Page 388 of 628 FirstFirst ... 288338378384385386387388389390391392398438488 ... LastLast
Results 3,871 to 3,880 of 6278

Thread: New Boat 4 Sled

  1. #3871
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Capitola,CA
    Posts
    3,338

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Dazzler View Post
    Looks like there are a lot of good stories in that list. So, Sled can you relate the story of “7. MERLIN crew swimming ahead, towing MERLIN across finish in 1979.” Were you one of the swimmers?
    The '79 Transpac was exceedingly slow. With 644 miles to go, we on MERLIN had a 44 mile lead on our competition, DRIFTER, who was further north. Then the leading pack hit a giant wind hole and essentially sat for 3 days. It was here Stan Honey, navigator on DRIFTER, made the decision to gybe behind MERLIN and head due south for 24 hours. End of Race, as DRIFTER found wind and sailed away.

    Meanwhile, on MERLIN the crew was not happy, food was low, and the propane stove had blown the regulator. Popcorn and cold instant coffee is not a good look.

    At one point I took a shiny winch handle and lowered it over until it disappeared. Measuring the line showed the water clarity was 120 feet from the glassy surface.

    Finally, beating in light head winds, we got MERLIN to Makapuu Point, 10 miles from the finish. And then the wind really died on a hot morning as we drifted eastward on the flood tide. It took us 5 hours to go the last 6 miles as the charterer/skipper was slowly going nuts. Then, as we approached the finish line, Diamond Head R"2" buoy, the tide turned to ebb, leaving us boat length short. We could see the foul current wake beginning on the nearby buoy. And we began to drift backwards.

    Not your typical Transpac sleighride "bring what you got" finish.

    While the crew attempted to nurse the draping sails for any forward progress, I tied 2 light spinny sheets together and to MERLIN's bow, then jumped off and swam over the finish line, a boat length ahead. On the right side of the line by a boat length, I configured my body for max drag and tried to pull MERLIN forward.

    I don't know whether it was my pulling, or a vagrant puff. But we got word from the RC at the Diamond Head Lighthouse that we had finished. Then the rest of MERLIN's crew jumped overboard. All except the charterer, who, sweating at the helm, was considering how much money he had spent chasing MERLIN's record set 2 years earlier. We were 3 days behind that. Did we really need those new spinnakers and extra long spinnaker poles?

    Though Stan Honey was always a student of the game of offshore racing, weather, navigation, and tactics, his decision to head due south this race with DRIFTER was one of the defining moments when his intuitive skills came to the fore for the world to see.
    Last edited by sleddog; 07-18-2020 at 07:23 PM.

  2. #3872
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Capitola,CA
    Posts
    3,338

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Bob Buell View Post
    I submit that Common Sense was last to finish the 1934 Transpac due to losing her mast and sailing in with jury rig, also the smallest boat to have entered at the time.
    So I say #25 is FALSE, no hitchhiker Giant Squids allowed on Transpac !!
    Here is a model of COMMON SENSE, designed and built by the "Wizard of Hurricane Gulch," Matt Walsh, in San Pedro in 1932. Six were eventually built, and proved so fast that Transpac YC changed its eligibility rule to disallow a boat this small (28 feet LOA) from entering. The then revised TPYC rule of minimum LWL of 28 feet stood for many years until more recently supplanted by a minimum rating. I attempted to enter WILDFLOWER in the 2007 Transpac, but she was deemed "too slow," and ineligible to compete.

    Little COMMON SENSE, though leading boat for boat at the West End of Catalina in the '34 Transpac and for the next 4 days, fell afoul of a broken mast when the standing backstay parted. No giant squid involved in the mast's demise.

    Name:  common sense.jpg
Views: 563
Size:  34.0 KB
    Last edited by sleddog; 07-18-2020 at 07:32 PM.

  3. #3873
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Posts
    609

    Default

    I attempted to enter WILDFLOWER in the 2007 Transpac, but she was deemed "too slow," and ineligible to compete.
    Did Wildflower have an inboard?

