Elise - BeatSarcoma flagship boat

Sleepiness

2008-05-12T11:27:00.000-07:00

Sleepy boats

Sleepy crew

Oops, sorry...Elise was next to Strega...The BeatSarcoma banner is hanging down the boom. Vallejo was one of the rare events I could do last year while I was in treatment! This year was SO much better though.

Thank you Dayne for taking and sharing these fabulous pictures.

A sea of boats...again

2008-05-12T11:21:00.000-07:00

Elise, resting comfortably between two of her buddies: Wild E. Coyote and Kolibri.

Nice framing Dayne...

All photos courtesy of Dayne.

Reachy Downwind

2008-05-12T11:17:00.000-07:00

All photos courtesy of Dayne. - Dayne, I promise that I will take a ton of pictures of you at our next event!! Just lend me your camera for a little while.

Start - close quarter encounters

2008-05-12T11:14:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of Dayne,

And fortunately no encounter of the 3rd kind on that day for us...You might want to talk to Roger about his "sinko de Mayo" (or near sinko) story though...

Putting on our gloves, ready for surgery and wind/current dissection.

Start Closeups

2008-05-12T11:11:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of Dayne.

Express 37s starting right by the committee boat.

Traffic check at the bow.

The Start - Vallejo 08

2008-05-12T11:09:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of Dayne.

I think that there were nearly 300 boats registered? A bit crowded at the start...we started nearly 1.5 hours after the first warning!

art photography - Vallejo 08

2008-05-12T11:03:00.000-07:00

Money laundering facilities

Apparently a homemade boat!!!

Courtesy of Dayne.

Dayne's early morning creativity

2008-05-12T10:59:00.000-07:00

I know it is hard to believe but Dayne was the first up...at 6AM. And took some amazing pictures, capturing the slow beauty of a town that is slowly waking up.

Courtesy of Dayne

Fishy business

2008-05-12T10:52:00.000-07:00

Pumpkin smelling the waterproof bags we took with us to Vallejo.
'Fish? huh?'

Vallejo beginning of day 1

2008-05-12T10:51:00.000-07:00

Picture? Ok let me look serious for a second.

Nathan scratching his head 'hmm, OK, now, how do we get out of this slip'

Arthur gently leading Elise to victory (well, almost, just 7 boats short)

A personal plug for all the alien busters out there.

Vallejo, day 1, 1 and 1/2 and 2 3/4

2008-05-11T22:52:00.000-07:00

Nathan managed to squeeze in a little lemon juice before the end of the day.

Elise's master bedroom, although 'room' might be an exageration.

Dayne sleeping at the bow...

...and Nat sleeping at the helm.

Crewed lightship - a happy sad day

2008-05-11T22:47:00.000-07:00

All right, all right, we'll smile but frankly, this toerail is killing us.

Dayne: 'so you don't like the new main on that boat?'
Heather: 'no, it makes her stern look big'

A happy sad day. You can see the daisies which we will drop a few minutes after this shot was taken, in memory of the lost boat and her crew, at the last Lightship race. Sad and humbled by the ocean, sad and aching for these men's families. Happy to be out and free on the water. Happy to see so many boats on the water on that day - perhaps the best way of honoring the memory of these two sailors is to carry on with the sports of sailing.

In a way, I wonder if I don't envy their fate, they left this world doing something they both loved...

Crewed lightship - the actors

2008-05-11T22:33:00.000-07:00

Phew! That was close. Another 500 miles and we would have hit that whale.

Let's see. Chateaux Margaut 1968, Pauillac 1986, Dom Perignon from last year but no Dr Pepper???

We had a fabulous trimmer on that day. And a super quick learner. He hasn't sailed on Elise for long but he keeps her firmly on this leash. So, who does this north face belong to?

Dayne!!

Crewed Lightship Pictures

2008-05-11T22:21:00.000-07:00

Downwind, back to the city...again.

Sometimes sailing can be an uphill battle...

Uphill toward the mysteries of the mighty Pacific Ocean.

We need a bit more gear for these short offshore races. Man overboard pole, lifelines, harnesses, strobe, lead line, flares, that kind of stuff...I believe we took France too but didn't fly it as there wasn't enough wind for it.

We also took some daisies (they were distributed at the Club) and we dropped them in the water at the lightship mark.

How can you tell that it is Elise's trailer in the background?

Answer: it is blue...

Perfect GPS for Elise.

2008-05-10T23:36:00.001-07:00

http://xkcd.com/407/

Registration for the Sarcoma Cup is Open!!!

