Aloha, and Happy Friday!   For your viewing pleasure, Marina the Fire-Eating  Mermaid entertains to the strains of the Tikiyaki Orchestra.   Any more awesomeness in one small space would make this post implode.

Here is our harness/tether policy:

We are double-handed.  It is understood that a MOB in all but the mildest of conditions will more than likely not be recoverable.

I have just received two brand new Wichard double-hook tethers, the kind with the glow in the dark ends.

I also have new jacklines to replace the old ones that are wearing out from UV exposure.  These are special flat nylon webbing specifically designed for lifelines with 7000 lb breaking strength, and custom sized to our vessel.

We are presently sourcing new Spinlock PFD/Harnesses which come in S/M/L for better comfort and fit.  We will carry the older gear as backup along with recharge kits.

The policy of the boat is for all crew to be wearing PFD/harness and clipped in at all times outside the Gate, except when bathing, when a simple harness will be worn.

The crew on watch will carry our Standard Horizon HX851 handheld radio on his/her person, which has  DSC/GPS  capability, which along with our in-cockpit AIS display should facilitate MOB location if necessary.    I am also looking to get 2 of the newly approved  Kannand R10 AIS MoB beacons to be worn inside the PFDs.

Thank you,

David Nabors

S/V Temerity

But mainly   NEVER GET OUT OF THE BOAT.

NSL buddy and sometime Temerity crew Wardog was lucky (and a valuable enough sailor) to be invited to Antigua Sailing Week where his regular skipper chartered a Farr 40 this year.   Like the Heineken Regatta, it’s a real sailing bucket list item.  Too much fun!   Let’s see if he remembers to bring home some of that superb Antiguan rum.

The PacCup rating for these boats is computed as the NorCal PHRF Downwind Rating  + 515, and is the handicap average boatspeed in seconds per mile.    The Time-on-Distance allowance is the course distance (2080 nm) divided by boatspeed expressed in knots.    So for example, Temerity will have to beat Plus Sixteen by 15.6 hours in order to correct out ahead in the final standings.

For about a day there it looked like there might be a late entry in the fast boat, DH group, which might have thrown the E-27s in with us in the slower group.   But it looks like this is the fleet that will be racing as of the deadline.

This is my first time posting on SA after years of lurking. First, I want to thank everyone for the kind comments about my original letter. I confess to some initial hesitation about publishing the story after reading heated SA debates over the years but I take my hat off to the collective sailing community for the respectful approach to the incident and follow-up discussions.

There are still questions floating around and I’ll try to provide some additional insight. Also, I have a special request to those that have done the Farallones race. Here are the most frequently asked questions since my letter:

Did SA change the original recipients of your letter?

Yes, but all I really cared about was publication of the complete story as opposed to how some of the news outlets butchered the message. One extracted this headline: “California sailing accident survivor urges new safety rules”. First, I never said there should be new rules. Second, they missed the real message around sparking discussions within the community and crews, or about safety as everyone’s personal responsibility not just the owner/skipper/captain.

Is there a GPS track?

Yes. We had 2 GPS’s running that day – the boat GPS and a handheld Garmin that we managed to recover from a mesh bag in the cockpit. I’m really amazed that it managed to stay on-board.

Here’s some interesting data from the handheld GPS: between 14:36:53 and 14:37:37 (44 seconds) the GPS traveled at 12 knots from a position approximately 464 yards north-northwest of Maintop Island to a position 295 yards southeast toward Maintop Island, this path was perpendicular to its previous direction of travel. Between 14:37:37 and 14:38:32, (55 seconds), the GPS again traveled southeast 160 yards to the shore of Maintop Island at a speed of approximately 5 knots.

I should probably rethink my initial estimate of 128 yards from the break zone. A 250-yard break zone would have then put us at 200 from the edge of the break zone. Any input from someone with a perspective on the depth of the northwest break zone that day would be greatly appreciated.

Where is the boat?

In a storage yard (not in Half Moon Bay).

Did you have a GPS EPIRB?

No. I said GPS in my letter to help those who would be trying to conceptualize an EPIRB for the first time. The Coast Guard said they got 2 hits from our EPIRB and then it went dead. This would have brought them to within a couple of miles of the boat and should clarify the initial misunderstanding about our location. The radio call was received before the EPIRB signal. Also, the EPIRB was recently recovered but the failure has not yet been determined.

