Otter Cup - Elkhorn YC - 2015

May 16, 2015 -- For many years the Elkhorn Yacht Club, located in Moss Landing, has hosted a wonderful reaching race from the waters outside their harbor, to a buoy off of Monterey and back again.  A few of us left Santa Cruz harbor early and took MAYAN by power to Moss Landing in time to arrive for the 0930 hours skipper's meeting.  The winds were looking painfully light again, and the memories of our slow and frustrating sail in the Leukemia Cup lingered.

As always EYC was warm and welcoming.  The race committee did a good job of briefing us, warming us with hot coffee, and sending us out to the race course.  For those of you who haven't been to EYC, the MAYAN crew would highly recommend investigating this jewel of a club.  No flash, just sailors enjoying sailing to the fullest.  Elkhorn Yacht Club

The Otter Cup Course

The race course was simple and looked to be perfect for a schooner like MAYAN that loves to reach.  The only difficulty was going to be that short little beat directly into a 6-8 knots westerly wind.  We've been learning how to sail MAYAN in light winds (those painful memories of the Leukemia Cup haunting us again) but it is hardly our strong suit.

Approaching the start, which was a beam reach start on Starboard, we underestimated the additional speed MAYAN would show on a reach and found ourselves early by about a minute.  We are clearly still learning how to judge her speed.  Turning the boat up and down wind a lot to slow her down started to fail as competitors formed up around us on our final run-up to the line, so we were forced to reduce our boat speed by easing sheets.  While we were on the line at the gun and had "won" the start, we were only moving at about 3 knots and the ARIEL, a C&C-110, passed by us to windward.

For the next one hour and fifteen minutes we painfully beat two miles upwind in 4 to 8 knots of shifty breezes.... frustrating to say the least.  We rounded the windward mark dead last, seriously - dead last, behind the Cal 25, really seriously... last.  MAYAN is not a light wind boat.  We had confirmed our lousy ability to go upwind in light air.

Then everything started to get better.  The wind built slowly over the course of the ten mile beam reach to Monterey.  The sun came out.  With the genoa, advance staysail and mainsail we spread as much sail area as we could on a tight reach and MAYAN started to do what schooners do well.

MAYAN starting her move.  (Credit: Un Bel Di)

Our friends on UN BEL DI, the Cal 25, started snapping photos as we moved past them giving us some of the best pictures of our restored schooner we've seen so far.

As the wind moved aft slowly, we were able to set the forestaysail and MAYAN started to average about 6 knots over the ground in what had built to a steady 12 knot breeze.

With no complexity to the leg the crew relaxed and enjoyed the ride.  One of the great joys of being MAYAN's caretaker has been that Stacey and I have been able to invite a tremendous group of sailors aboard to share the rare joy of schooner sailing.  With so few of these old girls still sailing, let alone racing, our friends have turned up in large numbers to share the experience.

In this race we had to wonderful helmsmen who paired up to relieve me: Bill Lee and Lou Pambianco.  There were smiles all around and I got a chance to spend some time fussing with the sail trim up forward, and catching up with old friends.  The wind continued to build and move aft and by the time we reached Monterey it was relatively steady at 14 knots.  Bill guided us through the gybe gracefully, the crew brought the sails around and we were off again back to Moss Landing.

MAYAN doing what schooners do best: reaching

By the Monterey mark MAYAN had reeled in all but two competitors, and we appeared to be gaining on them.  With about ten miles left in the race, it would be difficult to catch the C&C but we provided a bit of a photo shoot for the boats still sailing towards Monterey and the boat in second.

We decided to hold a bit high of the finish line and then set the spinnaker.  As you all know, we're really just learning how to sail MAYAN and in hindsight it would have been better to simply sail the rhumb line as she doesn't gain much speed from the spinnaker.

After a wonderful dry and relaxing sail back to Moss Landing, we finished in second place, and believed we had saved our time on the C&C.  It is nearly impossible to provide a single number rating for two boats as different as the C&C and MAYAN.  If the race had included more distance sailing upwind, we would have been last.  But with 20 of the 24 miles of the race course being reaches in enough wind to get MAYAN moving, the advantage shifted to the schooner.  Aboard MAYAN we were amazed that she was so very slow upwind and so very fast on a reach.

As always the EYC put on a great meal after the race, there was great camaraderie in the bar, and we were thrilled to receive MAYAN's first ever First Place trophy.  We have sailed at Elkhorn Yacht Club in the past and have always enjoyed their tremendous hospitality.  Later this year we'll be back for the Double Angle Race, a crazy fun race course in which boats start from both Santa Cruz and Monterey, go around a mark in the middle of Monterey Bay (rounding in opposite directions simultaneously), and then run downwind to Moss Landing.  The party after that race is a legend amongst Monterey Bay racers.  The MAYAN crew will be there!

