Sydney Hobart

Wild Oats XI won the Sydney Hobart in record breaking time.  Here's a look at what's under the waterline (must be teflon)

2013

I never really celebrate the passing of one year to the next. I always post my fireworks mind you.

This year there are 2 projects underway:

1. Make cockpit cushions - because my tuchus (תּחת ) can't take long hours on watch on hard seats. 
2. Make a cruising Spinnaker from a Sailrite kit. 

Well Done Sailrite!!!

I really get frustrated trying to find information on material and equipment we need for the boat.  case in point, we have a Sailrite sewing machine so we thought we'd make cockpit cushions.  The foam was easy enough.  A place not far from the marina called The Foam Shop has the material and recommended Evazote closed cell foam for the cushions.  It's the most expensive part of the exercise, but it was straight forward.

Next came the material.  Island Packet uses Phifertex material in the original equipment upholstery for the cockpit seat back rest.  Now you have trouble, you check out all sorts of Canadian suppliers and their web sites have no information or limited information.  One - JT's Top Shop - has a reasonably decent on-line shopping web site, but everything (in typical Canadian fashion) is considerably more expensive and the choice more limited.  Great free trade deal with the US and others.

So my suggestion - screw-em.  The BEST guys out there are Sailrite.  The on-line service is amazing, the web site answers questions, they have how-to videos and ordering material could not be simpler.  Once ordered, your confirmation e-mail has all the necessary links to keep track of where your order is - and they are FAST.  So they got my business and to hell with trying to find anything around here. 

Yesterday, I realized that Sailrite will build a sail kit for just about any sail for any boat.  they have an extensive database of boats.  Find yours there and you can see different sail types with a "Price This Sail" link on top of each.  When you click, you get an immediate quote with options.  I am looking to build an asymmetric spinnaker.  The price is easily 1/2 of what buying one would cost.  A little interesting sweat equity using our Sailrite Sewing machine and we'll have one. 

Common Languages

Mathematics and music seem to me to be universal languages.  Music in particular can capture the essence of the soul in a way no other expression can - including architecture and  literature.  Here is a beautiful version of the Mozart Flute Concerto No. 1 played by the Hayden Ensemble of Berlin with Emmanuel Pahud as flute soloist.  Listen to the cadenzas - brilliant.

Something All Architects Should Know

...but don't. 

Sydney-Hobart

Wild Oats XI is practically there, but here are the start highlights:

Wild Oats XI leads

Start Highlights

Sydney-Hobart

So just at the start the winds are 30 knots.  in this clip - at the 3:15 or so mark, you will see the narrow opening that leads from the immense many fingered Sydney Harbour into the open Pacific.

Sydney-Hobart - The Start and Controversy

So here is some shaky views of the race start in Sydney Harbour yesterday (today for us here in NA).

and from the water

plus some words from the skipper of the boat "Wild Card" which was not allowed to participate:

Sydney to Hobart

less than an hour to the start...

Sydney to Hobart

On "Boxing Day" - for all the non-Commonwealth types out there - a crazy group of sailors will once again set out from Sydney Harbour and race toward Hobart in Tasmania. In 1998, five boats sank and a total of 6 lives were lost when the fleet was hit with hurricane force winds from a storm that crossed their path to Hobart.

 

 

Snow

I arrived back from a rip to Winnipeg to be greeted by another storm - this time with snow.  BC Ferries has cancelled all sailings for the morning. 

Infrared satellite image

The Huron Carol

One of the most beautiful Christmas Carols ever written:

Spooky

I tried describing the airplane I used to fly years ago to a friend, so I looked up the make of airplane on the internet - a Mooney M20F and found a picture of the actual airplane I flew: C-FUZZ and the pilot looks suspiciously like me - very spooky

 

 Mooney M20F C-FUZZ (yes, people made fun of it).  

Very fast, beautiful aircraft to fly

December Just About Upon Us

On December 16, 1975, in my first year at MIT, there was a performance of Handel's Messiah part 1 in the Institute's rotunda on Massachusetts Avenue. For days before the event the posters read: "bring your scores". I brought a score and from the 2nd floor railing with hundreds of people, the MIT Chamber Players, Choir and 4 magnificent student soloists sang through Part 1 of Handel's Messiah with everyone in the audience - on the main floor and on 2 levels of overlooking balconies - joining in at the choruses. It was absolute magic and I will never for get it. Christmas IS this piece from handle's Messiah. Enjoy.

AIS

Terratima is equipped with AIS.  This is an Automatic Identification System that reports a ships position, speed and heading as well as the name and MMSI number of the vessel.  Someone sent me a link to a web site where you can track ships around the world by their AIS signal.  I put in the name of our sailboat just for fun and it turned up in the web site's data base.  Someone had taken a photo of the boat and put the name in the database.  We have no idea who that was (it says Judy Findlay), but here is the photo:  as near as we can tell, it was taken as we were approaching Nanaimo.

  Terratima Approaching Nanaimo Harbour

(we think)

The photo can be seen (and our boat tracked when we are sailing) at MarineTraffic.com.

AC Panel Changes

The Island packet is a superbly built yacht.  I can not say the same for those who ultimately commissioned her for our use.  All of the issues we have had with the boat has turned out to be with the equipment added at commissioning or things done at commissioning.  The latest issues have been:

1. Failure of the circulating pump in our hydronic heating system.  The pump was a cheap one and it has totally failed.  The replacement is a robust pump that you can service and not just throw away.  The wiring for the pump was poorly executed and this was corrected for durability when we repalced the pump.
2. The AC panel was badly done, so we activated the 2nd bus (Bus B) and redistributed the load.  part of the problems we found were the number of connections to a point that really only allowed for a maximum of 2 connectors, a burned out neutral board and a connection to the galvanic isolator that was poorly done.  

 All is now well with the panel although the light bar on the B Bus will be replaced and tagged next week. 

Same old, same old.....

Marine Forecast

Winds

Issued 04:00 PM PST 18 November 2012

Tonight and Monday Gale warning in effect.
Wind southeast 30 to 40 knots diminishing to southeast 15 to 25 this evening then becoming southeast 15 early Monday morning. Wind veering to southwest 15 to 20 Monday evening.

Extended Forecast

Issued 04:00 PM PST 18 November 2012

Tuesday Wind southeast 15 to 25 knots.

Wednesday Wind southwest 15 knots.

Thursday Wind southeast 15 to 25 knots.

Weather & Visibility

Issued 04:00 PM PST 18 November 2012

Tonight and Monday Periods of rain.

Looking Up

Here is a picture from deck looking up the mast in the late afternoon sun.  The sails - headsail and staysail are all lit up and the mainsail is furled in the mast itself.  You can see the furling line and worm gear at the bottom right.  In the upper left you can see the radar reflector hoisted aloft under the main spreader.

Repaired Bail

The bail that had failed and released both the main sheet block, the main sail furling line and the main sail out haul was repaired this morning.  We replaced the bail and put the two blocks on separate bails.

 The block to the right is the main sheet block

The location of the main sheet block is not well placed.  It should really be (according to my rigger ), aft of the vang.  This spring, we will have another bail added and the block relocated. This will also allow us to add a boom brake in the right position.

Post Tsunami Warning

FROM CBC NEWS WEBSITE:

As a powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Haida Gwaii on Saturday evening, residents along the B.C. coast shared their accounts of the moment the quake struck.

Most reported a shaking, swaying or rumbling that lasted anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute.

"It wasn't a big shake — it just was a continuing rolling feeling that went on for ... perhaps a minute." — Robin Rowland, Kitimat, B.C.
"It almost felt like a massive wind was making the whole home shake." — Leisha Grebinski, Prince Rupert, B.C.
"It started off with just a small rumble ... and then things started to shake a little, and then things started shaking a lot." — Peter Mark, Masset, B.C.
"[I] was sitting on my couch, with the laptop, when I started to feel motion that made me feel queasy. Noticed that our heavy swag lamp was swaying back and forth. Stood up and could feel the motion through the carpeting. We live in a basement suite and I think that the motion lasted about 15 to 20 seconds, perhaps." — Leslie Allen, Prince George, B.C.
"Felt a 'swoon' — at the same time everything hanging started to sway so strongly that it took 30 minutes plus for them to settle back into equilibrium." — Sharon MacKenzie, Quadra Island, B.C.
"The whole house was flexing and oscillating. The lights went out and the shaking continued and I could hear all kinds of crashing." — Nick Finley, Tlell, Haida Gwaii, B.C.
"The house seemed to be moving — plants, light fixtures, sun catchers in the window swayed and clattered ... About 10 minutes before they stopped swaying." — Marion Lawson, Kamloops, B.C.
"The whole house swayed for over a minute. My wife said it felt like she had sea legs. Phones were out for a short time but we never lost power." — Ken Newman.
Residents as far away as Alberta and Yukon reported feeling the earthquake.

