Return to Hobie.com
Hobie Forums
It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 5:49 am

All times are UTC - 8 hours [ DST ]




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 46 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4  Next
Author Message
 Post subject: Re: 2016 Texas 200
PostPosted: Sun Jan 31, 2016 8:51 pm 
Offline
Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Sat Jan 14, 2012 8:24 pm
Posts: 780
Location: Houston, TX
I'm not sure we need to worry too much about it. If we get charged, we get charged. If we can't fit all three in the slip, we may be able to store our amas and akas in our rooms. Heck I may be able to get my whole AI in my room. From the pictures the rooms appear to all be on the ground floor.

_________________
Greg

2016 AI - Spinn & Jib

“Out of sight of land the sailor feels safe. It is the beach that worries him.”
– Charles G. Davis

Image


Last edited by vetgam on Mon Feb 01, 2016 5:43 am, edited 1 time in total.

Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: 2016 Texas 200
PostPosted: Sun Jan 31, 2016 9:59 pm 
Offline
Site Rank - Admiral

Joined: Fri Oct 24, 2014 2:13 pm
Posts: 161
Location: San Antonio, TX
Ha, At one point I had thought about keeping my boat in the room also! Well, I guess we'll just see what happens...

_________________
-- Chad | 2014 TI


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: 2016 Texas 200
PostPosted: Tue Apr 19, 2016 4:00 pm 
Offline
Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Sat Jan 14, 2012 8:24 pm
Posts: 780
Location: Houston, TX
Those entering the Texas 200. What are your plans exiting Espirtu Santo Bay? Do you plan to exit through the ICW, Saluria Bayou or Big Bayou? I may attempt Big Bayou although I originally planned for ICW. Have either of you sailed that stretch?

_________________
Greg

2016 AI - Spinn & Jib

“Out of sight of land the sailor feels safe. It is the beach that worries him.”
– Charles G. Davis

Image


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: 2016 Texas 200
PostPosted: Tue Apr 19, 2016 7:34 pm 
Offline
Site Rank - Admiral

Joined: Fri Oct 24, 2014 2:13 pm
Posts: 161
Location: San Antonio, TX
I'm guessing by that point, I'll either be sick of being on a boat and will take the ICW, or I'll be having a blast and will attempt one of the other routes! My current plan is to take the easy route and exit on the ICW. I was never really sure about the other routes since on the charts they look very shallow in spots. I'm hoping there will be some talk about it during the trip. Then if I'm still feeling adventurous, I'll attempt one of the other routes. During past research about the 200, I thought I remember people taking Mitchell's cut to Saluria Bayou. I'll have to try to dig up the information again.

_________________
-- Chad | 2014 TI


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: 2016 Texas 200
PostPosted: Tue Apr 19, 2016 8:32 pm 
Offline
Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Sat Jan 14, 2012 8:24 pm
Posts: 780
Location: Houston, TX
Chad those are my exact thoughts. I may be ready for the easy way home too. I'll likely make an on the spot decision.

Another thought was maybe after leaving Haps Cut we should consider sailing past the North Padre Island camp site on to the marina at Snoopy's to get more ice and then go on make our own camp as we enter Corpus Christi Bay. This assures we get there before they run out of ice.Also, by then, I may be interested in a real dinner st Snoopys. I guess it depends on how our ice is holding up and how fast our boast are compared to the fleet. If we're the slow ones I could see them running out of ice by the time we get there. I expect to be running out of ice about then.

_________________
Greg

2016 AI - Spinn & Jib

“Out of sight of land the sailor feels safe. It is the beach that worries him.”
– Charles G. Davis

Image


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: 2016 Texas 200
PostPosted: Wed Apr 20, 2016 6:59 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Admiral

Joined: Fri Oct 24, 2014 2:13 pm
Posts: 161
Location: San Antonio, TX
That sounds good about the ice and Snoopy's. I'll definitely be up for a real dinner by then, and Snoopy's is so conveniently located along the route, it'd be hard not to stop there! Also, with day 3 being a short day, it shouldn't be a problem getting in the extra distance. I'll probably want to top off my water supply there as well.

