New Boat 4 Sled

[sleddog]

Passage of a sattelite?

Yup! The I.S.S. (International Space Station) photographed passing in front of the sun. Usually the ISS is only visible just after sunset or before sunrise because it shines reflected sunlight. The only occasion when the ISS is visible during the day is when it passes right in front of the Sun. Then, it passes so quickly that only cameras taking short exposures can visually freeze the ISS's silhouette onto the background Sun. The photo did exactly that, a series of images taken earlier this month from Beijing, China with perfect timing. Looks kinda like the sun got stapled. See you again soon Ants!

[Philpott]

Despite Marianne's boosting the price of Macapuno from $7 to $7.50 to $8.00 a quart in a week, the CBC trivia will still be featured on this Forum with the usual prize. What is going on in this photo other than the solar flares and a sunspot

That is beautiful!
Your trivia awards have become quite expensive for you. Oh well. That's what happens when you become a philanthropist.The Voice of Reason says the word 'philanthropy' in Greek means love of mankind.

[sleddog]

Post frontal (FROPA is a weather bureau acronym for "FROntal PAssage.) conditions on Tomales Bay are frisky. The current photo taken from Inverness YC looking NW shows plenty of breeze. A couple of 45 knot puffs just knocked the new club anemometer off its mount. Doggies.

[Howard Spruit]

8 coats Deck varnish complete. First color coat applied, 2 more coats Yellow to be applied for cover.
Boot top stripe color and design being debated.
when the painting completed FINAL assembly starts next week!!!

[sleddog]

Kayaking most mornings, I'm well aware of the potential hazards of the Santa Cruz Harbor Entrance, including breaking waves, constriction of the channel by the dredge, and especially brain dead powerboaters and fishermen who speed in and out, breaking the 5 mph speed limit, and largely ignoring the effect of their wakes on small craft, including dinghies, SUPs, and kayaks.

This morning's outbound transit of the breakwater channel at first seemed uneventful, despite the dredge occupying the eastern third of the channel. As I approached the dredge, leaving it to port as directed by the signs, I became aware of a powerboat approaching from astern. A glance over my left shoulder showed a 22 foot outboard with a blue bimini in displacement mode, overtaking at about 8 knots to my 2-3 knots. He was leaving about a 2 foot breaking stern wake.

Quickly, the outboard caught and began to pass me on my port side. As he did so, he hit the throttle of his twin 150 outboards, went bow up, and his stern wake doubled in size. What made this encounter especially dangerous was his distance from my kayak was only 3-4 feet. I could easily have smacked him with my paddle!

Shocked at this brazen display of negligence, I had only a brief second to turn into the oncoming breaking wave to prevent a sure roll-over as he speed seaward, breaking onto a plane as he passed the bow of the dredge.

My heart was beating rapidly, partly out of anger, as I saw the offender slow to fishing speed about 1/4 mile ahead. WTF I thought. I would be swimming in the entrance channel with a capsized kayak if not for my quick turn.

There is a happy ending to this little story: Though I usually like to keep the proverbial arm's length distance from the Coast Guard, I noticed ahead an 87 foot CG cutter just getting underway from its buoy near the Santa Cruz Wharf. Usually the CG is not much in evidence in Santa Cruz, with only a visit maybe one night a month from their home base in Monterey, 25 miles across the Bay. Wow, I thought, what fortuitous timing.



I pressed the transmit button on my VHF handheld around my neck and called the cutter on Channel 16, identifying myself as "Kayak WILDFLOWER." CG Cutter HAWKSBILL immediately answered and we switched to 12. The skipper asked my concern, and I explained what had just happened, that I had been overtaken in a negligent manner and narrowly missed being capsized by the offending vessel, which just so happened to then being in the vicinity of the HAWKSBILL and identifiable by its blue bimini.

"Roger, Kayak WILDFLOWER. Copy your report. We will conduct a safety and educational boarding."

Music to my ears.

[Philpott]

Excellent, Skip! I hope that person gets educated HARD. Best not to mess with the Sleddog.

[sleddog]

Adrenalin was already running last Saturday morning as the parade of colorful 110's awaited singlefile on the Inverness YC pier for the tide to rise a few more inches so launching could commence. The reason for the fluttering hearts was the weather: the cold front and rain had just passed, and the wind had rapidly veered 180 from SE to NW while increasing to a gusty 15-20 knots, with obviously more to come judging from the fleeting dark clouds scudding overhead.

The warning horn blew just as the last 110 left the dock and the race was on. Most of the fleet had opted for smaller jibs rather than the traditional genoas. Indeed, we on SMART SHOES had hoisted a Mercury Class jib that seemed about the right size for the breeze-on conditions.

