March 2011
1 post
August 2010
13 posts
RE: Blog Update -What an adventure this trip has...
Family and Friends, If you are interested, Pictures of the Pacific Cup Race and Return trip are now posted at http://sailcoyote.smugmug.com/Boats Steve Hill Coyote
Blog Update - Return Trip End of Day 15, what day...
Last blog entry…. Guessed wrong again, Spinnaker (1.5oz) went up at noon today, and we have had a very lumpy, rolling, pitching, crazy ride in the confused seas. Wind is 20 knots true, would be a lovely sail if not for the waves coming from every direction. By 1900 (7pm) true winds down to 18, so it looks like we will leave the kite up all night. Correction, spinnaker taken down at 2000...
Blog Update -What an adventure this trip has...
What an adventure this trip has been. Two successful Pacific crossings, and 3rd Place in our Division, what a fantastic ride! When we entered the Pacific Cup we had some idea of the many things we needed to do to get Coyote ready, but there were so many more questions than answers and more to do than time, that at times the preparation was overwhelming. What we found was that there was an...
Blog Update - Return Trip End of Day 14, Back to...
Well, looks like the spinnaker may be put away for a while…. At check in today, boats talked about “heading for the barn”, which also makes sense to us. We have been heading high just in case of severe weather, but it looks like it is going to go flat tomorrow and Wednesday. Jim Quanci of Green Buffalo confirmed that they are heading for the lightship, so we to have laid that as...
Blog Update - Return Trip End of Day 13, Sunday...
Today we have had another great spinnaker run. We set the kite at 0600 this morning, and just took it down at 1800 (6pm), a very nice 12 hour run. The Gribs showed that we would be headed around 1700 today, turns out it happened at 1800, the detail and accuracy of the Gribs is amazing. (Grib file shows barometric pressure, wind force and direction and wave height. We averaged 7.5 knots (SOG) for...
Blog Update - Return Trip End of day12, Saturday
At our normal check in for the returning Pacific Cup boats, at 2000 (8pm PDT) most of the discussion and position reports centered around approaching the CA coast. We will pass thru an area known as Gale Alley, because of its propensity for high winds and corresponding high seas. The boats in or near this area are reporting winds in the 30 knot range, we are hoping the winds will abate to a more...
3 tags
Blog Update - Return Trip End of day 11 Friday...
Let me introduce Coyote’s Pacific Cup return crew; #1 Steve Hill, owner of Coyote #2 Rick Elkins, owner of LightSpeed a Wylie 39, a SSS Member(Single Handed Sailing Society)who #1 frequently races against in single handed races. #3 John Dukat, owner of Critical Mass an IOR Mini Tonner, and a Richmond YC member. #4 Jacob Wenegrat and #5 Julia Wenegrat, owners of Pisces a Jason 35. They just...
2 tags
Blog Update - Return Trip End of day 10
Groundhog Day As day comes to a close, we find ourselves clawing our way - away from the expanding high. Problem is, the high is expanding directly over us, and beating us to SF! This keeps the winds velocity down (bad for sailing), and a poor wind angle (bad for heading to SF). However, we are making the most of it. During the past 48 hours, we have used the engine just 12 hours. We sail along,...
Blog Update - Return Trip End of day 9
Well, we had a few major events today! We officially passed the half way mark at 11 am today! Great, but kind of a non event since we celebrated our half way yesterday. Good thing, because today BBQ’ing would have been a real problem. The wind came up at 10 am. and we had a terrific run today. Sunny and beautiful weather, as we raced along. We passed 999 miles to go, so now we are in the...
Blog Update - Return Trip End of day 8
Check in for end of day 8 will be in two hours, and will be an interesting discussion…. Last night at check in, I asked to talk again to Green Buffalo regarding where to tack for SF. Commanders routing had one point and transit to SF Bay outlined, and Expedition, while close, had us tacking 12 hours earlier with a slightly different transit to SF bay. At roll call, Green Buffalo deferred to...
Blog Update - Return Trip End of day 7
Well almost end of day, 3 hours to go… BTW, you can follow Coyote’s progress by going to a link on www.sailcoyote.com, it has a pretty big button that says ‘click here to see return trip, (or Http://www.ionearth.com/2010/pacific-cup/returning ), you can read other Blog postings and there is some terrific video taken during the race by nephew Stuart. Enjoy. Winds continue to be...
Blog Update - Return Trip Morning of Day 6
Press Release: Julia bakes cherry pie for breakfast, waiting for cooling now. Wow, she even cooks lying on the floor! Fresh French Roast Coffee, cooled and gone. Squalls: Continuous ALL night, from 10pm until now, no end in sight? Our position is 32 06 x 148 55 aren’t we beyond squall territory? (Please reply, we need answers!) Current wind speed 25, no 26, no 28, no 29, oh 30...
