Ha!..funny. I'm also giving a talk on shorthanded sailboat racing here at work. It's in about 3 weeks.
Ha!..funny. I'm also giving a talk on shorthanded sailboat racing here at work. It's in about 3 weeks.
1968 Selmer Series 9 B-flat and A clarinets
1962 Buesher "Aristocrat" tenor saxophone
Piper One Design 24, Hull #35; "Alpha"
Your places of work sound much more fun than mine!
The additional pieces I was told:
The skipper was certain that space aliens were tracking his boat and were coming to get him - the boat was the problem as it could be tracked, he had to get away. To avoid abduction he took his EPIRB with him into the liferaft and abandoned the boat. Shortly thereafter the US Navy arrived and recovered him.
At least he took the EPIRB with him and used the liferaft - otherwise things might have turned out quite differently.
- rob/beetle
If you want some brief sailing excitment this afternoon, check out the start of Class E of the Pacific Cup. These are five 70 footers and one mis-matched 40 footer, the big bucks programs. At least 2 of the boats will have $1,000/day pro crews.
How are they gonna fit 6 boats on the St. Francis YC start line, barely long enough for two? Tune in at 2:30 pm, PDT) for the 2:40 warning signal, and 2:45 pm start. http://12.201.135.206/Race%20Deck/siteproxy.html
Forecast is for 18-22 knots at the start. These biggees, especially the tender PROSPECTOR, RUNAWAY, RAGE, and PYEWACKET, are gonna be way tipped.
Here's the tiller-steered, 70 foot Tom Wylie designed RAGE.
We haven't seen such excitement at a Pac Cup start since '96 when Lat-38's Max Ebb and crew of the Swan 47 TACONY PALMYRA accidentally got their recently stowed fenders fouled in the lazarette and ground them into the steering cables. This caused TACONY PALMYRA to lose steering and unable to tack as they crossed the St.FYC start line. The result was TACONY PALMYRA starboard tacking the St.Fancy bar, luckily stopping by going aground before sticking the bow pulpit through the plate glass window.
Speaking of fouled steering, SSS stalwart GREEN BUFFALO, with skipper Jim and his two sons aboard, found BUFF's steering cables inoperative on the Windy Reach Tuesday. No problem for Jim. He just put their Cal-40 on her reliable auto-pilot, disconnected the steering cables, and made repairs.
GREEN BUFFALO, one of the Pac Cup starters launched on Monday, is currently well north of Great Circle, and lies First Overall in Pacific Cup standings. Can Jim make his northern course stick? There's a big area of light winds directly ahead. How's he gonna get around that?
Someone from the Monday group is gonna win the Pacific Cup. The Wednesday and Thursday starters have been suffering light southerly winds from a weak and dissipating (1014 mb.) cut-off Low 200 miles west of San Francisco. Today's Class E will also be slowed by light west winds tonight and Saturday. Beating to Hawaii on port tack? You betcha.
Here's the Pac Cup Tracker, delayed 6 hours.
https://pacificcup.org/tracking.html
Although currently out of prizes, here is your Friday the 13th sailing trivia. What Class E 70 foot maxi in today's Pacific Cup start group once tipped over and crushed the owner's new Porsche? Was it PYEWACKET, RAGE, WESTERLY, PROSPECTOR, or RUNAWAY?
Last edited by sleddog; 07-13-2018 at 01:54 PM.
Thanks for the lore on SPACE COWBOY guys.
One of the top-ten finishers in the inaugural Race to Alaska was Team Mau, racing a 17' Nacra beach cat. You might recall that much of that year's fleet spent several days pinned down by 30 knot winds in Johnstone Strait. I figured that to have still finished, Team Mau's skipper must be a special kind of over-the-top extreme sailing dude. So I was surprised when Phil Wampold's name popped up on our owners' forum a few months ago, wanting to purchase a relatively sedate J/92. I pointed him to a good example for sale in Southern California and the next thing I knew, he was sailing it up the coast to the Royal Victoria Yacht Club, his home port. I'd offered to let him borrow Rags' trailer for the trip but he was fine with sailing it up the coast.
Soon after, Phil bought a couple used sails from me and started racing the boat, then mentioned that he planned to enter the 2018 Pacific Cup.
After a wild sail down the coast and through gale alley, Phil and three crew arrived at Richmond Yacht Club a couple weeks ago. Last weekend we took the two 92's out for a "sparring" session:
Last evening's proximity of Venus to the lower left tip of a 12% una moon was a highlite in the western sky after sunset. The distance between the two sky dancers was less than a finger's width at arm's length..
I awoke to find the sky had something else in it. One of WILDFLOWER's two masthead, water-activated PFD's had inflated, despite the absence of rain for weeks. Both units live in a protective acrylic canvas bag that is intended to burst open along its Velcro seam when submerged.
I think I need to investigate a 4.5 pound Russell Brown "Blimpy" for my 22 foot cat...Inside the fiberglas shell is a Davis radar reflector.
Last edited by sleddog; 07-16-2018 at 10:07 AM.
Jackie, I think you secretly want one of Russell's PT-11s. I'll go halves with you.
I'll even let you pick which half you want.