SNOOZ-FEST TECH TALK

Hi Everybody!

First of all I have to take the opportunity to say thanks to all the great people in Monterey. This has got to be the only touristy town I've been to where there is no resentment towards tourists by the locals. Everyone has been incredibly hospitable and accommodating. Specifically, the crew of Mr. Perfect owes a huge debt of gratitude to Craig, a fellow Vegatarian in Monterey, Master of the mighty Tern, a real beaut of a '72 Vega. For any other Vegatarians out there, he says he is going to try to fly up to Maple Bay for the rendevous. Buy him a beer, he deserves it! Also, if anyone is ever in the Monterey area and need ANYTHING boat related, definitely go to Quarterdeck marine. It is shocking how nice the staff is and the lengths to which they go to get you the part. Definitely a huge difference from the typical West Marine experience (or worse yet, the gong show at Steveston Marine in Vancouver--minus the real nice older guy who works the hardware section).
In case anyone is wondering, we sheared the tapered stainless steel pin that is part of the rudder head attachment (it looked like classic stainless corrosion, but obviously wasn't helped any by the incessant yarding we were doing during the San Fran gale) and had to get a replacement, which Quarterdeck sourced and brought in the next morning. If you own a Vega and have a bit of play in your tiller, check this pin! It seems to be a common source of failure as Craig's turned out to be in two pieces when he removed his to get a measurement off of.

Tech: I've had a number of people asking me about the technical aspects of the trip and boat, so I'll do a quick once over here. Given that Jeff's posting is such a comedic powerhouse and covers most of the experiential aspects of the trip (with the exception of mentioning his "nudist" morning the I woke up to during our first day in California), I'll spend a bit of time going over the particulars.

The Boat: Mr. Perfect (our boat) is a 1971 Albin Vega (number 813), which is a robust Swedish made offshore pocket cruiser that is proving itself well worthy of this trip. I chose the Vega partly because of it's excellent reputation in print (see John Vigor's "20 small boats to take you anywhere") and partly because the surveyor I hired to go over a Contessa 26 I was interested in suggested, after discovering boat pox (among other problems), "why don't you get a Vega, they're better built, stronger, faster and more spacious. My friend just got back from circumnavigating a Vega and loved it." After hearing this and reading the book "Bersek" about a total nut named Jarle who sailed his Vega from Norway around Cape Horn (solo) and then to Antarctica (!!!!) when he was 19 years old (which EVERYONE should read if they can find it), I was sold! So I started hunting for Vegas and found a real deal in Galveston TX and ended up towing the boat back up to Vancouver (Point Roberts to be exact) on a trailer behind a 2500 turbo diesel pick-up (it's a long story...). Mr. Perfect had had all the regular Vega deficiencies taken care of (beefed up compression post, mild steel paddles in rudder replaced with stainless, bulkheads glassed in, chainplate angle iron replaced with 316 stainless steel) along with all new standing and running rigging, spars and sails (full batten main, to which I added a third reef point and triple stitching, storm jib, 110 working jib, 150 genoa and a screwball tri-sail which is easily 2/3 the size of the main and the reason I added the 3rd reef). All this stuff was added new in 2004 when the previous owner sailed a bit too close to a navigational piling in Pensacola Florida, caught a shroud and ripped the rig right off! Thankfully he was decently insured and his insurance paid for good quality stuff (American Rolly Tasker sails, US Spars mast and boom, and full sta-lok terminals on the wires).

The boat itself doesn't look like much, with a strange gray paint job that was shoddily done and a home-job interior that was obviously not done by a master carpenter, but everything works (almost) and it is STRONG. It will likely remain an ugly duckling for some time as my focus is more on strength and safety than cosmetics. In terms of safety, the boat carries a new Cat 2 GPS integrated EPIRB (McMurdo) mounted on the main bulkhead, a 6 man Plastimo Offshore liferaft that has recently been fully serviced, an extensively stocked grab bag with food, fishing gear, spacebankets, flares, VHF, handheld water desalinator, water, multi-tool, etc..., a well stocked (albeit, not extensive) first aid kit, our handy little SPOT which doubles as an emergency beacon, and a rented satellite phone for keeping in touch with friends and family and calling the coast guard if we ever need to. Aside from this safety gear, virtually the only other stuff that the boat has is a depth sounder, Garmin 182c GPS chart plotter, garmin handheld, si-tex weatherfax ssb receiver, simrad tiller pilot and our trusty Navik self steering vane. Oh yeah, and we're "off the grid" thanks to two 75 watt Shell solar panels bolted to the coach roof (power has never been a problem).

