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Late Pacs

"Energetic swell train." Wasn't that a 60's variety show?

Are you going for 400 nm or statute? The RR&C's don't specify.
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The Smokester said:
Where do you think there is ambiguity?
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I had to have my 'shore crew' check for me when I was nearing the bridge. The Instructions just state miles. My gps and delorme did not agree on my mileage (da! Statute vs nautical) eventually the gps powered off on accident so I used the delorme as source of truth. My hand held unit put me at 415 miles. As a side note. The delorme only samples every one minute and uploads every ten. My top speed on my gps was 14.2 knots. I got surprised by 35knots and rather large swells with my 150 jib top up. It was a hoot. I will post a detailed write up when I get a chance. Thank you for following everyone. I had a blast.
 
The Smokester said:
Where do you think there is ambiguity?
Click to expand...

Ambiguity exists, as SHTP RRC's require a Qualifying Cruise not less than 400 "miles." Doesn't specify what kind of miles, statute miles or nautical miles.

One would assume, being offshore, that traditional nautical miles would be in play. In fact, RRC 4.39 requires a "knotmeter."

However, I believe a Delorme is default programmed to read statute miles distance and miles/hour speed. It can be reprogrammed to read nautical miles/knots, if desired.

Sailing 400 statute miles is equivalent to sailing 347.6 nautical miles.
 
hopefully there isn't any fallout from this. My work would fire me if I had to take another 4 days off before the big event :)
 
sleddog said:
Ambiguity exists, as SHTP RRC's require a Qualifying Cruise not less than 400 "miles." Doesn't specify what kind of miles, statute miles or nautical miles.

One would assume, being offshore, that traditional nautical miles would be in play. In fact, RRC 4.39 requires a "knotmeter."...
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I respectfully point out that there is no ambiguity in the written rules. The rules state that "The qualifying cruise shall not be less than 400 miles...". A mile is defined as 5,280 ft. If something different is intended then a modifier, such as "nautical", is used. Perhaps there is ambiguity arising from SSS tradition in which case some of us newcomers need to be schooled.
 
bizirka said:
hopefully there isn't any fallout from this. My work would fire me if I had to take another 4 days off before the big event :)
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Since the RR&C's don't say nautical miles I think you're fine. Congrat's on a successful qualifier.

I do think the RR&C's should be clarified though. We are sailors - we navigate using nautical miles. Using a non-marine specific device (the Delorme) caused the confusion.
 
Congrats, Bizirka! I agree with BobJ: you've fulfilled the Qualifier requirements.

The ambiguity does need attention by the RC. The NOR says SF-Kauai race course is 2120 miles. That's gotta be nautical miles, the international agreed upon measurement used on all nautical and aero-nautical charts, and equal to 1 minute of latitude of the circumference of the Earth.

When measuring nautical miles on a paper chart, the dividers should go to the side of the chart, not the top or bottom.

Statute miles are used in the USA for overland distances and space shuttle launches, but pretty much no where else in the World. ("hey, sleddog, what about Myanmar?")

If you sail 2120 statute miles southwest, you'll likely be a bit short of finding any islands.
 
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From one of the Gurus on the Delorme Forum:

"The units used on the device and on the web site maps (both your own explore account Map tab and the MapShare map) are independent. You can control the units on the maps from the Account tab, Units sub-tab on the explore.delorme.com site. The same setting controls both the explore site and the MapShare site."

I changed mine so it is in nm and kts now instead of mi and mph.

https://share.delorme.com/ToddOlsen
 
todd22123 said:
From one of the Gurus on the Delorme Forum:

"The units used on the device and on the web site maps (both your own explore account Map tab and the MapShare map) are independent. You can control the units on the maps from the Account tab, Units sub-tab on the explore.delorme.com site. The same setting controls both the explore site and the MapShare site."

I changed mine so it is in nm and kts now instead of mi and mph.

https://share.delorme.com/ToddOlsen
Click to expand...

One thing to keep in mind: Delorme appears to be measuring all velocities in kilometers per hour (kph), rounded to the nearest whole kph. So if you display speeds in knots, you will see ridiculously specific speeds like 5.45 knots (10 kph) and 4.90 knots (9 kph) that are actually conversions of kph to knots, which are then only as exact as the nearest whole kph increment. Kinda cheesy. And an obvious effort at data compression by omitting tenths of a kph. It had me scratching my head at first: "How did I go miles and miles at exactly 5.45 knots?" I didn't. I was moving somewhere between 9.5 and 10.5 kph at the successive position reports, which was rounded to 10 kph, and then converted to 5.45 knots.

For a fast moving vehicle, better granularity wouldn't matter much. But the rounding errors become important at low speeds. A whole kph error (about half a knot) due to rounding becomes important when it's 10% of your velocity.

One other thing I discovered about Delorme accuracy: if you operate the tracker in default mode, it powers up the GPS receiver only long enough to get a rough approximation of your position, transmits, and then powers down the GPS. This behavior saves power but results in position reports that are often 2,000 feet away from actual. You'll see this if you leave it in that mode on a stationary boat for a few days - you'll get a spiderweb pattern that's about 2,000 feet in diameter. If you leave the unit continuously on a charging source, and configure the GPS receiver to stay on (only a tiny power penalty), then the GPS stays alive for the 10 minutes it needs to get a full set of WAAS corrections, and the accuracy is within the normal GPS bounds of 30 feet. For position reports sent every 10 minutes, eliminating that 2,000 foot error can also have a significant effect (up to 20% at 5 knots) on improving the accuracy of your reported speed. There's no penalty in battery life because, if the Delorme tracker does lose charging power, it'll revert to the default power-saving mode.

With both factors combined: the rounding errors on velocity combined with position errors, velocities in the range of 5 knots reported every 10 minutes can be in error by as much as +/- 30%.
 
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From TIJD's AIS track on MarineTraffic.com, it looks like he had a screaming reach out past the Farrallones, turn around at about 1430, and then followed his track back. He was back to Richmond by about 2000.

Since NOAA was predicting gale warnings, I'm sure we are all anxious to hear his full story.

Tom P.
CLOUD
 
Epiphany.

There was a lot of wind and big seas. It was a great ride winds between 25 and 32 knots. Boat handled really well with 2 reefs and a #3 jib. Seas were big but not many breakers.
What happened is that I came to the realization that I do this for all the wrong reasons (in my mind). I enjoy the racing aspect but I don't enjoy being out at sea for a long time. I was counting down the miles. If I don't enjoy being out for 3 days, why would I want to be out there for 14 days. I have great memories of the LongPacs I sailed but it was not about enjoying being out at sea, it was about the challenge, competition, and accomplishment. I never go sailing offshore for "fun", only when I race. Looking back to the early days, when I sailed many of the offshore IOR series, I never signed up for transatlantic crossings. It's just something I don't enjoy and need to be ok with that. The Farallones, Half Moon bay, Spinnaker Cup, and LongPac are the races that fit me well.

Needless to say, I'm cancelling my registration and I have a lot of gear for sale...

Dirk "TIJD" First 30JK
 
Wow, that's an interesting perspective. Sorry to hear this, Dirk, but good that you've made the epiphany now rather than mid-ocean. I've often wondered about this for my motives, as well. I'm pretty sure it's about the destination that will make it worthwhile for me, and one of the reasons that I backed out this year, is that I wasn't going to be able to stay in Hawaii for as long as I wanted because of new client obligations right now. It doesn't seem to be worth it to not have enough down time to soak it up on the other side before heading back. Always good to know thyself.
 
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