Vic-Maui wrap up...

It is September 27^th….. where has the past month and a half gone???  

To complete the VicMaui return story... 

We got into Victoria at 7:30 am on August 14^th after a long night of motoring through the fog, dodging ships and fishing boats down the Straight of Juan De Fuca.  Jason B from the race crew and Dave's family were at the docks to greet us and we all went for breakfast in Victoria. Elisa and I left Victoria on the boat by about 11am and had an uneventful motor to Vancouver arriving at about 7pm, where I loaded the dinghy and promptly left for Secret Cove.  

Two hours after leaving Vancouver, the sky totally covered over and there was a long lasting electrical storm. I guess the ocean gods figured I had too relaxing a trip home from Hawaii to let me off easy. The wind came up to about 25-30 south east and I ran under jib alone from Gibsons down to Merry Island hoping the storm would not take out the electronics.  I arrived in Secret Cove at 1:30 tired, but safe and a greating by my dad at the dock.  It was GREAT to be back J. 

A couple of days of tidying and converting the boat back to a cruiser (well… a comfort cruiser, I don't think it ever really turned into a racer;) and the family moved on.  The kids and I spent the next three weeks cruising up and down the coast with Catharine spending everyday she wasn't working on the boat with us. It was an amazing way to wrap up the summer. 

Catharine and I are currently anchored just on the east side of Gabriola pass spending a weekend with just the two of us out on the boat. We had a nice relaxing sail across from Vancouver today, and it looks like it will be a motor home tomorrow. 

The first rough version of a Vic Maui video has been posted to the channel (turnagain50) on Youtube.  There is hours of footage to still go through and there should be more videos coming.  

Catharine is working on a book of the entire trip, and I have been asked to speak at a couple of yacht clubs about our experience on the race. 

Again. Thanks to everyone for such an amazing experience. 

Travis

Sports Day Turnagain Style

August 1st Update    

Today was BEAUTIFUL!!. The temperatures were great, and the wind was only about 10 kts on average all day. While it did not lend to fast sailing, we were able to have the hatches open and keep inside temperatures very reasonable. We made a ton of water, had showers and did some maintenance on the boat.  The furling system is holding together, and the galley faucet that was leaking is now fixed. 

The crew has quickly gelled and is working well together. They have also settled into their respective watches.  Things are great and we are making great time towards home (well… headed to Alaska currently but hopefully the winds will change as forcast and let us curve to the east), even if a few of us need to find our sea legs (hence the short blog today). 

Fishing isn't going great. We have temporarily given up on the Kit-Kat and gone to more traditional store bought lures still with limited success. We had a bite at dinner, but it promptly threw the hook. 

Dave and I are missing "Sports Day" back at home, but have been thinking up some games we might be able to do on board. Dave's kids and mine are the same age, we have traditionally spent sports day being the supporting dad and doing the horse races (being the horse), or the one with the bucket on our head while our kids try to fill it faster than the other kids and their dad's using a sponge (and of course getting Dad totally soaked). So we may do piggy back races up and down the deck tomorrow am, during the traditional land races time frame, and we may try some sort of water event in the afternoon, but have not come up with anything that would be safe at the current speeds we are sailing. 

The winds are expected to start backing tomorrow mid to late day, which will likely allow us to hoist a kite. Then entire crew is excited about that.   

We all miss you
Turnagain

Imagine if you were a dragon slayer and there were just no more dragons...by Catharine

Travis and I have a favourite movie we watch when we're away on the boat and the littles are in bed.
Have you seen Riding Giants?  It's a documentary about the origins of surfing, and chronicles everyone from Duke Kahanamoku to the more recent tow-in surfing people.

Anyway, there's this hilarious scene where Laird Hamilton's wife Gabrielle (Laird is basically the founder of modern tow-in surfing) talks about how depressed Laird gets where there aren't any waves.  She says something like "Imagine you are a dragon slayer, and one day there are just no more dragons" to describe how surfers feel when there are no waves.  Travis and I always kill ourselves laughing, and it's become an inside joke we refer to all the time when things don't go our way.  I guess you can see where I'm going with this right?

