Singlehanded
Sailing Society
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Hawaiian local time: 7/18/06 22:07hr
The Fleet begins the trip home.
Foolish Muse set sail with her return crew several days ago. Headed for Canada.
Eyrie left sometime in the wee hours this morning with Synthia and Sylvia on board headed for Oahu where they will haul and ship the boat home.
About 10:30 Dogbark set sail along
the Napali Coast for a scenic tour berfore making for the Northwest.
Followed shortly by Tiger Beetle, and then Alchera. Tiger Beatle reported 28
knots apparent with a double reefed main and #4 jib. Having a good time, he
said.
Westerly says he is planning on being at work on August 1st. So he has 12 days to make the passage. This is, of course, impossible.
Bob on Ragtime having never been to Hawaii before has slipped into island time
very well. So we don't know what his plans are.
Seabird is sailing tomorrow. I think this is for real because Lou was wearing a shirt at the tree tonight unlike last night. He's getting ready to head out.
Ergo and Sail a Vie plan on sailing
Friday. That's if all repairs go as planned. Bill, again I'm really sorry about
that small fire today.
For those sailing to Hanalei, there is a great welder behind the school. He
does excellent work at great prices while you wait if you catch him at the right
time. His name is Tony.
We're not sure but think that Second Chance will be sailing soon for the West Coast.
Harrier is hanging out in "one
of my favorite spots in the world" he says.
He has some family here now and doesn't seem in a hurry to leave.
Nereida is undergoing repairs, enjoying the Island and will be sailing for Alaska when she's ready.
The Mighty Hesperus is making arrangements to haul out for the season at Nawiliwili Yacht Harbor on the Southeast side of the Island while undergoing repairs.
Carroll E. just arrived yesterday in the Islands after the selfless escort of Hesperus (who had no rudder) the last few days of a very long race. He plans on shipping the boat home from Oahu after spending some quality time with his fiance.
Haulback, while not in the race this year, has played Harbor Master of Hanalei Bay for the fleet. We last saw Jim here two years ago when he raced over with us and got second place by a matter of hours. He has since sailed around the world and was back here to meet us. He is headed home to Canada this weekend. Back to work for a while. He says he'll be racing in '08.
Phil
Sail a Vie 184
July 19, 2006 12:36:00 AM
PDT
Dogbark 23.23 159.40
Alchera 23.11 159.18 020 5.5 NE 12
Tiger Beetle 23.21 159.20 010 6.8 NE 15
Foolish Muse 29.38 158.58 030 5.0 E 15
It's a beautiful day for sailing northbound off the coast of Kauai. Boxcar tradewind
puffy clouds dot the sky, seas are flat at 3-4 feet, wind is moderate at 12-14
knots, Beetle is sailing northwards at 7 knots over the bottom cracked off 10
degrees with double reefed main and 4 rolls in the 120% genoa.
It's always sad to depart Hanalei and the race community that is created; the
people are wonderful, friends and bonds are created and tested (just ask Carroll
E about his bond with Hesperus), and then all too soon it is time to be homeward
bound. Alchera, Dogbark and Beetle delayed their departure a day in order to
be present for Caroll E and Hesperus' finish, and Tatia delayed her plane flight
as well. As a result I got to spend an extra evening in Hanalei and the gang
went out to The Dolphin restaurant, which has really good food along the Hanalei
River. I highly recommend the establishment the next time you're in Hanalei.
The boat is a little warm as the ports and hatches are dogged tight to prevent
the occasional boarding white cap from making it below. Wind generator is humming
away, pushing 3-5 amps into the battery bank, and a Boobie bird attempted a
landing on the third spreader, only to be thrown off repeatedly by the movement
of the boat through the seas.
Weather looks to be very good for the next 3 or 4 days. A kink in the isobars
with associated trough from the remnants of tropical storm Bob are due to pass
overhead as the kink moves westward. This will head Beetle, perhaps tomorrow
or Thursday, at which time I'll tack over to the east and cross the trough.
To the east are moderate SW winds, which could be very nice for reaching northeast
towards latitude 30. The weather across the Pacific again appears to be completely
weird for the sail home, the High is a funny NE-
SW lozenge way up north, a powerful Low is in the Gulf of Alaska, which seems
to be splitting the High into two pieces. I'm headed towards the gap between
the Highs, which may provide following winds in several days - we shall see.
It's now 2100, wind is steady at 14 knots, one reef and full 130% genoa (let
out the roller furler rolls). Two west bound ships have gone by, therefor we
must be near a great circle route to somewhere. We're checking in on 4027.0
MHz at 9am/pm Hawaiian Standard Time. Tomorrow Seabird should be joining us
on the return leg, Eyrie is enroute to Keehee Lagoon, and it looks like another
batch of boats will depart Hanalei this coming Saturday.
- rob, Tiger Beetle
7/19 0900 HST position report
dog bark 24.22 159.05 5.5 070 SE 5
alchera 24.09 158.32 5.0 055 ESE 8
tiger beetle 24.25 158.45 4.0 016 E 7
foolish muse 30.32 158.40 4.5 005 ENE light
We are sailing uphill in pleasant, albeit light, conditions, and I suspect we
are working our way across the trough, or at least in its vicinity. The expectation
is for slightly stronger winds from ESE on the eastern side of the trough, therefore
we are trying to work eastwards when possible. It seems to be more possible
for Dogbark and Alchera than Beetle - we all have slightly different winds this
morning.
It is going to be a hot one today, the sun arose in spectacular blaze of light
and shadow through the clouds this morning - and it's already toasty on deck.
Good thing we have sails, as you can sit on deck in their shade and watch the
ocean go by.
All boats report no fish, and two of us picked up flying fish on deck (Beetle
and Dogbark). Al has the loaned SSB/HAM radio receiving as of this morning,
and he will be working on the transmit cables today in hopes that he can join
the check-in this evening. (so far he is checking in on VHF 69 as we're all
fairly close together).
My plan is to download this morning's grib file and if the wind is forecasted
to remain light for a while then I'll swap out the 155 genoa (no. 1) for the
130 genoa (no. 2) that is currently flying.
Elsewise all is good on board Beetle, a few hatches are now open as we don't
seem to have enough wind to worry about boarding seas! And book reading is moving
along at a smart pace.
Enjoy the day!
- rob, Tiger Beetle
7/19 2100 position report
dog bark 25.17 158.51 8.5 020 E 15
alchera 24.35 157.52 6.8 030 E 11
tiger beetle 25.06 158.06 7.0 031 E 16
foolish muse 31.16 158.40 2.8 023 var 0-5
seabird 22.49 159.43 8.0 325 NNE 12
ragtime 22.52 159.28 5.5 075 NNE 11
westerly 23.08 159.59 6.5 330 NNE 10
The sun has set on a positive note, and now we're loping into the darkness at
good speed with what I hope is the sustained easterly breeze. I've spent all
day looking for the wind, and if this is it I'm a happy campter. The hot hot
day did live up to expectations, sea temperature at 80 degrees and I drank up
a fair bit of cool fresh water.
Dogbark has manufactured an SSB cable to connect the transmitter to the tuner,
and Al's radio is up and running. However, the email capability is not working,
and Al thinks it is likely he won't be able to make that work.
Ragtime reports a little octopus resting on his anchor upon retrieval from the
floor of Hanalei Bay - interesting little guy, perhaps 4" across. Westerly
is ferrying a Boobie along with him that is hanging onto the solar panel frame
with his toes. The bird is completely at home there and isn't bothered by Steve's
antics in the cockpit. Steve thinks he'll have to clean off the panel when the
Boobie departs.
On board Beetle it's a dark night out, winds are holding at 15 knots, two reefs
in the main and partially rolled up genoa are keeping boat speeds at 7 knots
- pretty fast for a return trip! All is well at this end.
May your winds be following (or at least sideways)!
- rob, tiger beetle
dog bark 26.46 158.10 9.5 037 E 11
alchera 25.32 157.00 7.5 038 ESE 13
tiger beetle 26.08 157.19 7.0 024 E 10
foolish muse 31.38 158.20 4.1 058 SW 4
seabird 24.10 159.51 7.0 025 ESE 11-18
ragtime 23.17 158.43 6.5 030 ESE 9
westerly 24.04 159.50 5.3 016 NE 10
Tiger Beetle awoke this morning to the sight of two humpback whales breaching,
leaping repeatedly up out of the water and falling back with a tremendous splash.
Very elegant animals, it looked as if they were playing, but hard to tell from
a mile off.
The fleet is cruising northeast on the easterlies, seas have remained relatively
light, and we're still hoping to climb the east side of the ridge.
Dogbark has been busily beavering away on the SSB and got the tuner to work
this morning; unfortunately, it seems to make things worse as he was very difficult
to copy this morning, though was receiving perfectly. Al is hot on the trail
of making the reluctant bit of equipment perform to par.
Westerly's Boobie hung about the boat until morning, and Steve thinks the bird
must have finally regurgitated its stomach contents and flew off a few hours
ago in search of more fish. I do not envy Steve the job of cleaning off the
solar panel, though perhaps the Boobie thought he was doing Steve a favor by
providing a nice breakfast of warm fish.
Squalls are still about, some now pack a punch, and we're becoming a little
more leary of them - no more driving straight through the rain cloud without
thinking about it once or twice. I firmly believe that squalls should not exist
north of 30N, and therefore all squalls will go away once I cross that magic
line. However, I also suspect that no one has thought to inform the squalls
of this rule.
Have a great day stateside, and avoid the squalls.
- rob, Tiger Beetle
7/20 2100 position report
dog bark 27.44 157.11 4.5 040 SSE 4
alchera 26.40 156.15 4.3 030 SSE 9
tiger beetle 26.55 156.31 6.5 060 SE 9
foolish muse 32.21 157.20 5.5 067 SW 12-13
seabird 25.02 158.58 2.6 040 SSE 8
ragtime 24.03 157.52 3.0 020 E 4 1987 (DTF)
westerly 24.44 159.23 4.0 030 E 7
It's been a beautiful day for sailing out here in what used to be the trades,
albeit a slightly slow one wind-wise, but it sure is nice. The squalls even
stayed away this afternoon, leaving a nice smooth light air sail for the Good
Ship Beetleboat. Sure beats the bash to weather one expects to have when leaving
Kauai and crossing the trades. At least we've got wind for the next day or so,
but it looks as if area north of us is going to disintegrate into a big collection
of random zephyrs late Saturday or Sunday, and is likely to remain that way
for a couple of days. Armed with the knowlege in advance, I intend to not be
frustrated if everything dies away by end of weekend - I have lots of good books
to work through, and there aren't many better comfy chairs than the cockpit
beanbag in a calm ocean.
On the light air front, Seabird has been motoring for the past 12 hours in a
NE direction, is considering using the asymmetric tomorrow. Ragtime has been
running his jib top and is sailing at close to wind speed, and we're all jealous
of this boat behavior.
Dogbark has been working on the radio to figure out what it's up to as regards
frequency issues, and it appeaers the radio is either FMing, or is operating
slightly off-frequency. Al said he was able to get off an email today via the
pactor modem, which is remarkeable given it's a loaner backup radio from Ergot
with minimal manuals.
The fishes are winning the lure count, Alchera lost a mahi-mahi and Seabird
lost a lure. Apparently Lou is using a proper rod & reel, while the rest
of us are running dinner-lines: 400 pound test monofilament (or 1/8" dacron
cord), on a sheet winch - the fish has no chance provided the hook doesn't pull
out!
Here's to sailing along on mellow seas.
- rob, Tiger Beetle
PS - Connie (Ragtime): Bob reports a distance to golden gate bridge of 1987
miles. I'll be adding this distance to his reports.
