New Boat 4 Sled

[sleddog]

A bold move this morning (Wed.) aboard DOMINO to jibe south, sailing right angles to course, in search of more breeze and the fabled tradewinds just out of reach south of 30N and west of 135W.

Wx charts are showing fading breeze, <10 knots, for the more northern boats in the SHTP fleet. DOMINO's move, though adding significant miles, may get more (wind) pressure, 10-15 knots from the NE, sooner. Especially later in the week when the distant approach of then to be Tropical Storm Blas compresses the isobars, creating 20 knot tradewinds.

"You pays your money and takes your choices." What initially appears to be a risky move may prove to be the conservative one. "More wind to the south" cries the wandering albatross.

[sleddog]

A full week after the all carbon 32' beach cat Team MADDOG claimed overall honors in the Race2Alaska, half the fleet is struggling to get north. 13 finishers so far, all crewed and over 20 feet.

But there's more. The boats still at sea are mostly improbable. Team ALULA is crewed by three guys in wheel chairs. Team KRAKEN UP started with 9 women rowing a heavy whaleboat yawl. They are now down to 4 1/2. Their stories are no less compelling than MADDOG. Just different approaches as they find and extend the boundaries of the human spirit and endurance. Nobody said the R2AK was a safe thing to attempt. I thought about it, began preparations, then withdrew knowing my boat and I weren't ready for the challenge.

Others persevered. They're not racing to win anything. Just to get there. Maybe prudence is not a priority. But I'd still shake their hands in a heartbeat.

Jake picks up their stories:


It’s easy to underestimate the sea. More than the storms, it possesses a quiet inevitability, give it time and the sea can wear human will and elemental material into a nub. Walk along the sandstone shores of the Pacific Northwest and you can see its power to wear away the most durable material known until bronze came on the scene. Thanks to the perpetuity of the sun, moon, and our elliptical progression of rotations through the void of space, the seas inevitable rise and fall and wear at the cliffs, turning the rock itself into Daliesque landscapes that curve, and wail, and make you wonder when you should start taking acid and let the melting clocks make sense of it all. Sometimes the surrealist waves of stone give way to honeycomb like structures in the rock itself, a process started with the dislodging of a single grain of sand. A single grain that rattles around, gaining momentum, importance and followers until the geology is changed forever—giving shorebirds new nests and photography students more of the same new material as last quarter. It all seems inevitable as the tides themselves. The sea takes its toll and creates anew. Through the stone, bronze, iron and now R2AK age, the sea has worn down the hardest substances known to man.

At time of writing, the saltwater has laid a thankfully lifeless claim to eight teams, boats and crews that have been worn away by the rigors of the route, some before even starting. There has been damage, broken boats, shattered morale, evolving priorities, injury and better judgement. As these words hit the page there are two teams whose campaigns hang in the balance: Team Kraken Up and Team Alula.

The nine, then eight, then a self-diagnosed “4 1/2” women of Team Kraken Up are anchored up in their open boat in the Maude Island waiting room for Seymour Narrows. Their departing crew? Two of the three were inexperienced and uncomfortable with the unpredictability of the Inside Passage. Their captain is one of the most competent professional mariners on this part of the coast, but even with the best of the best at the helm the answers aren’t often known until the question is long retired. As the phrase goes “Wanna make god laugh? Make a plan…” Choosing a boat for the R2AK whose primary attribute is its ability to go 1/3 as fast as the tide means that for however long they are the race they are living by the weather and tides. No way to fight it, totally subservient, and a reality that was a bit much for some of their crew who weren’t ready for the constant and massive changes in plans that happen when you are beholden to the unknown complexity of the elements. The third had a finite amount of time to give and the timer went off close enough to Campbell River to get a ride home.

Despite all of that adversity, that single grain of expectations making a honeycomb of their monolith and whittling away a third of their crew, in their own words today was their “best day ever.” Tracker junkies found them in the marina and inquired as to their gelato supplies that had apparently become their power animal. Team Kraken Up found 5 knots of counter currents and made time against the brunt of the ebb by working the shallows, and the five that remained had a humpback apiece that are still heard in the distance as they wait for their window at Seymour Narrows. Rockstar status, a re-up on gelato, more miles than they thought possible? Best day.Their decision point on whether or not to press on will be ongoing, until it’s not.

