solosailor
New member
How about an SSS cruise out to Catalina !
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Cheers - Bryan
Getting Ready for SHTP 2021
- Thread starter AlanH
- Start date
Philpott
Cal 2-27 Dura Mater
You tease. Maybe the CBC.
I know...well, I'm 97% sure....that if Hawaii 2021 doesn't happen, I'm not waiting for 2022 or 2023. However, after all this work, I'm taking the boat SOMEWHERE. Catalina and then to Long Beach is sort of a minimum, though I ~suppose~ I might putz out and do two weeks in the Delta. After all these decades of sailing I STILL have never taken any boat I own up the Delta.
But really...someplace at least a few hundred miles away on the ocean is more likely. Or maybe I'm ~Done~ with fog and worrying about fishing boats.
tiger beetle
N/M 45 Tiger Beetle
The weather has been fairly pleasant here in Oxnad to Catalina area, somewhat chilly in the morning with good sun, either not much wind or the Santa Ana winds are blowing hard. Wednesday night/Thursday was a Santa Ana event and I clocked 53 knots on the anemometer on Beetle with 30-40 knots fairly stable - it was blowing very hard and did so for about 14 hours. The sea state quickly goes into a big nasty chop and makes the 6 foot chop generated by the Sea of Cortes northerlies look tame. In those conditions the Catalina Harbor Patrol will move boats off the east-facing moorings and send them around to the back side of Catalina or (if there's sufficient advance warning) suggest boats head over to Long Beach.
I'm told that normally the Santa Ana winds run October and November, sometimes December - so the local folks have commented that such winds happening this late in February are unusual, they should be all finished by now.
- rob
I'm told that normally the Santa Ana winds run October and November, sometimes December - so the local folks have commented that such winds happening this late in February are unusual, they should be all finished by now.
- rob
Tchoupitoulas
New member
Starbuck might be better staged for sale in So Cal!
I took the racing main in for a second reef point, today. The second reef will reduce the hoist by about 10 feet, out of a P of 29' 5". I'll have to get a trisail to satisfy the rules, but two reefs and my heavy weather jib, which is about 60% of the foretriangle should handle most nasty weather.
Waiting....and trying to be chill and patient.... for whatever the announcement will be on March 15th.
Waiting....and trying to be chill and patient.... for whatever the announcement will be on March 15th.
brianb
Olson 34 Driver
I delivered my boat home a couple of times from Hawaii. I always managed to end up in a Force 7 gale , as described by passing ships. My old J24 main that I had Synthia (maybe SYlvia ? ) cut down to a storm jib with heavy webbing emanating from all the corners , and a triple reefed main were just the ticket.
I have never seen over 30k on the way home ( times... maybe its due to good karma? knock on wood...). And that was just for a few hours... a day of 25k a few times... but a few trips home never saw more then 20k... bigger problem was no wind the last 150 nm with zero wind and barely having enough fuel to motor in (this happened a few times). Buffalo has a very short rig... double reef in the smallish heavy delivery main and the "handkerchief" size storm jib should be good to 40k (though I hope to never find out... why the weather routing for the return is more important then the race over). 
I have never seen over 30k on the way home ( times... maybe its due to good karma? knock on wood...). And that was just for a few hours... a day of 25k a few times... but a few trips home never saw more then 20k... bigger problem was no wind the last 150 nm with zero wind and barely having enough fuel to motor in (this happened a few times). Buffalo has a very short rig... double reef in the smallish heavy delivery main and the "handkerchief" size storm jib should be good to 40k (though I hope to never find out... why the weather routing for the return is more important then the race over).
BUFFALO is a lucky boat! JimQ doubtlessly remembers Cal-40 CALIFORNIA GIRL got rolled flat while reaching under reduced sail on delivery home from Pac Cup. CG's lee side cabin window broke inwards and boat filled with considerable H2O.
I'd sailed WILDFLOWER home 5x from Hawaii. In 2008 I ran into this for 72 hours. It had been forecast, and I'd jogged in place for several days waiting before sticking my nose into "Gale Alley", believing I could reach off for S. CAL under storm jib if needed.
With the wind moaning in the rigging, storm jib alone proved too fast., Reduced sail to storm staysail of 18 square feet. Still too fast with danger of being rolled....
