Monday, November 14, 2011
Friday, September 23, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
Day 9 Ucuelet to Victoria
After a great lay day where we got the boat back together and ready to race again, day broke with an absolute perfect forcast - sunny skies and 20 knot Westerly!
A peaceful parade out from the dock took us out to the awaiting 8-10 foot swells. This is what the West Coast is all about!
We ran the line and got our bearings early. Remembering that dip starts were all right we knew this start was going to be hairy, though which one hasn't been I guess.
We could start down at the shore and run the line on starboard on a broad reach but would be run over by the faster boats and pushed up into a real mess. We decided to hang around the heavily favoured pin end and try and find a lane over it. We were on time but as predicted the big boys were coming fast from below and behind and we had no option other than to peel away - do a 360 and take second row - which as it turned out was a good place to be.
Just after we started Havoc took a competitor up and nearly forced them into the bell buoy only to have the Sjora brush against them.
So we were off, surfing along at 7-8 knots with jib and main up, weaving between traffic. We were a little slow to get the kite set as we didn't want to push our new sprit too much.
Once we did get things set we took off doing 9-12 knots of boat speed for what seemed like hours, actually it was hours. We were with all of our competition but again, we were not going to win this waterline race. The pole boats could go slightly deeper so we decided to take a bit of a flyer.
We jibed over to set up closer to the Canadian side at the entrance to the Juan de Fuca Straits. This was going to be Night Runners day as she just poled back and went deeper and faster than anyone. We were all playing for 2nd. We could see others and for a while it looked like we were good but as it turned out we were about 15-20 minutes behind them when the lights went out and we started our approach to Race Rocks.
We had switched to the A2 in the late afternoon as the breeze went a little light near dinner time. We also found reception to listen to game 7 of the Canucks vs Bruins game, though as you all know, that wasn't much fun.
This was a glorious sail, I can't say I have ever enjoyed sailing more than this leg. We were moving along at 8-9 knots in 15 knots of breeze effortlessly. Guys were lounging on deck eating and talking, we were in heaven.
Now back to the race, as we approached Race Rocks the tide had turned and we made the mistake of getting too close to shore too soon - roughly 7 miles from Race Passage. We were passed by a couple of boats. And our weather reports were for 25-30 knots coming up in Race Passage. We continued on in low to mid teens of breeze now completely in the dark.
Shortly there after the kite started to flutter telling us the breeze was up, and sure enough we had 20 knots TWS. We called to peel the kite and put the jib up. We jibed out to get a good angle to go through the pass and put the A3 up.
We had an excellent line and didn't jibe again. The wind topped out at 26 knots and we blasted through with no problems.
We had a full moon out, very little sea and slight current against us. We were reaching now @ 9-10 knots of boat speed in 15 - 18 knot of TWS..... the boat was just perfectly balanced. We went from Race Rocks to the finish line and it took us 55 minutes, a distance of roughly 10 nautical miles.......again, the best sail of my life!
Pierre met us at the dock, we tied up across from the Empress and had warm pizza and beer. The perfect end to a perfect days sail.
We finished 8th in this leg and after all we went through, it was a great 8!
A peaceful parade out from the dock took us out to the awaiting 8-10 foot swells. This is what the West Coast is all about!
We ran the line and got our bearings early. Remembering that dip starts were all right we knew this start was going to be hairy, though which one hasn't been I guess.
We could start down at the shore and run the line on starboard on a broad reach but would be run over by the faster boats and pushed up into a real mess. We decided to hang around the heavily favoured pin end and try and find a lane over it. We were on time but as predicted the big boys were coming fast from below and behind and we had no option other than to peel away - do a 360 and take second row - which as it turned out was a good place to be.
Just after we started Havoc took a competitor up and nearly forced them into the bell buoy only to have the Sjora brush against them.
So we were off, surfing along at 7-8 knots with jib and main up, weaving between traffic. We were a little slow to get the kite set as we didn't want to push our new sprit too much.
Once we did get things set we took off doing 9-12 knots of boat speed for what seemed like hours, actually it was hours. We were with all of our competition but again, we were not going to win this waterline race. The pole boats could go slightly deeper so we decided to take a bit of a flyer.
