Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Feet first

Last night was the type of night you sleep feet forward in the bunk. Because one minute you are going 15+kts, and the next second you are going close to 0.

We put up the 1.5 oz (heavier, stronger spinnaker) in the evening, and went on a wild ride I won't soon forget. No one slept. Drivers could drive for about 30 minutes tops. We had too many roundups to count, and a couple of near round downs. Waves were big and steep, there were no stars, and it was windy windy windy.

Inside the boat it sounded like you were inside a giant piece of machinery. Too loud to have a conversation without shouting. First you would hear the breaking wave sound starting near the bow and traveling aft as the boat took off surfing, then you would start to hear a roar and a humming sound, like someone revving up an engine. And all this taking place at exactly half way between SF and Hawaii, 1000+ miles from land.

It's still windy as hell right now, so I need to take any opportunity I can to lay down in my bunk. Fully clothed in foulies and boots, ready to run up on deck if things continue to pickup. We are doing well though, 202 mile run yesterday, despite dropping down to a poled out #3 at 5AM...we were still doing 10+ kts with that rig.

We passed halfway, did I mention that? Pretty awesome, although if the wind doesn't drop soon we won't be opening any halfway boxes today.

Monday, July 23, 2012

Day 7, Halfway?

We've certainly arrived in the advertised downwind run. For the last 24 plus hours we've been running downwind with the spinnaker up, in about 15kts true and 2 meter seas. In these conditions Lightspeed is just on the edge of breaking loose and surfing, and with focused driving we've been seeing a lot of 10s, 11s, 12s, and higher. Night driving is still difficult, but we have started switching to the 1.5 oz spin at night. This heavier sail is a bit more forgiving, as well as mentally it's much easier to drive to, as Paul has assured us that we will not be competitive if we manage to destroy the new .75 oz this early in the race.

We are adjusting our watch schedule at night so as to put the more experienced drivers on at night. Much easier in the day.

In other exciting news, Kotuku is on the horizon behind us, having made some gains throughout the night. They are leading their class (as are we as far as I know right now), and it's really cool to see a familiar boat, and hear familiar voices on the VHF out here, about a 1000 miles from land.

They are following our line almost exactly, so hopefully we will get some great pics as they sail by later today or this evening.

One problem with Lightspeed's design is that there is practically no bilge at all, so when water gets in the boat, it is above the floorboards, making life unpleasant. Found a leak today coming from one of the aft bilge pump exits through the hull. Spending some quality time in a stern locker tightening hose clamps while surfing down waves is not a good time. Spent some more quality time sponging the bilge, and it appears to be an improvement.

Now is the time of the day where we wait for the 10am roll call and position report, which will let us know how the last 24 hours played out for us against our fleet. Hard waiting, as we feel like we pushed hard all night, had a great days run of 195nm, and hope we continue to hold on to our small lead.

Today is day 7 of the trip, and while we are still a few hundred miles short of the mileage halfway point, we are optimistic that we are at least half way in terms of days sailing.

N 31 06, W 137 44

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Space Mountain

Two nights ago we put the spinnaker up, and it's been up more or less nonstop since then. For the first 24 hours we were sailing tight reaching angles, with a few roundups...someone onboard who will remain nameless took to squealing in a high pitch voice 'blow the vang blow the vang!!'. We spent the day in sight of some of the doublehanded fleet, passing Valis and then Temerity. Every once in a while we could see a boat that we believe is Bequia from our fleet giving chase, reminding us to keep pushing.

Last night was like a 12 hour ride on space mountain. Blasting into the dark with the steaming light on to see the spinnaker, squalls, wipeouts, crash gybes. Not a whole lot of sleep going on aboard Lightspeed, but this is certainly why we are here.

Days run of 179 miles. We are looking forward to this morning's position reports to see how we fared against our fleet.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Hello from onboard Lightspeed.

We are making good time onboard Lightspeed, and were pleased at this morning's check in to see that we were out in front of our division. Some tough tactical decisions still to be made in the next several hours and days of this unusual weather pattern.

Thankfully though we are out in the synoptic wind, after a painful night and morning of day 2 slatting with very little breeze next to the Farallon Islands. Since the start we've had the #3, the #2, the shy kite, the #2, the drifter, the #2, the new kite, and now the #2 up.

We've had some onboard issues that come along with sailing a boat that hasn't been well shaken down.

Within the first several hours of the race our water tank had leaked and poured about half of it's supply into the bilge. Luckily Paul has had 'bad experiences' with a lack of water onboard other boats he's raced, so he has a careful plan of bottled water that means the tank failure is not critical.

More critical to living conditions is the failure of the holding tank. One might reasonably ask 'what the hell is a holding tank doing on an offshore boat?' Believe me that we argued this point quite emphatically before the race, but to no avail. Any bit of vindication is overcome by the fact that the holding tank contents ended up in the bilge. Noah and now Rick have put forth valiant efforts to remove the waste from the boat, and to cover the smell with cleaning products. The best thing that could be said about the inside of Lightspeed at the moment is that it smells like a well trafficked restroom.

But, the sailing is fantastic, it's getting a bit warmer already, and everyone is in good spirits. Last night on Noah and my watch there was bioluminescence in the water, and dolphins playing around the boat.

Hi to everyone out there on terra firma.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Test Sat Blog

Here's a test blog entry from onboard LIGHTSPEED, sent via satellite!