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.
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.
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.
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!
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!
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!
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..
