CS34 Output Flange

Picked up the prop shaft output flange from Port Whitby Marine ($160).  Came with new bolts/lock washers/nuts, but they were too long.  I will just use the old bolts.  Did NOT come with a new keyway, so I went to Princess Auto and picked up some 1/4" key stock ($7).

The keyway on the prop shaft was a little distorted and would not accept the new key stock.  Had to file with a small file I had to make the key stock fit.  Also had to clean up the prop shaft with some emery cloth.  However, now matter how I tried, I could not be the new prop flange to go on the prop shaft.

New Flange

Old Flange

In the above photo, you can see how the flange was spinning on the shaft, shearing the retaining bolts on the side, wearing a ring around the inside of the flange!

I measured with a micrometer, and the shaft and flange are exactly 1", but I could net get them to go on more than 1/8 of a inch.

I took the old flange to the club workshop and ground the bolts so they would make with the receiving "indents" on the prop shaft.  I then put the old prop flange on the prop shaft.  I doesn't line up completely, but is secure enough to use.

Perhaps in the fall after haulout, I will pull the shaft and have the new flange mated to it.  It is just too difficult to work in the confined spaces at the back of the motor.

CS34 on the mend

Here is a picture of the where the prop shaft attaches to the rear of the transmission:

You can see the shredded key stock on the fiberglass below.  I could spin the prop shaft on the output flange by hand.  The key was completely gone.  Plus the two metal bolts that keep the prop from coming out of the output flange had completely sheared off too!

Walter Pingle helped me move the prop shaft back enough to get the flange off.  The 1" prop shaft is in not bad shape, however, the output flange is worn out so much that you can wobble it on the shaft. 

I made a call to Durham Marine, and they would have to order the flange (5-10 business days).  Called Ontario Boat Wreckers and they said they would have one.  Walter and I drove to Sunderland (45 minutes).  We had to crawl on a bunch of boats, but in the end didn't find one.  Most of the boats there had smaller shafts.

We went into Port Whitby Marine, and Martin ordered us one ($160) and we will see it on Tuesday.

At the Toronto Boat Show, I had purchased an Electromaxx serpentine pulley kit.  Still Time goes through alternator belts when cruising.  If you are at anchor and draw the batteries down, the 90 amp alternator would chew new belts making lots of noise, and creating lots of belt dust.  Never got a chance to install it.  The install was fairly easy, took about half an hour.  However, the serpentine belt with the kit was WAY to long, and would not fit.  I called the company and they confirmed that the kit should have come with 390J instead of a 440J belt.

I called them today, and they wanted me to ship the  old belt back to them before they would ship the proper one out.  I decided to drive to Beamville after work (about 90 minutes) and solve the problem.  Coming back, it took me half a hour to get to the 427, and another 2 hours to get to Whitby!  The Pan Am games are on and the HOV lanes started.  So normally there are four lanes in the express, reduced to three lanes.  Plus there was an accident at Victoria Park, reducing the lanes to two: PLUS emergency vehicles were blocking a lane in the collectors further contributing to the chaos.

The belt took two minutes to put in:

You can see the belt dusk on the fiberglass

view from top

The weekend weather was so bad that we didn't goto the boat at all.  On Monday morning I got an email from a dock mate that big Still Time was sideways in her slip.  All the wind and waves on the weekend had pulled the decking holding the cleat that had the stern line on it:

D'OH

The spring line (white line above) kept the boat from any damage.

Hopefully I get the replacement output flange and Still Time will be ready for a Canada Day fireworks cruise!

Bad Night for the Still Times

Whitby Yacht Club regular Wednesday race night.

The club is having an open house for the sailing school, so I volunteered big Still Time to take some members of the public out for a quick sail around the race course.  So little Still Time went out with skipper Melissa, John, and Chris.   Nobody showed up for a free sail, so Rita and I went out with the big boat to watch the action.

Winds were forecast for 5-7 knots from the WSW.
Course was predictably 3 short.

The 22 went out will full main and #1 genoa.

Rita and I hung back of the start line, and watched the first start, awesome!

Little Still Time absolutely nailed their start!

We followed under motor the fleet up to the windward mark.
It is amazing how fast and in control all of our racers are!

