Three Sheets in the Wind

Transcription

1 Three Sheets in the Wind T H E N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E L I T T L E S H I P S F L E E T Y A C H T C L U B ( E S T A B L I S H E D ) M A R I N A D R I V E, L O N G B E A C H, C A L I F Volume 54 Issue 2 web: lsfyc.org lsfyclb@gmail.com May, 2018 LSFYC Board of Directors Report Greetings to all Well, apologies to all for the time gap from last issue of newsletter. The publisher was just busy with too many other things. So, what has happened and what s going on We were scheduled to have a Member meeting last month, but were unable to find a place that was available to us, so no meeting. We hope to be successful for the next meeting. As mentioned earlier, for membership acquisition, LSFYC is now become part of the social media world as there is a FACEBOOK page created to allow a greater avenue for folks to become aware of the existence and value of the club. The purpose of the FB page is to be a billboard to lead viewers to the LSFYC website where the membership details are explained. Thanks to David Donohue for creating the page. If you are a Facebook member, see: See page 3 for the newest member for 2018! The LSFYC Shed lease has been renewed...see page 2 for the article from The Log. Since the Newport Ensenada Race this year has several LSFYC members entered, this issue will highlight some of the experiences by the members. In the past many, many LSFYC members have entered the N2E Race and have stories of their adventures. If you wish to add to the telling of these stories, please the newsletter guy at: lsfyclb@gmail.com Congratulations to Dave Donahue for completing the race on A Little Endeavor in CRUZ-GEN class. Three Sheets in the Wind Page 1

2 The LSFYC storage shed lease has been renewed by the city and it was surprising to see an article in The Log regarding this event. It may now be possible to utilize The Log to promote LSFYC events in subsequent issues of the newspaper... You may have to increase your.pdf viewing screen to read the text... Three Sheets in the Wind Page 2

3 LSFYC Member News LSFYC is pleased and honored to welcome the newest addition to the LSFYC roster...dr. David Sweeney. I owe my sailing passion to my dad as he started taking me sailing when I was about 2 when he was racing Flying Scots outside of Boston. We later had a Carter 33 sloop that we sailed on Buzzards Bay and New England. We made annual offshore passages to destinations such as Maine, Nova Scotia and as far south as Virginia. I had gotten away from sailing while in college, medical school and residency training but I have been a sailboat owner for the past 17 years in Long Beach starting with a Santana 22. We currently have a Catalina 400, Kailani, that is better able to accommodate our family. We are looking forward to our first Newport to Ensenada race this year. Note: Dr. Sweeney completed the N2E Race in CRUZ -GEN class. Congrats to LSFYC s newest member! Three Sheets in the Wind Page 3

4 N2E with Some Tuesday For a while, it seemed that everything was falling apart for Some Tuesday, new LSFYC member Steve Dunlap s 2017 Lagoon 450-S on its inaugural N2E. First, they got yelled at while trying to find the check-in boat. Four hours into the race, their drone that had been capturing some beautiful footage of the boat at sea with its spinnaker flying, started struggling to keep up with Some Tuesday, now cruising at 9 knots. Since slowing down was not an option, the entire crew watched as radio contact was lost and the drone plunged into the ocean. Minutes after that, the nice new spinnaker ripped. Later, about 24 miles off Rosarito, the nut holding the gooseneck pin came off and with it, the boom fell...boom. At least that they could fix. Of Steve s seven-man crew, three had never even sailed before he bought the boat and for others, this was their first race. However, boat and crew made numerous practice sails and Steve taught everyone including his father-in-law Stephen Estee who flew in from Springfield, Mass., for the race how to man each of the sailing positions. The training, and perseverance, paid off. Despite the obstacles and coming in 16 minutes behind the competition in ORCA B, they corrected 21 minutes faster; winning the class Trophy! After all of this, might Steve and crew return for a second N2E? Absolutely, 100 percent yes, the entire team said, without hesitation. Next year, the goal is to win without the handicap. They won t bring a drone and are pretty confident having a spinnaker will help too! Congratulations Steve! Three Sheets in the Wind Page 4

