Charleston Race Week 2014

Wow!! - We had a blast this year at Charleston Race Week (we had a blast last year as well). We raced in the Pursuit Non-Spinnaker Class again this year which grew from four to twelve boats. I like racing in the pursuit class because it gives us a chance to recover from small errors and it gives us an opportunity to enjoy a nice sail on the ocean and get back to the marina relatively early in the day (if the wind is good). We were wonderfully blessed this year to have great weather and wonderful people to enjoy God's creation!

In the pursuit class each boat has it's own start time based on it's rating. If everyone sails to their rating we should all finish together so you actually know where you placed when you finish (if the Race Committee doesn't shorten the course).

The wind was variable all three days. Friday was the most consistent and we sailed the long course and finished in fourth place - I was pretty happy that we finished in the top half of the fleet. We had a rough start as a result of a couple of inbound ships that made excellent wind blocks of the light winds in the first few miles. By the time we made it to the channel we were doing better and continued to catch boats as we worked our way around the rest of the course. After the race we grilled burgers and had a little party on the boat so I never even made it to the party at the marina.

On Saturday the race was changed to the short course.  We were off to a better start and we made good progress out to just past G25 where there was a calm spot that caused the whole fleet to bunch up. This hurt the slower boats and helped the faster boats since we essentially caught the fleet. Once the wind filled in we quickly passed several boats and ended up chasing Waterlily, the only faster boat in the fleet, back in the channel. We ended up finishing third behind Waterlily and Direction.

Post by Thom Harrison.

Sunday was another light day race, the fleet stalled just past the end of the jetty's in four foot swells and light wind. Two of our crew fell victim to sea sickness while we were in the swells. We worked our way North to some wind we saw in the distance and were able to get some speed and make it to the G13 and head South to the mark. We passed several boats on the way South and ended up finishing Second behind Direction when they shortened the course by half, ending at the midpoint mark. Along the way to the mark we were passed by a large leatherback sea turtle - you can tell the winds are light when you get passed by a turtle.

Thank you crew for working really hard to keep the boat moving its fastest all weekend. We all learned a couple of things.

1. Having a clean bottom makes a huge Huge difference in boat speed. (We were pretty foul for the Frostbite Series races and it showed)
2. We can be competitive in light wind, we had convinced ourselves that we needed heavy wind to be successful and this simply not the case.
3. Keeping the sails well trimmed is a continuous process and requires constant attention of the trimmers and tactician.
4. The driver needs to focus on driving the boat. Every distraction (like sea turtles or a conversation) costs time.

The weekend was a lot of fun - getting some hardware made it extra special.

The start of Peregrine's 2014 Offshore Racing Season

Last Saturday kicked off the 2014 Offshore Series in Charleston and it was an incredible day to spend on the water. It was still a little chilly but with our move up to C class anyone working the spinnaker stayed warm enough. We had several new crew members aboard as well as many of our regulars from last season. The winds were a little light but perfect for learning to deploy and trim the spinnaker. The tidal currents were favorable for both the inbound and outbound legs of the race which made the trip go a little quicker.

We were still shaking the cobwebs out from winter so we weren't as quick as I'd hoped but we did have a great day out on the water and are looking forward to the next race.

Some interesting history on the name Peregrine:

Peregrine - Wandering, traveling, migratory. Not native to a region or country; foreign; alien.
Extrinsic or from without; exotic.
From - Peregrē - foreign (to or from abroad)

In 1620, Pilgrims William and Susanna White chose the name Peregrine for their son, the first English child born in the New World. Peregrine was born aboard the Mayflower while it was harbored in Provincetown. (At the Pilgrim Hall Museum in Plymouth, Massachusetts and you can still see his cradle!)

• Emperor Commodus sent the first Saint Peregrine to his death in the late 192 AD. His relics now reside in St. John’s Abbey in Minnesota;
• In the late 200s, another Peregrine set out for Gaul, converted the locals to Christianity and built a cathedral in Auxerre, before meeting his fate during the Diocletian persecutions;
• The sixth century Italian bishop Saint Cetteus is also known as Peregrinus;
• The thirteenth century Saint Peregrine Laziosi gave up his wild youthful ways following a vision, became a monk and is now considered the patron saint for cancer and AIDS patients.

