i be sailing

Arrival
I arrived at tlyc around 8:30 sans Andrew as he was down with the flu. Rolly and wife Marte were already there about to launch Pawprint, their 15′ runabout which will help serve as a safety boat for the race. after helping them lanch Pawprint, Marte helped me out with setting up my boat. and soon after Eric arrived with his unfinished but ready to race Kalayaan dinghy, we then helped him rig and launch his boat . The other home built in the Race was Tato’s Vagabond 20, a 20 foot cabin cruiser that he was able to finish just in time for the RTV. The Vagabond had been  at TLYC for the past week as they’ve been doing some sail trials and final tuning of the boat.  Mario and his daughter were also there to race on Toppers and so was Fast Exit skipper Arvin. After a short briefing we were ready to go. Prior to the actual Round Taal Volcano Race there was to be a short buoy race around two buoys (a hot dog course)

The Race to the Volcano
So everyone went out. In getting ready for the buoy  race, I had an unfortunate incident which caused my boat to have 6 inches of water inside the cockpit.
A bad jibe caused my boat to heel too much and scooping up a whole lot of water in the process. I tried to do the hotdog course with the water in the boat, and while trying to race I actually saw eric’s boat demasting, I thought he capsized when I frist saw it, but I noticed the kalayaan was still right side up, I was going to try and help out but noticed that Rolly and Marte also saw and were on the way to help. Later I found out that one of Eric’s stays came off and caused his mast to fall over. With my boat still weighed down by the water it was just to heavy to make any significant headway, so I decided to head back to the starting line and wait for the actual RTV race at the same time try to bail out as much water as i could.

I managed to bail out atleast half of the water before the start of the next race, but lack of racing experience on my part resulted in a late start, there was also another topper that started late and was way behind me, but she was able to catch up as I still had a lot of water balast. As soon as I got to the downwind part of the course I was able to cleat the sheet and bail out most of the water while under way. Wind was fairly strong at around 16kts

With almost all of the water out of the boat, my speed picked up and there were several times that I was really feeling the boat plane. I got to the lunch area and four toppers were there, as well as Tato’s vg20. I was actually expecting 5 toppers to be there but found out later that the other topper with lilly on board had an unfortunate encounter with a ferrier trimaran’s bowsprit.

several really bad things happened as a rusult of the swamping incident. one was that my phone which was supposed to be water proof was water damaged as it wasn’t stored inside the hatch but in my bag which was tied to the bottom of the mast, and two the worst one was that Mario’s cigarettes which was inside one of the aft hatches was soaked as I forgot to tighten the lid.

I had lunch of pork adobo, and soon after, the hobies started arriving from the other direction. as the hobies took the island from the west (longer course) and the dinghies took the island from the east.

shaking from the lack of nicotine in me, I managed to pull up the nerve to ask one of tlyc’s boatmen for ciggy.

soon after, rolly and marte arrived in the pawprint, then eric came in. Which was great releif me, as atleast I know I didn’t come in last in the homebuit class. hehehe

Mario being boy scout that he is, had Rolly carry another pack of ciggys as backup and thus ended our nicotine drought.

The Race BacK
soon it was time for the next race. I swore to myself that, i’d improve on my meager placing in the first race.

winds were a lighter this time, and I was still last off the line but atleast it wasn’t as late as before. I followed the girls on the toppers which were heading out to more open water, while mario and arvin took a course that was closer to shore. winds were light enough to be able to light another ciggy, so I did.

pretty soon the winds died down and it was drifting match, light winds meant shifty winds, and pretty soon sails were fluttering all over the place. I decided to stay with the current and sat as far back on the boat to get as much transom in the water so the waves would have more area to push against and I managed to get some headway from it. pretty soon I found myself ahead of everyone (except the hobies ofcourse) even the bravos.

then the winds started to pick up again and I was on course towards a fishcage. the topper behind me tacked to the right to avoid it, but I saw an opening on the left side that I could squeeze though so I did. then I thought, good move! I passed several other fishcages this way and the all of the toppers were still behind me. then all of a sudden full stop, it was like someone slammed on the brakes. aw fuc*! I knew it had to happen (so I guess it wasn’t a good move after all). my dagger board was caught on a net, easy enough fix, but I had to head back to the nearest opening in the fish cages to get to open water again. then went my lead, soon the 3 toppers were ahead of me, mario and the two girls. soon as I was free of the fish cages it was a straight close reach to tlyc.