Mods to the boat, besides the stuff listed above, include the removal of the inboard engine and replacement with an outboard, the removal of the fixed head and replacement with a porta-potti (which has yet to be used--we use a bucket in the cockpit when at sea, but the advantage is that there are 2 less thru-hulls in the boat), removal of the 2 burner stove and replacement with a one burner Force 10 fully gimballed sea-swing stove. All in all the accommodations are pretty spartan but they work, providing us a place to sleep and eat in comfort.

Handling: We've now got almost 1000 miles under our belts since leaving Point Roberts and are getting to know the boat's character pretty well. Overall the boat is really fun to sail, being responsive and fast (for an old full keeler). Up wind it won't win any races with it's pointing abilities (it's not awful either), but it likes to lock in when you get the sails balanced and will track a straight line for miles. Off the wind is where this boat shines. We've found that at about 100 t0 120 degrees apparent, with the main reefed or spilled a bit and the head sail properly trimmed, we can easily maintain 6 to 7 kts of boat speed if there is enough wind. Add to this some surfing down the bigger waves and you can get 11 or 12 kts on the GPS. Our max speed to date, and hopefully for the trip, that is logged on our GPS is 17.5 kts. This was the unintentional result of getting caught just at the right point on a large cresting wave and getting carried down the face a little too fast! After this we put out our warps consisting of two 150' anchor lines attached by a 10' lenth of 1/2" chain, and 2 other long loops made up of extra sheets, docking line etc. Trailing the warps really worked well in that it held the boat back enough to allow the waves that would have carried it to pass by. In 40kt winds, we ran only the storm jib and trailed warps. Out boat speed was checked to the 3.5 to 4.5kt range and we only surfed to about 7kts down waves. This is a set up I would recommend and go to again in similar situations. In terms of steering in these conditions we found that the Navik does not do a good enough job in that it is not quick enough to counteract the "spin out" forces that waves put on the boat and we ended twisting around a lot and rolling back and forth as the Navik kept countersteering. Hand steering was the way to go, and we were able actively pick our way through the waves, choosing whether we wanted to avoid certain waves all together, to turning the boat to take the cresting waves dead on our stern, or try and "sap" them of their power with our wake (Pardy style). In all other conditions, except the really light air and rolling swell, the Navik did an outstanding job of steering and really became our best friend. When you use a bucket in the cockpit for going to the bathroom, you really appreciate not having to have your buddy hold the tiller while you use the facilities a couple of feet away!

In terms of handling the first frontal system we went through off the Oregon coast, the winds were from the south, so my concern was not loosing our mileage. Initially we started off beating to windward with 2nd reef main and storm jib, but as the wind increased so did our speed and the boat started jumping off the backs of the waves and pounding hard. We opted to drop the jib and try "forereaching" our way through it with reefed main alone, pinching the wind to keep boat speed down to the 2-3kt range. This did not work all that effectively as it required hand steering and was a bit much for Jeff at that point in our trip (I thought I destroyed his nerves for good). We tacked through the wind a couple of times unexpectedly and caught a few waves that didn't feel so good! I still think this is a good method to keep in mind, especially when trying to keep or gain mileage in moderate conditions, but is likely a better go to during daylight hours, when the crew is well rested and up to the task of careful hand steering. Next time I suspect we will try heaving to (although it is hard to get the Vega to stop it's forward motion) or heaving to with the sea anchor and a briddle line as the Pardy's suggest, or just turn and run across the seas at a slight downwind angle (feathering our stern into the waves as needed when combers rear up). I'll post our results here if we try any of these tactics.

Now, I have probably bored all the non-sailors to tears with this tech talk, so I'll wrap up. We're currently still in Monterey waiting for our faulty si-tex radio receiver to get sent back from the manufacturer (the hours we spent trying to get that thing to work, just to find out it was busted when we got it!!!! Never buy anything from Landfall Navigation!). It is supposed to arrive tomorrow morning in the UPS shipment, which is a day later than we would have liked, but hey, there are worse places to be stuck than Monterey. My only concern now that we will be putting to sea on a Friday!! (a no no according to old sailor superstition). Then again it is also back luck to bring bananas, women and flowers on board, along with a whole host of other crazy thing. I did place a coin under the main mast when it was stepped and poured some wine on the bow when the boat was launched, so hopefully that has put some karmic money in the bank! Off to the marine store for some odds and ends and then maybe the free maritime museum? aquarium? who knows...

Rich