C22 Whitby Single Handed Make Up Race

Make up race for last week's storm.

Three boats with Gruntled (C&C 29) and White Out (Viking 28).
Winds were NOTHING at the start, so we postponed until after 7pm.
Winds filled in from the east at maybe 4 knots.
Course was a shortened 7 short.

Winds lightened after a while, but filled in for the finish.
Did the last upwind leg at over 5 knots.
Sailed right into the channel close hauled at close to 5 knots.

I used to tack at 4pm or 8pm (~120 degrees), but I am finding with the new sails, I can tack at 3pm or 9pm (90 degrees).  I am now overstanding the tack to the marks and coming in on a close reach instead of close hauled.

Came last, but not too far behind the others.
Corrected time will tell.

Trip Odometer: 6.82 miles
Moving Avg: 3.0 knots
Moving Time: 02:18:03

Google Earth track: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2012/20120628.kmz

C22 Whitby Race Night

Had John and Paul from my hockey team.  Want to teach Paul how to sail so they can sail Still Time when I am away on vacation in July and August.

Winds were forecast at 12 knots with gusts to 24 at 7pm from the NW.  Got out there with full main and light #1, could not get the boat moving.  Course was 4 short, shortened because the winds were less than 2 knots.

Could not get the boat moving, the wind must have been above our mast.  It was frustrating seeing boats with taller masts actually moving.  It took us an hour to come anywhere near the first windward mark.  The waves/current took over.  The waves were enough so that the sails would not set in the little bit of breeze.
Called Tanker Jones before we had rounded mark 6 of the triangle, and DNFed.
We would have been out there for another hour.
I'm sure the Tanker crew was happy!

Coming into the channel, we ran out of gas just after we put the sails down.
A 16ft bowrider towed into the end of dock 6.

Lee with Grafitti (41ft race boat that drafts almost 8ft) was stuck in the channel off docks 7/8/9. Had to run a halyard to the docks to heel the boat over. Also put two people on their boom and heeled them over 45 degrees to get them into their slip.

Fun times!

Trip Odometer: 6.68 miles
Moving Avg:4.7 knots
Moving Time: 01:59:49

Gootle Earth track: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2012/20120627.kmz

Newcastle on Santeria

Wind were forecast to be 12 knots from the NW with gust in the low 20s. 
Full main and #2.
Neil, Peter, Me.  Course was N-W-E-N-W-N

The gusts were pretty overwelming, but got the boat powered up pretty good. 

On the downwind leg, we had the mainsheet slip through cam cleat; took a bit to get it back.
Finished last on actual and corrected time in our fleet.

Just can't compete with the longer waterline boats in these conditions.


Trip Odometer: 9.17 miles
Moving Avg: 4.7 knots
Moving Time: 01:59:40

Google Earth track: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2012/20120626.kmz

WYC Rainbow

Pride Week @ WYC

Moonlight Mistress Maiden Voyage

Went out for the first sail of the season on Moonlight Mistress, a 1973 Hughes 38.  Went out with with Dave Rodgers (new owner), John (old owner), Dave, and Peter.

Moonlight Mistress is a classic Sparkman and Stephens design.  This Hughes has a history in that it was built for the owner of Hughes Yachts.  She is a big heavy, full keeled, sweet sailing yacht.  The side decks are very wide, and because of her mass, she is not affected as you move around the decks.

Trip Odometer: 5.27 miles
Moving Avg: 3.1 knots
Moving Time: 01:41:05

Google Earth track: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2012/20120624.kmz

Santeria Whitby 50

Winds were forecast for 8-12 knots from the NW; flat water, beam reach, and swing around to the west during the night.  With this knowledge, we decided to enter flying sail.  Cajun and Wind Dancer also joined us from Newcastle.

We had a good start on a starboard tack away from committee boat where all the traffic was.  We were neck and neck with Wind Dancer and Sumac; that is until they popped their asymetrical spinnakers and took off.  Wind was just forward of the beam, so we could not fly ours.

We ran the rum line, keeping our speed over 6 knots the entire time.  Pretty easy sailing; every once and while we would get a gust of wind, so we would crack off the main and fall off for more speed.  We rigged a wire luff storm sail as a stay sail and gained another point or two of speed.

Nearing the T2 mark on that starboard tack, we saw most boats going the other way.  Sumac was the only boat carrying a spinnaker.   The wind has swung a little further west, so we thought we would give it a try.  We had a debockle at the mark, and could not tack because the spinnaker was coming out of the bag on the foredeck.  Ended up missing the mark, and throwing in two more tacks.

