Logs from LongPac racers

[Sparky]

1500, 7/29/2009

We had a good breeze leaving SF Bay today, winds were ~20 in the bay, and they dropped to 16 in the Bonita Channel. Later they continued to lighten, 5-6 knots at Duxbury Reef, currently 7 SW winds. Seas have been failrly flat all day. Lots of fog, at times hard to see anyone, and my glasses get covered in water until I cannot see, but for the last 5 hours, it has lifted some, and is now dry.

So far we have traveled 30 miles to our goal of 126.4, 184 miles to go before we turn around.

Coyote was the 3rd boad under the bridge today, and later gained the lead, until the super fast multi huls went past!

Most of the (rest) of the fleet is still in sight, working up the marin shore towards drakes bay, Coyote continues to work out towards our goal point, we are now several miles above the rest of the fleet.

Looking forward to BBQ Chicken tonight for dinner, and pudding for desert.

Signing off for now.

Steve
Coyote

[Sparky]

Yesterday evening, we passed over Cordel Bank Marine sanctuary, and sure enough whales! I noticed them because they were laying on the serface and their breathing was so heavy I could hear it from a mile away, I was not sure what the noise was at first, but then I saw, very cool. Had a few dolphins on the bow, and seals seem to be having a good ole time.

The entire fleet checked in last night at 2100 ( 9pm) and gave their positions. I was surprised that we were all within VHF range, a few checked in on SSB.

The watch schedule last was new for me. I set my alarm clock for 25 minutes, and went to bed...with my clothes and PFD (personal floatation deviise) when the alarm went off, I clipped on, went on deck, adjusted the sails, logged my position, checked the AIS and Radar, then went back to bed for 25. At first I did not think I was sleeping, just waiting for the alarm to go off, but I must have slept because I feel pretty good this morning.

It was very wet last night with the fog on the sails, I got "rained" on everytime I adjusted the sails!

This morning everything is still wet, but the fog is off the deck a few hundred feet, so the visability is pretty good. I only see one boat now off my starboard quarter, last night with the lights on and strobes I could see 4-5.
There has been a good wind all night running between 13-17, so I am making good time , between 6-8 knots.

I have breakfast in the oven,, then probably a nap!

That's all for now.

Steve
Coyote

[Sparky]

Beautiful day on the ocean, foggy but with some sun shining thru now and again.

Winds have held steady all day 12=14 knots, so I am making good progress toward the turn around point. We were headed a while ago, so I just let the boat follow the header, not much else I could do, and when I woke from my nap, we were heading to a new course better then when I went to sleep.....Just let Coyote do the driving I guess.....

Only saw one boat today, a boat with a red jib, has been on my starboard quarter, off ~5 miles or more, for 24 hours, I think I am gaining on him a bit.

I am sure there are boats around me, I just cannot see them, too far away, although there has been some nice chat on the radios between the boats today, so I know they are around, but I imagine we are getting a bit spread out by now.

We have 46 miles to go to the turn around point, so if the wind holds, I should turn around and head back to SF by midnight or so.

The food is holding out well, so well in fact that my lunch burrito was frozen when I bit into it, so I had to bake it first!

There are two ships heading right for me now, I am so glad we have the AIS, a caution message has ben on screen for hours now, one of the boat will cross within 1/2 mile in 1 hour 18 minutes,,Thanks Paul this is terrific software! I expect the alarm to go off in 18 minutes.....

The Radar wakes up each 5 minutes, does a few sweeps, and if nothing (island, ship, boat etc) has entered the guard zone, then it goes back to sleep, else the alarm sounds to alert me.

It is nice being able to email friends and family, and call Connie twice a day to stay in touch, more tricks I learned from Paul!

Lasagna for dinner tonight,pudding for dessert.

signing off for now.