arvin was still behind me and so were all the other homebuilts. I saw arvin was closing the gap and took off my sail consevatively cap and started sailing through the gusts. Looking behind me at arvin I was thinking, this guy must have rock hard abs. as he was hiked out most of the time. while I was in a very comfortable position leaning back against cockpit sides.

soon I passed mario which looked like he had equipment problems as he was holding on to his boom with his hand and standing upright inside the boat while sailing ala windsurfer. later I found out that his mainsheet was twisting and jamming in the block, him standing up in the boat was just a macho effect.

Then I passed Eric, sailing in his kalayaan. WTF! what wormhole did he go through to get there!? last time I checked he was miles behind me. later on, I found out he got a tow from one of the commitee boats.

Guess What? I won!…. sort of
It was already dark when we got back, and among the PHBYC members, I was first to arrive , then arvin, then mario, then eric I think and tato and his crew. Tato arrived late as they were also caught in fishnets but them having a bigger boat compounded their woes as it was a little more difficult to free.

we then had our showers and proceeded to dinner and the awards ceremony for the races for that day. All was all still pretty sureal to me as I still coudn’t beleive that I completed the race. compounding that was the fact that I was the only one homebuilt class to finish both legs, thus the trophy. Arvin also got 3rd in the Topper class. everyone had a great time exchanging stories and stuff. We all retired early as there were still buoy racesfor the next day.

coming up in the next post:  events for the next day as well as the story of my first capsize.

I woke up at around 5:30 I think. I had a fairly good sleep in the hammock that I brought and I was surprised to find that tato was also sleeping in the same hut as i was.

I was contemplating of giving it a go with my pipes to give everyone a wakeup call, but my aching body and better part of reason decided against it. I might end up annoying more people than amusing them.

I decided instead to go to the market and get some ciggies and rice for my adobo baon.

at breakfast, Tato invited us for a morning cruise on his boat. and who was I to decline it

Mario was game also and so was the rest of his family. assuming my usual mast man position

I raised the sails and off we went. with all of us in the cockpit the boat was a little aft heavy, so being the man of mass that I am, I positioned myself inside the forward hatch. That evened everything out and the boat was nice and level, and we made good speed. Tato’s boat really feels like a keel boat. everyone had a great time, mario’s wife especially.

when we got back Arvin was already there, and all set to race.

after doing some pre-race preparations and getting briefed by Arvin on the course we were ready to go.

normally when i sail, I don’t buckle up the front of my pfd, but this time, I felt that I should, and so I did.
 
most of the toppers were aleady out when I got there and getting set for the first race. i’ve had very little experience jibing in my boat and I was watching lilly, arvin and the other topper sailors do it. and then I said to my self, "I can do that" so I tried. so the boom swung over and so did the rest of the boat and I fell into the water. CAPSIZE! The moment I dreaded finally arrived, and the race was about to start too. getting to watch chris and peter last week doing capsize drills was still fresh in my head. and so I just did what they did.

at first I was tangled up in the sheet as I watched my mast go totally under, I thought I was going to get dragged down, but I didn’t. I was eventually able to get myself free and I then proceeded to try and right the boat. with the boat upside down I clamberred over to the top (or bottom). It was a good thing I pushed the daggerboard well into the trunk, and it didn’t drop out when the boat went upside down. I wasn’t really on top of the boat it was more to the side with my feet on resting on the bottom of the gunwales. pulling on the daggerboard the boat righted to its side fairly easy. once on its side I just put a little more weight on the daggerboard and up it went. I made sure I was holding on to the boat when it righted just in case the sheet was caught on something.

The boat didn’t sail away when it righted so it looked like the sheet was free. I then tried to get back in the boat. even with water in it there was still a lot of sheer, so I tried to board at the transom, no luck there. My arms were not strong enough…. or I was just to heavy

so I went to the side instead and boarded the boat one leg first. The water in the boat prevented it from capsizing again from my all of my weight on one side. and I was back in the boat.

So I did it, got through my first capsize, it was pretty much a text book righting , except I forgot to point the bow to the wind. the hardest part was actually getting back in.

