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Mutiny at Dawn - Transpac Race 2013

253K views 1K replies 138 participants last post by  chall03 
#1 ·
My crewing/captaining luck finally ran out on me, I was shaken but not broken. I need reinvent my luck to continue to sail the great ocean ours.

Here is my daily log while on board a 2002 Jeanneau 43 DS on on route from Long Beach, CA to Diamond Head, Honolulu, HI during the 2013 Transpac Race.

I changed the names of the people involved for now.

Me - rockDawg or RD. as on-board navigator
Jake – Near coastal USCG licensed Captain. Serve as a crew.
Harry - Skipper/Owner – A Japanese national owns a Sushi Restaurant in LA, long time old traditional sailor, but no off shore or long passage experience. Serve as a skipper
Jane – Partner of Harry, co-owner of the Sushi Restaurant. Has no sailing experience. Serve a watch crew as needed
Sheryl – Mother of Jane, 86 yo. No official duty.
Jeanneau 43 – Corporation owned sailing vessel

==========================
Arrived LAX Friday July 5.
Skipper Harry picked us up at the airport. He looks older than his age and on a heavy side, but nevertheless, a kind and humble gentleman. A number of close calls on the way to the marina, he veered off into other lanes on the highway a few times. I hope Harry sails better than he drives, :) but I did not say anything and just sat quietly so he could concentrate on the road.
When we got the marina, Harry had a hard time to find a parking space. Coming from as an exNYC cabbie, he does not how to drive. We were late for the 'First Time Racer' party. The kitchen at the yacht club was closed but Jane, Harry's business partner bribed the kitchen, and they made us a chicken sandwich for each of us. Actually I would have preferred go to Sam Woo to dinner. Oh well, the guests did not have the choice.

-Day 2, Sat, July 6
Clear sunny sky in Long Beach. Oh boy, I really have a hard time understanding Harry's English. We need to develop some sign language. He apologized to us all the time about his language , but this is ridiculous. He has been in this Country for 16 years……hahaha. We leave his marina and head to Long beach. He had me on the helm until we entered Long Beach since I have no idea when I am going. At time I have to rely on my iPhone. His chart plotter on the helm sucks, it is B/W and the screen has no contrast, impossible to read. We moved the boat to Pine Ave Pier, where the race official marina was.

There were other boats there on the pier. Because of space we were docked stern in with dropping anchor at bow. I was not able to convey my idea to Harry, so I drew pictures to show him my suggestion. He agreed and we docked successfully.

I saw lots of big boy toys in the race with professional crews. Our Jeanneau 43 just did not fit in the race. But whet the hell, we are here.
We had the skipper meeting in the late afternoon. I recorded the meeting so that I wouldn’t miss anything. I had zero local knowledge and was not familiar with the local names, so it was hard for me to follow what they were saying without a chart/map.

Obviously the meeting was not geared towards newbies like us. After the meeting was the party. Good food and good entertainment but one has to buy your own drinks in the party. Jake bought me a coke for the evening.

-Day 1, Sunday, July 7:
A bit disorganized, lots of things to do were found not done. We tried to help as much as we could. I found out the provisioning was not done as planned. Sat phone and other safety equipment not installed done. Harry refused to buy a pair jack lines from West Marine. He insisted to use an old 3/8” round sheeting rope. Some of the re-inspection from the race committee was not just a joke. Just a check in the box deal. Totally unfocused, Jane hauled in a wind generator she obtained from eBay and asked me to install for the trip. Are you serious? I asked in my head.

We canceled our trial spinnaker run with Sam of Norht Sail in San Diego because Harry needed to go shopping for our food. Sam was a 17-time TransPac veteran. It was good that I could at least meet him in person. I tried to pick his brain as much as I could for the race. He gave me a lot of local knowledge. Jake and I wrote down as much as we could. I felt much better as I had sometime to study the chart and the weather report. It seemed to all come together well and scientifically made sense to follow the 1020 isobar.

Rocky start at the top: not sure what was going on, but there must have been big fight between Jane and Harry. Harry barred Jane from boarding the boat until 2 hours before the race started. I got a text message from Harry that was intended for Jane to read. Things were not looking good, I felt uneasy. I finally intervened and made both shake hand and start the team again.

Jake was also having second thoughts and considered backing out. I sacrificed so much for this race/voyage, I felt like I was being let down. Jake asked me what to do. I told him that I was committed to this trip and if he and Jane wanted to back out, I was comfortable sailing the boat alone with Harry. I told him I know Jeanneau well. We would be fine if Jake backed out.

Day 0, Monday, July 8: Race Day.
An unexpected and totally unnecessary event. Harry blew up over the coffee filter left on the coffee maker by Jake. It was a half hour rage and total shut down all operation. My goodness, the man needs an anger management course badly. He threw things all over and around him. He was insulting Jake and everyone else claiming this is his house,….. blah, bah.
I don’t think it was a big deal. The filter was still warm and he should have given Jake a chance to clean up. After all, we were being pulled all different directions for the last two days by two bosses. Well…. I didn’t care, I just want to sail the Pacific and nothing can stop me know.
{Edited: Never knew this was just the beginning of an ordeal that I have never expected}.

