Emails from the fleet

[Philpott]

Wednesday check in from Siren. Gonna re charge until 5pm. This old Garmin isn't energy efficient apparently.

[Philpott]

From Horizon: Race report: if I could send a photo it would say warm sun, blue water, shorts, t shirt. Slow going for the next two days unfortunately. But I’ll take it.

[Philpott]

Reverie daily report Wed 6/28

Winds light and shifty all night, but I decided not to put up Code 0 and get some sleep instead. As a result, Solstice sailed away from me and out of AIS range. Elmach caught up and passed me in the morning. Grey skies and occasional drizzle. Put up code 0 after breakfast (around 09:00 - I slept in , as the winds were fluctuating every 30 min from less then 10 to over 16 (and getting headed as wind piped up). Got hit by a ‘micro squall’ - wind headed about 30 deg and got up to 17-18 kts for about 5 min. After that wind abated to 9-12 kts and code 0 was not enough. Finally (after much wondering if I’ll get hit by another wind shift) put up A2 at 12:30 after waiting out a squall to pass behind me.

After that, it’s like someone flipped a switch - felt like a completely different world. Going downwind, sunny, and much warmer than the previous couple of days.

Awaiting the afternoon position report - I think I slipped down a few places due to procrastinating with the code 0/spinnaker. I feel I need a lot more experience sailing downwind - trying to figure things out as I go.

[Philpott]

Tales from the Deck of Tortuga
Tuesday, June 27th

Got some decent rest on and off throughout the night. Woke up early to light conditions and shook out the reefs in the main. Sleeping conditions are great with the port settee on the low side and a great place to nestle in. Some things are money well spent, i.e., the world's most expensive sleeping bag from Ocean Sleepwear. They make them for the extreme survival ocean races like Vendee-type conditions etc. A nice thick fleece liner with an amazing outer shell. Doesn’t seem to mind if you’re wet. You’re still warm and cozy. I call mine The Revenant. If you’ve seen the movie, you understand.

Made some blueberry pancakes to kick off the day and then switched out to my super Yankee, and we’ve been flying along all day at 6.5/7 knots in 12/14 knots. Could use some more sun to top off the house bank. The new AP is a bit power-hungry. Got the folding solar panels out on deck for the goal zero battery that I use to charge all the devices etc. Hope I’m sailing down south enough of the high-pressure zone. Could actually be out on deck today without getting soaked. A welcome change, and I think we are out of the “windy reach”.

I set up the Monitor Windvane to start steering this afternoon to give the AP a break and conserve more battery power. If the wind backs up a bit more tomorrow, I will fly the code 808.

