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Logs from LongPac racers

S

Sparky

Sailor
1500, 7/29/2009

We had a good breeze leaving SF Bay today, winds were ~20 in the bay, and they dropped to 16 in the Bonita Channel. Later they continued to lighten, 5-6 knots at Duxbury Reef, currently 7 SW winds. Seas have been failrly flat all day. Lots of fog, at times hard to see anyone, and my glasses get covered in water until I cannot see, but for the last 5 hours, it has lifted some, and is now dry.

So far we have traveled 30 miles to our goal of 126.4, 184 miles to go before we turn around.

Coyote was the 3rd boad under the bridge today, and later gained the lead, until the super fast multi huls went past!

Most of the (rest) of the fleet is still in sight, working up the marin shore towards drakes bay, Coyote continues to work out towards our goal point, we are now several miles above the rest of the fleet.

Looking forward to BBQ Chicken tonight for dinner, and pudding for desert.

Signing off for now.

Steve
Coyote
 
2nd log report from Coyote

Yesterday evening, we passed over Cordel Bank Marine sanctuary, and sure enough whales! I noticed them because they were laying on the serface and their breathing was so heavy I could hear it from a mile away, I was not sure what the noise was at first, but then I saw, very cool. Had a few dolphins on the bow, and seals seem to be having a good ole time.

The entire fleet checked in last night at 2100 ( 9pm) and gave their positions. I was surprised that we were all within VHF range, a few checked in on SSB.

The watch schedule last was new for me. I set my alarm clock for 25 minutes, and went to bed...with my clothes and PFD (personal floatation deviise) when the alarm went off, I clipped on, went on deck, adjusted the sails, logged my position, checked the AIS and Radar, then went back to bed for 25. At first I did not think I was sleeping, just waiting for the alarm to go off, but I must have slept because I feel pretty good this morning.

It was very wet last night with the fog on the sails, I got "rained" on everytime I adjusted the sails!

This morning everything is still wet, but the fog is off the deck a few hundred feet, so the visability is pretty good. I only see one boat now off my starboard quarter, last night with the lights on and strobes I could see 4-5.
There has been a good wind all night running between 13-17, so I am making good time , between 6-8 knots.

I have breakfast in the oven,, then probably a nap!

That's all for now.

Steve
Coyote
 
Coyote log report #3

Beautiful day on the ocean, foggy but with some sun shining thru now and again.

Winds have held steady all day 12=14 knots, so I am making good progress toward the turn around point. We were headed a while ago, so I just let the boat follow the header, not much else I could do, and when I woke from my nap, we were heading to a new course better then when I went to sleep.....Just let Coyote do the driving I guess.....

Only saw one boat today, a boat with a red jib, has been on my starboard quarter, off ~5 miles or more, for 24 hours, I think I am gaining on him a bit.

I am sure there are boats around me, I just cannot see them, too far away, although there has been some nice chat on the radios between the boats today, so I know they are around, but I imagine we are getting a bit spread out by now.

We have 46 miles to go to the turn around point, so if the wind holds, I should turn around and head back to SF by midnight or so.

The food is holding out well, so well in fact that my lunch burrito was frozen when I bit into it, so I had to bake it first!

There are two ships heading right for me now, I am so glad we have the AIS, a caution message has ben on screen for hours now, one of the boat will cross within 1/2 mile in 1 hour 18 minutes,,Thanks Paul this is terrific software! I expect the alarm to go off in 18 minutes.....

The Radar wakes up each 5 minutes, does a few sweeps, and if nothing (island, ship, boat etc) has entered the guard zone, then it goes back to sleep, else the alarm sounds to alert me.

It is nice being able to email friends and family, and call Connie twice a day to stay in touch, more tricks I learned from Paul!

Lasagna for dinner tonight,pudding for dessert.

signing off for now.

