Morpheus was designed by Carl Schumacher, built by Davie Norris Boatbuilders in New Zealand and launched in 2002. She spent her first 18 months cruising the South Pacific before reaching her home port of San Francisco. Since that time, Morpheus has been raced and cruised extensively. This blog will document her ongoing adventures.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Neverending...
Then I noticed the inside of one trailer tire wearing badly. So....now...here I sit at big o tires waiting for them to change to my spare!!! I could do it but don't have the energy to find the jack in the new car....
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Car shopping!!!
Monday, May 07, 2007
New Car Shopping in El Paso, Texas
Well, the news is not good. It appears that the rear differential on the suburban decided to destroy itself last night. Thank goodness it happened in a town that had a GM dealership and a Marriot hotel right across the street from each other.
The mechanics told me that pieces litterally "fell out" when they opened up the unit in the shop. Multiple gears and bearings are ruined and at least one axle is bent. So...they need to replace the entire rear wheel assembly. And....they can't get a new one for a week!!
It's either work a trade in deal for the car here and leave driving a new one. Or fly home and come back in a week to finish the trip after a $3,000 repair!
Stand by....
The mechanics told me that pieces litterally "fell out" when they opened up the unit in the shop. Multiple gears and bearings are ruined and at least one axle is bent. So...they need to replace the entire rear wheel assembly. And....they can't get a new one for a week!!
It's either work a trade in deal for the car here and leave driving a new one. Or fly home and come back in a week to finish the trip after a $3,000 repair!
Stand by....
Stuck in El Paso, Texas
So...I limped to the parking lot of a Marriot across the street from the local GM dealer hoping that I've not totally ruined the car.
Will be an interesting day....
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Jumper?
Just making the turn now for the final approach into the golden gate. Coast Guard is responding to reports of a jumper near the north tower....
Jim Gregory
Sunday, April 01, 2007
4/1: Morpheus on standby in Monterey
Winds yesterday were forecast to be in the 8 - 16 knot range. Instead, Chris and I ended up fighting 20 - 28 knots for most of the late morning and afternoon. Chris needed to get to the airport this morning, so we made a decision to pull in to Monterey last night.
Winds are now forecast to go Easterly on Tuesday and maybe even southerly on Wed.
I'll be back onboard Monday evening and take it from there.
-Jim
Winds are now forecast to go Easterly on Tuesday and maybe even southerly on Wed.
I'll be back onboard Monday evening and take it from there.
-Jim
Friday, March 30, 2007
3/30, 1300hrs - San Diego to San Francisco #3
250 miles to San Francisco!
Hello from directly in between Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz island!!
Two pretty barren pieces of real estate, but somehow pretty nice to look at today. Picture perfect conditions. Light winds continue but are forecast to build to 15 - 20 knots tonight. Should round Conception at about 7pm this evening. Probably not a bad time to get around.
Next report from there.
-Jim and Chris
PS. Had the bolt that holds the second batten from the top break and drop in pieces on the deck this afternoon right at noon. Not a good moment to see nuts and bolts falling from the rig and bouncing on your deck. This has happened before. It's a full length batten and there must be some pretty impressive forces at work up there. Replaced the bolt without losing any time/distance.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
3/29, 1800hrs - San Diego to San Francisco #1
375 miles to San Francisco!
Chris and I shoved off from the San Diego Yacht Club this afternoon at about 2pm. Conditions are great. 8 knots of wind, unfortunately right from where we are heading.
The navy put on a great show as we sailed out the channel with aprox. 6 fighters taking off and buzzing us on their way to who knows where.
Then about two hours later the Coast Guard came by in one of their fancy new helicopters. The approached from astern and flew by very slowly and very close at about mast height. No doubt checking us out and making sure that our intentions were pure.
Sunshine, no clouds, winds 10 knots below forecast. It's all good here!!
-Jim and Chris
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Cabo to San Diego #4
March 14, 2007
Arrived in Turtle Bay (aprox 220 miles south of San Diego) last night at about 11pm. Dropped anchor without incident and after a quick beer to celebrate we were all sound asleep in no time.