We jibed over to set up closer to the Canadian side at the entrance to the Juan de Fuca Straits. This was going to be Night Runners day as she just poled back and went deeper and faster than anyone. We were all playing for 2nd. We could see others and for a while it looked like we were good but as it turned out we were about 15-20 minutes behind them when the lights went out and we started our approach to Race Rocks.
We had switched to the A2 in the late afternoon as the breeze went a little light near dinner time. We also found reception to listen to game 7 of the Canucks vs Bruins game, though as you all know, that wasn't much fun.
This was a glorious sail, I can't say I have ever enjoyed sailing more than this leg. We were moving along at 8-9 knots in 15 knots of breeze effortlessly. Guys were lounging on deck eating and talking, we were in heaven.
Now back to the race, as we approached Race Rocks the tide had turned and we made the mistake of getting too close to shore too soon - roughly 7 miles from Race Passage. We were passed by a couple of boats. And our weather reports were for 25-30 knots coming up in Race Passage. We continued on in low to mid teens of breeze now completely in the dark.
Shortly there after the kite started to flutter telling us the breeze was up, and sure enough we had 20 knots TWS. We called to peel the kite and put the jib up. We jibed out to get a good angle to go through the pass and put the A3 up.
We had an excellent line and didn't jibe again. The wind topped out at 26 knots and we blasted through with no problems.
We had a full moon out, very little sea and slight current against us. We were reaching now @ 9-10 knots of boat speed in 15 - 18 knot of TWS..... the boat was just perfectly balanced. We went from Race Rocks to the finish line and it took us 55 minutes, a distance of roughly 10 nautical miles.......again, the best sail of my life!
Pierre met us at the dock, we tied up across from the Empress and had warm pizza and beer. The perfect end to a perfect days sail.
We finished 8th in this leg and after all we went through, it was a great 8!
How we fixed the sprit
So as mentioned our sprit broke and as it turned out it was a flaw in the pole itself that caused it to break.......but that didn't matter at the time.
The old addage of when the going gets tough, the tough get going, well this is where the Cinco team won out hands down.
Before we even finished leg 8, guys were putting there heads together to figure out how we can carry on in the race. As soon as cell service ( god bless the i phone again ) was found we started making calls and by the end of the day a fellow PRYC club member and his company had an alluminum tube made and ready to ship DHL that night to Nanaimo.
Now you think, Nanaimo, what good will that do? You are right, and thus Cindy's parents who live near Duncan, went down, picked it up and then drove all the way to deliver the new pole and would barely accept a thank you! Again, what great people!
Don and the boys went to work stripping off all the hardware from the old pole, while Sparky ( nick ) had at the electronics again. After a long afternoon, and to the surprise of many on the dock, we had power, full instruments, and a brand new pole ready to go for the next 2 legs.
For not racing all day, today was one of the most satisfying days of the entire race!
The old addage of when the going gets tough, the tough get going, well this is where the Cinco team won out hands down.
Before we even finished leg 8, guys were putting there heads together to figure out how we can carry on in the race. As soon as cell service ( god bless the i phone again ) was found we started making calls and by the end of the day a fellow PRYC club member and his company had an alluminum tube made and ready to ship DHL that night to Nanaimo.
Now you think, Nanaimo, what good will that do? You are right, and thus Cindy's parents who live near Duncan, went down, picked it up and then drove all the way to deliver the new pole and would barely accept a thank you! Again, what great people!
Don and the boys went to work stripping off all the hardware from the old pole, while Sparky ( nick ) had at the electronics again. After a long afternoon, and to the surprise of many on the dock, we had power, full instruments, and a brand new pole ready to go for the next 2 legs.
For not racing all day, today was one of the most satisfying days of the entire race!
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Day 8 - Winter Harbour to Ucluelet
Today got started very early. We needed to leave the dock by 6:00 am to make the start line on time.
The motor out was peaceful, as I said, Winter Harbour is a beautiful bit of rugged country!
The breeze was out of the North East today, light, maybe 7-8 knots shich meant a spinny start. We got a very good mid line start and had the kite up in short order.
