Elise's new mast maiden voyage

Belle, Suzanne, Pete and his mom and I took Elise out for her new mast's maiden voyage. Picked up a couple of things that still need to be fixed, but overall, looking pretty good!

Mast is up and new clutch is available. We put up the new mainsail which goes up and down like a charm (better than the old one which incurred a lot of friction) - the new mast stayed up which is a relief obviously.

The boat was static tuned for light air and as the breeze was becoming heavier and heavier, we decided to head back to the Club. Backstay felt really tight and I wonder if there is enough play in it. Will discuss with the rigger. We also noticed that the cam cleat on the side of the mast which we use to cleat off the spinnaker halyard when we race around the Bay was missing.

A couple of other minor things were discovered - and this week, the following will get done:

• dynamic tune the boat (incl. for heavier/stormy weather)
• add cam cleat (otherwise, no biggy, we can run the halyard back)
• replace tiller (the current one is starting to crack itself loose...)
• extend jib car track forward by a couple of inches
• connect tri-color to the connector box

and she'll be all ready to sail!!!

Then a couple more projects on the list -

• fix emergency nav light (deck level, for some reason, they don't light up anymore. Either a bulb change, or a loose/corroded connection somewhere probably)
• Change a flush Harken block used by the Vang line
• add stereo system (it will be nice to have this for Vallejo)
• re-paint deck (it's becoming very see-through)

Photo of Elise's new main courtesy of Belle!

Elise Update

Elise couldn't do the 3-bridge. A block was missing for the backstay...Bummer as there were 27 E27s on the line!!!!!!!!! AND wind!!! AND sun. Triple bummer...

At least, we did get a good day's work today (and this week with professional help)

Pro help

• Elise mast is up and lines are run through the mast, also got new chainplates
• New halyards/topping lift delivered
• Fiber glass dent is patched up
• New mast already has autopilot windvane + masthead fly + VHF antenna rigged up + ocean tri-color
• New mast also has a steaming light to be perfectly legal...

Beethovens' help [thank you Heather, Pete, Nicolas, Andy and Nathan]

• Boom is up and new pin was purchased
• Lifeline swapped so now it's Bay height
• Teak oiled settees
• Changed 2 base corners for the cooler
• Ran halyards/vang/lines, etc....back + added shackles
• Changed bungees at the bow
• Removed clutch and poured epoxy (ready for a drill/change to new clutch)
• Cleaned bilge
• Swapped battery (to a charged one)
• Took picture of old cruising main => coat room for repair
• Picked up and loaded new cruising main
• Checked and flaked racing #3
• Changed lines for boat cover
• Fixed cup holder
• Added storage solutions (2 mesh bags) + 1 gear hammock + a cool gear bag
• Removed a lot of crap from the boat that needs to dry out
• Serviced port winch (keeps freezing up with salt, might have to replace it soon)
• New emergency VHF is on
• Found fitting power cord for the stereo

What needs to be done this week

• Backstay
• Static tune rig
• Connect electrical wires from mast
• Permanently fix fiber glass
• Extend forward jib car track by a couple of inches

Then next personal project is to add the stereo...

Another cool photo from the Sarcoma Cup '09

Three Bridge Fiasco Forecasted Currents

http://www.examiner.com/x-3070-SF-Sailing-Examiner~y2010m1d28-Three-Bridge-Fiasco-forecasted-currents

Photos from the Sarcoma Cup '09

Sorry! A little late - I wasn't on the water, so I will let Nathan comment. Nice job guys!

Photos of the Sarcoma Cup on the Water are available for only $6 each (low-res download) at:

http://photo.beatsarcoma.org/Events/Sarcoma-Cup-Sunday-On-The/9400515_gdpxV#632484052_y6Jb5

They are also in the BeatSarcoma and Sarcoma Cup '09 calendars:

http://www.cafepress.com/BeatSarcomaPlus?s=BeatSarcomaPlus&type=75

oopsie - the spinnaker tore at that time! Thank God for the overnight service North Sails provided!
Great photo - you can see the tear in the spinnaker. Top left corner

Duel!
August sailing on San Francisco Bay - no, not Greenland.

Photos purchased from Photo.beatsarcoma.org. 100% of the proceeds will go to sarcoma research.

Photos were taken by Lyons Imaging, h20shots and norcalsailing.com

Guest Post - Benoit

Re: Sail with Benoit post

What a day! I'd arrived on Tuesday and had dinner with Nathalie, worked 3 days with my colleagues in the Bay area, and before taking the red-eye home to Indiana I was to sail on Elise that Saturday afternoon. I spent the morning at Alcatraz, chatting with a Quebecois in our native language, checking out the famous hole in the prison cell, and admiring the rugged sights and cityscape outside. That was one sunny day, I was lucky.

We were to meet around 3 pm at the boat, so I did not have much time when I landed from the Alcatraz ferry. Before flying to SFO, I'd splurged and taken T-Mobile's offer for their free trial of the data plan, so there I was with a phone in my hand and Google maps running on it, and since it did not have a GPS I still had to locate my exact position on the map and work from there. Nonetheless this was a great help when it came to finding a grocery store to buy a portable dinner for this evening on the boat. Walking to the Marina, I took in all the sights - Fort Mason, then all the richly decorated, impeccably maintained homes and buildings on Cervantes Blvd and Marina Blvd. As I was walking on the latter and looking at the homes facing the Bay, I had this strange feeling - this really, really reminds me of somewhere, but where? Was that Belgium, or was that... right here 20 years ago? After a few minutes of superimposing my memories and the scenery, I came to the conclusion that yes I had walked this exact same path 20 years earlier with the person I now called my wife, on our way to crossing the bridge by foot one way, and in the back of a police car the other way.

After an hour I was in the vicinity of Elise but there's really several Marinas and buildings there so I had to call Nathalie and describe to her what I was seeing so that she could let me know that no, the Harbor Office on Marina Green Dr was not the right place, and I had to continue walking for another 20 minutes... which I did until finally Nathalie arrived and showed me the boat. It was already in the water, a cute light boat about the same size as that of the one I'd sailed on for the first and last time until then about 15 years earlier. Preparations began, I put all my gear in the cabin, hoping that no sea water would reach it, and tried to imitate on the port side what she was doing on the starboard side (I'm showing off here, I'm really thinking left and right). I used to windsurf 25 years ago so I know what a sail is and the principles of wind, but with a boat I was a noob so I asked that Nathalie please check what I did - we don't want anything bad to happen exiting the port or en route. I even got to do some of the heavy lifting but same thing here, how much force was I supposed to apply? Well nothing broke or snapped that day so I suppose that the job was appropriate. In retrospect, maybe I set things up for the mast to break a couple months later in a race? Shh, don't tell Nathalie... In any case the boat was ready and we started the outing.

The wind came in quickly out of the port, and the boat tilted more than I expected it to - but that was fun, that's the kind of action that you want when you have to go from A to B. And all the while, Nathalie was tweaking that boat - pulling on a rope here, loosening that one, and even changing the angle of the mast itself. Now with the speed of the boat, the incline, and all the activity, I knew why she insisted - but still leaving me the choice - that I wear a life vest back at the port. Hey, like I keep telling my kids, the 1st thing to think about is safety, so I had taken the vest and strapped it on tight. At some point Nathalie told me to look forward and up. There was the Golden Gate Bridge, with all the thinking and the activity I had not seen it coming! In no time we were passing it and technically we were on the Pacific and out of the Bay. In my book it was a windy day, so the boat kept going and we made a turn then another one and we were racing back to the bridge.

That's when Nathalie pulled all the stops and got the spinnaker out. That colored sail gave great beauty to the boat. This time I was not going to let the bridge catch me by surprise. We were at just the right angle, and the sun was hitting it from behind us so going underneath it I took it all in. That was truly an emotional passage - that is one big piece of engineering, so high up there, glowing so red in the low rays of the setting sun. You could hear the traffic above us. I had no idea 20 years earlier that one day I'd be crossing the bridge that way! My first experience sailing was between Golfe du Morbihan and the island of Houat, and in that Golfe you have to account for tidal currents, because they're so strong that you can't sail against them. Also this very morning at Alcatraz I'd learned that the most likely outcome for the successful prison break out is that the men had drifted to the Pacific and disappeared. So at port I'd asked Nathalie about tide schedule and current forces, and she told me not to worry about this. Now under the bridge we were at ground zero and clearly, Elise was doing her job of taking us where we wanted. Just overshoot a little and you'd be fine.