5 Anatomy of a DNF By S/C Ben Smith For several reasons, I decided to crew on a buddy s boat instead of entering Renegade in the 2018 Newport to Ensenada Race. So I found myself working the bow on board Onde Amo. Onde Amo is a Beneteau First 40.7 and she liked the light but steady breeze at the start. Shortly after our 1130 start, we were headed for a waypoint just outside of the Coronado Islands and averaging about 7.5 knots. The breeze held and even began to build. We made a couple of sail changes as the wind shifted and maintained our average speed with occasional bursts above 8 knots. Before dark the wind had built to over 15 knots and shifted to the right. We changed the headsail to the A2 asymmetrical spinnaker and continued to make good time. We had dinner, and at 2100, I went down to get some rest before the mid-watch. The watch schedule works a bit differently than I m accustomed to and I came up for my watch at We were still flying the A2 and doing well enough that I could see the Coronados. It was a beautiful night with clear skies and nearly a full moon. The moon was so bright, I could see it shining on the water. There were three of us on watch and the rest of the crew was sleeping down below. At about 0230, we discussed whether we should gybe towards Ensenada and Stephen Ashley, the owner/ skipper of Onde Amo, went below to check our position. I was trimming the spinnaker. At approximately 0238 and approximately 30 miles from Ensenada, I heard the driver state, I have no helm! Everything went into slow motion at that point. It felt like I could still trim the spinnaker for a couple of seconds, but then the boat rounded up into the wind. All we could do was hold on. I was still hanging on to the spinnaker sheet, but now the spinnaker had passed through the fore triangle and was streaming behind the boat on the starboard side. Not a pretty sight. I could hear Stephen inside the boat yelling, All hands on deck! A few seconds later, there were a couple crewmates on deck to help douse the spinnaker. I managed to ease the spin halyard and sheet slowly enough that the crew was able to pull the spinnaker in without ever touching the water. The spinnaker was stuffed into the companionway and the boat immediately settled down. It was at this point that we could begin to investigate what had happened and what we needed to do to recover. One crew member went below and opened an inspection port so that he could see the steering quadrant and the skipper went to fetch the emergency tiller. It didn t take long to determine that we had broken our steering cable. The steering cable on Onde Amo is a 1/2 dyneema line with a minimum tensile strength of 22,500 pounds. The crewman who went below, reported that the autopilot hydraulic ram was attached to the steering quadrant. We quickly realized that we could steer with autopilot. We engaged Otto, but Otto could not control the boat because we were dead into the wind and not making way. We started the engine to get the boat moving again and Otto was soon driving the boat. It didn t take long to realize that Otto could steer a better course than we could using the emergency tiller. We knew at that point we were out of the race, so we pointed Otto at Ensenada and motor sailed the rest of the way. We DNF ed the 2018 Newport to Ensenada, but we also got one heck of a sea story! Three Sheets in the Wind Page 5

6 Newport to Ensenada Race revisited By S/C Frank Franco In putting together this newsletter, I was recalling the first time experience taken by myself and fellow Little Shipper S/C Roy Queen aboard the Hunter 43 Excalibur during the 1998 N2E race. The following is the story of how it all played out. Prior to that time, LSFYC had a relatively new member, Dr. Nan Wang, a heart surgeon who owned the Hunter. Dr. Wang, when he wasn t busy replacing hearts and stuff at Loma Linda, loved to jump on the Hunter for racing or just cruising the area with friends. After some time, Roy and myself had established a relationship with Nan that allowed us to prepare the boat for him when he was planning to take the boat out. He would call me and Roy and I would get the boat ready. Nan would sometimes just show up with suit and tie, change into sailing gear and with his eager friends aboard, we would take off. One day Nan tells me that he wants to enter the Newport Ensenada Race. So I filled out the Entry forms and got things started. The boat, at the time was berthed in the Shoreline Marina fishbowl and managed by a charter outfit who took charge of providing the required safety gear and equipment. The Hunter Mooring 43 was a former Caribbean charter cruiser berthed to handle 2 couples and crew. With a 16 ft beam, the boat was a floating condominium.very spacious.and fast! Nan was anxious to launch the spinnaker at first opportunity during a race. He loved that spinnaker...he would launch it right out from the slip if he thought he could! In the planning of the trip, I asked Nan Who is coming? He gave me a few names...friends and coworkers. On the day of the Race, 10 people showed up (including Roy and myself)...a full house! We had more than enough food on board...not really knowing the duration of the trip or if we would be chowing down every five minutes. We gassed up at the Alamitos Bay gas dock and with smiling faces headed out to Newport for the start line. With myself, Roy, Nan and another LSFYC member with the only sailing experience, the rest of the crew were just passengers. I was the navigator and safety officer making sure all understood the emergency procedures in the event of a major mishap. The rest of the folks didn t really know what to expect other than an exciting cruise. We didn t expect to be competing against the other racers, but we would make a valiant attempt to maximize the speed of the boat. The plan was to get to the start line, wait the for class (CRUZ-SPIN) gun and take off.launching the chute at first opportunity. The gun boomed and we re off to Mexico! Now, this year was the El Nino condition...stiff constant winds...pretty exciting stuff for all. As the fleet begin to scatter, and the chutes blossoming left, right and behind us, we followed suit and hung on! Thirty minutes into the race...this was great stuff! The boat was roaring toward our destination, a sunny day, the winds were blowing hard and the fleet was all around us until a few chutes behind us began to blow out, rips and tears and eventually collapse. We were thinking maybe we should lower the chute until conditions lessened when BANG the spin halyard let loose at the top of the mast! We scrambled to wrestle the chute in the bag to stow below and then hauled up the genoa. There was chaffing of the halyard at the exit box causing the line to eventually break. This occurred once again some months later. With the jib up and still making good speed, we all settled down to enjoy the rest of the uneventful journey. As navigator, all I had were charts, parallel rules and a handheld GPS. The GPS provided only coordinates, so I just plotted them on the charts to see where we were at any given time. We pretty much followed the rhumb line. (see next page) Three Sheets in the Wind Page 6