The fuel dock "amigos" got to work at about 7am this morning, and we were #4 on their list. Other boats in the harbor included Pelegroso, Checkmate, Forteleza, Denali, and Valkyrie.
All went well and we took on 90 gallons from a collection of plastic jugs used to transport the fuel via Panga from the fuel dock to the boat at anchor.
After a quick chat on the radio with friends on Picante we were on our way. By the way, Picante is doing this right. They had stopped in the next harbor south of Turtle Bay hoping for fuel. Instead, they ended up chatting with the locals and were invited to dinner at a fisherman's house!! Word was that the fish taco's were great!
The rest of the morning and afternoon was more of the same. Sunshine, warm temps, and 6 to 12 knots of wind from the NW.
UNTIL.... Mid afternoon, when Mike decided to spout off about what a "challenging and difficult thing" this Baja Bash was. He decided that Rob and I were a couple of sub standard sailors if "this" was what we had warned him about prior to the trip. He did this while putting on more sunscreen and lazing around in his bathing suit!!
Predictably, the gods were not pleased and the perfect weather that we had enjoyed to date quickly went away. In its place we got, fog, big confused seas, winds shifting quickly back and forth between 285M and 320M, and velocity changes between 12 and 20 knots. Oh....did I mention no moon so total absolute darkness????
Needless to say, Rob and I are not pleased with Mike this morning (3/15) and he has be tasked with coming up with an appropriate sunset ceremony to beg forgiveness from the gods.
We can only hope that he is effective and that we will not have to put up with another night like last night!!!
- Jim/Rob (and Mike)
Crew Addendum: First understand that aboard the Morpheus we have a complement of exactly 3, a Captain, a First Mate, and a (singular/not plural) Crew. Do the math. The Captain neglects to mention in his log that while Picante was dining on fresh caught home cooked fish tacos, we also heard that the Alchemy crew was surfing and dining on fresh lobster picked in Santa Maria Bay. Morpheus Crew (singular/not plural), on the other hand, was denied shore leave in Turtle Bay, and refused permission to contact fishing boats to negotiate for fresh caught anything. On Morpheus the Officers prefer food that is pre-cooked, pre-packaged, and individually wrapped. Although, I must admit the peanut-butter tootsie-roll sandwiches were a unique taste experience, as long as one was careful not to eat the sticks. The Crew (singular/not plural) has now been charged with placating the gods for better weather during our last night at sea. The Crew (singular/not plural), is considering a ceremony befitting the date - The Ides of March - not unlike the sacrificial ceremony performed on the Senate floor in ancient Rome. The sun has returned, the seas are flat again, and since the Captain took offense at the Crew (singular not plural) sunbathing in his bathing suit, the Crew (singular not plural) will instead be sunbathing completely nude all afternoon and dreaming about those lobsters in Santa Maria Bay.
Cabo to San Diego #3
March 13, 2007
8:30pm
8:30pm
Another great day. Almost ran over a whale. Found ourselves traveling along with a pack of 4 or 5 whales this afternoon. Slowed down and enjoyed the show for about an hour. They are really impressive!
While Mike was looking at one spouting a mile away and trying to get a picture of that, one surface RIGHT in front of Morpheus. It was no more than two boat lengths away, and Mike never saw it!
We are about two hours out of Turtle Bay where we will stop for the night and refuel first thing in the morning. The weather reports are still very favorable. Hoping for a Friday PM arrival in San Diego.
Hope all is well,
-Jim
Cabo to San Diego #2
March 12, 2007
As close to a perfect day heading home as could ever be wished for. Beautiful clear conditions, 5 - 10 knots out of the North, calm seas and a route that took us just a mile or two off the beach at Magdalena Bay.
Lot's to look at. Whales, dolphins, etc.
Our boat is fine, but unfortunately it seems that Pirrana (a farr 40) has somehow ended up on the beach about 50 miles North of Cabo. Most of the boats enroute are talking on the SSB each day and that was the topic of the day. How can a boat end up on the beach in conditions described by one skipper as "Delivery Captain Heaven??"