When my daughter was in her second grade, I think she had a better organization skills than that of Harry and Jane. We rushed and rushed in a totally disorganized way, I didn’t really have time to think. Somehow, I thought we would have plenty of time to work out the details once the rush is over when on route to Hawaii. Jake reminded Harry to top off the water tanks but he left the dock anyway to head to the starting point. Both Harry and Jane were equally controlling.

We were 20 min late to the start of the race, but I was happy to see that we were underway; at least I was thinking we will have time to learn or adapt Harry’s style. As I often said to other on the net. It is his boat, his house/castle, his rules unless my life is endangered.

Day 1 and 2, Tuesday and Wednesday, July 9 and 10:
I am totally confused with this trip. Stress and fatigue were high. We were pulled into different directions at all time, like working with two bosses. We were being watched at all time. Micromanagement is too mild a word on this boat. How about nano- or pico-management?

And how about constantly remind you:
1. You don't know and thing!!!
2. You are a very bad crew!!!
3. You are a crew and an employee, We don’t need your opinion, You should do what you are told.

Day 3, Thursday, July 11
Calling it quits.
Harry exploded with his temper. We had no idea what the hell he was screaming and jumping up and down and stomping his feet like a five year old. He does not use sentences to communicate, just a single words. He continued screaming at you louder and louder with the same mispronounced word. No one knew what he meant, including his partner for 13 years.

Day 4, Friday July 12
Weather is getting warmer. Water temp went up to 71 degree from 68. Partial sun is out for the first time. Our jib was tore and need to be repaired. Although it was a bit too early and we were far from the trades wind, at 2 pm. We flew the spinnaker with heading toward HI and wind was on 160 degree. Doing 6 to 8 knots. Argh, finally we got the speed that I was hope for.

Day 5, July 12.
Too upset and too exhausted to enter daily log. Micromanagement and constant yelling finally wore me down.

Day 6, July 13:
Conditions were not getting better despite Jane talking to Harry. There was a significant mistrust towards Jake and I. We were not allowed to talk to each other and not permitted to sit at the navigation table and must stay in our berth, per Jane orders. In despair, Jake contacted a military ship “HS V2 Swift” nearby for rescue, claiming unsafe environment. Unfortunately Harry and Jane refused to let us leave the boat. The captain of Swift talked on the radio that they would monitor for 3 hours. They took away the VHF radio and sent Swift away. We were officially their prisoners.

Without any hope of getting off the boat and still has at least 2 weeks of sailing, I tried to repair the jib and the jib track on jib furler. Jake hoisted me up to the forestay to repair the tract and lower down the jib. I ended up being hoisted 4 times. It was no fun and impossible to hold on. The bosun chair was so poorly made, it cut out my circulation from the waist down.

I was starting to put a doubt on this voyage what would if this bad situation continues. The boat was doing about 4 knots, and every day there are about 2 to 4 hour of yelling and the boat moved less than 3 knots. We are going to run out of food before seeing land.

Day 7, July 14:
Things seem getting better since I raised hell or should I say I exploded. Jake and I stopped working, Harry apologized to me telling me that he did not properly maintain his boat for this trip. The forestay track came apart because the loosen allen screws. He thanked me to go up the forestay to fix the track. Otherwise, we have to return to Long Beach.

I warned him that I made no apology of my behavior of rising hell if he ever endangers my life again. He ordered me to go on the dock immediately to take the spinnaker down with my harrass. At the moment of his rage, I obliged and went on the deck with Jake to take the spinnaker down. That was stupid of me.

Day 8, July 15:
Cloudy again
Since I was ordered to stay in my berth, I did not do any watch. When I was up, I was informed the spinnaker was down, Harry claimed it was a wild gybe or should I say he was not good enough to sail at night with the spinnaker. I told him to use autohelm if needed to control the sudden wind changes. But he avoids and claim that autohelm is dangerous.

The repaired jib at least held up. But we were moving very slowly again.

Conditions are getting worse. Blame games begins. It is apparent that it is their boat, it is their decision. They don't care how long it takes to get to Hawaii. Both Jake and I want to get out this situation as soon as possible.
Jake and I set up the spinnaker again. We were doing quite well and got the speed up. A few hours later, one of the snap shackles came loose and caused the spinnaker fly like a kite. We carefully got spinnaker safely on deck and just used the jib and main sail. Wind was good and we are doing about 6 to 7 knots.

Day 9, July 16:
Every day seems like just another explosion. Life on this boat sucks big time. They think we are here to be their servants. Constantly being humiliated, we can't even trim the sails until we are asked. WTF!!!
Jake and I sewed and repair the bottom part of the spinnaker so that it won't rip further up the sail. We have no control where we are heading where the wind is. Harry just take to rhumb line 243 degree, But we worked all day.

Jane took away the sat phone preventing Jake from downloading the weather grib file. Harry has a problem controlling his temper and totally lacks people skills, but Harry is not a bad person. Jane is an evil, manipulative, and controlling liar. She appears she controls Harry until he blows up.

Day 10, July 17
Got up early in the morning and found out Harry took us directly north for almost 45 nm. WTF. Now we need to spend a whole day sailing back south. Wind died again.

We saw a j40 passing us. They did not even look at us or wave. They depart 2 days behind us. We are hardly moving.

