2008 Goals (from the old board)

[BobJ]

Surfing Anvil

Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 4:14 am

There are a number of ways to approach the SHTP which is one of the best aspects of the race. Most competitors aim to sail this race with an eye toward winning. Some just want to complete it - the accomplishment of sailing 2,100 miles being enough of a return for their efforts. My view for 04 was to use the two years before the race to become a moderately competent bluewater sailor. Then, use the experience as preparation to keep on sailing. If there is one reason that I got the opportunity to sail my boat from SF to Auckland last year, it was because of the 04 SHTP.

My more famous competitor - Mr. Haulback - who came up with the perfect name for my boat did much the same thing but on a much grander scale. I hope that one day we will see a competitor do what a French single handed sailor did some years ago - pass the finish line and just keep on going.

 

[BobJ]

sleddog222

Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 7:17 am

We go to sea in sieves, we do, in sieves we go to sea:
In spite of all our friends could say,
On a summer's morn, on a stormy day,
In sieves we go to sea!
And when our sieves turn round and round,
And every one cries 'You'll all be drowned!'
We call aloud, 'Our sieves ain't big, But we don't care an SSB.
We go to sea in sieves we do.

We sail away in sieves, we do, In sieves we sail so fast,
With only beautiful pea-green chutes tied with a snuffer by way of a sail,
To a small aluminum mast;
And every one said, who saw us go,
'O won't they be soon upset, you know!
For the sky is dark, and the voyage is long.
And happen what may, it's extremely wrong
In a sieve to sail so fast!'

The water it soon came in, it did, The water it soon came in;
So to keep us dry, we wrapped our feet in plotting sheets all folded neat,
And fastened them down with a pin.
And we pass the nights in our crockery-jars,
And each of us said, 'How wise we are!
Though the sky be dark, and the voyage be long,
Yet we never can think we were rash or wrong,
While round in our sieves we spin!'

And all night long we sail away; and when the sun goes down,
we whistle and warble a moony song
To the humming of an autopilot gone wrong.
In the shade of the twins,
'O Timballo! How happy we are,
When we live in our sieves and crockery-jars.
And all night long in the moonlight pale,
We sail away with a pea-green sail,
To the shade of the Tree so cool.'

We sail across the Pacific, we do,
To an island all covered with trees.
And we bring an Owl, and a useful Cart,
And a pound of Rice, and a Cranberry Tart,
And a hive of silvery Bees.
And we've bought a Pig, and some green Jack-daws,
And a lovely Monkey with lollipop paws,
And forty bottles of Ring-Bo-Ree,
And no end of Stilton Cheese.

And in two years we all come back,
In two years or more,
And every one says, 'How round we've grown!
For we've been to the Lakes, and the Torrible Zone,
And the hills of Hanalei.
And we drink our health, and give a feast
With beer made of beautiful yeast;
And every one says, 'If we only live,
We too will go to sea in a sieve,
To the Bay of Hanalei.

Our eyes are red, and our hands are blue,
And we go to sea in sieves.
____/)____/)_/)_____

 

[BobJ]

Alchera

Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 6:22 pm

I love it. Can I have some of whatever you're taking?

 

[BobJ]

184 Phil

Location: San Mateo
Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 6:00 am

Hey Mark,

Nice avatar, will you be wearing a blue blazer next ?

Phil
_________________
guess I better clean the bottom

 

[BobJ]

BobJ

Location: East Bay
Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 7:06 am

Sled, that is fantastic! You have a gift my friend.

I'm moved to dig out the lyrics to a song transmitted over the SSB from about 38 by 133, during the return trip last Summer.
(The response from the audience was that I should keep my day job.)

Phil started the music-over-the-SSB thing - it was entirely his fault! Oh well, here we go:

(To the tune of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame"):

I just raced to Hawaii, all the way by myself.
Eating nothing but peanuts and Crackerjack,
Now I'm not sure if I'll ever get back!

For its reef, unreef and just fix stuff,
Lonely day after day.
Watching mile after mile on the old GPS
'til the Golden Gate.

 

[BobJ]

Surfing Anvil

Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 8:20 am

I take some comfort in the fact that you guys are sailing in the other hemisphere...

BTW, Auckland rocks sailing wise. The only two real defender candidates for the Americas Cup are both here. Oracle just lauched their new boat last week in Viaduct Harbor and is here practicing in the Hauraki Gulf for the next month or so. Emirates Team New Zealand took delivery of their new boat some months ago and has been dueling the number one and two boats for longer than any other syndicate. Both teams depart for Valencia sometime in late February.

