Super Serge at Work

Photos courtesy of Serge

Pretty important project: replace the cup holders that were broken on the boat

He also fixed up all the lines that are used to attach the boat cover.

Boat Work Day

Photos courtesy of Serge[[posterous-content:pid___0]][[posterous-content:pid___1]]Serge doing electrical work
[[posterous-content:pid___2]][[posterous-content:pid___3]]Nat doing planning and project management, we prioritized the tasks that would get the boat to race faster at the upcoming Great Pumpkin race[[posterous-content:pid___4]][[posterous-content:pid___5]]Nate and Nate eating brunch[[posterous-content:pid___6]][[posterous-content:pid___7]]Serge's Halloween decorations[[posterous-content:pid___8]]Elise and her bosun[[posterous-content:pid___9]][[posterous-content:pid___10]]

Serge is pretty organized

Achieved:

• Taped up cruising genoa
• Installed a trip line for the spin halyard on the port side as well and lube both shackles
• Replaced ground cable for small battery
• Modified the way the downhaul is set up for buoy racing to reduce tension (no 2:1 setup anymore)
  • added a shackle attached to the pole
  • added a short piece of line that can run between the two mast blocks
  • added a block centered on that line thru which the downhaul will run
• Got a new small battery
• Removed redundant chart light
• Removed the reefling lines and run tag lines instead
• Fixed the twing attachment points to the toe rail

Also took measurements for a new lifeline cable and bought spectra line to replace the cable aft to allow for better hiking

Also ordered a new spin pole sleeve for the mast

Also ordered a new hatch launch bag for the spinnaker to make it easier to launch

And bought magnets to make it easier to run the new jib halyard through the mast.

 

 

 

Team debrief after Simpson Regatta

Photo courtesy of Serge

Mark, Nat, Patrick and Scott - Suzanne had to leave early.

More work photos from Serge

Fixing a tear in the cruising genoa with tape.

Fixing a tear in the running spinnaker, with tape.

 

Quote from this past weekend

'The wind blows downwind' - M.

Short writeup - Simpson's Regatta

Well, this regatta isn't a lucky one for Elise. Last year we broke a pole and had to abandon after the first race, this year we broke a jib halyard and had to abandon after the second race on Saturday.

We also missed the first race on Sunday.

Well, we had fun and got some good racing in on both days

Team:

Helm: Nat

Trim 1/Tactics: Mark

Trim 2: Suzanne

Pit/Mast: Patrick

Foredeck: Scott

We tried a new configuration for the boat at the suggestion of Scott: the pit person was doing a lot of mast work. This allowed for faster douses and sets, at the cost of a bit more weight forward for a bit longer.

There was flood, so we short-tacked along the city front, going in as deep as we could without running out of breeze and then out into the current for the downwind portion. All port roundings on Saturday and leeward douses and all startboard roundings on Sunday and windward douses, except for our last one to leeward because we picked the other side gate.

Things that went well:

• Crew worked well together
• a couple of imperfect things happened but the team recovered from it in a timely manner
• good communication and great improvement race after race
• everyone was super pumped up and wanting to do great
• our starts were good

Things we could have done better in terms of maneuvres:

• one round up when our port twing broke, forcing the pole right against the forestay and destabilizing the pole, we recovered simply by blowing the vang and releasing the spin sheet, and within seconds we were on our way again busy fixing the twing
• one hour-glass on a hoist that was a tiny bit slow
• one jib not raised very tightly which caused the boat not to point very well for a while causing us a couple of spots in a race

What we improved greatly over the weekend

• Set up of the pole to make for faster: removed turning block
• More focus on driving (removed involontary pinching hence increased boat speed...)
• Faster tacks

the main thing is that we had fun!!!

Simpson Regatta - couple more shots

Badass foredeck at the start :)

Chris Ray - his website is at http://www.crayivp.com/

Great shot with two startboat tackers and two port tackers crossing each other

And one of these boat is Elise...

 

Repair

Photos courtesy of Ultimate Yachtshots, posted with permission - some photos courtesy of Nat's camera

Lots more at http://ultimate-yachtshots.smugmug.com/

On the Saturday, after the second race, and literally seconds after the Perfect Start (not kidding, bang on the line, clean air, to windward of all boats, right by the preferred end of the line which happened to be the committee boat and fully powered up) 

So much for trying to time it so perfectly!!

We first tried to run a new halyard but that didn't work so well as it kept getting stuck some of the way, so we gave up and just ran an external halyard - we had to change the way the spinnaker halyard was run for this to work. So both Suzanne and Nat were winched up the mast.

Simpson Regatta - hanging out in-between races

Photos courtesy of Ultimate Yachtshots, posted with permission

Lots more at http://ultimate-yachtshots.smugmug.com/

Elise missed the first race on Sunday (and was DNC, Did Not Compete, eg did not make it to the start area) because we were busy fixing a broken jib halyard)

It was foggy early in the day on Sunday

Elise is in sequence and has raised her headsail

Just pacing up and down the line, counting down to the start, checking which end of the line seems favored (even though theoretically every point of the start line should be equidistant to the mark in terms of wind/current distance, it is pretty hard to do in reality)

 

More mark rounding and various other stuff - Simpson Regatta

Photos courtesy of Ultimate Yachtshots

Posted with permission

Lots more at http://ultimate-yachtshots.smugmug.com/

Great sequence captured by Serge on film

Elise and a group of boats on their way to the leeward mark

Opa! and Elise approaching the leeward mark

Opa! starting to douse its spinnaker

Opa! turning around the mark, setting itself up for upwind sailing

Elise now approaching the leeward mark

Elise starting to douse its spinnaker

Scott and Patrick in Foredeck and Pit/Mast positions were so fast that we were dousing right at the mark, allowing the boat to go as fast as it could all the way up to the mark. 

Then as the boat turns the spinnaker is blanketed by the genoa - in this case, we did a leeward douse (behind the genoa) because of our choice of mark (a leeward gate has two marks and you are free to choose one or the other to go around. If all the boats choose one, it is a cue for the Race Committee that they are not set correctly...)

Nat a bit late bringing the main in as the boat turn, slowin the boat down a bit, so that's another area where we can improve and get a few seconds

When everything is sorted the boat is ready for upwind again - on the other tack on this photo, back to the cityfront where the current was more favorable. Doing a windward douse allowed us to tack very quickly after the mark

Other classes - Simpson's Regatta 2011

Photos Courtesy of Ultimate Yachtshots

Posted with permission

Lots more at http://ultimate-yachtshots.smugmug.com/

Simpson Regatta - Finishes

All photos courtesy of Ultimate Yachtshots

Lots more at http://ultimate-yachtshots.smugmug.com/

Discotheque

Great White on the left

 

Libra on the left

Strega finishing

Elise approaching the finish line

Just about to cross the line, you can see one end of the line to the left of the boat

And finishing acknowledging the horn from the Race Committee