SSS TransPac return 7/21 0900 position report
dog bark 28.52 156.07 040 9.5 S 20
alchera 27.34 155.20 7.5 047 SSE 15
tiger beetle 27.50 155.24 7.0 035 SE 18
foolish muse 33.15 156.29 6.2 051 N 15
seabird 25.55 158.02 7.5 040 SSE 11
ragtime 24.43 156.54 6.5 050 SE 12 1922 (DTF)
westerly 25.25 158.39 3.4 050 SE 7
Last night the wind strengthened from the southeast last night and the fleet
is making good tracks northeast. The weather discussion centered around the
breeze we have and what will happen when we get headed up into the disintegrating
High/Front/High combination to the north of us. What we're hoping will happen
is a new High forms to the west of us, providing northerly winds to head east
towards the coast. Even though we're still several days away from any of this,
we're kind of hoping it might work out that way.
Dogbark is leading the way North at 9.5 knots and climbing rapidly above the
fleet - Al is just wondering how long it will last. Foolish Muse was also burning
up the track last night, making 9.5 under reefed main and jib in a totally dark
no-moon night.
On board Beetle the boat continues to sail nicely, though conditions are bouncier
now that the new wind has filled in from the south. It will be several more
hours before the seas even out as the new wind waves replace the old ones from
last night. This means you have to be a little more careful when moving about
the cabin as the boat will suddenly shift sideways, or unexpectedly rise/fall,
and sometimes even hop(!) when the unexpected extra wave passes beneath the
boat from starboard quarter to port bow. Perhaps I should consider this similiar
to "magic fingers" that used to be built into motel beds, the kind
where you put a quarter into the box, turn the crank, and the bed starts shaking.
Was the idea to pretend this was a massage? Weird stuff people think of sometimes.
I'm going to go topsides and visit the deck, it looks to be a nice day of puffy
clouds and clear blue behind.
In the words of Alchera: "Go northeast!"
- rob
Dogbark: back on the air
Well it appears we have gotten the radio back working enough to send and receive
emails. Voice communication is still as little garbly but readable
by Tiger Beetle. Caught a nice about 10 lb dorado yesterday morning and the
crew had half of it baked with some onion and lemon along with cheese mashed
potatoes and beets for dinner. Everyone has settled into their routines,
weather is very mild with winds fairly light and from the south at about 12
knots since midnight. Little Jon has 1800-2100, followed by big Jon until
2400, then Jim until 0300 followed by yours truly until 0600. We sort
of
let the watches lapse during the day with somebody always watching out.
Jon the elder has done most of the cooking so far including baking bread the
first night while it was about 90 in the cabin. He was hired right then!
Special thanks to Bill Merrick of Ergo for the loan of his spare radio.
It
took awhile for me to get it up and running by scrounging a few of the connection
bits from around the boat but it seems good to go so far. No worries though
if you don't hear anything from us as there is enough Rube Goldberg connections
to fail at any time. -Al Hughes
SSS TransPac Return 7/21 2100 positions
dogbark 30.08 154.54 7.5 050 SSW 15
alchera 28.26 154.12 7.3 057 SSE 10
tiger beetle 28.51 154.25 6.0 036 S 12
foolish muse 33.38 155.33 5.1 078 NW 12
seabird 26.54 156.49 8.5 045 SSE 11
ragtime 25.36 155.44 6.5 050 SE 8
westerly 25.56 158.00 3.6 030 SE 7
sail a vie 22.55 159.01 4.5 040 SE 8
ergo 22.52 159.00 4.0 057 ESE 10
It's been a nice day on board Tiger Beetle, the wind has stayed fairly solid
from the south since morning, and minimal squalls - which makes the sailing
more restful than it would be otherwise. Much of the discussion between boats
has focused on the weather, which is pretty darn weird for this time of year.
Today I was running northeast in what is supposed to be tradewind country, under
spinnaker; this is akin to flying a spinnaker north up the california coast
- it is just plain wrong! Later on in the afternoon I swapped out the no. 1
genoa for the jib top, which is now sailing us northeast towards the Kermit
Seamount (still a long way away, but a neat topographical marker), in winds
from the south. How long the breeze will remain, and what will replace it, are
what those of us out here are most interested in.
For the race and return I took off with a whole bunch of sails stuffed up forward,
and now I've used 10 of them - that's a lot of sails! A friend of mine, when
he left to go cruising, went with 3 - main, big jib, little jib. Sort of makes
one think. On the other hand, yesterday our return fleet spoke with the Westail
32 Paitence, en route from Hanalei to Oregon, just the skipper and his dog zoro,
who were very happily making 3 knots good in the right direction. Perhaps some
folks are very content to cruise along slowly, and others are keen to go quickly.
I suspect that quickly requires a lot more sails than slowly, at least out here,
and having a variety in the inventory provides options, and options give one
the ability to point the bow in directions that would otherwise be very difficult
to sail. It's definitely no fun to be running at AWA 120 under a no. 1 genoa,
but replace it with a jib top and bob's your uncle.
However, when we get into zero-wind conditions, forecast to be not very far
away, then it doesn't matter what you have - you stop. Which is why a lot of
us stocked up on egregious quantities of diesel: we want the option to motor
clear through the Pacific High, if need be. Hopefully we won't have to do that,
as it's not a lot of fun to sit next to what amounts to a tractor motor for
days on end, no matter how good the sound proofing is.
Today Sail a Vie and Ergo departed Hanalei and have joined us on the course,
they are both having a super time in good sailing conditions. Seabird is flying
the asymmetric sail since morning and Lou is delighted with the sail. Ragtime
likewise reports good sailing, and Dogbark is difficult to understand as his
SSB appears to be slightly off-frequency in a way that I could not compensate
for.
Foolish Muse, up to the north, has been run over the by the front and report
rain and lightning in the area - ick! It's not a lot of fun to be the only thing
with a tall bit of metal sticking up out the sea when there's lightning about.
But they're making good tracks in the direction they want to go.
And Sail A Vie reports that plainclothes policemen in ties are investigating
the Hanalei River area in search of Alchera's and Tiger Beetle's stolen/missing
dinghies... hopefully they can find them!
It seems to be a contented fleet out here today, and that's a good thing.
- rob, Tiger Beetle
SSS TransPac return 7/22 0900 position report
dogbark 31.23 153.40 9.0 045 SSW 15
alchera 29.09 152.55 7.8 056 SE 13
tiger beetle 29.55 153.32 8.1 040 SSE 15
foolish muse 33.52 154.45 2.0 018 NE 06
seabird 27.50 155.49 6.0 050 E 1
ragtime 26.36 154.46 7.0 018 E 8 1772 (DTF)
westerly 26.49 157.33 6.4 030 SE 12
sail a vie 23.30 158.11 5.7 010 ESE 12
ergo 23.30 158.09 4.0 036 ESE 12
This morning we're working on troubleshooting the Icom 735 SSB that Ergo loaned
to Dogbark; the radio seems to insistently transmit 1.1 KHz above frequency,
though it is receiving well, and Bill is trying to explain to Al what the various
buttons on the radio do. It's a little complicated because I can understand
Al, Sail a Vie can here Ergo, Dogbark cannot hear Ergo but can hear Sail a Vie
- so we're having a 4-ring circus out here trying to get information from Bill
to Al and back. Al made a bunch of adjustments to the radio and it appears he
is transmitting closer to frequency now.
It was a super night sailing, tons of stars, and a crystalline crescent moon
that rose in the early morning hours. The squalls decided to go somewhere else
and I'm happy about that. In the morning I spent some time taking apart and
reseating the Comnav autopilot remote after it got dropped and the LCD display
went goofy; turns out the LCD is not hardwired in any fashion to it's controller
pins, but instead floats on some sort of rubbery material that must transmit
signals to the LCD - when the LCD shifted after the remote hit the cabin floor,
half the LCD went out. Pulled out a bunch of screws, fiddled with the display,
put screws back in - bingo! working remote. There I am off to a good start for
the morning.
Ragtime likewise had a super evening sail and is quite looking forward to arriving
in San Francisco.
And Seabird is hoping that Marge might take a moment and send Lou an email -
he would quite enjoy hearing from her and home. Right now he is sitting in his
own private squall, complete with rain and no wind... but he will motor out
of it soon enough!
Keep on trucking, northeast is a good thing!
- rob, Tiger Beetle
Dogbark Saturday Update
Well Jon the elder was the story of the day again. Fresh fish tacos, with homemade whole wheat tortillas, Tatia's backyard avocado, mahi-mahi, fresh salsa, red beans and rice and a cold beer. Superb! Spent the day cruising along from 7-10 knots beam reaching straight for Cape Flattery along a trough/front between the high and dissolving low, odd for a return trip but it will not last. Grib files show wind for another 24 hours maximum then then light where we will most likely motor due north to get to the next wind band on top of the high. Little Jon is a little under the weather with what we hope is some minor sea sickness. Baked mahi-mahi with canned asparagus and potatoes for dinner with a little red wine. Lot of Black footed albatrosses, and a few tropic birds today, flying fish abound and some promising signs for glass balls with a number of plastic floats sighted. Water temp and air temp dropping. Thinking about some fleece for tonight when outside. Will try for more fish tomorrow, all else is going smoothly -Al
SSS TransPac Return 7/22 2100 position report
dogbark 32.29 152.11 8.0 050 SSE 15
alchera 30.10 151.41 6.0 045 SE 7
tiger beetle 30.49 152.15 6.7 062 SE 9
foolish muse 34.23 152.53 9.2 052 NE 15
seeabird 28.39 154.45 6.7 050 ESE 6
ragtime 27.38 154.09 6.8 030 ESE 9
westerly 27.43 156.45 6.0 035 SE 8
sail a vie 24.28 157.38 6.0 035 E 6
ergo 24.21 157.26 6.0 028 E 8
The stars are out tonight, and I'm going to miss seeing the milky way every evening, big as life, crispy clear against the velvety black surroundings. The air here is warm, but not too warm, the sea is flat, but not too flat - zen and the art of skywatching. Of course I have no idea which stars are what, for the most part, but the planets leap out and some of the constellations are noticeable. But what I see most is edge of the galaxy, where we hang out here on the western spiral arm (apologies to douglas adams).
Seabird picked up a mahi-mahi for lunch, and observed a real glass ball complete
with rope - but failed to stop for it as the asymmetric was up. I hope Lou doesn't
regret this later on!
Foolish Muse has been having quite the adventure with their frontal system.
Last night and again today they've been sailing in the company of electrical
storms, and have been living in foulies for the past three days. Apparently
the winds are sufficiently strong to present problems to the autopilot, so they've
been hand steering and cycling the power on the pilot to get it back on line.
Dogbark is making a bee-line for cape flattery (actually, bees do not fly straight,
so I'm not sure a bee-line is a good thing to be sailing, we'll see if Al does
figure eights in the middle of the ocean), and intends to sail north towards
the High, power north through, and continue sailing. He also saw a squall line,
possibly the same one Foolish Muse is dealing with, with significant lighting.
Fortunately the lightning was too far away to be heard. Always nice to be on
the sidelines for that kind of event.
Ragtime sailed by a 70' fishing boat, possibly a trawler, out in the middle
of the sea dragging nets or lines; not often we run across a smaller boat like
that. More common are the big steel floating islands called container ships
- they are easy to spot on radar as big blobs. The little guys can be tougher
to spot when they're over the horizon.
On board Beetle I'm back to my books, and it looks to be a super night. The
water temperature is down in the 75-76 degree range and the air has cooled down
nicely - so it's not such a drippy-with-sweat feeling in the cabin today. Alchera
and I are discussing an expedition up to the High to search for glass fishing
floats; nothing certain yet, but at this point it looks like we may be able
to sail comfortably beneath the High, or at the very southern boundary. On the
other hand, we could sail north another 120 miles and motor through the High,
binocular and books in hand, to see what we can find.
Dreaming of glass fishing floats...
