| Boat |
Date |
Time |
Notes |
| Tiger Beetle |
07/08/06 |
0900 |
The High pressure makes you fuzzy, and it seems that Ergo has found the
High Pressure. Bill sailed too far north chasing the light air and the High
came south and squahsed him. He is therefore getting a little weird on us.
Sail a Vie told him to go drink some water - I suspect Bill is perfectly
fine but tired. Ergo and Carroll E are amazed with Nereida's performance
and now believe there is a ringer in the race, and it's she. Good thing
Jeanne can't hear this, though I bet her ears are buzzing. We have also
established that all of us are too old to do this race other than The General,
who at 77 we figure probably only has 5 or 6 good races left in him. Perhace
Race Committee can cut him a discount deal on the next TransPac.
Last night was Mr. Toad's Wild Ride on Beetle Boat. The new breeze filled
in from east at 20 knots and set up a complete new wave pattern, resulting
in two wave sets. With the additional pressure the boat begain to surf,
bouncing downhill from wave crest to wave crest, a feeling not unlike skiing
moguls (which I have never done), only this is a 10 ton boat not intended
to hop around like that. Thinking the wind was only temporary I left up
all sail and bombed on into the night until finally the autopilot correction
rate lagged behind the boat slew rate and suddenly we were on wave set B
while the pilot was still correcting for wave set A, resulting in two wild
180 degrees turns from beam on to swell all the way through to beam on to
swell. Egad! I rolled up half the butterfly, dropped a reef in the main
- this slowed the boat enough to allow the autopilot to keep up with driving
duties. I went back to rest, though sleeping was a bit diffficult due to
the bounce heave yaw slew roll going on. Being ough, I got to sleep anyway.
Woke up this morning to two flying fish on deck - Beetle is no longer flying
fish-less. I will get out the fish book and count scales as needed between
head and dorsal to figure out which of the long-fin flying fishes these
two are. Alchera is worried that he may soon follow Dogbark and be track-less.
Alchera has a carbon spar and the screws holding the spin car track to the
spar are stripping out. Mark's wrapped hose clamps around the spar to help
keeep the track in place and hopes that sufficient to get in to the finish
line.
Dogbark is at anchor in Hanalei bay, apparently Haulback's idea of taking
his clothes off and rowing around the anchorage shouting obscenities was
sufficient to make everyone else want to avoid the TransPac fleet if at
all possible, and Al mentions there is plenty of room to anchor. Race Committee
has secured the services of a chase boat to meet the incoming racers. Each
boat has a prop shaft seal in place that will break if the propeller shaft
rotates. This means we cannot use the engine until after Race Committee
comes on board and inspects the shaft seal, at which time the seal is cut
and removed. Then we can motor in behind the chase boat into the anchorage.
Radio is pretty quiet the morning. I can receive Honolulu weather, so I
must be near something out here. I'm off for breakfast and a quick check
of the spin pole track to make sure it's still attached on this boat.
rob |
| Dogbark |
07/08/06 |
1000 |
Well it is probably obvious that Dogbark finished the 2006 Transpac yesterday.
Lots of bird activity on the approaches to Kauai with boobies, terns and
shearwaters all milling about. Had to do a little detour of a MSC tug and
tow to get into the bay. I spent the night safe, sound and sleeping very
restfully in beautiful Hanalei Bay. The anchorage has some boats but is
not crowded and awaiting the rest of the fleet. Race committee did a great
job of meeting me, helping me get anchored and we even had some quality
tree time yesterday afternoon. Looking forward to getting the rest of the
finishers here safe and sound. Weird sort of readjustment back to phones
ringing, cars, the time change of 3 hours, even real people around ( not
those imaginary ones out at sea ). Thanks go out to all who followed the
race, helped in getting the boat and skipper ready, made the race run so
smoothly and friends and family, it was another grand adventure for me and
I deeply appreciate it, thanks, Aloha, Al |
| Nereida |
07/08/06 |
1400 |
Sat 8th June - over halfway DFT!!
I had to wait to celebrate - it was time to change tack onto starboard -
that job took from after rollcall until gone midday!! 1)Furl genoa 2)check
lines, lower pole and reduce its length for access (telescopic) 3)remember
to change spinnaker halyard to port side of everything BEFORE going any
further!! 4) re-attach lines, trying to make sure they are all lead correctly
& not tangled 5) extend & raise pole - oops, got the downhaul tangled
in the genoa sheet, so repeat items 2) & 4) then back to extending/raising
pole and adjusting lines to fix pole firmly in place as far aft as possible
6)unfurl genoa and centre main 7) change over main preventer 8)change course
and let out main on new tack, tightening up on preventer 9) play about with
wheel and Windpilot until all fine on new tack 10)tidy up lines used so
far & check lines ready for spinnaker now to be on port side 11) go
forward to foredeck and de-bag and disentangle spinnaker & sock lines
(thoroughly tangled after last night'!
s difficult windy drop!) & attach guys 12) hoist spinnaker in sock 13)
double-check length of guys, raise sock one-third & re-check guy lengths
before finishing raising sock 14) adjust guy lengths & check course.