Once around the mark, we hoisted the spinnaker and dropped the #1.  The wind was off the beam, and in order the fly the symmetrical chute, we had to adjust course out into the lake.  Our speed was only 4.8 knots, so we decided to douse the chute, and hoist the #1: back up to 6 knots beam reach pointing directly at the finish.

As we got to Pickering, the winds were diminishing, and we could see the rest of the fleet floundering near the start about half an hour in front of us.  We sailed into the same large wind hole and could only muster 2 knots of boat speed.  Tried the spinnaker again, but the wind was just forward of beam.

About half a mile from the finish, the salmon fleet (about 20 power boats) came roaring out of the Whitby harbour past the finish line, making waves to kill ANY boat speed we had.

We finished last at 6:33am, but we could not have sailed any better.  Not to often you do a 50 mile race on the beam both ways.  The longer waterline boats just had the advantage.  We were banking on some magic to happen for a spinnaker ride back.  If only we had an asymetrical spinnaker!

We were tired, but happy.

Trip Odometer: 57.70 miles
Moving Avg: 4.8 knots
Moving Time: 09:53:22 (from the dock)

Google Earth track: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2012/20120622.kmz

Couple of photos of Santeria on the dock:

10 ft beam

Much taller mast and longer boom than Still Time beside it

Santeria Newcastle to Whitby

Neil and Peter were going to take Santeria from her home port in Newcastle to Whitby Yacht Club for the Whitby 50 on Friday night.  A severe thunderstorm warning kept them from going out on the water.

Tonight was the last race for the Whitby summer single handed series.  The forecast was that we would not rain until after 9pm. 

At around 5:30pm the first storm cell came through, so we decided to postpone the race for an hour.  40+ knots gusts were recorded by the WYC weather station had unfurled several jibs on the docks, so we spent some time taking them down for the owners.

At around 7pm another thunderstorm came through, so the race was cancelled.

Met Neil and Peter in the parking lot coming from Newcastle.  I agreed to have Peter drive us to Newcastle and Neil and I would sail Santeria over.   We got off the docks at little after 9pm.  There was about 10 knots of breeze, but it was right on the nose, which meant we would be motoring.  We hoisted a reefed main, and pull the traveller way up to set the sail somewhat to give us some stability in the waves.

With the motor at about 2/3 throttle and reefed main, we could do about 5 knots.  We hooked up the autohelm to make the trip easier.  Had a couple of distant sheet lightning storms off in the lake, and a couple of gust fronts came through with winds in the 20 knots range.  When we got off of Oshawa, we had several 60 degree wind shifts from W to NW, causing the main to tack.  NO ISSUES.

We got into the Whitby harbour mouth at 12:48.  Going down the channel, we started dropping the main, and motor cut out; ran out of gas.  Sail was down, winds were blowing us to the harbour walls, Neil is scrambling add gas to the tank.  We get the motor started, and it stalls again.  We gun the motor in forward and reverse and aren't going anywhere.   With a flashlight we discovered a huge ball of weeds around the prop and lower unit of the motor.  Neil has to clip himself in and hang over the transom get the stubborn weed off.  We drifted all about the harbour:

Tooks us 15 minutes to get the motor going again.  Had to fend off at the bow a couple of times to avoid the harbour walls.

Santeria delivered.


Trip Odometer: 18.43 miles
Moving Avg: 4.7 knots
Moving Time: 03:59:11

Google Earth track: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2012/20120621.kmz

C22 Whitby

Winds were forecast to be 11 knots from the SW and diminish.  Course was 4 medium.

John and I got out before 6pm, full main and light #1, and it was blowing over 12 knots as we could see whitecaps.  Too much sail, but I had left my #2 and #3 in the car, so we had to go with it.  By the time the start gun went off, the winds were down, so we had the perfect amount of sail.

Good start but the waves were about 2ft high and it was difficult to get any speed close hauled from the line, so we cracked off the sheets with some twist, and fell off to power through the waves.  Payed off as we had a good upwind leg and beat the two Catalina 25s to the first mark. 

On the 3rd leg there was much more wind, so we decided to go a little further to make sure we made the next mark.  The Catalina 25 Y-Knot tacked earlier than us and beat us to the next mark.  We definately went out too far on that tack, as we were on a close reach to the mark.

