Electrical work, sure I do that too.

Last year on the way to Newport for the BDA1-2, my bow lights went out.  Then on the way to Bermuda, my tricolor went out; the anchor light too.  I suspected there was some short somewhere in the boat and wanting to change a few things, plus planning for future work, I decided to rewire the electrical panel.  There was one other consideration and that was that in it's original configuration you had a very small hole to stick your head through to reach the terminal blocks and it was damn near impossible to work on.  What I really wanted was something that would be easy to work on, neater and a little more orderly.  This is what I started with:

The panel as it was when I bought the boat.

After removing everything but before I cut out the plywood.

Next came the fun job of disconnecting everything from the terminal blocks and then tracing all the wiring to verify what went where and if it actually worked.

Oy, what a mess.  The blue tape marks where I cut out the existing plywood.  

My double handed partner from last years BDA 1-2 helped immensely as we spent quite a bit of time testing every wire and circuit to verify if it worked and then labeling everything.  One thing that puzzle us to no end was not having power at the bow for the bow light cable, but getting continuity. then half way between the bow and the panel we had power.  I finally figured it out when I pulled out the wire and found this:

Basically the wire had been compromised at some point and moisture and corrosion did their work on the wire.  Of course some of this damage is from me giving a good hard yank to pull it out and breaking it free from behind the liner.

Oh, and the tricolor went out because it had water in it!  Nothing wrong w the wiring.  Signal Mate replaced it the same week I sent it back.  Kudos to them!

Carol and I then spent several hours one cold February day removing all the solid copper Romex cable for all the 110v outlets on the boat and pulling new stranded wire to bring the wiring up to ABYC code.  While solid wire was standard in the 1980's, it's susceptible to breakage from the vibration and movement on a boat.  Oh, and let's not even talk about the wire nuts that were joining some of the splices!  A HUGE no-no in the marine environment.

I had bought a brand new BLUE SEA DC panel and and AC panel for the boat as well as a piece of 1/2" black Starboard to mount them on.  After drawing out my layout on vellum and carefully measuring multiple times I cut out the openings, drilled and tapped holes for the fasteners and did a trial fit.  Almost perfect and after shaving off a bit here and there it was.  Perfect that is. To further gussy things up and to hide the plywood edges I cut some Brazilian Cherry scrap that I had in my shop and made the trim pieces that go around the edges of the new panel.  With a stainless steel piano hinge so the whole assembly can fold down for ease of working I was ready to move on to the next step.

Next came the really interesting work albeit slow and sometimes tedious.  Mounting terminal blocks on Starboard behind the panel I set to work making all the connections.  Wire runs from the various lights, fixtures, instruments had a label attache with clear shrink tubing and then ring terminals crimped and heat shrinked.  Then I had to do the same going from the terminal blocks to the appropriate breaker on the panel.

While I still have a few things I want to add and tweak, this new panel is so much better than the previous one. Having room to expand and having everything clearly marked is a huge improvement.

We got the gun. No, we got the CANNON!

For the past several years, even before we bought DIANTHUS, Carol and I had raced in the CONSTELLATION CUP, a benefit race into Baltimore's Inner Harbor to benefit the Historic Ships.
Three years on WHARF RAT, the CS 40 I used to race on and the past 4 years on our CS 36M.
In 2014 we came in second but that was tainted by a protest that had no validity, yet left a sour taste in our mouths.  And to really piss us off, we got booed when we were given the 2nd place award.

So in 2015 we went back looking to kick some butt and loaded up with some heavy weight crew (size and sailing ability).  It was a typical CONNIE CUP day; blustery and overcast.  Carol had even asked a young woman from her work to come along.  Caitlin had sailed on dinghys but not big boats and brought her boyfriend who had never sailed.
On the upwind leg towards Ft. McHenry we saw apparent wind speeds in the mid 20's.  Reefing down the main, but not furling the jib we started to pull away from INFRARED which had been catching up.  Turning the mark by the Fort I looked back and saw a Tartan 40 closing rapidly.

