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Thread: Interested in a boat for 2018 TransPac

  1. #331
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Posts
    907

    Default Failing wind instrument

    My wind instruments have started failing. At first I'd get no reading on wind speed then it would come back, on and off like that. Now it's pretty much gone. The wind vane and anemometer are at the top of the mast. They're feeding to a Raymarine display. Any suggestion about where I should start before I go up the mast?
    I think the wind angle comes through but not the wind speed.

  2. #332
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Posts
    3,688

    Default

    I've had several of these and I'd start with the masthead transducer. Raymarine sells service kits for them - you can even buy the kit for their older unit at Wally World!

    Wind transducer service kit at Wal-Mart

    The kit for the newer units is available at Defender:

    http://www.defender.com/product3.jsp...831&id=1723894

    Unplug the birdie, bring it down and overhaul it. Just tell your wife you'll be "hangin' out" at the boat for awhile.

  3. #333
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Posts
    907

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    Quote Originally Posted by BobJ View Post
    The kit for the newer units is available at Defender.
    Thanks Bob ... The cups are spinning just fine up there, it's just not making it to the display. Not sure that's the problem ...

  4. #334
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Posts
    907

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    Here's a video of the spinnaker work I did last week.
    https://youtu.be/BCDbyWj2KkE

    I'm thinking of heading out tomorrow for my qualifier. It does look a little breezy then soft for the turn around. I'll see how things look like tomorrow morning ...
    Last edited by jamottep; 08-28-2017 at 11:16 PM.

  5. #335
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Posts
    3,485

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    Quote Originally Posted by jamottep View Post
    Here's a video of the spinnaker work I did last week.

    I'm thinking of heading out tomorrow for my qualifier. It does look a little breezy then soft for the turn around. I'll see how things look like tomorrow morning ...
    Good luck! We'll be waiting to read about it all when you get back!

  6. #336
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Posts
    907

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    Quote Originally Posted by Philpott View Post
    Good luck! We'll be waiting to read about it all when you get back!
    Thank you ... this is done :-)

    Who validates this? This link should bring to a Google drive with the tracks I created using Navionics Boat HD: https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...nM?usp=sharing

    I'll follow up with a report later ... now I'll just brush my teeth ... highs and lows ... highs and lows ...

  7. #337
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Posts
    907

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    Furthest point West was about 36 29.571N 124 12.411W.

    Total distance tracked: 424.2 nm
    Total time tracked: 68.8 hrs
    Average speed: 6.2 kts

    Projected time to complete the 2,120 nm of the SHTP: just under 15 days.

    Name:  Jamotte qualifier SHTP 2018.PNG.jpg
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Size:  192.6 KB

  8. #338
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Posts
    907

    Default

    So then how was it?

    I drove to Santa Cruz Thursday morning with my solar panel, Iridium GO, dodger, water, food, emergency rudder, radar reflector, a bit of extra clothing and stuff I'm forgetting already. After putting the boat in the water I proceeded to setup the boat with all of the above. The Iridium GO had a wrong setting and off hours support from RoadPost helped figure that out and so I went on my may ...

    Exiting the harbor I got into almost now wind and I paddled my way out to reach the westerlies. I was under one reef and number 3, being ready, or so I thought, for what I was expecting further out. Wind picked up and I started tracking. The auto-pilot was put to work.

    Making my way out West wind continued to pick up and I put the second reef in. Sea state continued to build up as well and I was being overpowered with the #3. Just like the first time I tried to go out for my first offshore stint the boat was wet and water started sloshing around. I figured sometimes it's not worth to push things too far out and I turned around.

    I got back into Monterey Bay, with much lighter winds, popped the #4, stowed the 3, all at ease on a flat boat and went back for it. By now I knew what was coming. It wasn't long before I was back into the breeze and agitated sea. My wind instruments are dead so I can't say for sure what it was but the forecast was 20-25 kts and it certainly felt like it. Sea state I would guess was between 8-12 ft with mixed swell. The auto-pilot was whirring, the boat was getting wet and I was staying under ... I fell sea sick and settled in a new routine: laying low in the berth with an alarm for 60 minutes later, checking AIS on the VHF when it beeped, filling up the bucket with the bit of water and crackers I was trying to get down, getting the unwanted water out of the boat (buckets were dropped in the cockpit; that mast hole is a fountain). It wasn't bad as most food in my stomach had been digested already. Sea sickness staid for most of the trip. As a result most of my experience was inside the boat but the best happened outside.

