tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55333708375983007192024-02-20T23:53:33.394-08:00tom and addietomandaddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00955502596529714496noreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5533370837598300719.post-91444079750749272662016-06-21T08:59:00.000-07:002018-04-20T09:32:10.498-07:00Nice night. Finally. Well, almost.Tuesday, June 21. 1130.
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Overall, a happier circumstance than yesterday.
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Yesterday evening, we had enough breeze that flying the spinnaker was attractive. After rigging the repaired spinnaker we unfurled it expecting the wind to do its usual work and flinging the spinnaker off the roller furling
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in a couple seconds. Not to be. The drum locked. This happened once before and when I disassembled it, I found that the locking pin designed to prevent unwanted unfurling but allow it when desired had bent, thus
<br />
locking the drum from moving in either direction. This piece is supposed to have a weak spot in it so that it will break under excessive load rather than something else. But it had not broken, and the bent pin stopped
<br />
up the system. With the bent part broken off by me, all worked well except there was no longer a locking mechanism. However, I left the spring loaded broken stub of the pin in place, I think in order to show me how
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it is placed should I wish to put a new one in. And thereafter, everything was fine.
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<br />
Until this evening when the drum locked again. So, down with the spinnaker cable stacked with my invention of pool lane marker balls whose purpose is to prevent reverse wrapping of the spinnaker on the underlying
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cable, another malady that then renders the spinnaker inoperative because when it is unfurled in one direction, the reverse wrapped segment just gets tighter. The float balls seem to have solved this problem.
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<br />
When dismantled last night, the residual pin had relocked the drum and foiled our plans. It was easy to remove the pin altogether- as I should have done the first time it jimmied up the works.
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By the time I finished the repair, the wind had come up to around 15-20 knots- too much to carry the spinnaker without blowing it out.
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So, during the night, the wind slightly backed into the west-southwest with glorious sailing conditions under a full moon and scattered brightly backlit cumulous clouds.
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This morning at the completion of John's 0300 to 0600 watch, the splendid conditions continued with winds in the low 20s and we were headed straight to Bermuda albeit with an adverse current of 1 knot still stalking
<br />
us from the malificient cold eddy of last night.
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<br />
But there was a hitch. At daylight, John noticed that one of the sail stiffening battens had come out of the pocket going forward of the mast! That, I have never heard of.
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The cause was three of four missing bolts holding the batt slide in place and capturing the forward end of the batten. This had also never happened before.
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The fix required dropping the main, furling most of the jib and using the mizzen sail to keep us weather vaned into the wind, and then trying to find replacement bolts and nuts. The replacement bolts that I bought
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a couple years ago from the batt slide supplier were too short. All this was hazardous given the now significant seas of about 6-8 feet and howling winds of well over twenty. Maintaining one hand for the boat (sailor's
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rule for not falling overboard or coming to an abrupt end to a fall at the end of the safety tether) is difficult when two hands are needed for the repair.
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<br />
So with greater deliberate care, we finally got the job done. During it, I saw broken ice on the deck but of course it was not; it was broken spreader light glass.
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The job took three hours with essentially no forward progress To Bermuda. But now, back to glorious conditions, sailing at 7 to 8 knots as opposed to an average of about 2-3 knots for the previous day.
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Please be kind and keep your replies short.tomandaddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00955502596529714496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5533370837598300719.post-32830260882040161392016-06-20T16:30:00.000-07:002018-04-20T09:37:01.118-07:00What is so fun about this, I ask.Monday, June 21. 1800
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<br />
D Day. Here, drifting under the influence of scant wind, the first D stands for Debacle.
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Spotty winds gradually filled in, mostly behind us, allowing us to follow our strategy. The frightening new and concentrated low was to be ahead with the west side the preferred side with decreased winds. Since the low was somewhat coincident with a large cold eddy to the south of the Stream, we could also get on its positive or west side and have just heavy wind and positive current. Having encountered the Gulf Stream much further north than the models predicted, and of much shorter duration with rather mannerly currents and waves, we made a mistake in placing too much stock in the predictions.
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There came a time late this morning when the wind favored flying out spinnaker, which we did after difficulty sorting out all the lines as we attempted to hoist it. Finally, we were flying along at about 6 to 7 knots for a few minutes when with a great crash, the spinnaker had fallen completely in the water. John yelled that the halyard broke. But what we found was that the lashing of the spinnaker head to the head of the furling line had broken. It took 3 hours to get it dismantled, and fixed but by that time the wind had died and we had to proceed mostly downwind at too large an angle to carry the asymmetric spinnaker.
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First, no low. No big winds. no big waves.
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Second, we had a precise spot planned for entering the cold eddy in its region of southerly changing to easterly flow. We did in fact find prolonged flow of more than 3 knots for many hours, but it was against us. . So, the eddy, with its countercurrent flow, must have moved west since the predictions and hence we were too far east to get into the southern flow. The winds during during this time were depressingly low, and made more so in the apparent wind by which boats sail.
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We are now on a course in the vague vicinity of Bermuda at about 2 to 3 knots.
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<br />
US Sailing constructs boat specific polars. These are charts predicting boats speeds at various wind angles and wind speeds. And upon these, the handicapping system is derived. The problem is that the polars are not always accurate and hence the handicapping suffers. We particularly suffer. The boat was in very good racing form and still, boats to whom we owe time ( we have a faster handicap) sail right through us because this boat, while nice, pretty, and a very good, stable ocean boat, is not fast, and will not point close to the wind well. We are screwed before we start.
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<br />
With all that happened today, we expect to get to Bermuda Thursday night for our slowest race ever. Oh, despite being under no load, a shackle on a mizzen halyard broke and the halyard was found in the cockpit.
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I sit here amidst an unholy cacophony with the rigging crashing, the sails sounding like small explosions as they flip from side to side in the waves unaccompanied by any wind to stabilise the boat.