References:
http://appellationmountain.net/name-of-the-day-peregrine/
http://www.saintjohnsabbey.org/your-visit/abbey-church/saint-peregrine-martyr/
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/peregrine

Ugghh

So far the 2014 racing season has not been kind to Peregrine,  for the CORA frostbite series we decided to move up to C class, which is with spinnaker. We were all set for the first race, but it was cancelled due to lack of wind. Unfortunately we also managed to clog the fuel filter so ended up drifting down the channel and finally anchoring while the intrepid crew changed the fuel filter and purged the fuel system. In the mean time a fog bank rolled in and we stationed a crewman to ring our fog bell since we were anchored at the edge of a channel. After about two hours we were able to fire the engine and motor back through the fog to the marina.

Race two was also a challenge and this time there was more wind than we were comfortable flying the spinnaker in. This was a good safety decision but didn't help our finishing position; we decided to withdraw when it appeared we were going to be lapped. The third race Peregrine stayed at the dock. David crewed on the J-24 Dirty White Bouy and I worked with the race committee at the start/finish line. It ended up being another drifter and was fun to watch from the Carolina YC dock. The fourth race was looking good but when we got to the marina wind was gusting to 30 knots and I decided it was too risky to try to get out of the marina with that much cross wind, most of the other skippers agreed with me and only a few boats started that race. The B fleet actually decided to defer a day and race Sunday instead.

This brings us to the final race of the series, scheduled for tomorrow. Last weekend when we were readying for a pleasure sale we discovered a crab pot float had fouled our propeller. I was hoping to clear it today but the cold weather deterred me and Peregrine will remain at the dock until the weather warms up. We did manage to get a picture of the offender and it doesn't look pretty.

With any luck the weather will warm up so I can get in the water and clear the prop and inspect the running gear. Hopefully this is not an indicator for the season.

It's a wrap!

The year is winding down and so apparently have the pleasant weather sailing opportunities; last weekend we were going to go out to watch the Christmas parade of boats, but the rain discouraged us and we ended up grilling at home instead. Our last adventure was helping Sea Scouts move their Watkins 27 - Menehune from the Charleston Harbor Marina to Pierside Boatworks, a distance of about five miles. We had a pleasant broad reach with the current and sailed under genoa alone following the Sea Scout vessel Menehune up the Cooper River. Just as we tied up to the dock at Pierside, the light drizzle turned into a downpour and we moved the crew from the Menehune onto Peregrine where the majority wisely sought shelter below.

The deluge continued as we motored back to Patriots point against the incoming tide and with a 20+ knot apparent headwind. Several of the Sea Scouts took a turn at the helm braving the elements and did a fine job safely moving the boat up the channel in reduced visibility. We also had Scouts below deck monitoring the AIS for any traffic that might be sneaking up on us.


While putting away the boat, a couple of the crew commented on the new pedestal cover, the old one finally succumbed to years in the sun. We sewed up a new one and it works like a champ!


The Charleston Ocean Racing Association has posted the race schedule for 2014, so if you are planning on joining us save some dates and drop me an email to be included on the crew evites, two of the major races are:
10-13 April 2014 - Charleston Race Week
23-25 May 2014 - The Gulfstreamer

We're also getting ready to do the Frostbite Series which are harbor races on alternating weekends starting January 5th and running through March 2nd.

Looking forward to seeing everyone on the water!

The end of our first racing season

Wow! This year has gone by so quickly; we just finished the last offshore race of the CORA racing season, the Alice Cup Regatta. Saturday morning we raced from Charleston to Bohicket and on Sunday we made the return trip. This was a great way to end the season, I hope the crew had as much fun as I did.  Before I get into the summary of the season, I would like to thank all the people that came out and crewed on Peregrine this year. In particular Mr Jim for being at every race and sharing his experience, as well as taking the helm while my rotator cuff was recovering, and also Ms Vivian for those wonderful sandwiches that kept us all going.

We started ou he season not even able to make it to the line on time to record a start but have come along way with great starts both Saturday and Sunday this past weekend. At the beginning of the year I'd planned on just doing the offshore race series but became addicted to the Wednesday night races and over the year our ability to tune the boat for speed has really improved. Our tacks have become much smoother and I've gotten better at not undershooting the mark, although Peregrine still seems to be a buoy magnet pulling itself towards any buoy within a few hundred yards.

This has also been a big project year and I'm extremely pleased with the way the new Electrical panel turned out, as well as the many little fixes over the summer.

Thanks again to all of you that made this great season possible, not just the crew but also all the great people at CORA that put together a great racing season.

Wednesday Night Racing

We just finished up our Wednesday night race series and are now looking forward to a few fall offshore races.

