Measure Twice and Cut Once, Or Is That Measure Once and Cut Twice?

This weeks project was to replace the head foil on the boat. Head foils are plastic extrusions that clip over the rod headstay that runs from the bow to the top of the mast. The head foils have two grooves for the luff tape of the jib to go to the top of the mast. The luff (front edge) of the jib is held securely in the head foil. Two grooves allow us to run a new jib up one of the grooves before dropping the other when we change sails. The old head foil was getting brittle from age and the top was cracking. Time to change, this equipment does not last forever.

So, yesterday, I started the project. It went fast. The old foil came off easy. Remove the stainless feeder and pry the foil off the headstay. Then pull it down and off the stay. I had help for this. Then came the hard part: measuring the new foil and cutting it. The new foil comes out of the box like a corkscrew. I lost my help, so I taped the tape measure to the foil. I had already measured the boat and sails many times and knew that I wanted the new foil longer than the old.

I cut the new foil, fit and drilled for the upper band and started snapping the new foil onto the stay. It goes slow with only 6-12 inches snapped on at a time. With over 44feet of foil it takes a while. Snap on a few feet and push up the stay. The good news was that I did not cut the head foil too short, the bad news was that it was longer that I had intended and it can only be cut at the top, not the bottom.

So today, I removed the new headfoil, cut 7 inches off and reinstalled. Finished up by taping the bottom spacer and installing the prefeeders.

Now was that measure once and cut twice and it was still to short or measure twice and cut once and it was still too long? In this case better to measure twice and cut twice and end up with the right length.

Trying to measure the cork screw.
Upper band and spacer installed and ready to push up the headstay.

Foil installed to the top of the mast.

Prefeeders, fraculator line and bottom spacer installed and everything taped up.

Toliva Shoal Race 2-13-2010

Perseverance! Yes perseverance is what it took to race the Toliva Shoal Race this year. This race is set up as a 37.4 NM race from Olympia south around Anderson Island, around the Toliva Shoal buoy, north around Anderson past the "big house' on McNeil Island and back to Olympia. Unfortunately, history is such that the course is shortened more often then it has been finished. In my 12 times of racing it, only once have we finished the entire race.

Saturday morning was WET! After rain all night, the morning forecast was for more of the same. Plus the winds were predicted to remain light. What a great combination for a sailboat race.

The start was delayed for about an hour when the committee sent us off in light NW winds. After a slow beat down Budd Inlet, we had an equally slow beat through Dana Pass, but now we were against the flooding current. We worked along the right shore and had good success. Boats on the left shore did not appear to be as successful. Some boats sailed past us on the right side and as we moved more to the right, we found a stream heading our way. We stayed in the favorable river and caught Declaration of Independence(DOI)(Express 37) who was leading our class. When the wind died more, they put down an anchor. We did not and slid about a quarter of a mile back toward Olympia before the wind filled in from the NE at about 5 knots.

We noticed a lot of boats motor away. Lack of Perseverance or just cold and wet?

We had a good reach toward Johnson PT. Two power boats boats were hanging out there and we thought that the race would be shortened. But we continued on to Government Mark #3 at the Nisqually Flats where the race was shortened at 11.7 NM

The winds started filling in from behind bringing up our competitors from behind. Something Special(J35) past us on the right and Melange(J35) closed on the left. We stayed ahead of Melange, but they reached up under us and established a overlap and room at the finish mark. The finish sequence is being investigated, but I think that they were ahead of us by three seconds. That would give us 4th. Results are posted at: http://www.ssseries.org/

After finishing, we motored on to Gig Harbor where two cars were prepositioned to take crew back to Olympia. I spent the night and returned to Brownsville Sunday morning. Fortunately the rain quit!

Thanks to the crew of Great White: Peg, Kathleen, Jim, Walter and Kurt. They all showed lots of Perseverance!

Total distance for the weekend: 111.5 NM

Soggy Percival Landing before the boats got underway.

Reaching toward Johnson PT.

Our course for the day.

Video from Toliva Shoal Race, and we did not finish at Johnson Pt, nor did we get second place.

Brownsville to Olympia 1-11 to 1-12-2010

Arrived in Olympia about 1200 today. I left from Brownsville about 0930 on Thursday and motored to Gig Harbor. Tied up to the city dock at Jerisch park. It rained hard most of the day. Played tourist a little in Gig Harbor, but with the rain, it was nice to hang out in the boat and read.

Got underway from Gig Harbor at about 0700. Again, it rained hard all day and was cold. The current was ebbing during my run and was slow going through the Narrows. Still arrived at Olympia around 1200. Still not a bad delivery.

I did have issues with the autopilot. Like the time we returned from the Duwamish Head Race, the autopilot would lose its data input. I hand steered most of the way today. This appeared mainly when I was heading westerly and worked fine when heading south. I suspect the compass is acting up. I have an extra fluxgate compass onboard and will get it ready to install if the autopilot acts up on the way home.

Toliva Shoal Race tomorrow!

Approaching Olympia.
View of the capital building from Percival Landing.