I was driving and loving it. Nathalie was probably a little nervous because she'd engaged the auto-pilot and that's an expensive piece of equipment. Steering too briskly or too far could break it. I knew I was going to be fine with it but of course she could not read my mind. Last time we'd met was 3 days ago for 3 hours, and before then was 9 years earlier in a work environment! The plan now was to go around Angel Island, check out Alcatraz, and return to port. The sun set while we started going around the island and soon enough we were in pitch dark. The moon was a thin crescent at a low elevation, and the wind disappeared behind the island, measuring at 0.1 knot.

The only recourse was the engine to get us out of that spot. There was some confusion there - Nathalie first tried to start it and I relayed her quickly. We wondered how much gasoline was in the tank so I tried to open the cap but... all I could find was a hole with no cap, and not even a thread! Did I break something trying to start that engine? After some looking and touching we determined that the plastic case had come loose so Nat snapped it back in place, put some gas in, and I was back at the rope pulling and sweating but not swearing on account of a lady being present. After a while the engine started to sputter. It took several more determined pulls to start it in earnest. I think that this engine has a mind of its own and just used me to warm it up before it would start the fire in its belly.

With the engine running and Nathalie driving I looked at the island. We were close to it, and I could see the dark shapes of pine trees on the steep, tall slopes, and the stars above. Very soon we were behind the wind-shadow of the island and could resume sail navigation. At this point, we needed to return if I was going to catch my flight. So we just munched on some veggies, and left the rest of the goodies in the cabin, including the Coppola wine that Nat had confirmed we could open: this was a french boat and of course she had a corkscrew. Where that bottle is today I don't know, I hope that she shared it with good friends one evening of laughter and companionship.

We were heading straight for the port and noticed with amusement and curiosity that the entrance was marked by a single light - the red one - when we were expecting two. At least the color told us what side to shoot for. Wind was good and no other boat was around. The absence of man-made noise was surprising given that we were getting quite close to civilization now, but it was welcome. Soon we were entering the port, the wind was weak at 2 knots and facing us too. The surface of the water was like a mirror, yet the boat driven by Nathalie was very much moving forward. This looked impossible, not just to me, but also to a man standing at the end of a pier watching us who asked incredulously whether we were using a motor. Sailing upwind with no noise, alone in the dark, on still water - that was a magical moment. It was also a good exercise in trust, like when we were kids and we would fall backwards into the arms of a friend: Nathalie steered the boat and came so close to moored boats before turning that I had to look at her and read her face and see that she was in control.

In the end Nathalie used the rudder to help the boat move and we finally wedged ourselves between 2 boats after Nathalie persuaded an owner to moor their ship a little further. At that point I wish that I could have helped her put stuff away but it was really late and I was trying to find ways to connect to the internet with my phone, or my laptop, or her phone in order to postpone my flight. When that did not work Nathalie rushed me to the airport. Since the traffic was light we made it and I returned home where I could enjoy the rest of the Indian summer. Nathalie - thanks for the outing, it is a great memory and I won't wait another 9 years before I pay you a visit again!

Courtesy of Benoit

Some pretty cool photos of Elise (and other boats)

on the BeatSarcoma 2010 calendars (Sarcoma Cup and generic one)

http://www.beatsarcoma.org/Online_store.html

Elise News

Thought I'd give some news...for the benefit of Elise's fan club...

Rigging:

• new mast made it to the Bay Area
• old and new masts are at the Rigger's
• old mast is getting stripped of its clothes so that new mast will look like old mast

Lines

• spin and jib halyards are ready
• topping lift is ready
• we had a new (spare) main halyard
• Not all the halyards are broken but we decided that their integrity was compromised...
• Planned delivery of the new lines: Jan 19. The new mast has tag lines installed in the mast so it should be very easy to install the halyards

Fiber Glass work

• Weather permitting: this week or next
• Now that the mast is out of the way, it will be easier to do that

It looks like 3-bridge is doable. Fingers crossed!

Great coverage of the Berkeley Midwinters by norcal sailing

http://www.norcalsailing.com/archives/Entries/2009/12/14_Wild_and_Wet_Berkeley_Midwinters.html

Berkeley Midwinters - Race 2

Let's go back to the story after the unfortunate encounter of Elise's backstay and the 'spinnaker eater' according to the BYC PRO (usually, this day marker is a downwind mark, under more normal wind conditions)

1) First order of business: regain control of the boat and steer away from the hazardous situation

• Tightening the aft lowers (shrouds) + taking in the main sheet and placing the boom under the lifeline would prevent the mast from falling forward. We used dock lines tied to the tack fitting/foredeck padeye to prevent the mast from falling back (halyards were also folded...) - this was a good move as the topping lift chafed and was cut by the broken section of the mast. It was the only other line that was keeping the mast from falling back.
• Having someone at the help to control the angle the boat compared to the mark (the hull never touched the mark) while reducing power/pull on the mast. The tide (ebbing) helped us stay away from the mark at that point
• This then enabled us to disconnect the backstay from the boat, thus freed the boat from the mast and immediate danger
• Given the wind conditions, we had steerage and control of the boat with half a main sail

2) Second order of business: tend to crew members in need

• We made sure that no one was hurt, now that there was no more immediate danger - since the mast effectively folded, it did not fall onto anyone
• We also reassured the nearby Expresses, basically telling them that there was no injuries and that we had the situation under control. It was important to enable them to continue to race
• We radio'ed the race committee to convey the same message, and indicate that given our suddenly reduced sail area and slight instability of our standing rigging, we were dropping out of the race. Unfortunately the race committee did not pick up our call at that time. We radio'ed them again as we sailed past them with a weird looking rig

3) Third order of business: mitigate further damage

• Given the weather conditions, take the boat to a nearby port so everything can be secured: mast can be dropped and main sailed can be folded
• In order to gain more control over the boat (especially maneuvring in close quarter in a harbor) we deployed the engine
• Once we satisfied ourselves that the engine was running and giving us a reliable alternate means of propulsion, we wrapped the main around the mast and motored to RYC.
• This was also the most comfortable point of sail as it was downwind. We were also able to secure the mast with more lines, including mechanical aids (through turning blocks) to provide support when it would be time to drop the mast.

Steve is keeping an eye on the mast -

Back at the dock, we 'Lego'ed' the mast back together in order to be able to drop the main. We disconnected the shrouds, assessed a bit better the damage and tied the two halves of the mast (well, the 1/3 and 2/3 of it) to the port lifeline, letting it rest on cushions on deck.

Of course, it did not spot raining while we were fiddling about lines and rig...We enjoyed a quick rainbow moment to mark the end of our tidying effort!

Last order of business was to take the boat home, under engine, so it can be examined by an insurance expert, and later repaired.

Interestingly, despite the very long day (we were back at the dock after dark and mostly drenched!), most everyone on board found the experience very educational. It is by going through these little mishaps than we learn about seamanship. We hadn't planned on the incident but we can make the most of it and learning is a big part of that.

We also figured that the likelihood of us getting hit by lightning was much reduced by the beheading of the mast.

On the plus side, I am hoping that a lot of people are reading this post. Consider pitching in $10 for sarcoma research, or selecting a gift on our online store ;-) www.beatsarcoma.org...

Elise got a haircut

This Saturday 12 December, Elise and her intrepid crew signed up for the Berkeley Midwinters Series. This typically is a no to light wind event, usually on a cold, cool or warm dry winter day. The forecast this time was a bit more interesting according to NOAA.

"

SAT S WINDS 10 TO 20 KT...INCREASING TO 20 TO 30 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS. SAT NIGHT SW WINDS 15 TO 25 KT. SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS"

We were certainly determined to make the most of the day. First, we had a full crew signed up and a lot of weight on the rail. This clearly would have made a light air day interesting. Looking at the forecast, we figured we should swap David and Mark for lighter weight crew w/ at least one Elf (Heather) * to make heavy weather sailing more interesting.

[* David actually had a fever and Mark a sore back ]

We sailed to the start line, trying the compute the likelihood of getting hit by lightning on San Francisco Bay, in a sea of masts and tall buildings. We started the race on the late side but were creeping up the ranks on the first upwind leg. It was hard to see both a mark and the committee boat, or sometimes either one actually in the fog. We were navigating a la 'Blue Angel'. Just spot the tip of the sail of a neighboring boat and don't get too far away from it...

