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Sailing Tomorrow

The fiberglass strut off the back of the masthead is called a backstay flicker.
You can find them on Melges 24s and the B-25 Akumu.

Fair winds Cliff!!
Wishing You and Rainbow have a fantastic voyage!

Greg
 
dolfinbill said:
Hi Cliff,

All the best to you on your offshore adventure to the South Pacific on Rainbow. I would see you off under the Gate but it's kind of a long way from San Diego. I look forward to following your tracker. Fair winds.

DolfinBill
Click to expand...

Thanks Bill!
 
Hey Cliff! So glad I decided after months away to pop in here and see what's going on. My Pac Cup crew will heading to Berkeley Marine Center this Saturday at 10:30 to weigh Kynntana and then we are planning a fun sail. We'll head to the gate to see you off. I'll monitor 72 if you feel like checking in. Hope to see you off!!! Have a great sail and see you when you get back!
 
Cliff, you lift this "Sailing Tomorrow" thread to a whole 'nother level. Have a wonderful adventure!
 
Gamayun said:
Hey Cliff! So glad I decided after months away to pop in here and see what's going on. My Pac Cup crew will heading to Berkeley Marine Center this Saturday at 10:30 to weigh Kynntana and then we are planning a fun sail. We'll head to the gate to see you off. I'll monitor 72 if you feel like checking in. Hope to see you off!!! Have a great sail and see you when you get back!
Click to expand...

Thanks, I look forward to seeing you & Kynntana! Should hit the bridge about 1330.
 
Cliff Shaw seems to be west of Baja. While Rainbow is not (ahem) a particularly fast catamaran, it seems to me that she is making good time. Not fast, not slow.

Screenshot of Cliff on Rainbow (2).png

I sailed over to visit Cliff, see him off, last Friday. Leaving Emeryville later in the afternoon was a terrible mistake, though. The channel leading into and out of that Marina is narrow and I had to motorsail straight into the slot in 16 knots of breeze. Water just sloshed over DM's bow, drenching me. Then, when I reached the end of the two mile long channel I still had to beat up and around the remnants of the Berkeley pier. Very wet boat. Very wet me.

Cliff 041522.JPG

Still, it was nice seeing Cliff off. He says he'll be back in October.
 
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Cliff diverting to Hilo? Hard imagining his new North main had issues. But apparently so. FYI, this morning, 4/27, at 0600 RAINBOW was 1570 nm from Hilo making ~9 knots. Good speed. That's about 8 days to Hilo from current posit at an AWA of 90-110 degrees, his fastest point of sail. And no, an offshore cruising main's leech should not wipe the backstay even with reinforcement in the area. Someone miss measured IMO.
 
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Rainbow lies alongside at Waikiki YC after a fast , sometimes rough, broad reach in 18-27 knot NE trade winds from the turning point. Often reefed to slow down a little when the seas were rough, full sail when they smoothed out. Saw lots of short 10-13 knot surf runs, and made several 200 mile days. Overall average about 7. Landed Friday am and was sitting in a dentist's chair by noon. Now set for a root canal next week -- who sails 3000 miles for a root canal???
Expect to see North sails rep here some time this week to re-cut for the third time, this time maybe whack 2" off the foot because I did find hogging down the Cunningham 2" seemed to be enough. In addition to the roach issue, three slides broke when I reefed. I carry spares but discovered they aren't lashed to a cringle in the luff, they are sewn on, so couldn't replace them at sea easily. I'll ask them to install cringles. Somehow I don't think North fully gets the need for self sufficiency offshore, or even the difference between cruising and racing.
I'll forego the South Pacific this year and hang here in Hawaii for awhile. I hope to get over to Kaneohe to see Carliane, Jim Antrim, Rebecca & Synthia, Randy and Bob & Dave there -- best luck and fair winds to all! Aloha, Cliff
 
Cliff, I'm glad you made it to shore without further problems.

Surprise! has an Adventure brand first aid kit. It's one of the larger ones but it doesn't include the dental care module. Any suggestions about what you would (or do) carry for treating dental issues underway? Obviously you can't do a root canal on yourself at sea (or at home for that matter!), but did you have any gum-numbing gel or other items that might make a treatment delay more tolerable?

I'm with you on the roach issue (no, not THAT kind). Surprise!'s main has the most roach allowed under PHRF rules and in any wind at all it pushes on past the backstay, but when it's light it can hang up badly. But I wanted a full roach because it twists off well and adds sail area. North Sails agreed and I would order it that way again. One help with the 3Di Endurance main: The battens install from the luff end and are in a middle layer (not in a pocket on the surface of the sail), so they are smooth at the leech end where they pass the backstay.

I'm also dealing with a similar issue with the Batt Cars. My tack reef pulls down more than it pulls forward, so when I pull the clew reef line tight (after tightening the luff) it puts excess load on the bottom car (slide). It got windy on my last sail and when I reefed, I loosened the car's lashing a lot. Had I not seen what was happening I probably would have pulled it away from the sail and damaged it. I'm working on re-rigging the tack reef lines so they pull as much forward as down, so they take the load off the bottom couple of cars/slides.