Phew!! It's no wonder I thought long and hard before going on to port tack
two days ago, knowing I'd have to go through all this again when returning
on to starboard tack today! Manouevring the heavy pole on a lurching foredeck
(seas are quite big now) with a dodgy (ie loose!) pulpit & lifelines
I no longer dare lean on gets pretty interesting at times! Especially the
bit about reducing/extending its length (which requires me to stand up)
when it seems to get stuck! (Usually because I haven't released a line sufficiently
to give enough slack - but don't want the pole crashing about the place
as the boat rolls in the seas)
I reckon I could compete quite well with Laurel and Hardy if someone were
there to film the palaver! Hilarious!! My main rule is to take my time,
THINK and BE SAFE!! (Not so sure about the latter when I find myself slipping
sideways on deck sitting on a slippery spinnaker as the boat lurches in
swell!)
So then I got to celebrate, with the sun trying to get out and the boat
sailing beautifully - this was now breakfast cum lunch! I treated myself
to a whole grapefruit before my usual cereal with extra nuts and cranberries
and then sat enjoying fresh coffee accompanied by nicely ripe Brie and cheese
biscuits - thinking how lucky I was to be out here doing all this!! I opened
a couple of 'halfway' presents I'd been given at the start (thank you, Lucy
& Ben, and thank you, John - very much appreciated and I look forward
to reading it) and realised that so far this passage I'd not even got to
starting a single book (not counting instrument manuals!!) - way too busy
with other things.
I'm delighted to see that my calculations have proved right - we now have
good wind and an excellent wind angle (giving a boatspeed now of 6.4kn in
NE winds of ~13kn) and I'm dead on my rhumbline course to the finish line
outside Hanalei Bay. Squalls apart, I should be able to relax, just needing
to keep an eye on Hermann's steering. I would have liked to have been able
to report that I have the option of using the autopilot for more precise
steering (could have been useful from a racing - and sleep - point of view)
- but it is NOT working, neither have I solved the lights problem, nor have
I stopped that 'shallow alarm' beeping. I'm thinking of attaching a cable
from the chart table to the course computer 'NMEA out' and putting the input
from the GPS antenna to the 'NMEA in' - that might give me both GPS on the
instruments and data input to my PC. I must also check the big fuses - maybe
that's why the autopilot refuses to work. I think I'll also put back the
depth display to s!
ee what it reads (was it saying 'shallow' when I disconnected it?) &
to see if that stops the 'shallow' beeping on the other instruments. But
that can all wait - time for a cockpit snooze in the sun - maybe I'll have
a (weak) G&T to celebrate being here....! And later on, I'll maybe cook
a chicken masala curry ....or shall I make it Chinese?... decisions...decisions...
(Later - 6.30pm) Just seeing my first sight of a rain shower on the horizon
- overcast now. Might actually wash the boat down sometime soon?
Jeanne |
| Seabird |
07/08/06 |
2000 |
Yesterday was a white sail day which had a hairy ending as I needed
to jibe over in heavy winds. I am back to using the 90 lb man-killer spinaker
pole with the topping lift at the very end and it has nasty habit of getting
involved with the roller-furling jib. So the process is very tedious and
difficult to undo if it is screwed up. The day before I waited too long
to get the big asymetric down as the squall was approaching. All was salvaged
except my mental trauma. That sail was a real mover in 12 knots of breeze.
This AM I knew I had to get nylon sail up to go more downwind but it was
already blowing 17 knots. I mustered all my courage a hung the new little
asymetric code something that was to be my twin back when I had 2 poles.
I flew it behind the main and watched it all day waiting for it to blow
up. The boat took off but for how long. It has been up all day in 20 knots
and surviving. Am I glad I used a heavy sheet. I hope to keep it up all
night and flop over further down the way. I think I am getting over some
of my fear of flying colored sails now. I will spend the night up there
with it however!
Lunch and dinner were a few steak slices with wheat thins and Dubliner
cheese, washed down with Red Bull and iced tea. The lemons are holding
up fine.
Marge I am sorry about the 9th.
Best to all
Lou |
| Tiger Beetle |
07/08/06 |
2100 |
The position report was sent under separate cover to include Lou Freeman
/ Seabird, as he will be sending in position report starting tomorrow night
(I hope to be finished by then).
It's Saturday Night and the fleet is groovin' along to the tunes of the
Pacific High. Beetle is boppin along at a cool 8 knots, headed west and
making for the gybe angle to the finish line. Arch Enemy will be perhaps
half a day ahead, good for Mark, he sailed a good race. I'm pretty happy
with what I did, too. One more night out here and we should both be on the
beach with chilled beverages, and the boats happily riding at anchor. I
am concentrating tonight on keeping speed up without risking damage; there
is no opportunity to catch Alchera, and Seabird cannot catch me, therefore
no need to push too hard and break something. Instead, I'm going to relaxe
with a Fat Tire Ale (yes, I actually have enough on hand to offer one to
Race Committee!), enjoy the sunset, and watch the shearwaters zoom around
in the moonlight chasing fishes. I think I will quite enjoy myself.
On the breakage front, Foolish Muse cracked the boom between the gooseneck
and vang attachment point and has had to drop the main to protect the boom.
Given Andy is charging along at great speed, he is wondering if the mainsail
is an over-rated piece of equipment. There is a welder in Kauai that fixed
Ergo's equipment in 2004, and Ergo is getting Andy the contact info.
