Memorial Day 2010

At the last moment the New Orleans Kid and Bhri joined us to bring the Psyché's Song team up to competitive strength, sans MVP. It was rumored to be blowing too hard at the islands for NOK's ride to sail in the faux race back. And Bhri's boat lost her crew for other reasons, I guess. Turned out to be a light, Harbor-20 day.

More importantly, the RC selected course D-11. I don't know why my favorite course tends to be selected only on light wind days. It can't be because it lends itself to being shortened. It doesn't. But what winds blew were more southerly than westerly. Maybe assessment of wind direction was a factor.

We tried port tack as long as plausible. We were able to carry up past the last swim buoy. But pinching past the beach we dropped to two knots and had to tack short of the lay line. We rounded the windward mark ahead of only Macavity. (Were they trying out 'new' crew? Again??)

Thanks to M-1, we had a GR8 party onboard afterwards!

Memorial Day

We're supposed to be defending the Club Memorial Day Race Trophy which we unexpectedly won last year. Things are not looking up for this 2010 event.

Some Members got it into their heads that there ought to be an all-club cruise to the island 'to bring everyone together', and that a race back would ensue. On this national holiday, I'm not going to lapse into my anti-cruising harangue. Not the point.

The point is, by scheduling a club cruise, my crew has been sucked off the boat. Two said they thought the cruise meant there would no race to day and they went off and made other plans: to wife's cousin's out of town graduation! (Give me a break!) Mainsheet Trimmer said he was going to do the one-day-cruise/fake-race and join us if he got back in time (Give me another break!)

Well, I can enjoy a Schadenfreude moment. The late-late word is that some forecasts have it that it's going to honk like snot this weekend. Maybe boats in our fleet will not participate. Mainsheet Trimmer, anyways, has called to say his island ride has been cancelled. If he's in with us and it's blowing a gale, we'll be all right: the more it blows the less crew we need.

This is the day we pause to think of our troops who have made supreme sacrifices in our nation's interests and who continue to make them in missions currently misconstrued to be in our national interests.

Today, they come first. What it says on a Memorial stone in Elings Park where Doberwoman and I walk three times a week:

We gave up our tomorrows,
So you could have your todays.

I'm Losing It

A case in point:

This morning I staggered to the kitchen to punch on the coffee maker and then a few steps off to the bathroom. Dawg was waiting for me to take her down to the street to get the papers, so I avoided filling even half a cup of java. Trying to save time, I also paused to assemble a Netflix item to return via mail box. (If I could accomplish that, I would be 2-3 days ahead of the normal week's procrastination.) On the way down a set of ten flagstone stairs my head slashed through a spider web. I resolved to obliterate it wielding a newspaper on the way back up to the house. Which I did. 

I reached the front porch with the newspapers in hand but also with the Netflix envelope, too. Damn. Well, back down to the mail box. Back up and now inside the house, I realized I still had the Netflix. Whassup with that? Take it down later with the recycle cans, I resolved. 

90 minutes later, looking everywhere for the newspapers' sports pages and the Dodger box scores, I couldn't locate either paper.

WTF were they?

Clipper Around the World Race

Race 10: Port Antonio, Jamaica to New York, USA

The blurb reads:

Race 10 is expected to take no longer than 7- 10 days and will be an intense affair with no opportunity to take it easy. When a race lasts three weeks, a whole variety of tactics can come in to play and they often don’t come to fruition until the final stages.

The race up to New York, with the crews so evenly matched, will require supreme concentration and highly efficient crew work and with a variety of conditions, it should test everything the crews have learnt over the last 28,000 miles.

Departing Port Antonio, Jamaica, the fleet will leave behind the steady trade winds of the Caribbean and face the variable winds associated with the depressions coming from the North American land mass.

That's the blurb about the real race in really wet and warm water. But here, I'm really only concerned with the "Virtual Race" featuring 90,000 skippers around the world in their arm chairs. From these, I have extracted a couple of handfuls of Boats of Interest, for the purpose of drawing performance comparisons with my Vigilance.

Gybe Turkey

Virtual Regatta is run by an organization called Many Players. There seems to be a dispute as to whether or not one of the competitors, Gybe Turkey , has been 'disappeared'. That's what I argue. 