Leukemia Cup - Santa Cruz YC - 2105

MAYAN's first Leukemia Cup

Santa Cruz YC, Sunday, May 3rd, 2015

MAYAN with her advance staysail hanging

It is always great to support a cause like the Leukemia Cup.  The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society supports a massive amount of research into the elimination of all forms of blood cancers, a cause that is near to my heart.  My Dad, who taught us all to sail, died of multiple myeloma.  Then a few years ago my good friend Dave Emberson came down with Leukemia. Even since we've worked hard to help when we could - so this event was for Dad and Dave.

The day started out cool, calm, and overcast, with a gigantic all-star cast aboard sorting out the multiple strings that dangle from MAYAN's two masts.  One of the more interesting sails is the advance staysail, which you can see hanging from its halyards in the picture on the right.  Named for the schooner ADVANCE, a Starling Burgess design, which was the first to sport a sail like this, the advance staysail replaced the gaff foresail that used to occupy the space between the fore and main masts on many schooners.  With the luff running all the way up the foremast and the foot as close to the deck as we dare, the advance staysail is perfect for the light winds that had been forecast.

MAYAN

Once the crew had assembled, we set out for the calm waters outside our small harbor in Santa Cruz. The forecast was for 8-10 knots of wind from the southwest, but our first half hour was spent simply trying to get the sails to fill in near nonexistent winds. In the picture to the left you can see the large genoa, advance staysail and mainsail set with just enough wind to fly the flags.  Some have commented that MAYAN looks a bit down by the stern. Well, we had 28 crew aboard and at least half of them were in the cockpit at this point.

This was to be our first race in N. California.  That combined with the great cause it was supporting, resulted in every person we asked showing up to crew on MAYAN. As we left the dock Beau counted heads and came up with 28!  This was a new record for MAYAN during our stewardship and we were thrilled to see that everyone was comfortable.  Indeed, we could have accommodated 6 or 8 more folks aboard!

Lawson Family at the Rail

The crew was wonderfully competent with world champions, a yacht designer, professional crew men and women, along with some of the most adorable little kids we've seen aboard any boat.  For Stacey and Beau, a major component of MAYAN's mission is to sail with friends, family and most of all kids.  MAYAN was proving to do a great job of all parts of that mission.

The Lawson family had brought the entire team, and they all seemed to be having a great time!  While the munchkins played in the cockpit and below under Dannie's watchful gaze, their Dad (Jeff) hauled the main sheet and provided Beau with a spare pair of eyes spotting boats and marks.

The race format was a pursuit start, slowest boat first, which theoretically should have all the boats finishing at the same time.  The course was basically a windward/leeward course twice around.  Beau got us to the starting line about a minute late, which in schooner-time is close enough (but needs to improve).  Most importantly, no people, glass or wood was injured during the start.  The PHRF handicap MAYAN has received from the Monterey Bay PHRF committee matched her up boat-for-boat with the Catalina 30s.

Bill Lee

With the wind hovering around 6 knots, it became critical to keep the boat moving.  With over 68,000 pounds to move, MAYAN will stubbornly stand completely still with her sails full until she decides to grandly accelerate.  Eventually we set off around the race course and the wind built to about 8 knots.  Beau turned the helm over to Bill Lee for a bit, and the two of them discussed her sailing characteristics in these non-schooner conditions.

With the wind this light, and our entire crew completely new to sailing schooners, we struggled with the first beat.  After rounding Wharf Mark the crew scurried around re-setting the sails for a broad reach.

Gollywobbler and A1 set on the foremast of MAYAN

Schooners are known for being able to reach well, but usually there's a bit more wind.... oh well.  Up went the A1 (asymmetrical spinnaker) tacked to the bowsprit and sheeting about amidships.  Shaped more like the spinnaker for a Aussie-18' skiff than a big boat, this sail drew beautifully and MAYAN started to move.  Next the gollywobbler was set to leeward of the advance staysail and the advance hauled down.  The gollywobbler is another sail that is set between the masts, tacked at the foot of the foremast and hoisted to the top of both the fore and main masts.  It is made of spinnaker cloth, light and strong, and fulfills the needs of a main mast spinnaker.  Aboard MAYAN,  both sails are marked with the MAYAN logo on a broad yellow/orange band.  If only we'd had enough wind to really fill them!

