From - Mon Mar 10 13:18:05 1997 Received: from hubbub.cisco.com (hubbub.cisco.com [198.92.30.31]) by cheerios.cisco.com (8.6.10/8.6.5) with ESMTP id MAA21996 for ; Mon, 10 Mar 1997 12:09:25 -0800 Received: from bolero.rahul.net (root@bolero.rahul.net [192.160.13.1]) by hubbub.cisco.com (8.8.4-Cisco.1/CISCO.GATE.1.1) with SMTP id MAA23987 for ; Mon, 10 Mar 1997 12:09:22 -0800 (PST) Received: from waltz.rahul.net by bolero.rahul.net with SMTP id AA28699 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5 for ); Mon, 10 Mar 1997 12:09:20 -0800 From: Randy Devol Received: by waltz.rahul.net (5.67b8/jive-a2i-1.0) id AA12722; Mon, 10 Mar 1997 12:09:19 -0800 Date: Mon, 10 Mar 1997 12:09:19 -0800 Message-Id: <199703102009.AA12722@waltz.rahul.net> To: cliff.sojourner@cisco.com Subject: Blade Runnings 6 X-Mozilla-Status: 0001 Content-Length: 7415 Blade Runnings Volume 6, August 1, 1996 Hi! (If you received this email, you are on the unofficial Trifoiler email list I maintain. About once per month, (or more often if the news is worthy) I try to update list members with information about the Trifoiler and what I have been doing with Blade Runner. If you do not want to be on the list, let me know.) This report covers one short day of sailing on 7/27, a day just for "fun." >From Blade Runnings volume 5: So, with repairs to the boat and sails done, I headed out to Chrissy Field Saturday morning to launch and start the Silver Eagle race organized by the Island Yacht Club but run from the race deck of the St. Francis Yacht club. That launch went so well, I decided to go back to Chrissy Field for a day of sailing just for fun. No race. No tuning. Just fun. Ha! Well, one week after having a fun day sailing the Silver Eagle, on a day that was supposed to be sailing JUST for fun (no race), the second worst thing imaginable happened. Blade Runner broke in the middle of the S.F. Bay, capsized, nearly sank, was nearly run over by a Navy ship, and the passenger narrowly escaped hypothermia. Fortunately, no one was hurt, and Hobie has promised to repair all the damage to Blade Runner. It is just bloody inconvenient. It further shakes my confidence in the boat, and in Hobie Cat's ability to manufacture them. It is one thing to be crazy enough to want to sail at 35 mph with buckets of water splashing in your face. It is foolish to sail a boat that has a history of breaking in the San Francisco Bay. Chris, my racing crew, was giving his 14 year old son, Todd, a ride while I took a lunch break. He sailed for 20+ minutes with no problems, until Todd was cold and ready to return to shore. Just as he was jibing (near the bridge) to return to Chrissy Field the bolts holding the lower rudder casting onto the transom pulled through, leaving the rudder held onto the boat only by the control wires, and letting water into the "watertight" compartment, which allowed the boat to capsize. With the weight of Chris and Todd, water in the cockpit, water in the aft compartment, and wind pressure on the sails, Blade Runner rolled backwards, leaving about 8 feet of the bow, the amas, and sensors point skyward. I would like to point out that there are two access ports on Blade Runner, one in the stern compartment, (original equipment) and one just behind the king post (that I installed forward of the steering quadrant). Both port covers are just pressed in place, and held in place by a tight fit. Both port covers popped open due to air pressure from the inside. Hindsight: screw-type ports would have been more secure, and would not have popped open, and may have kept Blade Runner from capsizing. Another note to current and/or future Trifoiler owners: these screws that pulled out did not (!?!?!?!) have any washers, at all. None. Nothing wider than the nut head (1/2 inch) was holding the screws in place. If you have or get such a boat, run, don't walk to your nearest marine hardware store and add the biggest washers you can find. There was solid fiberglass instead of foam between the transom skins, and the fiberglass de-laminated from the inside skin. If Blade Runner had had washers, the skin might not have delaminated at all, and I might not be tell you this sad tale. So, there they were, bows up in the middle of the channel, 200 yards from the Golden Gate Bridge, the tide was ebbing (going out) the wind was blowing in and Todd is swimming around the boat wearing just a 3mm shorty wet suit. Fortunately, a passing sailboat(name unknown) picked up Todd (literally) and two chase boats from the St. Francis Yacht Club assisted Chris in getting Blade Runner back to Chrissy Field. Their first attempts to turn Blade Runner failed due to wind pressure against the part of the sails protruding above the water. At one point, the main hull and both amas were completely under water. It had submarined. The coast Guard Aux. boat informed the rescue boats that a Navy ship was inbound and that they needed to either succeed or cast Blade Runner adrift. Pulling the other direction on the bow turtled it (turned it completely upside down), but it worked, and they were able to tow it, turtled, to the beach. (Almost immediately the compression strut collapsed, letting the masts "fall" toward the surface and fold neatly up against the hull. Since they were mostly full of air, they floated so were not at risk as Blade Runner neared shore.) Once Blade Runner was back to the beach, we dis-assembled it (upside down, in waist deep water), placed it on the trailer, piece by piece, and then went home. Sunday, Chris and I inspected it very thoroughly and made an extensive list of damage, almost all of which occurred while it was being towed upside down. Next week (8/3/96 through 8/11/96) I am extending a previously planned vacation to include the Hobie Cat Factory. Greg promised that if I dropped the boat off on Thursday morning, it will be completely repaired by Sunday morning, when I must drive north. It is very nice of me to take the boat there and it is very nice of them to fix it quickly. Lessons learned: 1. All future riders must on Blade Runner must be dressed warmly enough to "hang out" in the water for at least 30 minutes comfortably. This means either a 6.5 mm wet suit or a dry suit. No more 3 mm shorty suits allowed for rides in the S. F. Bay. (Such thin wet suits would be allowed when sailing on a lake with warmer water.) 2. Attach the VHF radio to a person on the boat, not to the boat. 3. Place the emergency flares some place OTHER than the aft compartment. I had plans to do this already but had not yet made the changes. 4. Possibly add an air bladder to the aft compartment or to the bow. ... and others more personal. More details to those who request it. I taped an interview with Chris that describes in great detail what happened and in what order (transcribed to text). I have a detailed list of damage and lost articles. I have lots more material, but this is enough for now. Again, kudos and thanks to the un-named sailboat who showed great boat control when they sailed close enough to (literally) pick up Todd. Kudos and thanks to the Coast Guard Auxiliary who stood by and kept us informed about incoming shipping traffic with plenty of time to get out of harms way. And an especially loud "Hip Hip!" to the chase boats from the St. Francis Yacht club who expertly maneuvered their boats around mine without hitting it once, and who spent an unexpected extra two hours on the water for our sake. Folks like these are another reason I think the sailing on the San Francisco Bay has got to be the best in the world. -=O=- Randy ////||||||\\\| randyd@shell.portal.com _______\o_____//////||||\\\\| / Blade Runner ///////||\\\\\|===>\ Trifoiler Hull #42 ||______________________<=====||====>\__> ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ || ~~ \__> ~~ ~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~