Day 11, July 18:
Jake and I stayed watch from 10 to 4 am. We had a good run with the spinnaker doing 6 to 7.5 knots at all time, we use the autohelm to get us through some hairly situation. It was the best we had for this trip. After more than 7 hrs, Harry came to relieve us. Less than 5 min at the helm. He lost control of the spinnaker and it suffered a total system collapse. We rush back on deck with total disbelief. We knew it would require 5 to 6 hours of me and Jake working hard to get the spinnaker up again to sail in decent speed.

Both me and Jake worked franticly to prevent any further damage to the spinnaker under a total darkness with 17 plus wind. I almost killed myself and I decided I must quit in the dangerous situation. Jake and I want back to the cockpit and told Jane we could not work under this condition. In less than two hours, it would be dawn. We would try again to fix the fouled spinnaker.

At day break, Jake woke me up and get ready to rescue the spinnaker that was stuck permanently on the forestay. After 3 hours, fight with the wind we got it down and fly the spinnaker again.
The rest of the day, we sailed ok. Me and jake tried to dominate at helm as much as we could. Because we don’t want harry at the helm to fuuk thing up. If things fuuked up, it is me and Jake to fix the problem.

Day 12, Friday, July 19:
Mutiny at dawn
Got 2 hours sleep in 24 hours, me and Jakeues were on the helm all night until 4 am. Handed the helm to Harry and within 30 min the emergency whistle blew and rushed to deck with my half naked body and harness. The spinnaker collapsed and fouled. The guy line fell. WTF!!!
Jake and I fought like hell and battled 15 knots wind with huge sail of the spinnaker, and tried to save the spinnaker. We finally reattached the guy and cleared the fouled lines went back down to sleep. We were very lucky this time.

Must be less than 5 mins, the whistle was blew again, what the **** now. I bet my blood pressure went through the roof. The spinnaker was hopeless wrapped on the forestry. After 2 hours, Jake and I took down the damaged, torn spinnaker.

Mutiny is the only way to survive. I begged Harry to use the autohelm to control the spinnaker or we quit. We gladly put our lives on the line so many times (6) and we were only half way to Hawaii. We could not do this anymore. Like all the other times, they refused to use autohelm. I instructed Jake to use my satphone to call Dave Cort (Race Committee) The boat's satphone was no Longer accessible to us. I spoke to Dave begging him to help us to resolve the problem. He refused and claimed that is not their problem and we must resolve ourselves. I told him that this had become a safety issue for the crew members. I asked him to contact the CG for us and have the CG to call the owner. He hung up on me.

Because of poor reception, we moved up to cockpit to call the CG. Harry came behind and attacked Jake and use his arm around his neck and tried to get our sat phone and throw it over board. I struggled with him and he turned around and picked up the winch handle trying to strike Jake's head. I blocked his arm from hitting Jake. I dared him to strike me. But I was in a combat mode to block and struck his nose. He hesitated for a second and I grabbed and threw the handle away. Jane jumped in the midst of this for our phone, I grabbed her hands and pushed her to the starboard side of the cockpit and sat still. I told Jake to escape into the v-berth with the phone.
I shouted both of them with fouled language that they were no match with my strength and speed. 'Don't be stupid'!!!

I went to the v-berth after Jake and locked ourselves in. Harry stepped on the hatch, preventing us from opening the hatch for air and better reception.

I had my iPhone with me and CG number. We contacted the Norfolk region and worked ourselves to west coast region. I asked Jake to call CG, since he speaks perfect English with un-detectable Jewish New Yorker accent.

After explaining the situation to CG, the remaining question was to ask CG for advice on how to take control of the boat legally. Under what situation we must follow to get us safely to Hawaii.

If we don’t take control for the boat and sail her properly, our sails will suffer more damage and water supply will become an issue. We would be in trouble. We were totally out of CG Helo range. The wild gybe that Harry causes because his inability to sail at night, put me and Jake a greater danger.

Our water is dangerously low. Jake only given 1.5 L bottle of water to drink each day. And we are carrying an 86 year old lady who has no idea what is going on around her.

The CG informed us to deescalate the situation best I know how while he seeks legal advice. Lt. Daniel Han asked us to call back in an hour.
=======================

I will download the rest from my iPhone later.
 
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#362 ·
Now that this has been bashed around a bit, does anyone know whether the TransPac organizers plan to do a post mortem on the whole situation? It seems there could be some lessons learned on both sides (for captains and crews) and perhaps even for the rest of the peanut gallery. The rules, the safety check lists, etc., are already probably long and detailed enough, so this is not to suggest the outcome would be used to bulk them up even more. It seems there would be plenty of researchers out there who might be interested in how things can get completely unhinged during these types of amped up and stressful situations.
 
#363 · (Edited)
Now that this has been bashed around a bit, does anyone know whether the TransPac organizers plan to do a post mortem on the whole situation? It seems there could be some lessons learned on both sides (for captains and crews) and perhaps even for the rest of the peanut gallery. The rules, the safety check lists, etc., are already probably long and detailed enough, so this is not to suggest the outcome would be used to bulk them up even more.
I very much doubt it - and why should they? There was no official Protest (or grounds for one), no-one was killed or injured and the yacht in question didn't sink, get dis-masted or even have to call for help. I'm sure you'll find that the vast majority of the yachts in that race were crewed by capable and professional racing types who put their teams together properly, trained for the event properly, prepared properly, thoroughly enjoyed it and will be back again next time regardless.

