Association Forum - Harvest Moon Regatta 2012

Assn Members Area · Join

Home.

Association Forum

Ships Store

Cruising

Racing

Technical Tips

Photo Gallery - New

Boat Search - Updated

Manuals & Brochures

Swap Meet

Links

Officer Flag Line & Staff

Bylaws & Constitution

Members Area

Join the Association

Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.

Association Forum

Username:	Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

All Forums

Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

Harvest Moon Regatta 2012

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Author

Topic

PCP777
Master Marine Consultant

Member Avatar

USA
1225 Posts

Initially Posted - 10/23/2012 : 09:57:48

I announced this on FB but I will do it here:

Tomorrow we head to the coast for the start of the Harvest Moon Regatta. This is a 150 mile race from Galveston to Port Aransas. I will be sailing on Dances With Dolphins, a Ranger 29. You can follow our progress through the tracking map here. http://trackleaders.com/harvest

We are one of the smallest boats in the fleet. 206 boats registered. We are in the Black Fleet.

So I am very excited but my biggest fear is all the unlit and abandoned oil and natural gas wells. The idea is that the moon is full enough to see that before you hit it. We will be sailing 20 to 40 miles offshore.

After the race, once we get into Port A Bacardi is throwing a blow out party, free rum all night. Should be a ton of people there, we have six crew members on our boat alone.

Peter Powers
1979 TR/FK #1390
~Stephanos~
Bayview Marina,
Lake Ray Hubbard
Dallas, TX

Edited by - on

DaveR
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
2015 Posts

Response Posted - 10/23/2012 : 10:46:49

wow, hadn't stoped to think about this..... [url="http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/07/27000_abandoned_oil_and_gas_we.html"]abandoned oil and natural gas wells in the gulf of mexico
[/url]

Edited by - on

PCP777
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1225 Posts

Response Posted - 10/23/2012 : 12:24:09

Edited by - PCP777 on 10/23/2012 12:24:53

redeye
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

3476 Posts

Response Posted - 10/23/2012 : 12:26:37

Yepper.. if you look at the charts off New Orleans, LA you will not believe how many old wellheads are out there... we see incredible sunsets on the panhandle of Florida cause it shines through the burnoff.

Edited by - on

redeye
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

3476 Posts

Response Posted - 10/23/2012 : 12:28:40

Makes for good Fishin!

Edited by - on

NautiC25
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
957 Posts

Response Posted - 10/23/2012 : 12:38:11

Wow, I live in a hole. That's serious stuff. I can't believe they let the companies get away with that. How does the commercial traffic avoid them? Do they have beacons or something?

Edited by - NautiC25 on 10/23/2012 12:38:58

Derek Crawford
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
3321 Posts

Response Posted - 10/23/2012 : 14:14:22

Peter, there are times when you think you are sailing a slalom course! The active ones are lit up like Xmas trees. The inactive ones usually, unfortunately not all, have a horn. At night it is difficult to tell from where the sound is originating. Radar is a great help.
Good luck with the race - there will be guys from Hill Country Yacht Club (my club) racing with you.

Edited by - on

GaryB
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
4303 Posts

Response Posted - 10/23/2012 : 16:33:00

Today was a perfect day for sailing here in the Houston area. High in the mid 80's, SE winds at 15, and partly cloudy skies.

You might want to bring some foulies and a jacket. Just watched the local weather and it's supposed to be 88 on Friday afternoon with a 30% chance of rain and then drop to 54 Saturday morning with a high between 60 & 65 for a high on Saturday. I'm sure out in the gulf it will probably be at least 70 or slightly higher.

Peter where are you guys leaving from? Looking at your link Dancing with Dolphins appears to be moored about 3/8 of a mile from where I keep Andiamo. If you leave from there you will motor right past my slip just before you enter Clear Lake.

Edited by - on

TCurran
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
588 Posts

Response Posted - 10/24/2012 : 03:07:09

Peter, sounds like a great time. Do the abandoned rigs show up on chartplotters?

Have fun, stay safe, and enjoy the rum!

Edited by - on

JohnP
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

1520 Posts

Response Posted - 10/24/2012 : 09:38:52

Looks like great wind for the race!

<font size="1">WATERS FROM FREEPORT TO THE MATAGORDA SHIP CHANNEL 20 NM TO 60 NM-
WATERS FROM HIGH ISLAND TO FREEPORT 20 TO 60 NM-
1035 AM CDT WED OCT 24 2012

THIS AFTERNOON
SOUTHEAST WINDS 10 TO 15 KNOTS. SEAS 3 FEET. A
SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS.

TONIGHT
SOUTHEAST WINDS 15 TO 20 KNOTS. SEAS 3 TO 4 FEET. A
SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS.