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Please be kind and keep your replies short.tomandaddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00955502596529714496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5533370837598300719.post-20783146365382902882016-06-20T16:27:00.000-07:002018-04-20T09:38:21.420-07:00What is so fun about this, I ask.Monday, June 21. 1800
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<br />
D Day. Here, drifting under the influence of scant wind, the first D stands for Debacle.
<br />
<br />
Spotty winds gradually filled in, mostly behind us, allowing us to follow our strategy. The frightening new and concentrated low was to be ahead with the west side the preferred side with decreased winds. Since the low was somewhat coincident with a large cold eddy to the south of the Stream, we could also get on its positive or west side and have just heavy wind and positive current. Having encountered the Gulf Stream much further north than the models predicted, and of much shorter duration with rather mannerly currents and waves, we made a mistake in placing too much stock in the predictions.
<br />
<br />
There came a time late this morning when the wind favored flying out spinnaker, which we did after difficulty sorting out all the lines as we attempted to hoist it. Finally, we were flying along at about 6 to 7 knots for a few minutes when with a great crash, the spinnaker had fallen completely in the water. John yelled that the halyard broke. But what we found was that the lashing of the spinnaker head to the head of the furling line had broken. It took 3 hours to get it dismantled, and fixed but by that time the wind had died and we had to proceed mostly downwind at too large an angle to carry the asymmetric spinnaker.
<br />
<br />
First, no low. No big winds. no big waves.
<br />
Second, we had a precise spot planned for entering the cold eddy in its region of southerly changing to easterly flow. We did in fact find prolonged flow of more than 3 knots for many hours, but it was against us. . So, the eddy, with its countercurrent flow, must have moved west since the predictions and hence we were too far east to get into the southern flow. The winds during during this time were depressingly low, and made more so in the apparent wind by which boats sail.
<br />
<br />
We are now on a course in the vague vicinity of Bermuda at about 2 to 3 knots.
<br />
<br />
US Sailing constructs boat specific polars. These are charts predicting boats speeds at various wind angles and wind speeds. And upon these, the handicapping system is derived. The problem is that the polars are not always accurate and hence the handicapping suffers. We particularly suffer. The boat was in very good racing form and still, boats to whom we owe time ( we have a faster handicap) sail right through us because this boat, while nice, pretty, and a very good, stable ocean boat, is not fast, and will not point close to the wind well. We are screwed before we start.
<br />
<br />
With all that happened today, we expect to get to Bermuda Thursday night for our slowest race ever. Oh, despite being under no load, a shackle on a mizzen halyard broke and the halyard was found in the cockpit.
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Please be kind and keep your replies short.tomandaddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00955502596529714496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5533370837598300719.post-63017988635829806482016-06-19T19:49:00.000-07:002016-06-19T19:52:12.122-07:00Bermuda race 2016Sunday, June 19. 2200.
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<br>Under the same sail configuration (code zero, main, mizzen) sailing was a breeze under moderate northerlies allowing us to reach across the wind. We are finding that our access to outside data is minimal. The data downloads via the sat phone are aborted by the Expedition race strategy program with time our errors nearly every time I use it. Using the Apple computer, I am consistently able to access email and grib (gridded binary) files to evaluate and predict wind but unfortunately, Expedition is unable to read these files, although it could do so previously. To compound matters, the grib file reader on the Apple no longer works (it did last month) so despite successfully downloading the files, they are not accessible on either computer. Frustrating. Beyond frustrating- way beyond.
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<br>Besides depriving us of data for strategic decisions, the race committee at the captains meeting on Thursday scared the hell out of us predicting strong winds and violent seas brought to us by a totally unpredictable low pressure ring. They have also been sending Commanders weather predictions every morning in narrative form and we are told that another very local, very strong low lies across our path with predicted winds of over 40 knots and in the Gulf Stream, waves with a very short periodicity of about 12 feet. With all this scaring the fleet, a number of boats have dropped out.
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<br>The nice sailing came to an abrupt halt at nightfall. The winds fell zero, the sails were making a terrible noise and we finally lowered the main sail to allow better use of he spinnaker unimpeded by a wind shadow from the main sail. Eventually, we doused the spinnaker too: we could not keep air in it.
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<br>We bobbed around all Saturday night, directionless and motionless except for a slight positive current.
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<br>This morning, the misery ended. Beautiful clear day with a decent breeze from the NE to east: winds of 10 to 18 knots and we carried main and mizzen plus the asymmetric spinnaker and the new mizzen staysail that gave us enormous power.
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<br>Under this rig, we got as close as 6 miles to Moonracer. I talked to Mike Hudner for a few minutes and we exchanged Happy Father's Day greetings.
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<br>Our strategy today has been to try get the west side of the intense low pressure zone with the idea that we would have more favorable winds and perhaps slightly less nasty winds. Also, we hoped to use the same strategy to get the west, or favorable direction of current in the cold eddy southwest of the Gulf Stream. But this takes us quite a bit west of the rhumb line and as far as we can tell from AIS, we are going there alone.
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<br>The wind picked up through the day until we took down both the mizzen stay sail and spinnaker. Whisper had become far overpowered by the wind/sail combination. The autopilot could not cope and we were making aggressive swings of direction between wind angles of 90 to nearly 180 degrees on port tack. This all happened as we were headed for out planned entry point in the Gulf Stream calculated such that we would exit the stream at the proper point to pick up the back side of the low.
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<br>Rather abruptly, the water temperature rose from the low 60's to 82 degrees F. and we were in the Gulf Stream 55 miles too early based on the predicted course. Adverse current of 4 knots in the ENE direction antagonized our intended SE course and we headed up on port tack under jib, main, and mizzen to cut more directly across the stream. We had good speed, winds of close to 20: we were fat.
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<br>The dreaded high seas in the Gulf Stream never materialized; the 12 foot ferocious waves were a mannerly 6 feet and pretty as we watched the reflection of the falling sun in the uneven sea. We left the stream after only 4 hours in, and about 20 nm.