Steve
Coyote
 
Green Buffalo log report

This was sent to his wife, as well as the email address in the Comm Plan to send for posting. My apologies in advance if Jim gets upset with me, hopefully not!
==================================
Friday 7/30/09 20:01

Mary -

Its been an interesting race so far.
The weather has been pretty good with primarily 8-13k of wind out of the West (except for the first several hours where we had mostly 4-6k).

Thursday during the day was a southerly so most of the fleet was on port tack heading to Drake's bay.
Right at Drake's bay - maybe two miles past chimney rock - the wind swung to the west - a perfect time to tack and head south (the gribs indicated more wind pressure to the south too).
Just before sunset, passed almost over the top of Noon Day Rock - the northern most Farallone Island (though Noon Day Rock is not an island... its just below the surface). Went a little farther south then I wanted to not go over the rock - which was okay as getting south to the stronger wind was a good thing.

Now came the tricky part for me - sleeping. How much, how long, how frequent would work for me?
The wind was oscillating between 270 and 320 degrees every 30-60 minutes or so which meant regular trim and helm changes. Started out with two 30 minute cat naps in the cockpit - getting up for 5 minutes to check heading, trim and AIS. Then moved below and took several 45, 60, 70 and 90 minute naps. So to my surprise I slept probably 7 hours last night (and another 3 hours during the day Friday). Double handing was more fatiguing. :-)


A few container ships went by during the night mostly heading from LA to Asia - none closer then 2 miles away. One entrant, Alchera I believe (J/120), passed astern just 100 yards - at maybe 3 in the morning. I spotted him directly astern at closest approach when I first woke up from a hour long nap. He was heading south at a good clip. I wonder if he was awake and saw me? I had my pig stick strobe going at the mast head all night...

Will be "making the turn" just after midnight (I hope). Will be interesting to see if I can fly the chute - or will need to stay with the big jib top. I suspect I won't get as much sleep tonight as last night. It's the old "get as much sleep as you can whenever you can because you never know when you'll need to go a long time without sleep" - sleep is a weapon. :-)

Miss you. See you Saturday! (maybe early, maybe not)

Love,
Jim
 
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Green Buffalo semi log report #2

Mary -

Oops!
Of course the last e-mail was Thursday at 8pm and not Friday.
Maybe I am a little groggy? :-)

Just getting over a slight case of mal de mer too. :-)

Love,
Jim
 
Elise - sat phone report

Nat from Elise (Express 27) called via sat phone to report all is well and they're currently experiencing winds in the 14-16 knot range, and very happy about it, as it has been a little light all day.

This morning they saw a few other racers nearby, but now are sailing all alone. They also saw a baby whale, seals, and one container ship.

-end of report.
 
Log report from HECLA

Friday morning, July 31:

This morning finds me in a cheery mood after a night of good sleep and good speed. After the first two hour nap (big one!) I woke up in a serious daze: who am I, where am I, what am I doing here, don't move until you figure all that out because it might be dangerous. I sleep with all of my outside clothes, harness, and tether attached so if I have to run outside in a daze at least all of the critical safety stuff is in place. I got it together, and after the third nap the sky was starting to lighten so I got up and made coffee.

After the second nighttime nap I spent some time outside observing bioluminescence trails off of the hulls. Sometimes I run through richer ocean patches of plankton, and when they are disturbed the critters glow softy. The leeward hull had a knife like ribbon of glow along its side and trailing behind, while behind the main hull a broad fan of glowy stuff spread out. From time to time there would be an apple size blob of something that would light up brightly, and once or twice such a thing splashed up onto the nets and hung there briefly until it expired. A few minutes later I was out of that richness and the ocean was nearly invisible in the moonless darkness, appearing steely gray and emitting a gentle hissing sound as I glided along comfortably at a racy 10 knots.

Those of you observing the tracking noted that I reached the turn-around line last night shortly before sunset. My very southerly course put me south of the race fleet, so while I had all instrumentation on full alert I had no contacts with any boat on the return course, and now I am clear of the entire fleet.