OTOH, some voices in the Forum, purportedly representing the unseen hands of the organizers, argue there was never such a competitor or boat. 

Here is my evidence to the contrary. Gybe Turkey is off to an above-average start on the first day of  this 10th Leg of the Clipper Race Around the World.  

She is in 9592nd position as a matter of fact.

As this chart shows, Gybe Turkey was in this race as late as the morning of 26 May, and doing quite well, too!

The Winds Are Back!

At gusts of 35 knots.

This is the varsity sailing. I was happy to have my seat on the 50-yard line.

I wasn't close enough to get this shot from my vantage point on the beach and breakwater. I was fortunate enough to keep my camera dry while I retrieved my crazed Doberwoman, Ballou.

Ballou goes completely bat-shit-crazy when she sees kite-boarders. Yesterday, she jumped out of my car and instantly became a crazed and alien monster half a kilo down the beach. The boarders, thinking such a beast would be dragging them out of the water and destroying their expensive rigs, started yelling epithets at me as soon as they identified me as the hapless dog owner. However, they were in no danger: Ballou only swims in horizontal water. And it didn't matter what smack they yelled at me cause you can't hear jack in 30+ knots of wind & surf.

I'm just glad the laws didn't show up.

For Sail or for Sale?

That is the Question!

Several months ago I listed my boat as for sale on a freebie brokerage site without charge. The listing consisted of a brief description, a photo in full racing mode, a price and my contacting code. The only immediate response was from Trophy Wife who was enraged. 10 days later came an inquiry fom New Mexico. Because my boat is more of an island boat that a lake boat, I think my unreflective response was somewhat tinged with scepticism and sarcasm. Understandably, The New Mexico party did not stay engaged.

Then, yesterday came a second inquiry: was my boat still available and if so, could I supply more photos? This morning I responded that he should ask Trophy Wife; but that since he was asking me, I would send along a couple of photos. Which I did.

Back when I was playing tennis for three decades, I thought I would play it until I couldn't walk - that there was no life after tennis. And now, what with Trophy Wife and I having been sailing together for four decades, I cannot face life after sailing? 

That's a question.

I know of two - and recently a third case - where a sailor's life ended with his pitch-poling backwards over the rails into the sea, impelled by a medical event. Personally, I think that's as good a way to go as any. However, from the POV of his family/crew, his dying in bed with his topsiders removed might be preferable. The over-the-rail alternative requires other younger & healthier mates risking themselves in recovery of the MOB.

Another consideration is my current deferred maintenance on home and health. Perhaps life after boat could be enhanced, sans yacht. Maybe, just by down-sizing in the yacht department could open up the possibility of a upsizing in home, hearth and health.

OTOH, the breeze is up today. I hope yesterday's E-correspondent was just kicking boat bumpers. If he calls, I should just leave it up to Trophy Wife. Now days it's not such a good market, anyways.

Snatching Victory from Defeat

Actually, salvaging a couple of crooked numbers from absolute, double zeroes.

After three hours last night, we left the miserable sloppy, 2-knot (plus) waterboarding torture, convinced that we were DNF. There was blood in our eyes and murder in our hearts, and resentment toward the Race Committee for sending us on even a 2-mile windward-leeward-windward-leeward course. We did not hear the race-shortened announcement. I attribute that to several facts: 

• Our boat makes a deafening banging & clattering racket in no-wind chops.  
• We were too shorthanded to spare crew below to listen to the VHF. 
• A few years ago it was deemed politically correct for the Club to dispense with shotguns in favor of air horns. 
• The marks have been moved so far off the beach this year (to accommodate the sissies who can't navigate kelp beds) that  we can hardly hear the RC's audibles. 

Once back to my computer I see that we were bestowed 19th place out of 21 finishers. BTW, one reason we were short-handed by two last night, is that the two lads were on this Harbor-20 that beat us! Good on 'em, is wot I say!

I'll take it, just to get over it and to move on. After all, I learned something: I learned to make the quick-release clip on the end of my preventer a quick release clip.

Now that backing into our slip has become S.O.P., I'm ready for some of those good 'ol winds such can bend the bills back on our caps!

