What worked, what didn't.

[BobJ]

Welcome back to all the returning skippers! I think Ronnie and Ed are still enroute, and Gary may not have reached Puget Sound yet. Any updates?

After the last couple of SHTP's we had a thread like this on the board, where skippers could say what worked (or didn't) during the race - what they might do differently, etc. Any contributions?

[ajgoldman]

Bob, great thread idea, I'll post a reply soon. In terms of warrior's wish, check out his website (on the SHTP page). Can someone confirm, did they loose the entire keel (of course, how do you loose part of a keel)? I wonder if the coast guard can give us more information? It seems they are going to try to sail the rest of the way with no keel.

I spent a lot of time with Ronnine and Ed in Waikiki, I've been thinking about them.

AJ

[BobJ]

From his description on another site, it sounds like the entire keel is gone.

My first reaction was they should motor-sail back down(wind) to Hawaii, but they are closer to the mainland and the weather forecast doesn't look too bad for them to continue on - the wind is light through next Thursday. The problem is it's on the beam.

Ronnie is about as resourceful as they come, they've received a bunch of diesel from a passing ship and it sounds like they are prepared if the boat rolls over. If they motor along gingerly, another six days should find them in L.A.

[Oceanslogic]

Hey Bob & AJ...
Just pulled this from Sailing Anarchy..
http://www.sailinganarchy.com/index_page1.php
Sounds like they have the situation somewhat under control and the weather for the next few days looks promising...About 700 miles from San Francisco...Will be following closely...Any idea how close to the coast they need to get before the Coasties could pull them in?

Adam
s/v BOZO
www.oceanslogic.com

[BobJ]

Hi Adam - the Coast Guard would take them off (or have another vessel get them) but they wouldn't tow the boat in. I don't know the range for the Coast Guard choppers but I don't think it's 700 miles.

[pfschmidt]

bobJ you asked about Gary on Pekele. Heard from him this evening. He is in Port Angeles, headed for Port Townsend. He was 20 Days out from Hawaii and finally spotted Cape Flattery thru the fog and pulled into Neah Bay, small Indian Village on coast. Says it is nice and warm, finally shorts and t-shirt weather plus stays light till 9PM. Working to get his land legs back though. He plans to cruise the Puget Sound area a little before heading south. Maybe coast will clear by then for him.

Pete S

[Culebra]

Ronnie is about as resourceful as they come, they've received a bunch of diesel from a passing ship and it sounds like they are prepared if the boat rolls over.

Sounds like they've got a "ton" (not literally) of motor oil in drums on the weather rail. How 'bout that... dinghy sailing sans dagger board 700 miles to weather. I'm sure Ronnie and Ed can do it, though. No sweat! Rock on you guys!

Paul/Culebra

[Culebra]

What didn't work:

Raymarine tiller pilot drive unit...definitely not reliable.

Leaky portlights and forehatch... they didn't leak before I left, but they sure did after our little storm and during most of the return. I should have rebed before the race just to be sure.

Twins... I never used them. I prefered poling out a jib or going bald headed in the squally weather. The boat still exceeded hull speed. And I couldn't sleep with two poles up anyway, for fear one would stab the water on a roll.

My stomach! Next time I'll be better prepared.

Food... Again, I'll be better prepared next time. Aside from staying dry, having the right food is probably the most important ingredient for morale (and energy).

What did work:

Spinnaker net... it was indispensable. I made my own and it worked great.

Solar panels... at the last minute I installed 2 65W Kyocera rigid solar panels. Supplied nearly all of my electrical needs. I used the engine to charge only once during the race (17 days), and only twice on the return (21 days). This gave me great peace of mind, and I hate hearing the engine anyway!

Power consumption of the instruments I chose... The current usage from the total of the "always on" instruments (Raymarine wind, depth, speed, x-5 pilot, Comar AIS transponder, Watchmate AIS display, VHF radio, Garmin GPS miniplotter) was barely over 1.5 Amp when the autopilot was in a low response mode, and at most it was 3 Amp when the pilot was in a high response mode. I was not surprised by the low current draw of the AIS components, but was very surprised by the miserly draw of the Raymarine stuff.

