Southern Straits on Havoc

A difficult start, a cold but beautiful night and a fabulous run back to Vancouver. 

A BIG thank you to Ede & Marie who kept the crew well fed. 

My only regret: I never tasted that banana loaf! 

Enjoy the pictures!

Ahead of Icon - look at the smiles!

Max speed: Over 11 kts!

The Crew.

Aloha.

The Pointy End of the Boat.

Four of the Team Turicum took a foredeck clinic on  a Farr 40 with Blast Sailing. After all, the Bowman is the coolest position on the boat and many of us wanted to give it a try. To explain the Bowman’s position please allow me to quote the Bowman’s Union:

“Start a cold shower and get in. I recommend wearing your foul weather gear, but that's up to you. Spin around about ten times or so, just enough to make it seem like the shower is "heeled over". Now, with a medium sized frying pan, give yourself a good whack on the top of the head while yelling "MADE!"

To stay out of trouble at home, don’t use the new frying pan!

After an evening of theory we spent the next day on the water. It was a sunny spring day, the breeze first light at 5 to 8 knots, gradually built to 15 to 20 kts, just as our skills increased. We could not have wished for a better day.

We rotated through all the crew positions on the boat. This gave each of us an appreciation of what is involved at our team mates positions. It also served as a great team building event.

We practiced hoists, douses, peels, sail changes and countless jibes with the spinnaker up. We probably did more jibes that afternoon than we will do during all of Vic-Maui.

The instructors did a fabulous job and we all left with a big smile on our face. What a Blast!

The following day we met at the Vancouver Rowing Club to work on Turicum’s mast: The welder built up all the weak spots. We pulled a new coax cable for the VHF, took some old fittings off (the impact driver got good use that day), cleaned out some corroded spots and painted it all with rust preventing paint. The day ended with a couple of pints of beer on the Rowing Club’s deck. Great team building again!

The new rod rigging is supposed to come now and we are planning to step the mast next week.

Just a couple of days before the start of the Southern Straits Race on Easter weekend.

We will be doing Straits on Havoc, an SR33. You can watch race progress on this site:

http://tracker.southernstraits.ca/

(showing 2011 tracks until race start)

Our next practice race will be Halibut Bank - this time on Turicum.

Aloha!

From Vancouver to New York on a Bicycle

Well, riding a bike is not really what we have in mind. However, to give you an idea of what we are trying to do think about it that way: 

Sailing from Vancouver to Hawaii is like riding your bicycle from Vancouver to New York. It’s about the same distance, approximately 2,300 NM or just over 4,100 km and we are going at about the same speed of 7 - 10 kts, or 12 - 18 km/hr. 

So there you go, imagine taking your bike for a 2,300 NM spin and you get the idea.

Our race crew is now full. However, you still can get a spot for the return cruise back to Vancouver. Call us for details.

Preparations are fully underway now. Our navigator Mort is learning the new software, our skipper Gunnar put the schedule for the overall planning together and we are all counting down the weeks to the big event.

Some of us just finished the off-shore weather course at Vancouver Marine Courses. Now we know everything about riding the lows across the Pacific, Coriolios and his friends and how stay clear of Hurricanes!

Before that, many more things need to be done: The mast will come down for a professional rig inspections, sails will be checked at NorthSails, the bottom will be stripped, faired and painted, all deck hardware checked and lubed and the list goes on.

Only five more months to go.

Aloha!

Vic - Maui Race Preparation

The countdown to the big event started with the Vic-Maui Race Seminar on January 15th. The seminar was a huge success. 

We learnt about navigating, weather, rigging for off-shore, sail selection & repairs, regulations and maybe most importantly: How to keep the crew happy with thoughtful provisioning.

The day concluded with a fantastic dinner at the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club. This was a great opportunity for the crew to get to know each other better including their partners.

I hope you will enjoy this blog as you follow us getting ready for Vic-Maui and then of course throughout the race in July.

There will be some tune up regattas we participate in: Southern Straits & Swiftsure.

We are currently still looking for two crew for the Vic-Maui Race. Plus, on the return trip there is the opportunity for an off-shore course. Contact us for more information (604-440-2864).

Aloha!