Just for the record, here was how the series stacked up for us, it definitely improved our sailing both as far as crew duties go and to really give me a better understanding of starts so it was well worth it (and we had a lot of fun!)

R1 - D Fleet
Start: Start 4, Finishes: Finish time, Time: 18:33:00, Distance: 3.6, Course: 11, Wind dir: S, Ave wind: 10-12
11 of 11

R2 - D Fleet - 07/17/2013 at 18:00
Start: Start 4, Finishes: Finish time, Time: 18:33:00, Distance: 3.6, Course: 2, Wind dir: SSW, Ave wind: 9
8 of 8 (tied DNS)

R3- Abandoned (A fleet only)
R4- Abandoned

R5 - D Fleet - 8/7/13 at 18:00
Start: Start 3, Finishes: Finish time, Time: 18:28:00, Distance: 5.1, Course: 1
7 of 11

R6 Not Raced

Makeup 2 - D Fleet - 8/28/13 at 18:00
Start: Start 4, Finishes: Finish time, Time: 18:33:00, Distance: 4.6, Course: 4
8 of 12

Makeup 3 - D Fleet - 9/4/13 at 18:00
Start: Start 3, Finishes: Finish time, Time: 18:48:00, Distance: 2.1, Course: 6
7 of 8

The next big challenge is to set aside some time to practice with the spinnaker, once we get proficient we will be able to move up to C fleet where there are two other boats that rate the same as we do, it would be nice not to be the lowest rated boat in the fleet for a change.

Thank you crew for really working hard and learning with me over the summer!

Finally getting the hang of this

Wednesday night we had an incredible race, the wind and weather was just about perfect for a sail with a steady breeze out of the South East at 15-20 knots.

We started about in the middle of the class D fleet, it seemed like everyone was a little late over the line but we were able to quickly move to the front of the fleet and were able to round BP ahead of the rest of the boats in our class.

The second leg was downwind and a bit more challenging for us from a boat speed perspective. Several boats were able to gain ground on us. Kamikaze rounded the mark ahead of us and Pied-a-Mer was right on our heels.

 Once we rounded G27 we were sailing very close to the wind to make the mark without tacking. Some of the other boats fell off a bit to pick up speed but it didn't appear to pay off for them.

On the last leg we slowly caught and then passed Kamikaze, crossing the line about a boat length ahead. Although this wasn't our best finish of the season, it was very satisfying to be first across the line.

We took a leisurely sail back to the marina, enjoying the beautiful conditions.

Charleston to Savannah Race

We were rushing to get ready for this race. During the Georgetown race we needed to keep running the engine because we didn't have enough battery capacity to keep the running lights on all night. For this race I upgraded from a single 100 amp hour battery (the second one died earlier in the season), to  a 100 amp hour  starting bank and a 200 amp hour house bank.

Unfortunately we had several cancellations among the crew during the last week and even on the day of the race. Although this made for less crowding below, we were a little short handed to run watches for an overnight race with a stiff breeze.

Everyone was aboard on time and we had a very good start, contending with several of the C class boats out to G25. As we started out the channel the boat became over-powered and hard to keep from rounding up. We muscled up the channel with about 18kts apparent wind and then had to drop out of the channel to avoid shipping traffic and then had to fight back to windward to round G15. Once we'd rounded the mark the finish was dead downwind. We angled offshore a little to keep the sails filling and improve the boats motion.

After hearing a weather warning, I checked the weather radar and saw some significant weather ahead. After discussing with the crew we decided to withdraw and head back to Charleston. We put a reef in and started heading back up towards G15 and then back into the harbor.

We weren't alone in our decision, as a result we tied for first with the other boats that withdrew -

Summer racing series goal achieved!

Great work crew!

Last week (August 7th) we accomplished one of my summer goals! We finished a race in a position above last place.  This may seem like we were setting the bar low; however after several DNS (did not start) and a few last place finishes I was wondering if we would ever move up in the standings!

We started out with some bottom of the fleet finishes during Charleston Race Week, then had a DNS for our first offshore race. Then a last place finish in the offshore race to Georgetown. We followed that up with a few DNS and last place finishes during CORAs summer series II. Then we had the the good fortune to have two races abandoned, one due to lack of wind and one due to thunderstorms.

During the 5th race I finally pulled off a decent start (thanks to much prodding from Jim Wilson) and we were ahead of our fleet by the first mark. We lost ground after the first mark but were able to pull off a 7th place finish in an eleven boat fleet.