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<br>After dinner of mussles and pasta, things started to fall apart again. The winds became erratic and light, but the seas now were minimally heaped up. Where are the predicted winds of the low pressure of 40 knots? For that matter, where is the low? The barometer at 30.04 in. has not begun to fall. So far, as we close in on midnight, nothing predicted has occurred.
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<br>.tomandaddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00955502596529714496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5533370837598300719.post-16435602529347293102016-06-18T07:42:00.000-07:002016-06-18T07:51:57.929-07:00Friday, 17 June 2017. 9:30 pm, S/V Whisper
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<br>Three bells just struck: I am ½ hour into my 2100 - 2400 watch after our 1520 start of the 50th Newport Bermuda race. John Browning skippered for the start and most of our first several hours of the race. He is a very good sailor. An enthusiastic sailor. He is in this 25th consecutive Newport Bermuda race (held on even years only) so after 50 years of this, the former is unsurprising but the latter must be unusual to sustain after so many years. Considering the excessively slow speed of our boat, he sailed skillfully as most of the fleet passed us- the double handers started early before most of the other boats.
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<br>"Out on the briny with the moon bright and shiny," as Mr. Buffet would have described the night. An almost full moon, pure white- almost silver- tinged with the faintest of yellow, illuminates the sea and every reflective part of the boat with a startling brilliance.
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<br>We are sailing peacefully along, scattered mast head tricolor lights gradually receding from us as the fleet spreads out with a rare one receding aft of us. With a westerly breeze of about 8 knots, minimal sea, we are making about 5 to 6 knots under mizzen, mainsail, and a code zero we hoisted about an hour and a half ago with a speed increment of a knot. Were we not encumbered by the need to constantly squeeze every tenth of a knot out of the old lady (it is, after all, a race), it would be even more peaceful and relaxing.
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<br>Saturday, June 18, 0300.
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<br>Not so peaceful any more. The breeze has died to around 2 knots and the boat speed to between zero and 0.4 knots. The sails slat with the motion of the waves making a jarring racket. "Thwack," followed by a metallic foundry-like sound and in a couple seconds as the sail falls back to the other side, the same unpleasantness.
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<br>But the moon! It has fallen almost to the horizon in the west, and is now a magnificent pumpkin orange with flame in the water reflection reaching from us to the edge of visibility.
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<br>Based on the weather reports, light air for a couple days, perhaps, until we reach the Gulf Stream and simultaneously run into a gale and a deep low pressure vortex. This forecast was sufficient to cause several boats to drop out of the race as it started.
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<br>0900. Fresh bread in a few minutes provided that the oven performs. Soft boiled eggs, orange juice, coffee. The fresh eggs were purchased at Wishing Stone farm in Little Compton two days before the race and have never been refrigerated or washed. Thus, we expect at least a two week shelf life without refrigeration.
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<br>Please be kind and keep your replies short.tomandaddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00955502596529714496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5533370837598300719.post-14191282704350927672014-07-08T08:16:00.000-07:002014-07-08T08:17:44.952-07:00We beat Arthur<div style="direction: ltr;font-family: Tahoma;color: #000000;font-size: 10pt;"> <p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: center; font-size: 12px; font-family: Helvetica;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Friday, July 4</span></p> <p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: center; font-size: 12px; font-family: Helvetica;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">We beat Arthur</span></p> <p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br> </p> <p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Helvetica;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Thursday, the winds resumed, and we continued to sail. With minimal spillage, Mike, Greg and I managed to transfer the 10 gallons of diesel from the jerry jugs to the starboard tank. </span></p> <p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br> </p> <p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Helvetica;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Hoisting the spinnaker furled on the antitorsion line we found first that the upper portion of the sail was twisted extremely tightly, and that when we began the unfurl, the lower portion had reverse twisted. Thus untwisting the top twisted the bottom tighter and vice versa. This has been a common problem that plagues this device and occurs when the twist stored in the antitorsion line is released at the end of furling. As it untwists, it grabs sail, usually below the clew, and twists it in the reverse direction. Then, when unfurling, the event is impossible because unfurling above furls the bottom even tighter.</span></p> <p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br> </p> <p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Helvetica;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Down on the deck, I was able, I thought, to untwist the reverse furled part, and now with free spinnaker at the bottom, I used yarns to gather it up into sausages as was done in olden times (pre socks, pre furlers). Back up, pulling on the sheet as we unfurled the antitorsion line, only a bit of sail came out to catch the wind. And then, the sail ripped extensively. Another casualty of the $%#**&#@ top-down furling system.</span></p> <p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br> </p> <p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Helvetica;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">We still sailed well with jib, main and mizzen until after dinner when the skies began to look ominous. We lowered the main, sailing jib and jigger until we saw big squalls marching across Massachusetts Bay toward us and at around 10 pm, with all sails down, were hit while motoring with 40 knot winds and thunderstorms. No problem.</span></p> <p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br> </p> <p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Helvetica;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Avoiding fishermen as well, we finally pulled into our mooring at 1 am on July 4th. Tired and facing too much wind to safely go to the CYC dock, we just sat on the mooring until 5:30 when with dawn, we went to the dock, cleaned the boat, and Addie met us with pastries from A&J King bakery.</span></p> <p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br> </p> <p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Helvetica;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Post script, 7/7/2014.</span></p> <p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Helvetica;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"> Took the spinnaker to Quantum Thurston in Bristol. It was hopelessly and multiply reverse wrapped and wrapped so staggeringly tightly that the layers almost seemed annealed together. Each layer had to be peeled from the next. A technology that has a few bugs to be worked out. Back to the sock would be the wisest move.</span></p> </div> <p></p> <p>The information in this e-mail is intended only for the person to whom it is<br> addressed. If you believe this e-mail was sent to you in error and the e-mail<br> contains patient information, please contact the Partners Compliance HelpLine at<br> http://www.partners.org/complianceline . If the e-mail was sent to you in error<br> but does not contain patient information, please contact the sender and properly<br> dispose of the e-mail.</p>tomandaddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00955502596529714496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5533370837598300719.post-60984822691987502372014-07-03T02:59:00.000-07:002014-07-03T03:05:45.463-07:00Hurricane ArthurArthur the Hurricane
<br>Thursday, July 3, 2014. 0500
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<br>Since Tuesday, we have been watching on the grib files a low coming up from Florida with intense cyclonic winds of 50 plus. Now, it is officially Tropical Storm Arthur predicted to grow to Hurricane Arthur as it follows a cold front straight to Marblehead, with arrival late tomorrow. We should beat it in although I am concerned about safety of boats on moorings in Marblehead. I was able to get a 24 hr surface analysis from a weather fax yesterday showing the transition from TS to hurricane as it passes the Carolinas.
