Rolex Big Boat Series Wrap Up

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The 2014 Rolex Big Boat Series September 11-14  in San Francisco Bay was a fairly different experience for me this year.  I’ve done more BBS’s than I can can count now, but none like this.

First off, we didn’t sail a big boat.   BBS has, over the years, grown more inclusive to the point where this year they included the not-quite-23 foot J/70s.   Thirteen teams plied the waters of San Francisco Bay, a pretty good turnout considering it was mostly local boats and the event was concurrent with the massively attended J70 Worlds.

Secondly, I sailed with a nascent team.  It flies against my instincts to compete in a high level event without significant practice and preparation.  I like to be competitive, and a lack of preparation is a recipe for frustration.  As I said, however, this was a different Big Boat Series.

You see, we had a J/Would alumni who just a month ago bought a J70.  It’s his first boat.  He’s been a great client and his enthusiasm for all things sailing is a real pleasure to be around, so when he expressed interest in jumping right into the ‘deep end of the pool’ and taking a shot at BBS, I couldn’t say no.  If I had really thought about it and considered the fact that he had never driven a boat in a real race (outside of J/World Racing Clinics), or if I had thought about the fact that we had precisely one, and only one, weekend regatta to prepare, maybe I would have passed on the opportunity.  But then I would have missed out on a remarkable experience.

What the fleet lacked in LOA was more than made up for in sheer talent.  Paul Cayard was trimming main and calling tactics for Andy Costello (also owner of the J/125 Double Trouble).  There were at least three sail-makers racing on different boats, and a huge host of talented skippers and crews.  The regatta was seven races over four days.  Each morning, our initial daily race was on a windward/leeward course up the SF city front.  Morning breezes were light (10-12 knots generally) and building, and a good flood tide kept the boats tight up against the shoreline for current relief.  For the afternoon race each day, the fleet over to the Alcatraz course.  Breezes each day had built to 20-26 knots and the current had only built.  The afternoon races were marathons, some 16  miles long, including legs from the Golden Gate all the way down to the Berkeley Circle….  and back!

So all of that is pretty standard BBS.  So what was different about this one?  We showed up at a the premier sailing event on the West Coast with a new boat, a new skipper, and a new team, and we felt like we were racing sailboats.  We didn’t break anything, didn’t crash-and-burn (well, ok, there were maybe two good solid broaches!), and didn’t get flushed out the back. And we had an absolute hoot.  Our skipper, so new to the sport, was out there with some of the top sailors in the country…  and in the world!…  and we could taste the competition, sailing many of the courses and races right in the thick of the pack.  In what other sport could you possibly do that?  And in what other boat?

The J/70 is easy to setup, straightforward to dial in, and fun to sail.  In the big breeze, they get pretty physical,  and while my muscles are still aching after five long days of sailing, it all made sense when we would turn the boat downwind and take off on a screaming plane the full length of SF Bay!  Seriously, we were outrunning the Farr 40 World’s fleet and other boats with twice the length and four times the crew!  Now if the Race Committee can just comply with our request to have shorter beats and longer runs…

Anyhow, congratulations to Andy Costello for the overall win, and thanks to Dan for a great effort, and a great event.  It really is a ton of fun sailing with him, and he puts up with our antics pretty well.  His progress has been remarkable (a testament to J/World training programs and coaching, if I do say so myself), and we expect great things from him!

Wayne Zittel
J/World Performance Sailing
www.sailing-jworld.com

Newport to Cabo Race!

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Come join J World aboard a turboed 50 footer for the West Coast classic Newport to Cabo Race.  In March of 2015, six clients and three J World coaches will crew the legendary Hula Girl down the coast from California to sunny, happy Cabo San Lucas.  

If you want to gain valuable offshore experience, or just have a great time racing aboard a grand-prix ULDB sled, this is a rare opportunity.  Everyone aboard gets to take turns at doing everything, including driving.  The environment will be fun, positive, and conducive to learning…  and we’ll of course work hard to achieve a great finish!   

Limited berths available.  Visit here for more info, or call/email us for a copy of the Team Brief.

The High Life…

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The reports from Hula Girl in her offshore cruise from Hawaii to California continue to roll in.  They are well into the Pacific High, looking for the eastern side of it and the fresh breezes there to take them home.

