October 2009Thursday, October 1st
Harvest Moon Regatta time!Destination: Race starting line.
Depart: WYC pier 9A - slip 36 at 0730
Forecast: South wind at 10 mph, building to 20 mph tonight, dying down tomorrow. In other words, perfect!
Conditions: South West wind 15 - 20 mph. seas 1-3 feet. Sunny.
eng hrs: 2556 at dock - off at 2560 at start line.
Crew on board: Oscar & Elizabeth
Oscar & ElizabethJohn & MarinaStuart & JeanneWe got away from the dock at a respectable time and ate a light breakfast underway. The wind being from the south required us to motor all the way to Galveston. (along with everyone else) We finally raised sails at the Galveston Channel intersection, near SeaWolf Park, and killed the diesel. SOEL entered the Gulf of Mexico at 1230 sporting a single reefed mainsail and the #2 jib. Conservative for a race, but effective. The outgoing tide and southerly breeze made some very lumpy seas. The majority of crew members on almost every boat, were affected and it's probably an understatement to say over 90% of the participants were already suffering from motion sickness at the start of the race.
The wind strength was just over 15 mph and the direction was more from the South West than due South. That made things difficult. SOEL hit the start line right on time, four boats from the pin. Perfect! Within two hours, the wind slacked enough to justify a sail change. I swapped jibs for the monster #1 and untied the reef from the main. While tightening the main halyard, the plastic floating winch handle came apart. I was pulling pretty hard when it broke, which set me off balance and I fell backwards hitting my tailbone on the freshly varnished teak handrails. OUCH! It took a few moments before I could even roll over and get up, but the sting subsided and the show must go on. The light winds continued all night, and SOEL could not sail upwind as tight as the race boats. We tacked twice to clear the Freeport mark at 1930, then tacked three more times during the night. Everyone tried to take turns sleeping, but J.K. and I logged the most time at the helm.
Friday, Oct 2nd
Position: N 28*35.950 W 095*44.415 approximate 5 miles south of Matagorda peninsula.
Heading: 240 - 250 following the wind shifts.
Distance: about 90 miles so far.
Forecast: Rain, lightning, 40knot winds from the Northwest. Gonna get ugly!
Conditions: We've had a Southwest wind around 10 mph or less for about 18 hours. That makes for some really tough racing! Seas still 1 - 3 and much more tolerable after the start. No rain yet. Temperature dropped after dark to upper 70's. The Moon is beautiful!
I think we are doing really well even though our average speed is only 5.1 knots. We held on to a port tack until the depth sounder read 13 feet and I could make out the outline of sand dunes in the moonlight.
0600 my phone rings. Who would call me at this hour? It was my good friend Mark, watching our "SPOT" track and monitoring the Weather Channel. He informed us of possible conditions (40 knots from the Northwest and lightning) and timing (ya got about 10 minutes) and we jumped into action. It was still a good hour or longer till dawn, and the moon had set. A few stars were still visible, but even they were slowly getting erased by the cloud cover. It was inky black. As soon as I finished double reefing the main sail by feel, the temperature dropped 20 degrees. Then I un-secured the Jib halyard and waited for the blast. When the blow from the north hit us, I released the halyard and hauled the huge sail down. J.K. drove the boat like an old pro! By the time I had secured the jib and crawled back to the cockpit he had us making 5 knots straight towards the finish line. I tried to fire-up the laptop and look for some new weather reports, but the computer would not power on. It waited till NOW to lay down and die? The rain lasted less than 30 minutes, never saw any lightning and we never experienced any wind stronger than about 25 knots. At dawn, I shook the reef out of the main and hoisted the big jib. SOEL covered the last third of the race in record time and crossed the finish line just after 1900.
29 hours for 150 miles equals an average speed of about 5.1. However the GPS recorded an average speed of 5.9 because we traveled almost 200 miles tacking back and forth!
eng hrs at dock: 2560 and 45 minutes
J.K. and Marina grabbed us some beer from the corner store and we celebrated another safe passage.
Saturday, 3rd
Position: N 27*50.331 W 097*04.034 Port Aransas City Marina - slip L
wake to a Mexican breakfast of eggs, beans, tortillas, guacamole, chips and strong coffee.
Roy Newberry stopped by for a quick cup of coffee.
All six of us rented bicycles and rode on the beach. We watched anglers fishing from the jetty and visited with a lady building sand sculptures on the beach. I think everyone had a fun afternoon.
Unfortunately John and Marina had to exit early and that left just four of us to represent at the awards party. We looked like a fun team as we walked up wearing our matching "SOEL" T-shirts that Jeanne had made.
SOEL took a first place in Division "L" and ended up 5th in fleet by 36 minutes. Not bad for a liveaboard boat. Stuart brought it to light: "Do you think any of those first four boats could travel to Mexico... for six months?"
The last numbers rumor I heard was:
217 boats registered. Less than 200 crossed the starting line.73 abandon to never cross the finish line.Almost 50% That's how tough it was out there this year. If you just finished the course without breaking anything, you were a winner.
It was so nice to see so many old friends. We made a few new friends, and had a really great time.
Tuesday October 6th - 2009
Position: same Heading: 060* back to Galveston.
Depart: Port A city marina at 1115 Arrive: WYC pier 9A / 36 Wednesday 1830
Eng hrs: 2561 start - 2572 end
Forecast: South winds 15 - 20 mph. seas 3 - 5 feet. heat index of 109* no rain.
Conditions: Barometer rising 999. winds South at 15mph. seas unbelievably crazy at the jetty's, but calmed to a gentle 2 - 4 feet out in the open.
I never fully realized how much we rely on the computer for weather - communications - navigation - entertainment. Today we just listened to the VHF and took our chances. The weather really was fine, it's just that we are used to analyzing 6 different sources before making a decision.
I set the Aries windvane and we relaxed for the next 24 hours.
Wednesday 7th
We made it all the way back to the vicinity of the Start line before the wind died just after daybreak. I reluctantly started the engine. You could see traffic signals on Galveston Island changing from green - to yellow - to red in the early morning haze. Elizabeth and I sighted a few sea turtles in the calm waters off the Galveston beach, and we rounded the Jetty's about noon. Mark called (again) He was following our SPOT track (again) and wanted to confirm plans for dinner. Hell Yeah! We turned into the marina, tied the old girl off, took a well earned hot shower, and met Mark, Cindy and Paul at Marios for Italian food. Life is good!
Another lovely cruise.
Monday, November 2nd, 2009A few slips opened up near our old "neighborhood", so, we decided to move SOEL to a different slip.
She is now berthed at Pier 25 slip 53. Right on the corner. There is no power or water here. That also means there are no other people here. We have the area all to ourselves!
Wednesday, 11th
After finally seeing some income, my outlook is slowly inproving
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