Percival Landing.

Coastal Messenger

Tuesday, I rode to Gig Harbor with my parents to visit their friends on the "Coastal Messenger". The "Coastal Messenger" is a 52 foot steel vessel operated by
Coastal Missions,http://www.coastalmissions.ca/index.htm#doodad . This is a missionary organization based in Chemainus BC. They operate along the coast of British Columbia and South East Alaska. My parents met them in the late 1980's when they commercial fished in south east Alaska and have kept in touch sense then. It was a blessing to be able to visit with them.

The "Coastal Messenger" is making there yearly(almost every year) visit through Puget Sound. They will return to their home base and start their maintenance period in early March and will be underway on their first voyage in April. The boat will be underway until November. Crews rotate at various ports along the coast. During their voyages they will call on many isolated ports and villages in very remote areas. Some of their journeys will take them along the open ocean areas of the west coast of Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlotte Islands.

Roy was captain on this voyage and actually drew the plans for "Coastal Messenger" and was the construction boss along with a lot of volunteer help. My dad actually helped during a visit to Chemainus. The boat is a great example of a very tough, seaworthy, west coast style work boat. It is NOT a yacht. It is built of steel. The accommodations are limited as they only travel with a crew of four. Roy did a great job with the design. Tom gave me a tour including the engine room. The engine room is spacious and well thought out with lots of room for maintenance. The pilot house is large with great visibility all around. The main salon has plenty of seating and also includes a piano that folds down out of a locker! Large amounts of storage space is included through out the vessel. The boat was launched in 1998 and was in service in 1999.

The previous "Coastal Messenger" was a similar sized wooden boat that was a retired BC fisheries patrol boat. I was on board once many years ago. It was in immaculate condition too, but the thing I found interesting was the Rolls Royce diesel engine. It was a showpiece. It was an antique and had been rebuilt. Coastal Missions actually had a spare Rolls Royce diesel that was initially installed in the new "Coastal Messenger" but has since been changed to a John Deere diesel.

Coastal Messenger(picture from the website)
Coastal Messenger at Gig Harbor

Coastal Messenger at Gig Harbor. Tom on board and my parents on the dock.

Toys-Part 2

Today I went to Seattle mainly to buy boat stuff. I rode the ferry to Seattle. The day started out gloomy, but the sun came out in the mid day.

I went to Fisheries Supply in Fremont with a long shopping list. There was only one item on the list that they did not have and it was optional anyway. The total cost came out way under budget.

I met one of my racing crew for lunch and then drove to Tacoma for some diesel engine parts and then a quick stop at Harbor Freight.

Tonight I have some rope splicing to start on to create some running rigging for the boat. I enjoy splicing. This will be fun!
Lots of fun stuff here: rope, shock cord, hooks, snap shackles, gloves, twin, engine control cable, engine water pump impeller and head foil.

Toys-Part 1

This may not look like much, some pieces of plastic, metal, clamps and screws. But, this is the "comfort kit" for my motorcycles. The Buell XB models(they are air cooled) develop a lot of heat on the right side from the rear exhaust pipe and also from the engine cooling air. Buell developed a retrofit kit that includes a right side air scoop(there is already one on the left side), a metal guard for the exhaust pipe and a new air duct that redirects the engine cooling air from the fan down and out the back of the motorcycle.

So far, I have the scoop and exhaust pipe guard installed. The air duct is more complicated to install as you have to remove the battery, ECM(electronic control module), fuse block and battery pan to get to the area that is modified.

I am looking forward to getting this finished. Last summer in Eastern Washington, my right leg was always painfully hot, even through the leathers. Sportster riders say that they have a similar problem, but I somehow don't think they sit on top of the engine like I do.

This is one of the last upgrades that I can do to make the motorcycle like a 2010. I have heard about a rearwheel/wheel bearing upgrade, but doubt if I will pursue that.

So will this make my 2009 Buell XB12X Ulysses worth less now that it resembles a 2010 and the bikes are no longer built? I don't care, it should be more comfortable. That is all that matters to me.

The Boat Show

For weeks the TV ads have played the same jingle over and over:

The Boat Show!
The Boat Show!
The Big Seattle Boat Show!

This is the same jingle that has been used as long as I can remeber. As a kid we used to go to the boat show in the Coliseum. Then it moved to the Kingdome(anyone remember it?) and now the boat show is at the Qwest Field Event Center. There is also an in-the-water show at Lake Union.

So am I buying a new boat? No. I mainly go to the show to look at gear and equipment, pick up new catalogs and also look at boats. This year I only went to the Qwest Field Event Center site and did not take the shuttle to Lake Union. It was still good to look at the "stuff" and talk to differant vendors, some that I know. I came home with a bag full of brochures and catalogs(most that will be discarded) and a head full of new ideas.

And what good is a trip to Seattle without stopping at Ivars for fish and chips on the way to the ferry? Unfortunatly a seagull snatched one of my pieces of fish as I walked out to eat on the pier!

All kinds of boats!

The best fish and chips in the northwest are sold here!