Seabird reports having too much wind for the spinnaker, so Lou experimented
with the downwind twins instead - and they work great! Apparently Seabird
is going like a banshee and Lou thinks this is a good thing.
On Beetle I have cleaned up the interior (again - only takes a day to have
gear strewn all over the place), repacked spinnakers, and assembled another
trash bag of plastics. It's highly unlikely I'll need a spinnaker before
the finish as I've got 20 knots breeze and the seas have built to 8-10'
(very squirrely). Boat speeds up are in the 8 knot range - Beetle doesn't
go a heck of a lot faster than that, but will start to drill a great big
hole in the water if more sail is added.
More on Ergo from this morning. Turns out Bill was flying his spinnaker
and having a super time, and coupled with his not checking out the weather
yesterday, he elected to continue sailing hotter and hotter angles with
the kite as the wind got lighter and lighter... and he did the classic spin-out
into the High. I don't think he actually sailed into the High, but rather
he headed up towards it and High happily dropped down and claimed Ergo for
the evening. At least Bill was able to laugh about it. Last time this happened
(2004 race) he turned and around and started sailing towards Chile, figuring
he could sail out of the High. Harrier told him to turn around, open a good
book, and wait - "the High will move off faster than you can sail away."
And tonight he's back in the breeze and headed southwest.
It looks like everyone is making good speed towards Kauai, everyone has
wind, and discussions have switched from "how to go fast" and
instead center on "how not to break stuff".
Have a good night, and may all sailors break nothing tonight.
rob |
| Tiger Beetle |
07/09/06 |
0900 |
It's a magnificent sunrise today, Kauai is 60 miles off the bow, Alchera
reports a fog-enshrouded island 7 miles down the road. The fleet has been
sharing finishing tips over the SSB to those making their first arrival
(e.g., finish is usually downwind during the day, but may be an upwind or
reaching finish at night when the trades calm down and katabatic winds may
flow down the Hanalei River and out to sea). Fortunately not too many horror
stories slipped in, though Tease's sailing into the reef was mentioned (he
sailed out of the reef, also).
Last night was reminiscent of race start - 25 knots wind, quartering seas,
thumps on the hull as a white cap hits the boat and throws water into the
cockpit. I closed up the hatches, put in the washboard, dropped in a second
reef to help out the autopilot by stopping the boat from rounding up so
hard, and let out some of the butterfly to help pull the bow down. I think
the autopilot was much happier at that point. The big differences between
here and the US west coast are a) the water here is 77 degrees, b) I'm sailing
fast with the wind from behind, and c) I'm not wearing foulies!
With the High so far south I think I'm back in the Squash Zone of compresed
isobars, though what the High is squashing against I have no idea - perhaps
the trades are a relatively low pressure compared to the High. Either way,
plenty of breeze and rather than a pleasant moonlit evening sail, I spent
the night powering along, gybing away from a squall, shortening sail to
keep the boat on its feet, and trying to get in some sleep at the same time.
On the plus side, the wind is still with us, making great tracks towards
Kauai, and hopefully I will get the arrival delux' - green island, breeze,
downwind finish, sans fog.
Foolish Muse has been trying to figure out why he can't plot his position
on chart 19004, and just realized he is north of the chart's boundary. He's
been thinking he's off in the middle of the Pacific somewhere and did not
realize just how close to everything he is. He says he could practically
swim to shore from here if need be. It was pointed out that in fact he *is*
in the middle of the ocean, even if he is right near the islands. Andy may
also be more tired than he realizes.
Second Chance is reporting problems with his VHF high power transmitter
(25 watt) and may have difficulty contacting Race Committee as he approaches
the finish. He does have SSB, 1 watt low power VHF, and 5 watt handheld
VHF. I suspect something will work out, but Ken is taking no chances and
is sorting through his options to see what will work the best. It also sounds
like he's taking the VHF apart to find the bad component, perhaps he carries
a bag-full of transistors and a soldering iron.
Beetle was christened with a bottle of Newcastle Ale poured across the bow
- which means that Beetle can find the nearest of pubs in even the thickest
of fogs. As the closest thing to a pub in Hanalei is Tahiti Nui's, I hope
that is where Beetle is going now. When you point a horse towards home it
knows exactly how to get there and goes faster - and Beetle is that horse
running for Hanalei.
May your favorite pub be open tonight!
- rob |
| Tiger Beetle |
07/09/06 |
1200 |
Greetings! I am now 26.0 nautical miles from the
center of the finish line, which is technically a line
extending in specific direction from a published
waypoint. However, I happen to know, having worked on
race committee in a previous race, that the finish
line in reality is most likely a chair with one leg
set on certain crack on the race committee condo
porch, extending through a particular vertical metal
rail marked by the small rock balanced on top (rock
taped in place to prevent massive shift in finish line
should someone move the rock). When, seated in the
chair that is aligned with the porch crack, the bow of
incoming sailboat is seen to pass through vertical
rail beneath the rock, you have a finisher! Sometimes
the rock and the chair don't quite align with the
published finish line, but that's ok - Race Committee
will tell you when you've crossed the line. Right now
I'm sailing fast towards that rock.