How big (in feet) was the wave?

I intentionally left out an attempt at guesstimating the size to avoid the scenario where a bank robbery witness mistakes the Stubnose 22 for a 44 Magnum. The largest swells I’d seen prior to that one was on a boat delivery headed north around Point Conception. This wave was in an entirely different category from those or any I’d seen from shore or the water. Maybe wave science experts could estimate size based on ocean depth at the point we got hit.

I agree with all the comments about swell size verse breaking wave size. The wave that hit us grew as it approached. As I continue to digest, I should also add that the wave was relatively short when compared to a long breaking wave that you would see at the beach. I’m curious to find an ocean floor topography that’s more detailed than those in standard charts.

Did it take 15 minutes for the boat to get to shore?

No. According to GPS data it was about 2 minutes. It was much faster than anyone in the water. The majority of the time I spent in the water was trying to get out once I finally made it to the shore.

Should there be a course change and new safety standards?

Regarding course. I’ve intentionally steered clear of this subject as there are expects that have forgotten more about ocean racing and the Farallon Islands than I’ll ever know. I’m looking to those experts in concert with the local sailboat racing community to make the recommendations. Jay, Nick and I have and will continue to provide investigators with any data that will help them make informed decisions. I suspect the survivors and the families would support any decision that reduces the probability of another tragedy.

Regarding new safely standards.There is no shortage of boating/racing safety standards. What seems to be lacking is diligent adherence to those standards and best practices. I guess the best comparison would be motor vehicles. Lowering the accident rate is less about new rules and more about getting folks to follow the ones that exist today – using seat belts, not driving under the influence, respecting speed limits and observing stop lights/signs.

I wish I could say that before every ocean race over the years someone told me basics like where the bolt cutters were located, and made sure everyone onboard knew how to hail the Coast Guard, how to crank their engine, etc. What if the one person left on the boat after an accident is new to sailing and has no clue about how to drive a boat or manually set off the EPIRB?

How can I help?

I’d like to assemble GPS tracks for that day and get them plotted onto one chart to provide a single consolidated view of as many boat routes as possible around the island that day. I’d ask that if you were out there or know people who were, could you ask them to download their GPS track data and email it to me at bryan@chonger.com. Raw data is fine as long as it has the basic long/lat/time. Our handheld had our 2011 track data so I’ll also take previous years routes from anyone that wants to share. Please include wind and wave conditions if you can remember them. Thanks in advance for your help.

Thanks everyone for your support over the past 3 weeks.

Sincerely,

Bryan Chong

I’m not sure if I am going to do the Stand Down Marathon or not.   I need time under sail, but would prefer doing drills double-handed.  We’ll see.

We had a great start, once again in a heavy ebb and light winds.    We stayed clear of the pin and observed several boats piling up on in it in  a highly reminiscent fashion.  “That was us about 4 weeks ago,” I told Andreas and Andrew, who were once again crewing this race.     Our upwind leg was fast and fun; as you can see from the tacking angles above.  Even with so little weight on the rail we were in a good position rounding the mark, the Pt. Bonita buoy.   And there I blew it.   I knew that the current inside Bonita Cove would be much less than out in the main channel, and we had arrived at the mark a lot sooner than I had reckoned, so that the ebb was still in full force.    But with only 3 aboard and still a little jittery so soon after LSC, I decided not to go close to shore under spin for the current relief.    After we set the spin I had my hands full steering, and it wasn’t for a while that I realized how the ebb was setting our ground track to a net southerly heading.   So we lost a lot of ground on the run to the North Tower.  We made some of it up though with some good calls putting us near Angel, and anticipating the strong current still setting out of the channel to the north;  we make the next mark, YRA 8 without needing to douse and tack back up.  We doused before reaching the mark and went back up with the #1 for  a reach south.

