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New Boat 4 Sled

I don't know if you've included "NANCY" on raw 2010 PacCup, but here goes:
1. Loss of compass light (it was a TackTick digital solar compass). What we discovered was the light was set for Pst and not other time zones, so it went off while it was still dark - really dark. Borrowed compass/no instructions. Pointing a light directly at it flooded out the digits, The compass was mounted on the main hatch slide, so one of us sat next to the bulkhead and shined a small light into the side of the compass face, sort of illuminating the thing. Night after night. Battery after battery. Sore arm after sore arm. And angry complaint after angry complaint from the guy on the tiller if we were jolted by a wave and it got into his eyes.
2. Running into trash - fishing lines/nets several times - always at 0200. Pushing the trash off the rudder and backing the boat down under sail to clear the keel. Once the boat stopped to abruptly we thought we'd hit something hard and spent the first few minutes checking fork damage/leaks, It took half an hour, and in a race we eked out a 15 minute victory possibly could have cost us 1st Place in our division.
 
Gamayun said:
"Failure of Compass Light = 20%." Is this because of hand steering at night? Dang. I would have thought a jury-rigged small flashlight in the right spot would be the answer to that.
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Compass lights, a most vital piece of equipment for night sailing, alway seem to fail just when really needed. You can count on it. This is usually because of their fragile nature, tiny wires, and susceptibility to corrosion in their moist environment. A spare LED can be rigged, but best to have one ready to go so there is no delay trying to find parts. If needed, red fingernail polish can adopt the bulb for night time sailing. A red headlamp can be employed on a temporary basis. As HS points out, any ferrous metal, especially a flashlite, near the compass can induce substantial error.

Wow, I've never heard of a compass light that was time zone dependent. :confused:

https://www.defender.com/product.jsp?id=3457889
 
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sleddog said:
Compass lights, a most vital piece of equipment for night sailing, always seem to fail just when really needed. You can count on it.
Click to expand...

Yes, Skip, I saw where you said something to that effect in the run-up to the 2018 SHTP, so I investigated what bulb was needed as a spare. Expecting to find a plug-in bulb, I instead found a small circuit board on which two LED bulbs were soldered (along with a few capacitors or resistors), and which itself was soldered to the power leads. Not having equipment to be soldering things at sea, I didn't pursue the idea further. The light failed on the return sail. Fortunately, the wind instrument indicator directly above the compass on the binnacle guard was a good place to mount a headlamp, so the mistake wasn't too big of a problem.

Then, afterward, I learned that the standard-issue replacement part for my compass consists of the bulbs, the circuit board, and the power leads all together; you just have to pull the compass body from its mount to disconnect the old and connect the new. Sheesh. One of the most moronic of my many rookie mistakes.

Compass light.jpg
 
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Maiden.jpg


Just saw MAIDEN the film and I can't recommend it enough. An inspirational story, well edited, taking us back 30 years to the 1989 Whitbread Round the World Race. Tracy Edwards and her all women crew are the heroines in the then male dominated sport of ocean racing.

The restored MAIDEN is currently on a commemorative 2 year world tour to raise funds and awareness for girls' educational organizations. At this date she is in Vancouver, and headed to Seattle August 7th. If you are in Seattle, the film is currently playing at the Regal Meridian 16 - 1501 7th Ave.

After Seattle, MAIDEN and her all women crew will be heading south to San Francisco Bay and will be berthed at the SFYC in Belvedere at the end of August.

MAIDEN is an IOR "lead dog" design, typical of the times. Tracy Edwards, after being unable to secure financial backing for her ambitious goal, bought the former DISQUE d'OR with assistance from King Hussein of Jordan. Edwards chose well. MAIDEN's designer was Bruce Farr, one of the best in the business. And her construction of aluminum was nearly bulletproof, leading the mocking press to dub the boat "tarts in a tin."

Maybe someone on this Forum knows, but MAIDEN's brush with sinking during the Whitbread was not well documented. The floorboards were awash while the crew stopped racing and searched for the source of the leak. They found the leak "in the mast." I'm guessing the mast step at the hull had issues. Surely the mast partner wasn't leaking that much. ??

Maiden2.jpg

Here's MAIDEN being restored before the Whitbread ...She had already been around the World twice, once singlehanded in the BOC Race. Does anyone remember her skipper and the boat's name in that race? This fellow was awarded his country's highest civilian award for bravery for his rescue of sailor whose boat sank after hitting an iceberg in the Southern Ocean during the 1990–91 BOC Challenge. In 2006 this 3x solo circumanvigator was inducted into the Single-Handed Sailors' Hall of Fame in Newport, R.I.