Steve
Coyote

[Sparky]

This was sent to his wife, as well as the email address in the Comm Plan to send for posting. My apologies in advance if Jim gets upset with me, hopefully not!
==================================
Friday 7/30/09 20:01

Mary -

Its been an interesting race so far.
The weather has been pretty good with primarily 8-13k of wind out of the West (except for the first several hours where we had mostly 4-6k).

Thursday during the day was a southerly so most of the fleet was on port tack heading to Drake's bay.
Right at Drake's bay - maybe two miles past chimney rock - the wind swung to the west - a perfect time to tack and head south (the gribs indicated more wind pressure to the south too).
Just before sunset, passed almost over the top of Noon Day Rock - the northern most Farallone Island (though Noon Day Rock is not an island... its just below the surface). Went a little farther south then I wanted to not go over the rock - which was okay as getting south to the stronger wind was a good thing.

Now came the tricky part for me - sleeping. How much, how long, how frequent would work for me?
The wind was oscillating between 270 and 320 degrees every 30-60 minutes or so which meant regular trim and helm changes. Started out with two 30 minute cat naps in the cockpit - getting up for 5 minutes to check heading, trim and AIS. Then moved below and took several 45, 60, 70 and 90 minute naps. So to my surprise I slept probably 7 hours last night (and another 3 hours during the day Friday). Double handing was more fatiguing. :-)


A few container ships went by during the night mostly heading from LA to Asia - none closer then 2 miles away. One entrant, Alchera I believe (J/120), passed astern just 100 yards - at maybe 3 in the morning. I spotted him directly astern at closest approach when I first woke up from a hour long nap. He was heading south at a good clip. I wonder if he was awake and saw me? I had my pig stick strobe going at the mast head all night...

Will be "making the turn" just after midnight (I hope). Will be interesting to see if I can fly the chute - or will need to stay with the big jib top. I suspect I won't get as much sleep tonight as last night. It's the old "get as much sleep as you can whenever you can because you never know when you'll need to go a long time without sleep" - sleep is a weapon. :-)

Miss you. See you Saturday! (maybe early, maybe not)

Love,
Jim

[Sparky]

Mary -

Oops!
Of course the last e-mail was Thursday at 8pm and not Friday.
Maybe I am a little groggy? :-)

Just getting over a slight case of mal de mer too. :-)

Love,
Jim

[Sparky]

Nat from Elise (Express 27) called via sat phone to report all is well and they're currently experiencing winds in the 14-16 knot range, and very happy about it, as it has been a little light all day.

This morning they saw a few other racers nearby, but now are sailing all alone. They also saw a baby whale, seals, and one container ship.

-end of report.

[Sparky]

Friday morning, July 31:

This morning finds me in a cheery mood after a night of good sleep and good speed. After the first two hour nap (big one!) I woke up in a serious daze: who am I, where am I, what am I doing here, don't move until you figure all that out because it might be dangerous. I sleep with all of my outside clothes, harness, and tether attached so if I have to run outside in a daze at least all of the critical safety stuff is in place. I got it together, and after the third nap the sky was starting to lighten so I got up and made coffee.

After the second nighttime nap I spent some time outside observing bioluminescence trails off of the hulls. Sometimes I run through richer ocean patches of plankton, and when they are disturbed the critters glow softy. The leeward hull had a knife like ribbon of glow along its side and trailing behind, while behind the main hull a broad fan of glowy stuff spread out. From time to time there would be an apple size blob of something that would light up brightly, and once or twice such a thing splashed up onto the nets and hung there briefly until it expired. A few minutes later I was out of that richness and the ocean was nearly invisible in the moonless darkness, appearing steely gray and emitting a gentle hissing sound as I glided along comfortably at a racy 10 knots.

Those of you observing the tracking noted that I reached the turn-around line last night shortly before sunset. My very southerly course put me south of the race fleet, so while I had all instrumentation on full alert I had no contacts with any boat on the return course, and now I am clear of the entire fleet.