- rob, Tiger Beetle
SSS TransPac Return 7/23 0900 position report
dog bark 33.30 150.57 9.0 050 ESE 15
alchera 31.05 151.05 5.6 035 E 7
tiger beetle 31.38 151.21 5.0 002 NE 9
foolish muse 35.22 153.14 5.7 023 E 10
seabird 29.24 154.05 5.0 022 E 8
ragtime 28.38 153.57 6.0 018 ENE 8 1667 (DTF)
westerly 28.40 156.13 5.5 030 E 8
saila vie 25.33 157.05 6.5 020 ENE 14
ergo 25.20 156.45 5.5 026 ENE 10
A busy night for Tiger Beetle and Alchera, both dealing with lots of rainy fat
squashy squalls, rainy drizzly hard squalls (those with wind), and furry squalls
with rain and no wind whatsoever. We both motored for several hours to get away
from the furry squalls, as the rain seems to form a curtain that cuts off the
very light pressure-driven tradewinds out here - though I suppose we're too
far north for the breeze to be 'trade' winds, so think in terms of the prevailing
breeze that is disrupted by these unwelcome squallnesses.
Foolish Muse is extremely pleased to be through the rather nasty frontal system
they've been dealing with for the past two days. Edie has a request: she would
love to see what the infrared satellite image is of the area that Foolish Muse
was in last night. Apparently this can be downloaded from the NASA Hydrology
website, and if someone can obtain that image and save it for Edie, she would
much appreciate it. Edie sounds very relieved this morning, as last night was
once again Mr. Toad's wild ride - but today they are in calmer winds and can
relaxe a little. Probably sleep a lot, too.
Tiger Beetle had a close encounter of the glass ball kind this morning, but
I missed it! Drat! A soccer-ball sized glass float, complete with rope attachment,
appeared next to the boat as we sailed by around 5AM - bingo!! I rounded up,
rolled up the headsail, looked for the ball, found it in the wake, turned around
and got the net out, and the ball was gone. I searched for 20 minutes but couldn't
find it. Something that size gets lost super easily in the shadows of the windwaves
and swell - and I suspect I had moved 200 yards past the ball before getting
completely turned around; image looking for a soccerball in the tall grass from
two football fields away - not the easiest thing to do. So I have modified my
ball-retrieval strategy: the handheld GPS is now in the cockpit and I can poke
the MOB button on it and then use the GPS to go back to where I saw the ball.
Now I just have to spot another one - and this can keep one busy for the entire
day (we're easily amused out here).
Off to the mines to look for balls!
- rob, Tiger Beetle
SSS TransPac Return 7/23 2100 position report
dogbark 34.44 149.34 7.5 040 E 10
alchera 32.04 149.52 6.0 039 ENE 10
tiger beetle 32.40 150.21 6.8 040 ESE 11
foolish muse 36.15 152.54 4.9 023 NE 10
seabird 30.28 153.49 7.5 036 NNE 10
ragtime 29.41 153.29 6.5 023 ENE 12
westerly 29.44 155.57 6.0 010 ENE 10
sail a vie 26.50 157.04 6.5 000 NE 14
ergo 26.14 156.26 3.8 102 NE 10
no additional boats checked in from Hanalei.
The Breaking News: Ragtime got a glass ball today! He was just sailing along
minding his own business and the ball went right by the boat, large as life.
He tacked the boat and on his second pass was able to retrieve the ball. Bob
sounded a bit non-plussed by the whole thing as now he has one but isn't sure
what to do with it - it's slimy and covered in marine growth. But now he has
the best return trip trophy anyone could ask for.
Crazy day today, lots of rain total overcast fuzzy squalls on the 360 degree
horizon, much more wind than anticipated, unpleasant cross swell resulting -
then stronger winds for the afternoon for a good push northeast towards the
eastern High (there is a western High, plus associated dying frontal thingy
to Beetle's port side we wish to avoid), followed by sailing out of the rainy
squalls into a beautiful clearing in the clouds - the same feeling as finding
a fine meadow in the woods. Only we weren't out of the woods yet as the new
meadow wind is competing with the old squall wind and left-over swell, resulting
in a boat motion of up, down, HOP, up, down, SWERVE, up, HOP, SWERVE, down...
Finally the last of the old seas died off, leaving just the meadow seas, just
as the stars appeared tonight - and now it is a gorgeous evening.
On the battery fire front - the fleet extracted the story from Ergo and Sail
a Vie this morning, and it has a happy ending (Bill got more batteries): Ergo
replaced some batteries while at anchor in Hanalei. Cousin Phil the Electrician,
being a helpful kind of chap, is helping Bill wire up said batteries only they
get the terminal wiring backwards in the series/parallel hookup. Not a problem
until *after* the terminal nuts are tightened, at which point two entire batteries
tried to jump through the wire simultaneously, resulting in melted battery terminals
but no actual fire.
Westerly has finished up the last of his bacon, and now his morning bacon and
eggs breakfast will have to do without the bacon portion. Sail a Vie picked
up a mahi-mahi and baked it up for dinner, and Phil reports that it was a perfect
treat.
Back on Beetle there is stuff to do what with screwing back in pin-shackles
that self-unscrew, greasing autopilot rams and quadrant cables, patrolling the
deck in search of hidden flying fish, and one of the 1/4" stainless rivets
in the vang bracket has sheared off - will pop in a new one when we get to a
calm patch as I've got a large rivet gun that can set them - no twinky rivet
guns for Beetle (misquoting Mike "Snap On" Jefferson but I can't resist).
May your rivets never shear!
- rob, Tiger Beetle
Dogbark Return Sun 07/23
Relatively peaceful benign day out here in the middle of the Eastern Pacific. Steady winds from ESE at 10-15, dodged a few squalls, lost a fishing lure, making good progress towards Cape Flattery. Corn beef hash and eggs for breakfast and Lime chili shrimp ramen for lunch. Big Jon was an instant convert. Jim baked a couple of loaves of bread this afternoon, so we had some fresh slices with our roast beef, mashed potatoes and green beans. Will send more tomorrow, Al
Return Log Seabird 07/23
Greetings from the Mid Pacific
We are currently approximately 600 miles from Kauai and 1600 miles
from San Francisco. We, of course, are not going to San Francisco
with everyone else but hope to eventually land in San Diego, I have
no idea how far, or where that is. This message is brought to you
from the terrace of Restaurant Chez Louie. We have been eating like
the Kings of the Sea (we think we are). New York steak and special
mashed potatoes, elegant chowder, steak salad - just some of the
offerings. Last night we had a visiting chef - Chef Christopher.
After 3 days of fishing, 2 strikes, 1 lost lure, Chris finally hooked
a Dorado. We were hooting and shouting on deck and Mr Dorado was
apparently just as happy to be caught - he leaped and jumped with
joy. Dorado also appears on finer menus in chi-chi eateries as Mahi
Mahi, which means "yummy, yummy" in Hawaiian. The 3 ft long
prize
was iridescent green on one side and brilliant blue on the other, and
delicious!
Today is our fifth day at sea, having reluctantly left Hanalei Bay on
Wed. For those of you stuck in traffic on the 101 or 405, we have
seen a grand total of 3 distant lights in 5 days. Oh yeah, and no
TV :). Sailing has been generally grand: 1 day of kind of lumpy
going, 1 day of glassy motoring, but mostly clear sunshine, nice
breezes and making good progress. We did have a visit from a school
of dolphins yesterday, musta been that Catalina channel school on a
Hawaiian holiday. Flying fish, large 6-8 " and small about 2"
occasionally land on deck at night. Although we sun dry them to a
tender crispiness, but haven't been reduced to eating them yet.
There are 9 boats in the return fleet (all spread out over many
miles), they have radio check-ins at 9:00 and 9:00 (noon and mid-
night California time). Lots of talk and strategy about navigating
around the Pacific high pressure (light breezes) and fronts (nasty
weather.)
Email comes and goes thru Iridium (satellite) phone which is slow and
expensive. So how about sending replies to Janice or Doug M for
compiling and forwarding to Seabird. Gracias.
Hams on Land - have you guys had any luck listening on SSB 4027 ?
Crew of the Grand Ship Seabird
Seabird Update Monday AM
Rainy day activities at Camp Seabird
today. After a glorious Sunday with blue sky and good breezes pointing us to
39 x 146 about 600 nm NNE from here, the rains came with wind on the nose. If
front is a nice word for rain and contrary winds then we are in it. Started
motor about 0400 and will keep going for a while with motor-sail, SE wind will
be welcome. The temp has dropped enough that being on deck with wet trunks and
t-shirt is less appealing.
We watched Master & Commander last night in pieces between squalls and adjustments.
Perhaps a matinee of Saving Private Ryan today?
We hope to turn right for coast in 72 hours. Meanwhile we will continue to plod
North and east, perhaps more east to greet the early-bird trades from the east.
Best to all
Seabird
SSS TransPac Return 7/24 0900 position report
dogbark 36.02 149.01 8.0 000 ENE 10
alchera 33.18 149.23 7.0 012 NE 10
tiger beetle 33.42 149.41 7.1 018 NE 12
foolish muse 36.59 152.32 4.8 032 NE 10
seabird 31.13 153.25 5.8 064 ESE 12
ragtime 30.14 152.22 7.0 048 ESE 11
westerly 30.54 156.08 6.0 355 NE 8
sail a vie 27.56 156.50 6.0 005 NNE 10
ergo 27.27 156.26 6.1 009 NE 10
second chance 23.50 159.14
This was morning marine mammal and bird discussion - turns out Dogbark's book
Harrison's Sseabirds of the World photographic guide is the ticket as it has
lots of pictures of birds looking just like you would see them from your boat.
I'm going to get one for Beetle, as the Harrison book I have is paintings, which
is somewhat more difficult to work with. The return sail so far has been mostly
devoid of animals, which is what brought up the discussion and it turns out
there is more here than meets the eye. Dogbark had a juvenlie boobie trying
to land on the spreaders for quite a while last night, but the boat's motion
would throw him off. I spotted what I think is a marlin on the surface this
morning, perhaps 6 feet long (or at least 4' from sharp pointy tail to sharp
pointy dorsal fin), moving languidly along with the boat.
Alchera is out in the cockpit scanning the water for glass balls, as I will
as soon as this report hits sailmail.
Ragtime reports boxing winds and squalls for much of last night, and now conditions
have settled down for him. Seabird, who is relatively nearby, also reported
rain and weird wind, so he was motoring as of roll call to get into more stable
breeze. It's amazing how much a squall will disturb the prevailing breeze, and
often it's simplest to move away a few miles under motor to the better breeze
and then continue sailing.
Right now Alchera and Beetle are looking pretty good for hitting the High from
beneath by sailing straight up longitude 150 - the forecast is for the High
to shift slightly west and set up directly above us, giving us reaching easterlies
to drive north and 300 miles and then setup for the tack east in the northerlies
coming down the eastern side of the High. I wonder if this will actually happen?
- one thing you learn out here is if you don't care for current conditions,
just wait 12 hours and you'll have something completely different.
I also changed down this morning from the big no. 1 genoa to the no. 2, which
takes about 20 minutes, and we're sailing again at a slightly better angle with
slightly less heel - makes for better book reading conditions!
Have a fine day stateside.
- rob, Tiger Beetle
Seabird Update Monday
Dogbark had a great of sailing after some early morning squalla. Winds 10-15 out of the NE so we hard on the wind heading due north. When we hit the light airs of the high the plan is to motor due north through it and come out into the westerly flow on top. Jon fixed some fish chowder with the last of the mahi-mahi for lunch. Chili and homemade bisquits for dinner. Skies are clear so it looks like we are close to the high but only time will tell. Al
SSS TransPac Return 7/24 2100 position report
dogbak 37.32 148.46 6.5 340 NE 8
alchera 34.38 149.16 6.5 015 NE 14
tiger beetle 35.04 149.37 7.4 000 ENE 13
foolish muse 37.51 152.19 6.5 000 NE 12
seabird 32.19 152.43 7.2 013 ENE 14
ragtime 31.20 151.57 6.8 003 ENE 13
westerly 31.57 156.11 6.2 010 NE 12
sail a vie 28.50 156.08 6.0 020 NE 12
ergo 28.24 155.58 5.4 020 NE 10
second chance 24.44 159.06 5.7 025 NE 13
haulback 22.33 159.38 5.8 350 NE 16
nereida 22.33 159.38 6.5 350 NE 16
Today two more boats have joined us out on the pond: Haulback and Nereida. Haulback
is Jim Kellam, the acting Hanalei Bay harbormaster who appears to have abdicated
his post in favor of returning to Canada and picking up his logging crane and
putting some dosh back into the cruising kitty.