If anyone can check the race website for us and send us "the story" we'd love some details.
Forecast is for at least 48 more hours of this weather...
-Jim
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Cabo to San Diego #1
March 11, 2007
Morpheus Crew and Fans,
We are northbound 50+ miles out of Cabo and bound for Turtle Bay!! Pretty happy to get back out on the water. Cabo is like Vegas. Great the first day, but time to leave after two...
Thanks again to all who sailed down with us. Hope your travels home were safe and look forward to hearing from you over the next week! Send any interesting or entertaining news to wda7721@sailmail.com.
8 knots of wind from the north. Pretty darn nice conditions for this trip.
-Jim
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Thursday, March 08, 2007
Cabo Race Report #12
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March 8th, 5pm
14 miles to go.
8 knots of wind. Two boats in our division are ahead of us!! One (locomotion) just finished.
The sun is getting ready to set.
The boats around us have almost no wind.
The very real possibility of the nightmare scenario is showing itself. We all want off this boat!!! The thought of another night is not good!!
Deb - pls call Mike with a new eta of 7-8pm
-Jim
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Cabo Race Report #11
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March 8th, 2:15pm
33 miles to go.
Mike - We were just telling the story of your analysis of our PV race strategy and tactics. Your summary ended with the fact that I should have bought Blue Blazes. That was classic!!
All - it would be nice to hear your ideas about where we went wrong. Keep any comments in the past to avoid any possible "outside assistance" charges.
Leslie - Rob thinks that you have forgotten him now that you are a rock star sailing photographer. (Congrats on that by the way!) He would like to know how the cat is, and any new info on sailing results at home.
Had a meeting with the crew to assure them that we were almost there. I think they were a bit doubtful and asked how I could be sure. So...I told them that we were careful to pack just enough food to make it to Cabo. And.....WE ARE OUT OF FOOD!!!
-Jim
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Cabo Race Report #10
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March 8th, 1:30pm
40 miles to go, looks like the first three have us since we have to finish by 5pm (by our estimates) to beat Blue Blazes and we think Cipango already has us.
We've sailed well so far this PM. Went right on a shift first, found new wind, and now Lucky Dog is just crossing our bow sailing 5-10 degrees higher than we are and MUCH closer than a few hours. We will have them at the line!!
Mike - we should be finishing around 6pm or 7pm. Typically get's light on the way in so we may be a bit late. Bring beer!!! Please!!!
-Jim
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Cabo Race Report #9
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March 8th, 10pm
Well....
Just finished morning rollcall. Looks like the boats ahead must have carried more breeze through the day. Too bad as they all extended and are pretty much out of reach. We are not giving up though, and are hoping for a huge hole at Cabo for the next 4 hours to slow Cipango down. (What are the chances that will happen over the noon hour??) I know, always the optimist...
At the same time, we have an ongoing race with Lucky Dog and too a lesser extend Adrenalin. We've just had new pressure and a wind shift so gybed away from them. Will see what happens.
Bottom line, finish before the wind shuts down tonight!!!
-Jim
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Cabo Race Report #8
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7:25am
Darn! The wind has not filled in as projected and we are still 100 miles from the finish line at 7:25am. Why am I telling you that? You can see for yourself on the computer tracking site for the race.
We are getting worried about Lucky Dog, ahead and to windward. They seem to have just a bit more speed in the light stuff. We could sure use some more wind to keep them close or even grind them down.
Will do our best to join Mike (and Bob) at the bar by dinner, but the ever present danger of getting close by sunset and then being shut out is on our minds....
Send wind, please!!! We are thirsty!!! (And hungry!)
-Jim
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Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Cabo Race Report #7
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6:45pm
Another challenging day out there. Wow! Can you believe what Lucky Dog did to everyone yesterday??? Was she way outside??