  4. #3874
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Capitola,CA
    Posts
    3,338

    Default

    Hi Greg,

    When originally launched in 1975, and sailed in the 1978 SHTP, WILDFLOWER had no engine, just a sculling oar. Then we briefly suffered a Seagull outboard on the stern. In 1982 we put in a small BMW diesel. And in 1995 graduated to a Yanmar one cylinder inboard which we ran on bio-diesel.

  5. #3875
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Posts
    609

    Default

    Ahhh.... got it. The Azzura is no welcome in the Transpac as she has an outboard.

  6. #3876
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Capitola,CA
    Posts
    3,338

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by solosailor View Post
    Ahhh.... got it. The Azzura is no welcome in the Transpac as she has an outboard.
    If your boat wants to race Honolulu Transpac, here are the requirements regarding engines, outboards and inboards. Nutsy rule that an outboard must be an inboard, with a hole in the bottom. WTF? I call it the "Schock 40" rule, as that is what they have.

    8.3 Propellers may not be banded or restrained in any way. All yachts must power to the starting line and into harbor after finishing. If any damage or other circumstance prevents motoring to the start or from the finish, the circumstances must be logged and reported to the Race Committee. The inability to power to the start or from the finish line may constitute grounds for protest by the Race Committee.

    Inboard power shall be in accordance with SER 2.7.1 .An exception is provided for power by outboard motor providing ALL the following five conditions are met:

    8.6.1 The outboard motor shall be stored in the location from which it will be deployed, such that the only action required to deploy it is to lower it into the water. The mounting clamps must remain tight during deployment. Retractable hull fairing is permitted in the area where the propeller is retracted. Such fairing must be in place for measurement and while racing.

    8.6.2 The outboard motor must be mounted in an inboard location. Transom mounting does not meet the requirement.

    8.6.3 There shall be a separate, permanently installed electrical generating and storage system sufficient to meet all electrical needs including running lights, emergency communications and those described in NOR 14, which may include fossil fuel generator that complies with OSR 3.28.2, wind generator, hydro generator and/or solar generator.

    8.6.4 Fuel for both outboard motor and any generator fulfilling the requirements of NOR 8.6.3shallbe stored in permanently installed fuel system(s), which comply with SER 2.7.3.

    8.6.5 The speed under power shall be no less than that required for inboard power.
    Last edited by sleddog; 07-19-2020 at 10:22 AM.

  7. #3877
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Posts
    3,485

    Default

    hahaha! Those are byzantine rules, worthy of recent missives by public health officials. My eyes are so crossed I need to go sailing to straighten them out. Wish I could see ya out there, Skip!

  8. #3878
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    San Francisco Bay Area
    Posts
    2,095

    Default

    OK, then! You have to have your "outboard" set up in a "trap door" arrangement, like the Hotfoot 27 did, or the Flying Tiger 10M, or the Seascape 27.

    You know, that's just a bizarre rule. There's no safety logic behind that rule, at all.
    Last edited by AlanH; 07-20-2020 at 01:11 AM.
    1968 Selmer Series 9 B-flat and A clarinets
    1962 Buesher "Aristocrat" tenor saxophone
    Piper One Design 24, Hull #35; "Alpha"

  9. #3879
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Posts
    609

    Default

    Deployment and cavitation seem to be the concern. Outboard running gas in an outboard well is VERY dangerous. A fan needs to be run to evacuate the fumes to prevent an explosion. The Hobie 33, Melges 32, Henderson 30, Seascape 27, etc. all have outboard wells. I've designed several well setups for the Azzura but I just can't bring myself to cut a giant hole in the middle of my cockpit.

  10. #3880
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Posts
    3,688

    Default

    This was all about selecting the fleet they want in the LA TransPac. It would embarrass those big-bucks programs when (not if) an Olson 30, Moore or Express 27 won it.

    I looked into doing that race with Ragtime! (which had an inboard) and she wouldn't qualify. Once you studied the rules it became apparent what they were doing.

    There used to be a couple of turbo'd Hobie 33's down there with well-connected skippers. The outboard rule was probably crafted to allow them into the fleet.
    .
    Last edited by BobJ; 07-20-2020 at 10:00 AM.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •