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SC seagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, Moab, A sailboat, or some time zone
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And......WE HAVE A RACE! AT LAST. Someone wake me in 10 days when I need to catch a plane to Hawaii.
This boat is Seazed Asset being towed to the start. The skipper is a friend of a ST and a great back story on this boat. It was a drug running boat, and actually "seized" by the government, then put up for sale and the skipper, Vance, bid on it and got it!
Ferretlegger (Michael) rounding the start buoy. He had a good start.
And we're off to the races....
Race can be followed here:
http://www.pinnacletracking.com/live/Map.aspx?shtp
Susan
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BruceHildenbrand
Social climber
Mountain View/Boulder
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Susan,
thanks for the photo of Vance Sprock's boat, Seazed Asset. Best of luck to everyone!
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Darwin
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Thanks you two, Bruce and Susan. This is from Susan's link above.
The Start
My home, i.e. Ocean Beach.
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hooblie
climber
from out where the anecdotes roam
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looking forward to the voyage as cybercrew aboard the mouton noir, hope being fanboy fills the sails!
and i gotta say, the pinnacle tracking site has some nice terrain/relief graphics
with good performance through this bottleneck of a satellite connection
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Brandon-
climber
The Granite State.
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So, do they spend time cooking in the galley, or is it more along the lines of freeze dried backpacking meals?
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climbski2
Mountain climber
Anchorage AK, Reno NV
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Seazed asset in position with the leading group. Interesting ..did that group get a bit of luck..Why is Seazed so far ahead of longer boats like Mouton? I see another even smaller boat, a 29 up front as well doing 7 knots.
Many variables could account for it I suppose.. weight.. lucky guess on weather, trying to get position for a better system? or avoid something?..mechanical issues??
Interesting how many low 30's and even under 30ft boats there are in the race. For some reason I expected longer boats..Due to singlehanding?
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SC seagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, Moab, A sailboat, or some time zone
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^^^^^. In this case because of squirrely winds and currents the heavier boats, even though longer, were handicapped by the conditions. No breakdowns reported. Another sailor reported 10 foot seas. Made me want to run for a bucket.
Singlehanders really know how to set up their boats so you do see longer boats. They are usually light, fast and VERY COMPETITIVE sailors.
MN is not a race boat, but a cruiser expedition boat but Michael thrives on the intensity of getting the boat ready and then sailing it as best he can.
Actually the most exciting boats for me are the MiniTransat boats, 21 feet long and they can go up to 25 knots! They are the bomb. I think there are two in this race. They can plane on the water. They will likely do very well. I think both of them are sponsored boats.
From Michael:
Conditions have been pretty frustrating and awful. I passed just north of Middle Farallon around 2 am, after an all night drift-a-thon with lots of current. ugly night, although the bioluminescence was spectacular. very foggy and wet with only a knot or two of wind. I am sailing in very close company with Owl, Tortuga, Saraband, and Elizabeth Ann. REALLY close, too close for comfort. We all got sucked north further than we wanted, because the heavy boats could not deal with the light, shifty conditions well and had to sail deeper, whioch meant north.
A beautiful on the water picture just after the start, then out into the fog and the Golden Gate
Here is Seazed Asset about 10 miles east of the Farallons. I'm sure his little dog Daisy is sitting home missing Vance.
Susan
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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The Eastern Pacific Hurricane season has had one of the slowest starts in history. Nothing like a Singlehanded Race to kick it into gear!
Of these two Tropical Storms, Blas has more of a potential for strong development into a major hurricane. However water temperatures near Hawaii are still relatively cool for proper nastiness and both systems should downgrade sufficiently to present little problems for the boats.
There is another Topical Wave traversing across Central America in the next week or so and there may be some systems generated from this.
Big big difference from last year where the waters were so warm and it was impossible to predict what direction storm systems would travel.
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hooblie
climber
from out where the anecdotes roam
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trying to wrap my head around that 24hr record ... nope, i crumped. couldn't do it
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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If he averaged 34 he must have done better than 40 at times! Hard to imagine.
I don't see how Seazed Asset could be ahead of Le Mouton,
its rig and hull don't look even close. I must be missing something.
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Bad Climber
Trad climber
The Lawless Border Regions
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Amazing. I really admire folks who can do this, but I'd find it torture to be stuck on a small boat like that. I've got to move around. To be honest, the big bad ocean scares me, too. And I'm a Pieces. Go figger.
Race on!