Except for the very light conditions in the first few hours of the race, the wind has been fairly ideal, moderate, NW about 10 to 14 knots, which is enough for good boat speed and not so much that it is rough and wet; ideal for me! The light to moderate winds and NW direction made my fastest course more southerly than the rest of the fleet, it has to do with the shift in apparent wind as boat speed increases. I (any sailboat) am limited to sailing with the wind no less than 40 degrees right or left off of center, and as boat speed increases the apparent wind moves forward (think of wind in your face on a bicycle), so I have to steer a little wider than slower boats to maintain that 40 degrees. At this time, Friday morniing, a zone of very light wind is settling in on the turn-around region and I am glad to have escaped it. Some of the fleet may be trapped there for a while, but my guess is that Coyote, Tiger Beetle, Outsider, and Alchera have also escaped it and they are hot on my tail. It looks like I might finish around 8 tonight.

While the wind and waves are very nice, the sky has been full cloud cover with cosistent drizzle and 50 to 55 degrees, so it is a damp and clammy ride out here.

All the best, Jeff

[Sparky]

Friday, 7/31/09 13:10

Yesterday and Last evening were great, lots of wind, and quickly arriving to the turn-around point, looks like a number of us were to hit it at the same time...and fast!

Then,,,,the wind died,,3 miles from the turning point, and instead of 1 hour away, I was 4.5 hours away,,,since I was expecting to head for home at 11pm, and did not actually turn until 2am, I missed a lot of sleep.

Once turned around, and headed for SF, the winds continued light all night, and I did get lots of needed rest.

At check-in this morning, I found that some of the boats I thought I had been with were now 50 miles ahead of me, and to make matters worse, the reported good winds, and all day I have had only 2-4 knots of wind.

The going is slow, tried the spinnaker for a few hours, but took me too far south, so back to white sails, making the best of the wind I have.

just heard from Green Buffalo, he is monitoring my AIS, and apparently he is only a few miles away, but I cannot see him.
He has the same wind conditions, currently 2.5 knots, oh wait,,,now it is 4 = life is great again, oh, back to 3.....

Saw more whales out here on the calm flat sea, always alerted to them by their breathing...

It has been very warm, even thought it is foggy, but wet at night, the fog is so heavy that everything gets soaked, I need to be careful where I kneel to work, or sit! Today it is very sunny too, so my gloves, jacket, pants and all wet gear is outside drying now.

Well, back to sail trimming, I need to make each puff count.

Steve
Coyote

[Sparky]

Just received a sat phone call from George on TAZ!!

He's really close to the turn around point and reported very light wind, from 1.5 - 2.5 knot range. There's also talk of a few boats that are contemplating firing up their engines to get back. He has plenty enough food and water for the long haul, so he's sticking to the game plan.

- end of report

[Sparky]

From: Green Buffalo 7/31/09 15:51

Beautiful afternoon - blue skies, 6k wind and boat making 5k.
Yes a bit more wind would be helpful... but 6k wind is a vast improvement over slatting earlier in the day.

Grey whale stopped by and made like it was a dolphin. Breached 20 feet to port. Dove under the boat and breached 20 foot off the bow. Dove again coming up on my port bow wave (I took a picture with my cell to prove it). Yes I was a bit nervous with a 30 foot gray whale thinking it was a dolphin playing in my bow wave (especially after the sperm whale collision in last year's PacCup).

Took off my foulies just before lunch when the overcast cleared (first time they have been off in the last two days) and living in polypro longjohns. Makes for comfy naps. :-)

I have set a deadline of finishing by Sunday morning. If I am not under 100 miles to finish by Saturday (tomorrow) morning, its engine time (I have enough fuel to motor 150 miles).
That said, I am hopeful of finishing late Saturday - if I can just a wee bit more wind... 8-10k is all I need.

Jim

PS
Flaked the #1 this morning... gave it a good look over... I think its need to be retired by the end of this season. 5 good years on a race sail... no complaints... I told Kame I wanted a race sail that would last me 5 years. It did. I wonder how much the price of carbon has increased in the last 5 years... :-)