Race 11 - Day 11
Crew Diary - Race 11 Day 11
16 May
Six days of Goldilocks downwind spinnaker sailing
1800 Pacific Standard Time May 15,
18°35.757'N 108°46.232'W
About 200 miles SW of Puerto Vallarta
I enjoyed my second really good sleep in a row, so I was feeling rested and ready when David came through our corridor making the wake-up call at 6:15 am. I asked about the weather, and he said the sun was already hot so go straight into shorts and a t-shirt.
Today’s galley crew had pancake batter problems (too runny) so I just grabbed a piece of bread with Nutella and went up the ladder and straight to the back to be first on the helm for my watch. Sun rising, clear blue skies, sailing smooth and fast with our big Code 1 spinnaker at a steady 9-11 knots in 11 -14 knots of breeze. Delightful whooshing sounds as our bow pushes waves to either side. Pleasant gurgling from the stern as our bubbly wake streams behind us.
In my previous letter, I described a really crazy busy and exhausting six-hour morning watch during which we hoisted and dropped all three spinnakers, dragging one out of the water, then hoisting Charlie to the top of the mast, then finally hoisting our Yankee 1 foresail. And in between hoists, we had dime spectacular strong windsurfing in exhilarating conditions with spume and spray all over.
If that was a day of “champagne sailing” (with two shots of Tequila!) then I’m calling the past six days “Goldilocks sailing”. We hoisted our Code 1 (biggest spinnaker) at 2 pm on May 9th. The log showed 1,286 miles since leaving Seattle. And today six days later at 5 pm the log reads 2,520 miles and the Code 1 is still flying. Six days and 1,234 miles is by far the longest spinnaker run I’ve ever done. (And with a bit of luck with the winds we may still have another two days flying our Code 1 before we get windholed and need to take it down.)
But why Goldilocks? Winds have been in the 9 - 16 knot range. Below 5 or 6 knots true wind is just not enough to fill it, and a constantly collapsing big kite is a messy thing that wears and tears itself without pulling you forward. And winds over 16 knots will overpower the huge Code 1 possibly causing us to broach and then round up, or just plain simple rip it. Either way with stronger breezes we need to swap to the smaller Code 2 or the even smaller Code 3 with its heavier cloth (but yeah, if you recall my previous letter, Code 3 was blown into two pieces during our busy Champaign sailing day.)
Goldilocks also because of wind direction. Our winds during the past six days have been from Northwest between about 280 and 310 degrees. As our main heading was to go towards the Southeast at around 120 degrees, this was ideal to keep flying the spinnaker. If it blew from further north or more west, we would have had to drop the Code 1 and go with the Yankee instead which is more suitable for “reaching” but not nearly as fast or as fun as downwinding being pulled along by a giant ballooning white kite.
Even the temperature has been perfect. Cool at night but not the icy put-on-everything-you-own temperatures as we entered the Pacific from the Straits of Juan de Fuca near the Canadian border. Warm during the daytime but not so hot that you sweat in your bunk and broil on deck.
In closing, I will mention that my Goldilocks formula is starting to falter. This afternoon the wind got very light for a few hours, and it was hot and sweaty both above and below. (Too hot for me to sleep on my long off watch … which provided a good chance to write this letter.)
Regards
Robert