New Boat 4 Sled

[sleddog]

My guess is number 2

Sorry, Howard. Shortly after the start of the 2006 SHTP, a Swan 51 with a fouled jib sheet port tacked the North Tower of the Golden Gate. Despite SEABIRD being a big, powerful boat, she was no match for the for the 44,000 ton, 746 foot tower, and motored in reverse to get clear. SEABIRD then motored 3 miles back to the Corinthian Yacht Club, restarted, and resumed the race. Good thinking



Guess again, my friend.

 

[Philpott]

I have served with several race committees on the lovely island of Kauai, and twice with the delightful Venusian-seeking Eyrie (still Eyrie, I'm pleased to see). I don't believe any SSS RC member would disqualify a sailor for too small an anchor upon arrival after he/she sailed across that ocean. I don't care what the rules were. This is the RC that sent its racers into the eye of the pandemic.

Authorities: "You need to cancel your race"
RC Chair: "Sorry, they've already left"
Authorities: "We insist upon inspecting them upon arrival. Give us their arrival times."
RC Chair: "Sure. C'mon down at ... um ... 0230 next Thursday. We'll meet you out there. After that ... um ... this is a guestimate, of course ... maybe 1345 on Sunday ... you DO work Sundays, don't you?"

So I vote for #6.

Is Highway One open again? I want macapuno! It's just wrong to continue being macapuno-less!

 

[sleddog]

It's not 4. I did that. I didn't have radar or AIS, so as it rose from the horizon I thought it was a ship. I called a few times, until I realized the altitude was too high to be a ship. La dee da.

Synbad is not the only one to attempt to radio the planet Venus. Others, including Tiger Beetle, have as well. As for myself, I once attempted to call the Man on the Moon when the ascending tips of a waning, crescent moon resembled the approaching steaming lights of a large ship on collision course.

I have yet to hear of anyone else seeing the lights of a passenger train close above the western horizon when halfway between New Zealand and Hawaii. I was sure I was not hallucinating, and even drew the apparition in WILDFLOWER's Log, using a black felt tip pen, White Out, and Glow-In-The-Dark paint. Come for Macapuno and I will show you what proved to be the horizontal fragments of a Bolide meteor.

 

[sleddog]

So I vote for #6. Is Highway One open again? I want macapuno! It's just wrong to continue being macapuno-less!

Yes, Highway 1 is open. I just drove past the Castroville Giant Artichoke enroute to LAYC to deliver the Koa Canoe to their Cal-40 history room.



You are nothing if not persistent for Macapuno. However, if you read closely, Jonathan voted previously for #6 and I explained in post #5673 how the halfway barge rescued the passengers and crew who ditched their Strato-Cruiser alongside. Complete with photos of the giant splash, the tail breaking off, and the CG barge successfully retrieving personnel.

So guess again if you dare. Someone is gonna hit on the correct answer sooner rather than later.

 

[tiger beetle]

I don't believe any SSS RC member would disqualify a sailor for too small an anchor upon arrival after he/she sailed across that ocean. I don't care what the rules were.

A finisher was disqualified pre-1992 (I believe) by Peter Hogg for arriving in Halanei Bay and, upon boarding by RC, was asked by RC for the anchor so they could help, and a 4" long beer-can-opening keychain anchor was presented. That boat was DSQ.

 

[Philpott]

Wait a minute!!! That stinker Rob. My typo jogged his memory. My guess was #16 , NOT #6. I want to file a protest. My red flag is aboard DM, but I would fly it if I could.

 

[sleddog]

Wait a minute!!! That stinker Rob. My typo jogged his memory. My guess was #16 , NOT #6. I want to file a protest. My red flag is aboard DM, but I would fly it if I could.

No worries about protest. CBC's protest committee is a parrot, a cat, a hummingbird, and a frog. Besides, neither #6 nor #16 is correct. You're pissing in the wind, so to speak. Currently gusting 28 here at Bay Side.

 

[tiger beetle]

No worries about protest. CBC's protest committee is a parrot, a cat, a hummingbird, and a frog. Besides, neither #6 nor #16 is correct. You're pissing in the wind, so to speak. Currently gusting 28 here at Bay Side.

Skip - near as I can recall, every single event you describe has indeed occurred on the SHTP.

Which item did NOT happen on the race course but instead on a different portion of the Pacific?

- rob/beete

 

[Dazzler]

#24. — I’m waiting to hear the story of those yak fur jib sheets (#24). Who’d a thought? And WHY?

I understand yak wool actually make nice sweaters.

 

[sleddog]

#24. — I’m waiting to hear the story of those yak fur jib sheets (#24). Who’d a thought? And WHY? I understand yak wool actually make nice sweaters.

Hi Dazzler, Sorry, but INTERMISSION already guessed #24. Why it is not the correct answer is described above in post 5672 on page 568. You are entitled to guess again.

 

[Intermission]

Hey Skip,

When will you answer post # 5678 on page 568 regarding Bob Buell's guess?

 

[Dazzler]

Sled, I don't remember any giant squid story from you, so will guess #8?
Capt Bob

ok, Sled. This is the only “guess” you haven’t responded to. I did a bit of internet searching and there is an account of a squid purported to have attached itself to a French boat in mid-Atlantic that was participating in the Jules Verne round the world race in 2003. But your question was specifically about an event that “occurred in a different part of the Pacific.”

I’ve seen a (dead) Giant Humboldt Squid at Hopkins Marine Lab. It was about 9-10 feet long. They have a scary large mouth that looks more like the beak of a bird. Some years back, I listened to a guy promoting night diving trips with giant squid out of Loreto. He was going to wear Star Wars Stormtrooper style armor, tether himself with steel cable and act as bait so you could take pictures. I never heard if he got any takers.