2008-05-10T11:05:00.001-07:00

http://beatsarcoma.org/Sarcoma_Cup.html

June 28 online Registration - Click Here
Saturday Registered Competitors

June 29 online Registration - Click Here

Sunday Registered Competitors

Sarcoma affects all age groups and accounts for 15-20% of cancer in children. It receives under 1% of all cancer research funding and a better understanding is desperately needed, as it has no cure today. Money raised through this event will go directly to research projects sponsored by BeatSarcoma, Inc. with absolutely NO money diverted to overhead expenses of the BeatSarcoma non-profit, or of this event.Sponsors

Pasha Haiwan Transportation Lines

Recovering from knee injury

2008-05-07T11:09:00.000-07:00

This week's schedule... (coach wants this to be an easy week...)

Monday - training at Kezar stadium

Tuesday - off

Wednesday:

10 minutes of brisk walking on threadmill

Easy jogging for 8 minutes on treadmill

4 minutes of brisk walking on treadmill

5 minutes of easy jogging on threadmill

Work on triceps/biceps

Do sit-ups/crunches routine we didi this morning

Thursday:

12 minutes of very easy warm-up jogging

Stretch

Run 12 to 14 x 40 seconds, walk for 20 seconds, start again with 40 seconds.

Do sit-ups/crunches routine we did this morning and stretch

Friday:

Day off (I bike to work)

Saturday:

Repeat Thursday, but do 8 x 50 seconds, walk for 30 seconds

Sunday:

Start run from Marina Green (start where the monkey bars are located at the start of Marina Green on Marina Blvd.). I think this run should include the following:

Jog out to Crissy Field for 12 minutes, walk for 4 minutes (continuing to walk along Crissy Field toward Golden Gate Bridge).

After 4 minutes of walking for 4 minutes, turn around and start running for 12 minutes back to Maina Green.

After 12 minutes, walk for 2 minutes, then run to the finish.

Vallejo 08 Pictures by Charlie

2008-05-07T10:56:00.001-07:00

I do whales. Others do sharks.

Wait, someone else has a France spinnaker...Ooh, no, it's a Netherlands one...

Nice open transom racy boat

Cool foredeck position :)

Valentine's Day boat

Close racing

Downwind is definitely much more comfortable than upwind...

http://cbergstedt.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album01

Vallejo 08 Team

2008-05-06T15:47:00.000-07:00

Natha and Arthur often worked together as driver/trimmer pair.

Dayne and Nat often worked together as driver/trimmer pair.

Note: this restaurant claims to be the 'best restaurant in Vallejo'...

Vallejo 08 Pictures

2008-05-06T15:44:00.000-07:00

I couldn't find a picture of Elise on the return trip...but I thought that this one was a good illustration of how wet the ride was...I inflated my narrow-shelled self to try to become a human wall for everyone behind me. Unfortunately, Dayne is much taller than I am, he would have needed a human roof too.

I like to hang out close to tankers or container ships. You never know when you will need to be rescued.

Nathan - would you please look at where you're going when you are driving?

We did overtake that boat. Unfortunately, we weren't racing in the same class/division. At least, I remembered to register this time around!

(Photos: Lyons Imaging)

Vallejo 2008 (Saturday)

2008-05-05T23:44:00.000-07:00

The Vallejo season opener is a two day event (Sat+Sun), with one distance race each day. Roughly, it's a "there and back" race but the return trip is shorter (finish line closer to Vallejo).
The Saturday race (roughly Olympic Circle to Vallejo) is almost always a downwind race. It's a big event (295 boats registered this year), so they provide a short upwind leg to a turning mark in order to prevent a downwind start demolition derby. We had a one design start (scored class event for the season) and good attendance.

The crew was Nat, Dayne, Arthur, and I, leaving us well short of the class weight limit of 880 lbs (which wouldn't normally be a problem in a downwind race). The crew weight, did, however, make our decision about which jib to use at the start an easy one (#3, with the fleet split on their decision). We were a little bit late off the line, and had trouble pointing for a while. Upwind performance (mainly noticable in one-design events when being a small fraction of a knot off the pace is glaringly obvious) has been a consistent issue for us. We've gotten some good advice from other 27's, and it's time to check rake and other tuning parameters again (haven't checked them since a boatyard retune).