As far as possible and convenient places for ice, water and/or supply stops, here's what I have:
End of day 1 and/or beginning of day 2 - Port Mansfield
Beginning of day 4 (end of day 3 on alternate plan) - Marina at Snoopy's
End of day 4 - FIn and Feather Marina

Are you planning on just the one stop? I haven't completely decided on what food I'll be bringing along, but I'm hoping to keep the cold stuff down to a minimum so that I can minimise ice usage.

_________________
-- Chad | 2014 TI


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: 2016 Texas 200
PostPosted: Thu Apr 21, 2016 6:01 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Sat Jan 14, 2012 8:24 pm
Posts: 780
Location: Houston, TX
With about 30 miles on each leg of the trip, I think we should have plenty of time to stop along the way. I'm certainly not too proud to stop as many times as possible. Thanks for the marina locations, that's very helpful info.

Yesterday I finished purchasing all my canned dinners. Lunch on the boat is my biggest challenge now. I'm begging to feel the pressure to get ready. Won't be long now.

I purchased one of those little usb charged fans for the trip. Not sure if it will survive the elements but they are cheap and boy do they work well! Should be nice in the tent at the end of the day.

_________________
Greg

2016 AI - Spinn & Jib

“Out of sight of land the sailor feels safe. It is the beach that worries him.”
– Charles G. Davis

Image


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: 2016 Texas 200
PostPosted: Thu Apr 21, 2016 6:31 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Admiral

Joined: Fri Oct 24, 2014 2:13 pm
Posts: 161
Location: San Antonio, TX
Yeah, I know that if I don't start prepping now, I'll be rushing to get ready... that starting day is going to creep up out of nowhere!

I haven't really figured out lunch either. I might make a sandwich each morning to have ready when I get hungry, or maybe just have snacks (can of sardines, jerky, chips...) throughout the day. That's basically what I normally do when I go out.

No problem for the marina info. Stay tuned because I'm currently working on plotting my GPS waypoints. I should be finished in the next few days or so, then I'll export to a .gpx file and post it up for anyone to use. It'll have waypoints along the route that I'm planning to take, the locations of convenient marinas and in case something happens, the locations of boat ramps/parks along the way in case of needing to bail out of the event.

The fan sounds like a good idea, I might have to look into one of those. I'm sure the nights will be warm!

_________________
-- Chad | 2014 TI


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: 2016 Texas 200
PostPosted: Fri Apr 29, 2016 6:28 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Admiral

Joined: Fri Oct 24, 2014 2:13 pm
Posts: 161
Location: San Antonio, TX
Here's the link to my gpx file of the waypoints along my planned route, along with the locations of Marinas and boat ramps (places to bailout) along the way. Feel free to download and use.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByYKz2vhpWygTHd1aHIxQ0I4VTg/view?usp=sharing

_________________
-- Chad | 2014 TI


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: 2016 Texas 200
PostPosted: Fri Apr 29, 2016 10:24 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Sat Jan 14, 2012 8:24 pm
Posts: 780
Location: Houston, TX
Thanks Chad!

_________________
Greg

2016 AI - Spinn & Jib

“Out of sight of land the sailor feels safe. It is the beach that worries him.”
– Charles G. Davis

Image


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: 2016 Texas 200
PostPosted: Sun Jun 19, 2016 12:38 pm 
Offline
Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Sat Jan 14, 2012 8:24 pm
Posts: 780
Location: Houston, TX
The Texas 200 is over. We had 3 Islanders in the race. I was not able to finish but Chad did! The other TI with Pat and Mike (from Atlanta, GA) finished as well.

Image

Here were a sample of the interesting boats. Most of these were made by the sailors themselves. The talent in this group was pretty amazing.

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Here we were, the three Islanders.

Image

My story was one of boat failures and medical problems that made me drop out on the end of the first day. As you read on, it may sound like the spinnaker was a disaster but the reality was that everything could have been prevented and I learned a great deal. The spinnaker was just too much fun, and with a few mods, will stay on the boat. During the trip I thought I was having problems with my blood sugar being to low but in reality my cortisol levels were too low due to exertion and my Addison's disease. This would not have been an issue were it not for the mechanical errors I was about to experience. I had made modifications within weeks of the regatta and that itself was a mistake. To little time to work out and test the mods. Here is what happened to me.

