Whew, what a race. It's been maybe 14 years since I last did this race, so I was excited to get back out to the island, and to get Absinthe back out into the ocean. I've done this race 15++ times and is one of my favorites. I got a young and fearless guy, Ryan, to come out w/ me. Now he's never gone offshore before, but I promised his loved ones I'd play it very safe with him. That's a laugh.
Ryan Kata... You've never heard of him (you probably will), but he's recently gotten a C&C32 and has some hours in the Bay. He's been bitten by the bug hard. He's also run a dirt bike across the US on dirt trails. He's a mech eng at Apple and will be doing the Clipper Cup Around the World on the China to Seattle leg. What better an intro than the DHF. I could not have done this without him, especially under such extreme conditions. And seasick. Thank you Ryan.
The race didn't start well for me as I seriously messed up the time/distance from RYC to GGYC. I also forgot motors have to be shut off at the warning. I was 40 minutes late w/ nobody to blame. Up w/ the #1 as it was light to at least get a minute or 2 back. It does make me feel slightly better there were no Moores on the line at 835 for the A start. But only just.
What a dork. "One man leader of the dork parade" - Jimmy Neutron
It was #1 out to a few miles past Bonita trying to spot any white sailed Moores in front of us. Hey, maybe there's one. It was clear to go right past the #2 blast reacher to the #3 looking at the way boats ahead were leaned over. It was a SW wind, predicted to go to the S peaking at 2PM, not exactly a Moore 24 kinda day. Went to the 1st reef as the action was turning on, 20-25 SW. The island became visible past the Lightbucket, and we were not laying it for a clockwise rounding.
We put the 1st reef in which helped for awhile until it started being a flogfest. We saw the other 2 Moore's turn around. Good idea unless you want to buy brand new sails for some reason. Hmm, should we turn around too?
We had 1 option the other Moore's probably didn't: my main has the PacCup reef. This is a very deep reef maybe equivalent to a 3rd reef, maybe more. We discussed how to do this since it WASN'T RIGGED!! Ryan got this secured w/ a sail tie w/ concern for safety. This changed the game entirely for us. Outside sheet the 3 and off we go comfortably.
The wind backed to the S and kept building, lifting us to an easy rounding. This must be the start of the 2PM front forecast. We rounded clockwise around the island around 2PM. Man that island is starkly beautiful. Ominous. So glad to see it again. There were like 5 people on it walking around. What the hell.
We got situated for the return, and I had Ryan cut the sail tie and go back to the 1st reef and 3. OK sailing, but the southing made for a close reach again. Maybe a bit of surfing for fun at 50, but we needed 80. Waves were a mess anyway for only short surfs. I went down to take care of some business and noticed whistling through the rigging and lots of flogging. Got back up as fast as I could. Ryan took the #3 down in very sketchy conditions. Spindrift on the water. Bad bouncy waves. I guess the 2PM front was a little late at 4PM. I understand one of the buoys peaked at 47 knots. I wouldn't argue.
Race over Ryan. We need to get back safely. The reefed main was still too much. Sure wish I hadn't cut the deep reef. Can't see a thing though through the rain and mist. Hold 80/90 and look for the Lightbucket or channel markers. No Potato Patch today.
We could make out 3 inbound ships through the mist after a fashion. That was a relief. Cleared up enough to stitch the 4 green channel markers into the Gate. Oh and hey, there's a boat in front of us too. Race back ON Ryan haha. Of course the wind promptly subsided at Bonita. Up w/ the 3, but the #1 (or even a spinnaker) would've been better. We expected nothing at the finish, but RC said we were the only Moore to finish. Umm, like... YAY?!!
We saw a whale at the finish buoy, so we went down there for the finish to check it out. Thing was huge. Of course, it's a whale, but I don't think I've seen one that up close and personal right next to the boat. Amazing. Great way to be greeted at the finish.
Reflections
1) I bought a 50Ah LiPo $150 battery from Amazon. Really light. But it only lasted 5 hours. We were not drawing 10A. More like 0.5 amp maybe. I am glad I brought a spare smaller battery which had to be used sparingly.
2) Looking at your cell phone for a chartplotter app is cool and all, but who's going to do that in a shitstorm. A real mounted chartplotter, a cheap one, for a single glance would be really nice.
3) Rig all the reefs and whatever else. You can always take it off if you think people are going to laugh at you.
4) Very nice to have an outside accessible bilge pump which got used 5 or 6 times w/ water past the floor boards.
5) I know this is a bit controversial, but having the AIS was comforting especially at the Lightbucket in zero visibility with ships around. I know it's $1000, and I probably won't NEED it again (except for the next Farallones maybe haha). But still, I don't regret buying it.
6) I was disappointed how the Corinthian spirit of racing seems to have gotten more tight. St. Francis wanted $150 to put in and dock. That's OK I guess, within the sign of the times. But then they had no dock space due to a weekend regatta which eventually got cancelled. The RYC situation was more of a hassle than I recall as regards gates, parking, hoist, and dockage. Got scolded for just showing up. OK fair enough for next time. Call ahead. There's a love note I got from the dockmaster in a pic attached.
7) Kudos to the Moore 24. It is one tough MOFO. I've always had confidence in the Moore and this was no exception. Sometimes we slammed hard enough for me to check if I got a concussion, but I was not worried about the boat. Shit can happen to any boat, but I love my little pitbull of a boat.
8) Finally I'm glad BAMA didn't cancel the race. I wouldn't have been too disappointed if they did, but now I'm very happy to have had such a great adventure. Thanks BAMA.