Kauai is visible beneath the clouds, it's kinda grey
and low on the horizon, so not quite green yet - I am
holding out for Green. The sky is super sunny, the
bright crispy blue sea studded with white caps.
Frigate birds are flying by the boat, first time I've
seen them this trip. A whole bunch of them like to
hang out at the Kilauea light house as there's a bird
sanctuary there. If you get the chance it's well
worth the trip to the light house (which isn't much to
look at) because you can watch the pelagic birds
hovering on the cliff edges in the sea breeze,
"flying" in
place not 100 feet from your vantage point
on the grass. Pretty cool to watch birds that big
hang out in the air.
Tonight Sail A Vie is taking over the roll call
responsibilities, and Seabird will be handle typing
them up and sending to shore. I hope Lou has his
email system working - he said he had figured out the
computer ports as of this morning; we shall know by
evening how successful he was.
It's been a long, fun, interesting, difficult,
enjoyable, unusual adventure to get here. And this is
only the first half of the event - after hanging out
in the island for a week or so, it is time for The
Return Trip. The return sail home is far more
enjoyable than the race, in that you don't have the
race pressure, pushing the boat, gear, and yourself as
hard as you think you can without breaking [too] much.
While racing you don't sleep much, you don't read
much, there's little time for yourself. In
comparison, the cruise home is a super duper fun time;
set the boat up for comfort speed, which usually means
slowing it down, select a suitably mellow
just-off-on-the-wind angle, and head northwards
towards the High. 800 miles or so upwind of Hawaii is
the southern edge of the High (you hope) and the seas
go flat. On goes motor, and tool along headed east
slowly in the flat seas until you emerge from the High
on the in coastal flow of San Francisco, and it's a
smashing reach in to the Golden Gate.
During the return trip I'll go through 1 or 2 books a
day, eat quite a bit, and spend a great deal of time
in search of the elusive Japanese glass fishing ball.
While crossing the High it is always worth looking for
the Green Flash. I've seen the green flash twice,
absolutely stunning both times.
But back to finishing. Right now I'm off to find Race
Committee on the radio and let them know I am here.
There are many more competitors out there on course.
I am glad I am in, I trust they are all push their
steeds as fast they can. We will be here to greet
them on the beach. |
| Nereida |
06/08/06 |
1400 |
Beautiful moonlit sea last night - for a short while before the strong
winds got up! Made good progress overnight and winds were still up this
morning around rollcall time - too much...! To keep our course, I'd had
to put us almost on a dead run downwind, Hermann steering as usual, when
the wind increased to around 25kn or more. I'd seen a belt of rainclouds
astern of us but didn't think they would cause a problem. (In the Caribbean,
a squall cloud is often isolated and really dark grey/black, so it's very
noticeable that you're about to get hit!) Anyway, first we were sailing
'by the lee' and then the main got backed. Hermann is doing a fabulous job
but, like all the other wind-steering systems, has trouble keeping a good
course dead down-wind in such strong conditions ... especially when big
waves are regularly knocking the boat sideways!! I found out that, yes,
you can be 'hove-to' with poled-out genoa (although making way slowly) ..but
that it didn't put me 'in irons' - I w!
as able to get back downwind (the strength of winds possibly helped). Trouble
was that I was now trapped (once more) at the wheel, while we rushed along
at great speed, until things calmed down a little & I could get aft
to Hermann to re-set the steering system.
Things did calm down, so much so that I felt it was time to hoist the 'chute....
trouble was that the winds started picking up again soon after - "Better
get the 'chute down", I thought - but, try as I might to haul the sock
down, it came down just a short distance & refused to budge any further.
I tried to figure out why it should be stuck - there really wasn't anything
there to jam. Qu: How do you get a 'chute down without a sock...?? Did I
need to release one or both of the guys more? Let the foreguy (downhaul)
go completely? Lower it on the halyard & somehow try to bundle it up
as it came down.... that clearly was NOT going to work! Or what? Never having
done it before, I had no idea! Somehow, I had to get it in the lee of the
main to de-power it - but that meant putting us on a dead run - knowing
we could back the main again with all the problem that had caused last time.
I wished the electronic autopilot was working! While I was considering my
options, we nearly broached,!
with the 'chute almost touching the water. I dived for the wheel and swung
us away from the beam reach we had come on to - the winds were still up
and we were doing at least 8.4 & surfing at well over 9 kn. I put us
on a run - & the 'chute came across, forward of the main - de-powered!
I locked the wheel, prayed, and rushed forward - & hauled the sock down
as fast as I could, tying it down - easy! But we had backed the main again,
of course... and I was trapped helming again until things calmed down once
more. Never mind, we survived....!!
During the afternoon, the sun came out and I caught sight of a shoal of
flying fish all rushing about, gliding over the wavetops - always incredible
to see just how far they go, often changing course midstream. Lovely to
watch. So far, I've not had any land on deck.
My depth instrument is clearly faulty - I re-connected it with idea of silencing
the annoying 'shallow' alarm coming up on other instruments - but it has
obviously gone down the pan completely. It won't let me do anything, no
matter which buttons I press... fortunately it went into a 'deep' reading
(& has now stayed at 14ft) which doesn't trigger 'shallow' alarms -
so no more beeping 'shallow' alarms on system!! And to stop the other beeping
(from no GPS data) I've disconnected the two GPS displays (one in the cockpit,
one at the chart table) from the system also (they're redundant, since no
GPS data anyway) - peace & quiet at last - sigh!! My radar is still
misbehaving - last night it went into MOB mode yet again.