"It felt similar to light earthquakes we have experienced here with hanging plants and lamps swaying significantly." — Philip Merchant, Whitehorse, Yukon.
"I noticed my hanging plants and wind chimes in my living room swaying, and then found out a while later that an earthquake had hit the coast of B.C., near Haida Gwaii." — Evelyn Rook, St. Alberta, Alta.
"I felt the quake ... doors swinging and lights swinging from the 11th floor of an office tower." — Bryan Petz

From Terratima:  Didn't feel a thing

Catching Up

I've been really busy traveling back and forth to Edmonton working on the redevelopment of the Dentistry Pharmacy Building Redevelopment.  We haven't had the chance to go sailing and I'd love to be doing this right now:

This is good for the soul

When I arrive back in Vancouver and grab a cab to get home, I tell the driver: "Shelter Island Marina near Graybar Road and New Westminster Highway".  Very few know where it is, so I have to explain the route.  Then the questions start:

"Are you going to your boat?"

"Yes" I say. "I live on board"

"You live on your boat?"

"Yes"  I say again.

"Isn't it cold on board in the winter?"

"No, it's very comfortable.  It's heated."

"Isn't it wet?"

"No"  I say.  "If your feet feel wet you have a really serious problem", I say.  Laughter

"How do you cook?"

"The same way you do: in a kitchen, only we call it a galley."

"Doesn't the rocking annoy you?"

"No, first of all, it doesn't rock unless there is a very strong wind and the waves develop.  Even when it does, it's usually quite pleasant."

The there is the question everyone seems to want to ask:  "What about  waste, sewage?"

"Well", I say, "we store it in a tank called a holding tank and then pump it out.  It's no big deal."

Then comes the next burning question: "Isn't it too small and cramped?".  

"It's a lot smaller than the house we used to have...", I say, "..and all of our stuff is in storage, but we miss nothing, are very comfortable and would not move back to land."

By then, we have arrived at the marina and I pay the cabbie and get my bags.  The parting question seems inevitable: "Which boat is your?", he asks.  I point to the outer finger of the dock and tell him that we are the middle boat of the three.  "It's beautiful", he says.  "We think so", I say walking down the dock gangway.

Saturday at Home (aboard Terratima)

Now that's more like it:

Environment Canada's Official Weather Warnings

Warnings

Metro Vancouver
10:56 AM PDT Saturday 13 October 2012
Rainfall warning for
Metro Vancouver continued

Rainfall amounts of up to 150 mm expected tonight through Sunday. This is a warning that significant rainfall is expected or occurring in these regions. Monitor weather conditions..listen for updated statements.

A strong Pacific frontal system will reach the British Columbia coast later today spreading rain heavy at times over most South Coast regions tonight through Sunday. Total amounts of up to 150 mm are expected to fall over West Vancouver Island and over 100 mm for Squamish and the north shore of Metro Vancouver. Near 80 mm are expected over the other affected regions. The rain will ease late Sunday as the system moves away to the east.

The system will also bring strong southeasterly winds of 80 km/h to West Vancouver Island overnight tonight. The strong winds will ease midday Sunday with the passage of the front.

   

Deep Cove Breakfast

We set off by car to a nice spot in North Vancouver called Deep Cove to have  a late breakfast.

View from Deep Cove waterfront.

 

Deep Cove Yacht Club Marina

Looking back toward the main street

Beautiful Sunday morning

Unbelievable Weather

Now this is Vancouver and at this time of year it starts to rain and doesn't quit until June.  But look at this:


Weather forecast for the weekend and into next week

Today

• 18°C
•  
•  

Sat

• 19°C
• 4°C
•  

Sun

• 18°C
• 5°C
•  

Mon

• 18°C
• 9°C
•  

Tue

• 17°C
• 7°C
•  

Wed

• 17°C
• 7°C
•  

Thu

• 17°C
• 6°C
•  

Fall Ride Turns Bad

So I set off with a friend of mine last Sunday for a day long ride.  We met for breakfast and headed off toward the US border.  We took Chuckanut Drive which is beautiful and runs along the water.  There were many bikes out and it turns out that we were in a lot of "Oyster Run" traffic.  Near Anacortes Washington, I stopped for a red light and shortly after stopping was hit from behind by a couple on their Harley.

 I went down with the bike, here are the 

right side panels scraped

 

The passsenger foot peg and bracket to hold 

the hard saddle bag severely damaged

 

Damaged muffler.  It was bent upward 

and the hard saddle bag was torn off

Hard bad on right held on by bungee

Out for a Ride

Off for a ride with a good friend of mine tomorrow.

Me on my Concours and he on his BMW

Geoffrey West

Geoffrey West will be a keynote speaker at our conference on affordable housing and off-site construction being organized by our department at the University of Alberta (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering - Engineering and Construction Management).  My research concerns cities and their organization and growth and will hopefully intersect with what is being explored at the Santa Fe Institute.

