The Effigy of Saltshaker...
...set ablaze...
...and free to sail to the next world. Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Saltshaker's Soul is Set Free
The Effigy of Saltshaker......set ablaze......and free to sail to the next world. 
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Photo-proof of Furthur in the Water
I just realized I haven't posted a photo of Furthur in the water, so here is a shot after one of our doublehanded night practices.
Avoiding Bad Juju
Sailors have a lot of superstitions about naming boats, and some consider it very bad luck to rename a boat. However, when a boat changes owners, her name may be changed if the proper precautions are taken. I have been referring to the SC27 as Furthur, but until recently she still had Saltshaker on the side. Cody removed the old name, and now we are really flirting with disaster.
To remedy the issue and get rid of bad Juju from the name change, you have two choices. First, you can create an effigy of the boat with the old name on it, then set the spirit of the old name free in a viking funeral. Or have a virgin pee in the bilge. Because virgins are hard to find at Eckerd College, and because I don't feel like sponging their piss out of the bilge, I am opting for the first option. Hopefully, once this is done our bad luck will gone for good.
To remedy the issue and get rid of bad Juju from the name change, you have two choices. First, you can create an effigy of the boat with the old name on it, then set the spirit of the old name free in a viking funeral. Or have a virgin pee in the bilge. Because virgins are hard to find at Eckerd College, and because I don't feel like sponging their piss out of the bilge, I am opting for the first option. Hopefully, once this is done our bad luck will gone for good.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Getting the boat out
Recently Furthur has been sailed singlehanded, doublehanded and fully crewed. After Thanksgiving I sailed in the DIYC "New Shoe" singlehanded race against Kuli on a Melges 24, Brian Malone on his J/24 and Tom Barry on a Wavelength 24.
My start and self steering system left a lot to be desired, but the first leg was a hot reach and I was quickly closing the gap on the fleet with the spinnaker up. Unfortunately, I don't know the DIYC marks yet and lost a lot of the ground during a hurried spinnaker douse. A close reach was next and there were no gains or loses.
Upwind, Kuli was very overpowered in the Melges, but was able to depower enough to keep his lead. Tom was suffering with a 150-155% genoa and Brian chugging along with a blade jib. I was using a #3 jib and once I got the jib cars in the right place Furthur was fast and balanced upwind. I was able to play some shifts to catch the Wavelength, though the SC27 should also be faster upwind. Brian missed rounding A mark to starboard before the finish and had to double back to the mark. He rounded in front of Tom and I and lead us to the finish. Tom and I finished overlapped with a two second difference; too bad I owed him time.
After the race, Cody and I doublehanded Furthur from DIYC to Eckerd at night for practice. The breeze was light, but the SC27 moves well in light wind thanks to overlapping jibs, masthead spinnakers and an efficient hull form. The kite was up for most of the practice sail, but we eventually had to douse and jib-reach to stay in deep water. We kept Furhtur at Eckerd for a few days, then I sailed her back to DIYC with Sheehan and our friends Ashley and Martha. It was another night sail, which can be nerve-racking due to shallow water and tons of unlit marks. We made it unscathed, with Ashley keeping a vigilant watch, but we had a few close calls with unmarked buoys.
During the sail back we tried the Larsen 125% #2 jib that was given to us by Sumo after Nationals. Even though it was made of mylar in 1988, the jib is almost unused, probably because the 125% has a narrow wind range. This is good news for our Pacific Cup campaign, as I plan on dropping the 150% as our largest headsail for the 125% to get a better rating. Furthermore, we would be easily overpowered with the 150% sailing doublehanded, but the smaller 125% will allow us to hold it in more wind. Hopefully, we will get to ease the sheets soon after leaving the Golden Gate and get the kite up.
Last Thursday, Cody, Arthur, Tweek and I sailed Furthur in the 2nd of 4 DIYC Full Moon series night race. We had a great start, pacing a J35 all the way down wind and round 5th behind some bigger boats. A clean weather douse allowed us to set the kite at the next mark without having to re-run and spinnaker gear.