After a few minutes of tuning, our performance was better but still not quite there. Fortunately, the first leg is short and we got to the corner with a couple of Expresses to play with. A right turn and a reasonable kite-set later, we were headed for San Pablo Bay. Often, the fleet opts to crawl up the Richmond shore, but this year the almost universal choice was to stay left (and later to go on the San Rafael side of Red Rock).

Our downwind speed was good (lighter but solid air, tapering down as we approached Red Rock). The fleet split up a bit left and right, with us being towards the middle. Boats on the left got lighter than we did for a while going by Angel Island, but also got to the far side of the light air under the island more quickly (a visible and fairly stiff wind line formed). We gained on the boats to the right up until near Red Rock, when they took better advantage than we did of some local wind conditions there (I'm not convinced that their positioning was better, but they certainly got moving a bit better than we did in the puffs).

Between Red Rock and the "corner" at R2 (into San Pablo Bay), breeze was reasonable and current (ebb) was a very strong factor. The sailing angle straight to the mark was very deep (usually too deep for reasonable performance). We crept our pole back in stages and kept to the right middle (on course to pass between the Brothers and Pt. San Pablo, but not creeping up the old docks). We felt that the boats which dodged right early (presumably in search of current relief, often a sound strategy) had given up too much angle for good speed, being on starboard tack with the dock close to starboard and a really deep sailing angle). Our speed against those boats was generally good, as we seemed to have slightly more breeze in addition to a more favorable sailing angle. The boats further from shore than we were generally seemed to share our sailing angle andwere off-again/on-again gaining and losing distance.
As we approached the Brothers, the boats on the left did manage to sneak in and enjoy generous current relief behind the larger Brother and even alongside it. They enjoyed gains against us there, but some of them subsequently misjudged the current at the mark and we gained a lot during the rounding.

The next leg was basically a reach parade, with rapidly building wind. The sailing angle was a close reach (spinnaker being carryable, but not with much margin during the puffs) over to Pt. Pinole. There was a benefit to staying closer to shore through current relief, and we seemed to have plenty of breeze there. We were fortunate (?) to have El Raton and a few other boats way ahead, feeling out that side of the course for us. A few other Expresses, including Opa, were close enough on various sides (forward, aft, offshore) to have good fun testing our speed, though we'd been significantly behind the leaders since around Red Rock.

Moving along the shore side of the fleet towards the bridge, we stayed inside and went relatively far towards the bridge before making our gybe to cross the channel (and current) to enter the Vallejo/Mare Islandchannel and begin the final leg. As usual, the wind went significantly forward. Some E27's and other boats were able to carry their kites the whole way, but we were among those who changed back to a jib halfway or so up towards the finish line after being unable to make the kite work to full advantage in the shifty, puffy breeze along the Mare Island side of the channel.

Final position, 8/10. We lost most of the positions early on, but the leaders continued to stretch distance (albeit at a lesser rate). On the good side, we handled the kite and boat well in some very puffy conditions. On the negative side, we need to work on starts and our upwind tune/speed/point in puffy conditions.

Back to port

2008-05-05T11:33:00.000-07:00

Oooooo, was that a seal?

all the girls 'it's so cute!'
Michael 'how can you tell it's cute? all you see is a muzzle?'
all the girls 'well, that's what is cute'

Look at the sail! perfectly trimmed and perfect driving!

Elise was featuring a rather elegant new bow figure on that day. There was no need for the decoration flags really (which we had forgotten...)

Wait, something's wrong with this picture. Rachel looks just as tall as Nat is??? Handy to have a heeling boat...

Escape from Alcatraz - with just a little better planning this time. A boat comes in really handy to cross the Bay.

Opening Day - more pictures

2008-05-05T11:25:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of Michael

Looking back at the Golden Gate Bridge...from the Pacific Ocean :)

One happy sailor!

Notice the wake of the boat? looks like we could have been on a powerboat right? Notice that Hannah holds the helm nice and straight, the boat was nicely balanced and it was a very smooth ride. In fact, her driving was so good that Lynn didn't seem to feel any need to become a 'front seat driver' (the back seat would be dangerously close to the edge of the stern in this case)

Two happy sailors.

Opening Day 2008

2008-05-02T16:48:00.000-07:00

Hannah was our skipper for the day. Totally cool at the helm, she managed to keep this very 'tender' boat under control in pretty gusty conditions. And her only sailing experience was half a day on a small dinghy (which I suspect was an Optimist). There were a few 'incidents', affecting mostly Nathan's bottom as he was sitting on the low side but nothing that wouldn't pass a driving test! It takes a while for a lot of my sailing friends to familiarize themselves with Elise as she responds in a split second to every single change. She did even better than some professional ship's pilots who sometimes ram into bridge towers...Very impressive.

