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Emails from the fleet

[email protected]
Jun 29, 2023, 9:57 PM (11 hours ago)
to racereporting, maricelly_vargas, ibenderskii23, abenderskii27

Had a bit of fun last night (Wed) with the big A2 (asymmetrical spinnaker, almost 1500 sq. ft.) as the wind freshened towards evening, 16-18 kts with gusts up to 20-21 once every 15 min or so. A2 getting overpowered, Pelagic not coping, rounding up in gusts. Had spinnaker wrap around 19:00, but it came undone with a few course changes and pulling on the sheet (need spinnaker net - should’ve listened to Jim Quanci! :)

After sundown winds lightened but still some gusts. Had to sit at the wheel till midnight. Not much sleep, worried about rounding up. Finally figured out that the wind mode on Pelagic works fine, so got some sleep 30 min at a time.



6/29/23 (Thurs) wind backed and got light (ENE 6-8 kts maybe? - my wind gauge seems to be off for low wind speed), not enough to sail deep, slow going, main flapping, A2 collapsing all the time, only doing 3-4 kts. Even went wing-in-wing with A2 for a while. Some wind finally filled in around noon. Warm, partly cloudy, t-shirt and shirts weather, I guess we finally made it South!
 
Mike Smith <[email protected]>
12:16 PM (6 minutes ago)
to Jackie


Mail to the race reporting address is failing for me. Let me know if this works?

Thanks for starting me early BTW !

-----Original Message-----
From:
Sent: Fri, 30 Jun 2023 12:14:14 -0700
Subject: Sunday Day 1

Flooding at the start line already. I knew that and still messed it up. Every year we get huge runoff from the Sierra, I windsurf off Crissy and it is ebbing all the time at the red nun buoy but flooding all the time at Blackaller buoy and all the way down the edge. Thanks though Jackie for starting me early because I’m not sure I would have got over the start line much later. Had to take care not to get in the way of Randy short-tacking a Westsail. He times it well, me not so much. Then I am slow off the coast as usual. Messed all that up. Rough sea state and looks like it could get windy too. I’ve done the sail out to the Farallones a few times now for practice, but I know how bad it can get. Hopefully it doesn’t get that bad.
 
Mike Smith
12:29 PM (2 minutes ago)
to Jackie




-----Original Message-----
From:
Sent: Fri, 30 Jun 2023 12:27:01 -0700
Subject: Momday Day 2

It was bad. Very rough. 25g30, but it was the very messed up sea state that made it so bad. Mayhem for 24 hrs. No sleep. Randy sent me an email to encourage me to keep going. That helped. Equivalent of three reefs in my Schaefer roller main. I heard on VHF that Jamani broke the vang and was ready to help but he got it fixed. Later I heard Circe had to retire. Looks like everything is OK on the boat despite a real pounding, so on we go. Pumped more water from the bilge than I ever have before. I think it was from repeated waves flooding over the cockpit and leaking down the locker hatches. There’s a reason the GGR makes you seal those. So easy for water to get in if there’s any way it can.
 
Mike Smith
12:29 PM (3 minutes ago)
to Jackie




-----Original Message-----
From:
Sent: Fri, 30 Jun 2023 12:27:24 -0700
Subject: Tuesday Day 3

Still using reefed main and my small staysail only. It was crazy to rig a Solent stay on the mast myself the week before the race and Joe built me a staysail over the weekend, but as it turns out I’m glad we did it. Still should not have done it though. Funny it wasn’t the first sail folks said I should get next. They probably thought I had a bunch of sails already. I drool when I see those fancy black racing sails, but then my wallet smacks me on the head.

Food is working out OK. Should have just got more oranges, grapefruit and apples at the Marina Safeway the night before the start though. So easy to just grab one of those and no waste. More baby carrots too.

Getting good at going to the bathroom. Should have practiced that more.
 
