Category: Passages

Day 8 Summary – more halfways and steady on in a new month

The bulk of the fleet has or will be hitting the halfway barge today, quite a busy place it will be, there could be a queue for the ice cream, wink.  Double Espresso seems to have grown his first to finish lead despite his kvetching about slow speeds followed at the moment by Passages (the nemesis O30) and Nightmare.  Crinan II and Riff Rider are holding their own along with Rainbow  and Fugu who appear to have crossed tacks in fairly close proximity of each other.  Perhaps they exchanged hello by wave or VHF.

Kyntanna has kicked some serious southing butt today, closing the gap a little bit with the comfort clump, some apparently setting off each others’ AIS alarms.  Morning Star continues the eastern defense.  He was closer to the finish for a time than Kyntanna,  saved now by the aforementioned butt kicking.  Both of them will likely be seeing the coming increase in wind before the rest of the fleet, so we could see the kicking continue.  By tomorrow the wind is forecast to do the kicking and we’ll see how our intrepids fare as they begin to enter or continue in the stiffening trades.  Boat parts that have been worked slatting around in lighter air will be in for a test.  Less than 800 miles to go for our faster boats.

Hanalei awaits their arrival:

Hanalei Bay this morning (7/1)

-Photo courtesy of Veteran Buglighter s/v Tiger Beetle

Passages sends a novel

Hello All, Here are some highlights from PASSAGES.

Arrived at the “windy reach” portion of the course on Sunday. The day started with sunny skies and light air, but by noon an overcast sky had filled in and the wind began to build into the evening. In the late afternoon I was reaching with the No. 3 and double reefed main, and decided to go down to the No. 4 before dark. This was a good call as I used this configuration for the next 36 hours through winds up to 30-33 kts with boat speed up to 15 kts.

Here are some things that worked out well in this portion of the race. Meclizine, I took one dose (25mg) on Friday morning and another on Friday evening, and had no symptoms of seasickness at all. Normally, I would have symptoms for the first 18 hours of a trip. Food, Ruben Gabriel suggested at a SSS seminar to take cold leftover pizza and Mountain House freeze-dried granola and blue berries. Both were easy to prep and perfect for the early part of the race. because I was not seasick, I was actually hungry and eating. Hat tip to Ruben on those suggestions. Giant zip ties, on Monday morning, midway through windy reach, I noticed one of my solar panels was coming loose in the mount to the pulpit. I had brought along some of the Ancor 24″ heavy duty cable ties in my kit, even though I was not sure what I might use them for. These provided a quick fix for the solar panel mount problem as they are quite strong and provided additional attachment between the panel frame and the pulp
it.

Things that did not work. Forward deck hatch, the forward deck hatch leaked badly in breaking seas over the fordeck. Each wave would deposit about 1 cup of water into the forward part of the boat. The companionway sliding hatch was also leaking badly, but at a slower rate. EVERYTHING inside the boat was getting wet, and items not placed into ziplock bags or sotered in dry bags were soaked, especially if stored along the hull on the port side (which practically speaking becomes part of the bilge on a starboard tack Olson 30). I should have spent more effort on this issue pre-race. The companionway hard cover and other solid hatches on DARKHORSE are looking pretty good. I also should have brought more socks and sailing gloves individually packaged to stay dry until use. Knee pads too.

Day 4 and 5 were improving but still cold, and, at least on PASSAGES, wet. By Wednesday evening the wind was out of the NE and I was able to set the twins for the night and run to the SW.

Day 6 I was able to set the kite in the morning and had a nice day of spinnaker sailing.

Day 7 was the best day of sailing so far. Great sailing, sunny, clear skies and warm. foulies are gone and things are starting to dry out. Opened the halfway box from Margie and enjoyed the treats for the two days. Thanks, Margie!

Day 8 was somewhat light air sailing with cloudy skies and frequent light rain showers. I took a shower and cleaned up. Things are drying out inside the boat. Except for one ship on day two, have not seen a yacht, ship, or aircraft. Nor any sealife. Just miles and miles of empty ocean.

800 miles to go!