Fortunately we made it around the mark with a decent lead and then had to make 11 tacks in a tacking duel to the finish at the Inner Harbor.  Sailing each tack as close as we dared to each side we got a huge lift right at the finish and crossed the line 1 min ahead of the Tartan.  Just about the time I said, "what, no gun?" (first to finish traditionally gets a gun), they fired the cannon off the deck of the CONSTELLATION and the whole harbor shook! Needless to say we were quite happy.  We finished first in the Fin Keel Class, First Overall and got to keep the perpetual trophy half hull model of the Connie for a year.

Oh, and the boyfriend who had never sailed?  Caitlin emailed Carol the next week and said he was terrified... but had a blast!

  

At the post race party....

FINALLY got the trophy 3 months later!

This summer everyone was at our house for our annual summer party so we had to take a picture with the perpetual trophy!  Pete, Greg, me, Carol, Dave, Bob   (l-r)


We will be back looking to defend this year!

Double handed leg to Newport

So Dan and I are prepped to race back to Newport.  All the racers get a weather briefing the day before; nothing unexpected except a low that is the remnants of Tropical Storm BILL is supposed to pass through New England over the weekend and could impact us.

Thursday is a beautiful Bermuda day w/ wind out of the North and the race will start at the west end of the harbor and we will actually sail out of the Cut into the ocean.  Hmmmm.  We get a pretty good start as the third boat across the line in our class and quickly move into second.  Passing through the Cut we are just barely behind ISLAND GIRL but when we get through the cut and into clear air we quickly leave all the boats in our class behind and are first to Mills Breaker buoy.  The first two days are delightful sailing even if we all are tending to go east of the rhumb line.  Even saw some dolphin.  And we're leading our class.  That is until Saturday night when, trying to escape the wicked foul current we take a take to the west, get in even more foul current and two boats in our class leave us in their wake.  Damn.

Meanwhile, our friend TS BILL has tracked further south then anticipated and we wake up Sunday morning to the news that he's going to pay us a visit with winds in the 40 knot range.  Late that morning I furled the jib and hoisted the storm jib, set flying.  Unfortunately we can't point well and while we stayed on course for the next few hours we eventually were forced well off course as the wind veered.  Coming on watch at noon, I ended up helming by hand for over 7 hours.  By now we were double reefed on the main and just the storm jib.  The wind and seas built and by mid afternoon it was blowing in the 30's w/ solid 10 foot waves.  Nothing to worry about and even when it rained it wasn't awful.  However, this continued and as the wind veered more to the NW the sea state got confused and the wind kept increasing.  I guess it was around 6pm or so when I started seeing GPS speeds well into the teens, apparent wind speeds in the high 30's and waves that were pushing 15 feet!  When a couple of big waves lifted the boat and we took off surfing down breaking waves and I was thinking "OH SH!T" I decided enough was enough.  I called Dan topside and we deployed a couple of 1" thick lines over the stern to slow the boat down which worked great, but then an even bigger wave and a gust that Dan said hit 41 Apparent Wind Speed while I was watching double digit boat speed convinced me we needed to deploy the Galerider drogue.  Over the transom it went and worked like a charm.
Only trouble was we were still making 6-7 knots in the direction of Newfoundland! Clipping on in three places I muscled the double reefed main down and lashed it to the boom.  Now we were pretty much parked making less than 1.5 knots, which is how we spent the next 10 hours.  Early the next morning we set sail and tried to make our way back towards Newport.  Unfortunately we were stuck in more foul current and it was an extremely exasperating day.
Here is a screenshot of the tracker showing how several boats got forced off course and suffered the effects of "Bill".  DIANTHUS is the highlighted boat in blue.

Here are a few videos from that day and a few pictures of lines/drogue in the water.

I don't really think we hit a max speed of 20.4 knots.  I think that's the GPS calculating things in both the vertical and horizontal plane to come up w/ that number!  BUT, we definitely were in the teens at times...

Regardless we struggled on knowing that even though the race was pretty much over for us, we had exercised good judgement and kept us and the boat safe.
The last day was interesting in that we had heard parts of a radio conversation between the Coast Guard and another boat in the race.  Evidently they were taking on water and having other issues.  Not knowing exactly where they were I contacted the Coasties to advise them we were willing to lend a hand if need be but they had things under control.  (KONTRADICTION  also lost their mast when the backstay broke!  They ended up going in to Martha's Vineyard and then motored to Newport a day later.)

