low Speed Chase. A humble reminder that the sea is a lethal sparring partner - always to be taken seriously.
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