The Raymarine Smart Pilot x-5 controller... despite the poor reliability of the drive ram, the system itself performed great (I had a spare ram that served successfully for 3500 additional miles and is still purring softly). Handled a great variety of wind and sea conditions, both up and down wind, w/ and w/out spinnaker.

The remote control... also last minute I picked up a remote for the Raymarine gear. From my berth I could view all the instrument data and completely control the autopilot. Awesome, and in a storm? Well, let's just say I stayed drier.

Following a compass course... I tried both wind and compass, and mainly because of the boat's angle relative to the sea state, I prefered compass. Wind mode (and the Monitor vane) would quickly change the boat's the angle relative to the sea state as the wind strength varied (apparent wind anlge moves around a bunch with changing wind strength). Less drag of the rudder, less wagging around this way, too. True wind mode might have worked, but I didn't try it.

The boat... Olson (and Ericson) sure made a nice boat. Solid hull, built strong, swift and stable. I didn't sail the boat nearly as fast as she could go. I kept throttling her back because I was still new at this and unsure of my own ability. If sailed more aggressively, wow, she could fairly fly. Plus, on the return trip with the apparent wind well forward and the seas either forward or on the beam for about 2400 nm, this was a major test of her rigging, hull and joints, keel, you name it. I am so totally confident now in the boat's ability, and I guess more confident in my own, too.

The Quantum #2 headsail... it's a structured sail I picked up a year ago July, tafetta on one side for durability, their Fusion MX Technora design, supplied by Don Teakell and crew over in Richmond. I love it. It has taken Culebra now I think over 2000 nm in the past year (the Long Pac, SHTP and return from Hanalei). Its holds its shape perfectly in both light and heavy air; I was able to use it in a huge range of wind conditions (from little puffs to about 20 kts true); and it still looks and behaves brand-spanking new.

Oh, I could go on and on... but this is plenty for now.

Paul/Culebra

[Oceanslogic]

What did and didn't work aboard s/v Blue Moon International Folkboat:

What did work

*Twin headsails made by Lee Sails. Once we got to the "almost trades"...these Twins worked beautifully. And once I got used to the set up...I ended up taking the "Roper approach" and flying the twins with Main...with the windward twin on a pole and the leward twin trimmed to a close reach...

*My second hand drifter for the light air conditions. Being very much waterline challenged in the light stuff (19 feet for the Folkboat)...the drifter helped push us along. I will definitely have a drifter made for the next race.

*UK Halsey Mainsail w/ three reefs worked great. Well built...very solid construction...and it seemed to really put the turbo in the Turboed folkboat

*Forespar single burner gimbaled stove worked very well in a variety of sea conditions...Only used two green propane canisters for the trip over..very efficient.

*NASA Marine stand alone AIS unit: worth its weight in GOLD. I had this running 24/7 for the first week of the race...draws very little energy and really allows you to sleep a bit better

*GPS NavX setup on my 12" G4 Laptop worked well...but due to how wet everything became down below...I really ended up using my little handheld Garmin GPS 60 & chart for the majority of the race.

*Iridium Sat Phone worked very well...Long battery life....Never had an issue with reception...dropping calls..ect.

What didn't work or What I wished I had

*A good solid Autopilot--For this race I now believe it is a must. I brought along an old AH800 tiller pilot that worked in some situations but with any bumpy sea state...it did not like it! So I would install the nicest Autopilot I can afford for the next time.

*Not foreseeing just how wet things would get on my little Folkboat...next time around I would do a better job of having everything I don't want to get wet in Plastic bags...dry bags...etc. After the first 3-4 days of the race...my entire boat from forepeak to quarter berths was soaking wet...and once we started getting into warmer climates...everything had been wet for soo long that things started to GROW on my books, charts, clothes, etc. Keeping things dry is KEY!

*Extra pairs of Foul Weather Gear (perhaps even three sets!) My gear got soaking wet early and it would have been nice to have a fresh set waiting while my other set dried...And remember to always put your jacket over the bibs...in one of my exhausted states early on in the race...I mistakenly had my bibs over my Jacket...and water finds its way into your BIBS real easy with this scenario

*Wind Instruments would have been nice for all the downwind work of this trip...Going DDW...it would be nice to only have to look forward as opposed to up all the time

All in all..I was very pleased with Blue Moon's preparation...we didn't have anything major break...and the boat actually looked good once we reach Hanalei...Oh Hanalei

More to come...