We finished neck and neck with Y-Knot and the two red Sharks, who all give us time. 

UPDATE: we took first in this race!

Trip Odometer: 12.90 miles
Moving Avg: 4.1 knots
Moving Time : 03:09:18

Google Earth track: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2012/20120620.kmz

Newcastle on Santeria

Neil, Peter, Colin, and me. Severe thunderstorm warnings in the late afternoon.  Rained like stink on the way to Newcastle, but petered itself out for the race.  We only had 2-3 knots of breeze with 1-2 ft rollers leftover from the winds of the day and the storm. 

Neil had got his new to him main converted from bolt rope to slugs for the boat and it fit perfectly.

Course was W-S-N.

We got the the west mark just at the 45 minutes into the race, so the race continued.  Spent another hour to get to the south mark; would have taken another 2 hours to finish the race according to the GPS.  Race abandoned.

Trip Odometer: 5.17 miles
Moving Avg: 2.1 knots
Moving Time: 02:30:40

Google Earth track: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2012/20120619.kmz

C22 Whitby Single Handed

Got out to the line BEFORE 6:30pm.

Winds were from the NE 4-6 knots; full new main and light #1.

Course was 7 Short, we had 6 boats.

Good start, good race; downwind was a little lumpy.  Came in 5th across the line, probably caught some boats on handicap.  Good to see Andrew out.

Trip Odometer: 8.78 miles
Moving Avg: 3.9 knots
Moving Time: 02:13:51

Google Earth track: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2012/20120614.kmz

Santeria

I have been posting about racing on Neil's boat in Newcastle.

It is an Able Poitin 24, built in 1976.  Not many were made (hull #7), but it is the grandfather to the J24.  Many of its design features and sail controls where way ahead of its time.

His blog is located: http://ablepoitin24.blogspot.ca/

Fun, fast boat; we are racing with the bigger fleet this year in Newcastle.

10 ft beam for a 24 ft boat

Banana Hammock

Neil and I are doublehanding the Whitby 50 in her.

CS34 Head Leak

Since we have had Still Time, the head has been leaking clean water when left for a bit.  Overnight their might be a cup of water on the floor.  The head functions correctly, pumps clean water from the lake fine, and pumps black water to the holding tank without any issues.

Went to Nat's Marine and Ron suggested that there may be crack in the housing of the head (toilet).  This morning I took a look, and found a crack in the water supply hose:



View from behind head

You can see drops of water coming down the hose and under the head base. Good thing I discovered this because if the hose let go, the boat could sink because the head is under the waterline.
The hose runs about 18" from the head to under the sink beside it to the water intake seacock; will be an easy repair.  Got 2ft of replacement hose at lunch from Nat's

C22 Whitby

John had his business partner Mark from BC down for a sail.  Mark has a Catalina 22 in the Salt Spring Island Sailing Club in Ganges Harbour.

Winds were forcast 4 to 6 knots from the north, full bolt rope main and light #1.

We were late getting to the start, motor sailing to the race course.  The GPS said 10 mins to the start, and we heard the gun go off, so we stopped the motor to avoid being DQed.  Took us 15 mins to cross the line.

Winds were actually from the west and the course was 3 medium.

We sailed a good race, and were catching some of the boats in our fleet, but by the second windward mark, the wind died, and the current took over.   We had to tack 6 times to get around mark 3:

Grrrrrr!!!

After that fiasco, we were rolling downwind wing on wing at 3 knots, looked at the GPS, and determined that it would take another hour to finish the remainer of that leg and the final upwind leg. 

We decided to DNF and go in.

Trip Odometer: 10.92 miles
Moving Avg: 4.1 knots
Moving Time: 02:40:27

Google Earth track: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2012/20120613.kmz

Newcastle on Santeria

Windfinder was predicting 11 knots (gusts to 32) with isolated thunderstorms.  The thunderstorms happened in the late afternoon, so the race was good to go.

Neil, Peter, and I, course was N-W-S-N-E-N.

We first thought full main and the #1, and ride out the gusts, needed the sail area for the downwind legs.  However, once we got out we found it unmanageable, so we swapped out the hanked on #1 for the #3; much better.  The 10 year old Kevlar main can't be reefed.

