Interested in a boat for 2018 TransPac

[jamottep]

How do you calibrate your boat speed and wind speed? I am struggling with this, myself.

Ah ... I don't ... And I do realize that it may not be accurate. In Santa Cruz I recall cross-checking with SOG on the VHF and it seemed mostly accurate. With tides it seems mostly impossible in the Bay. As for the wind I compared my experience with what would read on some of the anemometers in Santa Cruz and I was in the ball park. I'd love to hear other folks' approach in the Bay.

Accurate or not it does help provide a reference for my own setup.

 

[tiger beetle]

There's a measured nautical mile in the Oakland Estuary that can be used to calibrate the speed, the markers are located in the Oakland estruary entrance channel, on the Alameda side (south side) up against what used to be the Naval air station. The markers themselves are two pairs of small triangles (yellow, I seem to recall) on posts set up as range markers with one triangle inverted and located above the other - when the two triangle tops line up you're on the line. You run east/west in the channel at a constant RPM and you can time the run then work out how fast you were going. Hopefully the markers are still in place.

The difficulty with using the range is being there with no current and without a lot of other boat traffic.

You could probably do well using a GPS and an area with no current - you need to keep the boat running in a straight line, that's where the estuary helps as it's straight there, just follow the armored shoreline.

My instruments are the by-now quite old B&G Network and there's no facility for calibrating the wind speed. I know that it's off, I've learned to do the subtraction in my head to arrive at useful numbers. To compare boat performance polars to what the instruments are telling me I tweak the wind speed numbers slightly to fit the instruments. Though I don't look at the polars any more, after enough time on the boat you kind of learn when you're slow.

My expectation is that most folks don't do a lot of dead reckoning, which is when you really do want an accurate compass, speed, and time. I used to do that before I got my first Loran receiver, and having all three working well was important. Today I just look at the GPS and it tells me how far I've come in what direction and even better it gives me the distance/bearing to where I want to go and then tells me how I'm doing.

When racing by yourself in the ocean it is not so easy to tell how you're doing as you can't see any competitors to gauge performance against and there's not a lot of landmarks to get a feel for the boat's speed - the scale of everything changes enormously. That's when the instruments become important, at least in relative terms; having accurate numbers would be great, but consistent precise numbers will let you gauge relative performance as you change trim, course, sails, etc.

- rob/beetle

 

[jamottep]

D-72

I don't have much to show for these past two days. I did some writing to help organize my thoughts.

Here's a link to a draft "20 days before race start" plan: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Z9C9bDNj9RDF2owG9mSclB9fZiOl15hTnGu3JtK2J6M/edit?usp=sharing

I'm sharing all this in the spirit to get feedback but also to encourage other participants to get organized in which ever way will work for them, and my stuff could give you a head start.

I had the opportunity to speak with Jiri over the phone (who was first in Hanalei in 2016). The key take aways from our conversation were:

1. Mostly he did not get out of the cabin at night. He would instead adjust course using the auto-pilot (even with the spinnaker up). I decided to buy a spare remote for the auto-pilot.
2. He got a routing plan from Commander Weather but did not want to point as high as suggested. That seemed to have helped him big time as apparently folks to the North weren't as lucky with wind.

When I hear him speak of speed of 20+ kts running before big swell with the spinnaker up in 40 kts of wind I realize I'm woefully under prepared when it comes to colored sails.

I cut off a few feet of an old hose and sliced it up along its belly. That may come handy as chafe protection for sheets or anchoring.

On to Round The Rocks next then ...

 

[jamottep]

When racing by yourself in the ocean it is not so easy to tell how you're doing as you can't see any competitors to gauge performance against and there's not a lot of landmarks to get a feel for the boat's speed - the scale of everything changes enormously.
- rob/beetle

What I think I will struggle with most is sail plan vs heading decisions. Should I take it easy with the #2 poled out and full main up going straight to HI, or should I put a spinnaker up and go faster, hoping for nothing to go wrong ... Each sail plan change is likely to be tiring, if not downright risky. This is the part that baffles me most. Add to the mix that conditions are changing and it becomes a puzzle that I'm not sure I'll be mentally equipped to solve ... heck, I don't even think I can here, on land, rested.

I've watched a few of Idefix' YouTube videos about his trip to HI and a few others while riding my bike indoor. A boat is small; being on this tiny white spot bobbing out there is an interesting thought.