Haulback reports that today a 45' ketch hung up on the reef in Hanalei as Haulback
was departing, and the ketch was still on the reef despite the effort of the
US Coast Guard. Hopefully the ketch can be extricated in more or less one piece.
In further news from Hanalei, Hesperus has a new rudder installed, an outboard
strapped to the back, and Paul is planning to run around to Nawiliwili to haulout
for the winter, the plan being to return next summer and sail north to Seattle.
Hesperus has certainly earned its stripes during this race.
And Dogbark reports that the Kermit Roosevelt Seamount is named after Roosevelt's
son Kermit, and not Kermit the Frog. An add-on question we do not know the answer
to: was the seamount discovered at the time Roosevelt was in office, or was
it located much later and for some reason named after Kermit the son? It doesn't
take much to get one interested in things out here, and the fleet has been discussion
Kermit for some time now.
On board Beetle I've been dealing with squalls for much of the day and have
settled on two reefs in the main and the jib rolled up to the size of a no.
4 headsail. The wind is running at roughly 14-7 knots and has shifted east somewhat,
allowing me to sail relatively reachy on my way due north to rendesvous with
the High. This combination also seems to work with the nasty squalls, one of
which is passing nearby at the moment as one can hear the wind generator spin
up - kind of nice to have an auditory wind speed indicator, very useful when
lying in the bunk at night.
So, it's off to bunk for me to bank some more sleep.
Good night.
- rob, Tiger Beetle
Dogbark: Tuesday update
Well Dogbark has reached the halfway point to Cape flattery. We have decided to try and go under the high because it is moving to the north and west. I don't think the extra miles to get on top of it are worth it but time will tell. We flopped over on to port tack for about half of the day to get some more easting but are back on starboard heading north right now. We are almost passing directly over the Kermit Roosevelt Seamount for those of you with your charts handy. Jon baked up some fresh cinnamon rolls today to celebrate our halfway point. Little Jon thinks his sentence is half over. Guess that also calls for celebration. Some very large swells are arriving from the NW from a storm in the gulf of Alaska. Water temp dropped by 5 degrees from 70 to 65 this morning so we must be getting north. Saw a small pod of pacific white sided dolphins this morning who followed the bow for about five minutes before leaving for something more interesting. More albatrosses , shearwaters and gadfly petrels today. See you all in a another week or so, Al
Seabird Wed Night High Seas Update
We keep working our way north to get in position to circle east and let the
winds take us down to San Diego. We're now approx 1700 miles due west of Catalina,
but have to go as far north as San Francisco or even Mendocino before turning.
Tonight we have about 14 knots of wind and are sailing at 7 knots under a billion
stars. Last night we watched part of Master and Commander, yes we have DVD's
also have a freezer for ice cream and other goodies. There's plenty of good
food, but now TV, or news and I haven't found the vacuum yet (Ms Carmelo). Guess
this is a real "guys" boat. We did see a gigantic cargo ship head
west today but no other sightings. From the radio chatter it sounds like most
of the race boats have left Kauai now and are headed back to San Francisco or
other ports.
More later
SSS TransPac Return 7/25 0900 position report
dogbark 38.45 149.15 7.5 325 N 11
alchera 35.51 149.04 5.5 000 NE 18
tiger beetle 36.30 149.40 7.3 001 NE 16
foolish muse 38.38 152.14 5.1 007 NE 8
seabird 33.35 152.41 7.5 344 NNE 19
ragtime 32.10 151.51 5.5 005 ENE 17
westerly 33.01 156.02 6.5 010 NE 14
sail a vie 29.56 155.55 7.0 010 NE 16
ergo 29.36 155.34 6.8 014 NE 15
second chance 25.45 158.31 6.1 028 ENE 14
haulback 23.51 159.45 6.0 000 NE 15
nereida 23.38 159.25 6.1 356 NE 15
Foolish Muse reports that there are zillions of dolphins surrounding them, apparently
Edie has located the Eastern Pacific Dolphon Conference and Exhibition, and
are quite enjoying all the antics going on around them - leaping, jumping, happy
playful dolphins. Likewise Seabird had dolphins come over from the west to play
around Seabird, then they departed back to the west. As Lou points out, Seabird
is a dolphin-friendly boat.
Up here with Alchera and Beetle, the breeze has strengthened and headed us slightly,
we're now plugging along through 18-20 knots of wind and the associated sea
state is substantial - now 4-5 foot seas from the starboard bow, which completely
changes the ride from gliding along with beam-on swell to hoppity-hoppity pitching
in the head seas. This morning I was up at 5AM and realized we were belting
along at 8 knots completely loaded up, so I dropped in the third reef and that
slowed us back down to 7 knots. Mark's response over on Alchera was to roll
up the jib completely and slow down the boat sufficiently to ride the swell
rather than bash straight into them. Beetle won't sail on main alone, so I still
have the no. 2 rolled up on the furler to be roughly a no. 4 - which keeps us
moving at a reasonably comfortable speed. Given how uncomfortable these relatively
benign conditions are, it does give one pause for thought to realize just how
hard the Stan Honey and the Volvo 70 folks were pushing their boats, and how
much discomfort they are willing to put up with in search of speed. Glad I'm
not sailing on one of those!
Dogbark reports a most interesting water temperature change - last night the
sea temp dropped 5 degrees real fast, the squalls dried up and the overcast
marine layer kicked in. I've been observing the sea temp as we travel north,
started at 80.5 in Hanalei, and is now at 70. It will be nice to get out of
squall country. Last night was wave after wave after wave of squalls, and I
was up and down enough to sleep through the first half of roll call, therefore
Seabird ran the morning check-in and later relayed the positions to me for posting
ashore.
And word in from Nereida: Harrier may depart Hanalei tomorrow. We shall see.
I happen to know from prior expereince that The General really likes Hanalei!
Jogging along to weather...
- rob, Tiger Beetle
SSS TransPac Return 7/25 2100 position report
dogbark 39.24 148.27 8.5 010 NE 15
alchera 37.05 149.01 6.0 356 NE 18
tiger beetle 37.54 149.42 6.2 000 NE 15
foolish muse 39.19 151.31 5.5 060 NE 11
seabird 35.04 152.42 7.5 000 ENE 19
ragtime 33.14 151.51 5.5 012 ENE 15
westerly 34.17 155.43 6.5 010 NE 15
sail a vie 31.11 155.54 6.5 345 NE 21
ergo 30.45 155.42 6.6 340 NE 21
second chance 26.45 158.33 5.5 015 ENE 14
haulback 25.02 159.43 6.0 000 ENE 15
nereida 24.49 159.20 5.6 005 ENE 16
Harrier -- plans to depart Hanalei Thursday afternoon --
We're all hard on the wind and beating to weather, and nobody is too thrilled
about it. However, being made of stronger stuff (or at least being not too smart),
we're trying to focus on the positive elements when faced with a 900 mile beat
to weather, particularly for Sail a Vie and Ergo. Phil listened in to the US
Coast Guard responding to a sinking Pacific Cup boat at 28N x 156W. Apparently
there was a whale strike and the boat went down (the name was something Excel,
we think), and the four folks on board took to the life raft. A Maersk ship
picked them up, and apparently the boat was still floating with decks awash
as the ship had to maneuver to avoid the boat. The coasties were flying planes
overhead during the operation to keep an eye on things, and Phil talked with
them to learn more. I'm glad everyone is safe.
In news from the outside world, news in that the dinghy thief (or thieves) were
arrested in Kauai. What we don't know is whether or not the dinghies and outboard
motors were recovered. I asked Tatia to check on this, we'll find out what she
can learn from the police. Also, Mitchell, who did all the chase boat operations,
was hospitalized and apparently had a pacemaker installed or worked on, and
is due back in Kauai tomorrow - The General will be seeing him tomorrow and
we've asked Ken to extend our hopes for a speedy recovery.
Another topic now on people's minds are staph infections, small infections one
can easily pick up in the islands from small cuts and sores, particularly on
the foot and ankle as we walk from the dinghies through the sand, and they don't
heal quickly or easily. Fortunately, most of us have antibiotics on board and
can deal with a problem if it arises. I was careful in Hanalei to not get cuts
and haved checked for any little sores and no problems to date. Seabird suggests
that if one does get an infection, start with something as simple as a warm
soapy compress and keep the foot elevated. Perhaps the drug industry is overrated!
Alchera did not realize that winning the race has future repercussions: Phil
pointed out he will have to come out next race to defend his title, Haulback
suggested that it would be Mark's opportunity to take the race trophy again
and have his name on it twice, "consecutively!", which apparently
has never happened before. Mark is not sure he wants to break with tradition,
so may pass on this chance.
Ragtime has carried out running repairs to his Harken roller furler, as the
screws have fallen out of the connection between the furler drum and the torque
tube. This is a common problem with the Harken design, and the fix is to push
the screws back in (the threads are stripped) and wrap tape or a hose clamp
around the drum to force the screws to act as shear studs and keep the unit
working. Bob is pleased with his repair!
On board Beetle I'm still working towards the High, it looks like 40N is the
ticket for the right turn towards San Francisco, and that turn should happen
around noon the 28th, assuming the current forecast holds. So if you see Beetle
sailing past Pt. Reyes and forgetting to turn, that's why.
Have a good night.
- rob, Tiger Beetle
Dogbark Wednesday Update
Lots of false starts on our turn to the east today but it looks like finally this evening it will hold. We would get headed going north and tack over only to be headed again an hour or so later and so would tack back and so on until around six this evening. Fingers crossed for a good ride home. We are having a fishing lure contest amongst the crew. Since I have lost all three lures, but have a supply of hooks and leaders and lots of detritus on board, it is a scavengers and artists best time, but we shall see who if any can catch a fish. If appearance is any matter then Jon and Jon have the best shot, If creativity matters then Jim is in the lead and if best use of the most junk then I am a winner. Who knows which the fish will choose if any. Saw lots of Vellela Vellela in the waters today as well as tons of birds. We crossed paths with a fellow sailing an approximately 30' catamaran solo from Yokohama to SF. No cabin on board, looked like an oversize Hobie cat with hiking racks loaded with bags of stuff and a long bowsprit. Name of the boat is One World and he said he is trying to set some kind of solo record. Lots of sponsors names all over the craft. He left Japan in early June. If a singlehander like me thinks he is crazy, I have no idea what the general public think. Very nice mushroom spaghetti dinner with garlic bread tonight. Al
26 Jul 2006 Morning Report
Dogbark 40 19 148 03 6.5 085 NE 8
Alchera 38 16 148 59 6.8 010 NE 15
Tiger Beetle 39 08 149 37 6.5 007 NE 13
Seabird 36 30 152 50 8.3 005 E 20
Foolish Muse 40 00 150 58 6.2 028 E 10
Ragtime 34 01 151 54 4.5 012 ENE 19
Westerly 35 20 155 20 6.0 010 NE 18
Sail La Vie 32 28 156 10 6.5 345 NE 21 and no fun
Ergo 31 58 156 00 6.5 345 NE 21 also no fun
Second Chance 27 42 158 37 4.9 352 NE 14
Haulback 26 11 159 54 5.5 360 ENE 15
Nereida 25 47 159 22 5.8 002 ENE 15
Foolish Muse has reported they have passed the halfway point to Victoria and
retracted the wind direction from the last report and changed it to E. More
news to follow this afternoon from Tiger Beetle. Al
SSS TransPac Return 7/27 2100 position report
dogbark 40.56 147.08 7.0 080 N 15
alchera 39.37 148.36 6.4 008 NE 13
tiger beetle 40.26 149.09 5.8 037 E 9
foolish muse 40.51 150.16 4.5 024 E 5
seabird 38.00 152.37 5.1 016 E 15
ragtime 35.05 151.37 4.0 026 ENE 17
westerly 36.27 155.05 6.0 015 NE 16
sail a vie 33.48 156.23 7.0 345 NE 22
ergo 33.11 156.22 6.5 340 NE 23
second chance 28.40 158.49 5.8 350 NE 20
haulback 27.19 160.04 5.5 350 NE 17
nereida 26.45 159.37 5.4 345 NE 16
The day has been fine on Beetle, though it is odd that we're going so far north
in order to get to San Francisco! The sailing has been very nice up here in
the northern latitudes, though no polar bear sightings so far. A big eye tuna
came on board courtesy of the fish line, and fresh sushi is a good thing. Must
admit I'm ore accustomed to chilled sushi, but it was good none the less.