Last night was unbelievable. Around midnight we had a couple of watches where the wind would be 20 knots from the north one minute, and two minutes later we'd have 2.5 knots of wind from the north!?!? The wind actually shifted around through 360 degrees once in less than 20 minutes. Then it did it again in about an hour!! We were changing sails like crazy trying to keep up with everything until we finally just sailed with the main alone for about 30 minutes and at least were able to stay pointed right at the finish line.
The reports that we get in the morning tell us that this morning at 8am we were in 4th. We are an optimistic lot and by our calculations we are within an hour of first place in division??? Now with the wind filling in and a forecast that has 10 to 15 knots for the rest of the trip the distance that the leaders have between us becomes "shorter" in terms of time. We are pushing as hard as we can for every foot.
Played some great shifts today and put Adrenalin a good distance behind this afternoon. Lucky Dog is just off our beam to the west and we plan to stay close to her for the rest of the race in order to be sure she can't put the hour and twenty minutes on us that she needs to beat us.
Food is running low, but that's the way it should be. We are carrying very little to slow us down that we don't need!!
Keep your fingers crossed....we need to finish by sunset tomorrow or once again may find ourselves floating around all night with no wind while the winners party in town!!
We are thirsty!!!
-Jim
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Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Cabo Race Report #6
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6pm
Well, the half way party was a great success. We passed half way sometime last night and decided to hold off on any celebration until noon today. Things worked out perfectly and we once again had absolutely no wind at noon!!
So it was party time. (Thank you Debbie!)
On went the funny Mexican sombrero's, we dropped the windseeker staysail, turned up the stereo, locked the wheel, and all moved to the bow where we enjoyed the bag of toys that Deb had put together for us and finished off the two can's of beer from the bottom of the icebox, and a half bottle of rum!!
There were two boats within sight of us at the time and I'm guessing they were a bit confused about what the Morpheus gang was up to!!
To make the party even better, the wind finally decided to fill in amd we got back to sailing!! Best sailing of the trip, or maybe we've just had our perspective changed!! It's nice to be moving again and the wind is in the 10 - 13 knot range. Locomotion took off into the big bay on our left (our weather info says that will be slow?), and Adrenalin has been reaching out to sea to our right. Now at sunset we see two other boats coming in towards us from offshore..could one of them be lightning??? Only you know!!!
Here's hoping that the wind holds. Our goal is now to finish prior to sunset on the 8th??
We'll need more wind that what we have now to pull that off!!
-Jim
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Monday, March 05, 2007
Cabo Race Report #4
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Ok. There were seven very nervous guys onboard at roll call time this morning. We'd spent hours literally drifting and doing nowhere last night. Lucky for us it seems that most of our fleet did as well.
Interesting to see that all of the leaders shared very similar strategy regarding where to be come sunrise. We were all basically on the same longitude line at roll call.
Today was a much nicer day of sailing. Usually had about 10 knots and worked our way up to Cedros Island at about sunset. Had hoped to see some breeze acceleration around the point, but none to be found.
Deb - the boys are going through the food pretty fast. It seems that when the wind is this light we get bored and the food goes faster!! So, its pretty clear that we won't be needing those hotel rooms on the seventh. It is also clear that we'll be finishing the race with a bottle of mayonnaise and some chili!!
Hoping for a good day. Having fun!
-Jim
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Sunday, March 04, 2007
Cabo Race Report #3
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We wish we could see what you can see!!
Light, shifty, and not too many boats in sight.
We are trying to stay on the favored gybe while slowly working our way offshore this afternoon/evening to be about 25 miles offshore for the forecasted NW breeze.
Wish we knew if the boats outside had better wind today. We know the inside paid early.
Sailing hard, may need a sacrifice or two tonight to ensure success!!
-Jim
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Cabo Race Report #2
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And there was much rejoicing!!!
Yes! The position reports on the morning roll call made us all very happy here on Morpheus. We'd sailed through a pretty tough night with everything from zero to twenty knots of wind and seemingly from all directions. We had NO IDEA how we were really doing, but kept thinking we were imagining things when 70 footers seemed to be crossing our bow all night. Perhaps not enough sleep??
So, it appears that the inside route really did pay dividends as we had been led to believe prior to the start. You all can see much more than we can via the internet site, but it looks like those that bet on the traditional outside route didn't do quite as well.