 

[Critter]

Does anyone have a photo of their spinnaker net? I'm in the process of making one from webbing but sounds like there are some subtleties.

Here's mine. Very simple, I threw it together in a hurry from the luff tape of an old jib and my old jacklines. A ring at each corner and lines at the tack and clew to tie them down.

The foot is only about half of my J dimension, so it didn't get in the way of the pole during end-for-end jibes.
If you go back to the photo thread in this forum, you can see the net in use - the photo with the black and white Spinnaker.

As I recall, Synthia has a very clever means of clipping
it down helically in a bag to keep it from tangling. But I found that if I flaked it carefully on the deck as it came down, it stayed tidy.

Max

 

[Lanikai]

What are the decision parameters for using a net? All the time, even during a short run in a bay race, or only when the spinnaker will be up for hours/days?
Or is it purely conditions-dependent, i.e. when winds exceed your spin-wrap likelihood threshold?

 

[The Smokester]

Here's mine. Very simple, I threw it together in a hurry from the luff tape of an old jib and my old jacklines. A ring at each corner and lines at the tack and clew to tie them down.

The foot is only about half of my J dimension, so it didn't get in the way of the pole during end-for-end jibes.
If you go back to the photo thread in this forum, you can see the net in use - the photo with the black and white Spinnaker.

As I recall, Synthia has a very clever means of clipping
it down helically in a bag to keep it from tangling. But I found that if I flaked it carefully on the deck as it came down, it stayed tidy...

Thank you Max. One question: Is it important/necessary to have the luff attached to the headstay (as you would a jib)? I have roller reefing and don't see an easy way to do this. Or can I just put a lot of tension on between tack and head?

 

[sleddog]

What are the decision parameters for using a net? All the time, even during a short run in a bay race, or only when the spinnaker will be up for hours/days?
Or is it purely conditions-dependent, i.e. when winds exceed your spin-wrap likelihood threshold?

Spinnys are more likely to wrap when windy, running downwind, using a symmetrical spinny, using a sock, jibeing, and at night. Spinnys are less likely to wrap when reaching, during the day, using an asymmetrical, and using an outgrabber.

One parameter for using a net is how long it takes to rig and unrig, time you are likely at the bow. Rigging a net in daylight can take 15-20 minutes. One reason why nets are never used in closed course or SF Bay races.

A big cause of spinnaker wraps is getting by-the-lee. This often happens when mistaking a spinnaker collapse for being too high (too close to the wind) and turning down. When in fact the spinnaker is collapsing because you are by-the-lee, and the spinny is blanketed by the main. Turning down even more causes the spinnaker to blow through the foretriangle, unless there is a net in place.

Socked spinnys can wrap when the sock's weight begins a rotation around the headstay as the boat rolls.

If there is a spinnaker wrap and no net, a possible remedy is to jibe. Sailing on the opposite jibe reverses the wrap rotation.

A possible substitute for a spinnaker net is using a #3, or a #4 or storm jib on a long tack pennant. Even partially unrolling a furled jib will work, although a net needs to be higher, rather than lower in the foretriangle for best effect.

 

[The Smokester]

Speaking of outgrabbers, my understanding is that their purpose is to pull the clew in closer to the boat thus depowering an asym. Are they recommended/essential?

 

[sleddog]

Outgrabbers pull the spinny clew further outboard, thereby flattening and stabilizing the spinnaker. If one understands their function and use, they are recommended, but not essential. Outgrabbers also double as a preventer. http://honeynav.com/outgrabber-on-spinnaker-sheet/

 

[The Smokester]

OK thanks. Got it. What's what I'm thinking of called? And is it useful?

 

[Critter]

I imagine that a net that doesn't attach to the headstay would still be effective, if it's right next to the furled jib and well tensioned. But to be sure, loops around the jib (dyneema, to slide up and down easily) as Bob described sound like a good idea.

 

[jamottep]

Ok, damage report for Round The Rocks ...

First I am thankful for Sam's help to put Double Espresso in the water AND take it out. It made the day so much easier. Thank you!

It was my third race, with one DNF in there. I think there was some improvement as I did not go of course this time. I did make a couple poor decisions though. On the first leg to Alcatraz I saw a multi-hull ahead of me that seemed to stall and I thought it might have been because of stronger currents so I tacked. As can be seen in the track below it was a significant waste of time. The other mistake was to go too far West after rounding The Brothers and recovering after that; again the track below will show that.