I just went back with the multimeter to the autopilot course computer (and
linear drive fusebox) to re-check fuses and wiring - fuses all fine and
both sets of Seatalk wires (from GPS antenna in to CC and from CC to rest
of boat systems) seem to have data flow - so why no GPS data on system and
why no autopilot response? - I'm foxed!! Maybe the new CC has gone down...?
Still intend trying to re-do connections at NMEA interface box again - but
that might be dud now also. Still thinking about a NMEA cable from CC to
chart-table - trouble is access is awkward so I'm not well-motivated to
do it while on passage, especially since, for that to work, it assumes CC
is working fine. I wonder if I could check for data from the 'NMEA out'
at the CC...?
I'm having constantly to jump up into the cockpit to adjust our course as
the wind swings - in fact, I'm getting a lot of exercise because, with no
GPS display in the cockpit giving SOG & COG, I have to check with the
COG shown by the PC at the chart table to see whether my adjustments are
good enough & then go back up again. In 'cruising mode', I probably
wouldn't bother so much, but in 'racing' mode, keeping a tighter course
means less miles lost to my fellow-racers...!!! A lot of work though - much
easier to press a button from time to time and let the autopilot keep the
course regardless of the wind shifting a bit, asuming you have the battery
power to do it.
It's been a day of light grey clouds, with speed dropping when we're upwind
of a rainshower and then speed picking up as we near them. Boatpeed has
been pretty good much of the day so no thought of putting the chute up again
since midday's episode. Seas are pretty big at times - you can hear the
hissing as we rise to the top of a wave and it breaks in passing us. Makes
you aware of the power of the sea.
Tonight should be almost full moon .... maybe the clouds will clear enough
to see it.
Time for a meal before rollcall.
Jeanne |
| Nereida |
7/10/06 |
1200 |
Well, the big, confused seas of yesterday have calmed down a touch (to
6-8ft) - at least the swell is coming just from one direction now. Overnight,
there were several rainshowers with strong winds - but the near-full moon
shone brightly in between them. I had to handsteer for a bit around dawn
to keep us on course - the wind had veered more into the East & so our
course was dead downwind in big seas - but seeing the sun rising through
a distant rainshower gave an interesting optical effect.
I found 1 large, 1 medium and 1 minute (just 1 inch long!) flying fish on
deck - dark grey on top, white underneath, blue stripe along the side. I'd
never opened up their 'flying' fin before - completely clear thin skin,
with beautiful, delicate tracery of supporting structure.
Since mid-morning, it's been a lovely, sunny day with fairly consistent
winds of around 18kn - a day for relaxation and enjoying being out here.
I've not done anything with the instruments except to get into the calibration
page of the depth display (which I managed, unlike last time I tried) in
order to set the shallow alarm to 10ft and then switch it off. I actually
left it connected overnight - and had no problem with the instrument lights
switching off at random - they all stayed on all night long - so it can't
be the depth display causing that erratic behaviour. On the other hand,
I had turned off the 2 GPS displays (to stop their perpetual beeping due
to no data) - so maybe one of those is causing that problem. I must experiment
again tonight after dark.
(Later: Oh well... I had an email from 'my helping hand' at Raymarine UK
who's trying to 'troubleshoot' from a distance - always difficult! - as
a result of which I went back to the autopilot course computer to measure
input and Seatalk voltages - both fine... plus a couple of answers to qu.
of his... we'll see what comes back... I'm beginning to suspect the control
unit)
The (reduced!) fleet has switched to 4Mhz for radio communication - we can
mostly hear each other well and Lou (Seabird) can join in (his autopilot
crashes when he transmits on 6Mhz!). We had a nice chat mid-afternoon &
Bill on 'Ergo' told us his 'chute story from this morning (well overpowered
in a squall, of course!) - sounded pretty dramatic - he's OK but minus a
line. Not many of us are needing to fly a 'chute now (or are inclined to
after various mishaps!) with this good wind. Then everyone signed off to
take a nap or read.
I've been looking at the InmarsatC Urgent notices - we'd better not overshoot
Hanalei Bay because they've an active live firing range just beyond, off
Kanauai, with firing every day, 6am-6pm LT!
Well, I just went up to adjust the Windpilot in these strong winds (we're
doing over 8 kn regularly!) - a beautiful moon peeking from behind occasional
clouds onto a rather rough-looking sea! We should make a good distance overnight
if this keeps up. The forecast is for strong winds all the way to Kauai
over the next few days. So continuing, possibly building, swell...
I've been very encouraged by emails of support from friends in different
places - it's been very nice to receive them and surprising how many people
are looking out for me - I can't let them down!! And all I wanted when I
entered was to try not to come last (which I might yet do on corrected time!
....I must find out exactly how that works...)
Present position (at 2145 PDT ): 23 25N; 147 21W (so we are definitely in
the Tropics!) DTF: 677 n.ml. ETA: Daytime Sat 15th?