This morning we had hoped to be in position to hit the beach hard prior to the wind shutting down, but found ourselves "stuck" out about 12 miles. That was not good and we watched lightning and Cipango sail away over the horizon in wind that we never reached. Ouch...
Looks like continued challenging (light) conditions for the next day or two. Plenty of time to catch them again!!
Lot's of fun, and a happy crew!!
-Jim
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Saturday, March 03, 2007
Cabo Race Report #1
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Hello from Morpheus!! We are underway once again "think" we are in pretty good shape.
Started the race this afternoon off Newport Beach. Nice onshore conditions with about 10-12 knots of wind. I blew the start pretty badly and had to spin around at the last minute to keep from being forced into the committee boat. No problem though as we were off an running just behind the leaders and had great speed!!!
We have a new main for this race and it has about 30 square feet more sail area than the last one. In the light conditions that we are sailing in so far it makes an amazing difference. (Perhaps that's why I screwed up the start. Maybe I forgot to compensate for the extra speed!)
Anyway based on the weather forecast info that we had we chose to basically sail a rhumbline course while favoring the side towards land a bit. We all sailed at about the same speed for the first few hours, but towards evening the wind died for everyone. This was expected as the wind was supposed to shift from NW to ENE. What nobody really knew was which side of the course would get the new wind first. Lucky for us, the new breeze filled in from the shore out. So being on that side of the pack and committing pretty hard to the shore when the wind did die, we made out big time and think that we left those offshore quite a ways behind. Of course, the bad news is that those that were playing the shore harder than us bet big and won big and they have extended on us.
The race will probably have plenty of restarts as the forecast is for light winds and we should expect some interesting times between here and the finish!!
Enjoy watching the race on the race tracking site. Debbie please email to the group.
-Jim
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Saturday, August 12, 2006
Pacific Cup Delivery - August 12th
Hi,
Happy Birthday Mom! From all of us on Morpheus! We had hoped to take you to dinner tonight but that doesn't look like it will work since we are still 125 km out at sea.
I just got off the 7am to 9am watch. The watch started with 33 knots of wind and gusts to about 37. With huge waves! But now we are down to 24knots and large waves.
We expect to get to
Love to you all,
Kath
Pacific Cup Delivery - August 12
Well, we have about 107 miles to go. It is 11:00 on Sat, 8/12, so we should get into the Bay at about 11 pm tonight. So much for our party! O well.
Patrick is on a mission to make it all the way home without putting a shirt on?? It's getting to be a bit of a challenge, but I'm betting he makes it!!
Waves are HUGE! But, they just keep rolling under us, so we just keep on going. Hope all is well. We'll see you all soon.
Deb
Friday, August 11, 2006
Pacific Cup Delivery - August 11
300 miles, 1.5 days about. see you Sat pm or Sunday am. wind is up, ,dbl reef main, no jib, sea is up. back on sea sick meds, but no one's sick. all well.
deb
Pacific Cup Delivery - August 11th #2
290 miles out. Will be in touch as we get closer. Look for us late afternoon/evening.
20-25 a bit bumpy, but not too bad.
All well,
-Jim
- Jim Gregory
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Pacific Cup Delivery - August 9th
Well, the past 4 days have been very light. Once we worked our way north towards the center of the high and turned right, the high has been elongating towards the coast and keeping us right in the middle of an area of light air. Looks like we'll be in some better winds this evening, and then get to look forward to 25+ on the way in!!
When it rains, it pours??
Anyway, we will continue to motor East for now. Will put in a bit more to the North for insurance and look forward to an arrival sometime late Sat. most likely.
See you soon,
-Jim
- Jim Gregory
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Pacific Cup Delivery - August 8th
Hello All,
So,as you all know, Tom and I became very familiar with a lovely bucket in the cockpit of Morpheus during our first couple days of travel. When we were not adding to its contents I was becoming very familiar with the floor boards while Tom preferred studying the stars and clouds in a reclined position.