Team Alula’s progress has been slow, and then stinted as conditions did not match their hopes for a fast passage. The light airs of the southern course haven’t favored the trimaran piloted by three wheelchair bound sailors. They can row, they’ve been rowing, but concentrating all of that effort onto half of a body’s muscles must have been exhausting. They’d clawed their way to just before Campbell River, when Bruno made his intentions clear: He needed to get off to make a date in New York where he is being fitted with an exoskeleton. As comic book scholars we totally understood, these guys were already halfway to superhero, but how could you pass up the opportunity to become Iron Man? This race was all of theres’, but with Bruno gone the prospect of an early exit now was as much sacrilege as an inevitability. Still, the boys on Alula don’t have a single ounce of quit. We read their text to the race phone at last Friday’s finish line party:

“This is Team ALULA. We just lost a crew member in Campbell River and are down to two. We need two on the oars to carry on. The two of us left are determined to get to Ketchikan before the grim sweeper. What we are looking for is another crew member. Preferably someone who has had to had to pull out of the race and wants to carry on or has finished the race and wants more. I realize this will officially take us out of the race but we have always been a race of one. This is more than a race to Alaska for us. Can you help us find a crew member and carry on? As of now, we are still in the race until someone steps on the boat as crew. Or we can no longer continue. We love this race and every thing it has thrown at us, can’t thank you guys enough for letting us be a part of this amazing adventure.”

You could hear a pin drop. The silence wasn’t the callous shrug of the shoulder of sailors anxious to return to a well earned beverage. It turned out to be the inhalation prior to Stage 2’s “I am Spartacus.” Team Alula asked for help and the R2AK community rallied to deliver. Morgan Tedrow from Team Mail Order Bride said, “The idea immediately sounded workable. Then Jake bought me a few more beers and I decided I was game.” Mark Eastham from Team It Ain’t Brain Surgery met Team Alula in Port Townsend and was an instant fan. For Eastham, this call for crew was “a no brainer.” Both Tedrow and Eastham called in and stretched their time off to help these guys make it to the finish. Why? Because even without an exoskeleton, Team Alula are the superheroes of the R2AK. Neither Tedrow or Eastham could do the whole distance, so they devised a plan and split Alula’s remaining distance in two. Tedrow flew to Campbell River to sail north and Eastham will take over when they reach Bella Bella. Team Alula is getting to Ketchikan. You can hear the slow clap all the way from here. Kleenex sales have skyrocketed all along Coastal BC.

While the sea may wear away, the sailors of the R2AK keep building something bigger and better. Bird nests of compassion? Barnacles of tenacity? Kelp beds of a better metaphor? Who knows, there’s still plenty of race left to go. Anything could happen (except maybe that last one), stay tuned.

[Gamayun]

Barnacles of tenacity. Just lovely. Go Team Alula and Team Kraken Up!

[sleddog]

The clicking sound in the background is four of the tailenders in the SHTP putting on their left turn blinkers.

Up head, the breeze is going light for anyone above 32 degrees N. latitude. And doesn't look to refill with any consistency until Saturday afternoon, 48 hours from now. Further south, it's a three boat race between CATO, VENTUS, and DOMINO. DOMINO is almost out of bounds, driving over the shoulder and into the left rough, sailing significantly more miles in search of the popcorn clouds and 20 knots of tradewinds further south. Can DOMINO parlay the extra distance into extra breeze?

Hmmm. I've been mentoring one of this year's Bugliters for some months. When he told me his routing program suggested a northerly course, north of the Great Circle, I spilled my coffee on my keyboard. I certainly see value in the arrows and nice highways of GRIB charts and routing programs. But weather routing for a Transpac thankfully remains as much art as science.

I like to visualize Eastern and Central Pacific weather patterns using good, old fashioned weather fax, something that's been around since WW II when the maps were sent in code. I'm so old, I remember sitting at Transpac nav stations, writing down, then deciphering the 5 digit codes, then hand drawing the weather charts that were in turn hand drawn by some weatherman on shore. It was a 45 minute job to collect and draw one chart

Now days its easier than ever. The weather fax charts are continuously available. Some are helpful for the SHTP. Some, like for the Western Pacific, or ice limits, are just of interest.

http://www.opc.ncep.noaa.gov/shtml/P_brief.shtml

The real time weather fax chart I call the "Anal." Actually, it's the "Pacific Surface Analysis," usually 3-6 hours old upon receipt. Then there's the 24, 48, and 96 hour charts. All those lines are isobars, lines of equal barometric pressure. The closer the isobars, the more the wind.



The rule of thumb for a Tranpac used to be follow the 1020 isobar. Back in the day, calibrating a barometer was tricky business, and I'd have to make a special trip to LAX or SFO airport, barometer in hand, to divine the local reading. The internet has changed all that.

What the internet hasn't changed is figuring out the weather beyond 4-5 days. GRIB pretends it knows, and often it's right. But there's few ships or buoys in the Pacific that give accurate reports. Garbage in, garbage out. And the ever-changing perimeter of the Pacific High is like jello. Now it's here, now it's there.

