Vic Maui dodgers and other marine canvas

Given that this is a marine canvas blog we feel it's appropriate to discuss the canvas of the Vic Maui boats.

 Straight Express jumps out as having the most luxurious (for a racing boat) dodger and bimini. For a long race like Vic Maui with cold/hot extremes it would really make a difference in comfort level to have a set up like this.

Red Sheilla has a nice smaller dodger, that would help as well especially in the weather that confronted the boats  in the first few days of the race. We love the color too!

Sonsie also opted for a smaller racier dodger with what looks like a hard top, plus a foldable bimini for the tropical part of the journey.

The super star of the race Terremoto! has a neat hard racing dodger.

Terremoto! also has abundant organizational bags and soft lockers. With the chaos that a racing in rough weather can bring, this is a great idea.

Delicate Balance is finaly in San Francisco

Delicate Balance is at the dock in San Francisco and the crew is starting to work on fixing the boat and preparing it for delivery home.

Delicate Balance – Slooow

The wind dropped to 5 knots, the engine doesn't work, sailing under the spinnaker, but still too slow. With the engine out of the equation and the wind dying San Francisco is getting further not closer. They are working on trying to fix the engine, if it works they have enough fuel to motor to port.

Delicate Balance gets renamed - Diabolic Bastard

Looks like DB will have to rename the boat (LOL)

They have 300 miles left to SF. The boat will need repairs. The engine won't start and they are charging batteries by towed generator. They have 12 knots of wind and are going at 7.5 knots. Expecting to get to SF Friday night.

DB quote of the day:
....Love from all on DB (aka Diabolic Bastard)....

All is well – joking as usual....

Tracking Delicate Balance

Something to keep in mind:
If you don't see a position updated on the spot tracker (hasn't been updated in 4 hours) don't worry it's likely b/c they are conserving batteries (or out of batteries). Russell said that they are ok and fairly comfortable (only slightly dump at this point).

Terremoto! - we are thinking of you

As previously reported 2 other boats in the race have injured crew on board.

Susan from Terremotto! suffered a pretty serious injury.

From Tettomoto! blog
[.....the boat immediately leaned over and Susan  fell 8 feet straight down on the lower edge of the cockpit.  She was harnessed into the cockpit but the harness is designed to let the wearer move across the cockpit freely.  So, nothing stopped her fall until her left side slammed squarely on the edge of the cockpit.  She looked like an egg that had just been cracked of the side of a frying pan....]

[.....Since her fall we have kept Susan still.  But, today, 3 days after her fall, she is able to sit up on her own and her smile says she is actually starting to mend.  She is one tough woman.
Each morning we discuss pulling the plug on the race and heading back to the west coast.  Susan is the strongest advocate for continuing on to Maui. When she was first injured the prospects of beating upwind to get back to the west coast in gale force winds we not something she wanted to do.  It would have taken another couple days and it made that option sound like torture rather than help.   So, we continue on.  We have slowed the boat to try and minimize the stress on Susan from any pounding caused by the big waves along our route....]

[.....We have adjusted the watch schedule and reduced sail area to a point that we think it is best for Susan.  Each of us naps during the day then goes on deck for two hours with the other two getting 4 hours of rest in a row.  This system is allowing us to rest enough to get us all to Maui.....]

It's interesting to note that even after slowing the boat down and not really trying to race anymore, just trying to keep Susan comfortable, Terremotto! is going faster that any other boat in the race. With just 3 crew.... they are tough!!

Paul Bieker (the designer of this Riptide 35) must get busy with more people discovering how amazing this boat is performing.

Delicate Balance - some explanation

At 8:30 am we got relatively detailed phone (!) report on what happened to Delicate Balance. And some insight on why they pulled out of the race.  Apart from rough seas DB experienced multiple problems with their electrical system. They had trouble with their generator, so charging the battery was a challenge. They have solar panels on board, but there was no sun. Considering that all their navigational instruments run on electricity that was bad news. They also had some huge waves that drenched the boat inside-out and problems with the stove as previously reported.
They have concluded that the likelihood of future technical problems is too high, and when the next problem arises they wanted to be closer to shore. But the shore is still ways to go. They are expecting to arrive to San Francisco on Saturday.