Except for the very light conditions in the first few hours of the race, the wind has been fairly ideal, moderate, NW about 10 to 14 knots, which is enough for good boat speed and not so much that it is rough and wet; ideal for me! The light to moderate winds and NW direction made my fastest course more southerly than the rest of the fleet, it has to do with the shift in apparent wind as boat speed increases. I (any sailboat) am limited to sailing with the wind no less than 40 degrees right or left off of center, and as boat speed increases the apparent wind moves forward (think of wind in your face on a bicycle), so I have to steer a little wider than slower boats to maintain that 40 degrees. At this time, Friday morniing, a zone of very light wind is settling in on the turn-around region and I am glad to have escaped it. Some of the fleet may be trapped there for a while, but my guess is that Coyote, Tiger Beetle, Outsider, and Alchera have also escaped it and they are hot on my tail. It looks like I might finish around 8 tonight.

While the wind and waves are very nice, the sky has been full cloud cover with cosistent drizzle and 50 to 55 degrees, so it is a damp and clammy ride out here.

All the best, Jeff
 
Coyote log report #4

Friday, 7/31/09 13:10

Yesterday and Last evening were great, lots of wind, and quickly arriving to the turn-around point, looks like a number of us were to hit it at the same time...and fast!

Then,,,,the wind died,,3 miles from the turning point, and instead of 1 hour away, I was 4.5 hours away,,,since I was expecting to head for home at 11pm, and did not actually turn until 2am, I missed a lot of sleep.

Once turned around, and headed for SF, the winds continued light all night, and I did get lots of needed rest.

At check-in this morning, I found that some of the boats I thought I had been with were now 50 miles ahead of me, and to make matters worse, the reported good winds, and all day I have had only 2-4 knots of wind.

The going is slow, tried the spinnaker for a few hours, but took me too far south, so back to white sails, making the best of the wind I have.

just heard from Green Buffalo, he is monitoring my AIS, and apparently he is only a few miles away, but I cannot see him.
He has the same wind conditions, currently 2.5 knots, oh wait,,,now it is 4 = life is great again, oh, back to 3.....

Saw more whales out here on the calm flat sea, always alerted to them by their breathing...

It has been very warm, even thought it is foggy, but wet at night, the fog is so heavy that everything gets soaked, I need to be careful where I kneel to work, or sit! Today it is very sunny too, so my gloves, jacket, pants and all wet gear is outside drying now.

Well, back to sail trimming, I need to make each puff count.

Steve
Coyote
 
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TAZ!! update

Just received a sat phone call from George on TAZ!!

He's really close to the turn around point and reported very light wind, from 1.5 - 2.5 knot range. There's also talk of a few boats that are contemplating firing up their engines to get back. He has plenty enough food and water for the long haul, so he's sticking to the game plan.

- end of report
 
Green Buffalo log report 7/31/09

From: Green Buffalo 7/31/09 15:51

Beautiful afternoon - blue skies, 6k wind and boat making 5k.
Yes a bit more wind would be helpful... but 6k wind is a vast improvement over slatting earlier in the day.

Grey whale stopped by and made like it was a dolphin. Breached 20 feet to port. Dove under the boat and breached 20 foot off the bow. Dove again coming up on my port bow wave (I took a picture with my cell to prove it). Yes I was a bit nervous with a 30 foot gray whale thinking it was a dolphin playing in my bow wave (especially after the sperm whale collision in last year's PacCup).

Took off my foulies just before lunch when the overcast cleared (first time they have been off in the last two days) and living in polypro longjohns. Makes for comfy naps. :-)

I have set a deadline of finishing by Sunday morning. If I am not under 100 miles to finish by Saturday (tomorrow) morning, its engine time (I have enough fuel to motor 150 miles).
That said, I am hopeful of finishing late Saturday - if I can just a wee bit more wind... 8-10k is all I need.