Launched and as I tried to unfurl the main, realized I had an unrecoverable snag on my spin/mast. Returned to launch site to demasted to fix it.

After sailing into open water, I attempted to raise the spin. It got half way up but would go no further. I then realized that the spin halyard had flipped up over the wind indicator and I could not raise the half raised spin up further or bring it down. This required an open water demasting with a flailing half raised spin. It required all the strength I could to do it in 15mph winds.

As time passed, I looked down to see my left rear aka had come out of the crossbrace. The insert was now only half in. I was unable to push the aka back into a locking position. Furled the sails and secured the ama with rope. No good options but to sail on, keeping a close eye on the half inserted aka. I would later find out that the cross bar had actually come loose and shifted 1 inch to the right! Never heard of that before. Ultimately fixable days later by repositioning the bar and tightening the hex bolts.

While taking a picture with my phone (bone head move), I see out of the corner of my eye a channel marker and I am quickly bearing down on it. Attempted to steer but sea weed had jammed my rudder. Only time to save my valuables -phone, keys and wallet and ram the boat or the clear the rudder and steer risking losing valuables. Chose the valuables. Looked for my small valubles dry bag but could not find it. Wasting valuable seconds i notice it floating in the front of the cockpit.As soon as the valuables were secured, my boat rammed into the marker breaking the aka pin but nothing else. Safety lines held. Replaced the aka pin and sailed on.

I later managed to push the aka pack into the support. I tightened the backup support rope while I had the chance.

I time I notice that I was sitting deeper in water and that waves were consistently coming over cockpit now. Had to furl and stop sailing to open the hatch. Got the bilge and started bailing but more water would crash over the hull and into the hatch than I could bail. Stopped bailing and continued on. Too far out into open water to return back. I had repaired the front hatch 2 weeks earlier and assumed it was failing. It was not. Little did I know, my hull's drain plug was only half way in and loose. I would discover this a few days later.

Looked down and my aka had come out again. Could not secure it. Left it roped on and continued to sail. Took medication, very needed now.

At this point I was sinking slowly and the nose of the boat would submarine under every other wave. Found a spoil island and got out of the boat to bail the hull.

Took off sailing again. I could not open the main sail. Turns out the spin halyard had another unrecoverable snag. Had to demast in open water and fix. Had I been smart I would have bagged up the spin but at this point I was over heating and exhausted.

Shortly thereafter I was sailing and attempted to furl the main. I could not do it. I had a difficult but this time recoverable snag (after 15 min of working the snag. Sailed on.

Got to the jetties where we were to sail upwind 6 miles to camp. It was now too late in the day and winds made tacking grueling. Ran aground. Tide now coming in and now passage was impossible. Walked the boat to deeper water and sailed to a spoil island in hope of beddding down on my own. Ran aground at my target island and as I dragged the boat closer it was apparent that the island was too shallow and it may be underwater once the tide rolled in. Bailed the boat again. Took some overdue medication.

Dusk would be coming soon so I elected plan B and would sail across the now rough bay back to Port Mansfield in hopes for options.

Made it to an island where a few other boats in the same predicament. I was exhausted and unfortunately as I approached the island my dagger board dug into the mud. I had to walk the boat into deeper water and pull up board and walk boat back to the beach. Every square foot of sand on the beach contained bird eggs. This was a wildlife protected area and there would be no camping. One guy said there was a park 1/4 mile south of Port Mansfield. Took off again for Port Mansfield.

As I attempted to leave the island, I ran aground once more. Walked boat to deeper waters and took off.

Sailed to the park and could not see a ramp as heavy winds were blowing me by the park. I had to land the boat between two piers on whatever I would find along the shore- hopefully a sandy beach. Turned out to be big pipe bulkhead and there was no way to pull the boat onto the beach. Once I reached the bulkhead I was exhausted, I just got out of the boat and held on to it to protect it until I could catch my breath. A guy came up and said there was an area to land the boat if I had just gone one pier further.