Miles run (by the ship's log) over 24hrs to this morning: 156 n.ml (same
as yesterday)
Jeanne |
| Nereida |
07/11/06 |
0900 |
At 0720 PDT (0420Hawaiian time) I was up on deck to adjust the steering.
Beautiful, beautiful ... there was bright Venus, high above the slowly-lightening
E. horizon in a clear sky, just a low band of clouds on the horizon itself,
with the full moon lighting up the sky high above the opposite SW horizon,
making a broad path of moonshine on the sea towards the boat - I just had
to grab my camera to try to capture something of it as the new day slowly
dawned! A little later, two birds came by, skimming the waves - skuas? Long,
thin wings, dark on top, white below - like so many birds of the ocean.
Keeping still to Pacific Daylight Time is getting quite weird now - actual
time, geographcally, should be 2-3 hrs behind PDT and sunrise & sunset
should both be around 6 o'clock, but our 'clock' is now completely out.
There'll be a 3 hour adjustment to be made once in Hanalei Bay.
I'm now less than 300 mls from Hawaii and Maui, under 400 mls to Oahu but
still over 450 mls from Kauai. My course is 265T and the island chain runs
roughly NW-SE.
It was another lovely sunny day with no squalls - just as well because I
had to clear even more from around and under the aft bunk (including a very
large, bulky mattress!) to gain good access to the autopilot course computer
- this was to be a major wiring day! The only slight problem was the big
swell (8-10 ft) - being half upside down lying on the bunk, trying to connect
wires under the bunk, as a big wave knocked the boat around & made me
slide around, got rather frantic at times!
I found, buried away, some lengths of unused 3-core cable and, once I'd
joined three lengths together complete with an appropriate 'tail' for the
autopilot Control Head, I had enough length to connect directly to the 'brains'
via the aft cabin - once that was done (all took several hours!) - we had
a working autopilot!! YES..!! I also found that with my new GPS antenna
wired directly into the 'brains', all was still working OK, so that data
was also on the system. The next step was to try the wireless remote control
(transmitter also connected directly to 'pilot Control Head) - again, fine.
So now I had a working electronic 'pilot with a handheld remote control
showing COG & SOG from anywhere on the boat - brilliant!
The only downside to all this was that, in order to make the autopilot function,
I'd had to disconnect ALL the other instruments...!! It was a clearcut choice
- instruments or autopilot. Sorry Hermann.... go take a holiday - you deserve
one! On reflection, I think I should be able to power up the instrument
circuit separately fairly easily... Wednesday's job! Losing log and wind
info is the main disadvantage at present, but I can manage without both
- it's just nice to have that info (especially wind) at a glance. And it
would be nice to see the depth when closer in to shore.
So Lou on Seabird should have finished by rollcall Wed morning....slowly
the fleet is getting smaller.
At 9pm PDT: position 23 26N, 147 16W; DTF 682n.ml. Distance run (by log)
over 24hrs (to 0845): 165n.ml !!
Jeanne |
| Fleet |
07/12/06 |
1200 |
Phil on Sail a Vie is rolling along, hoping his last salt-water pump
impeller will last until he gets here in a couple more days. The problem
seems to be that the glue bond between the rubber impeller body and the
brass bushing inside it, that fits over the pump shaft, keeps failing. So
the bushing is merrily spinning around inside the impeller itself.. All
very nice, but without the impeller turning at the same time, no salt water
gets pumped through to cool the engine. Kind of like not having a radiator
on your car. ..Not a good thing at all!!!!.... Yesterday he glued it all
back together and reports that it lasted for long enough to cool the engine
while he charged his batteries. Now he is trying to decide whether to risk
running the engine again, or wait until he gets here and can install a bunch
of new parts that his wife Joanne brought for him from the mainland.
He also had a close encounter with the cruise ship Maui, it appeared out
of a squall behind him and was on a direct course for Sail a Vie, until
Phil gave them a call on his VHF radio and they altered course to pass alongside
of him. Just goes to prove that even large well-run ships are just as blind
in squalls as a small sailing yacht.
Ken on Harrier said he had a nice quiet night after he dropped his mainsail
for the first time in the race and carried on under twin-headsails alone.
He has told everyone that this will be his last transpac, but was heard
discussing with great interest, Synthia's new spinnaker control/adjustment
system that she is trying out on Eyrie. Sounds like he may get one built
for Harrier so I wouldn't entirely discount him showing up for another kick
at the cat in a couple of year's time.
As folks draw closer to Hanalei there is, of course, a lot of talk about
the possible benefits and disadvantages of either a NE'ly or E'ly approach
to the finish line. This sort of thing never really gets resolved in any
definitive fashion, of course. Every skipper ends up following his/her own
best advice but at this point ANY talk of crossing the finish line makes
everyone's ears perk up more than just a little!!!
1400 hours, PDT
LATE BREAKING NEWS ....We have just received word from Bill on Ergo, via
a sat-phone call to his wife, that this morning the forestay parted. This
is the wire cable that runs from the bow to the top of the mast and performs
the dual function of carrying the headsail and keeping the mast from falling
over backwards.... an important and critical part of the yacht's rigging,
as you can well imagine. At this point it is not clearly known here ashore
exactly what happened, or how, but the rig is still standing at this time.
