3BF!

This year's Three Bridge Fiasco started out much better than last year's. We had a nice NE breeze at the starting line which brought us trucking past Alcatraz towards TI in very little time. The plan was to go first around TI clockwise before the main ebb tide would make it impossible, then reach Red Rock, then go back through the Raccoon channel between Angel Island and Marin, riding the tail of the ebb tide, and finally finish rounding Blackaller next to the Golden Gate and back to the finish. The weather forecast predicted a dying gradient NE, which would be later be replaced by a westerly sea breeze. 

Starting line 3BF 2015

The weather was absolutely beautiful, sun shining, temperatures way up in the 60s. Not bad for a January 31st! At the northern tip of Treasure Island we set Big Blue, the new gennaker. By that time we had well above 10kn of wind and I was a little flustered on the pitching and tilting foredeck. Sure enough, I let go of the snuffer line and with a sudden puff the gennaker filled and pulled the sock all the way up, including snuffer line. Oops. That meant a complicated dowsing operation underneath the bridge, something I was not looking forward to. We went all the way across the channel to get out of the current and made nice progress towards the Bay Bridge. Sure enough the wind died closer to the bridge and our progress came down to inches. The good news: The gennaker snuffed itself without any outside help, so I was able to grab the snuffer line and set it up correctly. That was a very lucky turn of events! Some other boats that stayed in the channel and initially had pulled away, were now slowly swept back and eventually abandoned the idea of crossing the Bay Bridge. We made it all the way to just outside the Alameda channel, where we had to anchor for a little while. Eventually the westerly set in and we were able to make it past the southern tip of Yerba Buena island, sweeping at great speed under the western span of the Bay Bridge, woohoo!

So far so good, it took a little longer to get around the Bay Bridge obstacle as it was already noon now. The way to Red Rock was initially easy, first close hauled, then the wind was gradually clocking back and we could set the gennaker again. As we past Angel Island, the main fiasco fleet emerged out of the Raccoon strait. Apparently, the wind had died just after our start and everybody else was forced to go downstream with the tide towards Blackaller buoy. Many unfortunate boats got swept out of the Golden Gate, just like us last year, but some 100+ boats made it through Raccoon.

Unfortunately, as we neared Red Rock, the wind got less and less and completely shut down about a mile south of it. A huge parking lot of boats desperately trying to dodge the current and catch some wisp of wind emerged just south of the rock. That's where we stayed for about 5 hours until we called it a day at 5:30p, with no chance to reach the finish line any longer (7p was the cut off). Looks like only a little more than 40 boats out of about 350 starting boats actually finished. Those were mostly fat boats that picked Red Rock as the first mark and made it around before the wind shut off. Not sure if we would have been able to make it tough with Constance, she is just a bit too heavy to excel in light winds. 

Still, we had a lot of fun, and spend some nice days on the water! Next year we'll make it all the way around!

Making our way towards Red Rock (thanks to Mike from Roxanne!)

 

Big Blue!

Is my new G1 asymmetric gennaker. First test sail at little to zero wind was not 100% convincing but at least I got it to fly and was able to make some sort of speed with it. Jibing is somewhat more difficult than I imagined, it still needs someone on the foredeck to help the sail around. Let's hope next weekend at the three bridge fiasco there'll be more wind!

Going solar!

Spent the last couple of weekends installing a new solar system on the boat. Since there was very little wind for sailing! Why solar now? Answer is relatively easy: I don't really like to be dependent on shore power and I also don't think it is a good idea to run the engine just for charging the battery. We end up staying quite often overnight somewhere outside with the boat and the batteries come down quite a bit with the anchor light on all night. Usually we would run the engine for less than 15min to get in and out of the marina/anchorage, so that's clearly not enough to get the batteries recharged. But if the wind is right, why have the engine drone on? But that's what usually happens, otherwise you run into danger of draining the batteries too much, damaging them in the progress. 

Nowadays, they have pretty affordable flexible panels available for less than $140 each, so I thought I give it a try. These are the same panels sold under the brand name of Solbian, but I got them much cheaper on eBay. 50W each, which is quite impressive just thinking a couple of years back. The biggest investment was the charge controller from BlueSky Energy, which came in at $292, but is also capable of supporting bigger panel arrays, and has some nice features boosting the panel output. I figured if I ever want to go on an extended cruise I would need some means to be able to recharge without shore power, so that leaves me the option to upgrade the panels if necessary. 

