Morro Bay Yacht Club ocean fleet Race

I participated in my first ocean race of the new year today with the Morro Bay Yacht Club (MBYC). The Winter 2 race was under clear skies and 12- 15 knots of wind with 4-7 foot swells.  A great day for sailing.

I crewed on a Dana 24 with Captain Ken. It was nice to be in a race on a boat the size of Training Wheels especially one as well appointed as this one. It had all the electronics which come in handy during a race. The fleet was split into two classes today, basically a slow group and a fast group. We did fairly well finishing first in our class (slow group) and placing second after the handicaps were applied. With the handicaps we finished 5 overall in the fleet.  Not too bad a showing.  

We blew a big lead we had ending the second leg of six legs in the race. We made a poor jibe around the marker getting the jib stuck on the staysail during the jibe and lost about 4 minuntes. It is pretty tough to get the big jib around the staysail quickly.  This is why I changed Training Wheels from a cutter rigged sailboat (has 2 sails in front of mast close together) to a sloop rig (just a main and a jib).  

A good example of a cutter rigged sailboat from the Biscayne Bay Sailing Club website.

As for Training Wheels, the kill switch on the Engine broke so the next post will be outboard engine maintenance tips. 

Sailing Mishap plan: Broken Boom

Since breaking the boom on Training Wheels, I have heard from quite a few sailors that have done the same thing!

I had read about it in books like “Dove”, the circumnavigation of sixteen year old Lee Grahm in the 50's. Back in those days they had no satellite phone and no SSB (Short Side Band radio) to call the Coast Guard or Local Harbor Assist. They had to make do with what they had.

I have mentioned a few times before, I want to learn the sailing craft on Training Wheels the old-school way before I learn with modern conveniences.  After the boom breaks, I am sure the first thing many will do is let out a four letter explicative or two.  The first constructive thing to do is to turn into the wind to relieve the pressure off the sails. Next, take down the sail.

Before you rig a make-shift boom you need to have the mainsail under control on deck. This sounds easy, but it was really hard for me to do that day on Training Wheels. The first thing I did when the boom broke was to furl the Genoa. Looking back this was probably a mistake We had rounded Point Buchon and were about a mile from shore. At this close a distance to land the shallow water caused the swell to have risen to about 6 feet at a fairly close interval. The swell and the wind made it impossible for me to turn the boat into the wind with just the flapping main sail that I could no longer control. Even after turning on the engine I could still not get the boat point into the wind. I believe keeping the Genoa up would have helped this.

After you are able to the sail under control you can sail under Genoa alone, but this can cause control difficultly on some points of sail. Plus that ends the discussion and makes for a boring blog. So then we move on to creating a new boom. Creativity is key but needs to be paired with a good amount of compromise. The new boom does not need to be as long or as strong as the original. You only need something that will fit the main sail reefed down as far as possible. On training wheels this would cut the original boom length of 12 feet to 8 feet.

The standard replacement for a boom is to use a whisker pole. It is usually about the right size for a reefed main and has enough strength the the job. Depending on the attachment type of the whisker pole you may need to use a piece of line to secure the whisker pole to the mast and act as a down haul (line holding boom down near the mast) to keep the pole from lifting during gusts. The main sheets can be tied directly to the main sail clew (bottom back or aft corner of the sail) or on the whisker pole. Another option often may be to use a remaining piece of the boom or anything you have that is close to being long enough.  

Good News and More Good News

First, the good news is that someone at the Yacht club has a spare boom that he will donate to us to replace Trainings Wheels' broken boom. This is a big blessing because I was dreading the cost of either buying a new one or having a used one shipped from somewhere. I don't even know how to go about shipping a 12 foot piece of aluminum.  A minor repair job and frabricating a mount and Training wheels should be ready to go!

Now for the really good news: I will have to wait until October to start the repairs. "How is that good news?" you may be asking yourself.  In the ongoing journey of becoming a better sailor, I have accepted an invitation to crew aboard a 61' ketch from Oahu to Morro Bay (about 2500 miles). This will be a huge learning experience and not just about sailing. Gaining more experience in navigating and sailing in heavy weather will be hard not to do on a passage such as this. The journey should take about 20 days at sea with one point being about the farthest from land as you can get (1200 miles).  You can follow our progress on the sailblog for s/v Go For Broke.