THURSDAY
SOUTHEAST WINDS 10 TO 15 KNOTS. SEAS 3 TO 4 FEET. A
SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS IN THE MORNING.

THURSDAY NIGHT
SOUTHEAST WINDS 10 TO 15 KNOTS. SEAS 2 TO
3 FEET.

FRIDAY
EAST WINDS AROUND 5 KNOTS BECOMING NORTHEAST 15 TO
20 KNOTS IN THE AFTERNOON. SEAS 2 TO 3 FEET BUILDING TO 3 TO
5 FEET IN THE AFTERNOON. A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS IN THE MORNING...THEN A CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS IN THE AFTERNOON.

</font id="size1">

Edited by - on

redeye
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

3476 Posts

Response Posted - 10/26/2012 : 05:58:09

Looks like they are having fun... Still running.

Edited by - on

JohnP
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

1520 Posts

Response Posted - 10/26/2012 : 06:47:58

From the track of Dances with Dolphins, it seems as if the wind died in the early morning from 3-5 AM, and they slowed to 1 knot! Ugh!!!

But at 8:30 central time this morning they were zooming along at 7 knots.

Edited by - on

redeye
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

3476 Posts

Response Posted - 10/26/2012 : 07:00:04

(1 knot)

Better to see the oil rigs in the dark!

Edited by - on

GaryB
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
4303 Posts

Response Posted - 10/26/2012 : 18:06:26

Wonder what happened?

Looks like Dancing with Dolphins has stopped in Port O'Connor instead of the finish line in Port Aransas? Boat hasn't moved in the past couple of hours and is indicating 0 knots.

It's kinda cool to play the race and watch how all the boats travel during the race. It's also interesting how a pack of boats would slow to a crawl for awhile and then one or two boats would blow through the pack at a high rate of speed. Kinda wonder if some people didn't become stinkpotter's from time to time?

Edited by - on

DaveR
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
2015 Posts

Response Posted - 10/26/2012 : 18:27:16

Haven't been keeping up with this thread and not sure of any timeline but have seen a bunch of pics he's posted on facebook, some great shots! Like one of the sunset over open ocean and tiny mast/sails on the horizon.

Edited by - on

GaryB
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
4303 Posts

Response Posted - 10/26/2012 : 18:42:30

It's probably pretty raw where they are and may be why they ducked into Port O'Connor. Temperature and winds all along the coast in the area they are sitting are 58 degrees with North winds 22 mph gusting to 32 mph.

Edited by - on

DaveR
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
2015 Posts

Response Posted - 10/26/2012 : 18:47:35

Wow, yeah sounds pretty bad. Think I'd do the same

Edited by - on

bigelowp
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1776 Posts

Response Posted - 10/27/2012 : 19:51:14

What a post. We folk not in the Gulf learn something new! Enjoy the race and wow, something for us all to ponder -- abandoned oil wells in a race course. Makes an occasional light house seem, well, dull!

Edited by - on

redeye
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

3476 Posts

Response Posted - 10/29/2012 : 04:09:19

Like the time one of my friends ( Doug ) agreed to help a fried move a boat, and when they got away from shore he asked what was for lunch and the guy had only stocked the boat with cans of beanie weenie.

Doug was ready to get off that boat!

Edited by - on

PCP777
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1225 Posts

Response Posted - 10/29/2012 : 10:34:33

Hey guys just flew back from Corpus last night so here is the update.

It was an exciting and at times a scary experience.

Getting out to the starting line was under power for us most of the way as the wind was on the nose. It was amazing to see a procession of hundreds of boats, all motoring up the channel along the shipping lanes ahead or behind us. As soon as we cleared the last breakwater out of Galveston Bay we were able to raise the sails and we made the starting line on time.

It was amazing to see how many boats were out there. It was truly a majestic sight. While sailing out, Soap Opera, a Hobie 33 from our lake, owned by Scott Self, passed us by and we said hello. Soap Opera won the double handed division of the TRANSPAC in 2005 and it was cool to see some of our lake buddies down here. Somehow, we were in the same fleet. Go figure.

We had a very good start off the line and it was obvious that this would not be the down wind milk run we had been expecting. As it was, we never had a chance to use the chute. The wind was on the nose so we tacked away from the fleet in search of better wind offshore which ended up paying us. This enabled us to find a fresher breeze and be able to run on the rhumb line at a close reach, which our boat really liked. The sea swell was graceful and it was a gorgeous day. because we had run offshore it looked like we were close to last place at first but we would make up major time on this leg so we agreed it was a good move.