The next question was where to mount the panels. The only place that is not interfering with handling the boat and sails is really on the top of the spray hood. That's where the flexible panels come in handy. Of course you don't want them flexing back and forth, but I think the installation is rigid enough that it shouldn't affect lifetime too much. For now the panels are mounted using sewed in industrial strength Velcro. I probably need to reinforce the corners a little, but that can come later.

Today was the day when I finally connected the first panel. 1.1A from the get go on a hazy late afternoon, not too bad! After adding the second panel I should have enough juice running to never ever having to run the engine again for charging, hooray!

Solar panel installation (still need to hide the cables)

Hooray, 1.1Amps!

3000 miles!

..left in Constance's wake since May 2010! Quite some distance, further than crossing the Atlantic Ocean between America and Europe! Time to reflect on the things I learned, since this is the first time for me owning a boat. So, here is my list of aha moments:

Buying a boat:

- You need to be clear what kind of sailing you will do. If you're planning to competitively race around the buoys with your friends from the sailing club: don't buy an old, classic boat. She may be beautiful to look at, but coming in consistently last kind of sucks. I wasn't quite planning on racing, but it is quite nice to hang out on the water with other folks, so I ended up participating in some races. For that, a more modern boat is more adequate. In the end it doesn't bother me much, but I could imagine some people would be disappointed by their purchase.

- Old vs. new: This is foremost a question on how much money you want to spend. I would love to have a brand new boat, or even one that is younger than 10 years (on account of not spending so much time fixing stuff). But then you need to spend 120k+ to get a boat that can also go offshore. For the value you get, a Tartan34c is a great deal, and you have beautiful, classic looking, very seaworthy design. No regrets!

- If you buy an old boat, get one with a new engine. I'm so glad that I made that one of my criteria. I've seen so many people agonizing over old engine problems. It really sucks if the engine dies when you're under way.

- Check the deck for delamination and soft spots. If you find any, this should be a no go. I kind of ignored the ones our surveyor found (still small, no big deal). It is like tooth decay, once it sets in you need to do something right away. Took a couple of weeks off our sailing life to deal with that. Still not completely fixed. Soft and rotten deck core is serious and very difficult to fix. To make it look nice afterwards is even more difficult. Having it fixed in a yard costs 10ks of $$$.

- Size: 34ft is just fine for double handing. The Tartan 34c is a little confined downstairs, modern boats are way roomier. I still like it, even though I'm missing a real navigation table with seat. One thing I didn't realize earlier: 35ft is the upper limit for the vast majority of marina slips. Any larger and you will have problems finding a slip in your favorite location. 

Sailing & handling experiences:

- Be confident climbing the mast. More often than you like, halyards get loose and you need to retrieve them.

- Don't be a hero. Reefing the sail is done best exactly at the moment you're thinking about it.

- Reverse docking is for spade rudders and short keels, not for classic boats with tons of prop walk. Some scars on Constance to remind me of that.

- Get a folding prop. The difference to a fixed blade prop is amazing, especially in low wind.

- A good anchor is worth a lot. Our 30lbs CQR still hasn't dragged a single time, with 30ft chain and usually 60ft of rope out (90ft if it is deeper, never anchored in anything deeper than 20ft). Nowadays I sleep like a baby when anchored, and don't worry too much. I do check when the wind starts howling in the rigging, but never had any reason to worry. I did drag on a friend's boat and on charter boats before, never had a good sleep when anchored, on other boats. Sleep is precious!

- A good boat usually handles wind and waves better than humans. Since moving to SF I'm much more relaxed when it comes to strong winds.

- As soon as you feel just a little cold you need to go down below and start putting on layers. Once you get really cold there is practically no way of warming up on a sail boat (if you're in the cockpit).

- I used to be mortified by docking maneuvers. Once you own a boat for some time you get much calmer. Speed is your nemesis when docking. Do it slow and you won't get scratches. You'll still mess up docking here and there due to some unexpected gust, but at least there is no 2ft scar to witness your ineptitude.

- Most important rule when sailing: no yelling! Takes the fun out of everything and leaves stale feelings of betrayal and antagonism. Not worth it!