BAd
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SalNichols
Big Wall climber
Richmond, CA
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Hey Susan, Michael and my dock neighbor on Owl had a gruesome 30 hours...jesus. They're finally out of jail, but facing a flat part of the ridge between 130-140W and the 1020-1024 MB line. If the high stays N and W, they may get a fleet restart, because the western most boats are stalling out. Domino appears to be attempting an escape gybe to the south...it'll take 24 hrs to see if it works out.
Next time I tell Owl to throw all of the heavy sh*t off of his boat, I suspect that he'll pay attention.
Just to keep this climbing relevant, the skipper of Owl is an old time climber from Lawrence Livermore. Most of you physicists know him.
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SalNichols
Big Wall climber
Richmond, CA
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The major impact from Blas is going to be a crappy swell from the wrong damn direction, and I wouldn't want to be caught on the wrong side of it's extra-tropical circulation. You don't want to sail upwind to HI.
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SC seagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, Moab, A sailboat, or some time zone
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^^^^. Didn't know that about Owl. I think he has an SSB so maybe he and Mike can share stories! He is a very nice man. As for extra weight on board...well MN doesn't know that one.
Yes, they were in a sucky situation. Then zoom up, but I think they are going into another slow down. I saw Mouton down to 2.4 kn. Arggh. Slam bang slam bang.
Race Committtee is following Blas closely via professional weather service as well as a a number of SSS weather gurus chiming in. Watchful waiting. Of course as shore support you hear "tropical storm" "hurricane" etc and the anxiety factor start to goes up, up, up. And the swell. Pound pound pound. It will be interesting to see the strategies the racers take.
Here's a nice checkin from Seazed Asset ... He's a friend of ST poster Bruce Hildenbrand, who taught him how to jumar up a mast.
Winds were light and massive wind shifts up to 40 degrees. The wrong way of course. Was up until 0200 trying to keep the boat going. Got up at 0500, not much sleep, nothing had changed, except it was very overcast and drizzly. Cleaned the dodger windows with the drizzle, nice. About 0600 I was about to get a RIB when a massive lift came my way. All of a sudden I am pointing at Hanley Bay! Running under a broad reach full Genoa and main making 7.5-8 knots, fantastic I thought. The it shifted a bit and went lighter. Ok, time for a spinnaker. Rigged the chute and went below for the radio check in. Came back on deck and noticed my spinnaker guy was now under the boat stuck on the rudder. Running new spinnaker sheets and even though I had two wraps on the winch, and in the self-tailing jaws, it snuck overboard. Tried pulling from one side then the other, no luck. Furled the Genoa and rounded up stopping the boat, still stuck, go over the side was one thought. Worked both of the lines to the cockpit, making sure I did not lose more over the side. Rounded up again, pulled, still nothing. The rounded up again, and gave about two fee of slack on the spinnaker end, was able to pull that up! Did it again same thing, so I let go of that side. Then pulled the guy back in the boat. I was lucky that I did not install any shackles. That only took an hour or so, such is a boat. Right now I have the chute up, and am pointing right at Hanley Bay, only 1500 km to go!
Vance Seazed Asset –
Susan
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BruceHildenbrand
Social climber
Mountain View/Boulder
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Susan,
thanks so much for the update! Let's hope the hurricane which has, I believe, been downgraded to a tropical storm doesn't add too much stress and drama to an already difficult setting!
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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It could give them a lift! Hey, stranger things have happened.
Glad Mr Seazed didn't have to keel haul himself! Man, I hate that!
First thing I would have done was put a shackle or a biner on one end of
my spinnaker boom, snap it onto the stuck line, hoist the other end on a
halyard and try and let the weight of it drive the line downwards.
I know, free advice is worth just that much.
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BruceHildenbrand
Social climber
Mountain View/Boulder
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Before Vance, skipper of Seazed Asset, left he asked me if I had a climbing helmet he could use in case he had to go under the boat. He didn't want to get pushed into the hull by a swell. He is a cyclist and owns a bike shop, but the foam helmets used by cyclists were too buoyant. Unfortunately, I didn't have one of those old plastic climbing helmets with no foam. Let's hope he doesn't have to go under his boat
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SC seagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, Moab, A sailboat, or some time zone
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^^^^^. We carry kayak helmets. Not so much for going under but when conditions are such you're getting thrown around the cabin.
I hope he doesn't need to go under either. Not pleasant to have to go up the mast or under the boat when at sea.
Susan
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