Strum to finish First

[Stillraining]

Vic-Maui update

Strum has sailed through the night in excellent winds and is now projected to cross the finish line before 1600HST, July 4: an all Canadian on-board celebration of American Independence Day. Let's hope the winds hold up! We received the report below from Strum yesterday afternoon.

Strum: July 3, 2008 2:01:07 PM PDT (CA)
Strum had a great night last night, surfing along in a steady 12-14 knot boat speed, hitting a top speed of 16 knots, and a crazy lifting lull of 7 knots. It is always a little funny to be so focused for a 5 or 6 hour shift only to review the GPS track that sometimes looks like a lost duck. It is 10am as I type, 11 days into the race, with only @350 nm to the finish. It is sunny with a few surface clouds, a steady 15 knots of true wind speed with dad turning in very solid 12 knots of boat speed. The crew have been fantastic, and the mighty Strum has held up very well with only 2 gear failures on this race; a mast track section at the 1st reef point failed shortly after the start & Andrew McQuorkodale was able to remove the 5' section in the calm wind shadow of Neah Bay. We have been sailing with a full mainsail ever since, and this will be an easy fix at port. We also broke the base of our new sprit, but we suspect that this maybe more from production then sailing, and we are fortunate to have along the original white sprit from New Zealand as a spare. Other then that, the boat has held up very well!

We had a crazy down wind sleigh ride in the middle of the night off the northern California coast. This is where we hit our top speed of 23.5 knots under our biggest spinnaker (the North A4), spinnaker staysail & full main. We also had 2 days of beating into square waves that would test any boats structural integrity. We have to gybe now for Maui, so I will sign off for now. Looking forward to the Molikai Channel!

Randy Vogel

I read somewhere this boat is all rope rigging?? Did they mean wire rope and not rod...or...rope ,rope as in line?

[Plumper]

Originally Posted by Stillraining

I read somewhere this boat is all rope rigging?? Did they mean wire rope and not rod...or...rope ,rope as in line?

It is all high modulus rope. It hums when they hit a certain speed. Maybe that is why it is called "Strum".

[Stillraining]

Wow! ...Very interesting...What do they use for terminal ends?..

[skyellab]

Strum should be silent and the crew drinking MaiTais at the Lahaina Yacht Club by 9 PDT.

Then a day and a half more for the next boat.

[tenuki]

The fully rebuilt beauty of a 30+ year old cruising catamaran across the slip from me has all spectra (rope) standing rigging. It looks like a lot of the old methods of marlinspike seamanship are being resurrected as modern materials allow, which I find wonderful. I'll take some pictures and ask some questions next time I see the owner, a really large-bearded jolly fellow called Gene.

From what I've seen it's mostly deadeyes blocks and lanyards, and it looks awesome, just like the old days. See pic below from the fisheries supply catalog with link to Colligo Marine, the creator with more info.



There's also been some talk on Brian Toss's website spartalk, so go there and search for details from a riggers perspective, very interesting.

[skyellab]

Strum Hums over Finish Line
The Crew of Strum sailed over the finish line yesterday, July 4th at 1822.08 HST under spinnaker at +10 knots. Enduring the more of the uncertain winds that have characterized the 2008 Vic-Maui, in the last 24 hours of racing she experienced everything from screaming downwind sleigh rides of over 20 knots to beating into light headwinds. This kept the crew busy with sail changes and they certainly seemed glad to arrive at the dock to the spray of champagne and hugs and kisses from family. In a fabulous welcome characteristic of arrival into Lahaina harbour, each crew and the boat itself were "lei"ed, fed and partied. Just as the dock party was getting into swing, the 4th of July fireworks started, making the crew of Strum all feel like they had just won an America's Cup. Crew from Something Wicked, having left their boat on the hard in San Francisco, were there to party too.

,p>Now the interesting waiting begins: will any of the fleet behind Strum get here quickly enough to beat her on corrected time for first over all and each other in Class? In Class B, Turicum, Passepartout and Seeker are in a dead heat race for both class and overall corrected time wins under steadily improving light trades, while the rest of the fleet behind is still waiting for the winds to fill in. Black Watch is probably too far back to contend and it appears that Turicum may have the advantage at the moment, but this is still too close to call. Red Heather and Zulu should be set for 2nd and 3rd in Class A. We'll have to wait and see what weather tricks Neptune still has left in his magic bag.