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Indiscipline headed South + photos !

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JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts

Initially Posted - 09/29/2009 : 15:13:30

Me and fellow Association member skrenz are headed to Ensenada Friday in the San Diego - Ensenada race. 62.5 miles. This time I've entered in the Crusing Spinnaker division, which lets us motor up to 4 hours between the hours of 6 PM Friday and 6AM Saturday. There are 14 boats in the class. 6 of my fellows in the San Diego All Catalina Association are entered. We are all doing a race within a race. We all have slips together in the Cruiseport marina.

There is a large penalty added to your time for motoring.

I've calculated it and for me, the break even speed to motor is 2.1 knots. If sail boat speed VMG falls below 2.1 it is better to motor at 6 knots straight towards the finish (or towards where you think you'll find wind).

Last year I was in the PHRF fleet, finished dead last at 03:48 AM and took 3rd double handed (out of 3).

This year I expect to finish around midnight.

Sleep and party Saturday.

Do the International Regatta de los Todos Santos Sunday.

Plan to leave Sunday night around midnight to motorsail home.

Boat is in top shape!

Wish us well.

Pics and story to come.

This is one of the biggest local races in the year. Here are the entries http://www.ssop.org/RaceCommittee/RaceIndex.htm

Indiscipline 1978 FK SR #398

Edited by - on

Sloop Smitten
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1181 Posts

Response Posted - 09/29/2009 : 20:47:41

Sounds like you might need that motor.
<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Fri
Wind variable less than 10 kt...becoming S 10 kt in the afternoon. Wind waves 1 ft or less. Mixed swell W 2 ft and S 2 ft.
Fri Night
Wind W 10 kt in the evening...becoming S less than 10 kt. Wind waves 1 ft or less. Mixed swell W 2 ft and S 2 ft.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Good luck Jim and Steve!
Say Hello to Mayor Pablo Alejo Lopez Nuñez for me. If his bodyguard will let you!

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JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts

Response Posted - 10/06/2009 : 10:44:08

Well, we are back after a great 4 day weekend - sailed 175 miles in 4 days. Nothing broke.

For the main race, we had a little of everything. Light winds, head winds, spinnaker run, rain, no winds, motoring. I'll write the whole story in a couple of days but we dropped out at 3 AM 20 miles from the finish while drifting backward at 0.5 knots. We were in the slip by 6 AM and slept to about noon. My friends and close rivals stuck it out and finished about 1:30 PM on Saturday, in dead last place, and 5 hours behind the next slowest boat. That would have been our finish, for sure. We partied and enjoyed Ensenada all afternoon and evening.

On Sunday we did the Regatta de los Todos Santos and what a change. Winds were good - at least 12 knots and gusting quite a bit higher. Seas were about 7 feet. The waves were something like 40 to 50 feet wide at the base and just monsters. They were not breaking and were manageable.

This is a 15 mile race around the islands in the bay of Ensenada and usually involves tacking out to the islands, going up spin on the backside, and reaching under spin on the way back. This day was no different but with the big waves the weather side of the island had to be seen to be believed. It was among the most rough seas I have ever been in in 15 years of sailing and 20,000 miles. We were slamming and pounding but had good pressure and good speed. I felt like our Lake Erie sailors.

The little boat was very tough and we rounded and did not go up spin on the back side because it was just too much. We got knocked down into a near broach by a big wave. Keep in mind its about 500 feet deep water coming up to the islands but there is a major reef and we tried to stay in about 90 feet while rounding. Surfers come from all over to ride this break - only accessible by boat.

On the lee side of the island we were getting a lot of relief from the waves and winds were right on the beam. After a while we elected to go up with our reaching spin. The boat took off and was pulling off minute long surfs on those big, big waves. We had the boat the fastest I've ever seen - our max speed on the GPS on the way back was 8.8 knots and we had speeds well above 8 for miles and miles. I'll never know how we placed because the event is really just a fun event and not very well managed. But we had a great time and ate well at the party. Probably 5th or 6th out of 12.

Monday it was calm and sunny and we had a 75 mile motorsail back to San Diego. The Tohatsu 9.8 burned 1/2 gallon per hour and achived about 10 nmpg as we cruised back around 5.5 knots.

Very tired and sore all over today.

Edited by - on

redeye
Master Marine Consultant

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3476 Posts

Response Posted - 10/06/2009 : 11:06:15

You are the MAN... you make it look easy.