For those of us following the tracker, it looks like they've been drifting around quite a bit out there. And today's second start boats trying to get up Juan de Fuca are also looking like dragon slayers without any dragons :(

Hopefully things pick up for them.  Not too windy of course, just Goldilocks.

Travis sent this quick up date today.

"Well, it has been a bit better today.  The wind has been up...from the SE though...not like the brochure! :) So we have been pounding along trying to get South.  The boat has been doing well...even though it is not an upwind machine.  Looks like we may start to get some NW later in the weekend."

The First 24 Hours, by Jason

The First 24 Hours

We had a great send off from Victoria Harbour with friends and family seeing us off. There were a few teary eyes and heavy hearts, both on the boat and ashore as we pulled away from the Causeway Floats in front of the Empress Hotel.

We were fortunate to have Edward & Jane Karadontis escort us out to the start line with some of our family members aboard their beautiful Sabre 36. The weather at the start couldn't have been better with a 15-20kt westerly blowing and a strong ebb tide to push us along. At the starting gun we trimmed in the sails, were at the line and off we went on our 2,300 mile journey to Maui.

The sail out the Strait of Juan de Fuca was an excellent way to kick things off with constant winds from the West in excess of 20 knots pushing the boat as fast as she could go up wind with the occasional reef. Shortly after the start Turnagain, along with Turicum and Passepartout, begun to break away from the other boats in our early start (the remaining ten boats start on Saturday). The day was spent jockeying  for first place up the straight through Race Rocks and all the way to the tip of the Olympic peninsula. After over 12 hours we were still gladly diving and dodging one another as we closely swapped tacks with Turicum and Passepartout.

As evening approached, Darin prepared the first of many excellent meals (beef fajitas). I am happy to say that despite rolly-polly sea conditions we are all still holding our food down! During dinner Travis asserted his dominance as captain by cleaning up our dinner time game of 80's trivia, hosted by Ty. Travis' knowledge of Don Johnson movies is second to none.

After dinner, as we rounded the tip of the Olympic peninsula and took our first steps into the Pacific, the team soaked in a wonderful sunset with a small group of sea lions harping at us from astern. As night took hold and the temperature dropped, the wind bobbed around us as we struggled to get around the Cape Flattery bell bouy, our sole mark between Victoria and Maui. Shortly after rounding, the wind picked up for an hour and we had our first run under spinnaker with only the stars to navigate by. After an hour of screaming downwind the falling temperature took the steam out of our thermal breeze and left us with little do aside from bob around watching the navigation lights of our competitors in similar conditions at unknown distances, also waiting for more breeze. 

We spent the night on 4 hour watches listening to a mix of Adam and Ty's music (U2's  Joshua Tree right now), trying to keep the boat moving and spirits high as we charge towards Maui. We are having a blast and keeping busy with Steve Corcoran walking us through hoisting and dousing each sail in our inventory as we try to lock in a solution to our wind problem.

We are seeing lots of wildlife including: orcas, humpback whales, dolphins, great white sharks (possibly just a menacing looking dogfish), seals, sea lions, and millions of floating jelly fish with sails on them.

It's Friday morning now, time to turn the computer back over to pulling weather data. As we get into Tuna territory the focus is shifting from sail changes to getting the hooks baited. Stay posted for results from the first daily Turnagain Tuna Derby! <queue banjo music>

Check back for more news later today! 

Happy Birthday to Ty's daughter Daylie ( July 2nd) and Jason's Daughter Katherine (July 3rd).

Miss you all already,

The boys on Turnagain

First en route post from Travis

Had a good day so far.  We seem to be keeping pace with better upwind boats.  The wind is variable 8-18 and we gain ground in the 12-18 range and lose a bit in the 8-11 range.

But fun times.  Just approaching Sheringham point.  Came close to a pod of orcas, hopefully have some video.

Should be updating more later today.

Vic Maui 2014 Race Tracker, by Catharine

So I'm pretty sure I'll be glued to this thing until they reach Maui.  For those of you who don't know, you can track every moment of the race on the Tracker on your phone.  Just download the Yellow Brick app (YP Races), purchase the Vic Maui 2014 package for $2.99, and voila!  You too can watch them inch across the Pacific.  The tracker appears to update about once an hour.  If you can't find it in the app store, just go to www.vicmaui.org and follow the Yacht Tracker link (for free I think).

