CF Members in Single Handed Race to Hawaii 2018

[Paul Elliott]

Congratulations!

Many of your experiences were actually fairly typical for a Hawaii race. During my races, I've been in communications with most of the boats, and collected a pretty good catalog of gear failure reports (and had a few of my own).

Generally light air and sloppy seas are more damaging than a stiff breeze. We generally keep our sails up, desperately trying to get *someplace else*, and the slatting really stresses the rigging and hardware. Goosenecks seem to be particularly vulnerable, but broken booms are not unheard of. I generally rig port-and-starboard preventers in these conditions to try to keep my heavy boom from slamming too hard as we roll. I have "fuse" lashings on these preventers, and often the fuses break a few times before I get it dialed in. Obviously, slamming to a violent stop creates more stress than a strong steady load.

A friend's Cal-40 had the mainsail track start popping its rivets during the middle of one race, and he ended up climbing the mast and using a banding tool to secure the track. That meant that he couldn't reef or lower the sail. When he got to the Kaneohe Bay finish line, he had to climb the mast to cut the bands free and drop the sail -- quickly, before they ran into the reef.

This same boat had a humpback whale get wedged between his keel and rudder on the first day of the race, Fortunately, the rudder wasn't damaged enough to prevent him from finishing the race and sailing back to San Francisco. He hauled out and straightened (or replaced?) the rudder shaft after that. We had our own whale excitement, but it was merely a glancing blow. You can see the video of that encounter on my website.

We use significantly more power at sea than at anchor. Most people do.

I'm surprised at your Monitor problems. This is a strong and capable system, and generally works very well. Could you have had some obstructions that interfered with the airflow over the vane? Mine can get squirrely if I have the bimini up, or my outboard hanging on the stern rail to windward.

Feel good about what you have accomplished!

[James S]

Oh man... what a ride.. thank you for that..

[Jim Cate]

Good onya, gal! I think your dealing with the unexpected was pretty successful, and shows great hope for your cruising future. Hats off to ya.

Jim

[Don C L]

Fantastic, congratulations! Looking forward to whatever else you'd like to share about the experience!

[gamayun]

Thanks, guys

Paul, it's (somewhat) reassuring to hear that gear failures are pretty common. Because I had crew coming back and the trip was going to be a longer beat home, the problems were a bit more concerning, but it was satisfying to know that I had the tools/supplies/know-how on board to manage the issues that did crop up!

On the other hand, one thing that I was most pleased about was my recently-installed SSB and Pactor modem. Just before the trip I had also gotten my ham license so that I could use SailMail and maybe try to make some contacts. There was an informal net set up with the returning fleet that included another couple who were returning to SF at the same time and another guy who was affiliated with the SHTP but didn't do the race this year. We included everyone in the position reports including those who were only in communication via email and/or tracker. One or two could listen in on SSB but not respond. For those considering whether to go with this "old" technology, I say absolutely! It was great to be able to communicate about so many things including weather, debris we saw, boat issues, etc. I had a bit of regret that I didn't try harder to get it dialed in during the race. I also eventually figured out which stations and what times were best for propagation to receive the weather faxes, gribs and emails. For these things, a satellite phone would be better because the modem really chews up power while it's trying to connect to a station. It just took some effort to get through. That said, it didn't cost me $30/minute or some ridiculous amount of money, which would have been the case with a sat phone. The other important consideration is getting the SSB set up correctly, which sounds like it's a little bit skill and a lot of black magic. Some times I was told my reception was clear and other times it was light. Some times I had a lot of static and had a hard time hearing anyone and other times it was clear. Not sure what was causing the different conditions. We discussed some of the techniques that have been used on each others' boats and how these might help in reducing static or increasing output. The SSB net was truly one of my favorite parts of the trip!

As to the Monitor, I plan to give Scanmar a call to discuss what was happening. I do have an arch/solar panel on the boat that might be affecting wind flow, but I was thinking the paddle might be a little too high out of the water. Also, my mast is very far forward on the boat, basically in the v-berth, so maybe this has something to do with how it's balanced. Granted, I am a new user to the Monitor so maybe I just haven't figured out how it needs to be dialed in, but one would think that after 4500 +/- NM of ocean sailing, a light bulb would have gone off at some point....

Gotta go now, but will tell you about our fishing success next time!

[softgoodsint]

Fantastic accomplishment! And while the race was officially from her to there, sounds like the return was even more challenging - great job both directions. So now welcome home - must have been quite a feeling to see the GG bridge rise out of the horizon!

[gamayun]

Originally Posted by softgoodsint

Fantastic accomplishment! And while the race was officially from her to there, sounds like the return was even more challenging - great job both directions. So now welcome home - must have been quite a feeling to see the GG bridge rise out of the horizon!

Ah yes, about that bridge on the horizon....we couldn't see it all until we were directly under it in thick fog at 2AM though we could see a faint glow from about a half mile away. I must say that sailing to Kauai was much easier than the return!

[JPA Cate]

Yes, but now you've earned your spurs, and good on ya.

Ann