Still Time was fourth of 5 at the windward mark, not to far behind the two Sharks.

Here is a great shot of the 22 on the first downwind leg:

Just look at the sail shape!  Look at how the main exactly mirrors the genoa!  Great Job!

They were getting closer to the Shark near the end of the 2nd downwind leg.

At the leeward mark turning to go upwind to the finish, they had some trouble getting the genoa sheeted in, and it looked like they forgot to put tension on the backstay to go upwind for pointing.

Something was not right, and Melissa realized that forestay had come undone and nothing was holding up the mast except from the luff of the genoa, and the lower shrouds!  She smartly decided to withdraw from the race, and turn the boat downwind.  This was a good call, and probably saved the mast from coming down and going overboard!

I quickly radioed them, and told them to drop the head sail, and firm up the mast with the jib halyard.

I gunned the motor on the 34 and there was a TERRIBLE grinding noise coming from the motor.  With the boat throttled back, no more noise.   Got Rita on the helm and I dug underneath the rear cabin cushions to expose where the prop shaft connects to the transmission. 

There was all kinds of shredded metal, and the prop shaft was spinning on the transmission flange.  Looks like the key in the prop shaft had sheared off! 

We babied the motor back into our slip.  I should be able to get a replacement key and fix it without taking the boat out of the water.  Hopefully the prop shaft and its keyway is not damaged, which would mean hauling the boat out for repair!

You can see how the clevis pin was missing on the top of the forestay turnbuckle

Melissa and Chris putting the boat away.

A DNF is better than an DNC (or a DFL!)

Not a good night for the Still Times, but it could have been worse.

Could have lost the mast, ripped a sail, and maybe someone could have gotten hurt.

I am glad the 34's issue showed up now and not when we were cruising later this summer!

Too bad we didn't have the big camera with us (missed a lot of kewl photo ops)

Little Still Time

Trip Odometer: 11.78 miles
Moving Average: 5.4 knots!
Moving Time: 02:09:55

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2015/20150624-22.kmz


Big Still Time

Trip Odometer: 7.93 miles
Moving Average: 4.5 knots
Moving Time: 01:45:00

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2015/20150624-34.kmz

ACE Delivery from WYC back to NYC

WYC members Scott and Todd agreed to help me delivery ACE back to National Yacht Club.

We left the dock at 4:30.  Winds were forecast to be 11-15 knots from the NW all night, so we hoisted the main and the #4 jib as soon as we left the channel

With the NW wind, we were close hauled all the way to the Leslie Spit.  We had our boat speed between 6 and 7 knots the entire time.

The boys did well, taking turns on the tiller.

We tacked into the Toronto Eastern gap and into the North shore of the harbour.  We tacked to go west, but found the wind very puffing and changing direction all over the place, so we dropped the sails and motored.  We went out to the end of the Porter runway and watched a Porter plane come in just above our mast!

Route inside the Toronto Harbour
Click for larger

We arrived at National at 10pm.
Michael Cullen met us at the dock and helped put the boat away.
It was nice that he also drove us home to Whitby.

Great night on the water, great sail!

Trip Odometer: 36.50 miles
Moving Average: 6.8 knots
Moving Time: 05:22:00

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2015/20150623.kmz

MacIntosh

Rita was at work yesterday and was flipping through a book in the security office. 

She comes across this page:

Click for bigger

The red sailboat is none other than MacIntosh the boat we are sailing in the Marblehead to Halifax Ocean race in two weeks.

The book is published by Metroland and is called "NIGHT & DAY 24hrs in the life of Durham Region".  It is published yearly, and this one was several years old.

The picture must have been taken the year (2012) that the owner Durk Stegenga retired and had MacIntosh over at Peter Karadi's shop in Whitby for some work.

KEWL

There's Another Still Time

When Rita and I bare boat chartered in the British Virgin Islands in 2012, we saw this boat in the harbour:

http://en.bemyboat.com/yacht-charter/8613-sailboat-beneteau-cyclades-43

CS34 Hanlan's Wall back to Whitby

MORE LATER

Click for bigger

Trip Odometer: 37.40 miles
Moving Average: 5.3 knots
Moving Time: 07:07:00

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2015/20150621.kmz

CS34 WYC Commodore's Cruise to ABYC

After the race, I had a snooze, and got big Still Time ready to cruise to the Commodore's Cruise to Ashbridges Bay Yacht Club.