Here's the first several hours of the race:

And they're off!  1 hr after the start.
Turnagain is light purple

Approaching Race Rocks

Working their way out of Juan de Fuca

Looks like Turnagain is doing well upwind!

And they're OFF! by Catharine (Part 2)

Edward and Jane from Halcyon hosted us as Turnagain's official spectator boat.  I'm so grateful they were up to the task, as it really gave me some closure to officially see them start the race and disappear over the horizon.

They had near perfect conditions for the start.  15-20 knt winds and sunshine!

Getting organized...

The 1 minute warning...general scramble to get into position... (Turnagain on the far left)

The official start of Vic Maui 2014!  Awesome start.  Turicum took the lead, with Turnagain a close second. 

There go Turicum and Turnagain.  Despite the start being upwind (not Turnagain's best wind angle), they started off really strong.  So strong, in fact, that we couldn't keep up to watch them for long!

This is the last we'll see of them for awhile...bon voyage!

And they're OFF! by Catharine (Part 1)

For a while I've been telling myself it's not that big a deal that these guys are sailing across an ocean, starting today.  I've now come to the conclusion it IS a big deal.

There was a frenzy of last-minute stuff to do first thing this morning.  The bimini had to be disassembled, the filters on the water maker changed, weather routing planned, new sails hoisted, final stowing of gear, water tanks filled, all before 0830.  Check!

Here are the guys in their snazzy Helly Hansen Crew Midlayer jackets.  From left to right: 

Adam, Steve C, Steve T, Jason, Travis, Darin, and Ty

And just to switch up the order, here's Ty, Steve T, Steve C, Travis, Adam, Jason, and Darin

We were really lucky to have Edward and Jane host us on Halcyon as Turnagain's official spectator boat.  Here's Ed and Jane wishing the guys well :)

Some emotional goodbyes...

At 0900 they left the dock, and said their final goodbyes to all of us left behind.  This was an emotional time, and it's all finally starting to sink in.

Vic-Maui Eve, by Catharine

The guys spent July 2nd running around like crazy people.  Food shopping, buying dry ice, getting delivery of some new sails, stowing everything away, last minute trips to various stores, sending Steve C up the mast.

Travis nearly had smoke coming out of his ears as he tried to troubleshoot email via the Sat Phone.  The rest of the guys arrived (Adam, Steve T, Jason, Ty), and there were meetings, and an overall sense of stress and maybe a bit of panic, at least for some of them.

The guys decided to re-purpose the dry ice chest as a cheeky tool to psych out the competition. They wrote Lamb Day 4 on the side of it and positioned the chest on the transom for all passersby to see.  The looks on people's faces were priceless.  Of course there is no lamb for Day 4, but it doesn't hurt to have other people thinking there is!

By evening most important things had been sorted out, and we all went out for dinner at Cactus Club.

Canada Day and Vic Maui, by Catharine

Steve C, Darin, Travis, and I attended the Phase 1 send-off party on July 1st on the docks.  Just in case the Mai-Tais and leis weren't enough to put the guys in a festive mood, we had the background Canada Day celebrations of the inner harbour.  

There was certainly an air of excitement among the various crews as they exchanged preparation stories and past experiences, but I could tell there were a lot of nerves too.  Give the current unsettled weather, a crew member from Bedlam explained they'd likely be navigating using Tea Leaves and Horoscopes :)  It was fun to see how various boats were set up.  

Travis sporting his rainbow loom bracelet Sylvia made him :)

Vic Maui 2014 Official Flag

Maybe Turnagain will have this many one day!

Vic-Maui Prep - June 30

June 30^th started early with a departure from Scott Point on Saltspring Island for the final stage of the delivery to Victoria. I arrived in Victoria by 10 am in fantastic weather. After a few hours of boat jockeying on the dock to get everything lined up the way the committee wanted, it was time to figure out food and beer (both successful).

By the end of the day, there were two complete fingers of the floats in front of the Empress hotel full of Maui boats or spectator boats for the Maui event. I understand that on the 2^nd, we are going to have a third finger filling up. It should be a fun event.