Snatching Victory from Defeat

Actually, salvaging a couple of crooked numbers from absolute, double zeroes.

After three hours last night, we left the miserable sloppy, 2-knot (plus) waterboarding torture, convinced that we were DNF. There was blood in our eyes and murder in our hearts, and resentment toward the Race Committee for sending us on even a 2-mile windward-leeward-windward-leeward course. We did not hear the race-shortened announcement. I attribute that to several facts: 

• Our boat makes a deafening banging & clattering racket in no-wind chops.  
• We were too shorthanded to spare crew below to listen to the VHF. 
• A few years ago it was deemed politically correct for the Club to dispense with shotguns in favor of air horns. 
• The marks have been moved so far off the beach this year (to accommodate the sissies who can't navigate kelp beds) that  we can hardly hear the RC's audibles. 

Once back to my computer I see that we were bestowed 19th place out of 21 finishers. BTW, one reason we were short-handed by two last night, is that the two lads were on this Harbor-20 that beat us!

I'll take it, just to get over it and to move on. After all, I learned something: I learned to make the quick-release clip on the end of my preventer a quick release clip.

Now that backing into our slip has become S.O.P., I'm ready for some winds which can bend the bills back on our caps!

Following 'Boats of Interest' in the "Virtual" Clipper Around the World Race

There's the real race and the simulated race.

From the satellite rendering of the real (wet) race to the right, it appears that 11 boats are almost 50% of the way through to finishing.

In the Virtual Regatta version, 90,000 of us are approximately in the same position. There is a lot of consensus among racers as to the most optimal course: the rhumb line. It's a reaching leg with a very consistent Easterly. Boats off to a good start, like my Vigilance, are in a good position. It's my instinct to be conservative as I'm still trying to capture my first finish under 1,000 in this race. Vigilance is currently just under 350th place!

The image below this shows boats of interest I am tracking to help me evaluate Vigilance's performance.  Keep in mind that boat images sizes are hugely magnified.(Click to enlarge.)
Here is a graph of many of the same 'boats of interest' who finished in the top 5,000 which displays their evolving positions on the leader boards. (Click to expand).
 
Other boats in the legend are not to presumed to have been lost at sea. They made appearances in the top five thousand, but their subsequent plummeting from view was too ignoble to be depicted without expressed permission.

I added DaveDWiz late in the leg because I anticipated his "fall from grace with the sea". He had seemingly been permanently ensconced in position #1 on the leader board, as his course was directly at the finish line - as the crow flies. (Note the finish line as depicted by a star in the satellite map above.) But eventually, a timely westerly did not materialize - none was forecast - and he had to tack in order to fetch the eastern tip of Jamaica in order to finish.  Actually, Dave recovered much better than I had expected. I include his case not for ridicule, but for instruction: leader board positions always stand to be trumped by boat location.

Happily, my Vigilance managed to finish in the top 1,000 (353rd), but her location was not sufficiently to windward to prevail over boats she led on the leader board. Plus, her skipper is always chicken about running aground. Many boats were lost rounding Jamaica.

Of our group, the top four finishers were Hirilonde (4th), Marie Brunet (35th), Polya (261st) and Amil Sar (296th). Congratulations to them (especially) and to all who finish (eventually)!

Sua Sponte Races for her 1st Time!

A lot learned and more to learn! So we won't have to look at this again:

Racing Fleet Turns Tables on Race Committee

News at 11

Usually it's the other way around. Usually the Race Committee is unduely optimistic in the course it selects, and then the wind dies leaving crews on slower boats out of the post-race party in the bar.

Yesterday's Wednesday was pay-back. 

The RC saw no wind and gave our 31-boat fleet a short 2-leg course. Pre-race conditions were so inauspicious that seven or eight boats didn't even bother to suit up. But a timely easterly did materialize. At least 5-6 knots, and it was steady. Again, there was a westerly chop left over from the 25-knot plus winds of the previous three days. This left us roughly with the same conditions as last week's but with the course half as long!

Starting conditions called for my tactic of revving up the motor and killing it off 30 seconds before the warning signal. With the resulting momentum, we were able to luff a couple of barging friends up and hit the line in 5th place. Trophy Wife, our light-wind specialist,  relieved me at the helm and I was able to shoot some photos.