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<br>We had great sailing yesterday up to a point. As predicted, accurately for a change, the grib files showed excellent wind from the south until we crossed west at 68 degrees west. Although it did not happen precisely on that longitude line, by dinner, the wind faltered and we eventually took down all sails as our boat speed fell into the 2's, far too slow to allow us to beat Arthur with about 175 miles sailing to go (as of dinner last night).
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<br>Prior, we had various sail combinations including poled out jib, main, mizzen, and mizzen staysail in increasingly heavy following seas. We were surfing down waves with boat speeds in the mid 9 kt range, and maintaining steady speeds in the high 7's and 8's.
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<br>No more. Motored all night at about 5 kts and now have a bit over 100 miles to go. From yesterday, the water temperature has gone from 82 down to low 60's, and we had fog all night with radar on, and fog horn blasting. As we knew, the AIS has far greater utility than the radar.
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<br>Now expect arrival Friday morning. And are hoping for sailing winds to resume although diesel fuel should not be a problem, especially with two jerry cans of it on the deck worth an extra 50 miles.tomandaddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00955502596529714496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5533370837598300719.post-27582579847891700062014-07-02T05:10:00.000-07:002014-07-02T05:12:21.412-07:00Good sailingSteady as she goes
<br>Wednesday, July 2, 2014
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<br>As of 0500 this morning, about 275 miles to go with yesterday's travel about 177 miles, probably a record high for this boat under sail.
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<br>We are going mostly downwind with magnetic heading of about 340-350 and making 7 kts. or greater for most of yesterday and last night. Sail combinations have included; main and mizzen alone; main, mizzen and poled out jib; that combination plus a mizen staysail; and main, mizzen, and asymmetric spinnaker.
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<br>The seas have built in concert with the wind with 8 foot rollers behind us and winds of up to 25 kts behind us on the port quarter.
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<br>Dinner last night was Canada goose stew and breakfast omelets were served this morning.
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<br>All crew functioning well together.tomandaddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00955502596529714496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5533370837598300719.post-34038934741639950622014-07-01T04:23:00.000-07:002014-07-01T04:27:24.549-07:00Endless OceanEndless ocean
<br>Tuesday morning, 7/1/2014, 0700
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<br>After reasonable breeze yesterday morning, the winds dwindled and clocked to be behind us. We gave up on sailing, and motored from mid afternoon until about 6 this morning when the wind augmented to 10 -12 kts but now nearly straight behind our course. So, wing and wing with boat speed about 5 kts rather than the 7 we had been doing under engine. I expect the wind to build over the next couple days. Hoping for arrival on 4th of July.
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<br>Dinner last night: pasta vongole with white clam sauce. A small bit of leftover cooking wine was parceled out to the crew with daring aliquots of about 2 oz per man. Daring.
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<br>--------------------------------------tomandaddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00955502596529714496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5533370837598300719.post-20968309404872552702014-06-30T04:09:00.000-07:002014-06-30T04:10:45.971-07:00Monday, June 30, 2014
<br>Return from Bermuda
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<br>We left Hamilton around 9:30 local time, 0830 EDT. Peter flew home on Friday, so the return consists of Mike Stock, Billy Godiksen, and Greg Linderman, all F-18 pilots from the same Navy squadron, and Andrew Dieselman, a recent college graduate headed for law school.
<br>
<br>The two hours out of Hamilton and clearing the reefs, and the next few hours toward Marblehead were punctuated by a few rain squalls carrying the only significant wind, so we motored. We were in a large gang of about 20 boats but they have gradually dissipated and now, only a few show up on AIS, and none visually.
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<br>Around 1400, the wind freshened from the east and we never saw less than 10 kts as of this morning. So, we had a delightful starboard tack beat all night, using a mix of hand steering, autopilot and wind vane.
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<br>Addie's Mediterranean lamb stew last night did not last very long with four young guys.
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<br>Hot and humid, mostly the latter.
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<br>Winds appear to be going soft on us later today as they clock from east to south and then, 10 to 20 most of the way home. To avoid the high pressure low winds, we have headed a little west of the rhumb line for several hours.