What else happened? I'm glad there wasn't too much wind as hoisting the spinnaker was a good source of excitement for me and entertainment for Joe. Once again having long arms proved useful. Three things went wrong:

1. First the halyard was passed under the topping lift. The hoist stopped half away and I had to bring the sail down, somehow control it under my legs, swap the halyard under the topping lift t the tip if my fingers and rehoist.
2. The clew was twisted. I disconnected the sheet, untwisted the clew and reconnected.
3. The spinnaker managed to sneak stuck behind a jib batten. I dropped the jib and that was that.

Joe B was right next to me, enjoying a sandwich and free entertainment. To my wife I described this sequence as me being a spider trying to corral the spinnaker with my long arms and legs. There was a wrap too but it came off on its own accord.

There was the usual entanglement of jib sheets around the pole after the spinnaker went down and the jib went back up.

I did have a few close encounters, not all of my making.

There was an interesting episode with WARPATH (another O30) on the downwind leg to The Brothers. They were heating up their spinnaker while I was sailing deep. They were passing me fast but in the end we stayed even. I wonder if that had to do with them being more sideways to the current as my understanding was that their approach should have been faster.

I felt slow during the all race. Sometimes the boat would liven up but it was short lived. The auto-pilot steered 95% of the time.

Now ... D-70

I should probably get myself a spinnaker net based on this race. I should also be mindful that I'm unlikely to do much steering to HI; I tend to rely on the autopilot heavily. I have been forcing myself to do more steering lately when I go sailing but it's not sticking yet.

I did a bit of shopping for spare parts on eBay (D shackles and soft shackles). I've become a bottom feeder and keep looking for deals ...

What's next? More sailing, more planning. I need to hoist, jibe and douse that spinnaker.

 

[jamottep]

D-66

Yesterday was a day for twin jibs, broaches and scrubbing.

While preparing the boat for a day sail the wind was shifting all over the place. I chose to leave under sail and that worked out fine, until I got to the exit of the protected waters of the marina in very light wind. I saw that a strong flood would be pushing me on the South wall and I was already sculling to make way. I carried on with my bail out plan being to turn around if I wasn't making through. All was well in the end and it was a slow upwind slog in shifty and gusty winds to get out of the channel. Once out the wind was from the North or so, which was unusual for me. I sailed down Raccoon and to the GG, where the wind was in the 3-5 kts range.

I turned downwind and I deployed the #3 on leeward and the #2 on windward for a twin jib setup. DDW I was sailing at 2 kts with 4-5 kts of wind, if the onboard instruments can be trusted. Since that wasn't very helpful and the wind was to build up later on. I made my way back to the GG and went for another run. Almost DDW I was getting 6.5 kts of speed in 11.5 kts of wind. I thought that wasn't very good but after looking at the boat's polar it is actually quite good. That said, read on ...

I shared my jib sheets between each sail and that made dousing the twin jib rig a bit of a problem. Next time I rig this in anything about 10 kts of wind I'll make sure to rig a pair of sheets to windward jib as otherwise when easing the pole the sail wants to fly forward and the only way to get it back is by hand. With the leeward sheet I can pull it in then douse.

Double Espresso came with a twin foil and I haven't changed that. I discovered that I must use the guide or risk having the luff tape bunch up in the grove, which makes dousing a little difficult. I also did not take the main sail down as I wasn't about to deal with hoisting it again (or dealing with lashing it to the boom while the bolt rope came off the mast track).

After two twin jib runs I went back up to practice a little more with the spinny. Following my RTR adventure I wanted more experience gybing. The wind continued to build up but never went above 16 kts that I could see. Brian B was sailing in the vicinity and he saw big puffs up to 24 kts. I don't think those came as far as where I was.

I did a first downwind run with the spinny, jibing in 5-10 kts of wind. I haven't figured this out yet. I was able to jibe just fine but there were a few wraps in the making, which came out undone on their own accord. I went back up to the GG for a fourth run. I packed the spinny while sailing upwind and sitting on top of the cabin so I could maintain a lookout, which worked just fine.