Hopefully, the next Americas Cup will either be in Auckland or SF.

 

[BobJ]

Ergo

Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 3:21 pm

Is the "avatar" that blue thing in the corner, and what's wrong with blazers? And oh yeah, it is Phil's fault. It's all Phil's fault.

Bill
__________________________________________

SSSTP06

Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 7:52 am

Yeah, I chuckle every time is see Mark's Commodore Burgee when he posts. I'll have one buckle...until someone moves it and puts up a nice shot of Georgia I just got...(just kidding, Alan!)

Can't wait to see the new crop of Avatars...

Lucie

 

[BobJ]

sleddog222

Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 6:17 am

We were cutter-rigged and rakish,
with long and lissome hulls,
And we flew the pretty colors of asymmetricals.
With staysails pulling mighty in the fore,
We sailed the Single Handed Transpac in alternate years of yore.

With a boom preventer amidships, like a well-conducted ship,
We'd each a brace of feather jigs and a tether at the hip;
It's a point which tells against us, and a fact to be deplored,
But we chased the golden mahi, and laid their fins aboard.

And flying fish filled the scuppers and squid dried beneath the pole,
And the varnish was all splattered with scales on the sole.
But we soon were washed and rinsed, as the squalls marched slowly by.
And tradewinds blew us foaming westward under popcorn in the sky.

O! Then it was while lying beneath the myriad night time stars,
We could hear the dolphins squeaking as they swam in from afar.
Then having trimmed the boat asleep, with little else to do,
We danced a quiet hornpipe as the old salts taught us to.

O! The slack key on the stereo and our slapping naked soles,
We danced a little jig and curtsied as she rolled!
Ah! the thirsty solo sailors and the radio pranks we played,
Would be told beneath the Tree at the ending of the day.

With the silver seas around us and the full moon overhead,
And the look-out gazing westward as his cigar was glowing red.
The cutters and their merry crews will be anchored not far away,
A little south of sunset in the Bay of the Hanalei.

~sleddog _______/)___/)_____

 

[BobJ]

sleddog222

Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 9:22 pm

We dream of Tree of Hanalei, some days around the clock,
But haven't set a sail yet, as we work here at the dock.
And with every dream that stalks our mind, we swear we'll soon let go,
And watch the Farallones sink astern from the warmth of down below.

All spring, we’ve slaved aboard our sloops, doubted by knowing smiles,
And the autopilot still won't work, so now its got frequent flyer miles.
We’ve patched our rents, and plugged the vents, dogged hatch and porthole down.
Put rigging up and down the mast, and inspected her around.

Our wives have long since wrote us off, not a nickel more to spend.
They gave us twenty years of patience, Boys, and now they're at their end.
But dreams are hard to sink, just ask Dwight and Beetle and Lou.
Then our loves laughed with us and said we'd just have to go.

Now we're alone aboard our little ships in a gale off the coast.
And we worked like hell to reef our main before it went to toast.
And the groan we gave as it came down, it caused us to proclaim.
Halleluja! We'll get to Hanalei and that Tree that caused this pain.

We surf down Pacific rollers, a squall hot on our tail.
Have to get that spinny down, before it blows the sail.
But Roll Call's on the SSB, better check in very soon.
The General's talkin' to Sail A Vie, Boys, and singing a woeful tune.
The mast is down, the General says, but the jig is not yet done.
He'll jury up that sucker soon and continue on his run.