In a large enough fleet anywhere in the world you're bound to get one or two who aren't quite up to standard and are only in it for the "fun of it" (define "fun"!). Wasting people's time by holding an enquiry into some cat-scratching aboard a rookie entrant purely for the satisfaction of a few arm-chair quarterbacks isn't going to achieve anything positive for anyone involved from the Race Committee down to the 86-year-old lady. Best forget it and move on..
 
#364 ·
try to deflect all you wish. race, no race; auto pilot or not - this one made me laugh out loud....a funny deflection as if had the guy been the cook, he wouldn't have insisted on the autopilot. you think he or someone else willing to take control cares what title was bestowed upon them by the nut, skipper...or what the race rules are....or that they're even in a race? lol nice try, but won't work with me. At the point someone makes this type of decision to mutiny, the past is the past and the only question I would think on someone's mind is whether they want the past to be the future too; especially if you feel your life is in jeopardy.

the bottom line is that the captain gave him that duty. what his background was or wasn't apparently was of no concern of the captain. the CAPTAIN ASSIGNED HIM THAT RESPONSIBILITY. PERIOD.
 
#365 ·
OK, after re-reading all 37 pages I really find it kind of amusing the way this has turned from a "let me tell you what happened to me" thread into a "this guy (RD or the skipper) had his head up his arse and is totally wrong" thread. Even more than that it amazes me to watch the internet commandos come out under the anonymity of thier protected spaces and fire verbal lobs of how they would do this or that in the situation and then threaten other posters with physical retribution if they had done it on their boat. I sail because I love to sail, I come on here for entertainment or specific advice if I ask for it and since he did not come on seeking advice it would seem his original post was for entertainment values (think professional wrestling) and should be taken as such. I will say this though I would pay money to watch a goold old fashioned Texas Cage Match between RockDawg and Chef2Sail though.
 
#366 ·
Nice comment.

Trouble is I am not one of the internet commandos which need anonymity from a protected space. A fair number of people on here have met me in person, unlike you or Rockdawg so your description was a bit of a self prophecy.. I don't need to hide from my comments. You may not like how they read, or even agree with them, but suffice it to say I have my own boat, sail it regularly here on the Chesapeake, and enjoy this passion regularly. I try and regularly contribute in many of the forums.

Not looking for a fight with Rockdawg, just stating my opinions for that matter. They are worth what you paid for them. Sometimes my opinions are very much in a minority, that's life.

Glad we offer entertainment for you. My purpose on here is not unlike yours, in addition to the 3000 nm I sail every year.
 
#367 ·
I believe the OP has actually received a fairly balanced reaction to his story, if you consider that all only get one vote. There are those that sympathize and would have pounded the Captain, those that consider it entirely RDs fault and those, like me, that believe there is more to the story, but understand that an outcry is first stage PTSD.

However, some that consider it RDs fault keep repeating themselves and voting over and over and over again, even reportedly threatening him themselves. They don't count twice.
 
#368 ·
This situation was certainly brought on by the captain. It should be paramount in these quick-crew situations for the one in charge to make everyone aware of his/her personality. RD would likely never have stepped foot on the boat in the first place had he known the nature of the person he was committing to. It's an interesting relationship on a pleasure boat between captain and crew. It is quite unlike the perceived "military" relationship between officers and crew. It's one in which the captain really needs to qualify him/herself in a short period of time to the satisfaction of crew. No respect can result in things like this. How this can be accomplished is something to think about. How do you integrate strangers to being confined with each other for a long time in a small space? It's an exercise in psychology and reminiscent of '60s era group therapy.:)
 
#369 ·
....where wise men fear to tread.

Its inaccurate and unfair to charecterize this as a personality conflict. As if RD had a tantrum on a daysail. It was a situation. For the crew it was a scary situation.They had to walk a fine line. It wasn't too long ago many here werel bemoaning the fact that the first mate on the Bounty hadn't confronted his captain and that by just standing up and being confrontational he could have saved two lives and the ship.

Its not the personalities which caused the conflict, although they contributed to the blow up. It was fear. Fear when the " captain " steered them in the wrong direction, fear when he couldn't drive the boat, hadn't provisioned, rationed the water, tangled the sails. Fear that as the extra days went by a storm would come, or that something worse could or would happen and in the absense of leadership they were very vulnerable.
 
#370 · (Edited)
Re: ....where wise men fear to tread.

Its inaccurate and unfair to charecterize this as a personality conflict. As if RD had a tantrum on a daysail. It was a situation. For the crew it was a scary situation.They had to walk a fine line. It wasn't too long ago many here werel bemoaning the fact that the first mate on the Bounty hadn't confronted his captain and that by just standing up and being confrontational he could have saved two lives and the ship.

Its not the personalities which caused the conflict, although they contributed to the blow up. It was fear. Fear when the " captain " steered them in the wrong direction, fear when he couldn't drive the boat, hadn't provisioned, rationed the water, tangled the sails. Fear that as the extra days went by a storm would come, or that something worse could or would happen and in the absense of leadership they were very vulnerable.
If this captain had acquainted himself with the crew, it likely would have raised some red flags. In getting involved in something like this (which I would not), I'd be VERY concerned as to whether I could get along with everyone. It would be the primary consideration. As captain, a conscious attempt at screening crew has got to be a big responsibility. As crew, screening the captain and other crew members has got to be the responsibility. You simply can't just throw any random group of people together in a cramped space, under adverse conditions without EXPECTING that fireworks may ensue. There was no situation that could not have been easily solved had these folks been able to cooperate.
 
