The Young and The Old

Veteran SHTPer Mike Jefferson (Mouton Noir) passing on words of wisdom to first time SHTPer Gregory Saramite (Libra).  Actually Libra did extremely well…maybe there needs to be words of wisdom exchanged both ways!

 

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Major Rudder Failure on Libra

7:40PM PST July 11th 30deg 11′ N 144 deg  06′ W

Major rudder failure last night. I discovered I lost the upper pin of my starboard rudder around 3AM.

I had to stop the boat completely and immediately then figure out the way to replace the missing pin. I ended up setting up a fortune solution which I have been sailing with since then. I spent the whole day building other pins so I am ready if my first fix fails. Situation is under control and I have been able to sail normally all day with good average speed. As the repair I made with large screws and lashings starts to weaken I am getting ready to apply my plan B fixes which might end up being a better fix…

All this happened a couple hours after the halfway party which I did enjoy! Thanks SSS for the nice presents and to my wife for the big box of treats!

Keeping the rudders together and the boat sailing at a decent speed.

Trade winds have been nice and strong.

This is s/v Libra out

Libra July 11th

libra GregoryS_8774 4c_160

7:40PM PST July 11th 30deg 11′ N 144 deg 06′ W Major rudder failure last night. I discovered I lost the upper pin of my starboard rudder around 3AM. I had to stop the boat completely and immediately then figure out the way to replace the missing pin. I ended up setting up a fortune solution which I have been sailing with since then. I spent the whole day building other pins so I am ready if my first fix fails. Situation is under control and I have been able to sail normally all day with good average speed. As the repair I made with large screws and lashings starts to weaken I am getting ready to apply my plan B fixes which might end up being a better fix… All this happened a couple hours after the halfway party which I did enjoy! Thanks SSS for the nice presents and to my wife for the big box of treats! Keeping the rudders together and the boat sailing at a decent speed. Trade winds have been nice and strong. This is SV Libra out

We’re mooooving!

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Processed with VSCOcam with f2 preset

9:25 AM PST 07/09 I almost forgot what it was to sail over 6 knots! Started to get some wind at 5 am this morning. After gibing back and forth btw a few squalls while wind was trying to decide what was the plan, it now seems clear again: we’re going to Hawaii! Cheers! This is SV Libra. Out.

Sailing vessel Libra reporting from the deep

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Processed with VSCOcam with f2 preset

This is SV Libra reporting on race day number 5. At 6:43 PST I am 632NM offshore SF bay about 30 miles south of the great circle route. The race start last Saturday was rewarded by a deep feeling of accomplishment: making it to start line! It is not as easy as it sounds… The exit from the bay was definitely windy and gusty as always… I actually broke one of my reef line blocks before passing the GGB. It just exploded and vanished! Quite interesting. I was already doing a repair in the 1st mile of the race! As promised by the forecast weather was a lot easier outside the gate and I managed to avoid a pocket of light wind and clear the Farallones by night fall. The most impressive was to sail across a large cluster of whales. I did not even count them all, at least a dozen between the SE Farallon and the middle Farallon. Impressive! I did not get too close to not disturb them too much. It looked like a hearing fishing fest, that was probably about dinner time. Then we entered the “windy reach” and clearly I understood why this part of the course is named this way: it was windy, very humid and cold. I had to double reef my main sail and changed my reefed genoa to a jib at night. It turned out I was too sea sick to complete the head sail change and sailed the whole night with main sail only. Surfing at 8 knots quite regularly. Yes, with a double reefed main sail!! This setup was not bad, boat was stable fast enough and I could start to sleep and accommodate to the sea… It took me 36 hours to fully recover and eat normally again. This was expected and once again it happened. After not eating for 24 hours I was obviously a little too weak to sail the boat with an asymmetric sail when I first had the chance on day 3 although I gave it a try before night fall and starting surfing over 15 knots. This was very fun but too unstable to carry overnight… With plenty of energy I set the spinnaker up yesterday morning (race day 4) and started to be fast again. I crossed 2 cargos overnight and verified with them my AIS transponder range, which is unfortunately quite weak (1.5 miles). The good news is my AIS receiver range is over 12 miles. Long story short I can see cargo from far away even if they don’t see me. Pirate mode setting? Race Day 5, today was a great day, although wind is starting to weaken… I was able to take my first shower and observe for the first time some clear views of the sun and sky. Update Thursday July 7th 9AM, race day 6. I spent some time tunimg my autopilot for different weather conditions. It is starting to pay off… Conditions have been light and very changing, with wind oscillating between 350 and 53 degrees magnetic. I even had to sail under a jib for a couple of hours before sunrise so I was not heading to Tahiti… This morning 1st thing first: I set my biggest spinnaker up and am now playing with small squalls to keep the boat moving. Life aboard is definitely happening on the other side of the boat compared to last Saturday… Temperature is nice but the sun is too shy! Boat is getting wet again! Hopefully getting through this low wind condition by tomorrow night fall without impacting too much my ETA. I am also monitoring the evolution of the tropical storm moving toward our race course. It is apparently (hopefully) weakening quite a bit while making it way north…. So far so good. This is sailing vessel Libra reporting from the deep, over and out.