<i>BELOW Keelan at the helm, Gary playing with the chart plotter. Keelan and I would split helm duty for the entire race. I have never had to drive a boat with such an uncomfortable helm station. The traveler was in the way and the aft stay split in half right in front of the cat bird seats. My back is still sore from the aft rail. Actually, pretty much every part of my body aches. The wheel came right to the seats, making it hard for transfer of helm duty and it was impossible to stay comfortable.</i>

First night sun set.

As it was, even in the rolling gentle waves, the crew started getting seasick. Everyone ended up getting seasick throughout the course of the race with the exception of myself and another rookie crewman. The boat owner was so sick he was basically incapacitated for the entire race. At this point we didn't know how bad he was, but he was not participating. Essentially Keelan and I had taken command which was fine, we've raced and cruised together on his C-27 for the past 4 years and worked well together. The crew was our C-27 team. The ranger 29 was one of the smallest boats in this fleet but for us she was fine.

Night fell and we were cooking along that first night. The moon was bright and so were the stars. It was gorgeous. We noted that we were passing a bunch of boats including two monster ketches. DWD was liking this close reach and we hit speeds up to from 5 to 7 knots. Our high speed on GPS was 7.3 knots on this leg. The wind would ease, we go down to about 3-4 knots and then build again.

Then, as some of you have observed from the Spot track, the wind died. Absolutely died. I took a break from the helm and went down below to catch a nap in the quarter berth. A coupe hours later I was awoken to a glorious sight, a moonbow. Yes, a rainbow produced by the moon.

I went back to sleep and when I woke up I looked up and noted we were now on a starboard tack. The wind had clocked around to the north and again, the miles ticked away. The moon fell and for a few minutes the stars were so bright but it was very dark out there. Then a fog bank socked us at first in the dark and we were blind for about 30 minutes. As the morning light started to fill the sky we still had very poor visibility, cooking along at 7 to 8 knots. We kept three watches, one on the bow and one on both sides. Luckily we didn't encounter any oil rigs or other boats close by but it was a bit of a high pucker moment.

Luckily it didn't take long for the fog to go away and the wind kept building from the north and we were able to run along at a broad reach. The waves had been building as well and we started getting some good surfing in. This was the funnest part of the race, Keelan and I would switch and compete for the highest speed under GPS. We passed 8 knots, then 9 knots and finally broke 10 knots. I had the honor of the fastest recorded speed with 10.6 knots. We were cooking and passing some big boats. The quartering sea was exhausting work at the helm so to keep it interesting I kept playing the surfing game. The seas and the wind continued to build and we were getting wet in the cockpit but it was still exhilarating. At this point we had run over 100 miles and the Plotter predicted that we could make the finish by 8PM that evening.

Finally the wind had built to a point where I felt it was time to reduce sail area so we pulled down the 130, found out the skipper hadn't packed the 110 so we opted with the storm jib and hanked it on. As this was happening I was doing whatever I could to reduce the motion of the bucking foredeck. The wind was shrieking through the rigging and we were still making 7 knots on main sail alone. The reefing system was not rigged on the main which was not cool but I reasoned if conditions continued to build we could rig it while underway and I felt like we would be fine with the storm jib and main sail.

At this point I saw something very disturbing. Our starboard spreader was bent down about 20 degrees. Not good! We attempted to push it up with a boat hook, the spin pole and there was no way. We made a loop with the spin halyard and attached a downhaul and ran it up and pulled it up to 15 degrees but then I noticed that the top part of the stay was getting lose so I reported this and that basically this was the end of the race for us. Everyone agreed. I had thought I might have been being negative but it was done in my eyes. Everyone agreed and we pulled down the sails while being tossed around like a cork. I was driving the boat under bare poles but there was enough wind to have steerage. Then the topping left broke, something we had pointed out on our shake down labor Day cruise, it should have repaired before the race. This almost knocked one of the crew overboard but we got it secured. We woke the skipper up and he was in a catatonic state. He had lost the keys to the engine and shrugged his shoulders like "Oh well." Now things were getting dangerous ad the rest of the crew tore the cabin apart and finally found the key and we got the engine started.

This is when it got scary. I will type out the rest of the story this afternoon. I wanted to respond, but there's a lot to tell you. In many ways, now that I can reflect, we were ill prepared and counted too much on the boat owner and assumed captain. I will never make this mistake again. PART II will be coming up.