 

[sleddog]

Sled, I don't remember any giant squid story from you, so will guess #8?
Capt Bob

Sorry, Cap, for the delay in answering partially due to the history hubbubs. Allow me to introduce Captain Bob, winner of the 2023 SHTP Trivia contest and future recipient of the Macapuno. Well done, Sir! Bob, then a junior Matson officer, was first welcoming committee for the 1978 SHTP aboard his L/36 BELLWETHER. He and family, vacationing at Hanalei, did not know the race was happening, and when we started arriving at Hanalei, there was nothing for it but to row over and bring each finisher a cold brewski.

The squid story happened a while back to a young, Japanese, circumnavigator enroute from Panama to Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas. He became terribly overdue and his friends feared the worst.. Then one day, several weeks behind schedule, the young man on his sloop hove into Taiohae Bay. As soon as he was anchored, his friends came aboard to ask about his passage and what caused the delay.

The fellow reported that about 1/3 of the way, his boat slowed radically, and he could only coax 2-3 knots max speed. He peered over the side and astern, but could see nothing. He feared going swimming under the boat, probably a good thing to be afraid of.

After telling his tale, one of his fellow singlehanders jumped over the side with his swim mask to inspect the bottom. What he found was sobering: very large suction cup marks in the bottom paint.

Was that the reason for the slow speed, an attached giant squid? No one has ever proposed a better explanation.

In apology for my delay, and because Capt. Bob lives in Hawaii and only visits CBC once per year, I offer a consolation prize of another bowl of Macapuno with blueberries to the first who can tell us what SHTP skipper sweet talked the 1,092' aircraft carrier USS RONALD REAGAN CVN76 to change course and politely pass astern?

 

[MillyB]

They are all true stories

 

[AntsUiga]

The skipper to request aircraft carrier was likely Grace Sime in the red Moore 24 Ichiban. Grace told the story of waking up and seeing she was in the middle of naval maneuvers. I doubt a similar event happened a second time. If there was a repeat, sleddog would know.

Ants

 

[sleddog]

The skipper to request aircraft carrier was likely Grace Sime in the red Moore 24 Ichiban. Grace told the story of waking up and seeing she was in the middle of naval maneuvers. I doubt a similar event happened a second time. If there was a repeat, sleddog would know.Ants

Thanks, Ants, for the color on Grace Sime aboard ICHIBAN. I can't imagine her surprise awaking in the middle of naval maneuvers. We remember Grace raced ICHIBAN in the 1984 Singlehanded Transpac, the only woman in the fleet....However, the aircraft carrier USS RONALD REAGAN was not launched until 2001. So Grace did not encounter that giant warship with her little red dinghy.

Here is a hint for all endeavoring to answer for the consolation Macapuno. The name of the boat that encountered the USS RONALD REAGAN is slightly unusual. It is also the fastest runner of its species, a distant relative of #25, above. There is no time limit on number of guesses. My bet is Ants will guess it soon if you don't.

 

[Cover Craft]

That would have to be the Tiger Beetle, certainly an unusual boat name and a very fast beetle. Accomplished skipper too.

I'd love a health and welfare report on Grace Sime if anyone knows. I worked with her for a time in my first sailmaking job in Marina del Rey in the late '70s.

Tom K.

 

[sleddog]

That would have to be the Tiger Beetle, certainly an unusual boat name and a very fast beetle. Accomplished skipper too. Tom K.

Well done, Tom! Yes, it was Rob on TIGER BEETLE that encountered aircraft carrier USS RONALD REAGAN. Perhaps Beetle is listening, and can give us more details.

As for the hint about the boat's name being a fast insect, a Tiger Beetle is the world's fastest running insect. It can crawl at an average speed of 5.5 mph or 171 body lengths per second.

 

[sleddog]

Wild parrots are about to become the official animal of San Francisco, narrowly beating out the sealion. Parrots arrived in San Francisco in the late 1980s — likely escaping from a pet store — and two different species mated to create a hybrid, a loud, colorful newcomer unique to the city, even co-starring in a 2003 documentary.

 

[sleddog]

While kayaking recently I encountered a strange craft: a 14' combination surfboard/decked kayak with all sorts of instrumentation both above deck and below the waterline. Further investigation revealed it to be a soon to be launched drone, a "Wave Glider," one of eight, operated by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and Scripps.



A curious thing about the Wave Glider is its propulsion being a 12 flippered submerged module on a tether that tows the WAVE GLIDER using wave action at 1 knot in optimum conditions. ?? All this built by Boeing..
Check it out in this 2 minute explanation. https://www.liquid-robotics.com/wave-glider/how-it-works/

To me, with it's American Flag radar reflector, the Wave Glider looked like fresh meat for a container ship's bulbed bow. But was assured AIS will keep it safe. Really?

According to AIS, there are currently 3 Sail Drones cruising the Gulf of the Farallones, so Wave Glider is not the only drone operation in town. From Alameda, our own Hedgehog commands ~15 Sail Drones 8 hours/day in another part of the world, between the tip of Africa and Australia. Weather permitting they will be rendezvousing south of Madagascar for something important.



Above, the big momma Sail Drone SURVEYOR, a lethal looking 72 footer displacing 14 tons, recently made news by discovering an uncharted seamount (volcano?) 150 miles west of Cape Mendocino using wide beam sonar at 11,000 foot depths. Like other offshore SSSers, the SURVEYOR may have caught the attention of the Coast Guard. It is undergoing mods. Apparently future Sail Drone Surveyors will be a little less than 65 feet overall to meet compliance. Do Sail Drones need lifelines, PFD's, fire extinguishers, and liferafts? Only time will tell. Sleddog is a just a mushroom here at CBC.