Although we never gained much on the first four, we stretched off ahead of the pack behind us. Lost a small yellow boat at the turning mark who sailed over us while we were sorting out the spinnaker. But we can always carry our small chute earlier and longer than anyone else. We passed the yellow hotshot to leeward and fought off other challenges, finishing 5th overall and on corrected time!

Especially in these conditions this was quite an achievement. This kind of success can only be attributed to the hard-core crew folk who regularly muscle this heavy 20-year old island performance cruiser through the most unpromising of slops. And I am so glad our mainsail trimmer has survived New Orleans' ups (Saints' celebrations!) and downs (BP's desecrations!) to rejoin us - on schedule - for the rest of 2010's Spring through October.

When you have four guys who know and read the helm's mind before the helm deigns to speak, you know you have solid gold on board.

With a Fleet dinner meeting tonight I am glad I was able to write this ahead of time, during the day: otherwise, with just a few beers in me, I'd prove insufferable...

Clipper Race - Lay Days

In the real race, boats are transitioning through the Panama Canal. The 9th Leg of the Clipper Race Around the World (Panama to Jamaica) is scheduled for the 18th of March.

For the Virtual Race, I plan on a redo of my Leaderboard Chart. Because Leg is relatively shorter, I'm planning to capture three data points per day whenever possible. Charting will display boats sailing in the first 10,000.

I think 11 boats is the maximum for a legible chart. Any more and it becomes more like spaghetti. The default priority goes to:

1. Vigilance
2. Spirit of California
3. No Turning Back
4. Macavity
5. Always on my Mind
6. Amil_SAR
7.  RodH
8. Euroniekk
9.  
10.  
11.  
12.  

If you want your boat to be considered on the list or desire to take your boat off the list, please indicate in comments below. In order to obtain 11 boats, I may fill in with other boats of interest as the Leg gets underway.

Cinco de Mayo 2010

This picture from yesterday's beer-can twilight is deceptive. These are troublesome conditions for me. The breeze was an easterly at about 5 knots. At least it was steady. But the chop was large and substantial from the west. The problem is always to control the boom, especially down wind. Sometimes, I have resorted to strapping the friggin' mainsail amidships and let the spinnaker do the work. (Let the waves ooch the rocking boat, Laser-style.)

Rigging the preventer is always on my shoulders. If anyone gets hurt on Psyché's Song, it will be in little or no wind and in a chop.

Out of 27 boats we finished 12th on elapsed time and corrected to 13th.

Cinco de Mayo 2010

This picture from yesterday's beer-can twilight is deceptive. These are troublesome conditions for me. The breeze was an easterly at about 5 knots. At least it was steady. But the chop was large and substantial from the west. The problem is always to control the boom, especially down wind. Sometimes, I have resorted to strapping the friggin' mainsail amidships and let the spinnaker do the work. (Let the waves ooch the rocking boat, Laser-style.)

Rigging the preventer is always on my shoulders. If anyone gets hurt on my boat, it will be in little or no wind and in a chop.

Out of 27 boats we finished 12th on elapsed time and corrected to 13th.

Clipper Around the World (Virtual) Race Finishes Leg 8

San Francisco to Panama
After more than 2,500 miles of sailing (virtually), I have to savor this moment-mostly, because this moment promises to be fleeting. Vigilance is crossing on port No Going Back [Lime] and Little Surprise [Yellow] who are (virtually) within sight of each other off the coast of Costa Rica. Vigilance is going 9.1 knots in 17.8 knots of wind. Among the boats we have been tracking in this 8th Leg of the Clipper Around the World (virtual) Race, this a competition for 2nd place. (Polya is 69 miles ahead of us!) Also in the picture is Macavity2, whose skipper is a primary adversary on my own (real) waters. Stuck gunnel-to-gunnel with Macavity2 is Canadian RodH.

Exciting moment!

But in 2nd place at noon, I slip back into a virtual 6-way tie for 3rd by midnight! Only a drastic change in the weather can save me from much worse of a fate. But that's sailing, isn't it?