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#371 ·
This appears to be an example of what happens when there is a lack of competent leadership. Where there is no leadership, a void is created. How this void is filled can vary wildly.

In this case, it appears the captain was both not fully capable but also unwilling to accept input or assistance. The captain withdrew and essentially shutdown communications with the crew and became hostile. It appears he finally had a realization near the end of his shortcomings.

I would credit RD and his friend with the safe delivery of this vessel to its destination. RD's expertise and a large cup of luck kept this from becoming a dangerous situation.

RD's talk of a lawsuit did him no good. There was no actual loss or injury, just bent feelings. I would have walked at the 1st shouting match while on shore - it's a clear sign of how this captain operates under stress. Prepping a boat to get underway is very stressful - especially for a trip of this size.

This boat was never really in a race.
 
#373 ·
Hi everyone. I'm the "Jake" in rockDAWG's narrative. Just wanted to say for now that it's really, really nice to see such an outpouring of interest in this. It gives me hope that this nasty story can serve a purpose.

I'm embarrassed it's taken me this long to check this out. This was such a wretched adventure I've just sort of fled in the opposite direction and preferred not to think about this too much. But now I'm ready to dive in and talk about it… and try to do something about it, too, maybe help others avoid similar dire situations.

They say hell is other people. In this case, nothing could be truer. The weather was fine, the wind good (or would have been IF our incompetent skipper had listened to us and followed it), the ocean gorgeous, and it would have been a fun first major crossing for me. What crazy luck that my first such experience would be almost unprecedented in its nastiness.

What rockDAWG writes is all true. Also, I want to add that he's a fantastic partner to have on a crew, even under the worst (the WORST) conditions—great at many things, great company, always ready with a (sometimes good) joke.

More about that later. Shortly I'll have some details to add to this story for those who want them—more about the weather routing part of it, about the Transpac committee's total unresponsiveness and refusal to do the least thing to help us, about the insane dynamic between "Harry" and "Jane," about "Sheryl," about my own coping mechanisms under these insane circumstances, and bits and bobs about everything else.

Onwards!
"Jake"
 
#379 ·
What rockDAWG writes is all true. Also, I want to add that he's a fantastic partner to have on a crew, even under the worst (the WORST) conditions-great at many things, great company, always ready with a (sometimes good) joke.

Onwards!
"Jake"
Hi Jake,

Welcome aboard!

To have a great partner under the worst conditions who is still able to make a joke is what is so difficult to find in any avenue of life.

Thanks for giving support to your friend at this time. He has been copping a load in this thread and needed your timely arrival!

A man who says things like you say about a man is, indeed, a man.

Onwards :)
 
#380 ·
Hi everyone. I'm the "Jake" in rockDAWG's narrative. Just wanted to say for now that it's really, really nice to see such an outpouring of interest in this. It gives me hope that this nasty story can serve a purpose.

I'm embarrassed it's taken me this long to check this out. This was such a wretched adventure I've just sort of fled in the opposite direction and preferred not to think about this too much. But now I'm ready to dive in and talk about it… and try to do something about it, too, maybe help others avoid similar dire situations.

They say hell is other people. In this case, nothing could be truer. The weather was fine, the wind good (or would have been IF our incompetent skipper had listened to us and followed it), the ocean gorgeous, and it would have been a fun first major crossing for me. What crazy luck that my first such experience would be almost unprecedented in its nastiness.

What rockDAWG writes is all true. Also, I want to add that he's a fantastic partner to have on a crew, even under the worst (the WORST) conditions-great at many things, great company, always ready with a (sometimes good) joke.

More about that later. Shortly I'll have some details to add to this story for those who want them-more about the weather routing part of it, about the Transpac committee's total unresponsiveness and refusal to do the least thing to help us, about the insane dynamic between "Harry" and "Jane," about "Sheryl," about my own coping mechanisms under these insane circumstances, and bits and bobs about everything else.

Onwards!
"Jake"
Jake,

Welcome to Sailnet. You and RD have quite a story.

For the time being, until we can discuss it as Mods, please keep the true names of the individuals hidden as RockDawg has done.

Thanks. Look forward to your point of view also.

Brian
(Moderator)
 
#376 ·
Jake - welcome.
I am curious about a lot of things, but start with this one:
Did you all talk to any experienced people before leaving?
Given you say " and it would have been a fun first major crossing for me", RD admits to having never flown a spinnaker, and the owner seems inexperienced *at best*, there was no real way for this trip to go well. Flying a chute at night 2 up is a challenge in anything but near calm weather for experienced crew, let alone people new to chutes and offshore sailing.

Second question: What exactly should the Transpac RC have done? The Bermuda races I have done had minimum qualifications for crew you all would not have met. They could have - if they were smart - denied your entry. Other than that, what could they possibly do? Seriously? Go out in a plane and parachute more crew? Drop water to you? Or ?????

Once again, thanks for posting.
 
#382 ·
Hi Coquina,

Jake - welcome.
I am curious about a lot of things, but start with this one:
Did you all talk to any experienced people before leaving?
Yes, we did talk to plenty of experienced people before leaving-no one who knew these owners well, but plenty who knew the conditions of the race, and one (the sailmaker) who knew the boat and the specific sails we had (he had sold the owners their spinnakers and spinnaker net). I also received a full briefing from that sailmaker about those sails.