Edited by - PCP777 on 10/29/2012 10:48:15

PCP777
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1225 Posts

Response Posted - 10/30/2012 : 15:08:59

PART II

So there we were, in an angry sea. The winds were increasing and then temperature was dropping. After having been at the helm for a few hours under sail, Keelan relieved me. I went down below, where the skipper was passed out in his bunk. At times I had to use my foot to make sure he didn't get thrown out onto the floor. The cabin was a wreck from items moving around and from the mad search for the keys. The problem with the 20 Horsepower inboard engine was that it could not be pushed to over 2500 RPM’s because of an issue with the propeller shaft. The other problem was that we hadn't had a chance to top off the tank before the race and there was no fuel gauge so we really didn't have an idea how much fuel we had remaining. When the engine got started, the engine compartment was open and a roll of tape started to fall into the engine compartment which I caught. I also removed the phone charging cords as well as anything else that could fall in there. (I didn't know that you could slide the cover back). Everything seemed so haphazard at this point. Once I knew that the engine was secure, I put the bolt back on the companionway stairs to secure those and went back topsides. We were in the middle of the ocean or so it seemed, about 10 miles off shore and all I could see around us was a vastness of gray and huge white caps, angry waves marching from the north. The waves were tossing our Ranger 29 like a cork, and waves would push into the cockpit soaking everyone. Now that we had power we had to figure out where to go. Our skipper was so sick he had nothing to offer and there were no paper charts. The Garmin Chart Plotter was spinning in circles so we started heading north by compass. We had the choice of motoring to Port Aransas for the remaining 48 miles which would have put us there at 2AM or trying to head to shore and duck into the intracoastal waterway. After weighing our options we decided that we would try to find a safe spot close the land. I got on my VHF on 16 and hailed anyone listening for advice as to where we could duck in. One of the other boats in the race responded that we should try to make for the Matagorda Cut so now at least we knew where we should be going. The next few hours were the most hellish of the entire experience. Here we are in a 1972 Ranger 29, with a broken rig and a questionable fuel supply trying to make our way essentially due north into 6 to 8 foot seas and at least a 30 knot wind. It took Keelan a full hour to cover the first nautical mile and he was worn out. While resting down below, the weight of our situation gnawed at me. I prayed for God to see us through this. I kept my life preserver on and I looped the lanyard of my Icom M34 VHF to my life jacket. Occasionally a big wave would break on the bow and a more than a little sea water shipped inside through the forward hatch. I went back up top sides and suggested that we hail the Coast Guard to let them know that we OK and not needed help but here is our position and situation. We decided against this as we didn't want them to waste resources. After all, we weren't sinking and we were making way, at 1 to 2 knots. We had to essentially “tack” the boat through the wind and waves, bearing off at 15 to 30 degrees to make any headway. After a mile Keelan was worn out and I took the helm. Instead of trying to stand up and drive like he did I put a cushion on the traveler and drove sitting that way which was a lot less tiring. On a regular basis I would get a bucket’s worth of sea water right in the face and I learned to duck my head and let it hit my hood. It was very wet and very cold but finally we could see the outer marker which rejuvenated my spirit as now we knew exactly where to go. At times I felt like it was futile to continue at this snail’s pace where it felt like we were just being pushed backwards but Gary helped me pick out an angling strategy that worked. Everyone in the crew were troopers, jay, Roger, Gary and Keelan all kept calm and helped raise my spirits. I think internally all of us were scared but nobody was showing it. Roger was also able to get cell signal and reserve a transient slip for us in Port O’Connor. We felt connected to the world again.
For hours we continued like this, me driving closer cutting back and forth across the weather. If our rig had not failed we would have been OK and headed to the finish running with the waves with sails up. The way we were, due North, we were plowing into them and making no headway so once again, we were tacking a boat towards the north. I kept wondering about the fuel but the engine kept chugging along. Finally we made the cut and I was done so Keelan took over again. We felt good as we expected that we had reached safer waters but….that was not to be the case. Once out through the cut and into Madagora Bay it was pretty much just as rough as it was before. Then the VHF crackled to life. “Approaching sailing vessel over?” A huge freighter was coming down the bay and requested that we pass him port to port. Here we are completely out of his way on port and basically order us to go straight into the waves and cross his path to pass him on port to port. We started to comply but then saw another sailing vessel which had not responded. Apparently the freighter was looking at him but talking to us so we bailed back over out of the route of the freighter to port.
So once again we are battered by waves but these aren’t as bad and we slowly made our way to the safety of St Christopher’s Marina where we put in. Cold, wet and tired we noted that the other two boats had Harvest Moon Regatta flags on as well.
So we covered over 100 miles and the race tracker site says we hit a top speed of 12.5 knots. Most importantly, we made it in and safe. My first reaction was never again but now that we've learned all this I think I might try again next year.

Edited by - on

GaryB
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
4303 Posts

Response Posted - 10/30/2012 : 19:54:07

Peter,

Glad you guys made it in safely. Sounds like a really scary situation.

Just curious, was this the captains first experience offshore? Seems like taking a boat offshore, at night, that was not in good repair was a bad decision on his part.

Any idea what caused the spreader to bend? Did you guys leave the boat in Port O'Connor?

Edited by - on

Topic

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Jump To:

Association Forum

Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.