On board Seabird Lou was anticipating the afternoon matinee in the onboard cinema
as they bounce northwards. And a few of the yachts that departed later in the
week are experiencing the full on return trip experience - banging along to
weather in 20 knots of wind, so you hunker down, get out the warm soup, run
with small sails and let the boat feel it's way up and down the swells.
In news from the outside world, Alchera's Mark and Carl are hosting a post-race
party at their house in August, that should be a lot of fun and everybody should
be in off the water by then. Mark also mentioned that he does have a tree, therefore
we can have 5 o'clock tree, on stateside this time. Must remember to bring Teva's,
shorts and the hat. I wonder if Mark has a place to beach the dinghies?
Foolish Muse reports passing the half way point to Cape Flattery; it appears
that it is closer for me to go straight to visit my parents up at Orcas Island
rather than head east for San Francisco. That would surprise everyone! I think
that Kodiak Island is also closer to Kauai than San Francisco, though it doesn't
look that way on the 530 chart due to the projection of a spherical earth onto
a conveniently sized flat piece of paper.
On board Beetle I am enjoying a movie in the relative calm of my bit of the
ocean, it's clear overhead and the stars are out. It looks like I'm not going
to motor through the High as it is forecast to shoot off to the west shortly,
so I'm simply going slow and waiting for the wind shift to occur (looking at
Dogbark's data for tonight shows that he has found northerlies already).
Have a fine night!
- rob, Tiger Beetle
SSS TransPac Return 7/28 0900 position report
dogbark 40.59 145.22 7.5 080 N 15
alchera 40.24 148.06 7.1 092 NNE 12
tiger beetle 40.42 148.07 6.5 093 NNE 14
foolish muse 41.21 149.48 2.3 009 NE 5
seabird 39.21 152.18 7.6 010 E 15
ragtime 35.57 151.24 7.0 020 ENE 17
westerly 37.29 154.39 6.0 010 NE 15
sail a vie 34.48 156.32 5.0 350 NE 20
ergo 34.24 156.54 5.4 340 NE 21
second chance 29.37 159.07 5.5 348 NE 23
haulback 28.07 160.27 5.0 340 NE 18
nerida 27.42 160.05 6.0 340 NE 20
The fleet has arranged itself into three distinct groups, based upon when each
boat departed Hanalei. The northbound contingent is pushing towards seattle
and is currently passing through/around the High; the early-easters are breaking
away to the east of the High; and the upbound group that is pounding north towards
the High. It's surprising just much energy is being expended on trying to understand
what the pesky High is up to, where it might go, and what a such and how such
a movement will affect each boat's routing. Alchera is providing grib data forecasts
for a given boat, and then the question often comes out, "So - should I
go north or east?" You can practically hear the all the gears spinning
across the fleet trying to put yourself in that boat's position, consider the
performance envelope, and then (surprisingly) mostly unanimously a decision
is prognosticated. I wonder if the folks that produce the NOAA weatherfax and
grib models realize how much time we spend poring over the data? If one of the
forecasters wiggled the isobar a bit this way rather than that way, wow, we
jump all over it and wonder what the wiggle might mean!
Sail a Vie and Ergo are both experimenting with rolling up the headsail completely
and bopping north on mainsail only; that seems to work very well, and Bill reports
that it gets so quiet you have to look outside to make sure the boat is still
moving - not bad for 23 knots of breeze. Westerly reports that he's ocassionaly
punches a wave that washes down the deck, climbs up and over dodger and cascades
into the cockpit; this seems to have
Harrier is getting ready to up anchor in Hanalei, he's waiting for a squall
to go by and expects to be under way within the hour.
Given that we're traveling across popular great circle shipping routes, in particular
panama-yokohama and points similiar, AIS is once again a hot topic. And just
to add spice to our lives, we collectively pointed out the nasty large objects
we've seen on various crossings that we would not wish to hit.
Dogbark has gone through all their fish lures and now creating custom hand-crafted
feathered jigs. The top performer so far is Nature Valley Granola Bar wrapper,
while the yellow Rubbermaid glove has no takers. Clearly they have too much
time on their hands.
On board Beetle I'm scooting east as best as possible, just slightly cracked
off, thinking that every mile I go east increases separation from the High and
therefore leads to slightly greater pressure - a good thing.
Go East!
- rob, Tiger Beetle
Seabird Thursday Update
Command and crew moral much better this AM as we rapidly approach high and pounding eases up. Going N at 6.5 kn in 10 kn breeze. After last 3 days this seems like slow motion, but so comfortable. Additional moral boosters are the fact that we went further north in 2002 and the fleet has landed 2 tuna so we are hoping for ours today.
Had full box of pasta last night and could have used more. Breakfast this AM
was last of cantalope and first of poptarts.
I am hopeful that we can begin going east(ese at first) within next 24 hours.
So things are ok on Seabird and we are looking forward to a speedy California
landfall, but too soon for ETA.
Regards to all
LAF
Dogbark Friday Report
Fishing lure derby results are in with the Heriot entry coming in first with a tuna in less than one hour and the Ilio entry catching another about an our later. Jim didn't even get a chance to get his lure wet, before we had to put a hold on catching so as not to waste the resource. The tuna are either dumb or really hungry to bite at a Nature Valley granola bar wrapper and some rope and a feather from Synthia's boa or in my case a bit of a yellow rubbermaid glove. No Matter we are very happy campers. Also a delightful day of sailing on the rhumbline for Cape Flattery. Less than 1000 miles to go so we hope to be in Aug 1 or 2. Will update as timeline gets firmer. Jon made some fresh cornbread to go with Loony Tuna ( only the locals in Poulsbo will know what that is ). Had some seared tuna steaks and trisquits with wasabi and mayo for lunch. Hope everyone has found someplace cool as we hear it is baking hot everywhere one the west coast. A very pleasant 75 out here, talk to you tomorrow, Al
SSS TransPac Return 7/27 2100 position report
dogbird 41.22 143.27 7.0 080 N 11
alchera 40.22 146.22 7.5 090 NNE 15
tiger beetle 40.31 146.19 6.2 105 NNE 14
foolish muse 41.38 148.59 3.5 052 NNE 5
seabird 40.27 152.14 4.5 355 NNE 10
ragtime 37.05 151.32 5.0 350 NE 18
westerly 38.35 154.20 5.8 020 NE 15
sail a vie 36.00 156.31 6.0 350 NE 19
ergo 35.24 156.55 6.8 002 NE 20
second chance 30.40 159.12 5.6 012 ENE 23
haulback 29.09 160.46 5.5 350 NE 23
nereida 28.41 160.24 5.9 340 NE 25
harrier 23.17 159.35 6.4 015 NE 15
Tonight we've been troubleshooting Ergo's lack of voltage from his engine starting
battery to the key switch, and as a result the solenoid doesn't want to kick
over. The most interesting suggestion so far was from Haulback, "Use as
a screwdriver on the back of the solenoid, you'll figure out pretty quick which
posts work best. There'll be a bunch of sparks and what not, just use a rubber
handled screwdriver." Bill things this sounds most interesting, and is
going to sleep on the problem and adress it in the morning.
Today I'm sailing along one of the major great circle routes from Panama and
US West coast across to Asia - Japan, China, etc. I've spoken with several ships
and it seems that Beetle's radar reflector is doing it's job and giving the
ships a nice radar return, and they know I'm here - this is good stuff! Most
recent ship went by 2 miles off, he had me on visual and radar - he departed
Oakland two days ago and will be in China August 4 - the big boys move fast.
Most pleasurable is the ships I'm talking with are answering back, in English,
and they have their radars operating and in fact are keeping a look out.
Sail a Vie is keen to get to the High, as he will have opportunity to dry out.
And the Shock News! - Phil shaved off his beard! None of us can imagine what
he looks like now.
Stay out of the way of the ships.
- rob, Tiger Beetle
Friday AM Positions
Dogbark 41 52 144 03 7.0 045 NW 8
Alchera 40 16 144 49 4.9 090 N 8
Tiger Beetle 40 31 144 49 6.1 090 NNW 12 under spinnaker
Foolish Muse 42 22 147 36 7.0 050 NNW 15
Seabird 39 43 150 42 8.0 085 NNW18
Ragtime 37 56 151 40 6.0 087 NNE 17
Westerly 39 43 154 18 6.5 345 NE 14
Sail La Vie 37 16 156 29 6.0 010 NE 18
Ergo 36 22 156 55 5.1 013 NE 15
Second Chance 31 38 158 58 5.5 015 NE 18
Haulback 30 15 160 42 6.0 005 ENE 15
Nereida 29 45 160 34 6.1 000 ENE 20
Harrier 24 24 158 58 6.4 025 E 20
Friday Report
Very NW kind of day today, with grey overcast skies, light drizzle at times and variable winds mostly from the north and west. Had the spinnaker up for a few hours to give the boys something to do, but they have become so used to the routine that after a few hours all wanted to go read or sleep or email instead of watch the spinnaker, so back to white sails for the rest of the day. Garlic marinated tuna, rice, mixed vegetables, tomatoes, with fresh scones for dessert. Days are moving along and the miles are clicking by, but it has been an extraordinary fast trip thanks to some fortunate breaks in the weather for us. 750 miles to Cape Flattery, be home soon, Al
SSS TransPac Return 7/28 0900 log
Turns out that Tiger Beetle's SSB radio doesn't seem to like talking with the sailmail radio stations mid-day from this location, and as we're running on Hawaiian Standard Time the 0900 report is roughly 1030 local time, way after the sun has come up on the California coast, at which point the atmospherics change significantly and the frequencies needed to get a signal to shore seem to be frequencies my boat doesn't like, so I apologize for not sending out the morning log until tonight. Dogbark's radio, on the other hand, does a fine job of getting the data to shore from his location, which is a good thing.
It's a grey, overcast morning here are 144W, sun is poking through a bit to
the south, but to the north are incoming grey-nesses that look suspiciously
like squalls but which I suspect will turn out to be rainy fuzzy clouds. The
wind went light and shifted aft last night, therefore the .7 spinnaker is up
and we're trundling along slowly eastwards in the flattish water.
Haulback reports that Jim was seen running around the boat in his underwear,
this despite the wind and spray as Haulback beats northwards towards the High.
Jim has about 550 miles of northing to make to reach the High, and the fleet
is worried Jim's britches will not be suitable for mixed company by the time
he arrives. Jim is not concerned.
Westerly was very pleased with his progress this morning, especially that the
wind is down somewhat but most importantly the seas have evened out. Steve is
almost at the High, and is exhorting Sail a Vie to come north and join him there
as the combination of wind and wave is terrific. Phil is doubtful and thinks
Steve only wants him to sail extra miles north.
Seabird has made the right turn towards the coast and is stoked. Nice breeze
from the north and he's making tracks eastwards. Looks like the High going west
dramatically has opened up the door for Seabird. However, there is another High
forecast to form 3 days into the future, and the new High may be directly in
Seabird's path. Lou doesn't care - he's just plain happy to be done with the
bash to weather!
On the motor front, Bill spent some time this morning troubleshooting the motor
problem, and it looks like he can start the motor but now has found that the
alternator is not producing output suitable for charging batteries. We have
scratched our collective heads and Dogbark thinks there may be a connection
between the low 6v power at the motor panel and the alternator problem - perhaps
a bad connection somewhere that is preventing proper voltage from reaching the
alternator field coil. We are meeting up at 6B at 1500 to give Bill time to
poke around more and see what he can come up with. We know the motor works,
the alternator works, there's just a it of wire loose somewhere, therefore we
are all optimistic he will fix it.