As mentioned earlier, the RC and PRO wanted us to get out and around Brooks before the forcasted Gale was to arrive later this morning. Only the very fastest boats were able to sail through the transition zone just a couple miles up from the start. The rest of us were left with very light conditions and even drifting for a good hour.
Finally we managed to get a breath of air and were off, slowly at first but within an hour or 2 it was blowing 20 and out to sea we headed.
We were one of only 4 boats in our division to escape first, with Kiva / Kotuku and that darn Hobbie chasing hard but we had a good head start on the rest of the boats.....actually they were never to be seen again till morning.
We planned to head out to about 30 - 35 miles offshore to get some current help. We were not alone as it seemed everyone else had the same plan. We were pacing Kiva, sailing slightly higher but they had some speed on us, but net result was even. We would be sailing with them all afternoon and into the dark of night.
The breeze continued to build it was a steady 25 maybe gusting to 30 but managable. The bigger issues were the seas. They were quite short and steep, and very confused. They were coming from 2 and sometimes 3 different directions. This made driving very difficult and the boat was left to just slam hard from wave to wave, shuttering every 30 seconds it would seem.
At around 11:00 pm, we were going along when our instruments decided to fail again. So now we have no vision, no numbers, a reef and #3 up in what seems like a building storm. Down below we have very cold crew, some sick, some unable to function. The little voice inside me reminds the boat will always take more than what the crew will so I am quite confident in the ol' girl. She is doing great, and so are we.
We do our midnight check in ( we are required to check in to the Coast Guard every 6 hours with a positional grid system provided to us the by the RC and a status report ) We hear of some boats really struggling with sea sickness, one boat hit a whale and had to return to Winter Harbour, one boat lost power and feared they would lose instruments - we laughed at that one as we already had that issue - many boats taking on water, boats losing wind vanes ect.........but none the less, most were coping.
To sail at night is quite an experience! To do so with no instruments in a gale in large confused seas is another. We keep track of a port bow light of a competitor. By keeping it in the same spot under the main sail we know we are sailing high enough or too high. We can see the luff of the main and keep it with a nice speed bubble or back wind to help understand heel and boat speed.
At around 3:00 am we see a bright light on the horizon. At first we think it is the sun but it is too early for sunrise. We then figure it must be a cruise ship, but we are 40 miles off shore, really a cruise ship out here????? It is getting closer and Don and I can't tell if it is going to cross us or not. We try to slow the boat up but again that is hard to do without crash tacking. Then we hear there horn, is that for us? We are with Cu Na Mara just to leeward of us and are watching them as well. Finally we can tell they are not going to cross us but it was a nervous few moments! A second ship came shortly after but followed the others path and there were no issues.
Finally the lights turned back on around 4:15. We had survived and actually done quite well. At 6:00 am for the roll call we were rewarded with news that we were in the grid closest to the finish for division! Bot bad for a bunch of blind sailors!!
Then it happened, around 6:30 the forcasted switch to a westerly came and we were set up perfect for it. We had 32 miles to go, straight down wind and the breeze was down to a nice 15 knots or so. The bad news was the sea state was both for and against us.
We scrambled to get more hands on deck and get a kite set up. We did so and were off, surfing along doing 10+ knots! Then the unthinkable happened, the sprit broke off after just 15 minutes of down wind fun! It broke roughly a foot in front of the exit point of the boat. We were dejected, that's it, were done I thought. Well I have to say the guys did an amazing job getting the boat back to Uecuelet, under jib and main only! We couldn't surf the boat beyond hull speed to protect against water pouring inside. So we watched painfully as boats sailed up from behind us and either pass us or make up time to correct over us.
We finished the leg in roughly 31 hours, we lost at least an hour as boats that we saw when we first put the kite up finished an hour or more ahead of us.
We still finished 6th for this leg, just 12 seconds back of Night Runner.
But the real story is of how our crew pulled together and came up with a plan to get a new sprit built to allow us to continue on with the race and how our fellow PRYC club members back home made it happen!
The motor out was peaceful, as I said, Winter Harbour is a beautiful bit of rugged country!
The breeze was out of the North East today, light, maybe 7-8 knots shich meant a spinny start. We got a very good mid line start and had the kite up in short order.