Had to provision the boat with food and clothes.
Had to put the bimini on.

Left WYC at 3pm.
Winds were 8-10 from the NNE, perfect for a spinnaker ride to ABYC.

We put the main and genoa out, and found we could only do about 4 knots of boat speed.
Furled the genoa and hoisted the asymmetric spinnaker.

However, in packing the asym last night on ACE, I got the tack twisted and the chute would not untangle itself, as the sheet was wrapped around the tack several times!

With Rita driving, I went forward and unhook the tack of the spinnaker to douse it, instructing Rita to drop the halyard so I could douse the spinnaker to sort it out.  Well she uncleated the sheet, and a puff of wind sent the spinnaker flying out of my hand. 

After a bunch of screaming, she stopped the sheet from going all the way out, release the halyard, and I was able to douse the spinnaker down the forward hatch.  If the sheet went completely out, it would have been a disaster trying to the get the chute down!

Sorted out the issue and hoisted it backup and we could make 6 knots under main and spinnaker for a while.

Then the wind dropped to under 5 knots, so we doused and motor sailed  with main the rest of the way at 7 knots to just get there.

Got into ABYC at 6:30pm.  We could see the WYC people setup under a shelter on the way in.

Guitar entertainment was excellent

Commodore Berry at the microphone

Twas a great time!

Trip Odometer: 21.49 miles
Moving Average: 6.1 knots
Moving Time: 03:31:04

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2015/20150620.kmz

ACE Whity 50

As Fleet Captain, I was running the show to get the Whitby 50 race going.

Got a volunteer in Gary Bruder, who helped out with registration.
Got Rita, Jenny, and Sherry Lynn to do the BBQing, which was tell received by the racers.
Thanks for your help!

We had a total of 19 boats out with LOTS from other clubs (FBYC, ABYC, CBYC, BPYC, and HYC).

11 spinnaker and 8 white sail.

Last year we only had 8 boats!

We had as many as another 8 who cancelled because of the wind forecast.

On ACE we had

• Mike (helm)
• Me (helm, trim)
• Michael (pit, runners)
• Jenny (trim, runners)
• Chris (trim)

We were WEDGED into a slip on dock 4:

Here are some shots of ACE heading out:

Jenny

Michael

Me (left) and Chris (right)
Michael in the pit

Mike on the helm

We were the second start, we kept our motor on to just before our 5 minute warning to make sure we were in position near the race committee boat.

Thanks Ross Lister from Gruntled for the photo

Not much wind!

With 1-2 knots of wind from the south, the start line was setup at mark 1.  Had to sail upwind to mark 9 (half a mile) and turn west towards Toronto.  We used our light #1 to be the first boat over the line, with the Turner 45 just above us, but back a bit.  Half way there, the winds shifted from the south to the NW, but still only about 2-3 knots of breeze.  We dropped the #1 and hoisted Still Time's asymmetric spinnaker.  We were third to the windward mark just behind the Turner 45 and the Martin 243 Black Shadow.

It was here we dropped the asym and hoisted the WHOMPER (our new symmetric chute).  We got the boat going 3 knots and pulled ahead of the Turner and headed in shore to find some breeze.

Turner (Trip) 45 above us

Jenny with the rest of the fleet at the start line!

Moon and Venus lined up!

We fought toward the Leslie Spit with 3-5 knots of boat speed with WHOMPER up, having to gybe several times.  We tried to stay about 1-2 miles out from the Cathedral Bluff's wind shadow with the NW wind.  The Turner 45 went inshore and was parked for a while!

Wind started filling in from the east about 3 miles from the T2 turning mark.  We gybed around the T2 mark at 3:40am, and hoisted the light #1 in maybe 10 knots of breeze on the nose! 

We were tacking back to Whitby with 6+ knots of boat speed close hauled.  We found that on a starboard tack, we could to 6.5 knots of boat speed 30 degrees off the wind.  On port tack, we could only do 5.5 knots because of the developing waves, so we had to crack the sheets off for more drive on this tack.

We finished strongly with 7.5 knots of boat speed just behind the C&C 41 called Mirage.  We were 5th to cross the line. Peter on Sumac finished 15 minutes behind us.