On board Beetle the first fuzzy rain cloud has played through, light drizzle
and not much additional wind, perhaps 2 or 3 knots worth. The decks are once
again clean. So is the spinnaker, for that matter - it got a nice light rinse
as well, to be followed with time in the dryer if the sun pops out. I'm interested
in the new High forecast to appear between the coast and I - I'm reasonably
certain I can clear the forecast position, but there look to be light running
conditions in a ridge that will extend towards the coast and I cannot outrun
the ridge's forecast position. There may be some motoring in this trip after
all!
May your spinnaker be dry as well.
- rob, Tiger Beetle
SSS TransPac Return 7/28 2100 position report
dogbark 42.36 140.09 8.5 060 NW 15
alchera 40.17 143.09 7.4 090 NNW 16
tiger beetle 40.23 143.00 7.6 098 N 18
foolish muse 42.54 146.29 4.9 069 NNE 10
seabird 40.32 148.47 7.5 095 NNE 22
ragtime 37.55 150.17 6.3 090 N 23
westerly 39.59 153.08 6.0 080 NNW 16
sail a vie 38.16 156.13 6.0 110 NE 17
ergo 37.26 156.47 6.0 010 NE 18
second chance 32.42 158.43 5.7 010 NE 18
haulback 31.29 160.35 6.0 005 ENE 20
nereida 31.02 160.31 6.8 005 ENE 23
harrier -- did not check in --
The Mystery of the Motor has been solved: water in the engine panel. It seems
that Ergo's engine panel is cockpit-mounted, and Bill has had the cockpit flood
out a couple of times during his bounce north towards the High. There is a problem
with cockpit-mounted panels that become immersed: water can intrude through
the key hole and wet out the backside of the panel. Bill was able to bypass
the key switch, jump the starter solenoid, and Voila! he has both a running
motor, a charging alternator, and a wet motor panel. He's planning to dry out
the panel and see if that fixes things so he can use the normal procedure to
start the motor. So Bill is now a happy camper.
Little Beetle used to have the same setup with the cockpit engine panel, and
I've ruined two panels when the cockpit filled with water. On this boat I moved
the panel to down below just to keep it dry, and installed a waterproof pushbutton
switch in the cockpit to energize the starter solenoid - makes it impossible
to know the RPM from the helm, but since I'm never back there anyway on these
long trips, it works for me.
Foolish Muse reports that the boom has failed, this time just forward of the
original repair. This means Muse is now running on headsails alone, and they
are considering options for resetting a sail in some fashion from the backside
of the spar. A bummer for Edie (and Rich), as they still have a fair ways to
go and you don't want to be hobbled if you can avoid it. The fleet had all sorts
of ideas on what to do, including sawing up the spin pole, flying storm jibs,
dismantling the interior... I think they are simply going to wait until morning
and see what is simplest for them! At least they are in good spirits and proceeding
northwards on course, only slightly slower.
Alchera and Beetle are still running more or less side by side, I'm starting
to slide southwards and Mark is proceeding due east. We spent a while comparing
weather prognostications, and we both think we'll be motoring by this time tomorrow
night. I think I'll have wind for longer slightly south, and Mark votes for
wind slightly north. Will be interesting to see what happens. And I talked with
a westbound container ship just before roll call, and he popped right up on
the radio and said he was tracking me on radar, had left Oakland and was bound
for China - will be there in 8 days as he's traveling at 24 knots. Wow! - those
steel islands have legs, that's for sure. Very nice fellow on the bridge, and
we chatted about sailing across big oceans in tiny sailboats. I think he was
glad he was not on the tiny sailboat, and thought it was very intrepid that
we are out here, alone.
But we're not alone, there's a whole gang of us!
Sail far tonight, as we may be motoring tomorrow.
- rob, Tiger Beetle
Sat 07/29 9AM HST TP return positions
Dogbark 43 01 138
11 7.5 060 NW 10
Alchera 40 13 141
29 8.2 097 N 18
Tiger Beetle 40 11 141 15
7.2 098 NNE18
Foolish Muse 43 10 145 33
2.5 045 N 5 broken boom
Seabird 40 00 146
52 8.5 095 N 17
Ragtime 37 47 148
53 5.0 082 NNE17
Westerly 40 00 151 25
7.0 085 N 18
Sail La Vie 38 13 154 50
7.0 075 N 17
Ergo 37 54
156 16 5.0 072 N 12
Second Chance 33 46 158 44
5.5 012 NE 20
Haulback 32 39 160 37
6.1 350 NE 20
Nereida 32 13 160
34 6.6 000 NE 23
Harrier 26 58 158
40 6.4 000 ENE19
Al
Sat Report from Dogbark
After a very blustery wet friday night, double reef and staysail, winds to 25 kt, we had a pleasant day sailing along the rhumbline to Cape Flattery, 600 miles to go. Spent the day cleaning the boat inside, after 10 days with four guys, well enough said. Jon prepared green curry tuna (what else) with potatoes carrots and mushrooms, very tasty. Some of the crew seem anxious about getting home, already planning their escapes, but still a few days any way. Started
SSS TransPac Return 7/29 2100 position report
dogbark 43.36 136.16 7.0 060 N 8
alchera 40.00 139.52 7.4 097 NNE 10
tiger beetle 39.55 139.36 5.4 100 NE 12
foolish muse 43.40 144.42 6.2 070 NW 12
seabird 39.53 145.23 6.1 085 NNE 4 (motoring)
ragtime 37.55 147.23 5.5 080 NNE 12
westerly 40.01 149.35 7.0 095 NNW 18
sail a vie 38.19 153.08 7.0 080 N 20
ergo 38.14 154.56 6.5 060 N 20
second chance 34.41 158.57 5.0 335 N 19
haulback 33.46 161.06 6.0 345 NE 16
nereida 33.27 160.50 5.0 345 NE 20
harrier 28.05 158.56 5.3 350 NE 22
Hmm... I slept through the beginning of roll call, so when my turn came up Alchera rang up on the VHF and announced, "Hey, Beetle - roll call!" I popped out of the bunk and thanked Mark for the wake up call and he said, "Glad to oblige - we're a full service race organization." Good people to have around you in these here parts.
The fleet was upbeat tonight, Sail a Vie especially so now that he's in recoverey
mode from the bang northwards to the High. Ragtime is perking up as well
- Bob had early on asked the collective group if he should sail his boat home,
and the consensus is that sailing your boat home is definitely part of the experience.
Bob is glad he's doing the sail home, at the same time he would have liked a
third reef in the main, and will not sail the boat home after his next race.
I suspect the bug has bitten Ragtime, don't be surprised if Bob does this again
(except boat goes home on Matson while Bob comfortably does 550 knots to weather
on a 747).
Second Chance has reported a failure (and repair) to his Monitor vane - the
breakaway tube broke away, as it is designed to do, only the broken away part
got left in the hinge mechanism and he can't get it out. However, he also
has a Monitor EMRUD on board and swapped out the hinge from that emrud for the
paddle and he's back in business.
Foolish Muse has determined the boom is not worth salvaging and instead are
winging out the jib and running the main as a trysail sheeted to the stern rail.
They are making good progress northwards and in fine spirits.
Nereida is happy with her Trinidad KISS wind generator, it seems to be putting
out the amps. Her destination is Victoria, Vancouver Island, where she
intends to go exploring up the backside of Vancouver Island before heading to
Mexico in October.
An question for the bird people out there: we are seeing these mid-size brownish
birds that fly like a slow swallowtail or bat, very delicate flight with slow
wing beats, very pointy wings in the middle (carpal joint?) and the birds are
incredibly agile and dart about just above the water's surface. The birds
chirp to each other, sounding not unlike a squeaking block. At night several
will congregate right off the transom and flit about above the boat's wake,
chirping at each other. We've started to call them Squeaking Block Birds
as the first thing one does is check the main sheet blocks to see which one
needs oiling - at which point your realize the chirps are coming from behind
the boat. The birds look like oversize petrels, but they're not as large
as a shearwater nor as small as the tiny petrels.
On board Beetle the winds have now dropped suddenly to 6-8 knots during roll
call and the seas continue to even out. I've unrolled the no. 2 and raised
the main - we're not going fast but it is now very pleasant. I'm going
to get in a couple hours sleep, then see if there's enough wind to continue
sailng, or fire up the motor and head off through the High. I particularly
like motoring through the High as it's a super break from the constant motion,
pounding and sail adjustments that have been going on for the past 11 days -
also a good opportunity to look for glass balls. In a couple of days we'll
hit the coastal flow east of the High and I'm anticipating the customary 20-30
knots of cold reaching wind from the North that is the trademark of arriving
in San Francisco.
Happy out here on the Pacific
- rob, Tiger Beetle
SSS TransPac Return 7/30 0900 position report
dogbark
44.17 134.31 7.5 060 NW 10
alchera 39.53 138.06 5.5 095 N 6
motoring
tiger beetle 39.41 138.04 5.0 103 N 8 will motor shortly
foolish muse 44.13 143.13 8.0 065 NW 15
seabird 39.56 143.44 6.5 083 NNW 3 motoring
ragtime 38.01 146.13 4.0 080 NNE 3 motoring
westerly 39.58 148.03 6.5 085 N 18 (claims to
be sailing :)
sail a vie 38.17 151.25 7.0 110 NNE 19
ergo 38.32 153.44 6.0 090 NNE 20
second chance 35.27 159.23 5.0 344 NNE 16
haulback 34.54 161.42 6.0 340 NNE 15
nereida 34.30 161.28 6.0 345 NE 16
harrier 29.13 159.14 5.9 000 NE 25 gusting 32
It's interesting to watch a High form, I've never been right where one landed
before, so it's fun to watch it unfold. This morning early the wind went
up and down in strength but was consistent in direction, the seas died off very
rapidly, perhaps within an hour, leaving behind just the swell. Currently
I have 4-6 knots from the North, therefore time to put the motor in gear and
tool along eastwards to 38.30N x 130W. Winds should reappear in front
of us in perhaps two days. Should be a nice break from the sailing, boat
goes flat and comfy, and it's time to air everything out.
Several boats in the fleet are now starting to use their fuel, stocked on board
in Hanalei in expectation of meeting up with a High. Sail a Vie has 1000
miles of motoring, Beetle has 900, Seabird has 145 gallons and I don't know
what Lou's range is. We all hope to arrive in San Francisco with fuel
to spare. The trick to long endurance motoring is to know as accurately
as possible where the efficience crossover point is for fuel burned vs. miles
traveled. On Beetle this works out to 1450 RPM on the Perkins 4-108 and
Martec prop - 0.5 gal/hour @ 5.8 knots. The fuel burn curve is not linear,
so simply slowing the motor down more does not necessarily save an equitable
amount of fuel. I figured out the number during the last return trip when
I'd fill up the tank, motor for 12 hours, figure out how far I'd gone and refill
the tank to see how much the motor had used. Adjusting RPMS through a
range from 1350 to 1550 produced a graph showing 1450 was the magic number.
A good RPM too, as the motor is pretty quiet there.
It's been difficult to hear much of the fleet during roll call; looks like Ken
was able to swap out Monitor parts and is happily sailing again under wind vane.
Ergo's charging system is good to go, though a little funky (I suspect Bill
means it's not perfect), but he has electrons and like this fact.
Alchera is using his MaxSea program and having it run routes for folks that
are interested in which direction they might consider pointing their boat.
Mark said you have to be a little careful, 'cause the program will happily route
you directly through peninsulas and islands. Seems like an fun toy to
have on board.
I'm going to go topsides and set up the main for motoring - two reefs, flatten
the sail, and set the boom slightly off center to keep the sail away from the
runners, and the sail dampens rolling in the swell, making motoring nicer.
Have a nice afternoon. Tiger Beetle is off for a Sunday drive across the
pond.