Mike Smith
12:29 PM (5 minutes ago)
to Jackie




-----Original Message-----
From:
Sent: Fri, 30 Jun 2023 12:27:38 -0700
Subject: Wednesday Day 4

Parked it in the North Pacific High with no wind. Or in pieces of the NPH. Fog everywhere. Both 130 Genoas up rigged as twins but used as a sandwich but didn’t help. I thought I could skirt around the pressure mess using my barograph but I’m not smart enough. I can hear my friend Dwayne laughing and nodding. Should have listened to everyone and followed everyone. Learned a lot though. Wow: there is nothing out here. No birds. Nothing. I guess I’m the only one who didn’t read the memo to avoid the NPH. In fact it was the last thing Randy said to me. So I messed that up. Another newbie mistake.
 
Mike Smith
12:29 PM (6 minutes ago)
to Jackie




-----Original Message-----
From:
Sent: Fri, 30 Jun 2023 12:27:52 -0700
Subject: Thursday Day 5

I didn’t lose as much time parked in no wind in the remnants of a scrambled NPH as I could have. At points I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life there. A very long night to think about what I’d done. Anyway, took what wind there was during the day and that took me south. Turned out to be a good time to fix things including a sheet that had chafed through already. How does that happen so fast and why did I not see it coming? Good questions. Still no sun and a lot of fog. No stars either so far. How the heck did people do this before the transistor?

Those that know me know I have labeled and numbered everything. What I forgot to number was my underwear.
 
Mike Smith
12:29 PM (7 minutes ago)
to Jackie




-----Original Message-----
From:
Sent: Fri, 30 Jun 2023 12:28:05 -0700
Subject: Friday Day 6

Started a fast (for me) “Kessel” run overnight (but no crazy Ivan’s yet in case Ivan is listening - and yes Ivan I did notice what you did with all my pens and pencils). Wind stayed at 350M-ish at 10-15 knots so far. Not sure how long it will last. The splattered sausage of an NPH could, would, should give me longer sailing at an angle of 70 degrees AWA which is the only sailing point of wind I have in any way tried to measure and optimize. I only have sails for that angle and dead downwind really. Well I did get storm sails but I hope I don’t get to use them out here; scary enough to use those in the bay with my friend Dwayne laughing the whole time. There are some storms coming down the west coast that I think will push into the reforming North Pacific High and strengthen the winds where I am. That was the idea of going north anyway. Well north of everyone else, as I’m pretty much on the shortest distance line, or rhumb line, close to the great circle line. But I think I messed up by going too far north early on. Learned a lot though! Anyway what I have to now is point at Hawaii. I should be able to manage that.
 
Tales from the Deck of Tortuga
Thursday, June 29th

It's been super light winds all night/morning. At first light, I got the Asymmetrical spinnaker up and going and we’ve been ghosting along about 3-5 knots.

Treated myself to a toasted egg, avocado, and cheese sourdough breakfast sandwich after getting the spinnaker all sorted.

The last time that sail was used was on my friend Marks boat for the PacCup last year. We tested it for his boat but never ended up using it on the race. I thought I had made it around and out of the high-pressure zone but no luck. I even noticed the barometer went from 1016 to 1020 when I was making my log entries this morning. I wonder how the other boats are fairing or if they made it more south. From what I can tell on the daily position report it sounds like there are a few boats much farther south than me. Probably in better winds, I would imagine.

Spent the afternoon with the Asym up and gliding along at 3-4 knots. If the gribs I’m pulling are right, I’m right along the southern edge of the high-pressure blob and should have some more breeze this afternoon. Kicking myself for not giving it more margin and heading more south. If this wasn’t a race, it’s downright pleasant! I don’t have to do parkour to make it across the cabin, I can just walk. What a concept! Took the opportunity to wash the dishes and was able to open the sink drain and it would actually drain. The Asym has been flying all day. The zone of the micro squalls the last few days is no longer. Not sure if that’s because I’m skirting the high or not. Will keep the kite up into the night if the breeze stays this light. I’ve got my mental fire drill all worked out if I need to douse it quickly. By 1700 we were back to doing 5-6knts right on course. 6 or 7 would be better, but compared to earlier today, I’ll take it! Really nice steady sun this afternoon for a few hours and it topped up all the batteries nicely.