Maiden3.jpg
 
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Bertie Reed -

The BOC name was Stabilo Boss, which was not his first nor last BOC boat

DH
 
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Skip, I totally agree about the movie, Maiden. Patty and I saw it on opening night here in San Diego. The reviews said it might be good but it was even better than I had hoped.

Bill Meanley
Doflin
 
For 85 miles, while ascending this section of rugged northwest trending coast, there is little protection to be found from the prevailing northwesterly winds and summer low clouds and fog that lie just offshore.

2 miles north of where we camped for 3 nights is a stunningly beautiful point of land and cove with a sandy beach offering a lee of refuge for small craft before beginning their northbound passage.

SS2.jpg

Marking the point, there used to be a red and white bell buoy apparently now discontinued. Not discontinued are the black and white zebra roaming the coastal hills, clearly visible from the beach.

SS5.jpg

Five miles north of the point is a lighthouse with its first order Fresnel lens removed for safe keeping from earthquakes.

SS4.png

A pleasant hike follows the cliff around the point with views of elephant seals on inaccessible beaches 80 feet below.

Anchorage is in 20 feet, sand bottom, with dinghy landing available in the cove and a wine bar a short hike up a sandy hill. At sunset we could hear coyotes, and the crescent sliver of a new moon gave way to dark skies, bright stars, familiar constellations, and the Milky Way.

I can't recommend this location enough whether traversing these rugged shores by land or sea. Can anyone identify the name and location of this delightful cove of refuge?

SS3.jpg
 
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sleddog said:
For 85 miles, while ascending this section of rugged northwest trending coast, there is little protection to be found from the prevailing northwesterly winds and summer low clouds and fog that lie just offshore.

2 miles north of where we camped for 3 nights is a stunningly beautiful point of land and cove with a sandy beach offering a lee of refuge for small craft before beginning their northbound passage.

View attachment 4613

Marking the point, there used to be a red and white bell buoy apparently now discontinued. Not discontinued are the black and white zebra roaming the coastal hills, clearly visible from the beach.

View attachment 4614

Five miles north of the point is a lighthouse with its first order Fresnel lens removed for safe keeping from earthquakes.

View attachment 4615

A pleasant hike follows the cliff around the point with views of elephant seals on inaccessible beaches 80 feet below.

Anchorage is in 20 feet, sand bottom, with dinghy landing available in the cove and a wine bar a short hike up a sandy hill. At sunset we could hear coyotes, and the crescent sliver of a new moon gave way to dark skies, bright stars, familiar constellations, and the Milky Way.

I can't recommend this location enough whether traversing these rugged shores by land or sea. Can anyone identify the name and location of this delightful cove of refuge?

View attachment 4616
Click to expand...

San Simeon Bay, just down the hill from Hearst Castle

Re: zebras, at the Prescott parade
image.jpeg

Ants
 
Jonathan Gutoff said:
San Simeon. How many generations down from the originals are the Hearst zebras?
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The world's largest private zoo was once located at the Hearst Castle, inland and uphill from San Simeon bay.
Traveling the winding ranch road to Hearst Castle, guests once passed through fenced fields populated with many species of exotic wild animals freely roaming over the hillsides . It was reportedly an amazing sight, featuring an ever-changing collection of animals—like American bison, Rocky Mountain elk and zebras.

Assuming the zebras arrived in the 1920's or early 30's, and they live 25-30 years in the wild, that would make the current zebras approximately 4th generation. The most recent census of 2016 found 113 zebras living in the wild on the Hearst property.

SS6.jpg

William Randolph Hearst loved his zebras as he loved all animals. His zoo would entertain his guests with rare visual displays of animals in their natural state. White fallow deer were the most numerous and prolific species with a herd of more than 300 animals. Other exotic animals which grazed the hillsides included: African and Asian antelope, zebras, both Bactrian (two-humped) and dromedary (one-humped) camels, sambar deer from India, red deer from Europe, axis deer from Asia, llamas, kangaroos, ostriches, emus, Barbary sheep, Alaskan big horned sheep, musk oxen and yaks. As many as four giraffes were kept in a small pen located next to the road.

Additional animals were housed in menagerie cages at Animal Hill near the Castle, including black bears, grizzly bears, sun bears, lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars, cougars, chimpanzees, orangutans, monkeys, macaws, kinkajous, coati mundis, swans, storks, a tapir and an elephant. Diet and exercise were carefully controlled, and a veterinarian was on the staff during the 1930s.