As mentioned earlier, the RC and PRO wanted us to get out and around Brooks before the forcasted Gale was to arrive later this morning. Only the very fastest boats were able to sail through the transition zone just a couple miles up from the start. The rest of us were left with very light conditions and even drifting for a good hour.
Finally we managed to get a breath of air and were off, slowly at first but within an hour or 2 it was blowing 20 and out to sea we headed.
We were one of only 4 boats in our division to escape first, with Kiva / Kotuku and that darn Hobbie chasing hard but we had a good head start on the rest of the boats.....actually they were never to be seen again till morning.
We planned to head out to about 30 - 35 miles offshore to get some current help. We were not alone as it seemed everyone else had the same plan. We were pacing Kiva, sailing slightly higher but they had some speed on us, but net result was even. We would be sailing with them all afternoon and into the dark of night.
The breeze continued to build it was a steady 25 maybe gusting to 30 but managable. The bigger issues were the seas. They were quite short and steep, and very confused. They were coming from 2 and sometimes 3 different directions. This made driving very difficult and the boat was left to just slam hard from wave to wave, shuttering every 30 seconds it would seem.
At around 11:00 pm, we were going along when our instruments decided to fail again. So now we have no vision, no numbers, a reef and #3 up in what seems like a building storm. Down below we have very cold crew, some sick, some unable to function. The little voice inside me reminds the boat will always take more than what the crew will so I am quite confident in the ol' girl. She is doing great, and so are we.
We do our midnight check in ( we are required to check in to the Coast Guard every 6 hours with a positional grid system provided to us the by the RC and a status report ) We hear of some boats really struggling with sea sickness, one boat hit a whale and had to return to Winter Harbour, one boat lost power and feared they would lose instruments - we laughed at that one as we already had that issue - many boats taking on water, boats losing wind vanes ect.........but none the less, most were coping.
To sail at night is quite an experience! To do so with no instruments in a gale in large confused seas is another. We keep track of a port bow light of a competitor. By keeping it in the same spot under the main sail we know we are sailing high enough or too high. We can see the luff of the main and keep it with a nice speed bubble or back wind to help understand heel and boat speed.
At around 3:00 am we see a bright light on the horizon. At first we think it is the sun but it is too early for sunrise. We then figure it must be a cruise ship, but we are 40 miles off shore, really a cruise ship out here????? It is getting closer and Don and I can't tell if it is going to cross us or not. We try to slow the boat up but again that is hard to do without crash tacking. Then we hear there horn, is that for us? We are with Cu Na Mara just to leeward of us and are watching them as well. Finally we can tell they are not going to cross us but it was a nervous few moments! A second ship came shortly after but followed the others path and there were no issues.
Finally the lights turned back on around 4:15. We had survived and actually done quite well. At 6:00 am for the roll call we were rewarded with news that we were in the grid closest to the finish for division! Bot bad for a bunch of blind sailors!!
Then it happened, around 6:30 the forcasted switch to a westerly came and we were set up perfect for it. We had 32 miles to go, straight down wind and the breeze was down to a nice 15 knots or so. The bad news was the sea state was both for and against us.
We scrambled to get more hands on deck and get a kite set up. We did so and were off, surfing along doing 10+ knots! Then the unthinkable happened, the sprit broke off after just 15 minutes of down wind fun! It broke roughly a foot in front of the exit point of the boat. We were dejected, that's it, were done I thought. Well I have to say the guys did an amazing job getting the boat back to Uecuelet, under jib and main only! We couldn't surf the boat beyond hull speed to protect against water pouring inside. So we watched painfully as boats sailed up from behind us and either pass us or make up time to correct over us.
We finished the leg in roughly 31 hours, we lost at least an hour as boats that we saw when we first put the kite up finished an hour or more ahead of us.
We still finished 6th for this leg, just 12 seconds back of Night Runner.
But the real story is of how our crew pulled together and came up with a plan to get a new sprit built to allow us to continue on with the race and how our fellow PRYC club members back home made it happen!
Friday, June 24, 2011
Day 7 - Port Hardy to Winter Harbour
Tension is in the air to start today's race. We are now setting out to cross the infamous Nawhitti Bar and rounding Cape Scott. These waters have been known to blow the windows out of boats, proving a piece of water to show a lot of respect for.