Thanks for the update!
 
BobJ said:
Cliff, I'm glad you made it to shore without further problems.

Surprise! has an Adventure brand first aid kit. It's one of the larger ones but it doesn't include the dental care module. Any suggestions about what you would (or do) carry for treating dental issues underway? Obviously you can't do a root canal on yourself at sea (or at home for that matter!), but did you have any gum-numbing gel or other items that might make a treatment delay more tolerable?

I'm with you on the roach issue (no, not THAT kind). Surprise!'s main has the most roach allowed under PHRF rules and in any wind at all it pushes on past the backstay, but when it's light it can hang up badly. But I wanted a full roach because it twists off well and adds sail area. North Sails agreed and I would order it that way again. One help with the 3Di Endurance main: The battens install from the luff end and are in a middle layer (not in a pocket on the surface of the sail), so they are smooth at the leech end where they pass the backstay.

I'm also dealing with a similar issue with the Batt Cars. My tack reef pulls down more than it pulls forward, so when I pull the clew reef line tight (after tightening the luff) it puts excess load on the bottom car (slide). It got windy on my last sail and when I reefed, I loosened the car's lashing a lot. Had I not seen what was happening I probably would have pulled it away from the sail and damaged it. I'm working on re-rigging the tack reef lines so they pull as much forward as down, so they take the load off the bottom couple of cars/slides.

Thanks for the update!
Click to expand...

Bob: I/North reached a similar conclusion regarding the geometry of the reef tack stresses -- North will probably reposition my reef tack points slightly aft to gain more forward pull, so hopefully that will solve it.
I have the largest Adventure first aid kit. The dental kit includes an "Ora Gel" type med plus a tiny tube of temporary cavity filler. I can maybe see the cavity filler working to replace a filling that falls out as a DIY project. If it's actually a new cavity I don't think it's DIY.

I carry additional OTC Ora Gel and that helped a lot during the time it took for heavier meds to kick in. My Dr. wrote Rx's for Hydrocodone w/ acetaminophen (Norco) and also morphine for bad and really bad pain of any type, not just dental, so I have both aboard. But in recent oral surgeries both I and my wife have had the pleasure of however, the dentists recommended a high dose of Ibuprofen (Advil) and Acetaminophen (Tylenol) rather than the opioids -- studies apparently have shown the combination actually works better than Norco. So went on soft foods and used the Advil/Tylenol combination twice, then just one or two Tylenol for a couple of days. The pain was quite severe at first so I feared infection and did commence Amoxicillin also. After four days I was pain free. It turned out my root was only inflamed by eating nuts, not a cavity nor any infection, so going to soft food and pain meds was enough to let it settle down. I'm still having the root canal done because x-ray showed it is "ageing out" and at some point will likely become infected, etc. Dentists differ in their recommendations for the specific amounts and intervals for the combined meds, so best to talk to a dentist or maybe advice nurse for a specific recommendation. Good luck in PACCUP!
 
Cliff, thanks for the good information. It sounds like other than the Amoxicillin, I can add OTC items that will fill the void in my medical kit. All the pills (in their dozens of tiny foil packages!) were expired anyway.

We're talking over the options with the tack reef points. I passed along your idea to move the tack rings and webbing aft slightly. North hadn't mentioned that as an option but it makes sense. The problem is only with the first reef on my boat. The second and third reefs don't pull aft much on the cars.
 
Well, not really sailing tomorrow, but Friday in the South Bay. Waaay south, in the Friday Fun Series at the Club at Westpoint, at the Marina down there. Spend the night afterwards.

https://theclubatwestpoint.com/friday-fun-series-2022/

Because, why not? If you all join me we can pretend it's a Cruise Down except with a race beforehand. Don't know anybody down there but if PHRF is any indication, Dura Mater will be competitive against at least two of the boats. I can hardly wait.

IMG_0794 - Copy.JPG

Registration is free. Hot dogs are free. What. Is. Not. To. Like?

BYOB (Bring Your Own Boat) Come on down or just stay inside at home and sulk, read about it here instead :-\ thanks to Chris Case for the photo.
 
Well, iffin' anybody sails down to Redwood City and wants crew.... (hint, hint). I live about 8 minutes from the harbor.
 
You can strip down and share an oar with the chap she posted the photo of recently (then quickly deleted). As they say, "There's a visual for ya!"

In case anyone missed it: Philpott is well along with her gig as Bay correspondent to the Bay and Delta Yachtsman. Coincidentally(?), copies of the magazine have reappeared at news stands all over the Bay! This month's installment is a lengthy and well-written article about the history and inner workings of the Berkeley Marine Center. I make a cameo in the article, or at least the best side of me does.
.
 
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