Lee Cloth

Sleeping in a saloon berth while the boat is at anchor or in its slip is generally not a problem because the boat is nice and level.  Same goes for storing sails and gear.  It's a completely different story while sailing and the boat is heeled to one side.  Fortunately, somewhere along the line lee cloths were invented.  When we purchased our boat it did not have lee cloths and we knew this shortcoming would need to be addressed before any overnight sailing and especially before heading to Hawaii. We looked at several designs and determined that our sewing machine was not up to the task.  So, while we were over in Alameda dealing with the fuel tank access port project we stopped by a canvas shop, sketched up a design, selected the material, and confirmed measurements down at the boat.  Two weeks later we had lee cloths in hand!

Today I went down to the boat and installed them.

port side

starboard side

Sunbrella material, webbing, and attachment clips on the webbing.  We opted for the webbing as it's super strong (1,400# breaking strength), lays nice and flat below the cushions when not in use, length is easily adjusted, and the clips make it easy and fast to open when getting in or out.  Each lee cloth has 9 grommets with 1" #10 screws attaching it to the settee.  We also put grommets near where the webbing is sewn on just in case there's an issue and we have to use a piece of line as a backup.  I think they'll work nicely. 

One more item checked off the list!

Boat maintenance - fuel tank

One of the things you get used to when you own a boat is repairing things.  I've had an issue that's been giving me trouble for some time: fuel filters getting clogged causing the engine to run poorly or not at all.  Not good.

When we brought the boat up the coast back at the end of February the engine ran fine until we were off the Monterey coast (after we had some rough seas off Pt. Conception).  Engine rpm's dropped and the engine finally quit.  We did a quick change of the Racor water separator/fuel filter and the on engine fuel filter and got things running again without issue. Problem solved?  I wasn't so sure so I had the fuel and tank polished.  OK, problem solved?  A couple of months ago after a very rough beat up the Bay during the Moonlight Marathon race I was delivering the boat up to the City front when, again, the engine could not maintain cruising rpm's.  Fortunately I was able to limp into the SF marina.  But since I got there late and didn't have any filters on board (a situation that won't happen in the future) by the time we could get things repaired the next morning we missed the start of the race.  OK, message received - the tank really needs to be cleaned but we only have a single 3" access hole in the tank and the tank has two baffles.  Time to put in access plates and really see what's going on in there.

look what we found (before cleaning)

after cleaning

three new 6" access holes

8" cover plates installed - job complete

So we drilled 6" access holes to access each baffled portion of the tank.  Found lots of black crap between the first and second baffle - no wonder my filters were getting clogged.  We steam cleaned the tank and buttoned everything up.  Those are 8" access plates manufactured by Sea Built. I can highly recommend them.  Problem solved?  I hope so!!  So far a 3 hour motor to the City front and an 8 hour motor back from HMB - engine running fine.  Fingers crossed!!

Half Moon Bay race

September brought another ocean race, this time from San Francisco to Half Moon Bay (about 25nm).  Again we were racing double handed but my planned crew had a family emergency so Cindy hopped on board for her first ocean sailing!  Our start was Saturday the 24th at 1020.  The Bay Area was in the middle of a heat wave so we had some pretty unusual conditions - light winds from the east!  As soon as we crossed the starting line off the Golden Gate YC we put up the A3 spinnaker and sailed out the Gate downwind (in all my years of sailing I've only done this twice - it's usually a bash up wind).  We ended up a little too close to center channel and missed the huge ebb by the south tower that moved boats that had been even with us to about a half mile ahead in no time.  They also got the the filling northwesterly out by Pt. Bonita before us as well.  Once it filled the A3 worked nicely to close reach offshore where other boats had trouble sailing that high with there running spinnakers.  Our plan was to get about 5nm offshore to avoid the forecasted wind hole off Devils Slide and Pacifica.  As the wind filled and we turned down the coast we moved from about 80 AWA to 120 AWA and were charging along at 8-10 kts.  We had a nice drag race with the Express 37s before leaving them in the dust and caught all the boats that started ahead of us except one.  Many of these boats stayed too close to shore and were caught in the wind hole.  We were just on the outside fringe of the hole (turns out about 5.5.nm offshore was the call) and we were able to hang a right - towards Hawaii - and get back out in the breeze.  Two multihulls were able to scoot by us (no surprise).  As we approached HMB we were able to sail a bit deeper (130 AWA), square up the swells and do some surfing.  We saw speeds in the 12's.  We did three jibes to line up the finish line and were the second monohull to finish at 13:57:50 - first in division and 3rd overall.