We've added the blog to our blogroll.

I will be leaving for Hawaii on Sept 3 and will be setting sail for a shakedown cruise to Kauai on Sept 5. We will post daily progress and small written updates during the voyage for those following from home.
~The Captain

The Morning After: Avila to Morro Bay

After the awards ceremony at the San Luis Yacht Club we took the skiff out to the boat to spend the night!  We had a great night and woke up to the sun coming over the hills.  We made breakfast on the BBQ and started to motor back to Morro Bay.  Here a some pictures from the trip back to our home dock.

Motoring wasn't too fast and we even got passed by these guys!

With our broken boom strapped to the deck, we motored most of the way to Morro Bay at 4.2 knots.  We passed a cool looking old lighthouse.  The sun finally came out!  We put up the genoa and kicked it up to 5.2 knots.

Details of Training Wheels' First Ocean Race

The Zongo Cup is the first ocean race that Training Wheels has participated in.  She has sailed out to sea just for fun, but turning back was always a convenient option.  The race was different.  She had to get to the finish line!

I have to say that racing adds a different perspective as compared to the usual cruising we do. I learn a lot more during races. Sailing a preset course requires you to take what wind and swell you have and use it to your best advantage in order to arrive at a specific destination. You also have a measuring stick, being the other boats in the race, to measure your progress by.

The Zongo course never took Training Wheels far from land, but the iphone app turned out to be a wonderful way of keeping track of her speed and direction to the next marker bouy. We have been opposed to tech on the boat wanting to keep things old school, but knowing the boat speed helps in finding the optimal sail trim to hit the top speed. Too bad the top speed for our Coronado 25 was only a whopping 4.8 knots.  We have MotionX GPS lite on the iPhone and it works very well. I will write a little more on this later.

The race started out smoothly with light wind.  Upon rounding Point Buchon, about 4 hours into the race, the wind picked up on a downwind run with gusts to 20 knots.  I guess this was too much for her 40 year old boom because she broke right in half! I must remember to ease the boom vang when running downwind. I am sure this contributed to the boom failure.

The boom flapped around uncontrollably, but luckily no one was hurt.  We stabilized the broken half into the sail and the standing rigging for the next two hours.  hen we got into Avila we were able to take down the sail and boom.  We will have to take the sail to SLO Sails for the repair.  We hope to buy another boom from anyone who has a spare or on craigslist. 

The boom is down, the sail folded, and boat anchored for the night.

The Zongo Cup!

The 2nd Annual Zongo Yachting Cup was a hit!  The race was sponsored by the calypso band Zongo All-Stars.  The Yacht clubs of San Luis and Morro Bay hosted the start and finish festivities.  Most boats sailed the course in 4-6 hours.  Winners got trophies; all others received fun mugs.  The courtesy skiff service was great!  We spent the night on the boat and motor-sailed back today.  Our top speed was 5.2 knots.

Training Wheels made it to Avila Beach and back intact, but not without some hitches!  A picture is worth a thousand words so I'll just post some of the most amazing shots.  We will go over the mishaps in the next few posts, but basically, here is a synopsis:  the boom broke in half tearing our mainsail; we lost an anchor and nearly floated to Pismo Beach; the percolater wouldn't make us coffee on the barbie.

Friday night Farmer's Market, Avila Beach, and the Zongo All-Stars!

The boats have all come into port.

Training Wheels taking down the mainsail and broken boom.

Preparations for our First Regatta: The Zongo Cup!!!

Next weekend we will participate in our first local regatta.  The Captain has crewed other boats on the blue ocean, but this will be Training Wheels' public debut.  We are sailing with the Morro Bay Yacht Club from Morro Bay to Avila Beach.  It will be a 4-6 hour sail!  When we get to Avila, we will raft up and enjoy the tunes of the Zongo All-Stars! 

