Half Moon Bay!

Our Christmas cruise: Out of the Golden Gate, into the Pacific Ocean! We found that we had a nice weather window over the holidays, combined with the ebb tide running out in the morning and coming back in in the afternoon. Perfect for venturing out of the Golden Gate! First night we spent at Angel Island, from where we left early in the morning next day out towards Half Moon Bay. This is a trip of about 26mls, so with the limited winter daylight no time for dilly dallying. Just outside the gate the scene was serene with lots of various sea birds circling the boat. Gradually, the hectic waves from the tidal flow changed to the long swells of the Pacific. We thought we could catch some wind outside the gate, as the forecast predicted a nice 14kn NE breeze. But alas, not even a whisper. Only around noon when we passed Cape San Pedro we got enough wind to (slowly) sail for about 1hr, the rest was all underwater genny work. Meanwhile we had to dodge hundreds of lobster buoys (or crabbing buoys I should rather say), apparently crabbing season is on!

Early morning leaving Angel Island

Rounding Pillar Pt just outside Halfmoon Bay we observed with awe how the gentle swells transformed with fury into the famous Mavericks, towering breaking waves just outside the harbor entrance. You have to follow a good detour around the dangerous shoals in order not to get sucked into there. I was just thinking that hopefully the engine doesn't die, as there was virtually no wind to sail free and the swells were pushing the boat visibly towards the shore. So we kept a respectful distance and made it into the marina without incident, phew.

Halfmoon Bay sunset

Thankfully the marina had an operating fuel dock, we were kind of low after combined 8hrs motoring so far! Refilled 12 gallons of Diesel and then checked in with the harbor master for a guest slip. Halfmoon Bay is a busy fishing port, and with crab season at its peak, we could see fishing boats coming in and leaving the wole evening. Dinner at the famous Halfmoon Bay Brewery, sampling their nice selection of brews! 

Brews at HMB

Next morning was quite foggy, so we motored our way through the thick fog with one eye on the AIS and one ear towards engine sounds. Visibility went down to about 100m, but otherwise the swells from yesterday had subsided, so no issue getting around the breakers. The fog stopped somewhere around San Pedro and we started sailing out into the Pacific! Coming back through the Golden Gate was no issue with the flood tide pushing us gently. We stayed overnight anchored at Aquatic Park, which is quite a nice setting with the bustling Fishermans wharf in the background. One peculiar thing about Aquatic parc: At any time of the year there are swimmers in that little cove. Of course in December the water temperature is really cold (about 47F or 8deg Celsius), so I really wonder how these guys can do it! Next day was an easy motor home, overall we had clocked 98 miles in 4 days, along with 16 hrs of engine time!

Marker in the fog

Golden Gate!

Anchored ships in the South Bay at sunrise

Slow and easy

First time setting the spi in a long time! The furious winds of the summer have finally abated and we're moving along gently with 5-10kn breezes this time of the year. Or no wind at all in which case Otto Helm takes over the steering while Vin Diesel pushes the boat. In that case one of the best places on the boat is all the way in front where the coach roof provides a nice back rest, and the splashing of the bow wave drowns the puttering of Mr. Vin.

The sun deck is open!

Sandy

Just one year ago one of the most devastating hurricanes ever hit the East Coast of the United States. Lots of my friends lost their homes at least temporarily, many went without power for weeks. The destruction of property was at a scale nobody ever imagined. Sandy was a monster storm, a 1000 miles wide. Thanks to very accurate forecasting by the weather service, only few lives were lost at sea though. Sadly, the captain of the Bounty, a historic 3 mast square rigged replica of the original Bounty, made the fatal mistake of sailing right into  the jaws of this monster storm. He thought he could outrun the hurricane and weather the storm out at sea. The boat was lost at sea off Cape Hatteras after being battered for days. The captain and 1 crew died in the disaster, the remaining 14 crew were saved by a heroic Coast Guard rescue effort. The detailed and gripping story has been posted here (Tampa Bay Times). Absolutely worth reading.

The Bounty sinking during Hurricane Sandy

Constance!