Regards, David

rcvd 22:55 6/30

Day 7 Summary – “Someone” said rest on the 7th day and some are halfway

On the seventh day it has been said that one must rest.  Hmmm, maybe not so much for these racers.  The slower one goes in lighter winds, the more one actually must work to make the boat move.  These folks are still lucky though, despite slow speeds, they appear to still have some speed.  If the high had sunk further south, like in some prior years, 4 kts would be celebrated with much glee.  We have reports that the front five maybe did rest briefly upon their visit to the halfway barge and my understanding is that they were well rewarded with Starbucks and ice cream…er, at least maybe jerky and something to read, perhaps a picture of a coffee, wink, wink?  Halfway boxes are all the way fun.

Well, only 1000 miles and change to go…. 🙂  Now well in the lead to finish first, Double Espresso has maybe had some triple espresso.  He complains of being slow, but if the tracking is correct, he’s a fair bit ahead.  Speaking of going, things may be going a lot more quickly in the coming days if the winds strengthen as forecast.  Our leaders will likely reap the benefits.  The comfort clump may even get the advantage first and catch up.  Let’s hope our northwest flyer, Kyntanna, sees it too.

Day 6 Summary – Fast Boats in the slow lane, slow boats in the slower lane

So Day 6 saw a relaxing of wind and relative slowing of the fleet.  Folks are still moving though, just not as fast as before.  Racers are reporting a welcomed poking out of the sun and lightening of the wind.  Happier solar panels.  Power is a very good thing.  The suicidal squid and flying fish are beginning to make their appearances.  The tropics are nearing…

Some are contemplating their proximity to that Pacific high.  Kyntanna continues her northward surge, reporting that one of her considerations is staying high to keep the windvane from accidentally jibing the boat.  Her boat sails without a spinnaker.  Others are getting some use of their spinnies.  Riff Rider continues to stay south and stay moving, as does Double Espresso, who though slowed, is still moving respectably in the 6 kt range and has moved into the lead for arriving first. Nightmare and Passages are also moving well in the lighter air and have overtaken a few positions on elapsed time.  The comfort clump continues to comfort each other, each not straying too far.  Morning Star continues to protect  the eastern front.  The beginning of the fleet will soon reach half way.  Smooth sailing from there on out? Well, the weather could get interesting following this lull.  We’ll check in on that soon.

Day 5 Summary – Slower Pinwheel under the Pacific High

Today saw the windy reach transitioning into “crossing the ridge” for the bulk of the fleet – this means winds much further aft, and lightening up as they move out of the wide California Coastal flow, aka Gale Alley, into the edge of the Eastern Pacific High pressure zone and their “slot car” paths.

Our intrepid are reporting relaxing, eating full meals, and likely beginning to enjoy the sailing. That is, as long as they are not fretting too much about what may lie ahead. Remember that heretofore behaving Pacific High? Well, even the good kids act out occasionally and the forecast is showing this High maybe just can’t resist messing with our guys and gal.

The current long, not well formed, High is forecast to tighten up a bit in the next couple of days, and as it does this, it will extend a ridge from north to south down into the path of the fleet. We’ve seen some of the fleet likely reacting to this projection, including Riff Rider who has dipped more south, as well, Double Espresso. Others in the fleet, however, seem to have veered north, or west, Crinan II, JouJou, Passages, Nightmare.  Overall, this year’s fleet is tracking a more northerly route than past races, flirting with the edge of that ridge, including the boats in the “clump of comfort”: Fugu, Iris, Jacqueline, Owl, Dolphin, Crazy Rythym, and Dark Horse.  Kyntanna has sailed over west to join that party, leaving Morning Star still as the easternmost boat.

We’ll see in about 36-48 hours what effect the lighter winds have. Some may be able to get in front of the ridge, some may end up in it.  Distance traveled is always a trade off with the speed traveled over that distance.

Day 4 Summary –Surf’s Up

As our sailors are easing into the windy reach, the windy is easing in to boat parts and doing away with the weakest of links. Boom Vangs, autopilots, wayward halyards, traveler cars, mainsail tears have all been reported. If your parts make it through this phase, well, hopefully, that means they’ll last you the whole trip. We can think that way, anyhow.