Soon as I was in, then I heard the 1 minute horn sound. I then brought out the bailer and started bailing like crazy then the flag went up and off they went. with still a lot of water in the boat joining the race was out of the question, so I went back to shore and decided to remove the water there.

It took a while before I got the water out and all that bailing got me exhausted. so I rested a bit. by the time I got back to join the fray they were about to start the third race. It was my only buoy race of the weekend and I managed to finish behind everyone but the Vagabond. but I managed to learn a lot from it.

After that race we went back. I was already tired and decided to pack up my boat while I still had the energy.

While trying to undo the clew strap the wind caught the sail and sheet got caught in one of the cleats, and all i can do was watch as the boat went on its side again. argh! this was just not my day. a couple of the hobie sailors were kind enough to help me tip the boat over and get most of the water out.

mario and iking helped me unbolt the boat and bring it back to shore, while tato and his crew helped me load ceol beag back into the van.

Went to the TLYC yesterday, to meet with Peter C. to get my boat rated for the RTV.

Launched from Club Lake as usual. got there at around 0830 and was able to set up almost immediately. Gil had already left for the States, and in charge of the place now is his nephew Archie.

After having a quick breakfast, I launched. the wind was pretty spotty but there was good wind near the shore. It looked like it might die out soon so I headed immediately for my objective, Taal Lake Yacht Club.

the wind was pretty light and after about 20 minutes I was already at the at the front of TLYC. It was around 0930. Peter told me he’ll be at the club at around 1100, so I was early. I decided to muck around for a little bit around the area. Then I noticed that the wind was dying down, so I headed in and beached.

The place was pretty much empty except for one guy about to take out a chartered hobie with his kid. After about 30 minutes Peter arrived. He introduced me to Joe and Ben and we then proceeded to my boat for them to give it a quick look over.

After the usual complements on how pretty she looked and how nice her lines were

they then proceeded to give their suggestions for performance improvment, like side decks, bow sprits etc…

This was actually the frist time Peter has seen a sail done in Polytarp, and he said from a distance he actually thought it was dacron. All three of them agreed that the sail was nicely done, (hats off to Lea and Bob

)

Peter told me that Ben is also a boat builder and he’s actually entering one of his creations in the RTV. Gents, Meet Ben:

Beside him is Korvus, a boat of his own design based on a traditional Scottish boat, he didn’t say what type of boat in particular though but I think it’s a Shetland Foureen a boat type where the Ian Oughtred’s Caledonia Yawl is based on. His version is different though, his has a cabin. Korvus is a 6 meter long double ender, she’s supposed to have a Gaff Rig, but would have a temporary bermuda rig from another monohull for the RTV. Ben completed building the hull in 6 months, alone, in his garage.

all in all, she’s a very pretty boat.

He was very happy to find other home boatbuilders like himself and find out about PHBYC. I gave him the URL and I think he would be joining the forum shortly. Korvus is at TLYC to get fitted out and tested, Yesterday, Ben was busy painting the mast and the boom.

So it looks like Tato and his Vagabond would have some friendly competition in the form of Ben and Korvus.

Peter determined that the best way to get a rating for the Spindrift was to use the topper as a benchmark and race them against each other. but at that time the wind had died down and the conditions were less than ideal to do the test.

So I had lunch instead, and strolled around tlyc while waiting for the wind to pick up.

After lunch, Peter and his son Cris headed out on a topper for a sailing lesson. since there was little or no wind to speak of they did the next best thing and did capsize drills.

Since they were having so much fun, I decided to join them on the water as well, wind or without wind. after about 30 minutes or so of aimless drifting, I wanted to head back as I was getting fried and it looked like Peter and Cris were heading in also. but as we neared the beach, the wind started picking up again and not long after that we were sailing.

Peter had a buoy set up earlier for the rating test and we were supposed round that and head for the raft and round that. So with Peter and Cris in the topper and myself solo on Ceol Beag, we raced… sort of

I was ahead of them most of the time, primarily because I was out infront already when we started.

Our speeds however, were pretty matched, I was able to keep my lead the the whole time. It was only at rounding the raft the last time, that I stalled and Peter was able to get ahead (rookie mistake)

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After that, Peter then determined that the Spindrift will have the same PY as the Toppers. Not really sure if that’s a good or a bad thing, but I guess we can only find out on race day.

With business at tlyc done, I headed back to club lake, packed up and went home