Friday August 8

It seems with all of the hurricanes, tropical depressions and typhoons stirring to the south of us there is just no wind left for us folks sailing up north! We have lost count as to how many hours we have been motoring – the log knows but I can’t stand to look. Right now we are humming along at 8.5 KT and the sea is glassy. When I say no wind I really mean no wind. Let’s hope something changes soon. Jasper assures us that there will be wind in our future. So far he has not let us too far astray so we continue to trust his prediction, but we are formulating a back-up plan… If we can make it to the 400 mile mark off-shore we are hoping the coast guard can do a Gordo’s burrito air drop to us. 



The fishing gods are taunting us daily. Today we had what looked like two medium sized tuna jumping out of the water right by our lures chasing each other but not the wonderful faux food we had to offer. Tonight looks like another pasta night.

But with all of that said spirits are high and we are happy to report that we only had one more small prop tangle, which given the early hour of the morning and the water temp, Jasper get’s extra credit for volunteering to be dunked. Brrrrrrr. He had us up and running again in five minutes. We have passed a colossal amount of trash and tangles of nets/ropes and other hazards…

If you need to find us try 35 23.627 by 135 11.651 and please bring some fresh vegetables….


Sparky signing off…

Hula Girl Pacific Cruise Report

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Wednesday August 6

Well, we had an eventful day today. It started with calm seas and the need to motor then we hit a pile of submerged fishing nets/ropes – it wrapped our prop and then the fun began. We spent the next hour cutting and clearing the prop. Three of us went in to take turns being effectively keel hauled. I went out to haul in our sea anchor (a ton of fishing nets/roped stuck to our fishing line – felt like I was hauling in a 100 pound fish) but it did stop the boat from drifting. Ultimately Jasper needed to be kicked out of the water since he stabbed himself (minor injury but we preferred no blood in the water – nice traveling with a nurse and MD). And Chris methodically continued to saw away at the mess below the waterline. After an hour we were free again and more importantly the motor still worked – good as ever. Now we are making about 8.5 KT on the rhumb line for home! Seas are glassy, the moon just set and there is no wind. Let’s hope for no more trash encounters this evening.

Mid-Pacific:  out here, you are farther from dry land than you can get anywhere else on the planet.


The fish we hooked today got away, which was a mighty disappointment, but we try again in the morning. The menu has taken a hit as the fishing has slowed and the rations have dwindled…hope for better culinary news tomorrow.

Hope all is well on the mainland!

Sparky reporting from somewhere in the vicinity of 33 51.187 by 140 20.862

Link to current location:  www.tinyurl.com/hulagirl

Pacific Offshore Cruising, continued….

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The crew aboard Hula Girl en route from Hawaii to San Francisco on our annual cruise, seem to be having a merry time.  Despite the large high pressure system keeping the breezes down, they are still getting a good amount of sailing in…


Sunday August 3

We did not fish today since the ice box is full of the last fish family we wiped out. And to make fishing matters worse we have other foods that need to be consumed so this evening’s menu was beef and rice stuffed cabbage rolls with carrots and sour cream. It is a Bosnian dish and if you have any reservations talk to Jasper who is now a believer in all things cabbage.

Well now as for wind – today was a pleasant surprise. While the wind stayed below 10KT we were able to average 6.5KT sailing throughout most of the day following the rhumb line (49 degrees). And we calculated our fuel usage and remaining fuel – we are golden. Definitely not planning on going too far south. Even as we make eastward progress we are planning on motoring north when we hit the high then dropping down to SF when we leave the high. We downloaded our weather and wind this morning so we are good to go.

As for today’s happenings – we had to clear ropes off the keel, which was quite an impressive feat by Jasper sailing us in reverse. We thought we did not need him any more until that trick. He has bought himself at least a few more days… We checked the engine oil, we practiced some navigation, we are now tying knots of unbelievable proportions and we can get weather and updates without waking the chief. Not bad for this motley crew. There seems to be an air of happy content on board Hula Girl…

FYI 30 34.606 by 148 05.474.


This is Sparky signing off.

