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Steadman Uhlich · 11-07-2018, 10:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by gamayun

Hey everyone! I am here in beautiful Hanalei after a very challenging passage. So many more details to tell you about, but I'll post more later when I get Kynntana back to the Bay area in August. After the first day, I lost the ability to download weather and was not able to get position reports so was flying blind out there. Got becalmed for 18 hours the first night (as did the whole fleet) and then again about 4 days later for nearly 2 days. I was trying to sail the Great Circle route to minimize distance (ha!) and to try to sail to my polars but the angles were ridiculous. After that I tried to maintain DDW in 20-27 knot winds and big swell. I started relying completely on AP rather than Montior but even that sometimes took me close to accidental jibe territory because of the swells. Saw at least 14 knots surfing down the waves. When I needed to rest, I had to set a more conservative approach. I was kinda figuring it out as I went. The first 4 days, I was pretty sick too. I don't know how I did in the race (heck, I'm sailing my home so it never really was about "the race") but I made it here in just under 16 days, which is what was the F38's theoretical time frame. The other Freedom (F30, Jacqueline, also from the Bay area) did really well and this was his second time at it. I plan to analyze all the tracks eventually. Practically no one flew a spinnaker. The winds just never really allowed it. I really appreciate all the comments here even if they might sound critical. I'm not overly sensitive because just saying "oh, you did great" doesn't help me to improve. There is so much I get from blue water veterans. I think my friends at home are also starting to think up good t-shirt slogans such as "I sailed to Hanalei and it only took 2461 miles to get there." So yeah, bring it on

Congratulations on finishing that offshore single handed race!
That in itself is a win or accomplishment.
Brava!

**Jim Cate** · 11-07-2018, 14:06

Will delay serious comments until more info comes to light, but meanwhile...

CONGRATULATIONS AND WELL DONE!

Jim

Tayana42 · 11-07-2018, 14:47

Gamayun, you did great! I’ll await with anticipation hearing all the details including the return trip.

**boatman61** · 11-07-2018, 14:49

YOU DID GREAT

S/V Reveille · 11-07-2018, 15:01

YOU DID GREAT!

Congratulations! You did great because YOU DID IT. I'm impressed... and jealous. You did something few even attempt. Well done, and well deserved bragging rights! You should be proud.

**JPA Cate** · 11-07-2018, 15:05

Good on ya, Carliane!

You've joined some very special ranks!

See if you can get some Stugeron, somehow, to avoid the seasickness for the return trip. Rumor has it it is available otc in Mexico (if you know someone there who could mail it to you), and via the internet, out of Canada. It is available otc out of England, maybe someone there could send you some.

Ann

Steadman Uhlich · 11-07-2018, 20:10

Hats Off for Carliane!

**Jim Cate** · 11-07-2018, 23:50

Nice pic of Gamayun in todays electronic Lat 38.

Jim

**GordMay** · 12-07-2018, 02:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

... CONGRATULATIONS AND WELL DONE!
Jim

Indeed.
Congrats!!!

**Paul Elliott** · 12-07-2018, 10:38

gayamun, you did great! Congratulations. This is an accomplishment that you should be proud of, and I know you will treasure these memories forever.

thomm225 · 12-07-2018, 10:50

Good Job! And I'm glad you made it safely across ........

Tom

**Paul Elliott** · 07-08-2018, 20:55

And I see that Gayamun has returned to San Francisco (she kept the Singlehanded Transpac race sat-tracker for her passage back). I would love to hear how the trip went!

**James S** · 08-08-2018, 00:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by gamayun

But don't get me wrong.....I love hearing "you did great". It was super challenging and I am proud of K and I for having succeeded.

Well you did do great in my book.. my hats off to you and well done... I've never single handed anything larger than a hobby 16 ...
Thanks for the adventure....

gamayun · 09-08-2018, 18:14

Oh man, oh man, what an adventure! I barely know where to begin. Yes, this was a race, but my main purpose for doing it was to test myself, the systems, and my boat. I certainly accomplished everything I set out to do We made it there and back (~4500 miles about 37 days total) so I feel really good about all that. The downside is that I broke a lot of things

I used to think that big storms do the most damage to boats! The most damage was caused by 3 days of no wind and big swells in the beginning. I just wasn't managing the sails well during those days of light wind so one problem created other problems and stuff broke such as the boom vang, boom brake/preventer, forestay, and tang holding one side of the lazy jack system. I now know to reef way down in light wind or even drop the sail to keep things from slamming as badly. Or just start the engine, which I did a lot on the way back, but which is not feasible when one is racing, ya know? I also picked up two strangers for crew on the way back, which turned out very well. Now that Kynntana and I are back in the marina, I am just trying to put my home back in order and getting back to working for a living or else I won't be able to buy food soon....

So here's a list of issues that came up on the return:

Lower mast track started to pull away from mast when rivets began to fail. Kept it together with two ratchet straps, but sail was then stuck in a first reef position.

Hose clamp slipped off PYI dripless shaft seal and gouged the bellows. Temporarily fixed with duct tape and a better hose clamp.

The auto pilot seemed to have become mis-calibrated and was taking the swells in big s-curves. Couldn't figure out how to do a sea trial to recalibrate it in swells.

The wheel alignment seemed off as well. Or maybe this is what was throwing off the AP? The rudder seemed fine but the centerline of the wheel was constantly at 90 degrees. Could never figure this one out!

The forstay broke on the way to Kauai, but I was able to jury rig it back together and this held well, but the jib had gotten a little torn in the process. This is the lucky thing about unstayed masts....the forestay can go and you just keep sailing.

The Monitor self-steering vane could never be set to a beam course. It was fine in close hauled or downwind positions in sufficient wind (>8k) but it just never worked off the wind.

I was able to get SSB and weather fax/GRIBs on the way back, but never worked on the way over. The problem was mostly caused by operator inexperience. So lesson learned is to never go to sea if you only have had a half day of something sorta working....

I thought I knew everything I needed to know about my DC system and solar charging, but apparently things are much different when there are different loads on the system at sea than when toodling around over a weekend. I know that sounds vague, so I'll try to explain in another post what was going on and get suggestions from some of you.

I know there were some more things, but those were the main issues. Heard today that one of the boats in our return fleet was struck by a sperm whale and is on emergency rudder about 1200 miles off the coast. He's an excellent sailor and its a very capable boat so all seems OK now. The emergency rudder was deployed because the main rudder felt stiff. What an adventure that trip is!