Nothing like leaving things to the last minute. I finally figured out why the SSB radio would not let me dial in frequencies manually. This is now one significant item off of the ToDo list. The list seems to be hovering around 10 items with one going on everytime I complete one. So goes boating I guess, you only finish preparing when you leave the dock.

Tomorrow, July 1, is a big day. Being in front of the Empress, Canada Day and having our cast off party on the dock, I expect that by mid afternoon no work will be getting done :)

Travis

Vic-Maui 2014, by Catharine

As per his post, Travis left the dock this morning for Victoria, to do final prep on the boat.  We picked up vintage Hawaiian shirts from a store on Main St for the guys on arrival in Maui :)

The kids said goodbye, and won't be seeing Dad until he arrives in Lahaina.  I'm not sure they really get it... They've spent a lot of time on boats in their short lives, but have no concept of time or distance, or how far Travis, Darin, Ty, Adam, Steve and Steve, and Jason will be sailing before we see them again.
Even I have trouble imagining how far it is!

I know some of us are heading to Victoria to see them off.  After so much anticipation, I know I'm looking forward to getting this show on the road :)

I'll be posting to this blog anytime I hear news of how they are doing, and I'm sure we'll all be following them closely on the tracker.  There will be a certain amount of email traffic coming out through Turnagain's SSB mail, or via Sat phone if needed.  If there's anything important to communicate with friends and family, I'll be sending out emails or calling people directly.  

For those of us heading to Maui to welcome them, we'll be in touch!

Catharine

It Starts

I have just left the dock in Coal Harbour to begin the delivery to Victoria.  The last week has been even busier than the previous months of prep. Moving food onto the boat. Final equipment setup and stowage of all the spares etc.

The boat is about as ready as it will get (once we pack the fresh foods in Victoria) and has lowered down closer and closer to the waterline with every trip down to the boat.

The whole trip is really starting to hit home. It is way different talking about sailing to Maui for two years than actually untying and leaving.     There have been many people that have helped get Turnagain ready for this trip including (but not limited to) Catharine – my VERY supportive wife, the team at First Yachts (Brad and Adam mostly, but the rest of the team supporting them), the Turnagain team with a TON of hours from Darin, and the crew at Xprt who have taken a lot of work off of my plate to allow me to focus on this prep, and a lot of support from David and Gaylean Sutcliffe with the VicMaui committee.

We will be in Victoria early Monday am and I hope to have at least once daily updates to this blog from now until Maui and then again on the return.

Travis

Oregon Offshore 2014 Finish

Turns out they had an amazing trip back, super fast.  Finished second in their division.  I think the whole crew was stoked to discover that Turnagain can sail quite quickly when the conditions are favourable.  Here's hoping they encounter similar winds en route to Mau!

Oregon Offshore 2014 - Update

By Catharine:

Turnagain went off the grid for a while.  At 1720 the Race Tracker indicated they were off Aberdeen at the back of the pack (all the other boats had been updated more recently), but then nothing further was updated until almost midnight.  I finally picked them up on AIS as they approached Cape Flattery, then the Race Tracker updated, showing them approaching the cape shortly after midnight.

Here is what the Race Tracker shows, as of 0200 (note: the super fast boats have already finished the race in record time apparently):

Currently (based on AIS date from Marine Traffic), Turnagain appears to be racing down the Juan de Fuca straight at 11.1kts!  They are ahead of Velocity, Ion and Avalon, and not far behind Kinetic.  Turnagain is the pink boat just above the number 112.  The boats ahead of Turnagain appear to be travelling slower (7kts), so perhaps Turnagain will catch up and then they'll all just drift towards Race Rocks.

Looking forward to seeing how it all shakes down.  I wish all the boats had AIS, or that more boats were updated on the official Race Tracker :)

Oregon Offshore 2014 Update

By Travis:

Turnagain was amped to get off the dock this am. We departed at about 5:45 and made our way to the "Bar". Things were benign at the bar this am with a slight swell of 2-3 ft on the end of the flood tide. It was a down wind start in 15-18kts, which we managed to be the last ones over the line for. Shortly after the start, we hoisted out big A2 and attempted to sail that. We quickly got the active sheet fouled and had to douse the kite. We then went to the little kite for a while. The sailing was awesome, but the wind has increased and we were seeing steady 22-28 kts. After two round ups, we decided the prudent call was white sails only. Adam took over the wheel and promptly got the boat up to 18.1 kts.