Monday August 4

We started the day with a whale cruising around us for about 10 minutes. What an awesome thing to see! Then we had distant breach off our bow. What a winner for us marine biologists! Can’t figure out who our visitor was – I know who he was not (not a blue, grey or humpback). Then the water got glassy and well it was time to swim! Fantastic! Then we had to tump the captain back in to clear our rudder from some fishing nets. Today we motor, tonight we motor, tomorrow we motor, Tuesday we motor, then Wed we sail!!! Or at least that is the plan and we will of course try to sail here and there when possible but who knows how the winds will really blow…

Other than that we again visited a lovely fish and vegetable curry over rice – tomorrow we will have morally recovered enough to fish again! I shall do the tuna dance before casting our lines and hope the tuna gods are listening.

Other than that Jasper would like to report that the floggings continue…now let’s see if you can figure out who is flogging whom….

True wind is less than a KT as we find ourselves at 31 52.915 by 145 26.111

Sparky is signing off to go learn something about the stars.


Hawaii to California Cruise Reports Continued…

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The reports from Hula Girl in the midst of our annual cruise from Hawaii to California.  Sounds like they are getting close to the high…

Saturday August 2


Hi Wayne,

The wind has been holding between 80-120 degrees but usually not making it past 8 KT (and the 8 only last about 15-20 minutes at best) – with that we have been motoring a lot today but getting our exercise putting the jib up, then down, then up, then down, and on and on. 

We are on the rhumb line home (48 degrees) and holding steady. If these wind forecasts are worth their salt we make be able to hold steady all the way – there is one pocket in about 500 miles that may be bad but if we hit it just right we might be golden… 

Full Double Rainbow, Mid Pacific on a previous HA-CA Cruise

Now on to the most important parts of our day: FOOD

Sparky is back in the saddle. After letting a HUGE one slip away on the sugar scoop (almost dove in after it – the crew is all on high alert for Sparky overboard if there is a blue fin in question) this morning we were able to hook two magnificent Mahi Mahi at the same time and land both! We had Chris on one hand line and me on the other – it was beautiful! The fish are getting bigger to boot – one was about 20lbs the other just under 15lbs. We have fish for days!!! We started lunch with a lovely tartar with capers and red onion etc… followed by crispy fried fish tacos with Bosnian style slaw. Heaven! Then we went for a fish and fresh vegetable coconut curry over rice for dinner – thank goodness we are a spicy boat. Soon we will start experimenting with the dessert menu.

[note from Wayne:  I am worried about the crew. I suspect they have been in the sun too long..  If theyare seriously thinking about incorporating fish into the deserts, I am worried.  Fish Brulee?  Tiramahu?  (Or would is be Tiramahi?)   Pescado Pudding?  Mousse d’ Mahi-Mahi?  Argh, I don’t feel so good… ]

We just hit 8 KT sailing – HOT DAMN – San Francisco here we come!!!

This is the fat and happy crew of the Hula Girl reminding you that butter and flour should be a standard provision on all sailing boats – the possibilities become endless…

May the force be with you!


Sparky

Hula Girl Hawaii to California Cruise Reports

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We are getting regular updates from the crew Hula Girl on our annual Hawaii to California offshore cruise.  

Tuesday, July 29

Hula Girl is humming along today. Averaging 10 KT of wind and about 6 KT boat speed throughout the day. Mellow seas and a happy crew. We played with reefing today and did a few man over boards just to make sure we don’t lose Jasper along the way.  We also took a brief detour to chase a flock of birds that were fishing – we have two most excellent hand lines in the water – one squid and one minnow and we are hoping for a tuna sooner rather than later. Just after dropping our lines we were checked out by a shark cruising by – pretty cool! Also lot’s of algal blooms that are accumulating and drifting with the current. We used a make-shift plankton net to collect some and check it out. Waters are pretty much teaming with life around here! 

Hula Girl, Mid Pacific (photos from previous HI-CA trips)


Chris wins best dinner (as of yet) award – North African couscous! I win an award for not puking today and finally having my sea legs. Jasper wins sleeping on the job award. And well Anne is keeping us all in line and that deserves an award!

Other than that we are at 24 50.186 by 156 05.543 and we are in touch with the rest of the group. We will figure out why the autopilot hates us….

Signing off for now…
Emina

p.s., Where the *&^%^ is the peanut butter!?!?



Wednesday, July 30

Sparky here again. Today was a good day at sea. Again we had mellow seas, 8-10 KT winds and averaged about 6 KT boat speed. My sea legs left me again but they are on their way back… The peanut butter saved us all – thanks for that! 

