August 8, 2009 Sail Fleet Race Results - Race #7
It was just another perfect day in paradise; well it would have been but for the kelp! Only two of the usual suspects, Dave Baer on Casamar with crew Mike Sampsel, Rob Lajvarvi and Mike Fontaine; and Don Litzenberg on Jandon with crew Don Litzenberg (son), Gene King Shaun McArdle and Terry Weaverling showed; but Lee Hornbrook on Serendipity with first mate Alex and crew Joe Leslie and Craig Murray joined in to make a total of three boats for our ocean race. Again we shared the start line at G17 with another fleet so we delayed our start by ten minutes. Kelp was cluttering the start line (presaging what was to follow) and we all maneuvered carefully around the patches of kelp for a good start. Jandon was first across line making up to seven knots as she neared G15, the first mark. Casamar was close behind but Serendipity snagged some kelp and got off to a slow start. Jandon extended her lead as she passed G11 at Ballast point on her way out the channel and past Point Loma lighthouse. The kelp patches increased and Jandon slowed to dodge the larger patches. Casamar charged on passing G9 and G7. At G5 Jandon started collecting kelp on her way to the G3 turning point. Casamar caught and passed Jandon at G5 while her crew were busy trying to extract kelp from the rudder. Alas, Jandon's keel had collected so much kelp that it took four tries to round G3 for the long broad reach to TG1. Jandon worked for 30 minutes trying to drag the kelp from the keel as Casamar merrily cruised wing and wing down to TG1. Jandon's crew did enjoy a glimpse of the monster Oracle trimaran flying close by on her leeward ama. Serendipity didn't fair well with the kelp after the start either. She too got hung up between G5 and G3. As she wallowed in the ocean swell Serendipity's crew, and skipper, started turning green. As Casamar neared TG1 Lee called on the VHF to report that they were retiring from the race. The following is Lee's account.
Upon starting the motor, at first it seemed like we weren't getting anywhere, and I feared we had kelp around the prop or keel. We stopped the motor and fished around for more kelp and then tried again, and got going. Then Alex noticed the "lack of the burbling of the water from the engine" right at the same time as the engine alarm went on. We turned it off, started it up again after a few minutes and noticed very little water and too much exhaust. It's at that point that we called in our DNF, just south of Ballast Point. We sailed into Shelter Island, near SWYC, with intentions to sail in jib only to the dock near the boat lift. We couldn't make it, had to ditch our approach to avoid hitting boats, and cruised around the channel. Finally, we decided to anchor in La Playa Cove, near the channel. Casamar and crew arrived and taught us all about checking the strainer and clearing the hose. Alex dove and extracted some kelp from the thru-hulls. We got the engine working again (big thanks to Mr.. Sampsel, Mr.. Fontaine, and to Mr.. Baer and his crew for waiting out Mike's work). We dropped our guests at their chosen place of departure, and then bought Casamar crew a beer and relaxed a bit.
That's the race part.
============================
The adventure continued after we left SWYC.
Afterwards, exhausted and out of sorts a bit, mostly from fatigue, we had a sandwich and we were going to spend the night east of the Zuniga jetty, training our dog to be on the boat away from land. Everything seemed fine, gorgeous evening. Right near the last red buoy (R8) before the southern most part of the jetty, our engine seized up with a big double clutch and just stopped. No warning at all. Well, stupid us. We weren't paying enough attention. In our haste and fatigue, we didn't take off the fenders or tie up the dock lines. We called SeaTow as they were just leaving National City, for a tow TO National City. We waited almost an hour, anchored on near the jetty to the red side of the channel (car carrier came by too, checked in with us on the radio to make sure he didn't hit us). Our dog was traumatized by the wet and slippery decks. But .. it was a beautiful night. Red moon, fireworks over PetCo park. Fireworks over SeaWorld. We got towed back to Pier 32. When we were tying up the boat, we noticed the starboard bow dock line wrapped tight around the hull.
Alex's dive under the boat Sunday morning confirmed our suspicion -- dock line caught in the prop. It tore the strut that holds the shaft clean off and bent the shaft.
Expensive lesson learned. First Mate is taking it hard. Captain has taken full responsibility for not keeping (and insisting that) the boat be shipshape.
They say you aren't a sailor if you haven't run aground. Over the past two weeks, we've suffered a problem with our head sloshing out, a broken boom shackle that launched me into the lifelines after an accidental gybe in trying to fix it; kelp in the intake thru-hull and a motor almost overheating; line around the prop. But we're still not sailors -- haven't run aground yet!
Cheers,
Lee and Alex Hornbrook
s/v Serendipity
So, who won the race on handicap? No contest. First place congratulations again to master mariner and good Samaritans Dave Baer and crew on Casamar. Jandon followed some 15 minutes behind.
We would like to see more boats in the SDSPS Sail Fleet at next race. More boats mean more fun and sharing of stories at the end of the race. Please mark your calendar for the next race. Won't you join us? It's fun and a great excuse to get out on the bay.
Don Litzenberg,
SDSPS Sail Fleet chair
|
|
Boat |
Sail |
Distance |
Finish |
Elapsed |
Race |
Cum |
New |
||||
|
Name |
Skipper |
# |
NM |
Time |
Time |
Handicap |
Delta |
Position |
Points |
Points |
Handicap |
| Casamar | Dave Baer |
57789 |
12.46 |
14:54:27 |
2:44:27 |
766 |
0.00 |
1 |
0.75 |
7.75 |
765 |
| Serendipity | Lee Hornbrook |
|
12.46 |
0:00:00 |
dnf |
983 |
dnf |
0 |
2 |
21 |
983 |
| Fiddler's Green | Ted Bowler |
|
0.00 |
0:00:00 |
dns |
1203 |
dns |
0 |
3 |
22 |
1203 |
| Jandon | Don Litzenberg | 7266 |
12.46 |
15:09:40 |
2:59:40 |
685 |
32.09 |
2 |
2 |
14.75 |
685 |
| Marilee | Mike Collins | 7473 |
0.00 |
0:00:00 |
dns |
732 |
dns |
0 |
3 |
16.75 |
732 |
| Aeolis | Nancy Renzi | 0 |
0 |
0:00:00 |
dns |
1053 |
dns |
0 |
3 |
22 |
1053 |
| Bare Necessities I | Dan Nephew |
|
0 |
0:00:00 |
dns |
1089 |
dns |
0 |
3 |
22 |
1089 |
Scoring and race commentary by Don Litzenberg