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<br>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------tomandaddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00955502596529714496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5533370837598300719.post-81576512235269013022014-06-28T09:15:00.001-07:002014-06-28T09:15:24.125-07:00Race completion<div style="direction: ltr;font-family: Tahoma;color: #000000;font-size: 10pt;"> <p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: center; font-size: 12px; font-family: Helvetica;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Wednesday, June 25 +15 sec into Thursday</span></p> <p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: center; font-size: 12px; font-family: Helvetica;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Finished, at last</span></p> <p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br> </p> <p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Helvetica;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">We sailed in sparse winds from the SE through Tuesday night and into Wednesday, always on a port tack and getting further and further south and edging west, too. Tacking would have meant heading back to New England.</span></p> <p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br> </p> <p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Helvetica;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Wednesday morning, the 5 kt. wind fell to zero, and within a minute, switched 100 degrees to the SW, exactly as the downloaded grib files had predicted, although rather late for our purposes as far as the race went. So, 90 miles west of Bermuday, we reached in on starboard with spinnaker flying the entire time in a 7-9 knot breeze that, while not swift, was a wonderful respite from what we had experienced. </span></p> <p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br> </p> <p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Helvetica;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">We held the spinnaker reach all the way to Northeast Breakers where we had to douse it to head closer to the wind. We had to tack several times to get to the finish line which eventually we did at 15 seconds after midnight. </span></p> <p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br> </p> <p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Helvetica;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">During the entire voyage, Peter seemed never to become discouraged, and always did at least his share of the work and took his share of the watches. In fact, he took more than his share.</span></p> <p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br> </p> <p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Helvetica;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">On the way in, we answered a distress call from another double hander, Sirena Bella. She had lost her engine and were concerned enough that they anchored off Kitchen Shoals to prevent drifting into the rocks. We promised them that we would return on our race completion to tow them into Hamilton. Only several miles to the finish, it took us a couple hours before we could get back to them by which time they had resourcefully cleared the fuel lines and were restarted. They followed us into Hamilton to be sure help was available should the engine fail again. It did not.</span></p> <p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br> </p> </div> <p></p> <p>The information in this e-mail is intended only for the person to whom it is<br> addressed. If you believe this e-mail was sent to you in error and the e-mail<br> contains patient information, please contact the Partners Compliance HelpLine at<br> http://www.partners.org/complianceline . If the e-mail was sent to you in error<br> but does not contain patient information, please contact the sender and properly<br> dispose of the e-mail.</p>tomandaddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00955502596529714496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5533370837598300719.post-60929808009251363622014-06-24T14:02:00.000-07:002014-06-24T14:03:48.059-07:00A rather frustrating day at seaTuesday, June 24, 3 pm
<br>Frustrating
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<br>We are in a hole and have no way up out of it unless we start the engine.
<br>The winds have been soft and from just south of east, which is the direction of Bermuda. Since we can point only to 70 degrees from the wind, any course we take gets us closer to Bermuda in tiny increments. Our hope is for a wind shift, and wind increase.
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<br>Although we have only 140 nm to go if we could take a straight line course, the miles to sail before we get there are over 200, and at 5 kts, that would be 40 hours, or Thursday. Sadly, we are not even able to do 5 kts; currently we are snailing along at 3 kts.
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<br>Last night, it appeared that our masthead navigation lights were not on. Aurora, sailing a mile from us, confirmed so we are using the running lights instead which we would normally use when motoring. I spent couple hours this morning checking the circuit and it appears that we have power to the base of the mast. So, we plan to go up the mast once in Bermuda to fix or replace the problem.
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<br>Then, later, running the generator because the new batteries had insufficient charge to run the chart plotter, the generator stopped charging the batteries because of overheating. With the aft gen compartment open, the same occurred. So, we started the boat engine to charge using the alternator, but were unable to accelerate the engine without it going into gear. I disassembled the clutch cable mechanism at both the control end, and by going deep into engine compartment, at the transmission end. After a couple more hours, everything was put back together and, surprisingly or even miraculously, it all works. There was a time when I thought we might need to get towed into Hamilton or St. George with no useable engine.
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<br>We just finished an experiment suggested by Peter. We are going so slowly that we tried sacrificing even more angle to get more speed by using the spinnaker. Well, we achieved both: terrible angle taking us even further away from Bermuda but at increased speed. So, back to sailing. Peter has been a fantastic sailing companion. Always upbeat, resourceful.
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<br>This e-mail was delivered via satellite phone using IRIDIUM's AxcessPoint Mail & Web software.
<br>Please be kind and keep your replies short.tomandaddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00955502596529714496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5533370837598300719.post-38627995614456021012014-06-24T05:41:00.000-07:002014-06-24T05:43:47.668-07:00Tuesday morning, June 24
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<br>On a long port tack we have seen only one race boat, Aurora. We followed him most of yesterday and although slower, she can point much higher than we. If we stay on our present course and maintain the same winds, we will end up 90 miles wide (west) of Bermuda so something clearly needs to be done. But the what depends on how the winds change. So far, the grib (gridded binary) have not been very accurate.
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<br>At times yesterday, we had too much sail: rail buried, and water, turquoise water, above the cabin windows on the leeward side. Out of prudence we put in a double reef and with that markedly reduced sail area, our speed of over 8 kts was maintained. When the wind fell off to 15 kts in the late afternoon, the reefs were shaken out and we maintained boat speed of 7 - 8 kts.
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<br>More dolphins frolicking and flying fish flying.
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<br>Dinner: goose stew over rice following the recipe from the book, After the Hunt. It was prepared in a slow cooker and then frozen. Rich taste.
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<br> Over the night, the wind quieted. Aurora, whom we had been gaining on steadily, quickly outpaced us in the light winds of about 8 kts. Whisper has an aversion to such whispers of wind. We are still moving but on this tack will be 90 miles from Bermuda when at its latitude. The problem is that on the opposite, starboard tack we will be sailing away from Bermuda. A change in wind would be welcome.
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<br>Wednesday night or Thursday are most likely finish times.
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<br>This e-mail was delivered via satellite phone using IRIDIUM's AxcessPoint Mail & Web software.
<br>Please be kind and keep your replies short.tomandaddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00955502596529714496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5533370837598300719.post-90312284030970902242014-06-22T13:42:00.000-07:002014-06-22T13:44:38.701-07:00250 miles from NewportBlog to Bermuda 6/22
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<br>Sunday just after dawn, the skies are livid pink.
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<br>And we just sit here, no wind but we are making some progress thanks to ocean currents. Unfortunately, the current is heading us southwest when we need to go southeast. We are not in the Gulf Stream yet as presumed from the direction of the current pull to the southwest.
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<br>We might as well be a large bobber, waiting for fish to bite.