And you, to whom adversity has dealt a heavy blow,
With smiling bastards lying to you everywhere you go.
Though your rig may be be broken and race about to end
No matter what you've lost, be it a boat, a love, a friend
Turn to like Ken and put out all your strength of arm and heart and brain.
And like the Singlehanded Sailors, Rise Again!

~~~~~_/) ~~~ sleddog, in memory of Jim Tallet and Stan Rogers.

 

[BobJ]

BobJ

Location: East Bay
Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 10:10 pm

Sled, who was Stan Rogers?

(And the part about our wives writing us off is too close to true!)
________________________________


AlanH
Site Admin

Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 10:15 pm

I paid my hundred bucks at the Boat Show...I'm IN. #30.
_______________________________


Max

Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 11:22 pm

(Since Sled hasn't answered ... is he Canadian? maybe he's insulted)

Bob, Stan Rogers was a much-loved Canadian folk singer. Died 5-10 years ago I think.

Max

 

[BobJ]

sleddog222

Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 12:23 am

Bob J,

Stan Rogers was a larger than life and much beloved Canadian folksinger/songwriter. His many songs were often in the style of sea shanties and gave voice to those who worked the sea, specifically sailors and fishermen.

Stan Rogers' themes were universal:honor, loyalty, and hope, and his images were evocative of Canadian history. His voice and style is reminiscent of Gordon Lightfoot meets Pete Seeger.

On Feb.12, 1983 the coal ship MARITIME ELECTRIC sank in a fierce storm off Massachusetts. Chief Mate Cusick clung all night to a partially inflated raft in water barely above freezing. As unconsciousness and hypothermia overtook him,CM Cusick remembered the words to Rogers' inspirational "Mary Ellen Carter." Cusick began alternately shouting out the chorus "Rise Again, Rise Again," while holding his breath as waves washed over him. At 7 in the morning, he was rescued by a CG helo.

Cusick was one of only two survivors of the 35 man crew and credited Stan Rogers' song with saving his life. A short time later (June 2, 1983), at the early age of 33, Stan Rogers was returning from a concert when his plane caught fire at the Cinncinati airport. It is reported that Rogers died of smoke inhalation while leading passengers to safety, shouting "follow my voice."

Heroes are hard to come by these days. But Stan Rogers is one of mine. The above poem about single-handed sailors borrows from "Mary Ellen Carter." Rise Again!

~sleddog

 

[BobJ]

BobJ

Location: East Bay
Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 1:18 am

Thank you for the history, Sled (and Max).

In the context I thought Rogers was perhaps a former SSS'er, in the vein of Grover Nibouar (see the "Jim Tallet Trophy" thread) or Jim Tallet.

After reading the bit of wrangling regarding the propulsion issue, I read your poem again.

" . . . dreams are hard to sink . . ."

This in turn reminded me of the many times I was ready to "throw in the towel" after one of those many weekends away from my family, stuffed under the cockpit of my boat dealing with some piece of required gear.

I don't know how strong the desire is to do the race on the part of those wanting to change its rules. All I can say is you have to really, really want to do it, and be willing to overcome the obstacles. These obstacles include equipment requirements or other rules with which you don't agree, doubts expressed by loved ones, your own doubts, lack of time, lack of money, and disagreements/misunderstandings on the internet!

Some months before the 2006 race I was expressing my lament to Rob Macfarlane. His response was something like "get back under the cockpit." Fortunately I did. When we were drifting around about to start last Summer, Rob sailed by - I hollered over that I couldn't believe I was actually there, getting ready to start the race, and I thanked him.

So let's encourage each other as much as we can, and hang in there. Doing this race won't make you a hero, but it is one of those goals that is big enough to require great desire, determination and even forbearance.

 

[BobJ]

sleddog222

Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2007 6:00 am

I am gazing at the sunset,
And dreaming on the Bay,
For wanderlust has overtaken
With thoughts of Hanalei.
There's a spinnaker in the offing,
The sail is colored like fire,
My heart has gone aboard her
For the Islands of Desire.
I sail forth this time next year.
With the sunset I must be
Hull down on the trail of tradewinds
In the wonder of the sea.

 

[BobJ]

haulback

Location: British Columbia
Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2007 2:24 pm Post subject: not much longer now!!!!
Just realized that one year from today those of us mindless enough to gather for next year's SHTP will be a couple days into the race and getting in the groove.

Hope things work out for everyone who even is vaguely contemplating an entry so there will be an interesting mix of boats, good wind and fun sailing.

Haulback is almost ready to go!!!!! How about everybody else??