In corrected time, we were last in the spinnaker fleet.  We are thinking that the wind that filled in from the east got to us last.  Any gains that we made in the light winds were negated.  All the low handicap well sailed boats did poorly like us.

Sumac finished second.

http://www.wyc.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=405:whitby-51&catid=104&Itemid=467

We probably could have went offshore to more wind and done some sail changes also.

Click for larger

Was a nice night on the water, and a great breeze to beat back to in the sunshine.

The Whitby 50 was a success!


Trip Odometer: 61.38 miles
Moving Average: 4.5 knots
Moving Time: 13:34:00

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2015/20150619.kmz

Volvo Ocean Race Game Leg 9

Finished the final leg of the Volvo Ocean Race Game

This has been a fun adventure, following the Volvo Ocean race.

I found I could check my boat and adjust the course every 4-8 hours and be competitive.

Nothing like armchair sailboat racing!

ACE Delivery NYC to WYC

Needed to deliver ACE from National Yacht Club to Whitby Yacht Club for the upcoming Whitby 50 on the weekend.  Met new sailor Scott at WYC and we drove to NYC.  Traffic wasn't too bad.

 

In the NYC clubhouse, I met up with another WYC member Jim Upfold, who was visiting NYC after cruising across the lake in his boat.  I asked him if we wanted to sail to Whitby on ACE.  He said SURE!

 

We rigged the boat up and headed out:

 



 

CN Tower behind us

There was NO WIND to speak of, so we motored at low RPMs.

ACE's folding prop is worn out, and doesn't deploy evenly, cause an imbalance, shaking the crap out of the motor and entire boat.  We found that if we went into reverse slowly and slowly throttle down and back into forward, the blades would match up and minimize the shaking.  We could motor along at around 5 knots with 2,000 RPM.

New prop was ordered 3 weeks ago, but hasn't arrived yet.

Other side of Toronto Island

Pickering Nuclear Plant

Jim on the helm

Scott on the helm (selfie)

Me on deck

The wind did pickup to maybe 5 knots from the north the other side of the Leslie Spit, so we put the sails up.  Winds were forecast for 11-12 from the SW.

Main and light #1

About 8 miles from the Whitby, a pigeon circled the boat a couple of times, and then landed in the cockpit, COMPLETELY freaking Scott out!

It stayed here for the entire ride:

 

Wind died again by the Ajax Weather Buoy, so we dropped the sails and motored the rest of the way.
When dropping the main sail, we noticed that the top batten had come out of it pocket.  As were were dropping it, the batten fell out and drown in the water. D'oh have to find a batten for the weekend!

Ajax Weather Buoy

Lights off Whitby

We parked ACE at the visitor's dock, and packed things away. 
The bird was still there.
We disturbed it putting the sails away, and it flew around the boat, and landed on the spreader.

Scott drove Jim and Me back to National.

The next morning the bird was STILL on the spreader!

Trip Odometer: 31.05 miles
Moving Average: 4.9 knots
Moving Time: 06:18:00

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2015/20150618.kmz

C22 Whtiby Race Night

Melissa didn't come (Happy Birthday James!)

John, Chris, and I.

Windfinder was forecasting 9-12 knots all night from the east, went out with full main and #1 genoa.

Course was 7 medium.

Everyone in the second start had a bad start: no one crossed the line in like a minute!

We were on a starboard tack at the committee boat and could do 4 knots with a VMG of around 3.
We tacked to port and found our speed dropped to under 3 knots (VMG less than 2 because we were pounding into waves).  We were last around the windward mark, a couple of hundred feet behind the 3 sharks.  The T-Bird was WAY ahead (taller mast I guess).

On the weekend I was experimenting with weight transfer on the downwind legs.  We found that with John and I both forward of the mast, we could do close to a knot better in boat speed.  The theory is that we are lifting the back end out of the water and the boat has less wetted surface, therefore less resistance.  We passed  two of the Sharks on the first downwind leg, poling the genoa out to windward.

The 3rd leg downwind, we caught the 3rd Shark.

Winds were dying down to 3 and 4 knots and swirling all around.