Jim

PS
Flaked the #1 this morning... gave it a good look over... I think its need to be retired by the end of this season. 5 good years on a race sail... no complaints... I told Kame I wanted a race sail that would last me 5 years. It did. I wonder how much the price of carbon has increased in the last 5 years... :-)
 
Friday Afternoon Update from Tiger Beetle

Good morning! Turned around last night at 126.41 (I overshot by 1 minute), at 00:48 this morning (shortly before 1am Friday morning).

Spinnaker is up, pole on the headstay reach in quiet seas and overcast sky - should be a very nice day, as everything is forecast to remain mellow. All is well on board, I hope to be in the bay sometime Saturday - it's 164 nautical miles from my current position to the center of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Position:
36.49 x 125.39 course 074T 6.0 knots.

We're doing the crazy round-robin VHF check-in that sometimes involve 4-way and 5-way relays (!). Well, that's the pain one puts up with if we don't want to put an SSB on each boat...
 
Tiger Beetle log report: 2100 position report

LongPac 7/31 2100 position report
(from tiger beetle as ohanna's outbound email does not work)

It's been another nice day out on the Pacific, conditions have been reasonably mellow out on the Eastern Pacific - perhaps too much so as some of the fleet appear to be trapped by a forming Low and associated trough extending along 126.30 W, which just so happens to be the line we run out to, tag, then turn around and run home.

Red Sky reports 3 albacore (all released), and Rainbow has repaired his charging circuit.

Constellation has retired from the race and is motoring eastwards, appears that all is ok.

Check-in on VHF remains problematic, as the fleet has spread out too much to hear each other. Some of the relays involve four and five boats, and we were unable to pick up everybody tonight.

alchera 37.08 124.40 070 7.9
bandicoot 36.53 126.37 274 2.0
barbaloot 36.47 126.30 030 1.5
constellation 36.46 126.05 072 5.0 retired, motoring
coyote 37.10 124.58 070 7.5
culebra 36.52 126.20 090 1.5
elise no contact
ergo no contact
galaxsea no contact
gavilan 36.42 125.29 054 5.0
great white 37.07 126.03 064 5.4
green buffalo 37.02 125.12 050 7.0
hecla no contact, presumed finished
nancy 37.19 126.01 -- -- 17:40 position report
ohanna 37.22 124.48 073 7.0
outsider no contact
poco loco 37.09 125.07 060 5.4
rainbow 37.13 126.14 255 3.0
red sky 37.10 125.42 075 5.6
second verse no contact
solar wind no contact
taz! 37.01 126.40 078 0.2
tesa 36.53 125.24 042 5.1
tiger beetle 37.16 124.22 070 6.9
trunk monkey no contact
velocious no contact
 
Green Buffalo log report - 0800 8/1/09

Overcast came in yesterday evening and temperature dropped several degrees. Back to wearing foulies and jacket.
10-15k out of the north all night - beautiful jib top reaching in 50-70 degrees apparent wind - and boat going 6-8k.
Woke up from naps a few times when the wind came up to 15k and the boat heeled "more then normal". Several 45-60 minute naps during the night.

This morning the wind is taunting me as it swings from north to west for 5-10 minutes making me go "its chute time" - only to see it swing back north.
I set the chute up just after day break (sheets, guys, pole, bag, halyard) and she's already to be hoisted - as soon as I get a steadier westerly. Would I mind it if the wind stayed north and I couldn't hoist until inside the Light Bucket?

Do buffalo's get "barn shy" like horses? The skipper sure is. :-)

60 miles isn't far - but its far enough. A few short naps will make the time to go faster. Though I think the napping is over once I get inside the Farallones.

Barring the wind shutting off, I expect to finish between 3 and 5 pm this afternoon (I'll be fighting an ebb which could delay me a bit more... though maybe not... should be ebbing on the shore as I come in... flood starts at 6 pm).

Looking forward to a warm bed that doesn't move tonight - though feeling a little guilty for half the fleet that will probably not finish till early Sunday morning.

Jim
 
Coyote log report on 8/1/09 at 0800

Coyote had a great run yesterday from around 1300 (1pm) until now, with winds building from 8 to 15 knots.

