Straits Video

Some fantastic video from the crew on Astral Plane.
The boat you see near the end of the video is Turicum with our jury rigged 4th reef heading up to Sisters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R22JdoU1pI&feature=player_embedded

Crew view -- Mark

All been said in previous replies. The only thing I can add is that there’s no boat I’d rather be on in those conditions than Turicum.
Thanks Hale.

Mark

Crew view -- Don

Ditto on many of the remarks made by others. For me, the conditions were as bad as I've seen and worse when you consider that it was sustained for many hours, not just a squall line blowing through.

What impressed me most was the level of calm and co-operation evident amongst all the crew and leadership. Everyone was 'in it' till the end constantly working at solving the problems.

Great experience!

Don

Crew view -- Carl

It's definitely an understatement to say we had anything less than severe weather! Storm/Hurricane force winds, record boat speeds, 4-5 meter waves in short frequency, Coast Guard rescues, crossing lee shores, & 90% race abandonment has the obvious marks of stories to tell for years!! Beyond that however, I think the reason for our success was the calm diligence of the crew and adapting to the circumstances. I can remember one evening offshore we were deciding what to run with overnight and went for 'Thunder Chicken' (when nothing else will do!) and within minutes of hoist realizing we had to douse what we just put up as the winds had actually picked up and changed direction. The plan that was executed so well backfired just as quickly and we had all crew (less the driver) pull this now giant drouge out of the water in 70 foot seas - an event that still sticks out in my mind today. It was still the best decision as if we would have had to do that at night it would have made things MUCH more difficult (we ended up running the #2 headsail). What I am trying to convey with this story is the practice of: Don't get into what you can't get out of. Many of the boats at the start put up spinnakers and there was a point at the beginning where we could (maybe) have put up an asymmetrical, but that is a lot of sail in a gale. If we would have been aggressive like some of the other boats we could have had a blowout of the spin or main or (probably worse) is we could have created a very expensive drogue as per my offshore example and would have been part of the 90% abandonment with increased risk of injury to the crew. Being a relatively new crew I fully believe we sailed the boat to the best of our abilities in the conditions provided and I would consider it a privilege to sail with any of you in the future - although it looks like I will not be able to join you on any further races before 'the big one'. I wish everyone the best on their journey to Maui. My wife, daughter, and I hope to see you guys off the night before you leave.




Regards, Carl

Crew comments -- Johan

I have seen a lot of critical comments thrown in from the "Peanut Gallery" .....

As for myself, I had a great time!! This is the stuff that you just cannot learn only out of a book!

It was comforting to know that Turicum had been through this kind of weather before , and that most of the crew and the Skipper had extensive offshore experience.

What better circumstances can you ask for to get a great learning experience?? It was one that I will remember for a long time .

I certainly appreciate being able to have sailed with such a competent and confident crew.

Thanks everybody!

Johan

Crew comments -- Les

I am still not quite back to having both feet on the ground following what was indeed one of the most satisfying twenty-four hours in recent memory. Lots of firsts. My first overnight race (although not completed). My first time in winds that strong. Our first time working together as the Hawaii crew and the first time Turicum exceeded 20Kts. Like Tim, I felt that the leadership on the boat was superb and I took immense comfort in knowing that each of us is willing to work hard to keep the boat safe and moving. There was a wonderful sense of comraderie among all aboard and I think that we have moved much closer to our common goal. I am largely self taught as a sailor which has its pitfalls. To borrow a phrase from my wife's work...practice makes perfect..so be careful what you practice. Hale and Gunnar display this amazing ability to communicate, coach, correct, cajole and encourage. In the result I feel inspired to be a better technical sailor and to contribute the most I am able to as a crew member. Turicum is an awesome vessel - a stable working platform and very comfortable. It was great to meet Christof and Carl and to be reacquainted with Mark forty years after we last met.

I am looking forward to Halibut Bank.

Best regards,

Les

Crew comments -- KC

Tim said it all for me.
Thanks to all for the fantastic ride!!
I knew it was something special when Hale and Gunnar said Turicum set the new speed record and we all cheered for more!!!!

Cheers,
kc

Crew comments -- Tim

What a ride! Thrilling to say the least. Other than thinking we were going the wrong direction at times, never did I feel concerned with the capabilities of our boat or the crew. Not once did I feel we were doing the wrong thing under the circumstances and never did I get the sense that there was concern for our circumstances. In fact I was disappointed upon learning the race was canceled. Call me naive for possibly overestimating our capabilities and the circumstances but I had full confidence in the leadership of the boat, in their experience and knowledge. Sure it was a bit of a roller coaster ride, but a test that I am glad we went through and came out of with flying colours. I thought our crew communicated well together, worked well together, were patient and steady. No one panicked, language remained civil, suggestions and opinions were listened too and appropriate concern was given to the crew and their needs. If anything were to end up in the negative column I'd say we possibly were not monitoring the radio sufficiently and probably should have watched the weather more closely at the start. More practice with Turicum would be an asset as well.

I had a great time and will remember the trip for a long time to come. I certainly am looking forward to our upcoming trips and the opportunity to increase our skill and knowledge on the great boat TURICUM.

Tim

Crew comments by Gunnar

Turicum's Southern Straits race was really a success because our goal was for the race to be a big part of our preparation for Vic-Maui. We learned that our crew has what it takes to deal with really boisterous conditions and reaffirmed Turicum's legendary toughness. The old adage "what doesn't kill me makes me stronger" refers to individuals but is equally applicable to teams. Our Vic-Maui crew became a stronger team on Friday and being part of that gives me great satisfaction.

I would be interested to see what some of our first-timers have to write about their Southern Straits experience.

Gunnar

Crew members comments by Chris

I am sure one of the first timers here. I have never sailed in much more than 30 kts of wind or seas that big.