After the second spinny hoist and settling down on a 125 AWA course I went forward to get the spinny bag off the rail and the boat broached, right when Brian B sailed by (once again I find myself in the position of purveyor of fine entertainment). I went back to the tiller, eased the vang, eased the mainsheet, let the boat flatten and was able to bring it back down. I am very happy at how quickly I was able to recover and the learning this provided: keep my (any) weight aft, that or go deeper if I need to go forward. I usually have my engine on the stern but today it was inside forward. I found that to keep the boat more stable I had to twitch the tiller constantly (not pumping, or you could say small pump movements).

After that I settled down. At 14 kts of 150 AWA wind the knotmeter was showing 9 kts, which is almost 2 full kts more than the polars. Something is amiss. I'll have to check the SOG on the GPS next time. I didn't jibe in these conditions. I'll need more practice to figure it out before jibing in 15 kts.

I sailed home. I had 4 sails to bag up, three of them were (and probably still are) wet. After all that was done I hoisted Double Espresso out and did a bit of scrubbing. There were 6 spots with black marks right where the boat rests on the trailer stanchions. With such a nice smooth bottom they are quite the eye sore and I proceeded to scrub them away with a scrub pad I found on the parking lot. I feel like I've built a personal relationship with the boat now that I've spent the better part of 2 hours scrubbing top sides and bottom. Since singlehanded sailors tend to have personal relationships with inanimate objects when tired at sea I hope that DE and I are now in good terms.

I was home at 10PM. A long day ...

Tomorrow is boat show day for me!

A few YouTube videos:

Twin jibs in light wind: https://youtu.be/JnQ9K4Szzdg

Twin jibs in 10 kt of breeze: https://youtu.be/Y-W_m886A_s

Spinny work: https://youtu.be/bpGcBmTyn8s

One of these days I'll get a shot of me working things out. I just have lost the mount for the GoPro and need to replace that.

 

[The Smokester]

I was with Brian yesterday. You were looking good taking Jim Quanci's advice to run the spinnaker in the slot. Unfortunately, my long lens was below and I missed the shot.

 

[jamottep]

I was with Brian yesterday. You were looking good taking Jim Quanci's advice to run the spinnaker in the slot.

Thanks for the kind words ...

D-61

I visited BYC today for a few small projects. I really didn't do much. I tried to organize a jibe preventer system. I put a pair of D shackles at the bow and each will have a block. I setup a short line to act as a fuse on the boom. I'll attach a line to that, which I'll run forward to the bow block and back to a cabin top cam cleat. It seemed to work fine on the trailer.

I installed a large snap shackle on the whisker pole so that I can fly it with the jaws down. This way I may be able to release the poled out jib without easing out the pole and struggling to bring the sail back in. We'll see how that goes in practice.

I brought back the auto-pilot remote and the two clocks (local and UTC) to purchase replacement batteries.

I put my cc down for a life raft rental at Sal's. I've toyed with the idea to buy one but I really can't afford this right now.

This weekend I bought a few dehydrated food pouches to test for taste. Pouches with meat are really high on sodium. So far Alpine Air wins with their vegetable meals but I've only tasted a couple.

I ordered a spare safety tether, just in case I loose the main one again. It is heavy and geared towards industrial climber (electrician, arborists, etc).

I met with Shad too and he showed me his boat (another Olson 30). Oh boy! That's a well prepared boat. Everything looks strong and well thought out. In particular I'm jealous of his auto-pilot setup. Everything is below deck, can be easily engaged and controlled remotely. According to him his B&G is faster and has a larger range of motion than mine. He's planning for his qualifying cruise end of week but first he plans to install a new rudder and solar panels.

Still nobody out there with a small generator taking dust?

 

[jamottep]

D-58

As the start date gets closer and I see/read about other folks' boats I'm starting to feel the pressure, especially with 4 other Olson 30s. Certainly these O30 owners know their boat inside out and are most likely spending the right money to get their boat prepped up for a fast ride to Hanalei. In fact having seen Shad's boat up close I've had dreams of not being ready: it's June 23rd 9:30 AM and I wake up home, thinking "how am I going to get to the start in time?".

Besides getting up all in knots in my head and stomach not much sailing has come by. I've brought the main to Leading Edge to get chafe patches installed (we'll stick with sticky back). The light chafe I saw on the sail probably predates the rod rigging but I don't want to take a risk. I've received my new tiller wand and I'm considering moving it an inch or two back. A small 4 stroke generator is on its way and I'm now looking at an AC charger to marry it with.