The start line today is huge, probably 1 mile long or more. There is tug and log boom that delays the start by 10 minutes followed by yet again another general recall. The port side of the line is heavily favored but you need to cross it on port. Our second start was maybe our worst of the entire race, we are probably the last boat to cross the line.
The breeze builds to a nice 10 knot Westerly and many of the boats hit the shore early. We don't think this is right as the tide is pushing us out so we stick to the middle of the bay, and quickly find ourselves mid fleet. By the time we round the corner and enter Goletas Channel we are in 2nd place, a great recovery.
We have about 15 miles of upwind sailing till the bar. We can see in the distance a dead spot and what we think is a big leftie coming out of it. Well being out front we get to be either hero's or zero's and though we do ok, boats that were well behind us took the right side and came out ahead.
We hunker down and work the shores till we get to the bar. Well once we are there the breeze is at best 5 knots and the seas flat, oh as we turn left, so does the breeze, we are still going up wind! Will this race ever have a different point of sail? Jockingly we re name the race - the UPWIND van isle 360!
The breeze completely dies, we are drifting with about 10 miles to go to Cape Scott. We have caught our fleet with only Rubato and Kiva ahead, but not by much.
The wind does fill in and we enjoy a great dinner and gorgeous sunset rounding Cape Scott. We turn left, find the Coast guard vessel that will escort the fleet down the treacherous West Coast and begin to settle into night sailing. Oh did I mention we are still going up wind.
As night comes we are solidly in 3rd, sailing with Kotuku. We decide to head out to see if we can find more wind.
The night is rather uneventful, the breeze is light, maybe 5-10 at best ( remember we still don't have any instruments, we are navigating by paper charts and an I Phone! Around 2:00 am Kotuku lee bows us so we tack away and that was the last we saw of them.
As day broke we struggled to find boats. We could see a large number behind us but we were missing a few. A few, namely Opus and the Hobbie had taken the shore route and snuck past us. We tacked into shore ASAP and got a nice lift to pass Karina II but the leaders were in and we finished 6th.
We motored into Winter Harbour and found our private dock and the owner's Pat and Phil of Winter Harbour Cottages. The met us, got us power and water and showed us to our cabin.
The weather couldn't have been more peaceful and scenic. A great meal ready to go by Nick had the guys full of food and we began to work on the boats electornics again.
We walked down the boardwalk to the general store ( also the post office and liquor store )that afternoon where the local merchants put on a great bbq for all.
Talk that night was that a gale was forcasted for tomorrow's leg down the graveyard of the pacific past Brooks Pennisula so we were going to start an hour earlier to get around safely.
The start line today is huge, probably 1 mile long or more. There is tug and log boom that delays the start by 10 minutes followed by yet again another general recall. The port side of the line is heavily favored but you need to cross it on port. Our second start was maybe our worst of the entire race, we are probably the last boat to cross the line.
The breeze builds to a nice 10 knot Westerly and many of the boats hit the shore early. We don't think this is right as the tide is pushing us out so we stick to the middle of the bay, and quickly find ourselves mid fleet. By the time we round the corner and enter Goletas Channel we are in 2nd place, a great recovery.
We have about 15 miles of upwind sailing till the bar. We can see in the distance a dead spot and what we think is a big leftie coming out of it. Well being out front we get to be either hero's or zero's and though we do ok, boats that were well behind us took the right side and came out ahead.
We hunker down and work the shores till we get to the bar. Well once we are there the breeze is at best 5 knots and the seas flat, oh as we turn left, so does the breeze, we are still going up wind! Will this race ever have a different point of sail? Jockingly we re name the race - the UPWIND van isle 360!
The breeze completely dies, we are drifting with about 10 miles to go to Cape Scott. We have caught our fleet with only Rubato and Kiva ahead, but not by much.
The wind does fill in and we enjoy a great dinner and gorgeous sunset rounding Cape Scott. We turn left, find the Coast guard vessel that will escort the fleet down the treacherous West Coast and begin to settle into night sailing. Oh did I mention we are still going up wind.