One thing we had forgotten is that the Berkeley races happen during the day marker mating season and Elise's natural beauty enhanced by the air of mystery the sombre and wet atmosphere did not go unnoticed. Among all of the other Expresses, she was The One.

Day Marker 'D', for decisiveness, made the first bold move, as Elise was elegantly dancing around it. As day markers are a fairly sedentary specie, it enlisted Aeolus' help to engineer a wind shift, and Poseidon's support to increase the current by 20% in a most sudden manner. Both Gods were already out and about as we have observed and were their usual responsive selves. [Zeus and his thunder were only now catching up] - in dating terms, this is called a 'setup', and given the limited visibility, it doubles as a 'blind date'.

Poor Elise was caught unaware and was at a loss as to what to respond. 'D' became insistent and seized Elise's pony tail (backstay). Elise was torn between the urge to continue the race and the attractiveness of a deeper conversation with 'D'. We all thought she was splitting hair frankly and told her so. Apparently, she took our remark literally. The top of her mast decided to stay with 'D' while the bottom opted to pursue the race.

A violent dispute ensued which caused havoc in Elise's hairdo. See for yourself...

It was out of the question for Elise to continue the race with such a hair emergency, so we had to fold up and motor back to the nearest HairdressClub - where we could finally put some order in her usually flamboyant mane.

Impressions from a first sail

About six months ago, I was living in Los Angeles and saw on Facebook pictures of my friends sailing in the San Francisco Bay. I told myself that one day I too would go sailing, as I loaded on my computer’s wallpaper a random sailing photo found on the internet.

A few months later, I quit my job in LA and moved to SF, then I met Nat through an old friend. In the moment we met, I thought Nat would be a great person to live with, plus I loved her place and her two cats. When she showed me her home’s garage, I saw sailing gear everywhere. I gasped and asked: “do you sail?”

Nat is a sailor, so she gave me confidence to get on a boat for the first time to deal with both my uncertainty of the wind and the trust in that we would react appropriately to it.

During my first time sailing, I felt liberated, cleansed, and renewed. Sitting on Elise’s (a 27-ft Express sailboat) deck allowed for active meditation – attentive to the external environment, but also focused inwardly.

In my humble opinion, sailing requires a lot of experience in being alert in a passive and active manner. Sailing seems like a hard skill to master, but this very fact keeps me engaged and challenged. I hope to continue living in this beautiful bay and keep logging miles...maybe one day I will participate in a race! So far, I have learned that there is only so much I can control, so I do not wish to be the sole captain of my destiny. I will let the wind help determine that.

Heidy

Thanksgiving Sunset Sail - Photos

Goodbyes


Beauty in its simplest form

Getting Elise ready. The blue of the trailer, the blue of the logo, the blue of the boat cover are NOT coincidences.

Strange - where did this coin come from?

No, we have not fast forwarded 25 years. This is not Nathan and Gary, this is Henry and Gary.

Your truly
I love the line composition of this picture. The spinnaker pole seems to be pointing at the South Tower

A glitter of gold in a sea of hope

Just reaching back and forth, waiting for the sun to set. We ran this like a race starting sequence (5 min warning, 4 min, 1 min and gun) - unfortunately, there was a postpone because the weather application I checked to get the actual sunset time got this wrong by a few minutes.

A bridge eclipse of the sun

Like mother like son

The demon of the South Tower is making an appearance.

Gary and Nathan - all smiles
"Ra"
Gorgeous Sunset...and it wasn't even cold.

Photos courtesy of Henry

Thanksgiving Sunset Sail - 2009

Nathan, his parents, Henry and Maggie and Gary (Phantom Mist) and I went out on a sunset sail last Sunday. We left the dock around 3:30PM, sailed out of the gate, then back into the Bay in time for the sunset - in a dying breeze, we sailed over to Sam's in Tiburon, docked and got a wonderful sailor's dinner, before heading back to the city under a full moon. The lights from the city and the bridges were breathtaking.

Here is Maggie's comment (even though technically, Elise was the hostess :-))

"I just couldn't say enough about the wonder of that evening sail on The Bay: wonderful company, gorgeous sunset, scrumptious dinner at Sam's, and a full moon for the way back. [...] The sailing crowd is generous and wonderful. We enjoyed two Sundays out on The Bay. The first pleasurable day was a tour of the sights with our delightful host Joy. The following Sunday was the evening sunset courtesy of our other delightful host, Nathalie. "

Martin's pictures - 'Argentina Sail'

Zen

the ladies

Nat: 'How's my hair?'

Pete/Justin/Josh in unisson: 'Just as fine as it was 30 seconds ago when you last asked'

Pairs

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The coolest shots - sailing with Martin

Don't Cry For Me Argentina - Nov 21

Josh's domesticating the spinnaker

Which line is it anyway?
Heidy's color coordinated with the Bridge

Martin, the hero of the day

I love the way Pete changes sides on the tack ;-)

The bridge

In San Francisco, even the Bay goes up and down - that's a 12% grade right there

Inevitably, the majestic Golden Gate Bridge is part of our photo collection for our leisure sail on Oct 23.

Sunset Boulevard

Saling on Ay Caliente!

German lunch
Aaron does it right
Very maritime liquor cabinet on Ay Caliente

The Sunday after the Midwinter, Aaron hosted a German American and French yuppie summit on Ay Caliente - the PERFECT party boat, and so well maintained...

Check out the website, it's awesome and Aaron is a self-taught sailor, who has logged thousands of miles in the Bay!!!

http://www.aycalientesailing.com/

Berkeley MidWinters - Race 1

The foredeck Nat is foredecking

Our tactician Steve posing
Our trimmer Mark trimming
Our other trimmer Roger pulling his weight
Our driver Nathan driving

The Berkeley crew was

Nathan - driving

Nat - foredeck

Steve - pit and tactics

Roger - trim

Mark - trim

We had a great start...and good upwind speed. For some reason, crappy downwind speed. Not sure what's going on, usually it's one of our strong points. Wondering if it has to do with the rig issue...

Putting Elise in the water - countdown

should you or should you not keep your Express 27 (or boat less than 30 ft or so) out of the water?

It's definitely cheaper (the spot is cheaper), and it is cheaper maintenance-wise: you may not need any bottom paint at all (Elise has some but that's because we do some long distance races that will require her to spend a couple of weeks in one place at the other end, she has a really really light anti-fouling). Boats that will remain in the water may need a dive every now and then to scrub off the bottom and once a year a haul out to do a thorough cleaning job. Bottom jobs probably every 3 years or so. It usually is a little easier to find spots ... not always but often.

It's a little hassle whenever you want to put the boat in and take it out of the water: with experience and 2 people, we can do it in 15-20 minutes (timed with Nathan) - you would have to rig the boat anyway afterwards, so that's not time you save there, and it's possible to just put the main up or the engine up and go and rig up the rest underway for most races.

If you are going to race both days over the weekend, it is usually possible to leave the boat in the water overnight. So you put it down on Saturday morning and you haul it out on Sunday night.

Supervising the cleaning up of dock lines and fenders...

Verifying that the mast is still up

Checking to see if the bar's open at the Golden Gate Yacht Club

Admiring the Lady in the water. She's white and blue, very very blue. Herve worked the 'hoist' (basically playing with buttons...), after he was done he said 'I had so much fun! Just like a little kid playing with robots! Got to do this again!'

Herve looking proud

Reversing back into the hoist area. Herve's comment was 'wow, what a nice line'

hehe...proud mother feeling...

Pulling the boat out of the slip

Getting ready to pull out

Securing the mule

Connecting the mule to the trailer (it's blue, it's very very blue)

Lining up the mule and the trailer (note: I am wearing a 'St Tropez Voiles 2009' shirt that Herve brought back from France for me!)

Getting the mule out of the shed

Unloading the car close to the dock (I'll park it legally after that!)

A day out with Herve and Heidy

a 420! French design...that's the dinghy my family owns back in France, and the dinghy Herve used to race on. What a coincidence!

Heidy ready to take pictures...Nat thinking that she should have fixed the boat cover earlier...you'll notice that Elise is growing into a tree...

Beautiful view as the fog lifted

a happy man

Quote of the day:

"Roger: galley treats?"

Quote of the day from Herve (who had brought a bottle of wine)

'Oh crap, I wasn't thinking. Do you have a corkscrew?"

Nat responding: 'Herve, this is a French boat. Of course we have a corkscrew. And glasses."

Herve as the boat was going downwind/reach: 'wow, she's fast!'