The call to go behind TI also proved to be a good one.   There was a big wind hole just past the bridge, but apparently there was an even bigger one on the west side of the island and the course that way was longer.  A nice spin run down the Estuary got us to the finish, and only a few minutes from our slip, a very welcome change from the usual situation.    In all, a great day out with A&A, and a good party at EYC afterwards.

http://www.travelinsurance.org/impact-of-somali-piracy

Last Friday Temerity had her safety inspection, with inspector Michael Caplan performing this service for us.  The previous weekend Char and I had spent a full day on the boat marking gear, applying reflecting tape, and performing a host of other checklist items, to be fully in compliance with the 38-page Special Offshore Regulations, Category I.   There were a few minor items, such as a leaky bilge pump (since fixed) and no sail number banner (I did not understand the requirement, and it is since been ordered), but overall there were no deficiencies that needed to be checked prior to race start, and Michael was in fact very complementary, much to my pleasure (and relief).   We chatted afterward, and he had some very useful suggestions beyond safety issues, and put me on to a local source for landjaeger, a critical provisioning item.

Afterwards, I called my crew to share the good news, and she said “Wow, this is getting pretty real.”   Yep.

EDIT:   I’ve since learned that Temerity was the very first boat in the Pac Cup fleet to pass inspection.  Let’s hope this sets a precedent as far as other finishings are concerned!

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As of this writing on Monday morning, the USCG has discontinued their rescue efforts, which had involved considerable effort and assets over more than 30 hours, and the missing crew must be presumed dead.  Only one body of the five that went overboard was recovered.   Two of the survivors who went aground (including the skipper) were thrown off the boat when it hit the rocks, and managed to climb on some rocks where they were picked up by a USCG helicopter.  Video here.  The remaining survivor was on the boat with a broken leg, and was also picked by by helicopter.

Chartlet of the islands.

Here is our GPS track for the full race:

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And an excerpt from the rounding of the islands:

View Larger Map
Raw .gpx files are here:   full, islands

We were way too cold and wet much of the time  to take pictures and in a somber mood on the ride home.  Frankly, what happened to Low Speed Chase could have happened to us also.    When shorthanding in the ocean I am very disciplined about having myself and crew clipped in 100% of the time, but with crewed racing with very proficient crew I am much more lax, as conditions outside the Gate many days are no worse than in the Bay.    But Saturday was not one of those days.   It was pretty hairy from Pt. Bonita onward.

For the race we had a great crew, comprising Kim, Chewy, Andreas, and Andrew K., the latter two new to the boat and very experienced,  skilled sailors.   There was a big ebb and almost no wind at the start, something of a tradition it would seem.  We set the #1 genny, and tried to work our way out into the middle of the stream as best we could.   Approaching Bonita, the wind and seas increased steadily, and we made a good anticipatory call in changing down to the #3, with Andreas and Andrew working very well in managing this with the new hanked-on sails.   From then on it was just a nasty beat into the square waves formed by the ebb meeting the 20 – 25 kt northwesterly.     As usual, crockery down below was smashed, the galley cupboard door  popped out, and drawers in the forepeak cabin knocked off their tracks.   It was very wet, with plenty of waves washing over the deck and down inside the clothes of most of us.

We rounded with the islands to starboard, and mid-way we observed Low Speed Chase very close inshore, and then driven aground.   The radio call was made to USCG as described above.    We were already as close as any rational person would want to be to the rollers breaking on shore, and with a helo on the way and LSC grounded,  we did not feel there was anything we could safely do to help, though we did scan the water for survivors.

On the ride home we stuck with the #3 sheeted to the rail and full main, which we had been flying since Bonita.    I did not feel like putting up any more sail than that.    Near the Lightship we were hit by a breaking sneaker wave on the port quarter, which flung me across the cockpit and to the starboard lifelines, and tumbled Temerity around in a 360° circle.   As I was in the air I had plenty of time to remember that I was clipped in and would not be going overboard.   We finished without further incident, and pulled in to StFYC to drop off  crew, and everyone jumped on their cellphones to inform friends and family that we were OK.   It seems that there had been some confusion with our initial radio call and USCG thought for awhile that we were also in distress.  Strangely, they called our cell phones and emergency contacts, but did not attempt to hail us on VHF, which would have cleared things up immediately, as we continued to monitor Ch 16 for the rest of the race.

I and the Temerity crew extend our deepest condolences to the families and friends of those lost at sea.