I've continued playing with SailGrib, making sure I understand how to use the SW to gather weather charts and GRIB files with the Iridium GO. Speaking of the GO I've helped Ray of Jibeset to incorporate it as a possible tracking device and I think he's close to a solution there. The next step would be to figure out what to do with the race position report file. Most routing SW have an import feature to display racers and their track on the charts. It's now a matter of file format conversion.

After watching videos, reading a little more about routing and being humbled by the enormity of the task of acquiring weather knowledge I picked up another rule of thumb: don't go past 1020. I have the barometer on the tablet and bought a wrist watch barometer as well (for backup/comparison). I have to say that I have been on a bit of buying spree and, although these were small items, the budget is red lining solidly.

I continue tasting dehydrated food and so far I really don't like the high sodium meals, which often are the meals with meat. I may end up going vegan on this one.

Reading through Skip's plan in the resources I've come to realize that I have pretty much not practiced sailing on the most likely angle for the windy reach, circa 75 AWA. I had read about jib tops or reaching sails but only know understand the benefit. I guess I'll stick with the #2 or #3 and the toe rail. I did reach out to one of the used sails company to see if I could get a discount on a used Dacron jib that would be about the size of #2 (117%) as I'm not sure I want to take the risk to damage the #2 I have.

All the brouhaha around racing has sent me for a spin. I think I've been very ambivalent with myself about how I want to sail the SHTP. I'm not sure where I stand and since it's only going to be me out there I think I should have clear goals, realistic or not. Originally this event was for me to acquire more offshore singlehanded sailing experience. If I put my spirit into the race then I have to deal with all the competition mental overload. That's emotionally draining, for me at least.

All these 030s ...

 

[Harrier]

Go to the "Dollar Tree and invest a dollar in a roll of black vinyl tape. Then train yourself to ALWAYS tape the spinnaker halyard snap shackle so it can't open until you want it to.
If you don't, "one of these days" the shackle will open all by itself with the chute in full bloom! Lesson learned on my 1st SHTP. Didn't happen until abeam of Kilauea light, so little effect on the race result. That spin still has bottom paint on it!

 

[jamottep]

If you don't, "one of these days" the shackle will open all by itself with the chute in full bloom!

Picture!

D-52

I saw the whales too, well, at least one. After helping Shad roll his sails I went out for an instrument calibration stint and a little bit of practice. The knotmeter appears to be reasonably accurate, at least when the boat is flat. I also used Ramarine's calibration feature to calibrate wind readings.

The wind was strong so I was down to #4 and 2 reefs. When getting close to exiting Raccoon I ended up in a wind hole. The wind went from 15-20 kts to 0 kts. That's one mistake not to do on 6/23! I put the engine back down and moved out. It had been a while since I'd been drenched when sailing, pretty much ever since I moved out of Santa Cruz, but yesterday I took a few showers. It wasn't anything like what Shad saw on his return trip but for me it was a friendly reminder of how things get out there. I sailed under the bridge then turned around, pinned the main center and proceeded to get ready to go wing on wing with the #2. It took a little while to get organized but we were slow so I got everything up with room to go after that.

After the wing on wing rig went down I wanted to practice 70 AWA but didn't get to do that much. I tried with the #2 but the wind was too strong and the boat was heeling too much so I took it down. When all was said and done I didn't come back with any actionable information. I must say that I wasn't mentally present, being very much distracted by Shad's preparation. His boat is the beast. I need to get back to focus on my stuff; there's no point in lamenting now ... I'll just think of myself as David.

Let's see, what else is happening? I signed up for the Farallon Islands race, had the sailmaker inspect my main sail (he put an extra patch around the second reef tack), went to pick up my generator (only to find that there was oil everywhere in the box; I'll need to call the manufacturer tomorrow), ordered a set of spare jib sheets (so I can rig the outboard lead more easily and can fly two jibs without having to switch between sheets), brought back the #1 to have it checked, filled up the outboard tank ... small things really.

Good night ...

 

[mike cunningham]

PJ, did you decide to use QtVLM? I have been playing with it on android and on my boats laptop. It's pretty robust. Were you aware it will read NOAA ENCs? I downloaded the relevant regions decompressed and put them in the kap folder and things are working fivers.

I also have a Yacht Devices wireless gateway installed on mt Ray STNG network. QtVLM interfaces with the gateway and provides a full suite of instruments on the PC and Android. Reads AIS messages, the whole ten yards. Very cool.