Rachel was our first officer - a real pro! She traveled around the boat, stood proudly at the bow, helped tack the boat and bravely hiked out on the rail.

*******************

Last Sunday, it was Opening Day on San Francisco Bay. This date marks the beginning of the sailing season, the busiest time of the year for us sailors. Summer is the peak wind season here. We can sail in pretty heavy and consistent breeze, the racing is fantastic. So the "small craft warning" is pretty much a constant throughout the season...Don't worry, Elise is a small craft but she is very sea-worthy and equipped to sail through much rougher patches. (plus we had Hannah at the helm)

Interestingly, most boats that take part in the parade are power boats - starting with the fire engine. We watched the show from the deck of the Saint Francis Yacht Club and listened to the commentary. A lot of the boats were historic boats and came with great anecdotes.

It was then time for a much awaited pleasure sail. The conditions were absolutely perfect for a sailing experience (not a cruising experience...) Remember that Elise is a nervous light little race boat. I feel very close to the elements, wind and water, and tuning her is very much a "close your eyes and feel the sail, or feel the tiller" type of experience (I don't actually recommend to steer blind-folded). Bigger boats can be more comfortable (they have a fridge for beer), can go faster but they are also a lot heavier, with much more inertia and freeboard, and it is harder to feel this direct connection.

Back to our story - it was a sunny and warm day, the wind was southwesterly thus much warmer than the usual north/northwesterly and about 15 knots with 20 knot gusts, which is great for Elise. The water wasn't choppy, the waves were nice, low and following a regular pattern. Rachel, Hannah, Lynn, Michael, Nathan and I boarded for an afternoon of fun. We sailed upwind under the Golden Gate by the South Tower. We got a small taste of the mighty Pacific Ocean and turned around toward Angel Island. We hoisted France (our heavier spinnaker) and crossed the bridge again near the North Tower. We jibed once, sailed a fun and fast reach under spinnaker for a while, then lowered the spinnaker and changed course toward Alcatraz. We sailed around the old penitentiary, and then up the city front back to the dock.

Whenever we take non-sailors out on a boat of any size, we worry that they will be scared by everything the boat does, even though it is an expected behavior. So we try to go slower than usual, we don't always hoist the bigger sails, we don't do long upwind legs, they don't go below to pick up what they need. Not this crowd. I kept asking "how's everyone feeling" and got some fairly impatient "just fine" back...

We started off under main downwind in the harbor and reaching (a very comfortable point of sail) across the Bay. I asked if it was OK now to hoist the headsail. Michael was already on the halyard and the sail was half way up before I could finish my sentence...
We were zooming along and Rachel and Hannah took turns at the helm. We made good time upwind against a strong current. Hannah took us through several tacks, bore away to a reach and then downwind. When it was time to hoist the spinnaker, I was worried that everyone would panic at the idea of a big sail. The 'guests' responded in unison 'we like to go fast' and looked at me seemingly offended by the question.

- I miserably failed to hoist the sail on my first attempt as I realized that the spinnaker wasn't packed when I got to the bow. Didn't look very professional this... -

Anyway, the second attempt was successful (except that the halyard popped out of the cleat), Michael trimmed the spinnaker and we went through a gibe without any trouble. Everything went much smoother than it does on some races...

Another point that is worth mentioning. Typically when we go out for a sail, we leave with a full bottle of wine and we end the day with an empty one. On Sunday, we started with a full bottle of wine and ended the day with three full bottles, as Lynn, Michael, Hannah and Rachel pushed their marine professionalism to the extreme and embraced the old Elise tradition! Thank you!

Getting fit

2008-04-25T10:33:00.000-07:00

Somehow, I also feel that it is important to be fit...I won't be running around the boat but it is very taxing to stay focused on sailing, to fight waves and wind and get hammered by the sun or freezing up all night. By being fit, at the very least, my metabolism should be pretty efficient and whatever energy I have, I should be able to make the best of it. Secondly, I recuperate much much faster when I am fit - and given the sleep 'depravation'*...this might come in handy! Finally, having a stronger body will help me fight off cold, potential infections, etc...and anything nasty that might come my way. And yes, that would include an alien strikes back scenario.

So I run...I bike...I walk/hike...and I sail.

(pix is me at "The Relay" last weekend - look, I can fly!!!)

* yes this is meant to be a joke...