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<br>The wind died almost to zero over night and because the mainsail blankets the spinnaker, we dropped the former to aid the latter.
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<br>Still no boats to be seen, although several do show up on AIS.
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<br>Maybe the Gulf Stream will generate some wind, as is usually the case. But it is also the case, as the GRIB files being downloaded a couple times per day, that we will be sailing through a large area of no wind.
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<br>At around 11 am, the wind faltered further, then began to increase at time we decided to jibe. The outside jibe went off as if we had been practicing- which we haven't. Thereafter for the rest of the afternoon, we were making 7 kts and sometimes faster. We are catching several boats ahead of us, although at 9 nautical miles, we cannot see them yet; they show up on AIS.
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<br>After the difficulties just after the start, we were well in last place amongst the DH group and our hopes of finishing better than last seem distant.
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<br>Slow that we are, we star in the eating regatta. For example, our first three dinners have been homemade (by Addie) chicken tetrazini, Mediterranean lamb stew, and a roasted chicken for tonight. Monday might be the night for goose stew.
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<br>Sunday just after dawn, the skies are livid pink.
<br>
<br>And we just sit here, no wind but we are making some progress thanks to ocean currents. Unfortunately, the current is heading us southwest when we need to go southeast. We are not in the Gulf Stream yet as presumed from the direction of the current pull to the southwest.
<br>
<br>We might as well be a large bobber, waiting for fish to bite.
<br>
<br>The wind died almost to zero over night and because the mainsail blankets the spinnaker, we dropped the former to aid the latter.
<br>
<br>Still no boats to be seen, although several do show up on AIS.
<br>
<br>Maybe the Gulf Stream will generate some wind, as is usually the case. But it is also the case, as the GRIB files being downloaded a couple times per day, that we will be sailing through a large area of no wind.
<br>
<br>At around 11 am, the wind faltered further, then began to increase at time we decided to jibe. The outside jibe went off as if we had been practicing- which we haven't. Thereafter for the rest of the afternoon, we were making 7 kts and sometimes faster. We are catching several boats ahead of us, although at 9 nautical miles, we cannot see them yet; they show up on AIS.
<br>
<br>
<br>After the difficulties just after the start, we were well in last place amongst the DH group and our hopes of finishing better than last seem distant.
<br>
<br>Slow that we are, we star in the eating regatta. For example, our first three dinners have been homemade (by Addie) chicken tetrazini, Mediterranean lamb stew, and a roasted chicken for tonight. Monday might be the night for goose stew.
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<br>--------------------------------tomandaddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00955502596529714496noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5533370837598300719.post-52318129043284638722014-06-22T13:35:00.000-07:002014-06-22T13:46:08.696-07:00send gfs:30N,43N,-62E,-77W|2,2|6,12..96|WIND
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<br>--------------------------------tomandaddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00955502596529714496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5533370837598300719.post-4428201036794800452014-06-21T06:16:00.000-07:002014-06-21T06:48:07.376-07:00----
<br>This e-mail was delivered via satellite phone using IRIDIUM's AxcessPoint Mail & Web software.
<br>Please be kind and keep your replies short.tomandaddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00955502596529714496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5533370837598300719.post-65888029029871764732014-06-19T18:57:00.001-07:002014-06-19T18:57:43.414-07:00Start minus 1 dayRain in the morning during our visit to Stop and Shop for final provisions: the perishables that were added to the larder.<br />
<br />
Then, Newport. Five gallon jerry cans purchased at West Marine that we will fill with diesel in Bermuda to give us psychological comfort on the return trip. Ten gallons equals about 50 miles of steaming. Then Team One where they kindly replaced a defective foul weather coat from two years ago.<br />
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The line waiting for Bermuda immigration where we pre cleared into Bermuda was about 1 ½ hours long but we made it to the skippers meeting with time to spare. The depressing news is that the winds for the first couple days appear to be light and variable. The translation of that is that the lighter boats with taller rigs (as is the case with all the boats in our class) will almost certainly be mast down on the horizon before the end of the day. Sometimes the forecasts are wrong. Please.tomandaddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00955502596529714496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5533370837598300719.post-83306494607052924912014-06-18T13:38:00.002-07:002014-06-18T13:38:53.994-07:00Start minus 2 daysJune 18, 2014<br />
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We went directly to the farm and got some eggs within minutes of being laid. Unwashed, unrefrigerated eggs last about a month without refrigeration. We only need three weeks out of them.<br />
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Added a bit of diesel to the tanks, more on the left side and for the first time in years, the boat does not list to starboard.<br />
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Tonight, a party for the double handed class. Quite possibly the last time I will see my competitors until we reach Bermuda, as many as two days later than many of them on their racing sleds.tomandaddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00955502596529714496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5533370837598300719.post-40474621037043780192014-06-17T12:05:00.000-07:002014-06-19T18:47:45.982-07:00Bermuda Race Preparation on Whisper<div style="color: black; direction: ltr; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt;">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Tuesday, June 17, 2014</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Tuesday, June 17, 2014</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">Race prep has been about a year long, but frenzied over the past two weeks. Exploding our spinnaker a couple weekends ago did not contribute to a sense of </span><span style="font-size: 12px;">equanimity</span><span style="font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">, but it has been repaired (the sail).</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">We have loaded about half the food, with Addie and I having spent an inordinate amount of time cooking, and freeze/vacuum packing meals. While we may be one of the slower boats, we will be one of the better eating ones.