I bet you don't get to see the Golden Gate bridge from that angle very often...

Product placement: Stanford Graduate School of Business...

Herve to Nat: 'this is a civilized country after all, they sail 420s'

This was Heidy's first time on a boat. Ever. And here she is setting the cunningham. She ran around a few time pulling various lines...helped with jibes and all...Pretty handy for a first day!

Roger, a regular on Elise!

I guess I was happy to have tacked...

Product Placement #2. I need a higher commission...

The gals

The guys

and Kermit!!!!

All photos available at:

http://photo.beatsarcoma.org/Friends/Wine-tasting-Oct-2009/10191230_cUAMK#P-1-28

(notes, not all pictures are sailing photos)

The Race - not so Great Pumpkin 2009

Sailing like Salmons...






The Great Pumpkin race is a fun race - (some) people dress up, there are floating pumpkins along the course which we can pick up and get an award for, there is a quizz distributed to each boat to run for an 'intellectual award', there are random awards (this year was to the 6th, 15th and 26th finishers), award for the best costumed boat/crew and award for the last two boats to finish.

If we had finished, we would probably have been the only DFL boat going home with two awards.

The other special feature of this race is that boats can choose which way they want to go around the islands. If ever faced again with this decision, we will pick the other way around.

We lost over an hour drifting toward the bridge with 8 or so other boats who had made the same choice, and some 3 other Express 27s, only to meet the rest of the fleet already going down Racoon Straits under spinnaker. It was quite a unique experience to sail in a sea of spinnakers (really bad for your air though). The breeze filled up from the North favoring the other boats on the same course as we were and quickly turned Southerly (not planned)

Looking at the time, we decided to head back to Elise's home Club straight after the Straits, where some more food and beverages consoled us.

Strangely enough, I felt really bad about the race - not because of the actual situation (we live and learn, it's just a sailing race, there will be plenty of other ones) but because I thought that everyone else on the boat was sorely disappointed and really resented that decision (which we made jointly, reasoning around currents, etc...)

I do care about race results to the extent that I want to sail well, and better and better each time, racing makes me a better sailor. What I care even more about is to make sure that everyone on the boat is getting what they want, and part of it is getting good and challenging racing.

Today, I wasn't sure that it was the case, I wasn't sure that anyone was satisfied, and it felt like I hadn't done my job right. One person on the crew was offered a ride on a winning boat and turned it down as he had committed to Elise already. I apologized to everyone. It wasn't about driving or sailing well, it was about making a bad tactical call.

Everyone on the crew cheerfully pointed out that we don't get to be frogs every day, that it was great to just be on the water. They are right of course. We were on a sailboat on a beautiful sunny October day, in one of the most beautiful Bays in the world - with some great people. I believed them and started smiling again :-)

And frankly, sailing into this sea of spinnaker was truly magical, and we don't get to do this too often...

And I am lucky to sail with such amazing people.

The Making of the Frogs - Great Pumpkin 2009

This is Roger - the red thing hanging out of the mouth is the tongue. We got some long twisted candy to serve as tongues.

Hence quotes on the boat
'hey there's someone's tongue in the cup holder'


Mark' tail
Mark's quote of the day at the end of the sail 'is my tail straight?'

Michael's aerodynamic frog
Elise's mascot was brought up on deck
Our froggy hands and our green treats which we threw away at other boats (in particular the Race Committee boat, and no treats on Halloween do not qualify as bribes)

Froggy Nat
We all jumped around going into RYC. Even if our costumes did not always make it obvious that we were frogs, the jumping was the only needed cue for everyone to go 'OOoo, they're frogs!'

Andy's ear piece
Check out these froggy gloves

Mark's full length costume

Elise's bow figure (pretty slim waist for a frog)






Getting our bow figure ready

Mark pumping up our frog flag

The Mystery of the Stanchions

I ordered some new stanchions for going around the Bay (Elise is still set up with the Ocean ones) - I received them right before Vallejo 1-2. I took them off the boat as Nathan was getting ready for Vallejo 1 (of the 1-2), I put them somewhere saying 'I will put them so that I will remember where they are'

And now I cannot remember where they are. I have looked everywhere at home, on the boat, at the Club, in my car, etc...but I just can't find them.

Oh well, new stanchion order I guess...

Evening sail with Benoit - scenery

The clouds were so interesting, it looks like they were going somewhere (away from us)

Sail with Benoit - the boat

Upwind

and downwind

and crosswind

Evening sail with Benoit - Oct 2009

Friday - 4PM, Benoit and I set sail for a leisurely evening sail around the Bay. Winds were moderate (about 15-18 knots on the city front, 22 knots, 16 past the gate and before Benita Pt, down to 0 knot near Angel Island...)

We sailed past the Golden Gate Bridge (thus under), turned around after a mile out or so, set the kite and sailed toward Tiburon, down Raccoon Straits, around Angel Island, Alcatraz, up against the city front and back at the Club, silently gliding on the water by then, past sunset, at around 8/8:30 (Benoit did make his Red Eye flight)

It was so peaceful at night - there was no one else out in the Bay but ferries, tugs and cruise and container ships. We saw seals and sea lions...The city and bridge lights were absolutely stunning and working their mesmerizing magic.

Proud driver!

Wow - what was I not so happy about???

the wine and cheese

of the wine and cheese sail this past saturday

Elise Health Bulletin

Did some maintenance work on Elise this afternoon. Beautiful day for it and no one around.

• fixed broken sheet bag
• replaced broken clip for tiller extension
• hooked up boat hook and oar alongside the starboard quarter berth (previously, they were just sitting on the floor under the berths)
• emptied, cleaned and de-salted (boat soap and hosed off) the inside of the boat
• rinsed off most salty boat items (lifejackets, cushions, lines etc...) and cleaned other interior fixtures (sink, etc...)
• re-packed the 2nd spinnaker
• partially cleaned the bilge
• sanded and spray-painted blue the engine post
• mounted a new way to adjust the backstay from the high side, without having to look back. Will try this. It's very easy to undo
• Fixed a couple of scratches on the gelcoat on the cabin top (apparent fiber glass)
• tried a 'restore the gloss of your gelcoat) in places where the gelcoat is patchy
• applied teak oil/cleaner to all wooden surface
• re-charged the battery
• removed and cleaned uneeded items (stove, glasses, etc...)
• put boat cover on to prepare her for the night

turns out that she might not need a bottom job yet (looks like the anti-fouling paint is still working) and apparently it is normal for paint that is designed to stay in the sun to lose its color. Sounds like it has to do with a high copper content.

As for the kink in the mast, the only solution would be to physically try to bend the mast back. only 40% success rate. It only affects performance, so I will wait for the rig to die of natural causes (hopefully) before I replace the mast. And I need to be careful not to tighten the aft lowers too much and not release the backstay completely to maintain some tension aft. I will probably change the rod before the next big ocean race for Elise.

The 2 of Vallejo 1-2

flying away from the clouds

A seal played around the boat for a few minutes on the delivery trip back from RYC

Hat weather. Must be less than 85 degrees (see heather's fashion statement video)

more photos wine and cheese sail

This is so peaceful. Going out sailing is a great way to medidate. Your thoughts will flow just like wind and water do

There was a race nearby, loads of (beautiful) wooden boats

All photos from all these posts are curtesy of Justin!

full link is at: http://jv.smugmug.com/Sports/Wine-and-Cheese-and-Sailing

Setting up the spinnaker during leisure sail

Saturday wine and cheese sail

Perfect sailing weather! 10 - 15 knots and sun!
Nicolas taking down the small jib looks like

We had no wind past Angel Island, despite our best efforts to stay out of the 'hole'. just as we put the engine on, the wind picked up again. hmm..

Samuel and Nat changing sail (just for fun!)

what's holding the pole?

perfec

t

Things are looking up

Oct 10, First Day of Vallejo 1-2 2009

(map from NOAA)

Map:
1 ~ Start (Berkeley Circle)
2 ~ Finish (Vallejo)
A = Richmond Fuel Dock
B = Pt. San Pablo
C = Pt. Pinole

The Vallejo is a there-and-back pair of races beginning in the vicinity of Berkeley, stopping in Vallejo, and returning to Richmond. Typically, the trip there is downwind and the trip back is upwind. The Berkeley->Vallejo leg is sailed singlehanded, and the trip back optionally double-handed. This year Nathan raced there and Nathan+Nat raced back.