The first casualty was unexpected. Bren and Eric on LADY BUG returned to the dock with 3 minutes to start and lowered their jib. We didn't find out until after the race what had happened: Eric went to hook into the trapeze and found the trap wire missing. Missing? WTF, that's like an Indianapolis 500 racer starting with only 3 tires because the 4th was left somewhere in the pit garage. Turns out the trap wire was there, but hidden inside the zipper that attaches the jib luff to the headstay. "For the want of a nail, the shoe was lost.."

At the start, off we went on starboard at the pin end with David and Bill on GUNSMOKE just to leeward. We only had about 50 yards to the muddy shoals ahead where we knew David would call for "sea room" and force us to tack. Sure enough, there was an urgent hail from just to leeward. We had two options. 1) was to tack, and let David potentially carry on a little more inshore out of the flood tide current. 2) was to hail in return "You tack!" and then we were obligated to stay clear. An hour earlier my crew Sean and I had discussed just this possibility, and Sean's booming voice "you tack!" meant the ball was in David's court to tack, which he did and which we did, planting a nice lee bow. That was it for GUNSMOKE. But not quite....there was more action to come for GUNSMOKE as 25 knot puffs raked through the fleet and travelers were well eased and jib clews dropped aft.

We were first to "C mark" off Shell Beach, rounded, set the chute, and took off on a plane for B mark, just upwind of the start line, GUNSMOKE was about 50 yards astern, rounded, gybed and hoisted simultaneously. I glanced aft to see a mammoth puff hit GUNSMOKE in the middle of their gybe/hoist, their spinnaker go sideways, and over they went.

The good news for these narrow, lightweight, sensitive sport boats from a 1938 design is they can capsize, swamp, and fill, but not sink due to flotation bags and watertight bulkheads. In addition, the 300 pound fin keel means they will eventually float on an even keel, even if filled with water.. The bad news this day was a well meaning spectator onshore saw the capsize and called 911, meaning a Coast Guard helo got airborne, the West Marin fire trucks rushed from their stations, and the National Park rangers were about to join the action with their RIB inflatable. All unnecessary, and fortunately the cavalry was called off after the head of the Race Committee, a fire chief himself, realized what was going on and told the potential rescuers that David and Bill on GUNSMOKE were fine and making their way to shore.


photo courtesy Mike O'Shea

Though we won the first race, the wind continued to slowly increase, and we knew Bren and Eric would be formidable in the second race now they'd found their missing trapeze wire. TBC

[sleddog]

Though we won the first race, the wind continued to slowly increase, and we knew Bren and Eric would be formidable in the second race now they'd found their missing trapeze wire. TBC

The start of Saturday's second race was clean. We started at the pin (port end) on starboard. Bren and Eric dipped our stern and started on port. We tacked to cover, and the race was on, both crews locked together for the entire first leg, at times so close I could see Eric's smiling face through the mainsail window. At "C" mark we had a small lead, hoisted the spinnaker, and discovered the after guy had come adrift despite a figure eight stopper knot in its tail.

I grabbed the wayward guy which was dragging alongside, wrapped the 1/4" spectra around my hand, and held on for dear life. Bren was to windward and we turned "B" mark just ahead to sail back upwind. Puffs were in the 25 knot range and Bren played the west shore, making a small gain to round "C" mark about 30 seconds ahead, before taking off on a plane and doubling his lead.

Downwind, the start line was restricted. Bren went for the inshore end, just off the IYC dock while we went for the outside start mark. My mistake, as the last 1/4 mile was more reachy for us coming in from offshore. A mammoth westerly puff came down off the hills, and with our spinny pole on the headstay, we spun out and laid over. I glanced down to see water pouring into the cockpit over the leeward coaming and immediately let the spinnaker halyard run. With white nylon in the water to leeward instead of in its retrieval tube, we came upright before swamping, and were able to successfully get underway with about 30 gallons of water aboard. But had dropped to 3rd as Jonathan on WHITE KNUCKLES also wisely took the inshore route.

All in all, a fun and exhausting afternoon of sailing. Thanks to IYC RC for putting on the show.

[sleddog]

Good sailing to Todd Olsen on Olson-29 GWENDOLYN who cleared the Golden Gate this morning, 4/24/22 at 9:45 a.m. outbound on his 400 nautical mile Qualifier for the 2023 SHTP. https://share.garmin.com/ToddOlsen
The tracker will be updated hourly at 22 minutes after the hour.

[Philpott]

Thank you, Skip, for bringing Gwendolyn and Todd's qualifier to our attention. I wish them all the best and look forward to seeing them in Hanalei Bay next summer!