Click to expand the chart...

When Virtual Sailing Is More Than Just a Game...

Posted by Paula, skipper of No Going Back:

Christine was one of the most amazing people I have ever met and will probably ever meet. She spent her life caring for others and she would often go out of her way to reach those who were in need.

Following the death of her husband about 18 years ago, she took the opportunity to realise one of her dreams and do some travelling. Over the next number of years she was enthralled to visit the Unites States, Israel, Lebanon, Egypt, Cyprus, France and Spain. A winter holiday in the sun had become an annual event in recent years and a couple years ago, she got great enjoyment from a bumpy camel ride across shifting sand dunes.

Just over 15 years ago, Christine joined and became an active member of her local Active Retirement Association and was delighted to be elected to the busy and challenging position of Secretary. The Association opened up new and exciting adventures, interests and activities for her, and her days and evenings became a helter skelter whirlwind of activities and outings.

All that changed suddenly when, about three years ago, Christine had a stroke. She now belonged to a new Association, this time for Stroke Victims. Instead of pleasurable activities her days were now filled with doctors' appointments, physiotherapy, various medication trials and hospital visits. Her motor muscles and speech were clumsy, her coordination and concentration poor.

Christine tried a number of activities to try and improve her circumstances - crossword puzzles, Sudoku, reading out loud and old fashioned touch typing on her newly acquired laptop. She was working on her own, without direction, and feeling isolated.

Myself and my sister,Trish, had boats in Volvo Ocean Race Game and decided that she needed a V70 to help with her rehabilitation. I helped her build a boat and choose colours whilst Trish explained about fat and thin wind arrows and sail changes. 'Foxrock' was now racing with Christine at the helm. A boat was also built for another sister so now we were a family at sea.

VORG was very user friendly and as Christine had a lot of time on her hands she soon became addicted. The compass rose was tweaked constantly, sails changed, meals taken before or after wind changes and 'on screen' messages sent and received. SMS messages and phone calls were made and returned with her three daughters when our boats were stopped, on the rocks or just to say 'Hello'.. She even had her own VORG friends and enjoyed fun and banter on screen from other sailors. She got a great buzz from some sailors who mildly flirted with her. Her many sleepless nights were often spent with the ever changing V70's keeping her company.

VORG helped her concentration, motor muscle movement, verbal and written communications. Christine also learned new skills as, like me, she had never stepped on a boat in her life. Imagine her excitement when during the middle of one race, Foxrock suddenly appeared on top of the leader board where she stayed for about 6 hours.

Christine helmed her boat until the end of VORG and enjoyed the summer away from her laptop. During that time she was bitterly disappointed her health didn't allow her to join Trish and myself in Galway for the official stopover with the real boats.

When summer was over I was anxious for Christine to build a Clipper to help continue her rehabilitation. Virtual Regatta was not as user friendly as VORG and she now became confused and sometimes lost her way trying to get Foxrock loaded. She struggled with wind change times and adjusting her sails. But quality time was spent with both Trish and myself as we gently encouraged her to steer Foxrock towards the finish line.

Christine got an aneurysm one evening at the end of October 2009 and slipped peacefully away. She was 83 years old, but behaved like a forty something. I had decided to let Foxrock drift peacefully on her own VR journey but after a few days saw her alone in the ocean so guided her safely to Cape Town, a city Christine had always wanted to visit.

Foxrock is now sailing with the Pilot boat and following our Clipper progress. I miss Christine and our chats, her support, advice and words of wisdom. I will especially think of her on March 14th next, Mothering Sunday, my first year ever without her.

Miss you Mum... XXX

Clipper Round the World Race Resumes

Race 8 of the Clipper Race Around the World started April 20th.

And simultaneously 80,000 plus Virtual Racers started their yachts on their computers in their homes and offices around the world (mostly in France)!

This leg goes from San Francisco to the Panama Canal.

Twice daily I will attempt to track a handful of virtual racers, real friends and virtual acquaintances from former races. The real racers? Not so much....!















The real Clipper Race (left) is contrasted with the virtual race (right) with 80,000 plus competition. Vigilance's goal is always to finish 999th or better. She has a long way to go! (See below and click to enlarge)