The next mark was SC3, east towards Capitola, so we had a nice long reach to try and get MAYAN moving.... but the wind stayed very very light.  As we approached SC3 the advance staysail went back up, the gollywobbler came down, the genoa went back up, the A1 came down and the crew rounded the mark close along side and kept the old girl's speed up.  Nicely done!

A crew of 28 on the windward rail

In slightly stronger winds of 12knots, MAYAN began to move more easily, but we still hadn't figured out how to get her to point. Perhaps she just doesn't point? Bill repeated the wonderful old joke about schooners: "When you watch a schooner going upwind, you keep wondering why the boat in the back doesn't tack to clear her air." He got quite a chuckle from that one.  As we returned to Wharf Mark to round again and head dead down wind to Black's Point Mark the wind died off again and MAYAN began to wallow a bit.

Finally, abeam of the Santa Cruz Harbor, Beau called Homer on the VHF radio.  "Homer, go ahead and head in, we're going to withdraw."  Homer thanked us and we started taking sails down.  We had ended up last by well over a mile.  Not our best day as a race boat, but one of our best days ever at having a great time on the water.

The Santa Cruz YC hosted a terrific party after racing with great conversations, drinks, food, and awards.  Team MAYAN managed to win on shore, even if she was dead last on the water.  Thank you to ALL the generous folks who donated to the effort.  MAYAN raised more money than the organizers had set as a goal for the entire event!  Well done!!!

We will be making this an annual event for MAYAN, so please continue to look kindly on the email pleas for funds that will start appear early in 2016.  Hopefully, we'll get a race day with a bit of breeze so that we can have a little better showing on the water.  Again, THANK YOU for your tremendous support for our efforts and fund raising for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Making Progress

OK, today we completed and did a sea trial on the new autopilot and the quick release for the wheel. The Admiral and I have been worried about the damage that OttO could do to small arms and faces by spinning the open spoke pegged wheel quickly in a crowded cockpit. Give OttO has the power to spin the wheel six turns in 20 seconds and exerts the equivalent of 380 lbs of pressure on the outer pegs of the wheel, clearly he could hurt someone.   First, we took MAYAN out of the LA harbor and powered around in the glass flat sea. No testing the wave handling or sailing (no wind to speak of). Through out the time OttO performed perfectly.  He ramps up the speed at which he turns the wheel, spun MAYAN to nearly the new course, and then started to back the helm off quickly and then more slowly as MAYAN reached course.  I was impressed. This OttO is NOTHING like the OttO that was in S'AGPAO! MAYAN has a LOT of weight in the steering worm gear, the rudder shaft and the rudder itself; because of this the Jefa guys told me that only the Raymarine unit will gently speed up and slow down the power on their drive unit, making it easer on all the old heavy gear in MAYAN.Second, going back to the wheel spinning around and potentially hurting someone....  First, a quick look at the display for OttO mounted on the after side of the binnacle. It's pretty much hidden from everyone except the helms person. I can put up with this much "new" tech.  Now back to keeping the wheel from damaging someone. Wayne and I had discussed a pin through the wheel hub that one could pull and then the wheel would spin easily. That was two weeks ago. When we got to MAYAN today, we found a MUCH BETTER idea had been built. Typically, Wayne didn't bother talking about it, he just built it. So.....   Mounted aft of the wheel, around the steering gear main shaft, is a bronze collar, see picture on the right. In the collar there are two stainless steel screws, with unthreaded ends. You can see one of them on the right side of the collar in the picture below. These pins run in two grooves shaped like an inverted "J", you can see one on the top of the shaft and there is another on the opposite side of the shaft. When the collar is "locked", as it is in the picture on the right, the pins are in the short end of the "J" and hold the collar tightly against the wheel hub.

To free the wheel, so that it won't turn when OttO turns the rudder, one grabs the collar and twist the top of it to the left in the picture (to port). There is a small click as the pins get around the curve of the "J" and then the collar can slide aft on the shaft a distance a bit bigger than the thickness of the wheel's hub. In the picture on the left, the collar has been moved aft.

Now that the collar has been freed from the wheel, the wheel is free to slide aft along the shaft. In the picture below you can see the wheel in it's "free" position. In this position the wheel sits still and the shaft is free to turn within it. The key, which normally locks the wheel to the shaft, has been attached to the shaft so that it can't fall out and it has been modified with a "V" on the aft end (facing towards the wheel) so that one can push the wheel forward on the shaft more easily to re-engage the wheel.

When we pull when wheel back and let OttO drive, I'll tie the wheel so no one accidentally pushes it forward or tries to turn it and it spins out from under them. We don't have a lot of hours on this system so far, but our first four hours were great.