But the point here is: There was nothing difficult about this crossing, nothing tricky at all. In retrospect, it is completely clear to me that technically, rockDAWG and I could have done it quite easily, just the two of us. The weather was fine, the wind was good when we had it (and almost never too strong for comfort), the boat was solid (except for a couple of things the owner had neglected to fix, or maybe he didn't notice them), and the sails were fine.

What made the crossing nightmarishly difficult was the incompetence, arrogance, bullheadedness, and misguided ambition of the owners.

For one thing, weather routing: rockDAWG had studied previous race routes, we both attended and understood the weather briefing ("Harry" basically slept through it), we both knew how to get and work with GRIB files. But no matter how many times we explained to "Harry" where we needed to go, he insisted, with absolute confidence (i.e. stupidity), that we needed to simply stick to the rhumb line. That's why we got becalmed.

Funny (in retrospect only) detail: At one point, AFTER we'd been predictably becalmed, I explained for the umpteenth time to "Harry" that we needed to head south for a day or so to be sure of decent wind, and showed him the charts with the GRIB files and their predictions for the next several days. About an hour later he told me that he had just tried going south, and that the wind was the same: he had simply turned the boat to 180° and found that it didn't sail any faster than at 240° or whatever our rhumb line course was. The guy simply didn't get it.

Given you say " and it would have been a fun first major crossing for me", RD admits to having never flown a spinnaker, and the owner seems inexperienced *at best*, there was no real way for this trip to go well. Flying a chute at night 2 up is a challenge in anything but near calm weather for experienced crew, let alone people new to chutes and offshore sailing.
I have lots of spinnaker experience, and was the one who showed "Harry" how to set up the chute. He never actually got it, though, and rockDAWG and I were the ones who had to set it up each time "Harry" fouled it.

There was actually nothing difficult about flying the chute at night, even when the wind picked up, and even during the little squalls we encountered.

The only thing is, we needed to use autohelm liberally. In fact, during the periods we used autohelm as needed, there was not one single incident involving the chute. It was only when "Harry" came on and attempted to sail without autohelm that he lost control. (And that happened like clockwork, pretty much every time he turned off the autohelm and insisted on sailing it manually. He was simply unable to maintain concentration well enough, and would spin out after as little as 30 minutes. I believe that rockDAWG or I could have held stable for a whole lot longer, but there was no reason on earth to do so, at night, undercrewed as we were.)

Second question: What exactly should the Transpac RC have done? The Bermuda races I have done had minimum qualifications for crew you all would not have met. They could have - if they were smart - denied your entry. Other than that, what could they possibly do? Seriously? Go out in a plane and parachute more crew? Drop water to you? Or ?????
Good question. Long answer:

At a certain point, rockDAWG and I both realized that, given the cumulative skill level of the three of us who could helm (myself, rockDAWG, and "Harry"), plus our small number, the ONLY way we could get through each night with the spinnaker up (which we needed to do in order to get to Hawaii in a timely fashion, and not run out of water) was to use autohelm liberally.

Again, when we used autohelm, at night or not, there was not one single incident. And each time the owner took over and sailed manually during the night, we had trouble almost immediately-trouble that rockDAWG and I had to fix by going out on the foredeck at night, at our own personal risk.

Now, using autohelm was technically against the race rules, except for double-handed boats. However, it was also clear from the race rules that uses of autohelm would be subject to a penalty, and would not lead to disqualification. This was laid out with great clarity in the race rules. And it was quite obvious that the Transpac would have no interest in disqualifying a boat that was already in last place.

The problem is, "Jane" had a truly crazy attitude about this. For some reason, she believed that we were in the running for some kind of trophy, even long after it was obvious we were in last place by far. She thought were serious racers, headed for glory, and that we should act like serious sailors (like the boats that had ten ultra-experienced crew, I suppose) and not violate any of the rules no matter what.

(Side note: "Jane's" mother "Sheryl" is 86 years old and apparently the oldest person ever to do the Transpac (though all she did was provide ever-cheerful company). "Jane" had arranged with the Transpac to give Aquarius a trophy for this. "Sheryl," however, had no idea of this arrangement, or of the role that she was playing in her daughter's racing ambitions. I found this unspeakably pathetic. More on this later….)

Anyhow, "Jane's" insisted that we, the crew, not use autohelm, even though it should have been clear (even to a non-sailor such as herself) that safety demanded it. She was not open to reason in this regard, and insisted that we would be disqualified, even after I pointed out the specific section of the race rules that prescribed "penalties." (Disqualification was prescribed only for "gross misconduct"-which Jane bizarrely insisted the use of autohelm would be.)

"Jane's" attitude rubbed off on "Harry"; even though he was officially the skipper, he deferred to "Jane" in many regards.

Finally I wrote the Transpac commodore, gave full details of our situation, and begged him to let "Jane" know that using autohelm would almost certainly entail only a penalty. The commodore did not write back at all; when I wrote again with more urgency, he wrote back very curtly that the Transpac could not get involved (for legal reasons, I assume). At one point I called the commodore directly and asked him whether the use of autohelm would indeed be a penalty. He was sympathetic, confirmed that it would surely NOT mean disqualification, and even said "There are no hard and fast rules," but he still refused to address this to "Jane" directly, even when I wrote yet another begging email, indicating the full danger of the situation.