We seem to have reeled in some of the boats who got away at the turning point 126.4, gaining 25 miles of 50 we lost. Check-in is in 1/2 hour, so we will have a better idea of where we stand.

Noisy ride last night as Coyote ran on a close reach all night, but it felt great to be making so many miles.....

Only 16 miles from the Farallones Islands and 42 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge, looks like I may be back in the slip by 1700 (5pm today)!

Not sure if I will get the kite up today, wind is forward of the beam, 13 knots, but I am ready if the wind shifts just a little.

AIS is terrific, the alarm sounded twice yesterday, and I was able to contact the ships who were headed at Coyote, the ships could all see me via AIS, knew my course and speed, and they easily veered course just a little to leave me a mile away.

I understand my transponder is not working, so I am going to move it now to the port side of the boat, maybe the satellites are all in the western sky, because since I started back on a port tack Connie tells me my transponder is not tracking.

So off to move the transponder, and perhaps Coyote's last roll call this morning at 0900.

Steve
Coyote
 
Green Buffalo log report on 8/1/09 at 14:33

I jumped the gun thinking I would get home late this afternoon.
The wind died just after my prior e-mail.
2-4k of wind and making 2-3k. Made 25 miles in the last 7 hours.
5 miles from the Farallones (not too sure if I am going to take the SE Farallone Island to port or starboard yet).
Beating up the boat too - slatting. Will be interesting to see if the slatting will pop a few mast track screws making it impossible to get the main down (probably in the wee hours tonoght).

Have the chute up and it seems to be helping a wee bit (if I don't pop it given its collapsing and opening every minute).
Reduced the distance Coyote is ahead of me by a few miles.

This is a great race for sailmakers... all those beat up sails. :-)

In a day race, I would call it a day and motor home. But having come 365 miles... with just 35 miles to go... going to stick this one out (though if I am still not moving come midnight, I still might bag it.

Maybe the wind will fill in later this afternoon... just need 8-10k... to get home by midnight.

Jim
 
Green Buffalo log report 8/1/09 at 17:52

Last email...
4 miles from the Light Bucket.
8 knots of wind and doing 4k under spinny.

I shouldn't do this, but I'll give an ETA of 10:30pm.
If you see Coyote, I am 20-45 minutes behind her.

A few miles in from the Frallones I saw three whales circling a patch of water - stirring it up with the birds joining in. Was strange as I sailed straight through the middle of this sort of whirlpool. All told saw over 10 whales this trip - all greys.

Also just saw a large sea turtle - shell was maybe 5-6 foot across (passed just 150 feet away - I first thought it was an upside down dinghy).

AIS alarm just went off a minute ago - for the first time (closest approach alarm is set for 2 miles and containership about to pass 1 mile away).

I hear its been blowing stink in the bay... nuclear... wonder if the wind will die by the time I get there? Should I double pole gybe under the bridge - or will it be blowing hard enough I should use discretion and drop the chute just before the bridge and finish under jib top?

We'll see...

Jim
 
Coyote - final log report 8/1/09

Well, we did it - Coyote and I - finishing the LongPac last night Saturday August 1, at 2010 (8:10pm)!

We finished, but it was not pretty.....We had a great ride in from the Farallones under Spinnaker, and turns out on max flood too, so we were doing ~9 knots coming into SF bay. Under the Golden Gate bridge we flew and into the main bay, then just before the take down, the spinnaker blew up,,,and in the process wrapped itself a dozen times around the furled jib. So there I was, max flood pushing me down bay, a half opened spinnaker hopelessly wrapped around the head stay, and I was in real danger of missing the finish line!

I brought in the main and headed straight for the SF shoreline while being swept down bay, but we were able to make enough ground and when it was safe (around St Francis), I fell off and let out the main to finish. The good news was that once in the calmer winds, I was able to pull on the sheet and the spinnaker unwrapped, so I was able to do the takedown just as I finished. It was not pretty (in fact ugly) but we got the job done.