Ship's Sextant

Slowly we continue to check off items from our "Off-shore Cruising List".  This item is the ship's sextant.  In the age of GPS I know it seems quaint, but it may be the only reliable navigational aide if the electronics are fried by lightning, give out or if the US government turns off the accessibility because of one crisis or another.  It does require some skill and you need to do the math using the reduction tables.

This was my first (and probably only) venture onto eBay but we now have a C.Plath Navistar Professional made in Hamburg in 1983.  Now I have to worry about the skill and the sight reduction tables.

C. Plath Navistar Professional

Close up of arc vernier.  The orange button is to light 

up the readings in low light

Certificate with date 

All Fixed

But it is clear that the boat was not properly commissioned.  IP will be receiving a description of what was done improperly. Again my thanks to Geoff for his help and expert work.

here are some pictures of the crossing PRIOR to the blocks separating.

Rigging Woes II

It's a beautiful September 1st morning in Nanaimo BC.  Here we are at the dock in nanaimo Harbour with our mainsail draped over the starboard side.

Here is the boom and you can see an empty pad eye.  Right in front of it was another that carried 2 blocks:  one organized both the mainsail outhaul and the furling line, and the other the mainsail sheet, leading the lines back to the cockpit.  You can see the pad eye is missing.

Here is one of the blocks lying at the base of the mast

Here is the real problem:  the resulting jam of the in-mast furling.  With 20 knot winds, the separation of the blocks ended up separating a line (or it could have been the other way around, we don't know) and the jamming of the line in the roller mechanism.

More on the repairs later...

Rigging Woes

So we set out for Nanaimo with our friends on The Job Site and met with a rough crossing. What we did not expect was having a block separate from the pad eye under the boom and cause a cascade of trouble that ended in a jammed main mast furler. We had to take down the mainsail. So now we are in Nanaimo harbour with a mainsail covering our cockpit and starboard side. We called Nanaimo Yacht Services on their emergency number and Geoff Pettifer came by. Life saver!!! Repairs will be made today.

Here is the job site along side under sail with reefed main and genoa.

 

Our friends' boat: a Hunter 34:

The Job Site

Pre-Departure Checklist for Labour Day

We've been busy on the boat when not at work in Edmonton or Vancouver.  The toe rail has now been varnished and is looking really beautiful.  Checking the tides for departure on Friday, here is what we have:

New Westminster Tide for August 31, 2012

What it boils down to is a fast trip down river on the ebb tide and the flood tide with us as we sail to Newcastle Island.

Ship's Sextant

We just acquired a used sextant - a Plath Navistar Professional like the one below.

More At Anchor

We never see Terratima from afar unless we are off the boat.  Here are some pictures by our friends Brad and Aline:

From the iPad

Here is a little video we shot from our iPad as we sailed back across the Strait of Georgia

Clam Bay

Here is a photo our friends Brad and Aline took of us as they left Clam Bay.  we were rafted up for a night, enjoyed their company and good cheer.  Thanks for the pic.

4th Year

This month we start our 4th year as liveaboards.  Here is a summation of our feelings about the past 3 years:

• We have all our "stuff" in storage and we miss NOTHING.  We have decided to review it all, decide on the very few items we will keep and the rest will be auctioned or given away.
• We cannot image not living on the water.  
• We are comfortable as can be and definitely made the right decision on our boat - an Island Packet 465.  She is a solid sailing performer, comfortable on the hook, at the dock and underway.
• To answer the question people have about continuing to work on land:  I travel a lot on business, have no problem doing it, but I'd rather be cruising. 
• Len loves to do the boat maintenance while on land he hated cutting the grass, painting the eaves and cleaning the eves troughs.
• Our son loves living on board.

We love it and the only regret we have is not doing it earlier.

Cruise Map

Here are the maps of our summer cruise (click on maps to enlarge)

Part 1

From North to South (north is at the top)

Shelter Island (Home Port)

Point Roberts

Roche Harbor, San Juan Island

Rosario, Orcas island

Sidney

Victoria

Part 2

From South to North

Victoria

Sidney

Ganges Harbor, Salt Spring Island

Clam Bay, Thetis Island

Nanaimo

Part 3

From South to North

Nanaimo

Pender Harbor

Comox

Gorge Harbor

Part 4

From North to South

Gorge Harbor

Refuge Cove

Comox

Schooner Cove

Part 5

From North to South

Schooner Cove

Clam Bay, Thetis Island

Shelter Island marina (Home Port)

Cortez Island

From Comox we sailed in high winds across the Strait of Georgia and up toward Cortez Island to a little bay called Gorge Harbour.

Too little wind to sail

Finally...more sailboats than powerboats

The resort is on the hill above the marina

Clam Bay ...Then Home

Our last evening on cruise:  anchored in Clam Bay

Twilight from the cockpit

Looking north

Moonlight