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?

Old thanksgiving pictures

Cristin is all smile, driving like a pro (disclosure: she had sailed before)

Leaving Sam's for an out of the gate experience.

Random Shots

Rom realizes that he didn't need his sunglasses on that day

Nathan is trying to troubleshoot the autopilot, in port. As you can tell from the expression on his face, it wasn't looking so good.

Red Sky crew at the Corinthians Midwinters

Old Regatta Pro pictures

On a very rainy day...

Heather getting ready to sleep...

Nat does not have a drinking problem

Meditative Nathan peeking through the fog in search of land and Irish coffee

Heather already had her Antartica gear on

Possession Point

Nice video of Pacific Northwest sailing - thanks Joe for the pointer!

Norcal Writeup of the Double-Handed Lightship race

"If all ocean races were this quick, more people might do them. As it was forty-four boats raced Island Yacht Club’s Doublehanded Lightship Race - the first ocean race of the year - and all but one finished. The race out to the Lightship buoy and back, was so fast that the race committee, stationed at Golden Gate Yacht Club, had finishers coming in before noon. Read More..."

Looks like there were 8 E27s...Next time, we'll be sure to check in properly!!!

DNS result for Double-Handed Lightship

Per the SIs, any boat that does not check in and get a response via their on-board radio prior to the first gun is scored DNS.

I am not so interested in paper results as much as finding out how well we did compared to the other boats. Ultimately what matters to me is how well we've sailed, and what we can do to sail even better. The Island Yacht Club was kind enough to let us know what our ranking would have been had we checked in properly.

We would have placed 3rd in our division, after Dianne and Desperado.

Oh and Nick will be happy. We fixed the cup holder and the winch handle holder...which was thus far awkwardly hanging off a piece of string.

Double-Handed Lightship 2009 Photos

Elise riding a wave, going up...

And coming down. Nathan is doing a great job at 1) hiking out and 2) keeping his feet dry

She's nearly flying...20+ knots of wind the entire time!!!

Puff hitting, Waves and puffs required constant main trimming

Hobbie 33 broke a rudder. We sailed past them on our way back to the Bay but a boat was already circling around to help them out and a USCG vessel was on the way out.

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

Another photo from the Spring Keel

Purchased from Erik Simonson (www.h2oshots.com)

You can see the effect of not so clean air...

More photos

Purchased from Erik Simonson: www.h2oshots.com

Race writeup - from Norcal Sailing

"Express 27 sailor Nathalie Criou of Elise reports on the Spring Keel Invitational Regatta, a two-day spring season kickoff hosted by the St. Francis YC: Read More..."

The good thing about not being first is that we have plenty of time to look around, take notes, make sure we get an even tan on both cheeks. Pretty important stuff.

Spring Keel Photos part 1

Elise during race #1 on the Saturday this past weekend. Nathan at the helm, Nat, Jeanne and JF doing bow. The big blue worm looking thing on deck is the bag for a headsail. We were changing jib on the downwind as our choice of headsail wasn't good for the conditions that kept evolving.

A beautiful photo Peter! Two Expresses on opposite tack during one of the upwind leg of that race (don't worry, they did not hit each other). Close calls are typical of races, you do not want to give up distance, so you do just the min necessary to obey the rules of the road.

The Express 27 rounding the windward mark. The yellow inflatable mark was the actual mark. The red looking cone is the offset. Boats had to first round the mark, then sail to the offset and then back down to either the leeward mark or the finish. The boats with the spinnaker up have just rounded the offset and are sailing downwind. The boats that are hoisting their spinnakers are between the mark and the offset and the boats that still have their white sails up, eg geared for upwind are getting ready to round the mark. As you can see the fleet is pretty compact...Elise might be trailing a little bit...

Spring Keel photos purchased from Lyons Imaging (www.lyonimaging.com)

Pleasure Sail with Diane, Larry and Bertrand

When we do go for a pleasure sail with guests, we ask them if they'd like to share their impressions for the blog. This was from last weekend. From Diane - unedited.

"It was a Monet, Seurat painted kind of afternoon; dappled grey and blue clouds filled the muted sky, reflecting in the placid marina at St. Francis Yacht Club.  Multi-colored masts and hulls shimmered lightly in the water, surrounded, as were we, by almost balmy, calm air.

 

We arrived on the dock just in time to hoist Nat up Elise’s mast.  Once she was at the top, we supplied various tools – pliers, nuts, thread, tape, scissors, knife – to assist her efforts at re-threading the main ?? halyard.  While chatting, watching, and waiting, we all continued to prep Elise for our upcoming departure; Bertran, from Belgium, Juan, myself, Larry, and Nathan.

 

It turned out that the wait was auspicious; by 3:30 we began to feel some wind, and by the time we departed the marina harbor we were moving at perhaps 10 knots.  We raised the jib sheet in short order and headed towards Angel Island.  Just enough keeling for Diane and Larry to begin refreshing themselves on their rusty sailing skills!

 

As we approached Angel Island, we decided to head towards the Golden Gate, and raised the bright red spinnaker.  What a lovely sight - red spinnaker against the hazy red striations of light between the GG Bridge spans.  Juan caught a few pictures while we moved smoothly through the bay.  I caught myself, a few times, thinking of our son, Andrew and wishing he could share this afternoon with us.

 

We jibed to turn back, Nat right on the clock, hoping to return to the marina by 5:15 pm.  Indeed we did, on the dot.  Who can put a price on the mix of freedom, adventure, and relaxation provided by a few hours sailing on the SF Bay with pleasant company?"

Saturday Sail

We managed to find the very few dry moments of the weekend...

Beautiful North Tower of the Golden Gate Bridge. All pictures by Juan Navarro.

Matching foulies and spinnaker


San Francisco, and San Francisco Bay...



Going upwind...

Saturday Sail - presail pictures

Nathan and Bertrand looking away from each other...


Still waters of San Francisco marina on a cold and wet February day...



Nathan: 'Nat, can we have the main halyard please? you're holding up an important asset'

Fortunately for Larry, Diane and Bertrand, there was no wind while the 'halyard back in the mast' operation was under way.



Tape wrapping a line makes it difficult for the line to actually run through!


Icarus of the high seas. Trying to catch the sun. Sneaky star was creeping down right behind me.

All photos by Juan Navarro

More pictures

First event Corinthian Midwinters - Red Sky. Red spinnaker Vs. Red spinnaker

Three-bridge fiasco on Elise

Second weekend - Corinthians mid-winters

Finally!

The spinnaker halyard is run through the mast again...

It took only 3 months or so...A speed record I must say.