- rob, Tiger Beetle
Dogbark Sunday Report
Fairly easy Sunday on the big pond, sailed most of the day with only about one hour total motoring, a little rain and drizzle this morning but somewhat clearing this afternoon. Had sone potato latkes and scrambled eggs for breakfast, brought back memories of my grandmother's fixing the same with leftover mashed potatoes. Mac and cheese with tuna of course for dinner, with fresh cornbread and black beans. No ship traffic or much in the way of birds roday. Library on board is pretty well used up so we are sharing books now. How many hours can a teenager sleep in any one day? Little Jon wins my prize for maximun rack time. Under 400 miles to Flattery, you can see we are counting down the way, Al
SSS TransPac Return 7/30 2100 position report
dogbark 45.03 132.43 7.0 060 NW 8
alchera 39.46 136.41 6.1 098 NNE 9
tiger beetle 39.32 136.38 5.8 090 NNE 9
foolish muse 44.41 141.42 4.5 065 NNW 10
seabird 39.51 142.29 2.5 100 S 5
ragtime 38.16 145.17 4.5 070 variable 2 motoring
westerly 40.08 146.27 6.5 085 N 16
sail a vie 37.59 149.47 5.5 100 NNE 15
ergo 38.16 152.23 5.0 115 NNE 16
second chance 35.24 158.18 5.8 088 NE 17
haulback 35.57 162.29 6.0 330 NNE 15
nereida 35.33 162.04 5.7 325 NNE 15
harrier 30.14 159.13 5.8 000 NE 20
A super day out on here on the water for the fleet. Most boats are enjoying
the calmer conditions, people are upbeat and relaxed, everyone is happy to be
moving east rather than north, as it seems like you've turned the corner and
are headed in the right direction.
On Beetle I used the mellow conditions of the newly forming High to clean up
the boat, bag plastics, take a shower and slip into new fresh clothes (feels
great!), get some good rest, and look for glass balls. Nothing was sighted in
the water, but the crescent moon was quite beautiful has it set slowly after
the sun.
Back up the course Sail a Vie is again removing water from his fuel system.
There must be a design flaw in the fuel pickup, as Phil says it only happens
when the boat is sitting flat. He and Haulback are talking about how to dry
out fuel filters and remove the water from them (put in oven on low low heat),
and whether or not to use WD40 (Water Displacement 40) blown into the air intake
to get the water to remove itself from fuel injectors. Looks like Phil may give
it a shot.
Seabird is convinced that Haulback is headed so far west simply because he's
going to sail around the world again. Jim claims it ain't so, he has to get
back to Canada.
A bit of a setback this evening on Tiger Beetle when the forward clutch plates
in the Hurth transmission slipped, which will significantly curtail motoring
activities. I was resting in my bunk when I heard the engine rev up, which is
odd as the throttle hadn't been touched, so I put on my glasses and checked
the speed, which was going down. This is usually not a good sign! - so I put
the motor in neutral, opened up the motor box and sure enough the transmission
was too hot - and this was exactly what happened in 1998, so at least I know
what the problem is and know that I can't do anything about it. Too bad it's
happened again out here rather than in the bay, as this portion of the High
is devoid of any shop I can send the transmission over to for a quick plate
change. The good part is I'm almost clear of the High and into the coastal flow,
and there's breeze now so I'm sailing due east in hopes of getting east of 135W
by Tuesday morning - at which time there should be breeze in to the beach. I
know the reverse clutch plates are in perfect condition, but unlike the 1998
Big Boat Series (when we motored backwards everywhere on those reverse plates),
I am not going to motor backwards out of the High!
Enjoy the evening.
- rob, Tiger Beetle
Dogbark Sunday Report
Pretty easy day of light air spinnaker before finally succumbing after dinner to the call of the motor. Beautiful day, flat seas, 5-8 knot westerlies. Did some noon sunsights with the crew to shake off the rust then last of the sea showers we hope as water was 60 degrees, with a sunshower rinse which was warm thank god. Jon did his usual grand cooking providing us with chicken enchiladas verdes with his homemade tortillas. I think he would be my Most Valuable Crewmember for the return trip. A little over 200 miles to Cape Flattery. I will make a last try for somw more tuna tomorrow to put in the fridge for BBQ at home. Not much longer now, Al
SSS TransPac Return 7/31 2100 position report
dogbark 46.40 129.48 7.0 060 SSW 5 motoring
alchera 39.21 133.41 5.4 098 NW 5 motoring
tiger beetle 39.21 133.53 3.1 098 NW 7
foolish muse 45.49 139.02 6.0 060 NNW 8
seabird 39.29 139.47 5.0 085 N 6
ragtime 38.29 142.37 5.7 087 NNE 8
westerly 40.07 144.07 2.5 090 variable 7
sail a vie 38.01 147.22 6.0 075 N 1 motoring
ergo 38.33 150.14 7.0 076 N 7
second chance 34.45 156.29 5.1 037 ENE 14
haulback 38.04 162.55 5.0 010 ENE 10
nereida 37.31 162.28 6.0 005 NE 10
harrier 32.19 158.23 6.0 030 E 17
It's been a most pleasant day on board the good ship Beetle. What with no transmission
to push boat it means we get to take a pause break and tour the light air bobble
in the general vicinity of the High. Winds diminished through the day until
the water turned to glass late-afternoon. This was a perfect opportunity to
stare intently into the water and observe the little critters floating around
there: wild looking tiny jellyfish, bits and blobs that moved along under some
sort of propulsion scheme, the wandering albatross wandered by... in short I
had a fine time. This is no doubt due to the fact that the breeze is supposed
to reform within the next 24 hours; if I were out at 150W in these conditions
I don't think I would be quite so sanguine about my circumstances!
Alchera stopped by to visit, looking dapper under reefed main and rolled up
jib - mucho fun to have friends out here on the pond. He and I exchanged books,
and then he powered on his way through the light air towards San Francisco.
I sure hope the pictures came out, some of them should be great with the clouds
in the background. At the moment Mark is having intermittent failures with the
masthead wind speed/point, so Mark's autopilot is now referencing a GPS waypoint
rather than apparent wind sailing.
Foolish Muse has had no sun for the past 6 days and is therefore running out
of electrons as the solar panel charging system is not working. They are therefore
hand steering and minimizing time on the radio. Otherwise all is well aboard.
Ragtime had porpoises today and Bob is in good spirits, they were all over the
place and playing with the boat. Likewise Sail a Vie is having a great sail,
Phil has showered, cleaned the boat inside and out, baked up brownies and is
rocking out with the stereo. Life sounds very good indeed on board. Ergo is
still experiencing electrical problems as regards battery charging - the motor
is running fine and Bill is troubleshooting the charging.
What's really weird is that Haulback and Sail a Vie both have failing Icom microphones;
it is definitely time to let Icom know that having 4 failed mics out of 17 boats
is not a good average. Something to take up with Icom when we get in.
On board Beetle I'm running with jib top and main this evening, and if winds
are still light from behind come morning I'll set the 0.5 oz kite and keep on
heading for the coast. The seas are very smooth, a touch of wind riffling the
surface, and the moon reflecting in the sea is beautiful to observe from my
vantage point in the cockpit. This is a magical place, and it's moments like
this that make the energy and effort required to do the race worthwhile. I suspect
that in short order there will have way more wind than I want, so I'm going
to enjoy the relative snail's pace for the time that I am here.
Have a super night!
- rob, Tiger Beetle
SSS TransPac Return 8/1 0900 position report
dogbark 47.23 128.07 8.0 055 NNW 15
alchera 39.12 132.14 6.5 099 NW 8 motoring
tiger beetle 39.13 132.55 3.5 100 NNW 7
foolish muse 46.10 137.32 7.6 070 N 10
seabird 39.47 138.47 4.5 075 NNW 7
ragtime 38.29 141.15 6.0 100 NNE 7
westerly 40.05 142.45 3.5 095 N 8
sail a vie 38.06 145.55 6.0 075 N 5 motoring
ergo 38.43 148.31 6.7 065 -- -- motoring
second chance 35.30 155.49 4.8 037 ENE 13
haulback 38.59 162.39 4.7 035 E 6
nereida 38.37 162.21 6.0 007 variable 3 motoring
harrier 33.23 157.57 6.0 030 E 16
It was a quiet evening, and I can understand why the Pacific is named what it
is
- when it's quiet, it's real quiet... not even a porpoise to disturb the calm.
This morning we find Beetle ghosting along under 5 oz kite, making feets towards
SEFI (that's South East Farallon Island for those that are not part of the PRBO
gang). I've read one of Mark's books and am on to the next one, they are fun.
It's really pleasant to sit topsides in the shade of the sails, read, and gaze
out into the distance, plus it's warm enough to require just jeans and a t-shirt
to be comfortable.
Looking forward to hearing how the rest of the gang faired last night. We shall
know shortly as the 0900 roll call is in 30 minutes. Rollcall is on 6MHz is
difficult to work with at this time of day, so we might need to move up to 8MHz
and see if that works any better.
Ergo is continuing to have charging
issues and is motoring along, he has a full
house bank and it looks like he can manually control when he pumps electrons
into the bank. Several boats are working with Ergo to try and locate the fault
with the charging regulator, as that appears to be the root of the problem.
If
Bill can come up with a way to apply voltage to the field coil wire in the
alternator, then he will be able to make the alternator put out current.
Sail a Vie's microphone finally crapped out and Seabird has again taken over
the
roll call, at least until Phil can hotwire the mic and make it work. Seabird
is
happily sailing along under asymmetric, as is Tiger Beetle (That's Me!) who
is
flying the half ounce.
Westerly has asked the question that has haunted mankind for all time: Who ate
the last of the bacon? None of us know the answer, as we finished the bacon
a
long long time ago, somewhere in the vicinity of Hanalei.
We did make one significant change as regards roll call: tomorrow (Wednesday
8/2) we will shift to 9 and 9 PDT, that's california time - so we're moving
roll
call up 3 hours and hopefully that will synchronize with the sun and provide
better reception across the fleet on 6MHz.
So it's back to sailing Beetle boat towards the wind line. The GRIB file
forecast shows the wind gradient as 2 knot increase per degree of longitude
east
from my current positon. Unfortunately the GRIB also shows a Low moving off
the
coast on Saturday, which is reminiscent of race start where we drifted around
offshore for several days. Let's hope we get into the breeze and arrive before
that happens!
Scampering east as fast as possible...
- rob, Tiger Beetle
Dogbark Tuesday Report
Got some good sailing in today and another tuna before loosing the glove lure to the last one. Lost my chance at a new patented lure. Down to 60 miles to Cape Flattery so this will most likely be our last log. More fresh bread from Jon the baker but just some chili with cheese and onions for tonight. Still another 150 miles of travel to Seattle so another day of traveling but we will leave the big briny for the time being. Thanks to all of the competitors, race committee but mostly to the unsung support staff at home everywhere. Lou, Tatia, Carla, Marge, Joanne, Justine, Andrea, Connie, Sarah, Sylvia and I am sure I am forgetting someone, but without you all it would much harder if not impossible to do this adventure. Thanks, Al
SSS TransPac Return 8/1 2100 Position Report
dogbark 48.06 126.13 8.0 070 NW 10
alchera 38.58 130.28 7.5 101 NNW 15
tiger beetle 39.01 131.30 6.8 098 N 14
foolish muse 46.27 136.17 2.8 070 variable 2
seabird 39.27 137.40 6.5 115 NNE 8
ragtime 38.12 140.03 5.0 085 NE 4
westerly 40.03 141.27 6.0 090 N 5
sail a vie 38.18 144.32 6.5 115 NNE 8
ergo 38.53 147.14 4.5 075 E 10
haulback 39.21 162.12 2.5 030 E 6
nereida 39.21 162.12 2.5 030 E 6
harrier 34.13 157.04 030 6.1 E 16
note: haulback and nereida are next to each other.
On board Beetle the wind has filled in nicely from the NW, leading to a fine
day of light air spinnaker reaching, followed by slightly more wind and a heavier
kite for reaching, and now we've been headed slightly and spinnakers are put
away in anticipation of exiting the High and entering the coastal flow - so
it's up to the jib top to pull forwards through the night.