It took Coyote and I - 3 ½ days (81 hours 6 minutes) to complete the 400 mile course. It took 39 hours to get to Longitude 146.4, and 42 hours to bet back to SF.

The sleeping for 25 minutes at a time during the night worked well, and I also took naps during the day. As the trip progressed, I would increase the nighttime sleep increments to 35 minutes and during the day typically slept for 45 minutes at a time. Only once felt sleep deprived, but that was the "turn around day" when I was up for many hours trying desperately to get to the turning point with very little wind, coaxing the boat along as best I could. Last night I slept for 12 hours, at home in bed, and had many bizarre dreams. (probably needed to catch up on my REM's)

The nights were black as ink, having no moon - which was covered up by thick fog, and scanning the horizon at night was useless - I could see nothing. During the day, we had fair to great visibility, and the sun did come out at times, sometimes for 4-5 hours. Although it was very foggy, it was quite warm during the day.

I ate very well; many hot meals (meals in the oven is the way to go, no boiling) just throw it in the oven, and wait. Lasagna, quiche, turkey divan, etc. Then I took the trash off the boat today, I noticed most of the garbage was actually recycling - I had a bag full of empty water bottles! Overall, I lost 5 pounds on the trip.

I seems like the transponders - giving out positions was very helpful to those shore side who followed the race - worked great, we still have a few kinks to work out with these, but it seems like a great investment. Having Email capability is also good, to stay in touch. The SatPhone is great too. I was able to call Connie twice a day, and once she called me! The AIS is a very useful tool, knowing when a ship is coming straight at you in the middle of the ocean, and having an alarm to alert you to this fact.

For me, this is one of, if not, the biggest accomplishments of my life, and I feel terrific and proud that I did it! (For weeks, and right up to the race, I was very tentative about going. Then I decided that if I was not having fun, I would just turn around and come home. So I decided to just go for it.) It was a great race, and everyday it seemed that there were battles. Either battle the weather (especially when there was no wind), gear failures, navigation problems, sleep, fog, ships or the competitors!

I am especially proud of Coyote. Coyote held up very well, and performed great. She is a great boat. After running for so many miles, it was hard to get her to stop. We raced across the bay after we finished, and into the slip at RYC. However, once in the slip, it all I could do to keep Coyote back in the berth, she kept trying to pull forward, and I strained my back trying to restrain her!

Thanks to all of you following along and sharing my experience, and rooting for Coyote!

I got emails from many; your encouragement was great and very enjoyable hearing from you.

Back to normal life for now, signing off.

Steve
Coyote
 
Congratulations, Steve. You sailed Coyote really well and it seemed like you were always either in front of me or catching up. Now that you've got the taste for offshore racing, is a SSS TransPac in your future?

- Mark
 
Green Buffalo said:
A few container ships went by during the night mostly heading from LA to Asia - none closer then 2 miles away. One entrant, Alchera I believe (J/120), passed astern just 100 yards - at maybe 3 in the morning. I spotted him directly astern at closest approach when I first woke up from a hour long nap. He was heading south at a good clip. I wonder if he was awake and saw me? I had my pig stick strobe going at the mast head all night... Jim
Click to expand...

Yes, that was me (Alchera) almost climbing up your transom in the wee hours of the night, crossing to the south. You triggered the radar alarm at about 5 miles out and then I watched as our paths intersected, it sure looked like Alchera was headed for your transom! So I bore off sharply for a few minutes to go below and then resumed my southerly track. Didn't see your strobe though, are you sure it was on? The masthead light was nice and bright though, no problem picking it out. I had my strobe on that night because of the fog, turned it off during my course change to avoid you, and then turned it back on as I resumed course below you. It always amazes me during these races that after spreading out for a day or more, two boats can randomly come so close together. Just goes to show, one needs to keep maintaining a lookout! It's not just the big ships you have to worry about.

By the way, congratulations on a great performance! Well done!

- Mark
 
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