Sailing is GREAT and more info to come!

Hanging out with Helly Hansen!

So we all needed foul weather gear, and the wonderful team at our local Helly Hansen store in Vancouver offered to host us for a private fitting!  What better way to spend a Monday evening than to gather downtown at the HH store!  They did say they'd provide some snacks and beverages, but in true Turnagain spirit we didn't want to show up empty handed or ill-prepared.  So off we went, cooler in tow :)

Darin and Travis with the cooler....turns out HH was already well stocked :)

The HH team was absolutely awesome...so friendly and helpful.  We had a great time (and by great time I mean we donned black base layers and tried out our ninja moves around the store) and outfitted ourselves in *matching* everything we could need :)  The guys settled on Salt Jackets (in Cobalt), Crew Midlayer Jacket (also in Cobalt, my personal favourite), and some handsome Coastal Trousers, plus base layers.  We can't wait for our gear to get shipped, and look forward to taking Leo (store manager), Kriz (who organized the evening), and the rest of the HH team out for a sail on Turnagain when the weather gets a bit nicer.

Group picture

Have crew and cooler?  Will travel.

Long Overdue Update

After sailing in the Swiftsure 2013 Light Ship Classic race from May 24-27 weekend, it was time to setup the boat for summer family cruising. The Swiftsure was a very light wind race, with much of the fleet not finishing the race.  After a trying trip out to the mark, the wind did pickup for the next 4-6 hours and allowed us to make it down towards Race Rocks before turning off again.  The crew stuck it out until there was absolutely no way for us to finish the race in the allotted time.  We called in and retired from the race about 4 miles west of Race Rocks.  Returning to Victoria, we cleaned up, dropped off crew  then Declan, Steve C and I started out for Vancouver. The wind came up to about 18kts from the south east and gave us great sailing almost out to Active Pass. After this the wind dropped and we motored the rest of the way.

Turnagain in Prideaux Haven

The summer consisted of many great days on the boat with the family. We got a couple of weeks in the early summer heat of July and made our way up to Desolation Sound. 

Anchored in Pendrell Sound

There were days in Pendrell Sound, Squirrel Cove, and Prideaux Haven with swimming, crabbing and exploring around. 

Sunset in Buccaneer Bay

Our next extended trip on the boat was mostly spent on the Sunshine Coast and Hornby Island.  There was the weekend in Secret Cove with the Sacre’s and Marchand’s, then three or four days in Buccaneer Bay with all of our GREAT friends there.  

Goofing around with SUPs

Morning Cocktails with friends

Travis and Steve

Then off to Hornby for 3 or 4 days with a surprise visit from Grandma and Grandpa in the Chris Craft. 

Sylvia catching jellies

Catharine up the mast

After Hornby, a quick night or two in Pender Harbour before heading back down to Secret Cove for another night.  We then wrapped up the holiday anchored in Buccaneer Bay.

Sylvia and Keelan at the Rendezvous

There were many weekend trips before, in between and after these extended trips which included the Beneteau Rendevouz at Thetis, Buccaneer Bay Sports day, Elliott Bay among others.

Callum at the Rendezvous, Thetis

Elliott Bay

Once the summer was wrapped up, it was time to start removing “family” gear and making the very long final push to VicMaui 2014.  We have stripped the bottom paint and repainted with VC Offshore, made changes to the SSB system, worked on routing software, made arrangements for “racing” cushions and had a few chances to have most of the crew out on the boat for some practicing.  The crew has not been finalized, but everyone is keen and eager to participate in the event.  Crew selection for the return trip looks to be more of a challenge, with currently only having one additional crew member having signed on. I hope to have 4-5 total for the return.

I hope to make more posts through the winter leading up to the VM and the prep races. As always, please check out our YouTube channel (turnagain50) for some videos of the boat and some of the family.  More will be posted as I edit and get them ready.

Travis