Lots of people ask me how we came up with that name. Well, in fact, we didn't. It was actually the previous owner who renamed the boat into "Constance", and there is even a little story behind it. We found it quite charming (plus the lettering on the stern is just too nice), so we kept the name. The name comes from a painting that is on exhibit in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. It shows a lonely woman with her baby inside a small boat. The painting is from a late 19th century artist, Albert Pinkham Ryder, who was fascinated with a couple of ancient tales from Mid England and painted a series of pictures based on those. "Constance" is based on "The Man Of Law's Tale" from Geoffrey Chaucer (around 1387). See also here. 

"Constance, daughter of the Emperor of Rome, and her infant son were treacherously abandoned at sea in a boat without rudder or sail. They miraculously were kept alive for five years until their boat drifted back to Rome. Ryder may have considered the story a counterpart to the Old Testament story of Jonah and the whale, a painting of which he had completed before he began "Constance." The tale from Chaucer may also have served as a literary link between his biblical and Shakespearian subjects."

Constance, Albert Pinkham Ryder, 1896

So, it's basically a story of survival, ultimate endurance and finally, revenge and glorious return. The picture itself is very dark and haunting, with the woman lost and forlorn with her baby cradled in her arms, in the small boat being tossed about by the grey seas. So that's it. 

Windows..

Some of the plexiglass windows had cracks and were leaking a bit, so I decided to replace them all. What a chore! I bought a big piece of 1/4" plexiglass and we started replacing each one by one. The old windows were actually 3/16" and that was one of the reasons they  were cracked and leaking. Also all of the old sealant had to be removed which turned out to be hell. I suspect 3M 5200 was used before, which is close to unremovable. We finally got all replaced, last one to seal was the skylight in the front that had some leaks too. Ready for the wet season here!

Forward skylight taped (to protect the varnish) and not leaking any more!

America's Cup!

We've been following the progress of the race very closely. Seeing those big foiling catamarans up close zooming by at incredible speed is just awesome. So, Saturday the 21st of Spetember was supposed to be the last race day, with Oracle trailing by 7 points and Team New Zealand only one win away from grabbing the Cup. So, despite iffy weather forecast we made our way against the flood tide to be at the race course in time. Of course, on the way there we got rained on big time! Good thing to check if the new windows are water proof or not. They are! It rained for about one hour while we were motoring towards SF (not too much wind). I also noticed the skylight window in the front cabin leaks a bit. Another point on the checklist! 

Anyways, when we got to the Bay Bridge we saw that the boats where still docked at the AC village. Listening to the radio revealed that they were postponing the race till 13:30 due to the wind shift that came from the front.  The wind had shifted to the South, meaning that the race curse was severely skewed. In practice, this means it is not a upwind/downwind race, but rather 3 reaching legs. We call that in sailing a 'horse race', means there is little chance to pass except if you have more power somehow. This is almost impossible on a one design race, where the difference is made by how good the tacks/gybes go and which side to pick. So apparently there is a clause in the racing rules for the America's Cup where the wind angle has to be within certain limits.

The front passed through and the wind started shifting to the right, but unfortunately not enough. By the time the race limit had expired at 14:40, the wind was still too much off. So back we went, totally drenched from the rain, but at least we had a nice reach back under sunny skies and balmy winds. Clocking a total of 39 miles for the day!

OTUSA in front of Alcatraz

Golden Gate!

Constance sailing outside the Golden Gate!

Went sailing outside the Golden Gate for the first time in a while. Despite turbulent waters and winds in the upper 20s just inside the Gate, once we crossed outside it was wonderfully peaceful and calm. All sorts of sea birds were flying around, dolphins and porpoises were diving for fish, surfacing right next to the boat. We just went short of Pt Bonita, then heading back to the America's Cup spectacle. What a difference! 

America's Cup!

Finally saw some AC72 action on the water! Team NWZ came flying by one boat length behind us, what a sight! These guys go at 40+ knots virtually flying over the water on hydrofoils. Compared to that we were practically standing still..

 

2000 miles!