Maintenance:

- I think the most important thing when dealing with an old boat is to realize that you cannot fix all the things immediately. And there are lots and lots of things on an old boat that can be improved, fixed, or upgraded. Instead it is important to focus on the vital parts that keep the boat safe and seaworthy, while enjoying some time on the water. That's why I bought the boat in the first place! So many boats in the marina never move an inch for years on end, while the owner is busy tinkering around, fixing this, upgrading that and all the time never make it out of the harbor entrance. Having said that, the amount of time necessary to keep an old boat up and running can be daunting. And you really need to be able to do most things by yourself, otherwise you'll spend too much money and, worst, wait long weeks for boatyards to finish work, where you cannot go out on the water. 

- Having said that, the little things that require constant attention and frequent monitoring: Heat exchanger zinc, prop zinc, anything around the engine (oil, coolant, leaks, chafe points, alternator belt). Actually it is a good idea to give the engine a good look over at least once a month. All lines and hoses have to be secured that there are no chafe points. The fuel line for example was touching a metal piece of the engine at  one point and sure enough started developing a chafe point right there. 

Electrical:

- Quite happy with my Mac Laptop Navigation solution. (MacEnc + GPS on USB connection).

- AIS is very useful, but next time I would rather buy active AIS (mine is passive, i.e. I can see commercial boats, but they cannot see me). 

- Battery load is an issue. Even after installing the battery monitor, my house batteries slowly drain over time and need a good full charge once in a while. Just running the engine here and there is not enough. The thing is that the battery monitor is not catching that creep and needs to be reset every 2 months or so. First I didn't realize this, and while the monitor was showing close to 100%, the voltage was already down to 12.3V. I think it is a good idea to have a solar charger to avoid running the engine for long times if you don't have access to shore power. 

Vallejo 1-2!

Constance participated in the Vallejo 1-2 race last weekend. The first leg is a singlehanded race from Berkeley to Vallejo YC in the Carquinez strait, a good 18 miles. I decided to try out the spinnaker division, winds are usually light enough in th North Bay this time of the year. Still, I've never handled "The Monster" singlehandedly! There was a small craft advisory in effect after 1p so I was somewhat nervous and promised myself to get the beast down at the smallest sign of big winds. I shouldn't have worried, the race was mostly a drifter with highest winds maybe around 8kn. Anyways, I finished the race without fouling anything, and only corrected out due to time to last place. Very happy about it! 2 spi sets and douses, 3 gybes, all by myself! https://www.jibeset.net/show.php?RR=JACKY_T006056317&DOC=r101&TYP=html

Even though I got only last place in my division, overall I got 17 out of 42 boats that started, and 23 boats that finished! Not too bad I think!

The return trip was double handed for us, unfortunately even less wind. We managed to get out of the Napa river quite well, but then got stuck at Pinole Pt when the tide turned and the wind completely shut off. Our stealth anchor got deployed twice, but no progress in the rare zephyrs that showed up here and there. With no hope to finish we called it quits at 3:30p and pretty much motored home, a good 30mls to be precise. Still, a great day on the water, had some fun meeting other sailors at Vallejo YC! 

Spi is up!

Just before the start

Summer Sailing!

Haven't been posting things for a while. We've been busy sailing Constance around the SF Bay.  Weekends are a huge relief from daily job pressure and other ordinary things, so we usually stay at least every 2nd weekend on the boat. Summer is the time to go sailing here! The thermals set in around noon and increase from a benign 10-15kn all the way to 30-40kn on a hot summer day. Which can be quite cold in San Francisco, by the way. What's causing the thermal wind is really the temperature difference between the California Central Valley and the Coast. Over a distance of 100 miles the temperature difference can be as high as 40 degree Fahrenheit or 20 degree Celsius. The hot air rises over the Central Valley and pulls in cold air from the ocean. Hence the fog you often see in the summer in San Francisco. The air has to funnel in between Peninsula of SF and the Marin Headlands in the North, creating an accelerated flow of air roughly between the City Front and Alcatraz Island. That area is also called "The Slot", where the highest wind speeds can be reached. The 34th America's Cup in 2013 happened exactly here for a reason!  Below a video from one of those days, early afternoon just south of Alcatraz, winds peaking around 25-30kn. No problem for Constance with the first reef tucked in!

New sheets!

After end-over-ending my jib sheets last year I finally gave in and bought a set of new jib sheets, plus a new main sheet. 50ft each! What a difference it makes! The old ones were trusty and solid, but just way too stiff and extended, really nearing the end of their life span. I went down one size to 7/16, New England Sta-Set, breaking strength at 7100lbs. According to the calculator that is plenty of safety for the Tartan34C. Also I changed the colors such that the tangled mess in the cockpit is easier to divide up :-)

red on port, green on starboard!