Got a couple of emails from other racers and it’s nice to see how everyone is doing now we are in a more pleasant phase of the race. The last few hours before sunset it got really light and foggy. Was sailing along at 2-3 knots inside a cloud. The AP was barely doing any steering and it was eerily quiet. The wind picked up after the “sun” went down and I was back to 5/6 knots. I could see a moon trying to peek through the clouds giving the sky a pale glow. With the slight wind increase the spin halyard started its squeak again and the sound reminded me of Sailor the Dog telling me it’s his dinner time.

Mermaids? None so far…

Team Tortuga
 
Jamani
Inbox

Jamani <[email protected]>
Fri, Jun 30, 4:48 PM (20 hours ago)
to SHTP

Jamani reporting on progress..

After 5 days of sailing and over 850 nm from the GGB, things are settling into a routine. We survived the (very) windy reach with minimal carnage, then Jamani fought through the transition zone desperate to get south. What a weird Pacific High this year! Even at latitude 30N (ie Mexico) we still suffered high pressure and low wind speed. Yesterday, at latitude 30N I crossed Maersk Tender around 1600 hrs. It looked strange, two large commercial vessels very close together. They politely informed me that they indeed were tethered together - with a net(!) - sweeping plastic out of the High. They asked me to get out of their way as they had "limited maneuverability." As did Jamani, with 3 kts boat speed in 5 knots of wind. But we avoided them and wish them well on an amazing mission.

Here's best wishes for safe and fast tradewind sailing to all the competitors.
 
Green Buffalo POL (and more ;-) )

Friday
June 30th
Day 5

Good night and day on the Buffalo. Chatted a tad with Dave Garman on Such Fast... boy does he have a great VHF installation... he must be over 30 miles away! Still a bit of wind direction and strength oscillating but not so much as prior day. Took last sail off the deck (the too heavy #1) - and then took a shower! I really needed it. Funny Mary and I purchased a Sunshower at West Marine back in 1989... the plastic water bag that is black on one side so heats up under the sun... and hear it is 34 years and 17 passages later and we're still using it. Makes for a great warm shower (in the cockpit... crewed showers are on the foredeck for a wee bit of modesty). Put away the thermals - and its t-shirt and shorts from here on in.

Thinking about the spinnaker... it does a small "pop" every ten minutes or so as the boat rolls... as happens with every boat and chute. But do the math... 6 pops an hour (most small but maybe one more significant)... 144 pops a day. The chute has been up 2.5 days so far so that nearing 500 pops. In another two days it will be over 800 pops. So when to change out to the next and possibly the "heavier" spinnaker? Before the inevitable happens (and always at night :-) ).

Course is pretty steady as she goes. Hanging as high as I can without stressing the chute (which has me just a tad south of optimum course... but "close enough". Waiting for the wind to swing further aft - likely late tomorrow - when I will start driving as deep as I can safely (leading up to the first jibe).

Food... finished off tortellini leftovers... snacked on string cheese... and then Korean noodle fish soup (pretty good considering its out of a cardboard bowel).
Had a absolutely scrumptious apple (better get to eating more before they get over ripe). And I got into the red licorice my son gave me when he dropped me off at the boat the evening before the start (Mary was in Europe <sigh> making the world a better place while I get some alone time. :-) ).

Half way early Sunday? Which could mean finishing Friday the 8th (but its way too early to talk finish dates... a topic for another day).

Fair winds and seas!

Cheers,
Jim Q
 
[email protected]
Fri, Jun 30, 10:15 PM (14 hours ago)
to racereporting, maricelly_vargas, ibenderskii23, abenderskii27

Happy Friday!

Nice steady winds all day mostly in the 14-16 kts range, champagne sailing (a welcome change after the last two nights with multiple gusts and round-ups). Trying to learn to sail VMC angles - slotcars phase of the race!!

Pod of dolphins played around the boat around 14:00.

Made (over the last 2 days) and installed spinnaker net a la Green Buffalo.

Saw some floating plastic trash in the water - I guess we are skirting the great Pacific garbage patch :(
 
Michael Polkabla (via inReach)
1:07 PM (11 minutes ago)
to ssspol23

It’s Alive!!!
Me that is…. POL on 7-1-23 at 1:05 pm.
 