Bill has brought some halyards forward to the bow to hold the mast upright
and is still sailing along the course to Kauai. More news on this as it
becomes available. |
| Nereida |
07/12/06 |
2100 |
Brief log today - I'm way behind my sleep-time!
The good news from today's wiring efforts, having had to disconnect ALL
the other instruments from the autopilot 'brains' yesterday, was - success!
I was able to power up the instrument circuit separately fairly easily..
although it took a time, especially trying to make sure the circuit was
grounded properly. So I have log, speed, depth and wind info (but not direction,
since fluxgate compass is wired into autopilot). So far tonight, radar is
OK - but time will tell..
Discovered a couple of lovely pink grapefruit that had got hidden away -
what a bonus!
Cleared the usual tiny- to good-sized flying fish from deck in daylight.
Fairly overcast much of the day - but warm (26C). Seas still a good size
- boat slewed about fairly regularly.
Got the spinnaker up after my wiring efforts - should have done so earlier,
but too busy. Wind has frequently veered more into the East, making course-keeping
much more difficult. Also, got very light over the afternoon, but increased,
as often it seems to, after nightfall.
Bill, my rival on 'Ergo', found his forestay chainplate was broken today
- he's been practising his macrame tying it down every which way in the
hope it will last until Sat when he should cross the line - after me, I
hasten to add...!! But he'll beat me on adjusted time - no way I can get
ahead of him by more than 12hrs now.
At 9pm PDT: position 22 56N, 153 00W; DTF 364n.ml. Distance run over 24hrs
(to 0845): 161n.ml
Jeanne |
| Fleet |
07/13/06 |
1200 |
It appears that Ergo's problem was not a broken forestay as I first reported,
but a failure of the forestay 'tang' itself. This is the piece of metal
that anchors the bottom of the forestay to the bow of the yacht. It broke
off at deck level, right at a welded joint. Bill has lashed the bottom end
of the forestay and the roller furling drum to almost everything nearby,
he claims he is just practising macrame, but of course it is still a very
serious matter and we are all keeping our fingers crossed that everything
holds together for a few more days.
He had his running twins up at the time it failed, and due to the fact that
the foil (a sort of track that attaches the sails to the headstay) getting
pinched and bent, is unable to take them down. So, the mast is still up
and he is sailing at speed under twins and mainsail, but as you would expect
monitoring the situation closely. Bill remains confident at this point that
all will hold together until he gets in to Hanalei bay. In fact, yesterday
afternoon he had the best 12 hour run of the race......Chris on Carrol E.
suggested he drop his backstays as well to go even faster!!!!
Phil could not leave well enough alone and started his engine again, the
impeller bushing/body repeated it's nasty habit of spinning-out once more,
and now he says (again) that he will not fool around with his engine any
more until he gets here. This remains to be seen. Another repair job may
be under way as I write this.
Eyrie, Harrier and Sail a Vie are expected to finish either during the night,
or by first light tomorrow morning. A good race sailed so far by all 3 of
them, but I will withhold congratulations until they are here. It's not
over 'til the anchor goes down..... |
| Nereida |
07/13/06 |
1800 |
It's turned into a beautiful sunny afternoon after a night and morning
of frequent heavy rain - and GOOD winds!!
Boatspeed up to now (6pm PDT) has been consistently up around 7.5kn, with
similar, if not higher, SOG (helpful current for a change!). The swell is
still big - up to 8-10 ft on occasion and presently every 7-8 secs. That
causes problems with the mainsail when the wind veers into the east more,
making our rhumbline course nearly dead downwind.
I finally managed to connect in to one of the two Hawaiian Winlink PMBOs
for emails & my usual daily Position Report (posted on www.winlink.org
every day I'm on passage) - they've been surprisingly unavailable for much
of my crossing although, in theory, they should have given me good, speedy
connections most of the time. As my distance from the mainland has increased,
my choice of stations to connect into there has become more & more limited
in number. Timing has also become very important, with evening & night
best, morning to early afternoon normally impossible! Having Winlink for
communicating with friends & family, as well as downloading vital weather
info, has been very important for me for the last 3 yrs, whether on passage
or in some remote anchorage - it has been a great standby.
Bill on 'Ergo' reported this afternoon that all was well, with his mast
still standing - his macrame skills are increasing daily and he's even getting
into colour coordinating! He's feeling pretty tired though because the wind
shifts in squalls overnight meant he had to handsteer fairly often to take
care of his rig - he's looking forward to finishing on Saturday!
My thoughts are constantly turning to my possible ETA at the finish line.
Depending on my average speed from now, it looks like Saturday from 3am
onward, most likely 5-6am (PDT) (that's 2-3am local time). I'm glad I got
my depth meter working, ready for a night landfall. I've been checking over
my fresh food - can't take fresh meat, eggs, fruit or veg into Hawaii, so
I must either have eaten or cooked it all by Saturday - or have it confiscated!!
My jury-rigged wiring is dangling all over the place in the aft cabin, which
is in chaos & will have to stay that way until I get to Hanalei Bay
& acquire some cable to re-wire it properly. I'm rather disappointed
that I've not had a response over the last two days to my various queries
by email regarding my instrument problems - which are by no means resolved
on a long term basis.