wind fills and we reach offshore

bombing down the coast

whale over there!

We were the first boat requesting dock space at the Pillar Point Marina and we grabbed the side tie on H dock.  As the fleet trickled in later in the day we had about 7 boats rafted up near us at the end of the dock.  I brought the boat back solo on Sunday leaving HMB at 0645.  Light winds and a big ebb coming out the Bay necessitated motor sailing the whole 8 hours back to Redwood City (about 45nm).  Over all a great weekend.  Cindy ocean sailing [check], downwind ocean sailing [check], swell surfing [check], first trip to HMB [check].

Drake's Bay race/weekend

Ok - Drake's Bay race went off without a hitch.  Saturday was a nice sail out the Gate in 10-15kts, but then it got pretty light outside the Gate.  Just south of Duxbury Reef we switched from the #3 to the #1 which helped us pull away from the sport boats that were starting to catch up in the light winds.  About 8nm from Drake's Bay we were able to put up the A3 and horizoned all the boats near us.  Started at 1000 and finished just after 1600.  Our first time anchoring the new boat also went without issue (other than all the seaweed on the anchor line and anchor when we pulled it up Sunday morning.  Sunday's winds were almost non-existent.  We hung in there for about 2.5 hours and had gotten not much more than 1-2 miles from the start line before we called it quits (along with eventually about 90% of the rest of the fleet) - after all we still had to get all the way back to Redwood City (~50nm).  So we motored to about the Bonita Channel were the wind finally started to pick up and we could motor sail.  Of course, once we got around Pt. Bonita we had the typical afternoon SF wind and had a quick 3 hour reach down to Redwood City - arriving just after 1900.

So - ocean race [check], anchor overnight [check].  All in all, a successful weekend.

light winds heading up the coast

beautiful Drake's Bay

rafted up with Andy's Olson 40 for awhile

Moonlight Marathon completed!  39.5nm - took us just over 5.5 hours.  We had a great start in 18-20kt winds - single reef with the #3 jib.  Lead off the line and first around TI (except for the multihull that was racing too).  We close reached back to Hunter's Point and then put up the A3 and sailed that to the San Mateo Bridge.  At the bridge the wind was backing and getting lighter so we ditched the A3 and put up the A2 and sailed that to the finish.  First to finish at 22:31:56 (started at 1700) and corrected out 3rd.  A wet ride up the Bay in the ebb, but a beautiful sail home - the last hour under the rising moon.

Drake's Bay double handed next weekend...

Next up is the Moonlight Marathon race - Redwood City up to and around Treasure Island and back, +40nm. Should be fun!  The following weekend we move out to the Pacific Ocean with a race from San Francisco up to Drake's Bay (+30nm) on Saturday, spend the night on the hook, and then race back on Sunday.

First races under the belt - SYC beer cans the last two weeks. Pursuit style racing, we're the last to start (lowest rated boat at a PHRF of 48). Past some boats two weeks ago, and even more last week. The new A3 spin is performing well, especially around the corner coming into Redwood Creek.

These are the voyages of the sailing vessel Hokulani - whose two year mission is to participate in the 2018 Pacific Cup race from San Francisco to Kaneohe, Hawaii.

UPDATE:  2018 race completed. Now focusing on the 2020 race (opps, cancelled due to COVID), so it's now the 2022 race scheduled to start the first week of July.  2022 race completed!  Hokulani returned home and was sold in March 2023.  She's now on to new adventures in the Pacific Northwest.