SS8.jpg

The dismantling of the zoo began in 1937 when Hearst experienced great financial difficulty and was forced to curtail construction and cut other expenses at his ranch. Many animals were donated to public zoos or sold. Dispersal of the zoo animals extended over more than fifteen years, and was never entirely completed. Most of the animals had been placed by 1953, two years after Hearst’s death, but many animals were permitted to range free on the ranch. In 1958, when the Castle was given to the State, there were Rocky Mountain elk, tahr goats, llamas, white fallow deer, zebras, Barbary sheep and sambar deer still on the ranch. Today, some of these animals survive. Zebras can be seen grazing in the pastures along Highway 1 near the town of San Simeon, especially in warm weather.

Some have been known to jump fences and end up on the beach. Kinda like the escaped buffalo swimming at Hanalei Bay.

SS9.jpg
 
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MERLIN is back in Santa Cruz! I rode my bike to the Harbor to greet the delivery crew on the conclusion of their 13 day passage home from Transpac... Bill Lee was on hand to deliver pizza, guacamole, and beer.
Stories were told of catching mahi-mahi as they passed a large telephone pole mid-ocean.

MERLIN's livery is the same as original. Gone is the ugly blue, rainbow, and stars But the boat is very different from her 20th century configuration.

Who remembers when MERLIN was penalized for being too light for Transpac? Bill bolted lead ingots onto MERLIN's deck, then spray painted them gold. The Transpac safety inspector showed up from out of town. "Alright, I want to see this boat motor at 8 knots," he ordered officiously. Dave Wahle, local garbage man, was MERLIN's bosun. Dave cast off the dock lines, put MERLIN in gear, and motored MERLIN backwards down Santa Cruz Harbor at the required 8 knots. At the entrance sandbar, Dave spun the wheel, nearly flipping the safety inspector overboard, and motored back up the Harbor in reverse, again at 8 knots.

When MERLIN was back in her slip, the safety inspector quickly signed off every requirement without questioning, and fled to his car in terror.

MERLIN will be local in Santa Cruz for Wednesday Night Races, with "Oldtimers" meeting aboard for a sail tomorrow afternoon. She will then go to SF Bay to race in the Big Boat Series.

Next to Santa Cruz-70 BUONA SERA, MERLIN looks like what she still is and ever was: "a minimal platform for a spinnaker."

My first Transpac on MERLIN was 1979...That was when the propane regulator stopped working. We made fried eggs and toast on top the hot engine. That, popcorn and lukewarm instant coffee. Not an entirely recommended ocean crossing menu....

MERLIN10.jpg

Here MERLIN is approaching the Honolulu finish in 1977, setting an elapsed time record that stood for 20 years. Bill Lee is offering a reward for information on who took this iconic photo.

MERLIN77.jpg
 
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Mull307.jpg

OK Gary Mull 30 connoisseurs, this boat was sighted yesterday by Capt. Bob anchored at Waimea Bay. Bob pegged it as a Mull 30. I should have known, as I was was working at C&B here in Santa Cruz when we built this boat for the owner's 50th birthday, so he could fulfill a fantasy and race in the 1980 SHTP.

To the first to correctly answer both the following questions, A bottle of Big House red or G&T's on the deck of the CBC.

This cold molded design was originally named (and still is):
REDWOOD COAST, SISYPHUS, RED HAWK, ISIS, RED DUCK, or PRETTY NICKEL.

Gary Mull hoped to exploit an exploitable rule for the 1980 SHTP which was:
~Stepping an 18 foot pole for a temporary mizzen mast and then flying mizzen spinnakers.
~Winging two 155% twin jibs with two 18 foot poles as a giant downwind rig.
~Attaching an 18 foot pole to the aft side of the mainmast and securing it to the pushpit as an "off-the-boat" lead for a giant asymmetrical spinnaker.
 
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OK - I'll try.... tough one though.
Looking through the 1980 entries was not the path...
I'm going with ISIS for Part one, only because I know there was a M-30 by that name, and PRETTY NICKEL is to obviously a play on PRETTY PENNY and the 50th Birthday thing.

Part 2? WAG, I'm going with the twin 155% jibs.

DH
 
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Right you are, Mr. Hedgehog!

ISIS remains this Mull 30's name, owned by Robbie Buck of Hawaii YC.
And yes, ISIS had twin 18 foot whisker poles to wing out 155% twin jibs, total downwind sail area 1.5 X bigger than a spinnaker. The problem I pointed out is with such long poles running DDW, the chances of dipping a pole increase. Then what can happen involves jury rigging a mast. :confused:

ISIS pole's were shortened 6.5 feet and the owner decided to race the first Pacific Cup instead.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Congrats on winning last weekend's OYRA Duxbury DH with Synthia crewing.
 
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