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JohnP
Master Marine Consultant

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1520 Posts

Response Posted - 10/06/2009 : 12:10:13

That's a lot of sailing for you and Steve. I can feel those waves under my chair, I think!

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JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts

Response Posted - 10/09/2009 : 22:13:59

Photos added!

Click below for more:

http://www.indiscipline.org/cat25/littlee09.html

Check out my trophy!

Edited by - on

DaveR
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
2015 Posts

Response Posted - 10/10/2009 : 06:43:05

Great pics Jim, thanks. I envy your love and dedication to sailing.

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redviking
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1771 Posts

Response Posted - 10/10/2009 : 07:51:23

Nice trophy! How are you going to er.... mount it?

Renzo, we shoulda been there!

sten

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ruachwrights
Captain

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USA
258 Posts

Response Posted - 10/11/2009 : 19:17:34

Your photos are extremely beautiful. They capture something of the seas essence. You are an adventurer who helps us embrace the potential of our craft. Thank you

Vern Wright

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skrenz
Captain

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USA
351 Posts

Response Posted - 10/13/2009 : 09:11:15

As "crew" I can report much the same as Jim has said. The Catalina 25 did very well but you can see from the picture of us in port the distinct disadvantage we had when comparing the mast heights of Indiscipline to everybody else in the harbor. We were without a doubt the smallest boat in the competition. But that being said, I never felt that Indiscipline wasn't up to the challenge, even when doing the Regatta de los Todos Santos. Steering in those rollers definitely presented a challenge. Mostly because you were constantly steering up one side and down another at an angle to the waves and while one tack was fairly smooth, the other yielded the banging that Jim talks about going round the island tip. Distance over ground seemed to be twice as long for all the up and down. But on the other hand, Indiscipline being a lighter boat than others in the race, we were able to surf on the wave tops by steering the best angle. Endeavor, our friends and close rivals, were gaining on us on the last leg until Jim unfurled his small spinnaker. Then it was off to the races and NOBODY was going to catch us. When we got back, I was totally exhausted.
It would have been nice to have had enough wind on the main race down. When we had it, we did OK and worked to squeeze out every point into the wind. Jim has a nice set of sails. When I think about the alternative though, which most of the boats ran into on the return trip back to San Diego on Sunday - 6 - 8 foot seas, high winds, small craft warnings - I am not too disappointed. It's a lot of ocean out there between San Diego and Ensenada. The Catalina 25 was up to it but you could imagine that it would get very uncomfortable out there if things got nasty. I learned alot about what this boat can take and how well she will handle. From that perspective, the race was a success for me.
Thanks Jim for a good sail and exciting weekend.

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JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts

Response Posted - 10/13/2009 : 10:50:17

Steve, it was great having you along, I could not have done it without you. The whole 4 day weekend was fun.

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Sloop Smitten
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1181 Posts

Response Posted - 10/13/2009 : 12:08:48

Jim,
If you were allowed to motor why didn't you motor to the finish instead of dropping out? Was the after-race reception at Hussong's again this year?

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JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts

Response Posted - 10/13/2009 : 15:22:55

We were only allowed to motor 4 hours between the hours of 6 PM to 6 AM. At 6:30 PM we were becalmed off Rosarita. We motored 2 hours (mistake, we should have motored in 30 minute increments). From 8:00 to midnight we had light wind and sailed 3 to 4 knots. At midnight we again had 0 wind. We motored another 2 hours midnight to 2 AM. That used up our 4 hour allotment. At 3 AM we were 18 miles to go and drifting backwards towards San Diego at 0.5 knots.

I could have waked Steve and gone to sleep. We could have traded off sleep/watch cycles until the Saturday winds came up. Boats that did this finished between noon Saturday and the deadline 2 PM.

Another motoring detail - if you even turn on the motor for anything between 1 and 29 minutes you have to record 30 minutes, so you may as well fire up and run for 30 minutes at a time.

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JimB517
Past Commodore

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3285 Posts

Response Posted - 10/13/2009 : 15:25:14

Oh - the after race party was at San Nicolas hotel, just like last year. After that, Steve and I went to the Fish Market and had dinner. Then we took naps. About 9 PM Ken and Charlie on Endeavor and us from Indiscipline went to Hussongs. It was packed, mostly with Mexican locals. We met up with Dan from Inspiration (Catalina 36) and had quite a bit of fun.

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