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">With my double handed crew, Peter Dowd, and one of the return crew, Andrew Dieselman, we moved the boat from Marblehead to Little Compton (about 2 hours away from the start in Newport) on Friday and into Saturday, transiting the Cape Cod Canal at about midnight and arriving in Little Compton at 6am. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Fog, all the way. Cold, rain, windy, wind on our nose, and we sailed very little, mostly motoring.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Land could be seen twice during the 16 hour trip: once in the Canal, and then not again until we were 100 feet from the breakwater protecting Sakonnet Harbor in Little Compton. Braille sailing, as can be seen from what the appearance was like from the boat at early dawn today.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFJzziRJFzT4r1GPKcj0-Hqp79zYGOVZehvFrdhh-ND6tWLnFFFcvH-Z8AchZBiG0pQjslDxDX6JSKYqE3F-mMJns9lAMiZ4wahmI4c5Q6Adco3Dt1WaAjGeedYiHaxKnLLKPNLVrwe4z-/s1600/photo-21.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFJzziRJFzT4r1GPKcj0-Hqp79zYGOVZehvFrdhh-ND6tWLnFFFcvH-Z8AchZBiG0pQjslDxDX6JSKYqE3F-mMJns9lAMiZ4wahmI4c5Q6Adco3Dt1WaAjGeedYiHaxKnLLKPNLVrwe4z-/s1600/photo-21.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
tomandaddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00955502596529714496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5533370837598300719.post-49041884888784992262014-05-27T09:36:00.000-07:002014-05-27T09:41:52.120-07:00test <div style="direction: ltr;font-family: Tahoma;color: #000000;font-size: 10pt;">5/27/14</div> <p></p> <p>The information in this e-mail is intended only for the person to whom it is<br> addressed. If you believe this e-mail was sent to you in error and the e-mail<br> contains patient information, please contact the Partners Compliance HelpLine at<br> http://www.partners.org/complianceline . If the e-mail was sent to you in error<br> but does not contain patient information, please contact the sender and properly<br> dispose of the e-mail.</p>tomandaddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00955502596529714496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5533370837598300719.post-90896497635418598902011-07-26T10:32:00.000-07:002011-07-26T10:32:14.519-07:00Back in MarbleheadSunday, July 17. <br />
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The wind finally arose from its slumber last night, affording us the opportunity again to sail. Unfortunately, it continued to come from Marblehead so we motored for most of the morning. As it backed more to the SW, we sailed close hauled on a port tack but couldn't strike the heading we wanted and ended up more toward Gloucester where we again motored back down to Marblehead, arriving on the mooring at about 6pm.<br />
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We caught a launch for the Boston YC and armed with only passports we went through a very non-threatening customs reentry: the officer was out of uniform, dressed in shorts, a t-shirt and carried a pink drink in one hand. He did not seem to suspect us of being smugglers or terrorists.tomandaddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00955502596529714496noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5533370837598300719.post-37791409717271565252011-07-16T13:59:00.000-07:002011-07-16T14:07:08.133-07:00What sailing lacks<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>1700 EDT.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Wind, today. Began motoring last night when the wind fell away and for brief periods, we have motor sailed, for the most part it has been motoring only. We are motoring straight for Marblehead with about 150 miles to go, and with speed across the ground of about 6 kts. Just over the past hour, the breeze has picked up nicely to about 15 kts, but the direction leaves something to be desired; it is on our nose, originating in Marblehead, seemingly. We could beat against it but with Whisper being able to tack no closer to the wind than 55 degrees, going upwind is a labor of labor.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>At present rate, anticipate Marblehead about 2200 tomorrow.</FONT></DIV>tomandaddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00955502596529714496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5533370837598300719.post-32875763298296317192011-07-15T17:31:00.000-07:002011-08-06T10:15:13.345-07:00Return trip, day one.<div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwT1zubS7JZAXIwDmmf8oLKPG63guIn1dalNqISRw6N89sjnW7erS1cqkZT0cTQnX6VJbd2QFnt5UpCwAZpwA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzuUagjPR5KTwTyAn-QZQNDruB_CgP24dXSOSwwyrYz95V3J20yOuqqUPGNp9-zpt6lU04xcc4PX9YHtA-7sg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimdcGFSbnb3abwehCfR9d4Z8-u1t5CY_DQufU94K-Ks9vwY_x6XoKts3ZKf6S4RUYzgiBpNacOSsSYZ6Rnorw8GkhCCQywPtdwc5yYyko2SEPOX-RMKsjxLCmXKtsZOW7TV_7q-Or08EZf/s1600/IMG_1350.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimdcGFSbnb3abwehCfR9d4Z8-u1t5CY_DQufU94K-Ks9vwY_x6XoKts3ZKf6S4RUYzgiBpNacOSsSYZ6Rnorw8GkhCCQywPtdwc5yYyko2SEPOX-RMKsjxLCmXKtsZOW7TV_7q-Or08EZf/s320/IMG_1350.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object class="BLOG_video_class" contentid="FAILED" height="266" id="BLOG_video-FAILED-0" width="320"></object></div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"> Augmented crew: Christopher Goodenough joined us for the return. We departed the RNSYS at about 0630 in a few sprinkles of rain but the sky quickly cleared leaving only a few residua of scattered clouds. North wind at about 15 most of the day and after turning right to parallel the NS coast, we flew the spinnaker, making excellent time with speeds through the water of 8 to 9 kts.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"> And then, along came squall. Before we could do anything, winds of 30 - 35 kts attacked from the north, leaving us with way way over canvassed. Peter was able to douse the spinnaker with great effort and without any injuries to man or materiel.</span></div><div></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Next came two reefs in the main and finally we had boat speeds below 10 kts and a controllable boat--which we definitely did not a half hour earlier. Almost broached; a boat passing us, also carrying a spinnaker, did broach but they got things back together and continued on by us.</span></div><div></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">At 2028 EDT we are about 18 miles from Brazil Rock where we will turn almost due west towards Marblehead.</span></div><div></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Sadly, the wind died after dinner and we are motor sailing at about 7 kts. More motor than sail!</span></div>tomandaddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00955502596529714496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5533370837598300719.post-31558782806836371752011-07-13T11:17:00.000-07:002011-07-31T13:37:52.085-07:00Race over. Wild ride.