So... with no wiring to be usefully done today, it's been a fairly relaxing
day (too windy for the spinnaker!) - think I'll go and read a book in the
sunny cockpit for an hour or so, before cooking!
At 1845 PDT, 22 48N, 155 32W ; DTF: 223 n.ml. ; 24hr distance run (to 0845
today): 159 n.ml.
Jeanne |
| Nereida |
07/14/06 |
1200 |
Friday 14th July (Bastille Day!)
Interesting! Looking at yesterday's log, I could copy the beginning word
for word for today! Heavy rain, strong winds, big seas (even confused, this
morning) over the night and morning, clearing up to give a lovely sunny
afternoon, still with good winds but lessening seas. The strong winds have
certainly given me a boost for miles run over today. We've been regularly
doing over 8knots.
Before the clouds came, there was a brilliant, clear night sky - so many
stars, a couple of satellites wandering across, a meteorite shooting overhead,
warm air - so lovely just to sit in the cockpit and absorb it all. I felt
it was an appropriate happy ending to my voyage - I even started singing!
During the day, as so ofen recently, a pair of sooty shearwaters came by,
skimming the waves, and then, delighful to see, a pair of delicate-looking
white-tailed tropicbirds flew around 'Nereida' for a time while I was relaxing
in the sun this afternoon. They looked as though they were thinking of landing
- but that's not so easy! They make a particular kind of clicking noise
which caught my attention to look up & catch sight of them.
Bill on 'Ergo' has had a tough time protecting his forestay, with the strong
winds veering and backing with each rainfall together with the rough seas
knocking the boat about as they do. He even put a couple of reefs in his
main - winds were 25 kn, gusting 30 kn, for quite a time. I hope he keeps
following winds all the way in - he's about 17 mls (2.5hrs) behind me, so
should also finish early tomorrow morning. The Race Committee shore party
are all prepared to help him after he crosses the line - he's not been able
to furl or lower his twin foresails as a result of his broken forestay.
It's a pity, but I'll definitely be crossing the finish line off Hanalei
Bay in the dark - would have been nice to have had a view of the island
on my way in. I'm hoping the wind doesn't change drastically as I get closer
to shore - I've been warned there could be a night-time katabatic wind,
which would be quite different from the ENE Trades we've had for days now.
ETA is around 3-5am PDT (midnight-2am Hawaiian time). It will seem odd not
to be on a heaving boat after all this time!
I'll sign off & go and collect up the few flying fish on deck from last
night - a daily routine I forgot about today, with the bad weather this
morning!
At 1945 PDT: 22 22N, 158 39W ; DTF: 48.2n.ml ; 24hr distance run by ship's
log (to 0845): 164 n.ml.
Jeanne |
| Fleet |
07/15/06 |
0900 |
Last night Nereida and Ergo both crossed the finish
line to arrive in Hanalei Bay. Nereida finished
around midnight, and Ergo around 0300 local time (0600
PDT).
Ergo crossed the line with a sheared off stem fitting,
therefore the furler and headstay are loose and
flopping around a bit. An additional problem was the
existence of the downwind twins already flying on the
furler when the stem fitting failed. The spintec
furler design does not use a halyard, therefore
lowering the sail requires that you go up to the
masthead to undo the sail, or else use a second
halyard to unclip the sail in some fashion. Given the
slightly unstable nature of the spar (two halyards
lead forward as headstay replacement), Bill was
naturally not that keen on going to the masthead to
undo the twins with the sails luffing and applying
additional stress to the rig.
What actually happened was Bill crossed the line early
this morning, the sails were lassooed and lashed to
the foil, the wind died down considerably inside
Hanalei Bay. At this point, with other people on
board to help out, Bill was able to climb the rig and
undo the headsail from the furler, and the sails were
easily removed. So Bill is a happy camper, and will
need to fabricate a replacement stem fitting before
sailing home.
Further back up the course, Paul reports that at
2:30AM Hesperus lost all steering, and the secondary
steering (presumably the emergency rudder/steering
system) proved inadequate for the conditions. He is
therefore trying to steer downwind using sails alone.
It is just becoming daylight here, therefore Paul may
be in a better position to assess what happened
(rudder failure? shaft failure?), and fix things up so
he can get underway towards the finish line.
Paul's typically unflappable demeanor remains
unflappable, Hesperus is just a little slower this
morning than on prior mornings. We will be talking
with hesperus in a couple of hours on SSB to learn
more and do what we can to help.
rob |
| Fleet |
07/15/06 |
2100 |
In order for Hesperus to continue towards the finish
line, he has strapped the no.4 jib on centerline and
is now towing a drogue and/or warps - the trailing
load is allowing the stern to orient towards the wind,
and it is simply windage that is generating Hesperus'
speed towards the finish.
For his part, Chris has standing by Hesperus through
the evening, and Chris has dropped all sail to slow
down enough to remain in the vicinity of Hesperus. It
turns out that the windage on caroll e is pushing
Chris past Hesperus, therefore caroll e is gybing back
and forth to remain nearby Hesperus through the
evening.
It is unfortunate that Hesperus' emergency rudder is
not working as intended, but it is a good thing that
he is making miles good towards the finish and that
carroll e is in position to stand by.
rob |