I assume the Transpac had legal reasons to avoid getting involved more. But the fact is, a simple communication to the owners about this would have saved us several life-threatening incidents, our days of struggle, and the physical altercation that rockDAWG describes. We would also not have had to get the Coast Guard involved.

Hope that clarifies it.
Jake
 
#386 ·
Very good question. Several other potential crew members did see the obvious, and walked away in the weeks before the race (there were at least 3 of these). They, however, had the good fortune of being local, and getting to meet the owners well in advance. Both rockDAWG and I had come from the East Coast, and only rock had actually spoken with "Harry" himself (but since he speaks very limited English even after 17 years here, that conversation was very limited). For my part, I had only spoken to "Jane"-and although she was clearly a bit batty, it didn't seem like toxic battiness. Whoops.

Once I was there at the boat, I did come very close to walking away. Obviously I should have, but there were three reasons I didn't:

1. I'd come from far away and was excited about my first offshore experience.

2. I wasn't worried about the trip itself. I knew it was not a hard trip to do (it wasn't, technically at least). I saw right away that rockDAWG was more than capable of captaining the boat by himself, let alone with me co-crewing.

3. I figured the crazy personal stuff was manageable. It wasn't. That was just wishful thinking. I can't speak for rockDAWG, but I know he'd done dozens of offshore deliveries and other trips, and had never run into a big personal problem with anyone-which perhaps explained his confidence in this regard.

Of course it's easy for me to see now how stupid it was of me to not walk away, but that's hindsight.
 
#385 ·
I'm sure there are some ocean racing crews that do not know each other well prior to the race. I could imagine that if I were in that situation, there would be a battle raging in my head between the guy who has a lot invested, both emotionally, and maybe financially, and the guy who thinks my skipper is bat sh!t crazy.
 
#387 ·
"Now, using autohelm was technically against the race rules, except for double-handed boats. However, it was also clear from the race rules that uses of autohelm would be subject to a penalty, and would not lead to disqualification. This was laid out with great clarity in the race rules. And it was quite obvious that the Transpac would have no interest in disqualifying a boat that was already in last place."

Jake I am sorry to hear that you had to endure the race on the ship of fools but your statement quoted above is a bit bothersome. As soon as you turned on the autopilot you were in violation of rule 52 of the 2013-16 rules of racing. There is no penalty or exoneration for breaking that rule, only disqualification. What clarity was there in the Transpac NOR regarding this? Exception 1.6 pertains only to the double handed class regarding autopilots. It is no different than turning on your motor, putting it in gear and motoring. Not cool and definitely not kosher no matter how far behind you were. It is not the responsibility of the Transpac Committee to enforce this. It is incumbent on yourself to call it on yourself. Hopefully you don't teach sailboat racing along with the sailing classes you give.
 
#399 ·
Perhaps to accommodate our class of "racer," the Transpac NOR defined penalties as below. (Only the bolded part is completely relevant here.) It is effectively saying that violation of most of the rules will likely involve either a penalty, or no penalty, but probably not disqualification-except in the specific examples cited.

Again, confirming that I read this correctly, when I asked the commodore on the phone whether using autohelm would lead to disqualification, he said that was very unlikely.

Surely if we had been in anything other than class 8-the Aloha class, basically boats not really meant for racing-the interpretation might be quite different. At least I imagine there would be little excuse for a well-crewed boat in serious contention for trophies to be using autohelm much if at all. But for ours....

I do, incidentally, know that it is generally a disqualification to use autohelm. In fact, some races enforce this by various means.

13 PENALTIES
When the protest committee decides that a boat that is a party to a protest hearing has broken a rule and is not exonerated, it may impose an elapsed time penalty or impose no penalty at all. If an elapsed time penalty is imposed, its magnitude will be at the protest committee's discretion. This penalty also is applied to elapsed time, Class and Fleet standing trophies. However,
(a) if the boat caused injury or damage to another boat that affected the other's racing
ability or gained a significant advantage in the race by her breach, she will be disqualified.
(b) if the boat is found to have broken rule 69.1(a), the protest committee shall follow
rule 69.2(c). Willfully reporting a false position or false weather will be considered
gross misconduct and dealt with under rule 69.2.
(c) if the protest committee decides that a breach of rule 41 was committed to insure
the safety of a boat or her crew, the protest committee will impose no penalty.
(d) a boat will receive an elapsed time penalty of two hours if the protest committee
determines that she
(1) is on the course side of the starting line at her starting signal and does not
return to the pre-start side of the line and start, or
(2) touches a starting or finishing line mark and does not take a One-Turn
Penalty as described in rule 44.2.
 
#388 · (Edited)
So how did you guys from the east coast find out Harry needed crew? Ad in the back of...?

I mean, I've seen guys on the dock before a big race wearing sandiwch boards, with a cv on the back side and a "RIDE WANTED" on the front, seabag in hand. But usually, boats pick up crew by referral and word of mouth. That a skipper couldn't fill his crew that way, or was choosing not to, would be a caution to me.

Of course I'm just redneck born on a small island infested with tourists, but I've also got a problem with anyone who lives somewhere for years without picking up some of the native language.