The last upwind leg was SLOW.  We ended up having to tack right at the finish, but couldn't get boat speed going because of the waves and lack of wind, so Foxtrot and Cheeky Monkey finish just before us.

Another 2nd for Still Time!

Sunset out on the lake

Sunset at the dock with Bleeding Edge sailing by



Still Time for Tiller Time after the race

Trip Odometer: 10.97 miles
Moving Average: 3.5 knots
Moving Time: 03:09:05

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2015/20150617.kmz

Volvo Ocean Race Game Leg 9

Started leg 9 of the game from Lorient, France to The Hague,Netherlands

Currently in 14th place out of 199,754 skippers!

C22 Whitby Centennial Bowl

First cup race at Whitby Yacht Club, counting for overall standings for the year.

We had 18 boats out with four in our class.

Just Chris and I.  Winds were forecast for 9-13 knots from the east all day.  18 mile course was setup to go east upwind to a mark called MV2 that is east of Oshawa Harbour and back.

We put up the racing main and number one and went out into the lake to try it out.  Closehauled upwind we could do 5 knots comfortably if we dropped the traveler on the main.

We had a great start just leeward of Gruntled, and decided to use our shallow draft, and tack up the shoreline.  We would go into shore close hauled at 5 knots of boat speed and tack when water depth got below 10ft.

Winds had picked up to over 12 knots as whitecaps were forming on the water.
It started raining.

We found that our VMG going into shore was close to 4 knots with 5 knots of boat speed, while between 2-3 knots coming out, so we tried to stay on the starboard tack as much as we could.

FlyBuoy, the Thunderbird did the same and was able to pull in front of us because he could point higher into the wind.  The Sharks Foxtrot and Mickey went off shore, only to meet up with us near the Oshawa harbor.  The last several upwind miles were tacking crosses, as we pretty much had the same boat speeds.

FlyBuoy passed us the other way, when we were 1 mile from the windward mark (so had a 2 mile lead). 

We rounded the windward mark, and poled the genoa to windward using a spinnaker pole and sailed the rhum line to the finish.  We were neck and neck with Foxtrot, and about a quarter mile behind Mickey the entire time.  We kept the boat speed up over 5 knots the entire time, hitting 7.5 knots surfing down waves.

Constant rain all the way back; our rain gear kept us dry and warm.

We finished about 15 minutes behind Flybuoy; could be close in corrected time.

For each mile raced Flybuoy has to give us 71 seconds because of our differences in handicap (271vs200). 

Well, we came first in our class, and 2nd overall in the fleet.

KEWL

Another good day for Still Time!



Click for larger version

Trip Odometer: 24.29 miles
Moving Average: 5.0 knots
Moving Time: 04:49:00

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2015/20150614.kmz

C22 Whitby Open Regatta

First weekend regatta at Whitby with two races counting for overall.

Got my friend Rick from the club to crew with me.  Powerboater Rick used to sail lots of dinghies and actively raced an Oddessy 30 for years.  He crewed with me last year, and enjoyed sailing with him.

Winds were forecast for light from the southwest 4-6 knots all day.  Full main and #1 genoa.

Race 1

We won the first race on corrected time.

Race 2

We were second in this race, 8 seconds behind the T-Bird. 
If only we didn't go over the line early at the start!

Race 3

The goal was to get three races in today; we finished the 3rd race at 13:50.
The race committee decided to get a fourth race in.

Rick said that his bowels would not allow him to do the last race.
Since Still Time does not have a working head, we dropped the head sail, and I sailed up beside Tanker Jones, and Rick jumped off to do his business.  He scared the CRAP out of Shelly on the committee boat!

Race 4

The wind died after the start of the 4th race, so it was pretty slow going.

We had a great BBQ in the clubhouse afterwards.

We scored a first and three seconds in the regatta.

We ended up tied with the T-Bird, but took 2nd place because  he had two firsts.
Cheeky Monkey came in third for the regatta.

Good day for Still Time!

Trip Odometer: 24.65 miles
Moving Average: 3.4 knots
Moving Time: 06:57:00

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2015/20150613.kmz

Volvo Ocean Race Game Leg 8

Just complete leg 8 of the Volvo Ocean Race Game from Lisbon, Portugal to Lorient, France (647 miles).

This out of over 190,000 other boats!


And for the actual boats in the race: