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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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#690 ·
I am not even half way through this thread yet but think it has the makings of an episode of Kitchen Nightmares. It sounds like Gordon Ramsey could have been the cool, calm and collected member on the boat and possibly the most experienced sailor on board.
 
#699 · (Edited)
I go away for a week and this thread has degenerated to posting bikini shots of marsupials? Has RD and "Jake" left the building? Too bad, there was still a couple of things I wanted to go over (and none of it mutiny related). I looked up the track on YellowBrick and everything was looking fairly good until the halfway point. The Jeaneau generally positioned herself on the southern edge of the fleet and consistently south of the Rhumb line (the faster boats all were on a more northerly track.) I could see the occasional "bump" in the road where I'm assuming Harry was wraping the kite. In Harry's defense, these "bumps" didn't appear to be nightly or for "long" durations. Looking at the tracks from the other boats using the same scale showed similar "bumps".

Where "Aquarius" took the flyer was at the halfway point. The track shows two gigantic swings to the south, often with headings of 180* true. Both swings looked like close to a day in duration each, (Was "Harry's watch 12 hours long?). For a few days, the boat was all over the place. (and not always heading towards Hawaii). You probably lost a couple of days doing all that gyrating. In what looks to be your last persistent course change to make for Hilo, you were north of the rhumb line and positioned to fetch Oahu which would have been your quickest course to land (albeit, you probably had to sail the boat right on her polars which undoubtedly would have been hard for Harry but equally as hard for the AP.

Let's Go, do you have a track of the trip that shows the days? Perhaps you can upload it along with some notations of what went on and when? I am still fascinated with the notion of no fixed watched schedule. How was this done? You drove the boat until "Harry" came up and relieved you? And Harry drove until a wrap or he decided it was RD's turn?

Smack, we now have to cite our credentials before we are allowed to post? You, of all people are the official screener? What do I need to post in order to qualify? Perhaps not so diplomatic, Sal does offer valuable information on what the conditions are really like out there and how things are done. Sal, are you racing YRA this year? I'm on Azure in the HDA and Party Circuit. What is your ride?

Holding our Trophies from the '08 PacCup


Our Track (12 days - good enough for 2nd place!)
 
#701 · (Edited)
Smack, we now have to cite our credentials before we are allowed to post? You, of all people are the official screener? What do I need to post in order to qualify? Perhaps not so diplomatic, Sal does offer valuable information on what the conditions are really like out there and how things are done.
I think it's great if that's what he offers. That's valuable stuff. No argument here.

My riff on Sal was twofold: First, he's so blinded by the "sanctity" of skippership that he goes easy on Harry and focuses his ire on the crew. This is precisely backwards - even if the crew were complete knuckleheads. Second, that particular barb was some leftovers from our polite tete-a-tete at SA. So it might have been a bit out of place here. My apologies.

That said, as for qualifications, if one is going to hold oneself up as "all that" - then yes, he should have the credentials of "all that". I don't care about diplomacy...just reason.
 
#705 ·
Like I said before, I've DONE these races. I don't have to prove anything to anyone, let alone the rockstar of North Concho Lake in San Angelo, Texas. I related to those of you who HAVEN'T done these races, and who provision with a more cruiser like orientation how WE do things. As I said, neither of us is wrong, but then I was the only person regarded by you hardcore cruisers as "criminally negligent". We play different games.

So Texas ocean racing yachtsman of the millenium, Explain to me the logic of a) fearing that you're going to run out of water; and b) refusing to ration water. Please, I'm waiting.

And Steve? if I hesitated at anything, it was in calling you an angry, lonely punk.
 
#707 ·
Like I said before, I've DONE these races. I don't have to prove anything to anyone, let alone the rockstar of North Concho Lake in San Angelo, Texas. I related to those of you who HAVEN'T done these races, and who provision with a more cruiser like orientation how WE do things. As I said, neither of us is wrong, but then I was the only person regarded by you hardcore cruisers as "criminally negligent". We play different games.

So Texas ocean racing yachtsman of the millenium, Explain to me the logic of a) fearing that you're going to run out of water; and b) refusing to ration water. Please, I'm waiting.

And Steve? if I hesitated at anything, it was in calling you an angry, lonely punk.
Okay. Well, on the water thing...here's what was said:

Jake reminded Harry to top off the water tanks but he left the dock anyway to head to the starting point.
There certainly doesn't seem to be any communication regarding water strategy at the beginning of the race. Just the skipper ignoring a reminder from the crew. This decision then apparently led to this outcome:

Our water is dangerously low. Jake only given 1.5 L bottle of water to drink each day.
Is 1.5 liters per day enough drinking water for racers in those conditions?

You're right. There's no logic there at all. It's just bad skippering. Yet you've hammered the crew far harder than this skipper who HAS done races. That's the problem.

And BTW, I'm not one hammering the racing mindset. I like to race. So our games are not all that different.
 
#710 ·
Well, Steve has yet to post his cv, so I'm calling ******** on you. (Yes modrators, I used the word ********. Get over it). You don't race, you don't get it, and I personally don't have a problem with that. Why you guys feel obligated to criticize other sailors is beyond me. Hell, after every long ocean race, I'm faced with a bloody cruise home. You don't see me pissing and moaning about you guys, even if you don't bother trimming your damn sails.

George, After doing deliveries from 2005 to 2012, and racing non stop from 07-12, I'm taking the year off. I'm restoring my Baltic from the beating she took coming across the NorPac last summer. Hey, ask your skipper about the 07 Santa Barbara race. We passed on opposite tacks off of Goleta, laughing at one another, knowing the other guy was screwed sailing into a dying breeze. That was a fun race.
 
#717 · (Edited)
Well, Steve has yet to post his cv, so I'm calling ******** on you. (Yes modrators, I used the word ********. Get over it). You don't race, you don't get it, and I personally don't have a problem with that. Why you guys feel obligated to criticize other sailors is beyond me.
Boy, ain't that the truth.

Here's my CV:

-Learned to sail on a day charter in 2008 on a lake in Texas
-Bought into a C27 on that same lake and sailed a lot and had a lot of fun
-In 2010 crewed my first off-shore race, the "Race to The Border", 300 miles from Galveston to South Padre. We DNF'd, along with most of our division, due to literally no wind on day two, which put us all over the finish time.
-Crewed the return delivery on that same 300 mile route.
-In 2011 crewed the "Harvest Moon Regatta", a 150 mile race, on a different boat. There were 186 total boats in that race. We took 6th in our division.
-I crewed the return on that same 150 mile route - assigned watch captain by the skipper.
-In 2012 I crewed the HYC Offshore Regatta, a 75 mile race, on that same boat. We were 3rd over the line. I again served as watch captain (I'm pretty proud of that).
-I also crewed that same return, which was a pursuit race with a staggered start based on PHRF. We were in a cruising boat and were 3rd over the line (first in our division)..in a fleet of J's, Benes, and even a Mac65. We did okay with sail trim.
-Last fall I crewed the delivery of this same boat after the Harvest Moon Regatta - which I was unable to join due to work.

So, true, that's only a total of around 1200 miles of off-shore work. But it's a start.

Oh, and we had a great skipper...and enough water.

PS - I plan to do the next Harvest Moon Regatta in our new boat.
 
#711 · (Edited)
Gentlemen, gentlemen, gentlemen .....

Sal .... cool it. All your abuse and name calling , hesitant or not, will only cause others to bite back and that is not something we'd like to see. Indeed it could well be your arse that gets the chewing so please, cool it a tadge.

With that in mind ... Smack and Aaron please hold your fire.

cheers

Andrew B
 
#713 ·
Gentlemen, gentlemen, gentlemen .....

Sal .... cool it. All your abuse and name calling , hesitant or not, will only cause others to bite back and that is not something we'd like to see. Indeed it could well be your arse that gets the chewing so please, cool it a tadge.

With that in mind ... Smack and Aaran please hold your fire.
Awww man...just when I was beginning to get a glimpse of what it takes to be a real honest-to-god ocean sailor. Darn...
 
#728 ·
Really, this entire story hinges upon the rationing of water at sea. I don't have a water maker, so rationing began when we untied the lines. No one was ever thirsty, everyone was healthy, and we made landfall with four days of water on board.

I'll ask you guys who have made long passages w/o watermakers: do you ave a consumption plan, or do you just use it until you run out and die? IMHO, rationing of water is a fact of life at sea. I could never understand the circular logic of "we're going to run out of water, so I don't want to ration water", which in effect is what the last 70 pages has been about.
 
#730 ·
Really, this entire story hinges upon the rationing of water at sea. I don't have a water maker, so rationing began when we untied the lines. No one was ever thirsty, everyone was healthy, and we made landfall with four days of water on board.

I'll ask you guys who have made long passages w/o watermakers: do you ave a consumption plan, or do you just use it until you run out and die? IMHO, rationing of water is a fact of life at sea. I could never understand the circular logic of "we're going to run out of water, so I don't want to ration water", which in effect is what the last 70 pages has been about.
My 28 footer has one 65 gal tank, one 50 gal tank I have 4 6 gal jerry cans and I bring about 8 cases of bottled water. and i have a hand pump de sal for emergency. It's all about water. and I stow nothing and I mean nothing above the water line.
 
#736 ·
Time again for me to remind you skippers drinking at the bar that this boat got a "dnf".
They never crossed a finish line.
Who gives a sh!t who behaved badly. What are you all, a bunch of forensic sailors?

I will admit though that I found some of Sal's comments on how "scantily" ocean racers might provision their boats informing.

Learning about Jacuzzi cooked steak has just been a bonus.

Sweet Baby Cheeses.
 
#737 · (Edited)
I will admit though that I found some of Sal's comments on how "scantily" ocean racers might provision their boats informing.
All of the ocean racers I've been associated with have been equipped completely differently, but one thing they did have in common is that all were, basically, giant sail lockers down below ie. no 'crew comforts' whatsoever.

Unnecessary bulkheads, bunks and fancy trimmings all gone. The only seat in the boat is attached to the chart table - for everyone else, if you want to sit down, go on deck. Most still had a head.. but there was always a bucket. The most comfortable berth on the boat was amongst the sails - but don't let the sailing master find you there or you'll get your butt kicked! :)
 
#744 ·
I'm still at a loss that people are still talking about what ocean racers do in this context.

Let's review this "racing crew" shall we?

A late-middle aged restauranteur and his wife who can't sail, two guys they met about ten minutes before the race, and a geriatric patient.

Any talk about racing tactics used by trained, experienced racing crew, who know the deal and are prepared for very bad things to happen should the plan fail, has absolutely no validity in this scenario. None.
 
#747 ·
It's pretty apparent that this thread has played itself out.

Time to get back to bickering about anchors, stove fuels, and keel designs.
 
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#749 ·
Smack I've stopped racing years ago and have very limited experience but part of my pre race was to show all the crew where all the safety equipment was and review the major systems.knowing where the thru hulls , how to check fresh water volume when the bilge was full and stuff like that . Seemed like a good idea then and probably current racing skippers feel the same. Would think if I got on a boat and did that because skipper did not do a run through first and skipper was offended I would hope I would have enough sense to pick up my sea bag and leave.
 
#750 ·
I totally agree. The skippers of the boats I've raced on did just that - take us crew through everything very thoroughly in the shakedown sails before the races. That's good skippering.

The reason I bring this up is that a few have criticized these guys for not going through all this stuff on their own - trusting that the skipper had done his job. On the one hand, they're right. It's your life and your responsibility.

On the other hand, I can pretty much guarantee that there are plenty of very good, experienced skippers, who may not have taken the time to do what you lay out above prior to the race, who would definitely be offended if you, the new crew, started tearing things apart for your stamp of approval.

It's just a much more difficult call than many want to conclude.
 
#753 ·
For those of you that put some much weight on the experience people have as to how they will perform, take a guess as to who this Captain is:

From Wikipedia:

Early career Following college, on June 10, 1968 he was hired as a Third Mate by a **** Company, which later **** Shipping Company.[4] His first ship was **** based in Wilmington, North Carolina.[1] The Capt climbed the ranks of the merchant marine until he obtained a master's license at age 31. By age 32, he was the youngest captain working for ***** when he took command of *** Philadelphia, in 1978. In 1985 he was master of ***** Chester when the asphalt carrier ran into a storm during its New York to South Carolina trip. High winds damaged the ship's mast including radar and radio communications antennas. Though the crew was prepared to abandon ship, the Capt rallied them and guided the ship to safety.[1] In 1987, he became the alternate master of ****** which subsequently received ******** Fleet safety awards for the year of 1987 and 1988.[5][6]

This shows that as Capt, you are only as good as your last voyage, no matter how much experience you have, same goes for pilots. Hats off to those folks.
 
#754 ·
Ok so after reading the vast majority of the 76 pages of posts here's my two cents.

Obviously you can't lay all the blame on one person. 99% of the time in life that's just not how things work. Therefore everyone has to get some part of the blame.

I think most of the blame belongs to the captain. Obviously he was very ill-prepared and not ready for this race. If you believe even part of the posts from RD and Jake you can see that, as well as the posts from the local sailors who decided not to race with him. Not being able to sail with the chute up is a serious issue on a mostly downwind race. Obviously he had MAJOR communication and interpersonal issues and couldnt' control his temper. So clearly he shouldn't have entered the race in the first place.

As for RD, i don't think he should've agreed to crew on a boat with an owner he hadn't met before. This past summer I started sailing seriously with a program in the detroit area who found me via a crew board. I then met the owner at a yacht club work day and I agreed to sail with him for the season. After our first 3 day event, I asked if he needed help for the Port Huron-Mac race, and he said I'd be welcome. I didn't want to ask him that until I had sailed with him and his crew and knew what his racing philosophy was like, and I'm sure he didn't want to offer that to me until he knew my skills and personality. I think it's very rash and irresponsible to sail on a much longer race with a crew you didn't know.

Also, I think that even if you were signed up as navigator, you clearly didn't have the experience for that job. If you're going to be in charge of the navigation of the boat, and be partially responsible for where that boat goes, you need to know how EVERYTHING works on board the boat. It's completely ludicrous to expect that on a 5 person crew with an 86 y/o woman on board that you wouldn't be expected to go on the foredeck and handle problems. If the problems came all the time, then it was perfectly reasonable to talk to Harry about it and try to correct the issues. But going on the foredeck at night in 17 knot winds is part of the job. HTFU.

Sorry for the post, I'm sure everything I've said has been said before, I just want to get it off my chest, and writing it down helps me think it through more clearly.

RD and Jake, I'm very sorry for your awful experience on what should've been an awesome race, I hope this doesn't discourage you, but I would also caution you about doing something this rash again. Get to know good sailors, build your resume, develop a reputation and then start getting on some good programs. That's the best way to have good racing experiences. Also, seriously, HTFU.
 
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#758 ·
Smack, you gotta put the water thing into proper perspective. Mariners have been running low on water since before Columbus' time. Yes, perhaps they left without topping off a tank, they also could have easily suffered a leak in a tank or line (sound familiar?), they could have had a stuck valve, cycling pump, sea water contamination, or even over usage (that is my guess). All we know is these guys were down at the halfway mark. What really counts is how they handled the adversity. It seems that only the boat owners were concerned with rationing and RD/ "Jake's" only solution was to sail "faster" (isn't that the whole point in racing anyway?) and not to conserve water.

One of my Dad's stories was how the desalinators on his can in WWII couldn't keep up with the boiler needs when they were screening for TF58. The Captain ordered the fresh water be TURNED OFF to the crew (except for meal times) and divert all available water to the boilers. A couple of crew who were caught sneaking water from an unguarded bib were brought to Captain's Mast, confined, and subsequently reduced in rank and pay.

Smack, can you use your computer skills in reproducing for us the track's from Yellow Brick? (link below) You might find the track very interesting. You can see that they were pretty much always below the rhumb line and pretty much the southernmost boat in their division. You can see pretty graphically that the wheels fell off at the halfway point. I suspect that this is about the time when reality and fatigue set in for the crew resulting in a series of really poor decisions being made. They probably lost a day here in their bickering and inability to set a single course. When they did their final course change to fetch Hilo, they were closer to Honolulu, albeit, the AP most likely couldn't hold the deep wind angles required. Knowing that Tropical Storm Flossie was bearing down on the main island, why would they go there (impaired judgment from lack of experience?) Also, with water running short, wouldn't you want to stay in the shipping lane if you needed help. Heck, RIMPAC is going on at that time and you can't swing a cat without hitting a warship when you are within 500 nm of Pearl.

I'm not sure I would want to have a crew onboard, who didn't personally familiarize themselves with everything on the boat. The last few days before a race or crossing are usually very hectic and things can be overlooked on even a well-run boat. That is why crew need to check and re-check everything. RD & Jake's experience level was showing when they didn't see the warning signs when they first stepped on the boat, and then not checking and helping get the boat ready for sea. Don't get me wrong, "Harry" appeared to have made plenty of mistakes himself, but as he hasn't responded to this thread so we can only speculate )and spin any scenario that suits our personal bias).

Transpac 2013 PUBLIC - Powered by Yellowbrick Tracking
 
#759 · (Edited)
Smack, you gotta put the water thing into proper perspective. Mariners have been running low on water since before Columbus' time. Yes, perhaps they left without topping off a tank, they also could have easily suffered a leak in a tank or line (sound familiar?), they could have had a stuck valve, cycling pump, sea water contamination, or even over usage (that is my guess). All we know is these guys were down at the halfway mark. What really counts is how they handled the adversity. It seems that only the boat owners were concerned with rationing and RD/ "Jake's" only solution was to sail "faster" (isn't that the whole point in racing anyway?) and not to conserve water.
I'm with you GB. And, yes, the water leak sounds very familiar! Maybe that's why I'm so interested in this whole water thing.

As you point out, the problem is we don't really know what the deal was. We only know that the skipper made a decision to forego taking on more water at the start, then "selectively" rationed it at a dangerously low level midway through the race. I'd love to know more details about this. Because I agree with The Sal-inator that everything in this story turns on this issue.

I'll see if I can figure out the YB thing.
 
#764 · (Edited)
Smack, thank you for getting the Yellow Brick track up on a graphic. I think it will be helpful to illustrate what went on.


Dad, So “SalNichols94804” is “Nick” and not “Sal” ? (As they say, “you can’t tell the players without a scorecard”). I agree with the roles and responsibilities of the skipper/owner. He (or she) has the responsibility for everything and should act accordingly. That said, neither one of us would appreciate a crew taking over (or is it hijacking?) our boats. Just as the skipper has the over-all responsibility, the crew has the responsibility to be good crew.


Without being able to dialog with “Harry” how do we know that RD/”Jake” are accurately depicting the course of events? All we have are their original statements and their clarifications then comparing that to our own experiences. For example, did Jake or RD come out and clearly say that the skipper and his family were abusing the water rationing while imposing it only on them? Or were they merely complaining about the rationing itself and that lack of trust the family had for the crew? In the end, if we are only to take RD/Jake’s statements only at face value, where is the learning? Where is the teachable moment? You are right, this isn’t the AC (BTW, saw a couple of the Artemis races live – it was awesome!). This is one of the longest regularly scheduled point-to-point races on the planet however.


I believe that there was miss-communication from the start. RD and Jake over sold themselves in their resumes and telecons. As stated from that other poster, Harry was unprepared to participate in the race. RD, Jake and Harry all let their desire to do the race cloud their judgment. The endeavor started falling apart even before RD and Jake got to the marina. They started to polarize from the skipper from the start. Experience would have told them to go home. But once they signed on they should have been committed to the success of the endeavor which they failed to do when they started usurping the authority of the skipper.