7 Newport to Ensenada Race Revisited (con t) Thruout the rest of the day and late afternoon, the winds blew steady and we marveled as to how much the fleet was scattered over the horizon. Our motley crew was either in the cockpit or down below resting or snacking.no one was allowed on the fore deck without a safety harness. After the sun had set and we were in serene darkness with only the sound of the rushing water past the hull, the rise and fall of the waves and the close and distant mast head lights of the scattered fleet. We were still making some good speed. As the night wore on and into the early am hours, most folks were already below asleep. The interior space was sufficient to allow all to find a spot to lay down and grab some zzz s. On deck were myself and a few others trading turns at the helm. Very little sail trim was necessary as the winds were constant and the course was steady. I would go below every hour to check our position and relay course changes to the helm if required. We could see the shadow of the Coronado Islands and decided to stay outside. I finally had to get some sleep and went below to find a spot. It was amazing to feel and hear the sound of the water roaring under the hull at 3:00 am! During this time the on deck crew continued to keep the boat on track. I came to find after that a few had turned green (even the good doctor) and were feeding the fish! I knew that we would soon be closing in on the finish line, but after waking up and checking our position discovered we had passed the committee boat by 1/2 mile! So we quickly turned around and soon spotted the committee boat, then checked in and mission accomplished! As dawn was breaking, we headed into the harbor, dropped the hook next to the other boats and were picked up by a shuttle boat. Nan had arranged for the charter outfit to pick up and return Excalibur to the US. We wound up giving the rest of the food away to the locals...we really did not eat too much during the trip. After arriving on shore we searched for and found a restaurant to grab some breakfast. Everyone had made their own plans as to where to stay and how to get back to the US of A. Roy and I had reservations at a local hotel and spend the rest of early morning sleeping. My father was to meet us at the hotel for the ride back home. So Roy, myself and Nan threw all our gear in to the car and we headed back home...happy sailors! Many records were set that year due to the El Nino winds. We checked in at about 22 hours from the start...even with the turnaround and lack of spinnaker. Three Sheets in the Wind Page 7

8 May 2018 S U N MON T U E W E D T H U F R I S A T MOTHER S DAY 14 LSF BOD MEET MEMORIAL DAY More events at click [Events/Photos] Three Sheets in the Wind Page 8

9 TOP LSFYC MEMBER RECRUITER I met with Dave Donohue on, March 11, and presented him with the LSFYC s new Perpetual trophy for Top Recruiter for He told me he would hang it proudly in his office. The top recruiter is also awarded a year s free dues. Just FYI the picture was taken at Belmont Brewing Co., not in his office just in case you noticed the fully stocked cabinet in the background. Please remember that any member bringing in the most new members in 2018 gets possession of the knotboard for one year and free dues for the year. Thanks Dave... S/C Nate Tucker 2018 LSFYC Operations Staff and Board of Directors OPERATIONS STAFF Fleet Captain: David Donahue Port Captain: Larry Finley Treasurer: Dick Martin BOARD OF DIRECTORS Junior Staff Comm: Rob Sonz Director/ S/C Tom Cornelius Director: S/C Frank Franco Director: S/C Nate Tucker Director: Dick Martin Director: Larry Finley Director: David Haas Director: David Donahue Director: Moti Cohen-Doron Director: Debra Terrell Director: Todd Smith OTHER CONTACTS Membership Chairman: David Haas Newsletter: S/C Frank Franco Webmaster: S/C Ben Smith Three Sheets in the Wind Page 9