Who Said it Would be Easy??

by Greg Harms, July 1st, 2008

The winds are coming from all ways, and the crews must be thinking they are going in similar directions. Some have almost no wind and some have had too much. In long distance sailing, the only choice a crew has when the weather is un-cooperative is to suck it up and try to keep the boat moving in the best direction possible. Aside from everyone on board becoming too damned stinky, the hardships can bring out some pretty interesting crew psychology: the best and the worst. And when you are still 1,000 miles out and you know there are days more still, each person is expected to internalize their worst. Otherwise it isn't fun anymore. "It's an adventure, and I am tough!"

The weather continues to be uncharacteristic for the Northeast Pacific at this time of year. Pretty much exactly where the Pacific High is normally situated, a large low pressure system has formed and is tracking slowly NNE. Low pressure systems have a counter-clockwise rotation compared to clockwise for a high. So the winds are basically backwards from what the sailors were expecting. This, combined with a developing tropical cyclonic formation to the distant southeast, has caused winds to be disrupted and light in the trade wind zone.

The result is that the southern-most boats Zulu, Red Heather and Strum are in light airs, trimming sails like crazy trying to keep the boat moving and praying for squalls to provide some wind. To the north, the rest of the fleet has had to cope with that nasty low and close to its centre, heavy airs, right on the freaking nose. Bit of hardship, that, but as the storm passes they may be rewarded with winds from the north that will push them towards Hawaii.

Something Wicked is now safely ashore, having arrived in San Franciso late last night. She lost her rudder and the circumstances brought out some fine seamanship. We received the following email from Something Wicked as she limped her way to shore:

Something Wicked June 28 4:47pm
we sailed with the storm jib and trisail last night all day until pm when wind dropped. put up main and #3 jib. tonight reefed main and running with engine. strange way to sail!

have our emergency rudder lashed in forward position and dragging a drogue that is fastened to the boat as follows. spinnaker pole lashed across the push pit with either end sticking out sides of boat. at each end a rope that goes back about 20 feet and forward to a winch. when want to steer to port we take up on the port line to the drogue or ease the starboard line. For fine tuning we use the mainsail sheet. works not badly, certainly not as good as having a functioning rudder on a wheel! but it works.

we have been on 12 hour email reporting to san fran coast guard; last evening they increased reporting to 6 hours due to seas and face we were taking on our beam. they obviously thought there was a greater danger of a roll over. we did not as long as we did not get hit by a rogue wave. of course it is pitch black with no moon.

before the rudder broke I had the top speed on the boat of 14.2 knots and in the trades i am sure we would have seen up to the mid 16's.

we think the rudder stock may have been bruised when the boat hit the rock in Enterprise Channel. the hull would have flexed and the bearing may have bruised the stock. carbon fibre is stronger than stainless steel but it does not like to be bruised. it will be interesting to see the broken off part when SW comes out of the water.

first thing i called for after the rudder was gone was to check to see if we were taking on water where the rudder stock protrudes through the hull. a beneteau 40.1 on the east coast sunk when it lost its rudder and left a large hole in the hull. a relief when I saw no damage or water. we monitored it closely thereafter and now infrequently. as my late father would have said "It could have been worse."

We have reports from Passepartout and Seeker, both giving some idea of what conditions are like in the area around the low:

Passepartout June 30, 7:23pm?
At this moment we are at 34 10 N, 139 32 W. There is a low at about 36 N 142 W. I had hoped to skirt the eastern edge of the windy zone but the low moved east rather than NNE as I expected. Last night we had 44 kts on the nose with 4 meter waves. The waves are banging us around quite badly. The helm is very wet. Progress is hard against the waves.

SSB communication has been a real problem the last two days so Zulu has not gotten our position reports. 1200 miles to the finish. Maybe we will do our 1/2 way party tomorrow.

Pete & Crew

It is just after midnight PDT. The winds are 15 and the seas have settled down. We are making good time. Those of us who had not experienced a gale in the ocean before found the last 18 hrs to be pretty frightening. Those that had - especially on Passepartout - found it abusive - hard work, hard to get sleep, wet and painful - but not frightening.

We all have lots of bruises from being thrown around the boat. Marlene calls them boat bites.

We made up time on Seeker in the gale. Bigger and heavier helps in heavy weather. The next few days are going to be a hard fight.

Pete & Crew

Seeker Monday, June 30, 2008
Wash & mend day. As Seeker skirted the northern edge of a high pressure ridge on the way toward a developing low, her crew enjoyed a day of warm, sunny weather, which allowed for bathing and some general work that has been neglected in favor of racing duties. Then the wind continued to back and Seeker encountered the first couple mild squalls associated with the impending front just after a rather phenomenal sunset. The stars in between the squalls are pretty phenomenal themselves.
Seeker out.

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