Category: Taz!!

Spoke to TAZ this Monday morning July 11, 10:00 ish CA time. He said, “I slept like a rock and when I got up, I tackled the wrapped twins successfully with some tag lines on both clues and running them the pole’s down haul line.” The twins are in the repair shop. A #3 or #4 poled out will help keep the noise downwind to aid the autopilot and minimize another wrap. I know George to be persistent and quite good at unwrapping, untangling and Macgyvering the crap out of stuff. We laughed about some other stuff and he is in good spirits ready for breakfast, water and another day. From Joe B. Archimedes.

I spoke to George Lythcott on TAZ!! Express 27. He sandwiched his twins, reefed a main for some sleep, but awoke to wrapped twins around the forestay and spinnaker halyward. He tried a few things to unwrap, but realized that the twins have a memory built into their fabric, much like Nickel-Titanium Nitinol 😸. They have resorted to an hour glass shape from the wind and cross wave stress, much like a chute. It’s perfect for depowering and he may keep it this way to Hanalei. He reports good surfing on 10 foot seas, 25-30 knot winds. 2nd Reefed main along with a “depowered” twins seems to be the right amount of sail area for tonight. Tired but OK. -Joe B. Archimedes

The De Lorme tracker took not quite a licking but stopped ticking. Battery appears drained. I am making other arrangements to checkin at the appropriate time with my shore side contact or possibly emailing RC directly. Today, I ripped my most valuable engine, the twin head sails. I loaned these to Joe on “Archimedes” in 2014 and he will be quite upset because these took him to victory. Occasionally he asks to buy them and I reply “over my dead body!” The coveted V-twins will be repaired and stay on TAZ!!

The wind finally came back..with a vengeance – smile.  I flew the chute (spinny/spinnaker) yesterday in the new 12 knot wind and made excellent speed.  Auto was able to handle the deep reach partly because he sea was relatively flat. At dusk instead of dousing it and flying the Twins, I kept it up. By 1:00 AM the wind increased to 20 with gusts to 25 and i felt i was on the verge of disaster but it was dark, very windy and the fore deck was pitching. I was in a line of squalls that did a combo of increase/decrease wind speed, drop the temp.and rain. It was too dangerous so I decided to stay up and hand steer. That worked until 4:30 when TAZ!! went into an accidental jibe. The chute was wrapped around the net,and the main was back winded (the “prevent” kept the main from slamming across the boat). and it seemed the flogging chute would self destruct. I had to go forward and douse. It took about 1 hr of work to douse, clean up the lines and get TAZ!! pointed even close to Hawaii. The bearing to Hawaii was 242 and I was pointed at 170. I was tired, wet (sweat) and sleepy so i went below and crashed under main only. Its now 9 AM and i have to figure out what I’m going to do…so I wrote this blog input…it makes all the sense in the world. I think I’ll fly the shy Kite (small spinnaker). Note to The Race Committee. There Is No Moon!!! When I scheduled the race two years ago, I had two main concerns: 1) have enough Ebb to flush the boats out of the Bay and past he Farallones before nightfall and 2) make sure there was a full moon at mid race so the skippers could see the squalls. I like surprises but surprise squalls are no good. I’m getting cranky, I must need more water.

The subject line is meant to be said with a strong Brooklyn accent and a slight hand movement…Boy, am I lucky. I’m 860+ miles into the Pacific on an amazing adventure. People pay thousands of dollars to do stuff like this. Hey, I paid thousands of dollars to do this. I’m happy and healthy and having an experience of a lifetime. The only problem is that I’m trying to race! For the past three days the wind has been between light and the sea state calm hardly conditions to challenge a crusty mariner. Tougher conditions would help weed out the fleet. These first timers may get the impression that this is as tough as it gets. It isn’t by a long shot. The task for me is to pay attention to the details. In light air, that’s what makes the difference. I lost a winch handle last night. I don’t mean I can’t find it, I mean it went overboard. It was a nice one. Not my favorite, but a nice one. I have two more.. At night I’ve been flying the Twins and flying the spinny during the day. The spinny is up now and I just had three cookies. I’ve gotten my sea legs. That means I can stand on the boat and automatically compensate for the rolling and pitching without holding on. When I get to Hawaii, it will take me a few days to get my land legs back. Getting back to being lucky,…I cried this morning when thinking about my family and friends. Having them with me in spirit supports the ‘lucky’ thing. I am at peace with them all (just had another cookie). There are a couple (not saying weather family or friend) that I could be closer to, but they are works-in-progress. Water, water, water. I have plenty but typical for me, I’m not drinking enough. Two days ago I woke up with what I believe to be was a sharp pain in one of my kidneys. That scared the shit out of me. Since then, I have bee drinking the stuff whenever I see it or think about it, like right now. It’s a little gross but my urine has transitioned from deep orange to pale yellow. I’m assuming that’s good. Got to go and attend to TAZ!!…later.