The boat is buttoned up, the deck is organized, strings stowed, down below is
cleared and cleaned up, and best of all: my bunk is still dry! I like
this.
And tonight we should have our first boat home - Dogbark is 60 miles from Cape
Flattery and expects to be in by morning. Al has been a wonderful person
to share the race with, time in Hanalei and the return passage. The Open
60 definitely has legs and Al can sail it well. That, coupled with his
sailing skills, makes Dogbark and Al a formidable combination.
For the rest of us still out here, it looks like Alchera will be into San Francisco
first, Seabird is headed for San Diego, Foolish Muse gathered some electrons
when the sun poked through the clouds and is bound for Cape Flattery as well.
NOTE: commencing tomorrow morning (8/2 0900 report) the fleet is shifting time
zones to do check ins at 9am/9pm Pacific Daylight Time (california time).
Onwards towards the coast.
- rob, Tiger Beetle
SSS TransPaca Return 8/2 0900 position report
dogbark -- arrived --
alchera 38.46 129.04 7.3 101 N 18
tiger beetle 38.50 130.07 7.2 100 N 18
foolish muse 46.43 135.21 5.0 065 NNW 7
seabird 39.05 136.42 7.0 115 N 12
ragtime 38.19 139.06 5.5 086 NNE 17
westerly 40.00 140.26 5.0 090 N 9
sail a vie -- did not check in --
ergo 39.00 146.23 4.8 083 ENE 10 motoring
second chance 36.09 154.18 4.9 050 E 12
haulback 39.45 161.41 5.8 050 SE 10
nereida 39.43 161.41 5.7 050 SE 10
harrier 34.47 156.20 6.0 045 ESE 14
sail a vie's microphone is known to be failing, and it is likely the mic completely
failed and he could not join the net.
It's an overcast, lumpy, grey day here in the California coastal flow, a bit
of rain earlier that has moved south, and it's the kind of day for hunkering
down in a comfy bunk and reading a good book. Today is so completely unlike
yesterday's clear skies and flat seas - give the wind 24 hours and it can drive
up the swell and waves, which serves to remind me of just how much energy there
is in something as simple as air moving by.
Our check-ins have adopted a much more touch-feely approach, in that we are
now politely asked how it went last night and how are we doing, and then would
we be so kind as to send along the position numbers when convenient. A big shift
from the race in which we simply banged through the numbers and afterwards have
chat time. But somehow I don't think the touchy-feely approach suits Lou, as
he sounds much more like a hands-on get it done kind of person - but Lou is
trying! Ergo is doing much better this morning, and now I understand what he's
dealing with: the electrical harness connecting the motor to the enginee panel
has automotive plugs at each end, and those plugs are corroded, leading to all
kinds of goofy voltages moving up and down the wires. Therefore Bill is creating
an entirely new harness from scratch.
Talk has turned to boat batteries. Alchera has 5 year old batteries and Mark
is finding he has to charge noticeably longer to bring the batteries up to voltage,
Westerly replaced two batteries in Hanalei when he noticed the ones he started
with weren't doing that well, and we all know the story of Ergo's battery
replacement in Hanalei. The general consensus is that deep cycle 6v golf cart
batteries in series are perfectly good for what we're doing, the Rolls battery
is completely out of our league and needs, and there doesn't seem to be a cost/benefit
in buying expensive premium marine batteries.
Seabird is working out his course to break south for San Diego and thinking
he will go a bit further east before making the big turn.
Tonight's roll call will be at 2100 PDT on 8185.0 MHz, in case anyone in in
the outside world is listening in!
- rob, Tiger Beetle
SSS TransPac 8/3 0900 position report
alchera 38.07 125.23 9.0 104 N 30
tiger beetle 38.10 126.25 7.1 100 N 29 gusting 36
foolish muse 47.21 132.02 7.0 070 NW 13
seabird 37.51 133.49 7.0 120 N 20
ragtime 38.09 136.24 5.0 087 N 19
westerly 39.51 137.42 6.5 095 N 16
sail a vie - no contact -
ergo 38.53 144.09 4.0 090 ENE 10 motoring
second chance 37.26 152.30 5.8 054 ESE 8
haulback 41.20 159.15 6.0 050 SE 11
nereida 41.13 159.36 5.5 040 SSE 15
harrier 36.11 154.17 5.4 050 ESE 12
On board Beetle conditions are still very rough, wind is up and I'm well intrenched
in the high winds and seas off the coast. Last night was particularly un-fun
with winds gusting to 40 knots, but it has eased off this morning and we're
back into low 30s. One has to wonder when 30 knots doesn't seem like all that
much.
Up ahead Mark is out of reefs for his mainsail and is steaming along at 9 knots;
if he had a third reef set up he would use it, but as he doesn't he's going
to
leave well enough alone and simply go faster. The downside is you thump the
waves much harder and the motion gets worse. I'm keeping boat speed around 7
and that's much more manageable than 8.5 or 9.
Nereida has had a failure with the fuel tank deck fill o-rings, which has allowed
water into the fuel tank, and that water is now in the motor. Today she
is emptying out the fuel lines and working the water out of the pistons and
injectors. Not much fun! Haulback mentioned that he's actually disconnected
the deck fills on his tanks, and instead does all fueling down below, for precisely
the reason that Jeanne is now dealing with. Not a bad idea, as long
as the fuel is not gasoline (Nereida uses diesel).
Harrier reports that the planet Mars is on it's closest approach in the last
60,000 years, and can be easily seen at sunrise, near the moon, just prior to
sunrise. He said it was huge this morning, very vivid. I shall look tomorrow
morning and see if I can spot the planet through the clouds.
Seabird has a genset overheating issue, and has troubleshot the problem to be
either a failed impeller or heat exchanger. He is going for the impeller
replacement first; if it's the heat exchanger then it becomes a bigger issue.
The difficult part will be locating the spare impeller - Lou knows it is on
board, the question is now: Where is it? He's not looking forward to tearing
the boat apart to find it.
Overall folks are moving along, the folks behind Alchera and Beetle are listening
to our descriptions of current conditions and the general consensus is
nobody else wants to do the same thing. I agree with them!
I'm looking forward to catching sight
of the Farallon Islands, hopefully tomorrow morning after I've seen Mars up
by the moon, as the islands should be
coming up on the horizon shortly after sunrise.
- rob, Tiger Beetle
SSS TransPac Return 8/3 2100 position report and log
alchera 37.46 123.31 7.4 104 NNW 23
tiger beetle 37.54 124.28 8.0 101 NNW 34
foolish muse 47.30 130.04 7.5 085 NW 18
seabird 36.56 122.21 8.8 110 NNW 25
ragtime 38.07 134.57 5.5 087 N 18
westerly 39.49 136.19 5.5 110 NNW 18
sail a vie 38.43 139.44 5.5 080 N 12
ergo - no contact -
second chance 38.07 151.36 5.4 040 ESE 5
haulback 41.52 157.55 6.2 060 S 14
nereida 41.53 158.18 5.1 050 S 10
harrier 36.42 153.18 5.4 060 ESE 12
Beetle is now on the second day of sailing through the gale, and it's been absolutely
no fun whatsoever. Alchera has exited the worst of the gale and is sailing in
lighter wind and somewhat smaller swells, I am 50 miles back and can't wait
to get out of here. Worst bits were this afternoon with 40 knot winds and big
white capping swells that dumped all over the boat. Everything worked ok on
board, so nothing in particular happened, but it is completely unpleasant -
this is an experience I would highly recommend one avoid!
On the plus side, it's 70 miles to my turning point at Southeast Farallon Island
- and from there it's a short hop to the Gate. I hope to be in the marina tomorrow
evening, all snug as a bug in a rug.
Nereida is continuing to work on her motor to remove the water from the fuel
system, and it turns out she also has a generator that is working just fine,
so she is all stocked up on electrons.
Sail a Vie popped up on the radio tonight, appears his microphone is working
at the moment (his radio works great, it's just the mic) - he's doing well,
sailing well, and moving right along.
It looks like Alchera will be off the water tomorrow, so this is likely to be
the last time Mark checks in on the net.
So I'm going to pick up some good rest tonight, I slept most of today as much
as I could, tomorrow should be a busy day of getting home.
- rob, Tiger Beetle
4 Aug 2006 2100 check-in
Seabird 34.54 129.23 8.0 120 21N 430 Harvest 376 GG
FM 48.13 126.00 8.0 074 12N 50 Cape Flat.
Rag 38.03 131.52 6.5 087 20N 446GG Tell Connie he will go under Gate late Monday
West 39.29 133.12 6.2 095 25N Getting v wet!!
CLV 38.59 136.46 6.0 080 25N 671 GG
Ergo Did not check in today
Haulbk 42.54 155.39 6.0 060 11S
SecondCh 39.32 150.03 5.0 058 8SE
Ner 42.56 156.41 6.0 047 10S Water in eng fuel problem not yet solved Fog rain
all day
Mandarin 39.55 141.52 4.8 095 14N
Harrier 37.44 151.23 4.0 060 9ESE
SSS TP Return 0805 0900 Positions
Here's the data for sat AM from Dr. Lou on seabird
Foolish Muse 48.23 125.04 2.2 085 3var Cflat still 50 no wind fog ship
lanes
Ragtime 38.01 130.31 0.0 150 20N
hove to fixing AP 382 GG under Gate Tues
Seabird 34.26 127.47 5.9 085
13nw motoring soon in low 350 Harvest raining shuffleboard tournament
postponed
Westerly 39.06 131.30 6.5 100 25N
Ergo did
not check in
HaulBack 43.23 154.06 6.2 060 13ssw
Nerieda 43.34 155.42 3.3 046
7s
no prog on eng fuel supply w water
Second Chance 39.34 148.54 4.5 095 4se
Harrier
38.07 150.24 4.7 090 4E motoring 1463 to pt concept
Dogbark arrived - had an email from Mrs Dogbark last night that Al was actually
out racing the boat locally
Alchera - arrived yesterday
Tiger Beetle - arrived yesterday
08/06 SSSTP Return Sun AM roll call
Lat Long Speed Course
Wind Dir Wind Speed
Sea bird 34-03 125-13 5.2
080 SW
5
Foolish Muse Should be home
Ragtime 37-56 127-42 5.7
087 NE
14 248 nmi to GG
Westerly 28-20 128-43 4.5
095 N
15 292 nmi to GG
Sail A Vie no report - microphone problem?
Ergo no report
Second Chance 39-23 146-22 5.6
095 NW 10
1118 nmi to GG
Haulback 44-44 152-00 6.0
040 W
15
Nareida no report
Mandarin no report
Harrier 28-12 147-59 6.0
100 NW
13 1348 nmi to Pt Conception
Second Chance had company last night - pod of dolphins for a while
Dogbark - Arrived Seattle
Alchera - Arrived SF
Return Log from Seabird Aug06 AM
Here is our separate report since we have been voted off the island,
perhaps because we are not sharing the gale but instead have 7-10 kn
with flat seas.
Sunday morning:
Er...where's the Sunday paper? OK, that leaves housework, naw it's
Sunday, shuffleboard on the foredeck, oops it's sprinkling a bit,
guess we're down to a nap, OR we could go sailing today. America
(and the crew) has voted it's SAILING! If we sail straight-a-head
for 222 miles we'll arrive at Platform Harvest or Point Conception,
your choice. Harvest is a spectacular, gigantic oil rig off the tip
of California. During the day it dwarfs and intimidates, at night it
is bathed in lighting which glows from miles away. Seabird is still
in an low pressure with broken clouds, few rain-showers and about 10
knots of wind out of the South. We've been clocking off 6-7 knots
most of the night. Last night's entertainment was changing the fuel
filter on our genset (auxiliary electric generator), which requires
disassembling much of the skipper's cabin, wait a minute doing just a
bout anything on a boat requires disassembling a lot of something or
other. Also have a tired battery on that little diesel but we're
coping. Looking forward to a pleasant Sunday at sea. --Jad
(Our position at 0900 34 03N X 125 13W 225 from Harvest wind 7 S
speed 5.5. We have about 58 gal of fuel aboard.-LAF)
Seabird