It's the accompanying waves, not so much the wind, that can cause harm on a return delivery from Hawaii, especially on smaller craft. Being a professional delivery skipper I was well aware of this uncomfortable fact. In the conditions I was encountering solo, August 30-Sept. 1, 2008, we would probably have been fine with a complement of 5 experienced crew delivering a Santa Cruz 70. But on 27' WILDFLOWER, the windvane and tillerpilot couldn't anticipate what waves might be dangerous. Nor could I handsteering at night.
"Why not heave to, skip?" This was not a passing storm, but a stationary feature of "Windy Lane" that was forecast to continue at least several more days with 15-20 foot significant seas.. Closing the coast, south and east, was the goal, not being a sitting duck.
brianb
Olson 34 Driver
In 2012 gale alley was in full operation as I approached from north of the Oregon border. I hung out for a day then opted to put a storm jib up and triple reef in the main, thinking like Sleddog that I would foot off. Just as conditions started getting brisk a passing ship out of LA reported to me that conditions were force 7/8 heading south. I had a pretty uncomfortable 24 hours with indicated apparent winds in the mid 30's at times. I pointed towards Santa Barbara and hid beneath the birth in a fetal position. At about 200 miles offshore it all lightened up, the boat once again was pointing at SF, and the ride into the Farallon was pleasant. As I recall the Buffalo was ahead of me three or four days and glided into the Bay area unmolested.
BobJ
Alerion 38 "Surprise!"
Funny story: I soloed Ragtime! back in 2006 and was a few hours behind Tiger Beetle (N/M 45) and Alchera (J/120) as we approached the coast. Gnarly it was. Rob and Mark were talking to each other on the SSB and they didn't know I was listening. One said "I sure wouldn't want to be on a little boat like Bob's in crap like this."
Some tabbing cracked where the forward bulkhead joined the hull, and the tillerpilot crapped out at some point, but otherwise all was well. What Skip got in 2008 was way worse.
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Some tabbing cracked where the forward bulkhead joined the hull, and the tillerpilot crapped out at some point, but otherwise all was well. What Skip got in 2008 was way worse.
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solosailor
New member
George "the Jockey" and I were doublehanding Hecla, the Hammerhead 54' trimaran that year for the SHTP return. We got a couple of days of the harsh conditions that were to set in. I remember thinking long and hard about how to handle the predicted gale alley weather ahead. We kept the pace up as we were approaching the nasty forecast since we didn't want to be out there long enough for the real bad sea state to set in. Hecla is fast, wind speed on any point of sail but closed hauled or DDW. I remember the night of 30-35k steady trying to keep her speed down to 10k so the leeward float wouldn't plow underwater to deep as we reaching toward the coast. So I was on night watch with George sleeping in the aft cabin and Hecla did a full hip check...... that's were you burry the nose of the float deep enough as the wave lifts the stern and you pivot on the tip, hip checking the stern into the water after it's airborne flight. It basically threw George against the starboard cabin wall. 12 day, 1 hour hour elapsed.
Since the word isn't getting out...I've withdrawn from the SHTP. I requested a withdrawal on Jibeset. That request is supposed to send a message to the race chair, but I'm still listed as a competitor.
I withdrew because my blood pressure shot to dangerous levels and stayed there for a couple of weeks, and what with SHTP 2021 being so wildly different from what I had anticipated being able to do, it didn't make sense to continue. Knowingly risking an aneurysm or something, "out there" is the height of irresponsibility. Fortunately, with the stress off, my blood pressure is slowly returning to normal.
Anyway, I fielded a couple of comments this weekend from people who didn't know I'd withdrawn.
I've withdrawn from SHTP 2021. Fair winds to those who still elect to go.
I withdrew because my blood pressure shot to dangerous levels and stayed there for a couple of weeks, and what with SHTP 2021 being so wildly different from what I had anticipated being able to do, it didn't make sense to continue. Knowingly risking an aneurysm or something, "out there" is the height of irresponsibility. Fortunately, with the stress off, my blood pressure is slowly returning to normal.
Anyway, I fielded a couple of comments this weekend from people who didn't know I'd withdrawn.
I've withdrawn from SHTP 2021. Fair winds to those who still elect to go.