Got in the boat and attempted to sail it one more pier over but the winds just blew and exhausted me into the pier I could not fight it. I used the paddle to minimize the crash and somehow nothing was damage. But now I had no way out. Winds kept bashing the boat into the pier and eventually under the pier. This continued for over the next five minutes with no apparent options. I decided to reverse the mirage drive and back out from under the per with all my might. This would blow me back to the pipe bulkhead but at least i would not be ramming my boat into the pier over and over. Eventually I was successful and hanging onto my boat at the bulkhead again. The same guy suggested I walk the boat along the shoreline to the prior upwind dock and tie it off. That's what I did.

I grabed a few bags and put them on shore. Sat down until my body recovered and my mind cleared. Check my blood sugar and it was getting low. I had a huge headache and was likely headed for an insulin reaction. As it turned out, I was actually going in an Addison's adrenal crisis due to a lack of cortisol. This is another medical condition that I have that causes me to weaken quickly and eventually collapse. It creates a balancing act between the cortisol and insulin needs. I removed more bags and cooked some soup.
After regaining some energy, I sailed the boat to the better landing area, made camp.

Blood sugar was not going up like normal after the meal so I made the decision I could not continue further. Reviewed the forecast. The next 2 days of the trip were now showing winds of 22mph with gust of 28-30 mph. Notified wife and sailing partner in another Hobie island that I was done and could not see another 5 days of this.

The next morning I found that the one dry bag had failed and was full water and GPS batteries. No GPS, not good.

My wife picked me up the next day. After a day of physical recovery and making boat repairs, I meet back with the regatta for one more day of sailing and camping before heading home.

As far as the spinnaker, I had cut about 3 inches off the PVC at the mast head prior to this trip. Big mistake, as it was working fine before the trip. The snuffer bag needs to be supported on long excursions like this. I will have to build something if I don't want to use the tramps, which I did not. I will pack lighter and make a checklist for the boat next time, not just the items I need to take. I will have to adjust my medications for the extreme heat and activity. Live and learn. I'll be back next year and probably many more to come. I had no idea how much fun this would be.

Image

_________________
Greg

2016 AI - Spinn & Jib

“Out of sight of land the sailor feels safe. It is the beach that worries him.”
– Charles G. Davis

Image


Last edited by vetgam on Tue Jun 21, 2016 10:57 am, edited 1 time in total.

Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: 2016 Texas 200
PostPosted: Sun Jun 19, 2016 6:32 pm 
Offline
Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Sat Nov 05, 2011 1:58 am
Posts: 2893
Location: Forster, NSW, Australia
Wow! Thanks for posting your warts and all experience Greg. Your heart must have been in your mouth more than once as the succession of relatively minor issues occurred.

Glad to see no permanent damage was sustained. You will no doubt have a better time of it next year!

_________________
Tony Stott
2012 Tandem Island "SIC EM" with Hobie spinnaker


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: 2016 Texas 200
PostPosted: Mon Jun 20, 2016 7:40 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Tue Jun 19, 2007 6:14 pm
Posts: 3323
Location: South Florida
Like Tony: WOW! Heck of a story. Tough to have medical problems and boat problems all rolled into one large problem. Yes, when you come back next year, you will be MUCH better prepared. Thanks for posting.

Keith

_________________
2015 AI 2, 2014 Tandem

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

"Less is more" Anon


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: 2016 Texas 200
PostPosted: Mon Jun 20, 2016 8:39 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Thu Jun 01, 2006 1:16 pm
Posts: 605
Location: Colorado
Yep.. good story and an adventure even though it ended too soon. Inspiring.. Im close enough to that event to possibly try it some day with the TI, sounds like I would need about a year to prepare for it.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: 2016 Texas 200
PostPosted: Mon Jun 20, 2016 10:52 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Deck Hand

Joined: Fri Jun 03, 2016 7:13 am
Posts: 6
Location: Big Bend area of Florida
Thanks for the detailed write-up, Greg. I also have Addison's Disease and will have my TI this Friday. I will use your tale as a reminder regarding medical preparations when going on an extended trip.


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 46 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4  Next

All times are UTC - 8 hours [ DST ]


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Jump to:  
© Hobie Cat Company. All rights reserved.
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group