Tales from the Deck of Tortuga
Friday, June 30th

WWDKD? What would Dave King do? For those friends who don't know Dave, he is the Westsail racing guru, having sailed and raced to Hawaii more times than I can count. His wisdom and words have been with me this trip; his main advice was: "If you’re not sailing at 7.4 knots, trim your sails". Well, I’ve been doing plenty of that and trying to keep the boat speed up in the light air. At this point, I know the other Westsails are ahead of me from the daily update, but I'm still trying to make the Westsail family proud by keeping the boat moving as best I can and at least beating my previous best time doing the race of 17 days.

The Asymmetrical spinnaker has been flying for 24 hours now. Will likely be at least another 24 hours before the wind starts backing too much for that sail. Then will need to decide on flying the symmetrical spinnaker based on winds and squall frequency.

No sun yet this am. Another grey day so far. Pulled another GRIB report, and I really hope I’m out of the light winds now, although it looks like there is another possible spot late morning for a few hours, looks too big of an area to try and skirt around. Headed down a bit more south. We shall see.

Was a great afternoon, and the sun came out for quite a few hours. The little squalls have become bigger, and after the one around 1900 decided I shouldn’t be flying the asym anymore. It was a good 36-hour run with that sail-up. The squall didn’t look like much on the horizon, but it was windier that the others had been on the leading edge, and we started to round it up pretty quickly. Jumped into quick douse plan action, fell off

⛵️Team Tortuga 🐢
~~~_/)~~~
 
Green Buffalo POL (and more ;-) )

Saturday
July 1st
Day 6

1072
1072 nautical miles that is to both Hanalei and the Golden Gate Bridge. So half way! And the second half should be a bit faster to the first half - with winds forecast at 19k-20k over the next several days (what I have right now).

I should probably have swapped to the heavy kite today... but mornings are lighter 14k-16k and there are "light patches" at night. That said, I will do it tomorrow. The 3/4 oz AP kite will have been up 5 straight days come tomorrow morning. It mneeds a rest.

Getting used to sleeping while the boat is surging down waves at 10k-12k boat speed... takes some time for the emotions to "acclimate" to sleeping with Otto at the helm when the wind is brisk.

Most years at this point in the race one would be running dead down wind and preparing for the first jibe. But not this year. The High is racing NW as fast as we head SW so we end up on its SE corner where the wind still has quite a bit of NE in it. So here I am on starboard tack easily sailing low of the islands - and struggling to
point to the islands (shortest course) without "spinning out".

Food... tuna fish sandwich with crunchy chopped celery for lunch. Why does celery sometimes go limp in a day yet now 7 days after I bought it its still got great crunch? Back to tortellini for dinner... that's what happens when I but a four serving bag... needed to cook the "second half" before it starts to "grow" something. :-)

Now its time for getting my evening weather surface progs (ie forecasts) as well as GRIBs to determine if I should try to lean right or left... or just "steady as she goes".

Oh
Give your sympathy to the SHTP Race Committee... they arrive in Hawaii on the 7th... sure possible a boat gets to Hanalei before they do. Its going to be a close one.
Hey it would be like the inaugural 1978 race... no one there to greet them when they arrived so they had to greet themselves. :-)

Cheers,
Jim Q
 
Mike Smith
6:06 PM (11 minutes ago)
to Jacqueline.Philpott

My fast run ended when the wind shifted to 020M. That happened sooner than I thought. Now I have 15g20 kts but at a bad wind angle for me. I have a poled out jib, my 10 oz. very heavy cruising Genoa. Not the fastest setup but that’s what I have. It’s a fun ride anyway. Finally blue skies.

Had to fix a floorboard yesterday. I stumbled, landed on it and two screws supporting the joist popped. When people see my boat they wonder why I label everything, even the screws! I try to touch every nut, screw and bolt on the boat but sometimes it doesn’t make sense to unscrew everything. This was a case where I should have: the screws only went 1/4” into the wood underneath. Getting the wood piece out of the bilge 5 ft below was interesting. Either deliberately flood the bilge or try and use a 3 ft long pair of forceps I have. I just managed to get it out and replace it properly.

At 3am the VHF alarm went off for no position input. Something wrong on the bus that joins all the gadgets. I had an LED terminator from Actisense that allowed me to chase around the wiring and find the problem. Without that LED light telling me where things are good and where they are bad it would have been like fixing Xmas lights.
 
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