Sandusky-
"Jake I am sorry to hear that you had to endure the race on the ship of fools but your statement quoted above is a bit bothersome. As soon as you turned on the autopilot you were in violation of rule 52 of the 2013-16 rules of racing. There is no penalty or exoneration for breaking that rule, only disqualification."
Actually, the racing rules have alwys allowed the event rules of override them in all ways at all times during an event. So if the event rules allowed use of the auto with just a penalty, the skipper can certainly use it and take the penalty without being dsq'd. Or has this changed in the 2013 version?
 
#391 ·
Well, smack, since a dsq is a penalty, I suppose one can read it both ways. The event rules take priority, as they always do, and they can also penalize you by dsq'ing you, which would harmonize with the racing rules.

That would be the RC's choice, to apply a penalty of points, or a full dsq. But since they say "penalty" and do not expressly say "dsq", I don't think that would hold.

A navigator normally does not need to know the rules of the race, he just needs to say "go here" and the skipper can let him know if that's a problem. But I'd be really surprised in the skipper, navigator, tactician, and watch lead didn't all attend every meeting, simply because there's always something relevant and more heads on the boat that understand the bigger picture, usually means a better outcome.

Ain't rocket science, the event rules always have been the final word. Anyone who is not a USSA member can puzzle themselves about that, or join USSA and then they're obligated to tell you "Yeah, that's how it works" since they are the governing body of sail racing in the US.

Unless of course the racing rules say "this is not a USSA sanctioned event and no USSA policies etc shall apply of govern here." Never seen that, but it would be possible.
 
#392 ·
So what class rule excepts Rule 52? Certainly not any of the ORR rules. Unless it is spelled out explicitly that the rule or parts of rule 52 does not apply it applies. There aren't time penalties for breaking a fundamental rule. As stated before there is no penalty for motoring- you are out. Same for the autopilot. Use it and you are out.

Ignorance of the rules doesn't cut it. ORR class rules don't allow it either. http://offshore.ussailing.org/Assets/Offshore/2012+ORR+Rule+Book+June+22.pdf
 
#393 ·
However, it was also clear from the race rules that uses of autohelm would be subject to a penalty, and would not lead to disqualification. This was laid out with great clarity in the race rules.
So and until someone can rebut this, ya gotta go with it, he was there
 
#394 ·
From the 2013 NOR:

1.6 Auto pilot use is only permitted for double handed boats.

13.3 For infractions of the Notice of Race or Sailing Instructions, the Race Committee may protest and the Jury
may penalize the offending yacht by adding a time penalty


For a boat that was going to be DFL anyway, it seems like the RC might just demote them to even more DFL. But then again, 13.3 leaves a lot more weasel room than I am used to in a NOR.
 
#395 · (Edited)
From the 2013 NOR:

1.6 Auto pilot use is only permitted for double handed boats.

13.3 For infractions of the Notice of Race or Sailing Instructions, the Race Committee may protest and the Jury
may penalize the offending yacht by adding a time penalty

For a boat that was going to be DFL anyway, it seems like the RC might just demote them to even more DFL. But then again, 13.3 leaves a lot more weasel room than I am used to in a NOR.
Well there you go. And as LetsGo called it in and got the verbal ruling which fits the above...what's the issue?

"Even More DFL". Best thing to come out of this thread yet.

PS - Coquina, this is an insane photo:



We had a similar thing on our old boat on Lake Travis:



Not quite as nasty looking as yours!
 
#396 · (Edited)
This isn't about "For infractions of the Notice of Race or Sailing Instructions, the Race Committee may protest and the Jury" It is about breaking a rule of Sailing (Rule 52) The RC can except certain Rules of Sailing but must do so in the NOR or amendments.

Using an autoplilot in a crewed racing division would be highly unusual. Now if you are talking about classes that allow motoring, it is pretty common to also allow autopilots. That applies to specific "cruising classes" normally. To my knowledge, none of those classes existed in the Transpac outside of the double handed class.

The statement that got my antenna up is " I doubt they would disqualify a boat that was so far behind". Really! Obeying the rules is not relative to your position on the course.
 
#397 ·
Sandusky,--
Forget about Rule 52. Read the 2013 Introduction, which tells you that "Changes to the Rules The prescriptions of a national authority,
class rules or the sailing instructions may change a racing rule only
as permitted in rule 86."

And then go to Rule 86.

And then keep reading, it specifically lists Rule 52 as being one that can be changed by the event rules.

Forget the trees, look at the forest.

USSA policy has always been that the event rules govern the event. You got a problem with the event rules, you take it up with the sponsor before the race.

This is why it pays for everyone above "rail meat" to attend the meetings, read the papers, and generally be aware of the full circumstances of the race.

Before there was a handy dandy internet to download rules from (and before the ISF got generous about posting them) it was worth joining USYRU just to ge tthe pocket-sized copy of the rules. Which made for good reading while on the rail.

I've never heard a skipped complain when anyone on the boat expressed an interest in learning or applying the Rules, because there's always a way to misread them.
 
#398 ·
I know all about rule 86 having dealt with it in regards to exceptions to class rules. This isn't a rule 86 issue since the RC did not explicitly exempt anyone from the Rules of Racing in a general way other the the DH class. Most likely the intent was to penalize boats for missing call ins and other rules specific to this race not to violations to the Rules of Racing. .
 
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