Good Food = Happy Crew (photos from previous HI-CA trips)


The big news of the day was the lovely 10 lbs Mahi Mahi that we caught. The menu included a tuna tartar (with red onions, soy sauce, chili flakes and capers) followed by tuna fillets fried with garlic and olive oil accompanied by a Greek slaw with feta cheese, black olives, and fresh tomatoes. Today was a great food day!  We will dump the minnow lure and do all squid. We are aiming for a blue fin. 

Boat wise Hula Girl is doing well and the autopilot likes us again. It seems we will be trying to tuck under the Pacific High – so far the plan looks as though it may work. Jasper is still on board and there are no mutinies to report! Hope all is well at home base!

Our location is 26 57.780 N 154 30.145 W – crew spirits are high – all stomachs are full!

Rock on,
e

Pacific Cup Pictures

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Inside 100!

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So as I write this on Saturday afternoon, we are inside the 100 mile check in point, about 75 miles from the finish line in Kaneohe Bay on the north side of Oahu, to be precise.  We should finish tonight, or – more specifically – early tomorrow morning,  having made the crossing from San Francisco to Hawaii in the 2014 Pacific Cup in about nine and a half days. Average speed over the 2070 mile course would be a bit over nine knots.  We are the third boat to Hawaii in our class (maybe the seventh or eighth boat overall), however (because of rating differences) a number of boats will ‘correct’ out in front of us, so we’ll likely be 6th in class, and about 12th overall.Those are the stats.  What they don’t show, of course, is the human side of the experience.  As the Hawaiian Islands come into range on the distant horizon and Hula Girl charges along in the late afternoon sun, a whole range of emotions begin to take hold.  And when you cross that finish line, pull into the dock and step ashore after having traversed the Eastern Pacific Ocean, you can at once feel gratified, relieved, excited, exhausted. You have accomplished no small feat, and, most importantly, YOU have accomplished the feat.  This wasn’t any cruise ship.  No one just took you for a sailboat ride. In the past 10 days, each of our team was on watch a total of 12 hours per day, and drove about 4 hours per day.  That means that over the course of the race, each driver drove for the equivalent of a 40 hour work week!

And I can tell you the level of improvement has been just fantastic.  At the start of the race, for plotting and routing purposes, I generally assume we’ll be going about 85% of our target boatspeeds.  I’ll modify this a bit one way of the other depending on a variety of things (experience of the crew, race conditions, etc.) but we were pretty close to that number.  By the time we got to the halfway point, I was using 90%.  The next day I bumped it up to 95%.  That’s pretty impressive.  I can’t really tell you how fun it is to see a team go from just ‘hanging in there’ sailing the boat (and sometimes not even able to do that in the darkness of night and shifty conditions) to full-on efficiency across the whole spectrum, day, night, squalls, and tradewinds.  And, of course, it’s not just driving…  the trimming, the crew work, the understanding of the relationships between all the positions, etc. etc. just became stronger and stronger. and contributed to our increased efficiency day after day….

One of our team mentioned that it’s really like having four coaches aboard:  not only are there three ‘regular’ coaches, but the group has been pro-active at working together, fostering a real sense of unified purpose and experience, and sharing with each other to improve as a whole.  I’ll admit, I might have been premature in calling a group of diversified sailors who had never stepped on a boat together before a ‘team’, but that designation is certainly justified now.  I’m proud of all of them.  Marko, Joe, and Alix came aboard with extremely limited exposure to sailing, and I couldn’t be more impressed with how they have progressed. Dale, Mike and Jimmy all brought more experience aboard and all rose to a high standard.  And, beyond them all just doing great, we had a fantastic time.  I have to say it was an extreme pleasure to sail with each and every one of them, for the first time or again.

So good on you all, team.  We were up against probably one of the toughest fleets I have ever raced to Hawaii against.  Each and every boat in our fleet was immaculately prepared, and the crew rosters read like a who’s who of West Coast offshore racing.  This is the real McCoy, a true grand-prix offshore racing event.  The fact that our young team could even think of competing against these guys was cool.  The fact that we were able to be competitive against them was awesome.

An finally, a huge thank you to coaches Geoff and Jasper.  These guys did a great job.  It’s no small feat to pull together a new crew and head off on a serious adventure like this, and the lion’s share of the credit goes to the great oversight and instruction provided by these two.  I know I consider myself fortunate to have had them both aboard.  Thanks tremendously, guys.

