Update on Singlehanded TransPac racer Jacqueline

[gamayun]

The message below was sent by Mike Cunningham this morning from JACQUELINE, a Freedom 30, who's racing to Kauai, Hawaii in the Singlehanded Sailing Society's TransPac race. He had some rudder concerns recently, but seems to have gotten them worked out and he's continuing on. You can follow him at this site, too: http://sfbaysss.org/shtp2016/

Hi all, the SFBaySSS SHTP adventure aboard jacqueline began on saturday 2 july.

Had a great sail out the golden gate and to the Farallon Islands but got stuck with some of my fellow racers in low wind conditions. A good chunk of the fleet made it through but i lost about 12 hours at this point. The importance of these hours is now showing up as we plod through low winds further offshore. Those that got past the farallons got out here sooner and were rewarded by better wind conditions. Hanging in there though, there are 1500 miles to go, much can happen.

Encountered typical nw winds once 100 miles offshore but things got hairy with 26 kts TWS and 8 to 10 foot seas with some breaking. The issue is you have to reach across this seaway and it places your beam in the way of breaking seas. I managed for awhile but learned an important lesson during the qualifier. Safe the boat and do not exhaust yourself. So i dropped the main at about sunset and spent the night forereaching on the jib while i buttoned up below and got some zzs. Lost a few more hours here.

By morning the wind had moderated to 20 kts tws and we got back on course.

Subsequent days have been moderate to light air and pretty frustrating overall. I had the rudder excitement as you are aware. That looks to be resolved by greasing the bearings. Thanks for everyone's thoughts on this issue. It is good to know team Freedom has my back.

By the way, the darn boom vang bale snapped in two the other night. I dealt with that by rigging a strap around the boom to hang the vang block on. Another benefit of the open footed main. If i have issues with main sheet bales i have a fix in my box of tricks.

Right now i am on my way to 134 west and will give you another update in a few days.


Mike
F30
Jacqueline

[gamayun]

Mike has been doing well and is over halfway there. He should be arriving July 20 or thereabouts. He is now in deep blue water and sunny skies, so it has been a bit more pleasant sailing, but he's also experiencing another issue related to the mast. Just before the race, he had the boat hauled and the mast pulled. Now, there is an intermittent bang as the mast moves ever so slightly around the base. He can see the movement, it's about 1/16 to 1/8 inch. It's disconcerting but doesn't appear serious.

Also, the status of the mast base bolt is a question. Should it be tightened down fast or left loose-ish? He was hoping to get some input from the forum. I had responded back to him that I had had the same question about my mast and the consensus was that you don't want to compress the carbon fiber by over tightening that bolt, which is just to keep the mast from moving sideways on the tophat.

I had also read other posts here where people had inserted wedges underneath to keep the mast from shifting up, and that he should also check the nuts and bolts holding the collar on.

Is there anything else I missed?

[GeoffSchultz]

If your question is about the bolt that goes horizontally through the mast, it should be left loose. In the past I built a round wedge to go around the mast to keep it from moving. Then I glassed the interior of the mast and used the inverted "pie-pan" base as a mold. That kept it from ever moving again. Perhaps when he had it pulled it let some material come out which was keeping it from moving.

-- Geoff

[gamayun]

Thanks, Geoff! I sent your comment on to Mike. There might not be anything he can do at present. He has expressed his thanks, as well, that he has this community to help him keep a sanity check on things

[jamesorr]

Would concur with Geoff. I had a similar noise emanating from the base of my mast when conditions got lumpy and the mast would move about the tophat, creating a very unappealing sound. Not sure one can do much about the sound while under sail however. I solved the problem at the beginning of the next season before they re-stepped the mast by carefully measuring the difference in diameter of the inside of the mast and the outside of the tophat (with a decent pair of calipers), and building up about a 16th of an inch of resin about 2 inches up from the bottom of the mast. Since that repair several years ago, the noise has been non-existent.

[daletournier]

I had the same issue also. I pulled the mast 6 years ago. Ran a glass strip around tophat that inserts into mast after careful measuring. Have not had any movement at all for approx 20,000nm.

[daletournier]

Also prior to the above I had the tophat moving around a little making the noise he describes. By memory ,which is vague I was able to reach under it and tighten the two bolts that secure it to the step. Maybe worth mentioning this to Mike, easy fix if that's the problem.

[mike cunningham]

Jacqueline and I finished the single-handed transpac from SF to Hanalei Bay, Hawaii at about 0200 HST 20 July. Thanks to all of you who provided input on my reported problems, it was extremely helpful and confidence building to get feedback which helped me understand how serious an issue might be.

Special thanks to Gammy who posted my questions to the board on my behalf.

I'll provide a detailed report later as I am currently on a smart phone, but highlights are

Achieved max SOG of 12 knots while surfing in a squall. Man, the boat looked like a freight train!

Endured 3 days of 30 Kt plus winds with 8 hours at 40 kts and 15-20 foot seas as the remains of TS Celia blew by.

Lost the jib during above when camberspar boom fitting which attaches boom to sheet broke away from boom. 5 mins of flogging in 40 kts of wind tore the spar away from the sail.

Rigged my storm jib to replace and worked like a top through the finish.

I had learned during the longpac qualifier that adequate sleep was critical. So this time I learned to sleep on the cabin sole, wet, in full foul weather gear (an ocean rodeo dry suit) as Jacqueline and the AP pounded on toward Hawaii on my behalf. Just like a magic carpet.

Ha ha, those of you selling a 30 can now tell prospective purchasers - yea, she's a stout, easily handled boat, some idiot even single-handed one Hawaii.

What a ride!
Mike

[gamayun]

Wooohooo! Way to go, Mike Yes, I plan to tell everyone how great the F30 is for single-handing across oceans. Can't wait to hear more about the trip and your learnings. I've had the camber spar shake loose twice on me (both times singlehanding in big wind) so I now have the hooks on the aft end tied with Dyneema. I don't ever again want to be hanging over the side taking water over the bow trying to pull that pole back on board - not to even mention doing this in the middle of the Pacific. Good on ya for taking it all in stride and figuring out how to make it work. I especially like the bunk on the floor. Your hove-to method is also something I want to hear more.

Aloha!!! I'll see you guys later today at Tree Time.

Carliane
s/v Kynntana

[tnltracy]

Congratulations Mike! Looking forward to more details.

Not one to sail too far offshore yet, but your success adds to the desire and confidence!