<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiye4ZSdKdfM2it4mcnB60IVy6-Di0SBEMIVxMuNU4bkAs8cL9loODbuuVEt8jVuO-OV41gcJurnR3oGQ_dT8pY6n-gx-9jeDz7cb6sG8FTmdqvxgciPHwNgjXBoLG9yJx2Pzjf3iVnJArE/s1600/IMG_1341.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiye4ZSdKdfM2it4mcnB60IVy6-Di0SBEMIVxMuNU4bkAs8cL9loODbuuVEt8jVuO-OV41gcJurnR3oGQ_dT8pY6n-gx-9jeDz7cb6sG8FTmdqvxgciPHwNgjXBoLG9yJx2Pzjf3iVnJArE/s320/IMG_1341.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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</tbody></table><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Wednesday, July 13, 2011</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">So. A much faster race than expected. We finished in 2 days, 4 1/2 hours, yesterday afternoon.</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Monday night, we crossed from north to south of the rhumb line following the wind, but in hindsight, it appears that everyone had the same wind and the only thing we gained was distance travelled. Steady winds of 15 to 20 kts mostly from the south. Then by Tuesday morning, as the wind backed into the SW, it also picked up to about 25 kts. </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Were able to fly the assym for part of Tuesday during a relative lull in the wind but after a couple hours, the wind escalated forcing us to snuff the spinnaker and go with the jib on same side as main and mizzen sails. At the longitude of Brazil Rock (although we had stood off a fair distance to the south in search of more wind. As we turned left to parallel the Nova Scotia coast, and as the wind backed we were going almost dead down wind with the jib poled out to windward on the spinnaker pole </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">That maneuver was a great success with speed through the water consistently in the 8 to 9.5 kts with boat speeds up to 10.6 surfing down the building seas of 6 to 8 feet. Quite thrilling, actually. We had favorable current giving us speeds across the ground of up to 12.6 kts.</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">But a not-so-funny thing happened on the way to the forum: the adjustable back stay suddenly gave way about 4 inches and while pumping it up back to its desired tension, the boat and waves had their way with me and we went from a course of 060</span><span style="font: normal normal normal 8px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px;"><sup>0 </sup></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">to 110</span><span style="font: normal normal normal 8px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px;"><sup>0, </sup></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">the jib back winded, the pole swung back to the side stays and when I was back on course, I watched as the pole broke in slow motion. First it bent, then meiosed into two daughter poles, one 4 feet long and the other 14 feet long. The wind was screaming in the rigging, we almost broached, and at the end, had two very sharp ends of the pole jumping this way and that trying to find and shred the jib. Peter quickly and successfully got the pole down on the deck and there were no injuries to either crew or boat.</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">But it meant that we had to go downwind with jib flogging and blanketed by the main. So, we had to jibe back and forth to get into the harbor with all three sails still working. We were off the wind about 30</span><span style="font: normal normal normal 8px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px;"><sup>0</sup></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> to one side then the other when we wanted to go straight in to the controlling course marks. We lost time, although we were still pushing through the water at over 7 kts.</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">The long course up the harbor to the finish was exciting with a race between us and another boat, the wind now off the port beam and increasing suddenly to about 30 kts. Were able to reef the main sail with no diminution in boat speed, and we inched ahead of the other boat, a distance separating us of about 100 yards all the way to the finish.</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Even with the slowest handicap in the double handed fleet, we still only finished ahead of one boat on corrected time. But our average speed for the entire race was over 6.8 kts based on a rhumb line distance of 360 nm. Since our actual distance travelled was longer, we had an actual average boat speed of 7.6 kts. I could not have dreamed of going that fast in our boat.</span></div>tomandaddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00955502596529714496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5533370837598300719.post-31018892817158143932011-07-11T10:59:00.000-07:002011-07-31T13:46:41.895-07:00Day 2 of MHOR<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHvkZCl0hSQCnKXHwuAvAZ1I72ChwCY2czOg-VQ0gl5a0sWa1ab1vneTTMz2LZRahEljMyqCD4U3nxuNLGr48geEAJ4zFFpV7Kk7J5i74wJJSirArneW0jCmDCs8TA_hNeQsmpTzBWdnuh/s1600/IMG_1328.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHvkZCl0hSQCnKXHwuAvAZ1I72ChwCY2czOg-VQ0gl5a0sWa1ab1vneTTMz2LZRahEljMyqCD4U3nxuNLGr48geEAJ4zFFpV7Kk7J5i74wJJSirArneW0jCmDCs8TA_hNeQsmpTzBWdnuh/s320/IMG_1328.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial;">From Whisper, 1745 UTC (1345 EDT)</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial;">In 24 hrs, we have put about 180 miles away behind us; we have 63 to go before rounding Cape Sable. Our plan, based on predicted winds, has been to go north of the rhumb line for higher winds and then go south below Cape Sable to find higher winds. Currently going along at about 7.5 kts with 15 kts wind from west of south. Much better speed so far than anticipated. But other boats profited from the same winds and only a couple in sight of us. Sailed, so far, a beam reach with no spinnaker use.</span></div><div></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial;">We tried using the wind vane steering but the winds were sufficiently variable that the vane could not cope with the rapidly changing weather helm, so most of the time we have hand steered or used the autopilot. When we gave up on the wind vane, we were unable to extract its rudder from the ocean so we eventually heaved to, slowing to no boat speed in the middle of a race! But it worked to enable lifting the rudder out, and thereby reducing its considerable flow resistance.</span></div><div></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial;">It has been gorgeous sailing: very few clouds, and every direction of gaze, sky blue against deep aquamarine of the water which is decorated with white caps.</span></div><div></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial;">For reasons of time constraint (it's a race) we were unable to stop at either of the highly regarded Gulf of Maine floating restaurants, Neptune's Keep and the pirate-themed restaurant, Arrrrrggghhhh. Maybe on the return trip.</span></div><div></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial;">Whisper and Crew.</span></div>tomandaddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00955502596529714496noreply@blogger.com1