Hopefully the practicing we've done in the Wednesday night series will pay off during this weekends offshore race to Savannah.

Summer Sailstice

We decided to pass on the Sailstice race this year. I hurt my shoulder during Charleston Race Week, straining my rotator cuff, so on doctors orders I'm taking it easy.

We sailed out under genoa alone  at about 6 pm making a course for Ft Sumter, once past the shallow water in the middle of the harbor we shifted course towards Fort Johnson. The wind was great and we were making an easy 4 knots.

Summer solstice full moon in Charleston Harbor

We dropped anchor just off Fort Johnson and broke in the new grill, which was on sale at West Marine and purchased earlier that morning. The Bubba Burgers turned out great and we enjoyed watching the race along with an incredible full moon once the sun set over the city skyline. At about 10:30 we raised anchor and motored back to the marina.

I am going to keep trying to blog at least once a month but if you are looking for more things Peregrine you can visit the Facebook page at S/V Peregrine.

Steady progress

I haven't done a very good job of keeping up with the blog for the past several months, so this is a start at getting caught up. I originally wrote this in February and a lot has transpires since then.

 I removed the battery box to gain access to the gate valve that serves as the seacock for the seawater cooling circuit intake. One of the projects on the haul out list was to replace the gate valve with a ball valve. After removing the batteries and the battery box I was able to put a wrench on the valve, unfortunately the handle encountered a bulkhead when I tried to unscrew it. After cutting the handle off of the valve I was able to finally remove the valve body from the through hull. Because of the clearance I chose to replace with a Forespar Marelon piece, which wasn't in stock at the local West Marine but they were able to order it and have it for me on Monday.

I also took the opportunity to sound a couple of sections of the hull uncovering four additional blisters that the yard had so far missed. There are just under 60 blisters that have been identified so far and all but the new ones have been ground out. The sanding of the hull appears to be about 30% complete. The rudder has been dropped and all the blistering on it sanded out, the damage on the tip has been opened up but the core is still draining a little. With the rudder dropped it was reassuring to see that the rudder shaft was in excellent condition.

While on the hard we also did maintenance on the winches, bringing them home to soak in kerosene  for cleaning off the old grease freeing several pawls that had stuck tight.

There was some play in the propeller strut and while the yard was cleaning up the bottom I took on the task of tightening up the strut. First I had to remove both quarter berth bunks and the holding tanks, then I ground off the top of the strut housing. I poured in crack filling epoxy, completing several applications which finally tightened up the strut. Finally I closed up the strut housing with many layers of glass cloth and epoxy, and faired the exterior of the hull around the strut.

After long consideration, I decided it just isn't right to have a boat named for another man's wife, so we removed the name and hailing port from the stern and aft quarters. We actually launched without a name to get back in the water ahead of Charleston Race Week.

We also cleaned off the stripe above the boot stripe and touched up several spots where the boot stripe had been rubbed away. I removed and rebuilt two of the three heads which made a huge difference once we were back in the water.

The last thing I finished up was to finish purging air from the fuel lines. I was concerned that we would need to hand line the boat from the hoist to the dock but after a few cranks, the engine fired and we were able to move to the dock under our own power. After several months on the hard, we finally were back in the water and motored to our new home at the Charleston Harbor Marina on April 12, 2013.

Sailing Withdrawl

I stopped by the boat today briefly over lunch to check on progress at Pierside Boatyard in North Charleston. Last week we put a moisture meter on the hull and found it to be quite wet. The hull was peeled in 1995 to mitigate a blister issue with the resins used in the 1980's for boat construction. The layer of resin and fiberglass that was laid down to replace the gelcoat that was stripped has absorbed some water.

The yard finished media blasting the hull last week removing all the old bottom paint and most of the old barrier coat so the hull could dry and the blisters we found could be repaired. The recent dry spell has helped a lot in the drying process.

While the boat is out of the water three are three major projects going on, first is all the work to repair the blister damage and protect the hull with a new barrier coat. The second is to repair some damage on the tip of the rudder, both of these issues were identified during the survey so aren't a surprise. The third item is a some play in the propeller strut - hull joint, this is a new discovery but not a huge issue to correct, hopefully.

We are still on track to get the boat back in the water about mid-March to be ready for Charleston Race week and the CORA offshore series.

I'll be updating the blog as we get closer to launch, if you are interested in crewing let me know. I will also accept volunteers to come down and sand on the bottom to get it as smooth as possible before we put her back in the water.