Clipper Race - Leg 5

Qingdao to California











Ten months, 35,000 miles of ocean racing and around 400 people facing the challenge of a lifetime. When the starting gun goes off for the Clipper 09-10 Round the World Yacht Race on 13 September 2009 the fleet of ten sleek, stripped down 68-foot yachts will embark on a full circumnavigation of the globe.

This fifth leg is the longest individual race of Clipper 09-10 and the crews will be at sea for approximately 35 days. Five weeks living and working in the same 68-foot space as 17 other people as they race across the Pacific Ocean, the biggest expanse of water on the planet.

The day the Clipper 07-08 fleet left Qingdao it snowed. It will be a chilly start to Leg 5 and, in addition to the possibility of snow and ice, fog and fishing boats are a certainty. As the boats race towards the south of Japan they will remain quite tightly bunched but, as you enter the Pacific, tactics once again come into play as skippers and crews are faced with the old dilemma; shortest, warmest route risking light airs, or stay north where it will be colder but the winds stronger.

The real race track:




























Racing against 77,000+ virtual racers simulating the real race is my fantasy boat, Vigilance. I am now in 1,533rd place.

The highest I have sailed was 936th. My personal goal in this leg is to finish in three digits - under 1,000.

I had to resort to auto helm this morning in order to spend the day running a real race for my real yacht club.

The hemorrhage of 600 places has been catastrophic.

Vigilance's track is shown in violet. The other track is Spirit of California. The positions of a very small fraction of the other 77,000 boats are also displayed.

This Geriatric Sailor's Next Boat?

Centennial Cup 2010

Psyché's Song won the 2009 CHRF Championship which combines the standings of the Wet Wednesday Series with the CHRF High Point finishes. This is something we have done two or three times in the past, but is no mean achievement. Just showing up doesn't do it. Your crew has to be persistent, especially in marginal conditions when other crews just don't put out to get the most out of a rig. 11 throwouts in the High Point out of 21 races is, to me, exorbitant. Nevertheless, it is what it is.

It should also be pointed out, for instance, that we clinched it by dint of the efforts of Psyché's Song's women persevering in the season's overtime (into December) to sail a re-scheduled Lady-at-the-Helm race. It was sailed in 20 knots! Which was better than the 30+ knots in the scheduled version, earlier in the year!

Winning the Fleet Championship requires one to represent the Fleet in the Centennial Cup to decide the Club Champion. This year's Centennial was sailed in FJ's instead of the usual Venture-21's. Because the optimal crew weight for these collegiate dinghies was 300lbs, I wisely decided to ask Psyché's Song's Mainsheet Guy and MVP to sail the event.

How they did is not germain. The point is, they showed up, were not as overweight as I would have made our entry. I was proud of the lads!

Psyché's Song Is CHRF 2009 Fleet Champion

Next Boat Will Have to Be a....

As others see us.....

Since CHRF's races are more often than not inverted start or pursuit races, Psyché's Song finds herself meeting up with some slower boats at the last (leeward) mark. That is as long as things go well! 

In this picture, (click on it) she looks like a bully. Psycho Song? 

In fact, we never insist on water not permitted us under the Racing Rules of Sailing!

Psyché's Song - Port Tack

Psyché's Song

3rd Place in Wet Wednesdays

Just wanted to bring everyone up to date and, with the spray settled around the conclusion of Wet Wednesday 2009, it seemed a good time to do it.
The purpose of this chart is to display the standings for the Fleet Championship which decides which CHRF boat represents the Fleet in the January 2010 Centennial Cup. From the CHRF Fleet the boat which wins a berth in the Centennial Cup combines averages its final place in the 2009 Wet Wednesdays with its CHRF High Point standings. For this reason, the chart only displays the performance of boats which were competitive in both series. From the chart you can tell that Psyché's Song finished 3rd in the Wet Wednesday bracket and is in an insecure 3rd place in the High point Standings.

With four CHRF races to go, Psyché's Song, leads Zephyr by 6 points (134-128) in the High Point! Should we lose that lead, the Centennial Cup berth becomes a tie and is resolved by esoteric statistical manipulations. Very dicey! Since High Point standings at this time of year are determined as much by throw-outs as they are determined by on-the-water performances, a six-point difference is nothing. Anything can happen.

The next thing that happens is the Lady-At-The-Helm Race this Sunday. Our dock departure will be at 13:00hrs.

Hope for wind. Expect to win. Sail for speed!

CHRF Summer #4

Summer #4 will be sailed this Sunday, 9-July. Dock Time will be 1:00 PM. The CHRF Fleet is trying to organize group Crew pictures so they want us to appear on the deck at the Club at 12:30. I don't know how that's going to work out for everyone. So far, I expect

Let me know about it if you're not planning on sailing? Hopefully everyone can make the photo op. We also have the option to schedules the group photo after the race, if that works out better for us.

The stakes increase for Psyché's Song for the rest of the year. We're in 1st place in the High Point standings a mere 4 points ahead of Browser! But we don't care about results more than process, right? We're just out there to have fun. So, lets double our pleasure Sunday!
Psyché's Song

Reaching Toward the Leeward Mark

Psyché's Song thanks Brisa for what I believe to have been an April shot!

Click to expand!

Stranded in my Own Slip!

Right in the middle of successful Beer Can and CHRF seasons with two championships in play Psyché's Song has to take her first throw-out because of a dodgy engine. The lesson is, never, never call a mechanic until the engine quits on you. Mike's thinking he's god's gift to power yachts. He says,

Your Yanmar is under-performing.
I know Yanmars.
I'll show you what's wrong.
Let me fix it for you.

Before I could say "If it works, don't fix it," he took the trottle and wiped it out. I didn't need the engine to get to the fucking Islands. Or to Frisco or Baja. I just need it to get back and forth between the start line and the slip. Nothing was wrong 'til that ass hole put 'is hands on my boat. Now He's got me over the barrel. There's a word for that....

A Good Ship's Photographer Is Hard to Find.

For good photography during a race, you need some one who is not assigned to do anything else. Otherwise all you get are shots taken when not much is happening on the water. Like in drifting conditions.

Channel took some great pictures. These are the ones she shared.