Taz: Auto Has Left The Building I was awaken at 4:00 AM this morning to loudly flogging sails only to find that my auto pilot (Auto) was no longer holding the course set. I tried adjusting the controls to get TAZ!! back on course but nope. I reset Auto…no change. The tiller was moving trying to follow some course, just not the one I wanted. I changed rams…no difference. I crawled back and checked the brain….all connections seemed intact. TAZ!! was dead in the water with the main flogging and the spinny wrapped around the spinnaker net/forestay. The only thing I could think of was the flux gate compass. I found my spare, uninstalled the active one and installed the spare. Auto Pilot was now working!! Including putting my tools and other things away and unwrapping the spinny, I had lost 4 hrs. It was 8 AM but I was Racing again. Time to download GRIB files to find out what was going on with he wind and air pressure. There was a hole sneaking up on my location and I needed to stay ahead if it. No problem, I had about 12 knots of wind. At about noon, Auto shut itself off. I restarted (a number of times) but after running a few minutes, it shut off again. Low battery voltage? No, both batteries were charged at 13.32 and 13.47 respectively. I checked the voltage at Auto itself…same. I hand steered for an hour and tried Auto again. After 10 minutes, off again. I changed the ram and Auto was running again. Apparently the ram I was using was broken and drawing too much current causing Auto to shut down to self protect. I’m racing again!…But no! Remember that hole? I am now in it. The GRIB files show me at the edge of the hole but I can’t get enough way on to outrun it. At 4:00 I was still in it only moving at 1 to 2knots. At 5, the wind filed in a bit (8 knots) and I’m now moving at 4.5 knots. As far as I can see, there is no new wind in sight. I’m gong to have to spin some real magic to get back in this race. There must be others in this hole but there also are others who are flying along. Oh well, It time to find some magic. — Sent via OCENSMail satellite email service. www.ocens.com

It rained this morning, not a squall, just some rain. I loved it. As I looked around I realized how beautiful it is here. There are fluffy white clouds, grumpy looking dark grey clouds, patches of baby blue sky and the ocean is a cobalt blue with a little purple in it. There is no on or anything else as far as the eye can see. I think I’ll have some cookies! Today it will be Robin’s scrumptious cookies! TAZ!!, the boat: She is just fine. Right now I am flying the spinny in a starboard reach in 15 knots of wind…just enough to surf. The sea state is almost flat with 1’ waves and no swells. TAZ!! Is healing at 15 degrees. The GRIB files showed that the wind is the same for about a 500 nm radius. Let’s hope that is true, we don’t want a competitor sneaking away – smile. George, the sailor: I am fine. I have sore hands and knees and quite a few bruises on me hips and back…al of which is expected. I have been sleeping well (on the floor) trying to get rested for the latter part of the race when I have to be awake at night for the squalls. Race strategy: I have to be careful what I say here, being careful not to reveal too much. Its almost too late for anyone to use my strategy against me. We are all committed to where we are. Suffice it to say that so far, so good. The wind is starting to clock around to the rear which means I may be entering the Trades – yea. Then again, this could only be a wind shift… There is a angry Pacific storm forming just above the Equator headed this way. If/when it gets here, I’ll be gone (farther West). Besides, theses storms usually weaken when they hit the cold Pacific waters. Take care, all, it’s time to do stuff and YES, I’m drinking my water!! Kelsey, Alicia and Jeff just had twin girls about 6 days before the race! They are beautiful. Go by and see them. Katrina has the details. I love you more than rice and gravy .- Dad — Sent via OCENSMail satellite email service. www.ocens.com

I am settling in. Its cold, very cold. It doesn’t help that I’m wet too. it’s a little warmer during the day. The seas are slate gray with a thick overcast sky. No birds or other wildlife. TAZ!! and I are just fine. Flew the #3 jib and my speed went up. I was surfing waves at 9 to 10 knots. it was fun. I slept last night only getting up a couple of times to adjust things. I’ve started eating…oatmeal, tuna fish and a freeze dried dinner. I started feeling seasick but after a few ginger snaps, that went away. I made a mistake today and hoisted the Twins (two jibs sewn together). The wind seemed like it was moving aft so i hoisted. The wind went forward again. The twins don’t work with the wind forward so i had to douse and hoist the #3 again. it took a lot of time and energy. next time I’ll be more patient. Happy 4th to all, Happy Birthday America. We have a great Country with some weird folks in it. Take Care, George

I passed under the Gate under a single reefed main and the #4 jib. I was a little over powered but OK. About halfway to the Farallones I shook out the reef and hoisted the #1 jib. Big hole at the Farallons but ghosted into the synoptic winds. At about 2 AM the wind picked up and I was on my ear. It was too dangerous to go to the foredeck to douse the #1 or change down to the #3 so i rode it out. Confused 10 foot seas with 22 knot winds. I had to drive all night as Auto Pilot could not handle the surges. Tired. A couple of waves broke over the boat, but all was OK. Currently on the rumb line to HI with main only in 17 knot winds on a beam reach. Speed 7 to 8 knots. It is cold. Can’t wait for some warmer days. Great send off yesterday from family and friends. Tow boat leaving the harbor was cluless and TAZ!! hit a dock, but no damage. George