Upwind we played a few shifts badly and had the genoa cars too far forward, causing us to lose a few boats. The next downwind was very deep and we had a hard time finding the leeward mark. This made for a hurried douse and we got a spinnaker sheet under the boat. Luckily that was our last downwind and we were able to untie the sheet from the kite and pull it out from under the boat. On the last upwind we played some good shifts and came back to finish mid fleet on corrected time.
Through all this sailing I am learning a lot about how to make a Santa Cruz 27 go. The main seems to like a lot of leech tension in the main and headstay tension/mast bend (controlled by the backstay) has a huge influence on power and point. With everything trimmed right, the boat feels great and hauls. Adding the spinnaker makes everything better and I can't wait for 2000+ miles of surfing to Hawaii.
My start and self steering system left a lot to be desired, but the first leg was a hot reach and I was quickly closing the gap on the fleet with the spinnaker up. Unfortunately, I don't know the DIYC marks yet and lost a lot of the ground during a hurried spinnaker douse. A close reach was next and there were no gains or loses.
Upwind, Kuli was very overpowered in the Melges, but was able to depower enough to keep his lead. Tom was suffering with a 150-155% genoa and Brian chugging along with a blade jib. I was using a #3 jib and once I got the jib cars in the right place Furthur was fast and balanced upwind. I was able to play some shifts to catch the Wavelength, though the SC27 should also be faster upwind. Brian missed rounding A mark to starboard before the finish and had to double back to the mark. He rounded in front of Tom and I and lead us to the finish. Tom and I finished overlapped with a two second difference; too bad I owed him time.
After the race, Cody and I doublehanded Furthur from DIYC to Eckerd at night for practice. The breeze was light, but the SC27 moves well in light wind thanks to overlapping jibs, masthead spinnakers and an efficient hull form. The kite was up for most of the practice sail, but we eventually had to douse and jib-reach to stay in deep water. We kept Furhtur at Eckerd for a few days, then I sailed her back to DIYC with Sheehan and our friends Ashley and Martha. It was another night sail, which can be nerve-racking due to shallow water and tons of unlit marks. We made it unscathed, with Ashley keeping a vigilant watch, but we had a few close calls with unmarked buoys.
During the sail back we tried the Larsen 125% #2 jib that was given to us by Sumo after Nationals. Even though it was made of mylar in 1988, the jib is almost unused, probably because the 125% has a narrow wind range. This is good news for our Pacific Cup campaign, as I plan on dropping the 150% as our largest headsail for the 125% to get a better rating. Furthermore, we would be easily overpowered with the 150% sailing doublehanded, but the smaller 125% will allow us to hold it in more wind. Hopefully, we will get to ease the sheets soon after leaving the Golden Gate and get the kite up.
Last Thursday, Cody, Arthur, Tweek and I sailed Furthur in the 2nd of 4 DIYC Full Moon series night race. We had a great start, pacing a J35 all the way down wind and round 5th behind some bigger boats. A clean weather douse allowed us to set the kite at the next mark without having to re-run and spinnaker gear.
Upwind we played a few shifts badly and had the genoa cars too far forward, causing us to lose a few boats. The next downwind was very deep and we had a hard time finding the leeward mark. This made for a hurried douse and we got a spinnaker sheet under the boat. Luckily that was our last downwind and we were able to untie the sheet from the kite and pull it out from under the boat. On the last upwind we played some good shifts and came back to finish mid fleet on corrected time.
Through all this sailing I am learning a lot about how to make a Santa Cruz 27 go. The main seems to like a lot of leech tension in the main and headstay tension/mast bend (controlled by the backstay) has a huge influence on power and point. With everything trimmed right, the boat feels great and hauls. Adding the spinnaker makes everything better and I can't wait for 2000+ miles of surfing to Hawaii.
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