Farallones Race Questions

[standardhuman]

Thanks all for a great race and an excellent debriefing here on the forums. Thank you Jackie in particular for serving as an inquisitive and courageous role model for new SSS recruits like myself.

This year was notably different from last year in so many ways. Wooshing along on the ebb and getting lifted with ease past Pt. Bonita was a distinct thrill compared to '12 when I turned back after a long day spent just reaching the Lightbucket. This year my fun juice ran out 3nm shy of the islands.

Like John, I had also had a late night making last minute preparations. I ended up running my lower lifelines, installing padeyes on the hatchboards, and a dozen other little jobs while motoring to the start. If it wasn't for that fortuitous postponement, I would have been quite late. My take home lesson, in addition to the new list of items to improve and install, is that I spent too much time taking care of the boat and too little taking care of myself. Lack of sleep set me up for a day of increasingly difficult decision making. The first one was skipping breakfast in lieu of rushing to ready the boat. Hungry, tired, and hurried, small tasks throughout the day became increasingly challenging.

I can't recall the last time I had an overriding turn on a winch, but it happened three times during this race. Tying a bowline took multiple attempts. I would gaze for long periods at my buried rail, then at my full main, repeating the mantra over and over in my head "if you are thinking about reefing, then it's time to reef", but lacking the initiative to move. 3 miles from the island the seas had become larger and steeper and, when I realized yet another long tack to starboard would be required to lay the island, I finally made the call at about 5pm and bore off for home. Once she was self steering well enough, I went below and cooked dinner. One tempeh rueben down the hatch and eureka! I felt like a million bucks. I hadn't had more than a couple handfuls of nuts all day. I suddenly wanted to turn back and complete the race, but I wouldn't have traded the dolphin escort past the headlands with the sunset glow on the GGB for anything. Next year, I plan to load BRE's (Burritos, Ready to Eat) on board, and hope to turn around AFTER the islands. Poco y poco.

Oh, and did anyone else see whales out there? I was lucky to spot two distinct spouts and shiny grey backs on the surface just north of the channel on the way out.

On the topic of jacklines, one technique I picked up somewhere is to soak them in a bucket for 30 minutes before installing them. This allows them to pre-stretch and should only tighten during the race.

Thanks again, everyone. It's good to be involved with you lot.

Brian
Maris

[standardhuman]

In other news, I'm surprised no one mentioned the photo of our fleet going out the Gate featured in 'Lectronic Latitude. If you look closely, you can see one of the AC72's in the background.



Original photo here

[Nick S.]

Here's a little onboard footage from Escapade from last Saturday.

[BobJ]

"Been there, done that, get the shirt" (next Wednesday). Now . . .

LongPac sign-ups are open!

https://www.jibeset.net/JACKY000.php?RG=T009193816

[tiger beetle]

LongPac sign-ups are open!

Hi Bob - my impression is that LongPac requires paper except the boat photo and NOAA EPIRB registration form. I mailed mine this morning, complete with check. What role does JibeSet have for LongPac?

- rob/beetle

[Now&Zen]

Nice Video Nick!!

[Wylieguy]

Brian, I think you've learned the same lesson all of us who have sailed multiple singlehanded ocean races had to learn,too. Starting off exhausted can only lead to becoming more exhausted and can be dangerous since decisions must be made in a timely way - like reefing or changing down to a smaller headsail. Being bone tired is not the way to start any singlehanded race.
Keeping the energy supply going into your mouth is important,too. Energy/granola/breakfast bars come individually wrapped, can be eaten with one hand; apples, pears, peaches can be eaten without peeling with one hand; yogurt drinks and other healthy drinks can hydrate and provide more calories.
Staying warm and dry is critical, too. Being cold slows down your thinking and responses. Getting wet leads to being cold.
Most of all, however, I applaud your decision to turn back when you decided it was time do do so. Seeing whales is okay, but I don't want to hear or smell them. Close encounters with several tons of blubber isn't something I look forward to.