In our current case, the 2016 SHTP, a direct course from south of the Farallones to "Pt. A" at 32N x 130W might have been a better look than sudsing along to 35N x 130, some 180 miles north. I sponged up the spilled coffee and suggested considering that option to my friend before the start last Saturday.

We'll see what happens in the next 24.

[BobJ]

Per PassageWeather a week out:

Attachment 1608

[sleddog]

Good news this morning: at least 3 of the Bugliters in the SHTP have passed halfway and are opening their presents. KATO, VENTUS, and DOMINO and are now sledding downhill in increasing tradewind breeze, 18-22 knots, towards Hanalei. The second half of the race should be substantially faster, with the Olson-30 KATO holding the inside edge on arriving first. The J-88 VENTUS will be closely watching his gooseneck repair, and if that fails, the Wilderness-30 DOMINO is not far behind, perhaps having slightly overbaked his Southern cooking.

The breeze should be filling for all the boats later today and early tomorrow. It is worth noting the distance to the finish is likely measured in nautical miles along a Great Circle course, not a realistic representation of the course most will be sailing.

Bonus points for anyone who can describe the nickname for SHTP's most successful design ever, the Olson-30.

Hot Dog! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLXvATxHHiQ

[sleddog]

Good news for Santa Cruz Harbor. After a near disaster attempting to haul out the 30 year old dredge SEABRIGHT, never before hauled, success was achieved yesterday without apparent incident. The venerable SEABRIGHT loomed an apparition in the early morning, near zero, fog. It will soon be dismantled for scrap.

Saturday Coffee Club at Java Junction, next door to the Crow's Nest, is a good source of local news. Some of what is told is true. Without being able to safely crawl under the old dredge, I question the veracity of a rumor a 12 inch abalone is stuck to the bottom.

What is known is a good friend bought a crossbow on Amazon. As R lives aboard his Cal-30 on "R" dock, he wanted to test his new acquisition. R set up a test range in his cabin, with a target attached to the side of a cardboard box filled with old newspapers. That was backed up with a pillow.

The metal crossbow was cocked, the short arrow inserted, and R pulled the trigger. To his surprise, the arrow went through the cardboard box, through the pillow, and narrowly missed going into the chain locker in the bow.

Archery anyone? That could be a first.

[BobJ]

We had a little rifle range in our garage with a similar set-up - a big box stacked with a bunch of phone books and layers of cardboard inside, and a heavy rug hanging in the back. We used 22 Shorts which were the real thing but without much powder/power.

This was in East Oakland - how times have changed.

[H Spruit]

"Bonus points for anyone who can describe the nickname for SHTP's most successful design ever, the Olson-30."

MINEHUNI

The spelling is only a guess, But the Minahuni are some times describes as the Hawaiian, Poltergeist, & or irish leprechauns

[BobJ]

SOB 30, for sailing buddies Snyder, Olson and Bassano who thought up the concept that became PACIFIC HIGH, the O-30 prototype.*

Sailed by Adrian Johnson, the Olson 30 IDEFIX was the overall winner in 2010 and walked away with the Hanalei YC, Jim Tallet Memorial and Grover Nibouar trophies. I just talked with Adrian a couple hours ago at the Pacific Cup shindig at RYC. This year he's racing over on the Swan Club 42 ELUSIVE - a bit of a step up from IDEFIX!

The newly-renovated clubhouse looked great and was crammed with enthusiastic Pac-Cuppers wearing Hawaiian shirts and drinking Mai Tais.
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* From the (no doubt biased) Olson 30 Class website: "George Olson’s finest design was the Olson 30, a boat he designed in 1978. On a delivery of Bill Lee’s MERLIN back from her record breaking ‘77 Transpac, Olson came up with the idea while sailing with Denis Bassano and Don Snyder, who lent their initials to the prototype’s name, the SOB 30. The resulting boat was christened PACIFIC HIGH, and was launched in 1978.

As a result of PACIFIC HIGH winning many local Santa Cruz races, Olson constructed a semi-tweaked plug for a production boat. The draft was reduced, the freeboard increased, and the teak decks of the prototype were replaced with fiberglass and gel coat non-skid, and was renamed the Olson 30. Taken to the Long Beach Boat Show, Olson 30 #1 netted 15 firm orders and Pacific Yachts was now in business, a partnership between George, Lyn Neale and Alan Wirtanen. Pacific yachts built many hundreds of boats to Olson designs including George’s “Olson” line until 1987 when Pacific ceased operations."
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