Just realized, that's the total distance we have sailed so far on Constance, according to my logbook. Lots of fun sailing, new places, new experiences. Most difficult situation so far: Probably when I had to dive under the boat in the middle of Long Island Sound after we snatched a fishing net, with no other equipment than fins & snorkel plus a leatherman between my teeth! The lost prop in Suisun Bay comes close, though. Most awesome experience: being anchored over night at Coquenoe Island off Norwalk, and watching the sunset there, was always beautiful.

 

Wild ride!

Went to Angel Island again last weekend. Forecast was 15-25kn along with a small craft advisory. Didn't think too much about it since we had the jib #3 set up that goes up to 35kn. Sailing was initially slow but the wind picked up after noon. Picture below is from the earlier where it was more like 5-10kn blowing. But after the Bay Bridge! White caps everywhere and a big swell, aggravated by 3 kn ebb running against the wind. Soon enough the wind was up to 25kn, then, 30, then even 35kn sustained! Huge steep waves building, and what started as a leisure cruise became pretty exciting! Luckily nothing broke and we tucked into Ayala Cove completely drenched and exhausted.

Looking pretty!

Sailing again!

With the deck repair finished (except final touches) we can finally go sailing again! Boat runs nice with the new #3 jib and I also cleaned the bottom. We're making 8kn over ground with 25kn of wind and the main in the first reef!

 

Progress!

Took a little longer than initially planned, but now everything is faired, the balsa is well encapsulated, and only the final top skin of glass and the non skid needs to be applied. 

The West system epoxy works quite well but needs time to cure. Next weekend should see the final touches!

After fairing layer applied

After encapsulating

 

Surgery, Part1

After over a year of pushing this project out, I finally found the guts to replace the soft core in front of the port side chain plates! This quite some project, requiring cutting through the outer skin, digging out the old rotten core and rebuilding everything from scratch. I started with sounding the deck and concluded that the suspect area with at least delamination was along one section in the non-skid that I would need to replace completely. That also required to remove the opening of the wastewater tank (Yikes!).

Suspected area, looking towards the front

After removing wastewater outlet

The hole for the wastewater tank was just drilled through the deck!

So I did that first and found to my surprise that the hole through the deck for the wastewater line was simply drilled through the deck without any epoxy reinforcement or embedding. So that had to be redone as well. Luckily there was no moisture intrusion (yet!) through that hole and the core look dry and sound. Originally I had thought the water intrusion was coming from there, but apparently that was not the case.

After removal of rotten core and top skin 

I started cutting the outer skin off and found plenty of rotten balsa core, of course. Thankfully it extended only half way through the marked area, but I decided to cut the whole thing off anyways to be able to finish it better at a later stage. Otherwise the new non-skid would have probably looked funny attaching to the old one in the middle of a panel. It took me the whole Saturday afternoon chiseling away at the rotten core and removing the old outer skin. It also turned out hat the chain plates were not the source of the water either, even though there is no epoxy barrier around the chan plate openings either on the T34C :-(. That leak looks to come from the refitted bathroom window, which really surprised me as this window is relatively new and hasn't been dripping inside at all. So that one needs to come off too and has to be rebedded I guess.

New balsa core fits nicely!

I had bought some 1/2 inch end grain balsa core from Jamestown Distributors, along with a roll of biaxial fiber glass cloth. Fitting the balsa core is relatively easy as it is segmented in 1x2 inch segments. so cutting it to length with a Dremel tool is no problem. After making sure everything fits I cleaned ervything off and called it a day, covering the whole with some plastic to avoid moisture coming back in during the night.

New varnish!

Cockpit coamings portside aft

Had to take a break for the last 3 weeks due to intensive varnishing work being done on the boat. Looks like new now! The guys did an amazing job and I'm really afraid of touching anything now, everything is shiny and glossy, from the cockpit coamings to the hand rails, toe rails and rub rails. Altogether 140ft of rails plus the cockpit and hatches, that had to be stripped, treated for spots, sanded, coated with 4 layers of varnish and 1 layer of gloss! I'm so glad I didn't have to do it myself. The good news is that in the foreseeable future this won't be necessary to be repeated, as the new coat material just needs a light sanding and 1 layer of re-apply every year. Kudos to the guys from dupeymarine.com for doing a great job!

Hazy morning

The Golden Gate partially shrouded in low hanging clouds

Had a nice sail this weekend around SF Bay. Even though the weather looks kind of grim, still lots of fun sailing here. We were able to sail all the way back without having to use the engine! Usually this time of the year the wind dies somewhere south of the Bay Bridge and only picks up late in the afternoon around SFO airport. 

Some wind!

Jerry at the helm

has returned to the Bay! Took my friend Jerry out on Constance. Wind went up to 22kn on our wind meter (which is reading about 5kn low), so we had to tuck in a reef and roll up the jib somewhat. High speed of 8.1 knots on the return while beam reaching!

Battery monitor!

Spent the day to install the new battery monitor. After the sudden death of the previous main bank batteries I realized that it is quite important to monitor the charge state of the batteries and not let them go deep cycle too often. Actually, better avoid any charge below 80% is apparently the best to maintain battery life. 

The installation is actually quite a brainteaser with 6 different cables you need to install in the right sequence. Also, additionally to the actual monitor I needed to install a shunt and rewire the ground cables for the main bank and the starter battery across the shunt. As usual I only found out when half way through the project that one cable was missing, and so off I went for another Westmarine shopping round! In the end came the anxious moment after the last connection was made: Will the darn thing work? Guess what, first try and it worked like a charm without having to troubleshoot and fix anything! 

The picture shows the battery monitor display. This is a Xantrex LinkLite. It can display the actual voltage, amps drawn, and charge state of the battery for the main bank, and the voltage of the auxiliary starter battery. I mounted it below the companionway to reduce cable length. That way you can also see the display at eye's height when switching on the battery main switch. Checked all the different circuits to see how much they draw. The masthead tricolor is the biggest power drain at 2.2A. Who would have thought! The normal running lights draw only 1.2A, even though they consist of 3 individual bulbs whereas the tricolor has only one.

Battery monitor

Maserati!

Soldini's Maserati at Pier39

Ran across Maserati on Saturday, just after they finished their record breaking NY/SF Route d'Or voyage. They finished the whole distance of 13000+ miles in just a little over 47d, shattering the previous record by more than 10 days!  

Ayala Cove!

Moored at Ayala Cove

Went over the weekend to Angel Island, Ayala Cove. We ended up moored next to a Tartan37, another classic S&S design, very similar to ours (center board, cabin layout with quarterberth,..). The owner came over to say hello and it turned out we had actually talked to each other on the tartansailing group! Quite a coincidence, but I guess the good spots are known among the locals.

After taking a quick plunge in the ice cold waters, we hiked up the island to check out the views of San Francisco and the Golden Gate. Even though it was a bit hazy, the view from top of Angel Island is always breathtaking. The photo above is actually taken from the Sunset trail, high above the cove.

New batteries!

new house batteries (left, 2x73Ah), starter battery (right, 160Ah)

Replaced the aging house batteries with brand new Westmarine gel batteries. The old ones wouldn't hold any charge for more than a few days so I decided to replace them. The overall capacity is now somewhat smaller (146Ah vs. 320Ah before), but I went through the calculation, should be still fine to run a full night with navigation lights, navigation system and radio on, without going below 80% charge. To be safe I will replace the masthead tricolor with an LED and change the interior lights to LED as well.
The batteries are placed underneath the companionway on our boat. That way they are easy accessible from the quarterberth, and are high enough above the water to prevent shorting in case there is a water leak. The drain pipe above is from the kitchen sink and the refrigerator compartment. The yellow cables are from the Xantrex shore power unit. Also hooked directly to the house battery without any switch is the bilge pump and the VHF radio.

More TBF

Here are some more pictures from the race. First the GPS track. Start/finish line is where the little grey pointy triangle is. From there clockwise short tacks to Blackaller buoy and then our biggest mistake, south of Angel Island instead of going through Racoon strait between Angel Island and Tiburon. Red Rock is at the top of the picture, from there spinnaker run to Treasure Island. Round the southern tip and then in 1st reef tacking to back to the finish line. 

Three Bridge Fiasco: Constance track

Starting scene: 365 boats on the line!

Skipper at the start line (round buoy in the background)

Finally, spi is up (coasting towards Angel Is)

TBF!

We participated in the Three Bridge Fiasco Race! This is a annual short handed race in the SF Bay, the goal is to pass 3 marks. One is next to the Golden Gate ("Blackaller"), the Red Rock Island next to Richmond Bridge is #2, and Treasure Island next to the Berkeley Bay Bridge is #3. So you really pass only underneath one bridge, the Bay Bridge. It's called "Fiasco" since you can pick any sequence and direction. That also holds for the start/finish line. So it's very confusing at the start with boats going all directions. The other thing which makes it interesting is that every boat gets a unique starting time based on rating. Slow boats go first, and the starting time is such that theoretically all boats should end up at the finish line at the same time.

Constance under way (blue/white spi)

We spend the night before anchored at Aquatic Cove, which is only a short distance from the start line at the SF Yacht Club. Forecast was for 10-15kn from the West, one model had higher gusts in the late afternoon. Our goal was really to finish, for that we needed to be at the finish before 7pm. The other thing to consider when picking the course is the tidal current, which is enormous around here. So the start was at the tail end of the flood, so I decided to go upwind/upcurrent first to the Blackaller buoy and then head clockwise for RR, then TI, then finish. We got a good start and were able to catch some slower boats in front of us. After rounding the mark, there were 2 options: Going through Raccoon strait (between Tiburon and Angel Island), or go around the southern end of Angel Island. I looked into Raccoon and it was total glass with no winds whatsoever. Getting stuck in there when the tide turns around is quite a disaster, so we opted for going around Angel Island.

But first the spi had to go up! That was somewhat of an issue as I got too excited and managed to totally mess up the hoist with the sheet pulled into the jib furler, the sock wrapped around the pulpit, a huge disaster on the foredeck. Took me 30min to sort it out while we were passed by a couple of boats. Once we got it up we went nicely down the Bay, but then all of a sudden the wind died and everybody just stopped, drifting slowly with the tide. We were parked there for 45min, while everybody who opted for Raccoon caught a nice breeze and went off never to be seen again. That was quite ironic. We eventually started moving again and rounded Red Rock around noon, seeing the whole fleet already sailing towards Treasure Island.

After the Red Rock it was downwind reaching, but it started to gust in the 15-20kn range so first we didn't put the spi back up, having enough speed and angle with the main and jib. Eventually the wind calmed down and I put the spi up again. That unfortunately didn't last long and we saw boats wiping out in front of us. Scary! So down with the spi in a hurry and not too late, thankfully. Next thing was a huge gust of 25-30kn that hit us square but we were able to ride it down. Once behind Treasure Island you could see boats rounding up, and struggling very badly to get upwind. So we tucked in a reef quickly and sure enough, once back in the full breeze the wind was howling with sustained 20kn and big puffs in between. Also you could hear people retiring from the race via radio. Meanwhile the ebb tide was running full speed and with the wind going in the opposite direction the sea build up quite impressively. But the Tartan 34C is just fine for these conditions and it took us under reefed main and jib just another half hour to get to the finish.

Finished at 3pm, way ahead of my initial expectations! But also unfortunately last in our fleet as everybody else who was out there withdrew from the race apparently.. So out of 40 boats that started in our fleet we got position #31, 9 boats didn't finish. Overall only 6 boats from the whole fleet (365 boats) finished after us, and about 90 boats retired early. So I guess that's a statement for the hardiness of the Tartan34C! After the race we still had to go another 15miles back home, with the winds still all the way up. We were safely home at 6p. What a day! A total of 44miles sailed, nothing broke, but totally sore! And next time I will give the Raccoon strait a better consideration :-)

Race report from Norcal here

Race results from Jibeset here