Notes From Boats July 11 Late Evening
Ugh seas building and building, very hard to steer as deep as I need to without rounding up and so forth. And the AP has to deal too. Wind building and gusting to 30. Not at all what the GRIB promised. And much nastier than any of my other Hawaii trips. It’s all reminiscent of the last day of LongPac 2015 — going deep, wind building, steep seas. I didn’t have a jib up , I wasn’t sure how reefing would go with out it. In fact, it was pretty easy. I remembered how in 2015 I had single reefed, and then later really wished I had gone all the way to double. To tonight I went full double reef, no headsail, wind in the 20s but now the big seas are over running me more than they were before. But at least the smaller sail won’t over power the tiller, and I think that the double reef sail also has a center of pressure closer to the mast, so less moment to round up the boat. There is a big wad of sail hung off the boom, the wind prevented flaking it symmetrically and binding it up. So there it is. Is this a race? Funny configuration for one. I admit I am egotistical enough to check the position reports and see that I could afford to slow down a bit in the interest of peace of mind and possibly safety.
David Nabors
Olson 34' Temerity
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Temerity Monday Afternoon
Still running w/o spin after yesterday’s drama. Making good time though, I think. I looked at my speed log from before and after the crash, and the spin actually does not add as much speed as you might think, though of course you feel fast during those 10 second 13 kt surfing runs. But it took me hours to clean up after, and that’s not fast either. Today dark and cloudy all day winds 18 – 26 kts up and down, short steep wind-wave driven seas. I can steer faster than the AP but it is tiring. Wave after wave of rain clouds passing through, I got pretty wet. Not exactly ‘Champagne Sailing’! And the solar panel could use the light too. Once again the GFS/GRIB is calling for a big storm (Celia) to swing on to the course. In the previous two cases, the lows melted away before they could get to us. I hope that GFS is again exaggerating. Either way, I am conscious of racing to beat the storm and have the storm well to the East as I am reaching Kauai. I really hope she melts though for all the other boat’s sake
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7:40PM PST July 11th 30deg 11′ N 144 deg 06′ W Major rudder failure last night. I discovered I lost the upper pin of my starboard rudder around 3AM. I had to stop the boat completely and immediately then figure out the way to replace the missing pin. I ended up setting up a fortune solution which I have been sailing with since then. I spent the whole day building other pins so I am ready if my first fix fails. Situation is under control and I have been able to sail normally all day with good average speed. As the repair I made with large screws and lashings starts to weaken I am getting ready to apply my plan B fixes which might end up being a better fix… All this happened a couple hours after the halfway party which I did enjoy! Thanks SSS for the nice presents and to my wife for the big box of treats! Keeping the rudders together and the boat sailing at a decent speed. Trade winds have been nice and strong.
This is SV Libra out
Gregory Saramite
Pogo 2 Libra
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Spoke to TAZ this Monday morning July 11, 10:00 ish CA time. He said, “I slept like a rock and when I got up, I tackled the wrapped twins successfully with some tag lines on both clues and running them the pole’s down haul line.” The twins are in the repair shop. A #3 or #4 poled out will help keep the noise downwind to aid the autopilot and minimize another wrap. I know George to be persistent and quite good at unwrapping, untangling and Macgyvering the crap out of stuff. We laughed about some other stuff and he is in good spirits ready for breakfast, water and another day. From Joe B. Archimedes.
************************************
Ugh seas building and building, very hard to steer as deep as I need to without rounding up and so forth. And the AP has to deal too. Wind building and gusting to 30. Not at all what the GRIB promised. And much nastier than any of my other Hawaii trips. It’s all reminiscent of the last day of LongPac 2015 — going deep, wind building, steep seas. I didn’t have a jib up , I wasn’t sure how reefing would go with out it. In fact, it was pretty easy. I remembered how in 2015 I had single reefed, and then later really wished I had gone all the way to double. To tonight I went full double reef, no headsail, wind in the 20s but now the big seas are over running me more than they were before. But at least the smaller sail won’t over power the tiller, and I think that the double reef sail also has a center of pressure closer to the mast, so less moment to round up the boat. There is a big wad of sail hung off the boom, the wind prevented flaking it symmetrically and binding it up. So there it is. Is this a race? Funny configuration for one. I admit I am egotistical enough to check the position reports and see that I could afford to slow down a bit in the interest of peace of mind and possibly safety.
David Nabors
Olson 34' Temerity
*************************************
Temerity Monday Afternoon
Still running w/o spin after yesterday’s drama. Making good time though, I think. I looked at my speed log from before and after the crash, and the spin actually does not add as much speed as you might think, though of course you feel fast during those 10 second 13 kt surfing runs. But it took me hours to clean up after, and that’s not fast either. Today dark and cloudy all day winds 18 – 26 kts up and down, short steep wind-wave driven seas. I can steer faster than the AP but it is tiring. Wave after wave of rain clouds passing through, I got pretty wet. Not exactly ‘Champagne Sailing’! And the solar panel could use the light too. Once again the GFS/GRIB is calling for a big storm (Celia) to swing on to the course. In the previous two cases, the lows melted away before they could get to us. I hope that GFS is again exaggerating. Either way, I am conscious of racing to beat the storm and have the storm well to the East as I am reaching Kauai. I really hope she melts though for all the other boat’s sake
************************************
7:40PM PST July 11th 30deg 11′ N 144 deg 06′ W Major rudder failure last night. I discovered I lost the upper pin of my starboard rudder around 3AM. I had to stop the boat completely and immediately then figure out the way to replace the missing pin. I ended up setting up a fortune solution which I have been sailing with since then. I spent the whole day building other pins so I am ready if my first fix fails. Situation is under control and I have been able to sail normally all day with good average speed. As the repair I made with large screws and lashings starts to weaken I am getting ready to apply my plan B fixes which might end up being a better fix… All this happened a couple hours after the halfway party which I did enjoy! Thanks SSS for the nice presents and to my wife for the big box of treats! Keeping the rudders together and the boat sailing at a decent speed. Trade winds have been nice and strong.
This is SV Libra out
Gregory Saramite
Pogo 2 Libra
**********************************
Spoke to TAZ this Monday morning July 11, 10:00 ish CA time. He said, “I slept like a rock and when I got up, I tackled the wrapped twins successfully with some tag lines on both clues and running them the pole’s down haul line.” The twins are in the repair shop. A #3 or #4 poled out will help keep the noise downwind to aid the autopilot and minimize another wrap. I know George to be persistent and quite good at unwrapping, untangling and Macgyvering the crap out of stuff. We laughed about some other stuff and he is in good spirits ready for breakfast, water and another day. From Joe B. Archimedes.
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