To avoid needless buildup, the result Saturday: DNS (checking in before the start helps...)

The event is run by the Singlehanded Sailing Society, and used a borrowed RYC committee boat for the start at the edge of the Berkeley Circle.

One prep decision which I believe had a slightly adverse effect on speed: I left the engine mounted on the stern, which is a good amount of weight aft. On the other hand, when single-handing, it's hard to get it up and mounted in short order if you get into trouble (no wind and a ship coming or drifting towards rocks) so there's something to be said for having it handy.

Elise was racing one design (6 Express 27's raced) but starting with the sportboat division. The race being singlehanded, the committee set a very generous starting line. Further, unlike the full crew Vallejo race there is no initial turning mark to guarantee an initial upwind leg. The wind was pretty much at right angles to the start line (the line being set perpendicular to the first leg).

I was at the favored (towards the Golden Gate) end of the line but not right on it as the gun went off. It was definitely a reasonable start, though- preferable to being down the line. The wind angle didn't initially justify a kite and the breeze wasn't all that strong, so everyone was pretty much under #1's. Manueverability without a crew being impaired, it was mostly a timed start with everyone picking a lane and then just trimming up with a minute or minute thirty to go. Elise crossed the line a little behind Wetsu (Phil K) and ahead of Taz (George L).

After the start, Elise and Wetsu (Phil K) stayed quite high and were the first to set kites. Phil hung in at a very tight angle, while I sagged off towards the shore for best speed. I also didn't mind the idea of being relatively close to the shore for current relief. The fleet split a bit between people out in the center of the bay (I expect for better breeze and the current relief downstream of Red Rock) while some of us headed down low towards the Richmond shore.

Elise's autopilot had only just been tested a few days previously after some very slow repairs following the 2008 Pacific Cup (not major, just near the bottom of the todo list). It holds course for a little while but doesn't respond very effectively to things like puffs (which should be correctable with some calibration). During the race, it hurt speed and heading a bit to leave the helm for extended tasks such as sail changes but a quick break to trim jib or adjust the spinnaker wasn't a problem.

As we reached the Richmond fuel dock (the area nearby being restricted), Elise and Moxie (Jason) were fairly close with Moxie leading. In a recurring theme for the day, I was adjusting sail trim and spinnaker pole more frequently than the other E27's within view. Sometimes that was helpful, while sometimes the "quiet and smooth" approach seemed to be better- in the light breeze, shifting weight around to reach lines and then making changes to trim can dump wind out of the sails and hurt speed.
This was a low point in the race for Elise, position-wise: being a little bit off the pace left her with the back of the fleet, boat for boat.

Elise sailed fairly close up the restricted area with a couple of other boats to get as far out of the channel as possible. The wind angles were slightly tighter here. Upon reaching the bridge, I went fairly hard to the right towards the shoreline and disused docks between the Richmond Bridge and Pt. San Pablo. There was good current relief there but slightly less wind, and I traded positions with Moxie several times weaving back and forth- up for speed, back down to get out of the current.

There were a couple of other boats doing the same thing, such as Ben Mewes in his Black Soo, Mirage. Others chose to stay in the center. For most of the leg, it was a losing move, but as you near the Brothers (pair of islands near Pt. San Pablo with a lighthouse on one) there's some relief and even a bit of countercurrent. I think the best move is to know exactly when to change lanes from right to left, but in this case most people picked one or the other. At the end, some apparent gains were quickly erased as the group on the left zipped around the corner.

Upon entry into San Pablo Bay, the next decision comes up: the water to the right (shore side) is relatively shallow with less current. Elise picked a course to the right but not an extreme one. Wetsu, for example, was significantly further right. Great White (Rachel) and Diane (Steve) also came back a bit so that most of the Expresses were competing more on boatspeed than position.

I was quite satisfied with Elise's boatspeed during this section of the race (Pt. San Pablo to Pt. Pinole), gaining back significant ground against Dianne and Great White. At Pinole, I lost a bit maneuvering.

Phil broke hard left first, to get to the other side of the bay. In retrospect, he seemed unhappy with the decision.

The current didn't seem very bad, so Elise stayed moderately right but didn't sail significant extra distance to hug the shore (as one or two others did). The E27's having started to split up left and right again, it was a slotcars situation for a while: you'd picked the lane and now lived with the consequences, coaxing whatever speed you could get out of the boat.

Toward the end of the leg, Elise was leading Wetsu and Taz while trailing Diane, Great White, and Moxie.

As I reached the corner to turn and head for Vallejo, two more decisions were tested. Almost always, the wind direction changes from a deep spinnaker run to a tight reach or upwind leg as you enter the strait between Mare Island and Vallejo. The choice of jib had been made well before: I had stayed with the #1 rather than change down to a #3 during the long downwind. A significant stiffening of the breeze would have punished me harshly (no weight on the rail and an oversized genoa is not a fast way to sail a light boat). I also held the spinnaker around the corner and for several minutes after (though I'd seen the other boats rounding dousing as they got close). Keeping up the kite up as long as possible definitely paid off. Phil kept it up for a little longer than I did, but in the net I think my timing was pretty close to ideal.

The trip up the channel was mostly a match race between Wetsu and Elise: the leaders were too far ahead to catch and we had enough of a lead on Taz to not let her govern our decisions. Phil initially tried working up but Elise was able to stay ahead. My main worry was the shoreline and in particular the "Artship" (ex Golden Bear), which is moored on Mare Island and creates a massive wind shadow. As we got close and I could start to feel the hole, I started to bear off a little to concentrate on boatspeed rather than position. Elise was then able to stay ahead the boatspeed race to the finish. The finish line was the entire channel (sighted from the race deck through a pole on the breakwater) so there weren't any possibilities for action at the pin. Finish position, 4/6.

It was a fun race and a great day, but refer back to the punchline: checking in before the start makes for much better points.

Practice Day and the Pirates of the East Bay

Nice practice day in probably 25 knots of wind, with 30 knot gusts in the Bay a couple of weeks ago. We sailed past the Bay Bridge to get lighter air for spinnaker/jibing practice. Andy got to do some foredeck work as desired, Andrew and Juan worked trim, Heather did some driving and coached Andy at the bow.

It was a pretty comprehensive day: heavy weather and lighter winds, both tack/upwind and jibe/downwind work, tried repairs underway (a cotter ring decided to break free from the boom pin at the gooseneck, fortunately, the friction from the sail was keeping the boom in place), taking a reef in and shaking it off, etc...Really cool.

Everything was going OK until we met the renowned Pirates of the East Bay. They punched me in the jaw and I carried their bruise colors for over a week ;-) They pushed Heather and caused her to fall in the cockpit, they forced us into a couple of crash tacks which landed Juan, Andrew and Andy in the water up to waist level. We finally broke free and got home just fine ;-)

Not everyone was that lucky as you can see from the table above and the number of deadmen listed on each boat.

ps: Pirates of the East Bay are also known as 'unlucky mishaps or mistakes'

A little embarrassing

When sailing on Lorelei downwind in maybe 8 - 10 knots of wind, I had the following conversation

- Kevin (driving) - there's a bunch of sea kayaks
- me (snoozing) - well, so long as they are not faster than we are, we're cool
- Kevin - actually, they're overtaking us

Kayaker: and you guys are not even hard to catch up

Heather - she is a CRUISING boat Nat, a Comfortable Stable Cruising boat

Long PAc - boat trying to catch up with us

Long Pac - Safety Talk

Long Pac - setting up spinnaker

Faster than the wind

Long Pac Heather's Fashion Statement

LongPac Fashion Statement

Long Pac Prep Video

Heather has just renamed Lorelei

Heather getting ready to christen Lorelei

Lorelei's Trip Home - Sept 2009

Enjoying a much deserved Thai dinner post delivery
Lorelei is home!!
Captain Heather!
We were figuring out how to put the boom, vang and various other sailing devices in place ;-)

Kevin, Jeff and Heather drinking apple cider - Lorelei had first class champagne :-)



Getting ready to christen the boat




With Heather, Kevin and Jeff

Update on Elise's health

• New race #3 is ready for pick up
• Outside wood work is mostly done (2 coatings for now, we'll see this weekend if we need a third)
• First coat of teak oil on the settee
• Replaced broken masthead fly (yet another one...)
• Fixed loose instrument connection
• Replaced CO2 cartridge for my offshore lifejacket
• Serviced the winches
• And in the process of changing some worn out cam cleats

Out on Red Sky for Southern Cross

Brian spent a lot of his time playing around with his new toy: the RADAR, discovering an hitherto hidden universe of ships and tugs.

No wind outside the gate, the usual acceleration coming into the gate. Two jibes, a short spinnaker ride. Only one of 3 finishers in our division, we placed 2nd and didn't get back to the dock until 10PM!

Got a sunburnt nose out of the trip ;-) shouldn't have taken a nap with my nose facing the sky

How to choose crew for a long distance race

My humble tips

• someone you get along with
• someone you trust and who trusts you
  
• someone who is willing to spend time working on the boat with you, so that this person gets to know the boat very well. If something needs to get fixed or if something happens to you (say you're seasick), you want this person to know the boat as well as you do
  
• someone who is handy/engineer-minded (even before being a sailor), both mechanical and electrical/electronic style jobs
  
• someone you have taken on a somewhat long trip before, ideally overnighter, so they get a feel for what it's like and don't decide they want to head back 10 miles into the race. That's partly what qualifying trips help you with
  
• If you have to choose, favor safety (ability to fix things, and navigate the boat safely, even if not competitively) over sailing performance. If you can get both, awesome!
• Someone who share the same objective as you do - or if not, make sure it is out in the open and OK by both parties. If you want to race for blood, you may not be happy with a crew member who just wants to go out and do some whale watching.
  

Elise's performance a little compromised

At the Nationals, a few things impacted Elise's performance. First, Heather and I had taken out of the boat everything we could after our 24 mile qualifying run for the Long Pac. Unfortunately, Heather's car wasn't as big as we had originally thought and a lot was left on the boat. Over the course of the Nationals, much had yet to be taken out of the boat to give it a competitive weight. Weight in a one design race is particularly unforgiving.

Then, there is a problem with Elise's rig - which primarily affects performance - that was spotted by our rigger, Jason. It looks like the mast is slightly bent, probably a result of the aft lowers being too tight at some point with the backstay released. The rigger has since seen 3 other Expresses with the same problem. He has discussed this with Buzz Ballenger who has made a lot of these rigs and both have alerted the fleet to this problem, since all the boats looked at tuning numbers from the E27 website. Those are correct I guess if you don't plan on releasing the backstay...

This means that Elise is slower. The solution (other than waiting for the rig to die of natural causes) is to try to physically unbend it. Unfortunately this was met with a less than 50% success rate on Ballenger's benches. So probably best to live with a slight loss in performance, most noticed upwind and in one design races.

Other than that - and these are not excuses, but when things are not as good as they can be, I find it helpful to understand why so I can take action and correct whatever can be corrected. Also helps me figure out what is likely to yield best results hence probably something I can focus on first. Based on discussions with other winning boats at the Nationals, here are a few hypothesis and things we can try:

• Weight (already discussed and most of it was due to bad timing)
• regular crew and regular practice: this helps loads as maneuvres happen faster, smoother and crew stays fresh longer!
  
• think about dedicating a main trimmer (as opposed to having the driver do it)
• think about rigging the backstay so it can be adjusted by the main trimmer
• don't worry about slamming into the waves (the other methods is to have the bow come down slightly with the wave but it increases distance sailed)
• don't worry about pointing too much, focus on increasing boat speed
• good sails (in our case, #3 needs to be changed)
• practice starts - to get clean air/good position. A lot of the race will depend on your start assuming mighty competition

The boat will definitely be lighter. We can try to see if a dedicated main trimmer would help ( downside would be that the trim won't happen as fast as the driver might be best able to feel the need for a small change). Elise is getting a new blade. And this season, we will focus on building and training regular crew, and find races for a full crew to have a lot of fun.

Long Overdue Post -Nationals Photos

Credit goes to Ralph Deeds

Day 1

http://picasaweb.google.com/ralphdeeds/Express27Nationals2009Day1SantaCruzYCDeedsphotos?authkey=Gv1sRgCIu966exgtz6kAE&feat=email#

Day 2

http://picasaweb.google.com/ralphdeeds/Express27Nationals2009Day2SantaCruzYCDeedsphotos?authkey=Gv1sRgCILo_IHU3_OJew&feat=email#


Day 3

http://picasaweb.google.com/ralphdeeds/Express27Nationals2009SantaCruzYCDay3Deedsphotos?authkey=Gv1sRgCJ-Z-J6tm-HA9AE&feat=email#

Broken Rudder

After the rudder broke, we tried to keep sailing the boat under sail - after reflection and since Patrick has an inboard engine, it would have been much simpler to start the engine and drop the sails. We called the Coastguard because we were drifting into a shipping channel, just to let them know then proceeded to see if we could hail a boat to get a tow back to a near harbor/dock.

 

 

Patrick's Boat

 

 

 

 

Sarcoma Cup 2009 on the water photos

Available at photo.beatsarcoma.org

Heather preparing the LongPac

Trying out and tying up the radar reflector

some photos I had forgotten to upload! I am still working on the video. Will post soon.

Sarcoma Cup Race Coverage - Norcal Sailing

http://www.norcalsailing.com/archives/Entries/2009/8/24_Second_Sarcoma_Cup.html

Capsize coverage:

http://www.norcalsailing.com/archives/Entries/2009/8/23_Capsize_at_Alcatraz.html

Great video from the 505 Worlds this Sunday

From Vince Sail (Marine Media Alliance)

Courtesy of Bob Gardiner - thanks!

And thanks Nick for the pointer

e

LongPac WrapUp on Norcal Sailing

http://www.norcalsailing.com/archives/Entries/2009/8/5_Elise_in_the_LongPac.html

Long Pac 2009 Preliminary Results Posted

http://sfbaysss.org/LongPac/2009/pdf/LongPac_Results.pdf
(link valid as of 6 Aug 09)

DH Sportboats were Nancy (Wylie 30), Great White (E27, Rachel F, unfortunately crew not listed on the entrants sheet), Elise (E27), Galaxsea (Nauticat 44). Ergo (Ericson 35 Mk II) dropped out. On elapsed time, Elise managed a ~36 minute elapsed-time lead over the single-handed Express (George L).

As sometimes happens, a wide gap opened between the people who made around the 200m out longititude before the wind shut down and the people who didn't. It was a pretty mixed fleet but Elise still had a good chance on the way back to "play" with the E27 Taz and the Moore 24 Bar ba loot (Andy Hamilton).

Congrats, Nat and Heather, on a race well prepped and sailed!

Sailing by the Farallons with Heather - Meet Stumpy

Nat - Oooh, look, here's the cutest sea lion ever poking its head out of the water
Heather - it's going to be eaten. It's shark season

Nat - Oooh, a seal heading for the boat!
Heather - yes it's probably going to hide under the boat and leave us right by the islands. The sharks can't see them if they are masked by the hull
Nat - er, does this mean that they will attract sharks? I mean should we be sailing around with shark food?
Heather - no, we probably look like a shark from below, we should be fine

Heather - let's get close to the Farallons, it's Great White shark season. We can see them jump out of the water!!
Nat - with my luck, they'll land back on deck

Nat - do sea birds get eaten by sharks?
Heather - oh yeah. Sharks eat anything, they're a top predator

Nat - Oh, I think that's a fin. No, wait. It kindda moves like a fin but it's a really weird looking fin. must have gotten this wrong
Heather (looking) - Oh! No, it DOES move like a shark. It's probably Stumpy!
Nat - who?
Heather - Stumpy! It's a well known shark that hangs out here. I think its fin got fouled in a prop and it looks really funky now. I can't believe I may have just seen Stumpy! It's a huge shark
Nat - ahem...a * huge * shark.

Heather - you know, these sharks are as long as Elise is. 20+ feet
Nat - oh really. great to hear.

Nat - another cute sea lion!

Heather - Stumpy will get it

Heather - I love going to the Farallons. I went cage diving here once
Nat - isn't that a little dangerous?
Heather - oh no, cages are pretty solid, probably more solid that Elise's hull.
Nat - gulp!

Short video of Heather getting ready for a sail change

Elise Home

Elise's new 68-foot neighbor!


SF by night. We finished at 1214

Back into SF fog!

Welcome home Elise and thank you for the ride.

Final run from the Farallons to the Finish

Admiring the Farallons - bare beauty.

Checking bearing to the Gate on the handheld GPS
Seal Rock (South East part of the Farallon Islands)

A few miles off the Farallons
Heather trimming the kite.

Flying the chute

Finally!!! About 10 miles before hitting the Farallones, we were able to fly the kite. Phew!!!!

Heather helping the kite from under the genoa as the air was so light.

Kite is up!

Heather getting the pole ready.

And we saw a small fishing boat about 50 miles out from the gate (closer for the fishing boat if you leave from Point Reyes r something like that

Leeward shots

Time to hoist the spinnaker! The wind was just shifting aft!
See the curvature of the Earth?

Captain Nat

Nat always took safety seriously. So seriously that she wanted to demo how a lifejacket would inflate automatically. As she reached out to trim in the genoa for Heather, the manual trigger got caught in a clam cleat and inflated the lifejacket...Always better to be sure that your lifejacket can inflate before you fall overboard ;-)

Fortunately I carried a spare CO2 cartridge so that wasn't a problem at all.

I could barely do anything with this thing on! I couldn't see my hands before chest level!


That was much more typical of my kind of watches...Foggy, drizzly, cloudy, misty, damp, cold - overall crappy. and not even windy.



Eyes lost in the distance - oily seas...

Random shots

Approaching a fog bank...

It's beautiful out there...

.





I feel so privileged to be able to experience the vast beauty of the ocean

Skippering and Project Work

When there is no wind, there's plenty of time to do project work. Here is Heather tying up on deck our gas cans (but the only one below we could actually keep from leaking!) - we wanted initially to keep weight off the stern. But we figured that this would still be better than gas in the bilge.




that was another project. We had to extend the jib track further forward with the new adjustable car system. however, sometimes, the jib sheets get caught on one of the screws. We put some duck tape to make it smooth. Haven't had a problem since! I also finished up the net at the bow to keep our sails from falling overboard.

Boat inspection before night falls.

LongPac 2009 More Pictures.

Heather is pretty focused - note the handheld VHF with GPS clipped onto her lifejacket. If she falls overboard, Heather would b eable to radio back to the boat her coordinates.

A little heeling means a little wind...the band-aid looking patch is to protect the tiller autopilot plug.

Heather checking the trim
WARMTH!

Economy of movements. The tiller had to stay really really still not to slow down the boat.


I think that this picture was taken at the same time as when I was wearing shorts...

Our friends the freighters

We saw quite a few of those...

turnaround point

believe it or not, that was our turnaround point. We stored the position and time as an MOB mark in the handheld GPS (you can 'architect' that). Interestingly, a few minutes before, the wind shifted. If we had continued down to the West, we could have set up a kite. As we had to turn around, we found ourselves beating up again. unbelievable. The wind never blows from the North East, except when I don't want it to I guess...

Life on board

5 o'clock tea. Elise is a very civilized vessel. You will notice the Blue/Yellow/Black color assortment. This is not a coincidence. Elise is a very stylished vessel.

Forward
Must be the one watch I was on with sun out...

A 'Go Girl' drink!!! How fun!

Eating breakfast. Who said that girls can't easily multitask?


Notice the Blue/Red color assortment? This is not a coincidence. Elise is a stylish vessel.
My breakfast: oatmeal and blueberries and bran muffins in crumbs. And the transponders, attached to the boat by lines to two padeyes, and on top of the liferaft (which we were not supposed to walk on either)

Heather getting ready for lunch!

and what a lunch, look at this salad!!!

Got No Wind and Water

We mean it...(John, I hope that you liked the reference to Got Wind and Water!)

Once we even took down the genoa as it was flogging way too much. Later, we would decide to leave it up so we can take advantage of the wind as soon as it would go above 0.3 knots...

LongPac Boat Shots

the minute the sun was out (usually on Heather's watches...), the boat was transformed into a big massive laundry shop.

Mainsheet coiled up and ready to go. New cup holders with some ginger ale (everything was ginger-flavored on this trip for some reason....) and the cockpit handheld VHF

I hear that Magellan called the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Ocean because it was pretty tame...I think that I can see how that idea came through his head now...

Nice view of the new adjustable car system which we used quite a bit on this trip.

Wind!!!! (must have been on one of Heather's watches...)

We did run the reefing lines...but as you can imagine didn't have much of a use for them this time around...





Finally some sun! Quickly putting foul weather gear and undergarment up on deck for drying!



Radar reflector.
This is a requirement (especially in fog and at night) but Heather made a good point. Big ships will probably filter out small boat traffic, otherwise, they'd see spots on their radar all the time. and we also know from experience that they don't monitor Channel 16 on VHF very well...The only effective protection we could think of was to proactively find out where the ships are and stay out of their way. The AIS system helps you do that.


Our TackTick stopped working for some reason. It looks rather fried even though we didn't do anything special with it. Not a problem but alongside the spinnaker pole sleeve, a cup holder and a hammock, it is one of the casualties of the LongPac.

Long Pac Random Photos

The good news on a East-West course is that we can just pivot our solar panel to take advantage of maximum sun (especially when it is NOT sunny...) - there always was enough power throughout the day to recharge the batteries and we did not use our autopilot (not yet recalibrated after the Pac Cup mishap on the sensor so not ready to use)
This is our sole source of power (we have a spare panel just in case there's a problem with this one. We did hit some weird reading with our smaller battery (we have enough power for nav lights and instruments for the entire night on one battery so it wasn't a problem for us, that's why we have redundancy for this kind of trip) so I will look into this. If both batteries work great, we can also do a lot more cabin lights, GPS on all the time, etc...otherwise, we just need to be a bit more thrifty in our use of power devices.

You can also see a heaving line hanging off the stern lifeline. Not a requirement for this race, but something that I have find particularly useful, actually, in light winds!

Hollywood star - Heather.


Look, a whale!!!!

We actually saw whales (or heard) four times

1. I see something big in the distance, going North to South and spitting water...
2. We have a whale (and baby whale following in its wake) about a boat length away, traveling South to North. We could have touched the whale with the boat hook. We were close enough to count the barnicles on its skin (which looked rock hard). The whale was pretty oblivious of our presence but we turned away from it to make sure that there was not accidental hitting, especially given my relationship with sea mammals.
3. For two entire night watches (with NO wind, so we were not going anywhere), we heard a whale breathe right next to the boat. We think it was asleep as it wasn't moving either obviously. We kept hearing this at the same place. We tried to use our spot light to locate it but we couldn't easily find it on the water. Sound carries very well over water so it may have been out of the range of the spot light.
4. Coming back and as we were getting about to reach the Farallon Islands, a whale traveling west with a big spout!
   

'Nat, can you pop your head out?'
Nat (in the process of changing, thus not very dressed) pops her head out to realize that Heather was arming a camera...

This is the new system that we have put in place to cleat the
Sunblock (not super useful during this trip), winch handle and drying goretex sock...

Competition. We couldn't tell who that was. We think it was Taz!

Breakfast time: cooler box with on-deck food ready for the driver. Cups, powdered milk, bran muffins (ready to be spooned out after a couple of days), coffee (you can see the press) and oatmeals with blueberries and strawberries. On a chicks' boat with no wind, we eat WELL.

The gas tank was just put outside because it was find to be leaking inside the bilge. We waited until we couldn't smell any more gas fume inside to use the stove again. So much for the advertised 'no spill' technology on these guys...

Changing up to a genoa...

We didn't keep our jib up for very long. As soon as we were out of the main channel leading to the Golden Gate bridge, the wind dropped so much that it warranted our bigger genoa.

Elise has hanks on all her headsails. This has drawbacks as one sail has to come down before we can raise another headsail but out in the ocean, especially short-handed, we consider it much safer. If you have hanks, you can easily lower your sail by releasing the halyard. The sail will come down onto the deck. You can also raise it again without having to go to the foredeck. With tuff luff (a track that the sail goes up through), you need a pre-feeder to raise it again, you also may have to go to the foredeck for lowering the sail as there is much more friction in the system and the sail may not go down). Older designs would have hanks and TWO headstays (huge additional windage) to get around the problem. Performance-wise, both types of pretty much equivalent if well done.

Since we do a lot of short-handed sailing, and out in the ocean, we opted for safety over speed and convenience. It does mean that it is a challenge when we make a sail change upwind. (downwind, we can make a sail change while the spinnaker is up and there is much less of a hit in performance).

Heather is demo'ing how we can get the most of out this.

1. remove the LOWEST hanks (2 should do it) from the jib up on the forestay.
   