    I hit the 100 nm out mark and tacked the boat. As the track shows I did so a few more times then hit "home".

    Inside an Olson 30 ... it's brutal! The whole hull is an echo chamber mixing the constant whirring of the auto-pilot, the VHF's crackling, announcements and AIS alarms, the water gushing along the hull, the waves slamming the hull on the side, the hull banging over the top of the waves ... It's just all crazy loud ... And me through all of that listening to the boat for signs of things going wrong.

    I didn't change head sail nor flew the spinnaker. I didn't feel it wise to push, being sea sick. I had already cut through a bit of skin trying to muster a solution to chafing on the radar reflector hoist line. I did shake the reefs after the third night, first one then the second one. So at times I was slow, certainly I was under-powered. But 2 reefs and the #4 still move the boat; it's quite amazing.

    A few tid bits ...

    Despite not drinking much nor eating at all at first I didn't feel any worse than sea sick: no cramp, no headache. I started drinking and eating during the 2nd night.

    The only thing that went wrong is that the knot securing the second reef line to the boom slipped. I'm lucky in a sense that the the reef ties didn't rip through the reef grommets.

    Towards the end of the third night the VHF flashed a low battery signal. I did have a bit of sun so some charging happened. The AIS VHF and the auto-pilot were on all the time. I charged my cell phone 3-4 times. I forgot to turn off nav lights, twice. I barely used the cabin lights. I had the instrument display off. So the third day, under a foggy sky, I turned everything off and steered, with the handheld VHF and the auto-pilot on standby. This was a very good exercise as I don't have much experience steering a compass course. It was a foggy beam reach in 10-15 kts. I may explore using a separate/emergency battery system for the auto-pilot but I think I'll have enough to go by the first 3-4 days.

    The Iridium GO worked well to stay in touch with my wife, whom, I found out later, was quite stressed up and slept poorly, especially after I shared I was see sick.

    I had a most beautiful moment with dolphins. At the third sunset I saw them jumping out in the distance and I hoped they'd come closer. They did and it was the best way to put the previous 2 days in perspective. I've got a long GoPro run with them so I'll see if I can share that here.

    Besides the cut no injuries (well a few knocks here and there but that doesn't count) and besides the knot that slipped no breakage. So that's pretty cool!

    Making my way out of the fog I arrived to Santa Cruz with the bay filled with lasers and dinghies. It was a beautiful landfall, cutting through the races, putting side by side two different sides of sailing: them all clad up in wet suits and me stinky and banged up after 3 days out. I was a bit tired and a boat was right in the middle of the dock so I ended slowly t-boning the dock. Mostly pride suffered ... And I jumped off the boat, ran to Aldo's and got me a fish and chips! When all that was down I proceeded to stow the sails, hoist the boat out of the water, do some basic cleaning and hit it home early enough to avoid Sunday afternoon return traffic. I went back to day to complete cleaning and will need another trip for odds and ends. I didn't have much energy but I wasn't really tired either, weird ...

    I ate freeze dried camping food but I didn't dose properly so it was "burrito soup" and "scrambled eggs with bacon soup". It all went down fine.

    I think that's it. Main lessons learned: significant water ingress at the mast, explore emergency battery for auto-pilot, explore sea sickness remedies, sail simply when it gets hard (set sails, do trim checks and relax under, if possible). And I do need to practice switching to the #4 in rough seas (I'll probably bring someone along).

    I'm really happy with how it all turned out. Would I have preferred champagne sailing? Sure but I wouldn't have learned much.

    I'll edit or add if anything else comes to mind.

  9. #339
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    Seattle, WA
    Posts
    296

    Default

    Congratulations, Philippe! Good job.
    Lee
    s/v Morning Star
    Valiant 32

  10. #340
    Join Date
    Nov 2013
    Location
    Humboldt Bay
    Posts
    135

    Default

    Good job Philippe. Next stop Hanalei!
    If you don't want to ship her back when you reach Kauai, there is a nice Olson 30 fleet in Nawiliwili. You would have no problem finding a buyer and getting a fair price for her. They're totally competitive there.

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