This was a great & exiting adventure for me. I was quite amazed how well our drivers managed to keep Turicum "steady as she goes" and how organized the entire crew was. There was not a moment of tension or excitement (with the exception when we surfed down the waves – which was a good thing). Everybody seemed to enjoy the ride. Although I suspect some, including me, wondered how we would beat back into 40 to 50 knots of wind once we rounded Sister Island. As we all know – it never got to this.

The only regret: Not taking any pictures!!

What a ride, what an adventure! This skipper, his crew as well as Turicum handled the perfect storm exceptionally well - I would do it again in a heart beat. Thanks Hale for having me on your crew for this regatta.

Has anybody heard from the skipper of Incisor – is he back home from the hospital? I read this morning in one of the blogs that all crew are home and well.

Cheers, Christof.

There I was sitting on deck of Turicum racing in the Southern Straits Regatta 2010. The winds were around 30 to 40 knots and we were running downwind out of English Bay towards Sister Island. The boat was running beautifully and the driver did a great job and I enjoyed myself tremendously. One of the boats to our starboard seemed to have less fun. They had a spinnaker up, broached and had a hard time getting things under control again. We put a second reef in the main and kept the #2 jib.

The wind then picked up progressively, getting over 40 knots and eventually over 50 knots. Our driver managed to get Turicum surfing several times and we hit over 18 kts one time and over 20 kts the next time. What a feeling - everybody on board was exited. Winds are now consistently over 50 kts and gusting over 60 kts - the waves got bigger and bigger too - several times I could actually look up to the crest of the waves - fabulous.

Another boat to our starboard was in trouble with her sails completely shredded - the remains of the sails flapping horizontally from the tip of the mast - held only by the halyards. Not pretty, but they managed to get the situation under control. Trying to avoid a similar fate to Turicum's sails, we took down the foresail and put a "5th reef" in the main. A very smart move - Turicum is still doing over 10 knots, but it's much safer this way.

I was quite amazed how well our driver managed to keep Turicum "steady as she goes" and how organized the entire crew was. There was not a moment of tension or uneasiness. Everybody seemed to enjoy the ride. Although I suspect some, including me, wondered how are we going to beat back into this once we rounded Sister Island. Well, it never got to that - the race was abandoned just before we got to Sister and the skipper decided to head for Deep Bay near Denman Island, where we had hot chocolate and meat pie before heading back to Vancouver, where we arrived safely the next morning.

What a ride, what an adventure! This crew and this boat handled the perfect storm exceptionally well - I would do it again in a heart beat. Thanks Hale for having me on your crew for this regatta.

Christof.

Reflections

OK, we're home and we survived -- from what I can find out we were the 2nd boat to round the first mark -- Kinetic was an hour ahead of us.
The ordeal was a great learning experience for our Maui crew but for me it's time to get a good nap.

The Deep Bay Yacht Club is on Vancouver Island just East of the south end of Denman/Hornby.

We now have 12 more people who are total believers in the strength and durability of a C&C 44.

One of our crew, Carl Dobler, shot this short video --- http://goo.gl/asq8

Cheers, hale

Oh My God

Well so much for the idea of doing timely updates during the race -- you have probably heard about this on the news by now anyway.

A short overview ---

We got out to the start and immediately decided on a single reef and the #2.
As we were turning for the start line, we jammed a runner because of the pressure from the mainsail and were basically unable to turn the boat. We had to gybe back to take the pressure off and then headed to the start line about 2 min. late.

This wasn't a big problem as the building wind was forcing other boats to change to smaller sails and we had already done that.

We then started planning for a spinnaker but put a stop to that as we saw other boats blowing up their sails as the wind continued to build.

We sailed on watching the other boats break things and turn for home. All of this time the wind has built from 20 or so to about 35 kts. We then decided to reduce the main even further and then things started to go wrong.

In pulling down the main, we had to head up into the wind a bit and this caused so much thrashing one of the battens broke and the main sail jammed. While that was happening the flogging of the #2 caused it to start to tear.
We immediately go it down and then went back to tying up the main -- oh yeh, the wind was now up to about 40 and gusting into the 50s. I don't even want to talk a bout the seas,

We ended up with a small fraction of a main up doing about 15+ kts. Things weren't too bad although we were getting concerned that once we got to Sisters we wouldn't be able to turn and come back.

We were now seeing steady winds of 50 with gusts of 60+. As we blasted past Sisters, we had no thought of trying to turn and decided to head to Deep Bay on Vancouver Island near Denman Island, we called the race committee to let them know where we were and then found the race was abandoned.

We had a reasonable sail up to Deep Bay and stopped in at the Deep Bay Yacht Club to clean things up and have dinner.
Here we found that that they had wind speeds up to 145km/hr which seemed fairly impressive to us.

It's now 1:30 Sat morning and we are headng back with following seas and a Westerly wind behind us.
We understand that one of the short course boats sunk and thankfully everyone was rescued. We never saw any other boats up here and thinl tha we may have been the only boat to reach Sisters.

Oh, I can't sell Turicum now because we hit the magic number --- 20+ kts -- virtually with no sail being pitched off a wave that looked more like a cliff.

It's nice to be warm and dry now -- the crew can motor us back to Vancouver while I watch the Nav and radar.

Cheers, hale

45 kts in Georgia Strait

It's Friday morning and blowing up to 45 kts in the Strait --- Hey it must be Southern Straits time.
Out to the garage and drag down Thunder Chicken. This will be the first time we have actually used the Chicken Kite in years --- Oh goodie!

Lots of new people on board and we had a good practice yesterday -- even got caught in 35 kt squall with full main and #1 so with a big down shift today hopefully everything will be OK.

Conditions allowing, more later.

Cheers, hale