The fun wasn't over though as the last full day (Tuesday) we kept listening to weather alerts about thunderstorms.  All day the area under alert kept moving further south until about 8pm when Dan stuck his head up and said "we are now in the alert area".  Well no kidding Dan, I've been looking at a light show for the past hour and it keeps getting closer.  Prudence told me I didn't want to be holding on to that metal wheel with all the lightning so we furled the jib, double reefed the main, lashed the wheel amidships and went below.  Dan was lying on the floor and I quickly joined him.  (can't fall any further!)  Within minutes the first gusts hit and the boat heeled over sending foamy, white water past the cabin windows.  Then the rain started.  After about an hour and a half things abated, we went topside to find NO DAMAGE whatsoever and started sailing again.  About an hour later we're blasting along under reefed jib and single reefed main and I hear a loud BANG, and something hits me in the back.  Turns out it was a rachet turning block on the furling line and it just exploded into several pieces.  Guess it was one size too small!  Amazingly, that was the only gear failure we had on the return leg despite the nasty weather.  We sailed through the night and of course, the last few hours had the wind right on our nose but finished just before 0730.

Putting the boat shipshape and getting in to Newport harbor took another 2 hours and then we could relax.  Meanwhile Carol was putting together a delivery crew so I didn't have to burn more leave and she and I could go back home together.  Dan's lady friend Corinne, a friend of hers, and Doug, a friend of ours that had helped us deliver DIANTHUS from Bristol when we bought her came up.  We had a nice couple of days relaxing and then it was time to depart and let Dan bring her home.

While we didn't score any silver on the return leg, it was a great experience.  As I told some folks, I had never towed lines in the water, towed a drogue or flown a storm jib in anger.  I did all three of those in one day!  And 2 days later I lashed the wheel, went below and left the boat to itself; also something I'd never done before.   Despite all the racing and the foul weather, Dan and I had a great time, got along swell and the boat came through wonderfully.  I never felt like the conditions were going to overwhelm the boat or us.  Of course everyone I talked to wanted to know if I was coming back in 2017.   My answer was "ask me in January 2017!"

Single handed leg to Bermuda

Friday morning of the 1-2 is a beautiful sunny, cool June day.  Wind out of the NE and forecast to stay that way for some time.  We putz around the dock doing all the last minute things that always come up; loading the frozen food, checking the weather, making last minute guesstimates about where to hit the Gulf Stream.  Finally it's time for me to dress the part of a racing sailor and shove off.

Carol went out to watch the start w/ my friends Ian and Cindy who are the captain and crew on an Oyster 655 that was in Newport for the summer; Bibi and Frank, sorta family by marriage went along too.   
I head out and check over some of the rigging as well as try to put up my asymmetric spinnaker that was jammed inside the hoisting sock.  It was still jammed so I took it down and headed back to the start area.
When it was time for my class to start I was a little lower to the start line then I wanted and then when I went to roll out the jib it wouldn't budge.  Damn, I left the assy boot wrapped around the furled jib.  Ran forward to take it off and hurry back to the cockpit.  Now the wind shifts and I backwind the jib.  Damn.  Tack real quick and then back again.  Meanwhile the rest of my class has started and I'm over a minute behind.  Oh well, at least I'm off to Bermuda!  Being the scratch boat in my class means I'm faster than the rest of the class.  Proving this to be the case I had passed almost everyone in my class by the time I cleared Brenton reef and headed out to sea.  I settled down for the afternoon and even tried to catch a few Zzzzzs.  Of course by late afternoon my stomach had paid tribute to King Neptune and I was suffering from my usual combination of mal de mer and Scopalamine poisoning.  Ugh.  Heated up dinner of some soup in a can and shut the hatch as it was drizzling rain.  Pulled on my long john pants and settled down for a bit of sleep.  Water temp was right around 50 as was the air temp.  Brrrr!

Saturday dawned gray with light wind.  The wave action caused the sails to slat and crack like a whip; when that happens I just see dollar signs worth of wear on my brand new sail.  And of course the noise is real annoying too.  I try multiple combinations of restraining the boom, furling the jib, reefing the main, all to no avail.  Finally I try setting my small, heavyweight spinnaker and get a little more speed out of the boat.  I can see SCALLYWAG in the distance and I close on him but when the apparent wind speed starts getting up into the mid/upper teens I decide it's time to be prudent and take down the chute.  Shortly thereafter I reef the main and furl the jib part way; even under this reduced sail I'm making in the 8 knot plus range.