[Matt]

With the Wilderness 21, I left the 2HP Honda Longshaft outboard motor on the transom motor mount for the race and it was fine even with the choppy conditions and a few waves lapping up (not breaking) from behind. The end of the motor prop drags in the water when the waves come up from behind and it does make me a little nervous. The little catch that keeps the motor tilted gets worked when this happens. I have sometimes pulled the motor off when expecting to be in really choppy conditions. I considered stowing before the race started since it was going to be a windy and wave crashing day. I don't expect to ever be motoring in really choppy conditions since it's better to sail in the chop.

One time, I dropped a running outboard in the water at the dock when I turned the motor to the side and gave it gas without first tightening the thumbscrews holding it onto the boat. Ever had to use a fishing lure to catch an outboard in 20' of water? Make the decision to stow the motor or not before going out and before conditions get choppy. It's one of those decisions based on your own personal experience and boat type. I'm on the third Honda 2HP outboard in 7 years with Tinker. One got stolen when I didn't lock it or take it off at the Marina and the one that got dropped in the water was running all the way to the bottom. It didn't work very well after that.

I did need the motor for motoring over and for anchoring before the start of the race. I had to reset the anchor a couple times due to the current, lack of wind, changing start line location and race postponement. The Honda 2HP is a great little motor that can run for 8 hours or more continuously motoring back from Vallejo to Alameda with flat conditions in the morning. I wouldn't bother with anything bigger, heavier or with more horse power for Tinker.

Matt

[JAMcDonald]

Thought I'd follow up on some observations after completing my qualifier for the LongPac on the 27th and 28th. Left Alameda 8am on 27th, and motored to the start point of the Farallons race, then set sail. A little late, so got caught in the flood. There were light winds, low lying clouds and drizzle. Spent several hours tacking to get past Pt. Bonita, and then worked my way west waiting for predicted SW winds. Instead had about three hours-four hours of calm. Wind finally filled in from WSW and I was able to sail to SE Farallon. By then it was completely dark and raining more heavily. Thus, although I saw no real issues in rounding the island, decided that the low wind and poor visibility made that not a logical decision and turned for home. After a nice broad reach back to the gate, caught a good flood and passed the gate at 9 knots and spent another two hours sailing back to Alameda. I had trouble with the iPhone and iNavX on the SH Farallons; in contrast, they worked great on this trip. I could sit on the companionway and plot courses from my current location to next way point, steering with my autopilot. Quite a difference from the dead reckoning with bearings and charts in the dark in the old days. Highly recommended. iPhone visibility in daylight is the major shortcoming. The LifeProof case, while way too expensive (you'd think they were supplying sailors), is in fact water tight.

Another great tool, AIS. I installed an EmTrak transponder, which is plug and play with their antenna splitter and simply routes through the Standard Horizon 2150. At one point, in pretty dense fog, crossing the outbound shipping lane an alert came from a large commercial vessel. I was only making 3 knots, so selected their target, pushed call, and channel 6 and the VHF automatically placed an MMSI call to the ship. They answered in 30 sec, and I alerted them to the fact that I had limited maneuverability. The skipper confirmed that he had me on radar and AIS, and that he would increase speed and alter course to port to pass ahead of me. About 10 min later, he passed approximately 1/4 mile ahead, the limit of visibility. That this technology all worked was very reassuring as I continued into the dark and fog, and turned for home. Collectively the SH Farallon, even though I didn't finish, and this qualifier were a great combination of learning experiences and confidence building exercises. Finally, I pulled the mast today and discovered the problem with the halyard jamming, and will remedy this prior to the LongPac. By the way, I too had two failed bowlines come loose during the SH race resulting in a clew trying to kill me, so somewhat reassured to know I'm not alone in this loss of basic muscle memory. Fair winds, John

[BobJ]

Bump!

(Hopefully some of this will be helpful on Saturday.)