They were brought on as navigator and spinnaker expert. They talked about the skipper taking over the function and that he sailed rhumb line and above. Yet the Yellow Brick showed them south of rhumb and south of the rest of the fleet. The wild gyrations started at about midpoint about the time that they were clicking on the AP, talking to USCG, RC, rationing water, "fighting" for control etc. The course did straighten out once they decided (cajoled?) to divert to Hilo. IMHO, the navigation was poor. I was not born an “ace” spinnaker driver. I was taught. I was mentored into the driver I am today. I am happy to pass that knowledge on. It’s my duty to mentor “junior drivers” coming up through the ranks. Why couldn’t Jake do the same? As an instructor, he must know how to apply different teaching techniques and reach even difficult students? Going up the mast in the middle of the night, peals and gybes in squalls are all part of the game. If you don’t like it, perhaps ocean sailing is not for you.


Now, let’s dump on Harry, who hasn’t the opportunity to defend himself. We do know he was successful in doing a pair of MDR-Cabo (or was it SD-PV?) races in the past. These are over 1,000nm or about half the distance to Hawaii. From the other poster, we can assume that it was on the strength of having some really skilled crew with him. Harry’s first mistake was perhaps not understanding this and reading much more into his new crew’s qualifications than really were there. He should have been better prepared for the race. On my PacCup, I started to work on the boat a year ahead of time and that boat was a Van Isle vet. He should have demanded that the crew come out early and prep the boat. (“paying” for crew by buying their plane tickets doesn’t seem to be a smart thing unless you are willing to buy lots of tickets). He should have been a better planner - he didn’t have the proper crew or the numbers given every one’s skill set. “Mother” and Jane probably should have flown, not sailed. If on board, they should have done the mid-day watch and flown wing on wing. Mid-day conditions are almost always too light to fly a 1.5 oz kite (Jake should have known this). Sushi chef training probably doesn’t afford the same leadership skills as does the military or lots of crewing/sailing experience. Harry should have been more self-aware and worked on his command presence. Finally, he shouldn’t have deviated from his original game plan. The fighting with the crew added at least a day to his trip (see Smack’s graphic) and the diversion to Hilo, the better part of another one. (Besides being stupid when the long range GRIBS are predicting a tropical storm heading your way.)


As I said in my first post I feel bad for RD (and Jake too). This was a crappy experience and not really thier fault. He and Jake just didn’t have the experience to see the train wreck coming and once on board, couldn’t keep it from escalating and ultimately blowing up. They risked a lot to their reputations by going public and I hope it doesn’t hurt them in the end.
 
#767 ·
Smack, thank you for getting the Yellow Brick track up on a graphic. I think it will be helpful to illustrate what went on.

Dad, So "SalNichols94804" is "Nick" and not "Sal" ? (As they say, "you can't tell the players without a scorecard"). I agree with the roles and responsibilities of the skipper/owner. He (or she) has the responsibility for everything and should act accordingly. That said, neither one of us would appreciate a crew taking over (or is it hijacking?) our boats. Just as the skipper has the over-all responsibility, the crew has the responsibility to be good crew.

Without being able to dialog with "Harry" how do we know that RD/"Jake" are accurately depicting the course of events? All we have are their original statements and their clarifications then comparing that to our own experiences. For example, did Jake or RD come out and clearly say that the skipper and his family were abusing the water rationing while imposing it only on them? Or were they merely complaining about the rationing itself and that lack of trust the family had for the crew? In the end, if we are only to take RD/Jake's statements only at face value, where is the learning? Where is the teachable moment? You are right, this isn't the AC (BTW, saw a couple of the Artemis races live - it was awesome!). This is one of the longest regularly scheduled point-to-point races on the planet however.

I believe that there was miss-communication from the start. RD and Jake over sold themselves in their resumes and telecons. As stated from that other poster, Harry was unprepared to participate in the race. RD, Jake and Harry all let their desire to do the race cloud their judgment. The endeavor started falling apart even before RD and Jake got to the marina. They started to polarize from the skipper from the start. Experience would have told them to go home. But once they signed on they should have been committed to the success of the endeavor which they failed to do when they started usurping the authority of the skipper.