That time has passed. Now every morning we give thanks to the goddess mama of mal de mer medicine(Deb, of course!). She has good stuff!
We are now enjoying this voyage that never ends. We do our watches (Tom spotted a ship the other night), we sleep, we eat, we read, and we listen to Jim profess his greatness. He certainly got all the modesty genes in our family! I am most enjoying learning about the weather patterns and tracking our progress. Tom is most enjoying playing Pat's guitar and writing songs on his computer. We both enjoy the watches even though Tom brought to my attention that we have seen more garbage than sea life. I let him know that sometimes the trip doesn't quite match the travel brochure.
The Gregory's are great hosts and we are enjoying our time with them except we really miss Scott, KK, and Mike.
From 987 km west of the
Yo, ho, Yo, ho a Pirate's Life for me!
--Kathleen
PS: The Activitie's director has just announced today's activities:
10am: Sea Chanty's contest
1pm: Carving toothpick's from the fish bones Chris has caught
Should be a great day!
- Jim Gregory
Sunday, August 06, 2006
PacCup Delivery - August 6th
Everything is well here. I just got off watch, and thought this would be a good time to send an update. It's also good to stay awake for a few minutes after my watch to make sure Patrick, who follows me in the watch rotation, stays awake. He has a tendency to fall asleep with his eyes open on watch. So, I throw a few things at him, then he stays awake.
Jim MacGuyvered the engine into working, so we are currently motoring through the high. Thank Goodness. It would have been a slow slog through this no wind zone with no engine. We have successfully avoided most squalls so far. Knock Wood.
Food is good, books are running low, maybe tomorrow we'll break out the cards. Have seen some birds, a few flying fish, and Jim saw dolphins, but didn't wake anyone up! Otherwise, just a lot of ocean. Moon is getting full, so we can usually see a bit at night, unless it's really cloudy. Stars last night were unbelievable!
All is well.
See you all soon,
Deb
- Jim Gregory
Thursday, August 03, 2006
PacCup Delivery - August 3rd
We are still here and all is well.
Last night was a bit of a challenge until we figured out what was happening. Scary to remember that only 3 inches of kevlar and balsa stand between you and the deep blue... O well, the boat is not sinking, the engine works to charge the batteries, and 50/50 as to if the drive shaft will stay together well enough and if the winch grease we have will last to a high enough temp to grease the drive shaft. If not, we sail through the high as ships have been doing for centuries.
Everyone is over their Mal de Mer. This is causing me to go hungry. I keep cooking what I think is enough for 6 people, 3 of whom are teenage boys, and I keep getting the last of the pot! O well, between no alcohol (we don't drink at sea) and the boys appetites, maybe I'll loose some weight!
Kath and Tom both feel well enough to read, so the books are beginning to make the rounds. We have about 20, which isn't near enough. I think Jim may even have to resort to reading my dressage magazines!
After 5 days, we've gone about 1/3 of the way. We'll be home in maybe 10 more days, depending on the engine and the high (where there is No wind.)
See you all soon-ish. Party at the dock in
- Deb
Pacific Cup Delivery - Daily Rollcall - August 3rd
Boat Skipper Lat Long Weather Radio Call Destination
Bequia Dennis Ronk 36 43 150 37 East motoring WDA6026 Vallejo,CA
Elyxir Skip Ely no report WCU7764 Santa Cruz
Green
Hooligan Alice Martin 22 42 158 54 25kts 070 WDD2903
Horizon John Shampain 35 27 139 39 21kt030 squls WDA6773 Oceanside CA
Morpheus Jim Gregory 33 59 152 21 15kts 080 WDA7721 SF
Rainbow Cliff Shaw 39 01 151 45 no wind WDC9996
Riva David King 42 42 143 57 5kts 310 WDC9061
Spirit Patrick Lewis 38 46 148 50 8kts 110 WCZ5810 SF
Stray Cat Blues Bill Parks 39 02 149 24 10kts 045 WCZ6367
Valis Paul Elliott 40 11 153 36 9kts South WDB2898
Kyrnos Frederic Laffitte 37 44 150 49 10kts 070 WDA5034
The Contessa Shawn Throwe 32 16 153 16 12kts East WDC9358
Basic Instinct Jan Borjeson At HYC, shipping boat home SF
Irish Lady Denis Mahoney Returned to KYC, rudder broke off at hull exit,
shipping boat home
Locomotion Ted Morgan At Keehi loading on barge for shipping
Mureadritta's XL Nick Barron Sunk, crew safe on
Orizaba Doug Hannam In Honolulu with leak in rudder bearing. May restart ?