Now I’m going to head out into the cockpit for the final evening and enjoy the warm weather, the trade winds, the good company.  I’m looking forward to getting to Hawaii, to be sure, but I am just as excited about the next couple hours.  Although I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that a Mai Tai is sounding really, really good about now…

Have a good watch, friends.  And we’ll try to post some pictures in the next couple days.

Wayne Zittel and the Hulagins

Life in the Tradewinds – Hawaii, here we come!

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Well the past couple days have been perfect ‘chamber of commerce’
sailing conditions out here. But, of course, the deep Pacific lacks
any semblance of a marketing department (and the hotels are few and
far between). So here we are, just over a week into the 2014 Pacific
Cup and we are ripping along, on port gybe finally, heading, more or
less, straight for Oahu.

The last couple nights have been, shall we say, ‘sporty.’ There is a
big ol’ moon out here, but it gets eclipsed by cloud cover and squalls
pretty regularly so it gets dark dark, with the brightest things
around being the fiery phosphorescence in the water. Then the moon
will punch thru, reflecting on the water like a silvery shimmering
blanket. After sunset, the breeze kicks up a couple clicks from the
normal 18-20 knots…. until a squall comes thru, then all bets are
off. Top breeze we saw last night was a short spike to 34. And Hula
Girl has been just lighting it up. The B&G instruments have been a
bit ‘wonky’ so we have taken to tracking top speeds on GPS which
doesn’t show the quick spikes but gives a good and accurate
representation of steady speeds. Until ‘Mr. Geoff’s Wild Ride’ in the
aforementioned puff, Alix held the speed record of 17.7. But with the
extra horsepower, coach Geoff showed us how it’s done and raised the
bar to 18.8. So Alix still leads the Amateur division, and Geoff is
holding onto the newly formed Pro division. I’m sure our momentary
speeds were well above those numbers and into the 20s, but regardless,
Hula Girl (and everyone on board) is having a hoot.

We were sorry to hear at roll call this morning that Tiburon, the
SC37, had lost their rudder sometime yesterday. Apparently the
Passport 40 Cayenne was on scene with them and passing them extra
water and supplies for what will become much longer trip to the
Islands. I’m sure they were tearing it up in the breeze, and we are
sorry to hear of the problem but glad everyone aboard is safe.

We had a brief moment of excitement earlier today when the steering
wheel almost came off. It must have loosened up over the past 1500
miles and slipped just enough to let the key slide in the hub, so
turning the wheel did not really turn the boat. Uh oh. Hula Girl
rounded up in a civilized fashion and I, having identified the problem

Carbonautica wheel in it’s “attached” state!

right away, ran below to grab the socket set.

I have to say that when I got on deck, pulled the wheel off and handed it to Jimmy saying  “Here! Hold this. And don’t drop it!” his look was priceless. Wheel  was re tightened momentarily, and we were on our way again shortly. The socket is now living in the sheetbag near the wheel until we can get some loctite on that nut (the wheel, not Jimmy).

* The staff of J World and crew of Hula Girl would like to apologize for the immediately preceding pun. It was obvious and gratuitous, and we are sorry to everyone…. except instructor Andrew in San Diego.

This is what you get.

Mai Tais await! (as demonstrated by our 2010 Team)

Jimmy started trouble in the cockpit, again. You think I’d be used to it by now. Yesterday it was “Let’s do the Tahiti Race on Hula Girl!” then today it was “So what food do you miss the most?” There ensued a discussion as to all the fine things we are looking forward to in Hawaii. Then a truly inspired lunch. Alas, no ice cream!

Geoff is on watch with Marko driving at the moment. Mike trimming, Alix grinding. Dale is off watch but still out in the cockpit chatting.
Haven’t seen Jasper in a while. I assume he’s sleeping, again. He
stayed up nearly all night last night, carrying on and partying away,
then thinks he can just lie around snoozing all day. Some people!

We passed close by a glass fishing ball yesterday. Alas, in race mode
there was nothing we could do except scoot by, leaving it to continue
it’s lonely and long voyage….

That’s what I got for now. 561 miles to go. Averaging about 11.5
knots. With a bit of luck, we’ll be in Saturday night. Supposed to
get a bit lighter for a stretch the next couple days, but our breeze
has been higher than forecast recently, so we’ll just have to wait and
see.

Anyway, more soon…

Wayne Zittel and the Hula Girl Team