Start was good, and were 1/4 mile behind Wind Dancer to the first mark.  We gybed around the windward mark, bringing the mainsheet in.  As the boom came accross, we got hit with a 30+ knot gust and tore the main from luff to leach about 1/3 way up the mast.  The three of us sprung into action, taking the blown main off, hoisting the old dacron main, while maintaining 5.5 knots of boat speed with just the #3.  We had really good communication and problem solving getting the swap done in less than 5 mins.  The dacron main is smaller and a little bagged out, but worked.

It was a wild ride, having to constantly feather the main in the gusts.  According to the GPS, we averaged 6.7 knots for the entire track!

Trip Odometer: 15.30 miles
Moving Avg: 6.7 knots
Moving Time: 02:31:31

Google Earth track: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2012/20120612.kmz

C22 Centennial Bowl

Skippers meeting 10am, we had 13 boats from four classes; only one boat from my fleet.
Had to get gas because I left the vent open on the gas can in the cockpit in the sun, and it evaporated.  Not much wind (<2 knots from the south).  Full bolt rope main and light #1, single handed.  Course was mark #1 to mark #9, off to mark X (2.8 miles west), Ajax weather buoy, and finish at #9.

Wind was at the 4 to 6 knot range before the start, but quickly diminished.    It took me 45 minutes to get from #1 to #9 (1/2 mile).  For the next 90 minutes, barely moved at all, did not even make it to mark #4! (see track).

After nobody made it to mark X two hours after the gun, I hoisted a spinnaker and headed back.  Not even enough wind to fly it.

The race committee shortened the course to mark X only, EVEN AFTER THE 2 HOURS.  The race should have been abandoned as this was clearly stated in the skipper's meeting.

Did not want to stay out there.  Saw the fleet come in over two hours later.

Trip Odometer: 7.44 miles
Moving Avg: 2.4 knots (included motor out/in)
Moving Time: 03:04:31
Stopped Time: 01:05:23 (PAINFULL!)

Google Earth track: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2012/20120610.kmz

C22 Single Handed

Whitby Thursday single handed; three boats, Gruntled (C&C 29), Mickey (Shark 24), and me.  Winds were light at the start, so the course was shortened 3 Short (triangle).  Two foot waves and not much wind made for a tough beat the first mark.  I was the first around the windward mark, and went out into the lake hoping for more breeze. while the others tacked immediately after the mark. Turned out being a bad decision mfor me, as the wind filled in and gave the other two boats the advantage to the next reaching mark, loosing my lead.

The C&C 29 pulled ahead in the breeze, which had picked up to 12 knots.  We decided to make the course a non shorted short course.

Finished neck and neck with the Shark, but he gives me time.

Trip Odometer: 7.88 miles
Moving Avg: 3.7 knots
Moving Time: 02:07:27 (race time 01:13:54)

Google Earth track: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2012/20120607.kmz

CS34 De-masting

Got down to the club at 4:30pm to take my mast down.  David, Harvey, Sherry Lynn, and Peter came down to help me out.  At about 5pm, I went up the mast on a bosum's chair to place a lifting strap.  When almost near the balance point, lightning started around the area.  I quickly set the strap and got back down.  Then the clouds let go with major rain and thunder/lightning.  We just left the boat and went inside the clubhouse.

The race was cancelled because of the lightning storms.  After a dinner and beer, the weather had cleared, and we went back out and dropped the mast.

Thanks to my friends for their help!

A rigging inspector from Swans came out today (Thursday) to inspect the mast

Here you can see the scratches on the mast

Some more scratches

Lower spreader casting

The guy from Swans reported:

Good afternoon Bart,

My rigger was over at WYC first thing this morning and has completed his inspection of your mast. He examined the spreader brackets and the welds and noted no defects whatsoever with them. While the new spreader does appear to be a little different than the original, he says that it looks fine and should present no problems in the future. He did note a small scratch on the front of the mast in the area of the lower spreader connection point, but he said that it was very minor and didn’t compromise the integrity of the mast at all.

It is his opinion that the mast was not damaged by the other mast that fell onto it with the exception of the very minor scratch (likely caused by the windex or mast-head transducer). All of the damage sustained by your mast was limited to the starboard, lower spreader which you have now replaced. My rigger did not remove the spreader that you had installed, but from examining the bracket and welds, he’s confident that it is structurally intact.

We’ve used replacement spreaders from Klacko on several occasions in the past and have never had any problems with them – even those that were not exact matches for original equipment (and we’ve had a few of those).

Thanks

Now that I have the mast down, I had a chance to inspect why the wind instrument is not working and the TV antenna.  I took the wind instrument down and will troubleshoot hopefully tonight.  It physically looks fine; thinking it must be the wiring.