Jim/Haulback

 

[BobJ]

jbarthelmass

Location: Huntington Beach, CA
Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2007 8:28 pm

2.7 Seconds is getting closer each week. Currently in the middle of what has turned into a very time-consuming autopilot installation.

I'll be adding some questions about some preparation details to the SHTP forum in the next few weeks.

I'm now looking forward to completing all projects and getting the qualifier out of the way this fall.
_________________
John Barthelmass
2.7 Seconds
Columbia 30 Sportboat

 

[sleddog]

Racing SHTP isn't only about making our vessels seaworthy. It is equally about getting our bodies and spirits in shape for what may be a life altering adventure. For most, the '08 SHTP has already begun. Racing SHTP isn't just the time to be spent at sea on our little ships. For each, just getting to the starting line, healthy and smiling, will be a significant accomplishment.

Leaving my recent ACL reconstruction surgery, groggy and in a wheel chair, I was given a single page, post operative, generic "Knee Surgery Information" with instructions for the next four weeks of rehab. I'm experienced at prepping and executing single-handed voyages across the Pacific Basin. But little did I anticipate the expertise and patience required to sail my 7 foot "SOFA TO NOWHERE."

The equipment for "SOFA TO NOWHERE" would do justice to Disney's latest PYEWACKET. The centerpiece of my ship is US Patent 4930497, a Constant Passive Motion Machine for my leg, that I rent for $25/day. This stainless steel 50 pounder has all the bells and whistles of PYE's canting keel, and all the LED instrumentation of Stan Honey's Volvo 70 nav. station. But far better than Stan's cold and soggy nav seat, my CPMM is lined with warm, synthetic fleece. With the CPMM's appropriate buttons, I can flex my knee in a rhythmic manner, and increase its bend to 90 degrees in a progressive manner, nourishing the blood vessels and breaking down scar tissue. Currently, I'm driving the CPMM at Flexation of 72 degrees, Extension of 7 degrees, and a speed of 5 knots, I'm supposed to be canting my leg 6-8 hours a day. But..

Two hours/day I'm supposed to be icing my leg with the Cold Therapy Machine. This little beauty, patented in 2004, is nothing more than a small ice chest connected to a small bilge pump, that pumps ice water through a cold "blanket" lined with plastic tubes. Human water ballast anybody? You strap the blanket to the knee with velcro, fill the chest with ice and cold water, and press the button. Did I mention that I can't run the CPMM when I am running the CTM? Kinda like running radar and a radar detector at the same time. Why didn't someone think to combine these machines together? Water and electricity, that's why. When lawyers smell potential for electrocution, a feeding frenzy of sofa sharks may begin.

Instead of wearing foulies on my sofa boat, I'm wearing a six buckle, black, infinite adjustment, knee brace. I am instructed to wear this at all times, except when in the CPMM. This knee brace certainly gives "singlefooted", if not singlehanded sailing experience, as it pokes me in the groin while trying to sleep, and weighs enough that I need a topping lift to hoist my leg out of the CPMM to go pee.

For proper trim, I am using two crutches. Orders are not to bear weight on the reconstructed leg. So, as a single-footed sailor, I'm hopping around the foredeck, errrrr. living room, with the braced leg off the ground, crutches clicking on the saltillo.

I thought the SOFA TO NOWHERE wasn't moving. But if so, how does it keep swallowing the TV clicker, roaming phone, laptop mouse, and Vicodin pill bottle between the cushions and the pillows?

Even as a SHTP vet, orchestrating this Voyage to Nowhere is not for the faint of heart. But as a lifelong sailor, I'm floating merrily along, simplifying the ship. I've ditched the complexity of the Cold Therapy Machine in favor of $1.69 Nob Hill Frozen Peas. My plastic urinal is bungeed to my good leg. And I have the vacuum cleaner head attached to the bottom of the crutches, so I can vacuum while I walk, with the vacuum cleaner in tow astern, like Aubrey's pinnace.

If anyone has a suggestion what to name the SOFA TO NOWHERE, I am ready to ditch the Vicodin, crack open the bottle of Champagne, and have a proper christening..

"Vicodinghy?"

~sleddog

 

[AlanH]

sleddog, I admire your fortitude and sense of humour. AS the weeks stretch out to almost a month, now, and I still have the damned drop-foot and numbness from the pinched nerve/cramped muscles I got on the qualifying sail, my attitude is being tested.

I'm hoping for epidural steroid anti-inflammatories before arthroscopic surgery. I'll know more on the 17th when my neurosurgeon looks at my MRI's. I have to fight the temptation to be angry with myself for not taking the 120 seconds it would have taken to get out of the foul weather gear, change into fresh long underwear and crawl completely into my sleeping bag, prone in my berth instead of what I did do after I dropped anchor.

Ah, well. Anger will get me nada. I will think on your sofa to nowhere and buck up.

 