2. attach the tack and all the hanks of the new sails in the space thus freed - also attach the lazy sheet to the new sail
   
3. lower the jib and remove the hanks from bottom to the top.
4. when you get to the halyard, quickly put the halyard onto the new sail
5. quick tack and up goes the other sail (we're beating upwind and tacking is an option in our case. If not, then just be quick!)
6. attach the now lazy sheet to the new sail. On the new tack everything will be set right!
   

Heather has just switched the halyard from the old to the new headsail and is getting ready to jump up the genoa

New genoa is up, Heather is bungee'ing down the jib. Wind was so light that we couldn't point very well.

Heather is making adjustment in jib car (with the new adjustable car system!) to finish off the sail change settings

Heather is attaching the second sheet and we will be good to go!

LongPac Pictures from SSS site

From - http://sfbaysss.org/Longpac_2009.html

Long Pac photos - first pass

We saw quite a bit of marine life...including a sea lion who decided to ram into Elise a couple of times...

Off to Point Reyes

Leaving on a foggy and rainy San Francisco summer day...

Full gallery is here

Long Pac, Track Appears Stale

The track at magnatrax hasn't been updating recently even though the underlying data seems to be there. Perhaps it gets overloaded after a certain number of points.

I think Elise is about 2/3 of the way back (~5/6 complete with the whole race) and crossed 124 deg West at about 0330 this morning.

The weather forecast last night was almost humorously bad (very light with at least one or two major shifts per day for the next couple of days). Now the situation looks a lot better; they should have 5-15 today though it might be swinging around behind them.

Long Pac, Under 100 Miles to Go

Elise has less than 100 miles to go, but the forecast is for 5-10 NW switching to S.

Normally, 20 hours * 5 kts = 100 nm might not be a bad basis for a guess for an E27, but in a dying breeze they'll be hard pressed to make that good (probably steering very hot angles just to keep the boat moving and the sails full).

Taz (the single hander) is pretty close, as is the Moore 24 skippered by Andy Hamilton- looking at the positions over the course of today, they may well have seen each other and possibly even sailed in close proximity on the same tack for a while.

Elise's most recent position report hasn't been posted yet, but it look like she may be splitting with the above-mentioned boats and heading north.

Long Pac - Halfway Point, for Real This Time

Elise has turned the corner. Great White has a pretty solid lead at the moment, but Nat and Heather are now pretty even (on longitude) with Taz (but George is singlehanding).

The forecast is for 5-15 kts the next couple of days, and the recent racer tracks out at the 200 nm offshore area seem to have slowed down- wind drop? The downhill portion of the race seems to have been brisk for the leaders; we can hope the same will hold for Elise.

We'll see if they make it to work Monday morning!

Long Pac - Halfway Point

Position information is only updated every two hours (and not everyone at the same time) but best estimate of the situation right now:

Elise will hit the halfway point, turn around, and set the kite sometime in the next couple of hours. She is trailing Great White and Taz slightly but gaining ground on Taz.

She's further south than the other E27's, but I'm not sure whether that will be much of a factor. Since the air is light, I wouldn't guess that any of them are on a fast layline for the gate and I don't have the detailed forecast info here (posting from mobile).

Start Day, Long Pac 2009

It was a lot of prep and a few stumbles along the way (a few more work items, complicated delivery from Santa Cruz, breaking a spreader after practice Sunday, etc.), but race day is here for Heather and Nat.

Here's Elise leaving the dock this morning, ~1045, for the 1110 DH monohull start:

I think Nat is on the left and Heather is the grey-blue blur.

The weather forecast isn't great for the next few days (light air), but the progress out the gate seems reasonable, even if it's damp.

Good luck guys!

Weather Forecast looking light

Thank you Skip for this great website pointer: http://www.passageweather.com/

Transponders are on: http://onltr.magnatrax.net/no.php?fid=10349

Please, if you lose track of us, it probably means that the transponder stopped working. Do NOT call the Coast Guard! Transponders are not safety/emergency devices and are not USCG approved. Should be cool to see our progress though if you want!

(Fingers crossed...rig needs to go back up today...)

Update on Long Pac

The last remaining item is the lifeline...and the rig which ideally will be back up...we're a good to go on everything else.

(we can take pictures of the other stuff, eg liferaft tied up to the deck) -

fingers crossed!!

Cute - Millie the Cat

She lives on Esper

http://www.followtheboat.com/?page_id=79

Update on the spreader

will teach me to be sure to tell the bow person to keep the boat perpendicular to the hoist arm...

never mind - update on the situation. Through some heroic efforts on part of Jason (who was wondering when I'd next call him with some Mission Impossible last minute project before a long distance race) and his helpers and Kit

• elise's rig is down
• spreaders are in rigger's shop
• new set of spreader is available
• tomorrow new set of spreader (or fixed spreader) is scheduled to be mounted back on boat, rig will be back up, boat will be tuned up again

If rigger assesses that rod + wire have been bent, we won't make Wednesday start. If not, we are still on, provided the SSS race direction is fine with us making some small logistical modifications to 'sailing the boat to South Beach tonight', pretty challenging with no mast. They need to check that we did swap the lifelines this weekend.

There is one thing that I was forgetting: all the shackles, including the anchor's, have been wired shut with bailing wire (and more wire was purchased to replenish our stock)

And yes, Nathan's engineering picture of how to hook up the solar panel was helpful and saved me looking things up online. I am still not quite sure why our charge controller thinks that the charge on a battery is 14.2 volts when my voltmeter tells me it's 13.6 but hey...the amount of solar amps going through does decrease as the battery gets charged up and does stop when it reaches the right voltage, so it looks good overall. I guess we need a deviation card for that as well.

And I will not give details about the 'backstay position' that we also experimented with during our practice sail. Heather's the real expert on that one.

Jelly Fish picture from Long Pac qualifying sail

and this is at a time when they were starting to be sparse again...imaging a carpet of jellyfish, it was amazing, and definitely a bad time to fall overboard.

Bit of work done this weekend on Elise

On Saturday, I ended up with a massive headache and 13 hours of sleep. Heather thinks that it could be because we were working next to this huge powerboat that was spitting out water and (I didn't realize at the time) fumes.

Anyway, I was pretty useless but I did hook up the solar panel on that day. Between our work over the weekend and Kit's work over the week, let's see what's new...

• speakers hooked up for long distance/cruising mode (we don't have an audio source yet but they look cool for sure)
• electrical tidied up all over the place
• big anchor secured
• pig stick for C-strobe secured
• better install of the radar reflector (nice work Heather) after our practice sail shook it up a bit. the practice sail did fulfill its purpose of spotting things we would want to change. Always easier to do this at the dock
• hooked up solar panel and checked that everything worked (we also managed to charge up both batteries as we sailed mostly where it was sunny on Sunday, avoiding the north-west side of the Bay as much as possible)
• added a small cleat for the line that secures the companionway sliding hatch closed
• installed the dodger
• swapped the lifelines (and realize that Elise needs new Bay stanchions...the outhaul issue during Coastal Cup seriously bent a couple of them! and for some reason, something else must have bent another one on the starboard side)
• re-seal the side of the toerail (seemed to be dripping water in some places)
• put proper cotter pins where there were some other fasteners for the rig
• bent a spreader (which means that we are not rushing to get this fixed before the start)
• ordered chart (one we had was dated 2001 and we were asked to upgrade to a later version)
• received satellite phone
• stowed most everything away and remove what didn't need to be on the boat
• got a new squeashy water container (which turned out to be leaking into the bilge so we also need to work on that one. Heather has one otherwise, but this new one is blue. Well worth the buy!)
• did our deviation card for the set of magnetic compasses
• sorted parts to take only what we needed with us, buy a couple of stuff we had run out of (including epoxy set) and might need
• tried out the new waterproof bag that will contain the flares (it works just fine as we stowed it on deck where the liferaft will be)
• picked up the liferaft
• couldn't easily find the right part to replace the clip for the tiller extension. Installed a burgee solution instead
• saved part of the nav table that was starting to rot (a hole we had drilled as a water drain before the shroud bases got re-bedded and that had been constantly wet so unable to apply resin or at least glue to make it waterproof yet. This weekend was a perfect opportunity for us to do that
• took the boat out of the water and did some serious bottom brushing

Practice set up, jibes, take downs and driving upwind/downwind and tacking double-handed (with passengers to make things more interesting)

I may be forgetting a bunch of things - and none of these things take very long.

Tasted cookies, they taste fine.

Long Pac Class splits

http://sfbaysss.org/LongPac/2009/pdf/2009%20Class%20splits.pdf