Looks flat up ahead. Hope I don’t sail over the edge…

⛵️Team Tortuga 🐢
~~~_/)~~~

[Philpott]

Green Buffalo POL (and more ;-) )

Wednesday
June 28th
Day 3

The wind swung aft at 5am early this morning... AWA went from 70-90 to 100-120 degrees... 14k-16k... spinnaker weather! Watched the wind direction oscillate a bit over a few hours while prepping for the hoist. Getting pole setup. 3/4 oz AP on deck and hooked up to sheets, guys and halyard. Double checking everything to insure a clean "first hoist" (nothing worse then making a mess of the first hoist :-) ). So at 730am up it went. Clean and easy. Had plenty of yarn on the chute including frogs legs so it was all the way up before it opened. Then hustling to get some basic trim while getting the jib top down on deck. Took two hours to settle everything down... tweaking sheets, tweaking autopilot, tweaking heading... till it got to the point I could stop and take a rest (yes a nap).

All day the wind "occasionally" swings back (a header) and I have to trim the sheet and guy and head off a tad... currently heading off a bit more then I want but I believe the extra speed from the spinnaker makes it worth it. Now hoping the night quiets down a bit... having seen 18k at times on a header (okay but uncomfortable being on the beam)- so I can get more sleep (yes I like my sleep).

Real food today (though not everyone would call it that)... mac and cheese with a can of tuna thrown in (I should have thrown in a can of string beans but forgot). It was a lot of mac and cheese so had it for both lunch and dinner (waste not want not). As some of you know I am not a foodie... really just need to get some calories on board after "not much" the first two days.

Had my first bowel movement. Now non sailors might wonder why I would mention this. But when going offshore, ones first BM is a good sign that "all systems are go". The bump, food and sleep disruptions can make one a bit irregular... and constipation offshore can be a serious thing.

Stripped down to just my longjohns as the boat heated up quite a bit today... foulies and boots are put away till the next time I have to go on the foredeck (as I was this afternoon to flake and brick the jib top and get the spinnaker net set).

T-shirt and bathing suit tomorrow and maybe a shower?

And when is that High going to leave in a NW direction so I can just "point the boat to the palm trees"?

Cheers,
Jim Q

[Philpott]

The Race Committee is beginning to relax. No boats have fallen off the end of the horizon, everyone has sent in Proof Of Life and David Herrigel might finally get a solid night's sleep. Here is his most recent memo to the rest of us:

We have crossed the ridge and are settling in
🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆

Good night, sailors. Good night, moon.

[Philpott]

Christophe Desage (via inReach)
9:02 PM (2 hours ago)
to racereporting

End of D4 - ELMACH: Enfin du soleil ! Shorts, a bit of Gennaker, still catching-up on some sleep. Sea state much easier with .5 to 1m waves.

[Philpott]

Thursday 6/29 - all good aboard Reverie, beautiful warm day but slow going due to light winds

[Philpott]

Horizon, Day 1: It's been one day since I cast off. The sea was angry with me all night. Chastising me for a bad start? Washing off my sins? Horizon and the yet-to-be-named Windvane did me a solid. I tended to their needs and they kept me safe. 30 kn gusts, went south a bit. Daylight reveals the carnage, but also gives me back my confidence.

Horizon, Day 2: Sometimes I have more choices than I need. For example, all my gloves are either damp, a little wet, or wet. If I choose the damp ones they might get wet, so I decided to wear the wet gloves. That's a problem I was solving last night. Bummed to see my friend turn around. This morning seas are relaxed, feeling good. Morning made better by chocolate covered almonds.

Horizon, Day 4: SSDD = Spinnaker set, Deep downwind. I'm trying to get out of low wind as quickly as possible. Working a lot harder today than any other day trying to get the boat to move. Finally moving at 6, with 8 on my back. Not in the direction that I want to go, but I'll take it.

[Philpott]

Green Buffalo POL (and more ;-) )

Thursday
June 29th
Day 4

Restless night last night. Wind speed as low as 7k and as high as 12k (yes liht). Wind direction oscillating from 95 to 170 AWA. Up down. Trim the spinny and tweak Otto (the autopilot). All night long. And then the morning was light somewhat frustrating 6k-9k though with less oscillations. I think I am now across the High pressure "ridge" as the wind has built to 10k-13k and rarely changes directions... and settled in at a great 100-120 AWA (ie fast given these lightish winds).

Hooked up the outgrabber (sheets the spinnaker to near the end of the bottom while also reducing "boom bang"). Moved a few sails that were on deck to down below (grunt... that heavy #1 and jib top).

Over the next day the course takes us over the "Moonless Mountains" which is a bit of an oxymoron as the moon is out most of the night and you can just about read a book by the moonlight. The Moonless Mountains are near 4000 feet tall... but off a "plain" that is over 5000 feet below sea level. So that makes them about the same size as Mt Tamalpais, Mt Diablo and the Santa Cruz mountains (but yes their "tops" are still well over 1000 feet below the surface). Pull out your chart and take a look at 30 degrees Lat by 140 degrees Long.

Finally got to that tortellini (cheese and spinach) with marinara and parmesan. mmm mmm good! (despite not being Campbells :-) ).

Did a little sunbathing in my birthday suit (just 15 minutes) to help me feel a bit more human (all the time below deck makes one start to feel like those subterranean people in the "Time Traveler"). Though I hoped to shower today... that will wait till tomorrow (boy am I looking forward to it).

The boat is "almost pointed at the palm trees now... but that is premature... it will likely be two days on this spinnaker run with the wind slowly lifting before the first jibe (140 ish?).

Cheers,
Jim Q