Blog Update - Return Trip End of day 5
Winds continue to head us, and just as Expedition predicts our route, it also predicts our course based on the Grip files. This is terrific, and cause to not worry that we cannot make 30 degrees magnetic, we are currently tracking 15 degrees, as predicted. We continue to have good daytime winds of 17-20 knots apparent, which keeps us flying to weather. We also continue to have squalls, which seems...
July 2010
29 posts
Blog Update - Return Trip End of day 4
We just reported in for the end of day 4, it seems most of the return boats are headed in the similar direction. We have continued to fall off a bit, 30 degrees (M) is our course, if we can make it, else the best we can do at times is due north. We have remained on the same longitude as Green Buffalo, who has made this crossing 15 times now, and Expedition our routing software is also choosing...
Blog Update - Return Trip End of day 3
We continue to fetch SF, winds continue to be in the low 20’s, so today we changed down to our #3 jib„,should have done this a few days ago. Everyone, even those off watch jumped in, and we had the 135% folded and the #3 up and running is short order. Expedition, our software which uses Grib files to do routing for us, continues to calculate a different course than we are on. It wants...
Blog Update - Return Trip End of day 2
Day 3 is going well, well„„crystals of salt on my face„ my watch ended an hour ago, but the wind has been building, so we just reefed the jib again…. Daily reporting from the other return boats is very interesting. Some reported 0 wind, some 5 knots of wind, Green Buffalo is motor sailing, but we have not had the lack of wind others are reporting„ GRIB’s...
Blog Update - Return Trip End of day 2
10am tomorrow will be the end of day 2 for our return trip, and it feels like we are sprinting along, in smooth seas, 16 knots apparent wind (13 true) - on a very favorable slant, heading directly at San Francisco. Winds are soft and very warm, shorts and short sleeve shirts are the dress of the day and nights. We are taking an unusual course, under the high, back to SF but that is what the...
Trophies!
Awards show was wonderful on Friday! We took 3rd in our division and the Beneteau trophy, for the best placing Beneteau in the race!
WatchCoyote salutes the fleet!
3rd Place in the Limerick Contest!
From Richmond’s Grey pier a family launches,
Where lie that wind for Coyote’s Haunches?
Will she take the Pacific Cup or only a Hawaii Lei?
Either or, we’ll have that pitcher of Mount Gay!
Relentless just got us, but at least we beat Tiki J!
Blog Update Sunday July 18th, Finish Line is Near
Beautiful day today, sunny, blue ocean, blue sky’s, and a tremendous spinnaker run/reach. Will have sailed 107 miles in 12 hours today, so we are really moving along. Did our 100, then 25 mile check-in’s now waiting to do our 5 mile check in with the race committee. Everyone is dressed in clean clothes, bags are packed, and Mai Tai’s are on everyones mind. Cooking one last dinner...
Reflections -last day
It appears we are within hours for a second place, so spinniker is up and full. 100 miles to go, and we should be sipping cocktails at KYC come sunset. We are ready for land- but will always remember this trip. Steve dedicated the trip to me and what a gift. With many boats dropping out or finishing the race with equipment broken, there is a whole new appreciation we all have for the preparation...
Blog Update Saturday July 17
Great run yesterday and even better speed at night. Had surges of 13 knots early in the trip, and boy was that fast, then I #1 set a record of 13.64 knots! Then it was broken by #3 (Adam) . Then that was broken by #2 (Connie) then #4 (Stuart) pushed the limits, then last night, #5 (Ryan) hit the all time record aboard Coyote of 17.49 knots! (I had no idea Coyote would surge beyond 12.5 which I had...
Midnight Rider
Finally, some stars on the late late shift! Still not much Hawaii sun during the day, though…we don’t know we’re in the tropics yet. Shifting winds are keeping our final approach interesting, and the race for second place remains neck and neck. -Stuart
mmmmm
Just had a couple of Adam’s fresh caught Mahi Mahi Tacos…mmmmmm
Blog Update -Thursday July 15th - and Relentless...
Well we have two things in mind now. 1. Finish the race. Looking like we may finish on Sunday, hope the winds hold. 2. Catch Relentless. We believe we have actually passed them, but owe them a 5 hour handi-cap. So far we believe we have made up 4 of those 5 hours, so we are working hard to grind them in! Food and company continue to be terrific, everyone is working hard (especially after driving...
Weds night
what an incredible trip. Half way party was made extra special with a video of family wishing us luck. It was heart warming to see family encouraging us along! Half way party was mellow- broke out steak, had boxed mashed patoes and peas. The big splurge was one beer each- and a glass of wine for me. This morning I woke up (6 am as usual)to rain. Jeez- we go from fog to rain! But it was just a...