Most racers are reporting warmer weather and water now, and the wind starting to clock a little aft. We have seen a juxtaposition of leader boats with the sport boats doing their stuff in the conditions they were made for: Double Espresso and Passages, two Olson 30s, the boat of choice for this race, surfed up from behind to overtake the Capo 30 JouJou and join in the lead with Riff Rider and Crinan II, in elapsed time. Standings with corrected time are much different, and with so much runway left, it is still anyone’s race, well, almost anyone.

Wind is still projected to hold and a southerly surge reprise forecasted for this weekend should land far enough east of the fleet not to be a factor in slowing anyone down. Several days out, tropical low pressure systems off Mexico might disrupt some of the usual tradewind flow, so we’ll be keeping an eye on those weather systems. The dreaded Pacific High has so far been behaving itself, and staying well to the North.  Great luck for these 2018 racers.

Day 3 Summary – The windy reach lives up to its name

Day 3 found our racers gearing up for a wild ride on what’s known as “the windy reach.”  The back of the fleet crawled out of the southerly surge and the front of the fleet grew with the faster, sportier boats, previously becalmed, closing the gap on the original three leaders in reported 25-30 kt winds.  JouJou is still splitting the difference between Riff Rider to the north and Crinan II to the south.  It will be interesting to see the effect of latitude.  Double Espresso is one of those surfing machines now caught up to the three leaders with Nightmare and Passages very close behind. Rainbow, the sole multihull, is holding his own and Kyntanna is throwing her size around surging to the south.  The remainder are roughly clustered together, but still moving at a clip.  We have reports of sea sickness, astronaut eating, and only a little carnage so far, a boom vang and a couple of autopilots, not too bad overall. The sailors are settling in to sailing, as the winds continue.

Day 2 Summary- 3 break and 3 break away

Sunday saw a thinning of sorts.  Riff Rider, who went West with very little southing picked up the synoptic breeze first and largely escaped what would become the slow zone.  Fast on his stern were JouJou, and Crinan II, who, both a little more south, managed to mostly escape the southerly surge and with over ground speeds from 7 – 11 kts, the three surged ahead of those less fortunate.

Meanwhile, LIBRA, delayed due to autopilot issues, decided to drop out and the sea had it’s way with Mouton Noir and Elizabeth Ann, who both retired to the shores with equipment issues.  We are down to 16.

The rest of this sixteen not rocketing in the synoptics, doddled about in that southerly surge, napping, cursing, trading grey poupon, reflecting on strategy, napping again, cursing again, waiting…

As the night fell, mother nature took pity on them and reached her fingers down to tickle the boats, one by one, and poked each in the direction of the finish.  The breeze started picking up, as did speed, and boat by boat, the fleet started moving past the surge into solid northwesterlies.  Right now it looks like good breeze all the way.  Will it hold?

Day 1 Summary – Ohhhh Noooo!!!! The dreaded southerly surge!!!

00:15 Sunday 6/24  – So it looks like the southerly surge that weather gurus were worried about has hit the fleet, with tracking report speeds dropping to 1kt and less.  In the weather briefing provided by Skip Allan, at the skippers meeting, our fearless 19 were warned of this impending doom.  Go west, he said.  Here’s a quick why.  So there is a Pacific high way offshore.  There is a lower pressure system sitting over the central valley of California. Beyond the low pressure system are the Sierra Mountains.  In the upper atmosphere, air can get pushed towards these mountains and some can’t get over them, it cools off, then wants to sink.  As a result of this sinking air, a north/south troph associated with the low pressure system (actually, sitting between the low pressure system and the Pacific High) is pushed back westward off the coast.  Exactly when this would happen, and exactly how far west was unclear.  Light southerly wind lies to the east of the troph, light northerly winds occur to the west, and no winds in the middle.  Guess where our buglighters are.  🙁  The no winds in the middle could last for a couple of days, so we’ll see.  Stay tuned.

At this time Libra is still in port, and Mouton Noir is returning to shore, reportedly possibly due to some equipment issues.  There may be additional news from check ins, we’ll post any updates.  Have a good night, and know the racers will likely at least have a peaceful night too, if they relax and enjoy the calm.  It is lovely out there when it is calm.