As night comes we are solidly in 3rd, sailing with Kotuku. We decide to head out to see if we can find more wind.
The night is rather uneventful, the breeze is light, maybe 5-10 at best ( remember we still don't have any instruments, we are navigating by paper charts and an I Phone! Around 2:00 am Kotuku lee bows us so we tack away and that was the last we saw of them.
As day broke we struggled to find boats. We could see a large number behind us but we were missing a few. A few, namely Opus and the Hobbie had taken the shore route and snuck past us. We tacked into shore ASAP and got a nice lift to pass Karina II but the leaders were in and we finished 6th.
We motored into Winter Harbour and found our private dock and the owner's Pat and Phil of Winter Harbour Cottages. The met us, got us power and water and showed us to our cabin.
The weather couldn't have been more peaceful and scenic. A great meal ready to go by Nick had the guys full of food and we began to work on the boats electornics again.
We walked down the boardwalk to the general store ( also the post office and liquor store )that afternoon where the local merchants put on a great bbq for all.
Talk that night was that a gale was forcasted for tomorrow's leg down the graveyard of the pacific past Brooks Pennisula so we were going to start an hour earlier to get around safely.
Day 6 - Telegraph cove to Port Hardy
This next leg seems strange for some reason, oh that's right, it is because a weak low pressure system has developed and the sun has gone and so has the 15 knot NW breeze.
We mill about looking for the best place to start today's race. The left side is favored as it closer to where we want to go by about 1/2 a mile, but the right side has some inflow breeze.
We practice putting the kite and decide that a middle start is best and as soon as possible will try the kite.
As predicted the rigth won out and a few of our boats screamed away while others sat going no where. We were in the middle.......After about an hour we finally cross the start line and are starting to get the kite filled. Finally we feel we might be able to make some hay in the race.
After about 3 more hours we have moved up and only one boat is ahead of us but we have only gone 3 miles. This doesn't look good. We slowly start to see and hear boats dropping out. In this race if 50% of the boats that start do not finish the leg will not be scored.
Lunch comes and goes and we are passed by Kiva. Normally this wouldn't surprise us but he did so going backwards! At 1:00 it seemed that like everyone had the same feeling and the iron lungs were tunred on. We had better that 22 miles to go and only 4 hours or so to do it.....racing for today was over.
A few competitors however got themselves in hot water as they broke a safety rule in that you need to carry enough fuel to power yourself to the next port. With today's technology on board, the trackers didn't lie and you couldn't hide the facts. Boats were turning back, going to other ports and even one had fuel delivered to them. Needless to say a few harsh words were spoken that night at the awards ceremony.
Port Hardy see's a lot of new crew arrive, so is the half way point of the race. The so called " easy legs " are done and now we head off shore!
First up - "THE BAR"
We mill about looking for the best place to start today's race. The left side is favored as it closer to where we want to go by about 1/2 a mile, but the right side has some inflow breeze.
We practice putting the kite and decide that a middle start is best and as soon as possible will try the kite.
As predicted the rigth won out and a few of our boats screamed away while others sat going no where. We were in the middle.......After about an hour we finally cross the start line and are starting to get the kite filled. Finally we feel we might be able to make some hay in the race.
After about 3 more hours we have moved up and only one boat is ahead of us but we have only gone 3 miles. This doesn't look good. We slowly start to see and hear boats dropping out. In this race if 50% of the boats that start do not finish the leg will not be scored.
Lunch comes and goes and we are passed by Kiva. Normally this wouldn't surprise us but he did so going backwards! At 1:00 it seemed that like everyone had the same feeling and the iron lungs were tunred on. We had better that 22 miles to go and only 4 hours or so to do it.....racing for today was over.
A few competitors however got themselves in hot water as they broke a safety rule in that you need to carry enough fuel to power yourself to the next port. With today's technology on board, the trackers didn't lie and you couldn't hide the facts. Boats were turning back, going to other ports and even one had fuel delivered to them. Needless to say a few harsh words were spoken that night at the awards ceremony.
Port Hardy see's a lot of new crew arrive, so is the half way point of the race. The so called " easy legs " are done and now we head off shore!
First up - "THE BAR"
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