If you look real carefully at the GPS in the lower left you'll see 8.5 knots!  All day Saturday the wind continued to gradually build.  I was still seeing other sailboats and at one point a freighter passed in front of me.  He kindly offered to alter course to keep a safe distance from me.  That was the only ship I saw the entire time.  Saturday night I realized my masthead Tricolor light was not working and since SCALLYWAG was till nearby I turned on my anchor light for no other reason than so he could see me.  My portable, battery powered backup nav lights worked great, but being at deck level I didn't want to count on him seeing them. I hand steered for a good part of that night until we diverged a few miles.

Sunday the wind got even stronger.  Over the course of the morning the waves grew from 4-6 footers to 8, to 10-12 footers, some of them even breaking a bit.  I was hand steering and one wave caught me a little more on the beam than I would have liked, rolling the boat over a bit and sending water gushing down the leeward deck and tearing out one of the grommets on the starboard weather cloth.  WHOA!  That got my attention!  Aside from the tricolor light and later the anchor light failing, that was my only gear issue on the trip down.  I ended up hand steering most of Sunday


I have very little recollection of Monday other than it was pretty much just keeping the boat moving straight to NorthEast breaker off  of Bermuda.  I did have the opportunity to try out hoisting the storm jib as some dark clouds were approaching and I didn't want to get caught with the jib out.  Of course soon after I set the storm jib the clouds moved off and broke up.  Sometime around midnight Monday I sacked out and must have overslept because just after 3am I woke to voices on the VHF radio talking about how light the wind was and it was going to be slow going.  I could feel the motion of the boat was different too.  I jumped up to check the AIS and saw it was MIRARI and HALCYON, two boats that I knew would have trouble in light air.  Realizing this could be an opportunity I went topside and headed up a few degrees to give me a better wind angle and get some speed.  Debating whether to set a spinnaker I decided to wait the hour or so til it was lighter so I wouldn't risk screwing it up.  First I set the heavy reaching spin and after a few hours changed over to the big lightweight Red White and Blue spin.  The wind slowly built

Bermuda on the horizon.  I never get tired of seeing land at the end of a passage.

I meant to take a picture of KITCHEN SHOALS as I approached but was more interested in keeping the boat moving fast and forgot.  I took this pic looking BACK at the mark.
Shortly thereafter I passed Mills Breaker Buoy and marked the time.   11:36  EDT  (not Bermuda time) for an elapsed time of 96:16.   Only faster trip to Bermuda was in the blustery Newport/Bermuda race of 2012 on a 44' boat w/ full crew.

I get the sails down, tidy up a bit and head in the Cut to St. Georges Harbor.  Off to Customs to clear in for the first time ever as CAPTAIN!  Tried to look a little presentable but 5 days w/o a bath and sweating my buns off the last morning means there's only so much you can do to look good.
After clearing in and departing the Custom's dock, I'm motoring through the mooring field and my phone rings; I run down below, grab the phone and see it's Carol.  Answer the phone and say "I can't talk, go to the Dinghy Club"!  Arriving at the St. Georges Dinghy and Sport Club I have to stand off the dock for a while til they can fit me into a slip.  Finally I pull inside the breakwater and as I'm nosing into my slip, just like in the movies Carol steps out of a cab and is there to take my bow line.  WOW.  I did it.  Singlehanded to BDA!

Of course as soon as I was finished tying up I was handed the obligatory Dark n' Stormy and a very much needed token for the showers!  Boy talk about feeling good, and not just from the D/S.  I did take some time to hose off the boat as you could have cured a whole pig from all the salt that had accumulated.
Then it was off to find our apartment for the next 5 days that we had rented; it was the second highest house on the hill overlooking St. Georges and the view was stunning.

If you look close you can even see our DIANTHUS battle flag flying just to the right of the Dinghy Club.
Here is a better pic.

Carol and I spent a few days relaxing and running around and even went out for a "three hour cruise"!

Dan, my crew for the double handed leg flew in and was present for the awards ceremony where I got the Brian Oatley Award for the best finish by a first time entrant.  While I would have liked to have placed higher in my class I was 7th overall out of 24; not too shabby!