TV Antenna

The mast must have clipped the antenna dome on the way down.  In the picture, you can see marks on the plastic, and the dome is loose on its mount to starboard.  This will need to be replaced.

So doing the following before putting the mast up

• Fix wind instrument
• Replace TV antenna
• Add lazy jacks
• Add spinnaker halyard
• Add skinnaker topping lift
• Add longer boom topping lift line to run back to the cockpit

I'm Your Venus, Santeria

Skipped out of racing on Santeria in Newcastle because Venus is crossing the path of the Sun; something that happens every 105 years!  Walter and Colleen invited some of us to come to farm to look at the event through his 8" reflective telescope.  He had put some special mylar film on the telescope to allow us to look at the sun.

John having a look

Walter being himself

View through eyepiece

We were able to see it when it started at 6:08pm on the surface of the sun.  The above picture was taken about an hour later.  We could clearly see sunspots.  After about 90 minutes, it started clouding over and we could not see it anymore. 

When I got back to the club after 10:30pm, here is the view I got of the moon rising:

Propped against the breakwall
F1.8 for 1.6 seconds

Coug Photos

Mike Cullen snapped some photos of Coug at the finish line of the Susan Hood.

The boat in front of us was the overall winner

At the end of the rainbow (sorry, Klaatu)

Be sure to click on the photos to get a bigger version.

In both photos, I am at the mast.

Susan Hood Trophy Race on Coug

The Susan Hood is the first long distance race of the season. 
http://pcyc.net/on-water-activities/susan-hood-trophy-race

It was to start on Friday June 1st at 8pm, but a major storm was coming though the day before with winds in the 35 knot range with gusts over 40.  The Ajax weather bouy was registering 26 knots with gusts over 40 and over 10 foot waves.  Plus they were forcasting heavy rains (10mm an hour).

Most boats come from around the lake for the race, and getting out of the home ports and into the narrow channel at PCYC was a problem,  so the race committed wisely decided to postpone the race until Saturday at 11am.  They also shortened the race to 40 miles (PCYC to Burlington and back).

Mark and I left from Whitby a little before 8am in the land yacht (van) to be at PCYC for the skipper's meeting.  Dick and Cos left CBYC on Coug at 5:30am.  Mike left on his boat single handed at the same time.  Mike is racing Impromptu on the Sunday is the first LOSHRS (Lake Ontario Short Handed Racing Series).  We found out later that his engine was overheating because he was pushing it hard to get there on time.

The winds were 15 knots from the SW, right on the nose for these two boats to get to the PCYC.  Under sail, tacking upwind would have taken most of the day because of the wind and waves, so they were motoring.  Coug got the PCYC at 10:30am, so we quickly loaded her with gear, and set out to the race course.  We got to the line and started;  Mike was just coming to Port Credit in Impromptu.

We had a good start in clear air under full main and #3.  Winds were in the 20 knot range with the occasional gust over 30.  Waves got bigger the further we went offshore.  As we got within a couple miles of the Burlington weather mark, the winds were lightening, so we did a sail change from the #3 to the #2.  As we got close to the mark, we had wind shifts of 45 degress with gusts in the mid 30s.  We did an unexpected 360 in one of the puffs with Cos and I were on deck getting the spinnaker ready to deploy.

Downwind back to PCYC under spinnaker was much easier, regularly doing over 9 knots with several gybes.  The rain held off until we were at the finish line, and didn't last too long.

Trip Odometer: 49.36 miles
Moving Avg: 6.9 knots
Moving Time: 07:07:02

NOTE: this is from the dock at PCYC

Google Earth track: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2012/20120602.kmz

Results posted: http://www.yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=573

We finished 8th of 65 boats in the PHRF fleet in corrected time.
There were only two boats in the fleet who beat us across the line.  The McConaghy 38 (6th overall) and a Sabre 387 TM.  We were within 100 yards of the Sabre all the way from the Burlington Mark, and could NOT catch them until the finish (they started 5 minutes after us).  They sailed a really great race and deserved to win 1st overall.

Congratulations to all of Coug's crew.  You came second in the division and were only 61 seconds behind Carbonado.  To put this in perspective.....Carbonado is a brand new half million dollar all carbon fibre boat sailed by mostly professionals.  Coug is a thoroughbred with great history and and a great future sailed by an awesome crew.   Good job to all.

Michael