[sleddog]

The doc warned that precautionary post-op measures would mean slow and cautious progress as the knee gets familiar with someone else's donated ligament. He wasn't just kidding, as current SOG is about the same as running from Crissy to Blossom Rock against a spring ebb.

Additionally, ACL rehab Physical Therapy features two different kinds of electrical stimulation conducted with wires, a black box, and stick-on conductors. They crank this shock treatment up to "10" and the leg straightens and vibrates like a tiller pilot in hard over mode.

At home, I ride my stationary bike 3x/day, with its rear wheels lifted off the ground in a jackstand. I was pedaling along yesterday when the axle unexpectedly slipped off the bracket, and the bike, with me aboard, hit the rug and was launched across the living room, T-boning the SOFA TO NOWHERE.

The napping cat went vertical about 3 feet, and then horizontal out of sight without touching ground. But as Chick Hearn was fond of saying, “No harm, no foul.” Thus I made no attempt to complete a 720 to exonerate myself with the princess fluffy.

What does this have to do with SHTP Goals? I have a small plastic bottle here of Hanalei Bay sand. For those of you who haven't walked Hanalei's beach at sunrise, I can recommend it as a delightful experience. Rowing ashore at dawn's light you are apt to encounter green turtles and dolphins in the bay, and sometimes a local school of small mantas splashing off the Beach Park dinghy landing.

Walking west along the tan sand beach, Hanalei Bay gently curves in a half circle towards Makahaa Point, with ironwood trees becoming predominant inland after crossing Waioli Stream. Above rise the flanks of Mt.Waialeale, and after a passing squall, waterfalls rush down the near vertical walls.

In the distance across the Bay, the SHTP fleet lies at anchor in the lee of Puu Poa Pt. I've finished ocean races at many different venues: Hobart, Plymouth, Montego Bay, and Diamond Head. But nothing matches sighting Kauai off the port bow, coasting past the crater that forms Kilauea Pt., and, with Bali Hai in the background, finishing under a full head of tradewind breeze at Hanalei.

Just be ready to put the brakes on.

~sleddog

 

[sleddog]

Saga of SPARKY and KITTY MAMBO

Living on the sea my friends
Is gonna keep you free and clean.
But for now we wear our rubber boots
With breath as hard as kerosene.
Where we'll get the bread to go
Ain't nobody knows.

Haulback is a pirate ship
The hull's as fast as polished steel.
Her captain sailed 'round the World
And lassoed logs for his next meal.
Soon we'll meet the fleet you know
On the docks of old Tiburow.

Our loves may cry when we say goodbye
And sail into our dreams.
But all the Race Committee say
They'll be there any day
To gather 'round the Tree.

And Kitty Mambo sails the blue
All day long like she's built to.
And Sparky surfs in Mambo's wake
With Feathers close in classic duel.

The history books tell of the General's trips,
And kite's are flying from the Carroll E.
But Hanalei's quiet til' we round the Point
Then dogs a barking at the Hula Tree.

And all the Race Committee say:
Soon they'll be coming any day
With slack key strummin' in the sunset breeze.

___/)_/)____^^^_____

~sleddog

 

[sleddog]

Hana Lei

The wind is blowing softly on the spinny and the spars,
We've said goodbye to loving friends, to West Marine, and cars.
The lights of the Golden Gate are at our backs, the sky full of stars,
And we're sailing to Hanalei again.

Oh yes, we're sailing to Hanalei again.
With a nylon chute, a foaming wake, and music on the brain.
All of Larry's money couldn't buy this moment in time,
When we're sailing to Hanalei again.

We've spent our time aloft and alow, we've studied the RRC's,
Memorized the PCR's, the Gribs, and race entries.
But now were leaving the CYC, next stop is Hanalei Tree
Oh yes, we're sailing to Hanalei again.

We surf the waves, dodge the squalls, looking to be fast.
And hum sea songs at sunset, standing by the mast,
Southwest we sail, into the sunset, on a sea so wonderfully vast
And we're sailing to Hanalei again.

Oh yes, we're sailing to Hanalei again.
With a cup of joe, a sunrise watch, and songs of sweet refrain,
All of the hoops we've jumped through are now distant memories of pain.
And we're sailing to Hanalei again.

A big full moon is on the bow, setting at the western rim,
HAULBACK's running hard in a sunrise squall, twins in perfect trim.
To leeward the General is smiling broad, as the stars are growing dim.
And we're sailing to Hanalei again.

Oh yes, we're sailing to Hanalei again.
With a sound little ship, a determined mood, and tethers clipped in.
I tell you all of Larry's money couldn't buy this moment in time.
And we're sailing to Hanalei again.

__/)___/)__^^_____O_____

We've mentioned catching the Green Flash at sunset from the Finish Lline on the cliffs above the Bay. Another spectacular sight is to count the waterfalls cascading down the flanks of Mt.Waialeale (“rippling waters”) after a particularly heavy sunrise squall. 10? 20? 30?

PUA ITI and sleddog too.