They were brought on as navigator and spinnaker expert. They talked about the skipper taking over the function and that he sailed rhumb line and above. Yet the Yellow Brick showed them south of rhumb and south of the rest of the fleet. The wild gyrations started at about midpoint about the time that they were clicking on the AP, talking to USCG, RC, rationing water, "fighting" for control etc. The course did straighten out once they decided (cajoled?) to divert to Hilo. IMHO, the navigation was poor. I was not born an "ace" spinnaker driver. I was taught. I was mentored into the driver I am today. I am happy to pass that knowledge on. It's my duty to mentor "junior drivers" coming up through the ranks. Why couldn't Jake do the same? As an instructor, he must know how to apply different teaching techniques and reach even difficult students? Going up the mast in the middle of the night, peals and gybes in squalls are all part of the game. If you don't like it, perhaps ocean sailing is not for you.

Now, let's dump on Harry, who hasn't the opportunity to defend himself. We do know he was successful in doing a pair of MDR-Cabo (or was it SD-PV?) races in the past. These are over 1,000nm or about half the distance to Hawaii. From the other poster, we can assume that it was on the strength of having some really skilled crew with him. Harry's first mistake was perhaps not understanding this and reading much more into his new crew's qualifications than really were there. He should have been better prepared for the race. On my PacCup, I started to work on the boat a year ahead of time and that boat was a Van Isle vet. He should have demanded that the crew come out early and prep the boat. ("paying" for crew by buying their plane tickets doesn't seem to be a smart thing unless you are willing to buy lots of tickets). He should have been a better planner - he didn't have the proper crew or the numbers given every one's skill set. "Mother" and Jane probably should have flown, not sailed. If on board, they should have done the mid-day watch and flown wing on wing. Mid-day conditions are almost always too light to fly a 1.5 oz kite (Jake should have known this). Sushi chef training probably doesn't afford the same leadership skills as does the military or lots of crewing/sailing experience. Harry should have been more self-aware and worked on his command presence. Finally, he shouldn't have deviated from his original game plan. The fighting with the crew added at least a day to his trip (see Smack's graphic) and the diversion to Hilo, the better part of another one. (Besides being stupid when the long range GRIBS are predicting a tropical storm heading your way.)

As I said in my first post I feel bad for RD (and Jake too). This was a crappy experience and not really thier fault. He and Jake just didn't have the experience to see the train wreck coming and once on board, couldn't keep it from escalating and ultimately blowing up. They risked a lot to their reputations by going public and I hope it doesn't hurt them in the end.
Another bingo.
 
#765 ·
Day 16, July 23
283 nm to go. Water temp 85.4F.

Since the heated oral exchange between Jakeues and the owners, they escalated his punishment. His night watch duty has been removed. Fucck lucky him... Now I have to do more ... Haha.

They intend to impose more rules to make him more miserable. It is all about control. Instead of being a leader to bring out the best in others, they bring the worse from their crew. It certainly not a right way to be a host or a leader. I guess some are destined to be great men and some are destined to be little 'men' in their own little world.

Back to original topic. Wind is good, we were moving fast. Wind from east at 15 to 19 knots. Still has current behind us at 0.6 Kn.

At the current condition, we may be at Molokai light at Thursday dawn. Be in marina at dusk.

I studied charts yesterday to work out my approach. Book says don't go in harbor at night, not sure what is the deal. The harbor is well marked, plenty of water and we will have almost full moon at nite. I will let Harry makes the decision. But at the worst, I am comfortable to go in in the dark.

Above from RD's log. RD even questions a chart book. There are many good reasons to not go into Ala Wai Channel at night, many boats run aground both leaving and coming in at night. When you run aground, you boat is done, you are on coral reef with big breaking swell pounding. Have you ever tried to navigate at night in a channel with the lights of one of the biggest cities in the US as your back drop. Do you think you can make out the bouey marker lights, or where those street signal lights. And RD was the navigator?

Also note RD says "plenty of water", looks like Capt did good with his water rationing......
 
#769 ·
...
Also note RD says "plenty of water", looks like Capt did good with his water rationing......
Given the context of that phrase, it looks more like he was referring to the depth of the water at the entrance to the harbor.
 
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