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Thread: From the fat fingers of the racers

  1. #11
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    1435 on 6.20.21

    Saw a number of water spouts as the sun set last night... but not close enough to see the whales.
    Gentle 6k-9k breezes all night. Still oscillating so having to tweak autopilot all too frequently.

    Near other entrants... Perplexiy in sight the whole race so far... passed 500 feet astern mid day (setting off AIS alarm). Nozomi is a mile or two away off the starboard bow. Suspect you all know this from the trackers. but its unusual to be in this tight a pack of boats after 120nm.

    Flaked the #3 this morning on the foredeck... likely will not need it again (but maybe... if the wind is strong enough exiting the Low).

    Water, grapes, brownie bar... debating making cup a soup for dinner. Been popping Bonine twice a day so feeling good - but that may say more about the modest sea state.
    I try to hold off for "real food" to day 3 when I know seasickness will have passed.

    Overcast. Warming up a bit... took jacket off this morning.
    Slept in my boots and foulies last night... maybe tonight too... before pulling out the jammies and sleeping bag (depends on how much wind we see as we exit to Low).

    Should I hank on the Jib Top now or tomorrow? hmmm

    Cheers,
    Jim
    Green Buffalo

  2. #12
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    From Jame Wylly s/v Northern Star, whose fingers might not be as fat as the rest of 'em:

    Northern Star Daily Check In. Typed report, not automatic. All good aboard Northern Star. Jame alive and in good health. Morale high.

  3. #13
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    1240 on 06.21.21 from Falk on the Olson 25: All well on the shark

  4. #14
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    From Reed Bernard s/v Mountain: Loving life!

  5. #15
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    from Kyle Vanderspek aboard s/v Aloha: good afternoon on monday the 21st, all is well aboard aloha. cheers, Kyle

  6. #16
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    1357 062121 from Kyle Vanderspek aboard s/v Aloha, and the more impressive knowing how squirrelly that boat is:

    aloha day 1 report to the correct email this time: Day 1
    As many of you have maybe read or seen by now, the bay area delivered on its typical summer days of wind cold and some fog. Though i did cross the line well, my pre start decision making was clearly clouded by the lightening forecast as i held off putting a reef in the main as i believe ever other boat had done. after getting walloped by the express and the j109 long before even reaching the golden gate, I finally threw in a reef and was off to the races as it were. Being an early ULDB, Aloha does not excel beating to windward in big breeze and chop, a fact that is made substantially worse with the subtraction of any weight at all from the rail, because of this I was probably one of very few in the fleet to feel a sense of relief as the wind eased up and the reefs came out not too far past Point Bonita. The cloudy overcast bay tried to clear in spots as we eased on towards the Farallons, but unfortunately I haven't really seen the sun break through as of yet and I get the feeling that trend may persist for quite a few more miles. As the evening set upon the fleet, the wind backed off even more giving me the opportunity for the first headsail change of the race to the code zero, sadly shifty winds and large swells made this sail difficult to keep pulling through the night so it was back with the jib just before it got dark. The thick cloud cover of the day brought in a cold dark night with just a small glimmer of the moon glowing through, at times the light winds nearly shut off completely making a bad sleep situation even worse as sails needed near constant attention and courses needed changing to keep up with the shifting winds. Speaking of shifting winds, the southerly surge that we sailed into at the beginning of the race is still here for all of us I believe as we continue on port tack in a mostly westerly direction. Most recent models that I retrieved this morning indicate this should let up by mid afternoon and we might be transitioning into a strong synoptic flow by late this evening at which point it might slowly begin like were actually sailing towards Hawaii. Until then I'll continue trying to get as much rest as possible before the next few days ahead of windy reaching.

  7. #17
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    Received 1341 on 062121 from Jim Quanci on s/v Green Buffalo

    Whats up on Green Buffalo today Monday the 21st at 10pm

    Busy last 24 hours.
    gribs made it clear I needed to head north a bit to clear the low - while most of the fleet was heading south. Roll the dice.
    Dropped the #1 (a beast to flake... will need to reflake at some point) and hoisted the code zero... at sunset the wind went aft... before midnight a jibe and building wind. Finally heading south in the "real" ocean winds... out of the coastal low,

    Went to sleep...
    Only to wake up with a bit of thrashing as the wind had increased quite a bit a blew up the code zero (I bought it used and it was a bit worn out so not much of a loss).
    Had hanked on the Jib Top early in the evening knowing the wind might increase. Dousing the tattered code zero and raising the jib top was strenuous but straight forward.

    Noticed a ring ding on the deck when "cleaning up"... and saw it had fallen off the main tack pin... and the main tack pin was half way out (this happened two weeks before resulting in the main slugs pulling out of the track)... couldn't get the pin fully back in so jammed in a screwdriver and some sail tape to get me till morning (too damn dark to sort out... sorted out at daylight).

    Flew Jib Top all night... set up preventer as the boom was banging a bit.
    Now when do I raise the kite? Now? Later today? Tomorrow morning?
    About to get fresh gribs to help me decide (kits up after just two days is "pretty early"... but there is a high building on the track we need to head south to get under).

    No more bonine... feeling good... went to bathroom a few times... everything "working".
    Maybe some real food tonight?

    Still overcast. Warming up a bit... though I did run the diesel space heater this morning to take the edge off the chill.

    With the solar panel, turns out I just need to run the engine twice a day for just an hour each to keep the batteries up.

    Cheers,
    Jim

  8. #18
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    Received 1727 on 062121 from Kyle Vanderspek aboard s/v Aloha:

    As you all may have noticed last night was a pretty big turning point in the race for most if not all of us out here. I began the evening firmly on port tack with the code zero up. through the night several times the southerly wind attempted to die and give way to the synoptic northerly, for me this happened at i believe around 1 am PST when I slowly headed more and more south before committing a gybe to starboard tack that was taking me north at a heading of around 300.

    Not much later the wind went forward and i was able to continue on a course of about 250 as the wind slowly began to build. During the night after the transition, I was very happy to have popped my head out and noticed some stars attempting to poke through the wet marine layer which had soaked the boat with a light drizzle for a few hours before the sun came up.

    At day break, the clouds persisted but were beginning to show signs far off on the horizon. Not long after, i made the decision to change headsails to the A5 spinnaker which is the smallest I have onboard. Though winds were not too high at the time, they were forecasted to increase as the day went on and this spinnaker would provide me the best opportunity to make good progress in the direction I want to sail without getting pushed too low.

    With morning winds in the low to mid teens and the sun making an appearance in a blue sky, I was able to put together a few good hours of boat speed with the waves lining up well with my course and surfing waves from a steady 8 knots u to about 12.5. Noon time brought some lightening winds which although frustrating at times certainly could have been worse and as we ease into the third evening underway the winds from this morning seem to have returned. Not present however is the agreeable sea state that had allowed for surfing before, but now I am seeing a bit of a swell well forward of the beam making for a somewhat bumpy ocean.

    Once again, the sun is unfortunately long gone, but the temperature seems to have gotten maybe a little warmer since yesterday and the night before so that a small gain. Tomorrow will likely see the beginnings of the freeze dried selections as I intend to finish up the last slice of pizza for dinner this evening. For those curious, I haven't seen any whales since the first afternoon which has been somewhat pleasant as they gave me quite a few scares early on. I have seen a few jelly fish and a sun fish today along with a couple balls of discarded mooring or fishing lines.

  9. #19
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    Here's ALOHA at the start: https://vimeo.com/565896485

  10. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Philpott View Post
    Here's ALOHA at the start: https://vimeo.com/565896485
    I spied an Alabama battle flag…Roll Tide Roll!!!

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