Swiftsure 2012

The events were anything but a ”Driftsure” as the largest Pacific Northwest’s Swiftsure Regatta is often nicknamed.

Our race weekend encounters included a less than stellar start due to no wind and approximately 200 boats chewing up the ghost of wind present.  We were fending boats off from bumping us on both sides.

However, we picked up 2-4 knots of a building westerly within the hour and got the boat moving nicely. The wind continued to build and  we evnuentally were in 20 knots of wind with a reef and a smaller head sail. Bodies on the rail for the next many hours, taking spray off the face and braving the conditions.

One exciting moment for me was hearing the fog horn from something very large and close but not seeing it. A few minutes later a massive freighter appeared less than half a mile from us and moving swiftly. Lots of distance to pass us on starboard but when in thick fog and hearing the horn, it raises your attention to the matter.

Mort, all the power to you. Glad you are looking after us for the Vic-Maui you called the weather and it gets better as we get more wind for the slide home that Sunday.  To initially take us back we decided on a asymetrical spinnaker to pull us back into the Strait and to Race Passage. We were a bit late getting her to fly as you can understand doing this in the dark is no easy chore for a crew that is new together and some unfamiliar with the boat. Communicating is not easy and individual personalities are fading as fatigue starts to set in. But we are happy to no longer trying to slice our way through the salty water and in anticipation of a fast and drier ride home.

This lasted all night and once I crawled out of the bunk at 3:15am Sunday we were in a consistence 20-25 knots and peaking at 28. Way too much power, and our spinnaker would either fill and unbearably pull us over on our ears, or the boat would dive down wind and our spinnaker a would relax behind the main sail. Now riding down the Canadian coast we needed to get that chute down and get the boat settled into something more manageable.  

We lost dearly on this ordeal but all things considered the crew showed some great character and I will take minute to describe the occurance. Don was our fearless driver during all this time, likely wondering wtf on the other end of the boat, but in any event he kept Turicum on her feet the whole time. No wipe outs and peaking the boat speed at 14 knots.  Keep mind mind that while hoisting the heavy #1 the tack tape got torn out of the sail, so it had to come down and packed away.  The #2 was called for and put into place in preparation for hoist.  We are now ready to put our spinnaker to bed after a night of wet and wild partying.  Thank you and we hope we can do the midnight dance again sometime soon.  It will be a valuable sail  for Vic-Maui 2012.  To pull this all off, Chris, Dr. North and Terry, wrestled with a hundred pounds of 3 different sails while others pulled strings and called tactics from the back in a voice you could hear from 500 yards away on a calm day.  Thanks to Gunnar and Hale for helping with the decisions through the night. The crew were all safe, we religiously clipped on to the boat and this is definitely a must in these conditions.

With Mort on the wheel, Tim, Mike, Gunnar trimming we feathered our way through Race Rocks beautifully. The sun was on the bow, hot chocolate in hand on only 2 hours from the finish spirits were lifted and bodies were resting.

We continued to gybe our way into the finish under A-sail and a meager 15 to 17 knots of true wind.  We finished in the fastest time that any crew onboard has ever done, crossing the line at around 7:40 am on Sunday.  While our results were not what an Ocean Warrior would hope for, we all got a good challenge in preparation for the upcoming race to Maui.  Driving the IOR designed boat can be a challenge in the bumps and it was good to have people get used to the amount of work required to keep the stick out of the water.  Most importantly there were no injuries and we all get to do this again someday soon. We had no breakages other a sail or two need some work.

A great week was had and thanks to all onboard for your hard work and laughs.

Terry. 

A lot of work went into Turicum over the last month. The standing rigging was completely replaced and the mast stepped again in April. The mast tower at the Rowing Club, Turicum’s homeport, sure came in very handy.

                                 Our fearless skipper Gunnar....!                 

                

                                  Under the critical eyes of Hale.

Turicum was then delivered to Steveston where she was hauled out. A fancy new bottom paint remover allowed to strip more than a 100 lbs of old paint in just four hours work. Incredible. Stripped right down to the barrier coat, the hull was then faired and new bottom pain applied. 

Baltopate was the product of choice and when wet sanded gave the hull a shiny finish!

Back in the water we sailed to Vancouver in a fresh westerly breeze. Turicum surely was performing better than before. A note from Hale:

“We had a great sail up from Sandheads to Point Grey with the #2 and no main -- even then we hit over 8kts. We did a test run under power and were about 1/2 a knot faster at 1500rpm.

Looking forward to Swiftsure, the Lasqueti race and then the big test Maui.”

The crew took Turicum for a shake down training weekend and sailed almost a 150  miles in 24 hours. Here are some notes from our skipper Gunnar:

“We had an excellent sea trial of the refurbished rig and new bottom. Turicum has benefitted from all our hard work and is going well. We also had a very valuable orientation for the crew, both in terms of sailing Turicum and the the routines of living aboard and keeping watch schedules. We enjoyed having on board some of the students who will help bring Turicum back from Maui and I am confident we will leave her in good hands for the return trip.”

The next trial will be Swiftsure this coming weekend. Follow us during the race on:

http://tracker.swiftsure.org/

Aloha!

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!