Bounty Jam Lightning Not in rollcall
Weather August 3, 2006, Thursday
Today: High at 41N148W at 1034 mb. Winds 10 kts from West at 42N138W. Winds
10 from NE or East below 38N. GALE at 38N125W offshore San Fran. 40 kts..
Suggest staying above 139N approaching the
24 hour fcst (midnight Fri, 4 Aug, HST): High 1033 mb at 41N 144W almost
stationary, moving toward 150W. Cold front has moved North of 50N. Gale off
SF 35 kts from North, inside 128 W.
48 hour fcst (midnight 5 Aug;, Sat): High 1032 mb at 38N150W stationary.
Winds generally light North of 40N, changing to West 10 from N 15 at 135W.
35 kts from N, seas 4 meters off San Fran
96 hr fcst: (midnight 7 Aug, Mon) : Seas 1.5 to 2 maetersSouth of 40 N, 2
to 3 meters Nothe of 40N. Winds SW 10 South of 40 N, 15 – 20 kts at 41N
from SW to NW, Off San Francisco winds 20 - 25 kts from N, 15 kts S of 38N.
- Jim Gregory
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
PacCup Delivery - August 2nd - It happened at midnight...
It always does....
Just before sunset, time to charge the batteries. Send young Patrick back to start up the engine. He forgets to put the engine in neutral first and starts it in reverse. Ouch, that can't be good for the engine. Luckily, he figures it out quickly and by the time I get to the throttle control he has us in neutral. Nice heart attack for all onboard in the mean time.
Now I figure that the prop is flipped into reverse position and I need to put the engine in fwd in order to properly feather the blades and return to neutral. I slow the boat heading into the wind and then shift into fwd.
"All holy hell" breaks out from what sounds like under the boat?? )*$%%$^ what was that?? I try again slowly this time, and those below scream up on deck that something is seriously wrong down below!! Seriously wrong??? How bad is it?? I ask about water entering the bilge??? None seen. Well that's good. I shut the engine down, put the boat back on autopilot and run below to see what's up. Chris already has the cover off the shaft and with a couple of flashlights (remember sunset?) we try to see what's happened?? Is the strut loose?? Cracks?? Holes?? Nothing...
Humm...that noise was not imagined so we work our way up the shaft to the "universal" that connects the shaft to the transmission. Something definitely wrong here.... Grease everywhere, the coupling normally attached to the shaft adaptor by six bolts is hanging by one (barely) and there are misc bolts and parts sitting in the bilge.
How in the world did this all come apart?? Starting in reverse doesn't force six bolts to unwind all at once?? Must have been working loose for some time now.
No water, no threat of water, and everything was still basically "in place". Good we are not going to sink. But...will we be able to ever use our engine on this trip? Or will we drift through the high??
Time will tell. Frederic Laffitte is 100 miles ahead of us. His company sells this "Aquadrive" coupler and we've been on the radio talking to him about it. We know how to put it back together and have the tools to do that. But...it requires "high temperature grease" and all we have in winch grease.
So...in a day or two when the wind drops I'll spend a few hours in the bilge and we'll see what happens.
Nothing to worry about, if we can't motor, we have sails and fuel for about 80 days of battery charging!!
Just another lesson that out here, you need to think through everything that you do. There are problems and potential disasters lurking everwhere just waiting for a chance to leap out and ruin your day (or your boat!)
August 2nd, 0515 HST
30 01N, 155 50W
19 knots
110M
Misc Squalls
Heading 45M
- Jim Gregory
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