Busy 24 Hours!
First I took a backwards tumble off the foredeck during a douse, (saved by super-tether and cousin Ryan and stayed 6 feet from the water!). Later, we blew up our small spinnaker, the ‘shy kite’. We got Ryan wet (again) trying to fish the bits and pieces of that out of our rudder. Finally, Uncle Steve figured out how to reef a larger Spinnaker…a first, I believe, for all of us....
Fifteen minutes before night watch. I have 9 to midnight then up at 6 and go to 9. Then I make breakfast for the crew- and go back to bed. Sleep for 3 hrs- wake up- make lunch for crew- back on watch from 1-4. That’s when I take my luxurious bath of baby wipes and I brush my teeth. Nap for two more hours, than dinner, cleaning, email and watch again. We had one nice day when I spent the...
Blog Update - Coyote Half Way Party
Well, we reached half way this morning so we had our party. Took “showers” for the first time, everyone feels great. Broke out the BBQ, a six pack of beer and cooked Filet Mignon, sun came out for a bit. We had a great run last night, we put on more miles than everyone, except one in our division during the past 24 hours. Winds have moderated a bit so the spinnaker went up first thing...
1 tag
Blog Update - Coyote end of day 6.
Coyote and crew #6 have not seen the sun since Saturday,it has been foggy and wet, especially at night. The stars came out 5 times last night, each time for a few minutes, then disappeared again! We crossed with another PacCup racer this morning at 6am as they came out of the fog. Perhaps it was Sapphire from RYC. Good winds 25-28 knots continue, as do the 9 foot seas, makes for fast sailing, but...
Saturday, July 10, Race to Hawaii Part II
Wow, last night was an experience!!! It has been 4 days now (looking forward to a shower!!) and we are in big wind and good size seas….. We are now 600 miles off California coast and have 1523 miles to go to Oahu Hawaii. We are hoping we get there by July 18th….we will see… #6 (phil) sure found the wind„,we ran all night with the shy kite, winds ~25 knots with gusts to 35,...
Wet Work!
Foredeck work has a steep learning curve but we’re getting better at it. Have been up and down with various jibs and chutes in the last 24 hours. Only constant seems to be that we are rocking on, consistently churning out great speed days. -Stuart
Saturday, July 10th, Race to Hawaii
I must apologize„„, somehow a few email addresses of friends did not get into this address book. For the benefit of those who receive this blog update from Coyote for the first time, we are racing our boat to Hawaii in the Pacific Cup Race. Today is the end of day 4 and the beginning of day 5 of the race, we started on Tuesday July 6th at 12:15 pm. For updates you can check out...
Hard Work!
3 A.M. with the chute up wrestling with the wheel in thirty knot gusts has left me with spaghetti arms, but today is beautiful, the sun is shining and we are rolling on… -Stuart
Coyote Update, End of Day 3......
Oh was yesterday was SLOWWWWW….we had no wind for ~12 hours, the only thing that kept us moving was the current…. The wind filled in around 3pm, then we had a good breeze, 10 knots until around 1 am then it was 11-15 apparent, so we reached along like crazy…. Just wonder if the entire fleet had the same experience…..while we were bobbing around, the thought crossed our...
Starting to haul now!
THIS is Stuart just off watch at 430AM…its been blowing for awhile now, and we’re finally really moving!!!
Light air but High Spirits
We are soldiering along in light air but feeling fairly good about our progress and expecting more wind soon. The food continues to be excellent, the boat dry, and the coffee warm. Saludos -Stuart
July 7 1010, First Night Out
Everything went very well yesterday. We feel we performed well during the last 20 hours. Good wind at the start (22 knots) which stayed with us well out the channel, near the Farallone Islands, before slowly tapering off. During the night we had winds from 4-10, with an occasional increase to 14. Had Connie’s famous steak sandwich for lunch, and home made (yes Connie) turkey pot pies, very...
Getting close!
Okay, we are nearly ready to go! Loading the boat with food, water and supplies today, a last minute details…..
Everyone is ready to go, just waiting for our start day…..
Looks like a slow start for us, winds are dropping close to shore 5-10 knots (within 50 miles of San Francisco) then increasing to 35+ knots (Gale) from 50-250 miles…..hopefuflly we can get to the wind...
June 2010
2 posts
WatchFinal Race Practice before the start. Was quite a windy day! Meet Adam!
Almost ready to go!
Stuart and I are on the boat today, with shorter and shorter to do lists. Installed preventers, close hangers, packed sails, etc. On to more stuff now. Steve
March 2010
2 posts
“Who is staring at the sea is already sailing a little.”