Zongo Cup Preparations
Abandon Ship Bag (Floating)
First aid kit
Strobe lights
Flares
Seasick pills
Binoculars
Emergency rations
Emergency blanket
Radio
Tools
Tool box
Socket set
Rigger’s bag (electrical)
Rigger’s bag (misc)
Photography
digital small camera
Nikon D3000
Head lamp
Halogen spotlight
flashlights

Galley
dried fruit
CLIF bars
chips
beef jerkey
Nuts
water
adult beverages

Propane for BBQ
towels
Safety harness and line
sleeping bags
pillows
mirror
Check Electricity
Check Gasoline
Check Battery
Check Solar power
Check VHF

Invite all our friends to meet us in Avila!

Are we forgetting anything?

MBYC Ocean Race: Took 3rd Place!

The Captain crewed on Gracie Ray for the Summer 2 Ocean race with the Morro Bay Yacht club this weekend. Calm seas and light winds made for a slow going but we still had a enjoyable and close race. The light winds was also timely providing some more experience with whisker poles. (The First mate and myself first tried our whisker pole out on Training Wheels this last week and will complete a more detailed post on whiskers poles soon.)

An exciting moment during the race was when we caught up to Kiskadee.  We didn't expect to catch up to her because our boat, Gracie Ray, a Catalina 30 sailboat, has a much higher handicap. In sailing terms, the handicap is referred to as a  "PHRF" (United States Performance Handicap Racing Fleet). The PHRF allows boats of varying type and performance to sail on a level playing field. We made it neck and neck with Kiskadee until rounding the last marker that started a down wind run (wind from behind). Kiskadee put up her spinnaker and promptly left us in the dust.

Kiskadee setting a spinnaker

We tried to run wing and wing (Main sail to one side and Genoa to the other) but without the use of a whisker pole to hold the sail's shape in the light wind the genoa was less than helpful. At times the Genoa would even back wind and slow us down. Kiskadee finished about 5 minutes ahead of us, but we still placed ahead of them because of Gracie Ray's handicap. We did well and came in third place missing second place by about a minute. Captain even got to bring home the trophy mug!

My First Mug!

Why join the Yacht Club

The idea of actually joining the yacht club has come up several times lately and it is still a bit strange. I never thought I would be a member of a yacht club, mainly because of the stereotypes associated with it. Basically the same reason I will never own a Porsche (except the old ones).

Since our journey into sailing began, I have come to see the yacht club in a different light. The local yacht club offers many things:
1. The learning opportunities, the first item that I took advantage of, sailing classes!
2. The social aspect is nice.
3. Cheap drinks.
4. Organized racing for day sailors and blue ocean sailors.
5. Yacht club garage sail!
6. Harbor hospitality, a role that was unknown to me until recently.

Yacht clubs are responsible for taking care of visiting boaters and sailors. In other words, boaters from out of town just passing through. They are called "transient boats".

The yacht clubs of Santa Barbara, King's Harbor Redondo Beach, and Catalina will all be invaluable to me when I make the passage to Catalina later this summer. I will enjoy a place to anchor or dock, a clean bathroom, definitely a shower, and of course some advice on the cuisine. Most of this costs money. And herein lies the need to join the local yacht club. It is one of those things that a sailor needs must do to do his part for sailing as a whole.

MBYC ocean race and Today's Quote

"The ocean has always been a salve to my soul...the best thing for a cut or abrasion was
to go swimming in salt water. Later down the road of life, I made the discovery that salt
water was also good for the mental abrasions one inevitably acquires on land."
-Jimmy Buffett

The Morro Bay Yacht club ocean fleet race was today and it should be an interesting day sailing if the start was any indication. The winds were close if not at a Force 5 ( 17 - 21 knots/15-24) or even up to a gale (28 knots or 31 mph) so everyone had the foul weather gear on. Then leaving the harbor not one but two boats ran aground near the harbor mouth. One boat was able to get clear but the other was aground hard and had to wait for the tide to come up a bit. Hopefully on the next race I can get some action shots to post.