Short sailing bio
1998 First sailing on a 50'-catamaran from Isla Mujeres to Cozumel, Mexico. First time crew, first time night sail, first time night shift reponsible, first time dive to 35 meters in 5 kt current. First time doing navigation, since the (German) skipper was not able to use the maps nor the Gps.
2000 Lake sailing licence
2016 Sailing with rented boat in Geneva
2017 Joining the YCC, Y and SU key the same year, self learner. I'm going out 44 times on SU-Class this first year. That is how you progress as skipper.
2017 first sailing in England, Wales, Ireland and Northern Ireland, 33'-boat, the only crew on board, passage on the Irish Sea from Holyhead to Dublin
2018 GS- and M-key, starting as SU teacher since then, participating on club regattas, most liked a match race on Y
2018 Second sailing in England and Scilly Islands, the only crew on board
2019 Third sailing in England, along the whole southern cost, as the only crew on board. Strongest bf 7.
2020 Swiss Ocean skipper licence, thanks to practise with Joe (British skipper), Kirill (YCC) and Manfred (YCC)
2021 First time skipper on a 45'-boat in Greece, Thessaloniki; two more cruises as skipper in Turkey (42') and Greece (55'), strongest bf 7. Starting YCC cat practice for key.
Race preparation
May 24, 2022 - First steps
- Approval of request to the club committee for taking Mamamia
- First good echo from some club committee members, also offering me help
- Being asked to share preparational work by the club
- Finding this project intriguing
May 25 - First studies about the challenge
- Start to studying weather and wind patterns on the whole lake over Meteo-parapente.com
- Receiving mail from SNG, confirming that the inscriptions will be first come first serve. 100 sailors. And that I have to be quick for that.
- Watching tutorials about single handed spi hoisting
- Have to wait for the approval from the club until end of June
- Inscriptions are beginning end of June (26.6).
- Buying a personal lifeline for 104 francs. There is for much more expensive.
May 26 - First checklist
- First ideas about how to prepare
- Made checklist to prepare (see at the end of the document)
May 29 - First preparations
- I’m cleaning the hull of MamaMia together with Thierry and Maria. He tells me that he did the Translémanique 11 years ago. What a surprise. And he tells me about the Luigi-Blog of 2019.
I'm checking all the blogs. They are very interesting.
- I write Luigi, the former club president and Translem sailor, about the Autohelm, my main concern: How to install a stable steering device while handling the spi rigging.
May 30 - The answer of Luigi, a pro
I receive an enthusiastic mail from Luigi saying: “What a great news!!! congrats i m superhappy if you continue the tradition of solo sailing in the translemanique, that is also a great opportunity to take care of the boat.”
He offers me help: “let me know if u have any question but i m sure u are more than well trained to enjoy the translemanique!!“.
And finally: “I wish u the best and i m fully supporting your translemanique adventure.”
This is a great compliment. Very motivating. Thank you so much. Luigi.
He gives me the blog link: https://translemanique2019.blogspot.com/?m=1. As I watch it, I almost get a pale: Luigi did a great work to prepare the race. And a great communication. Now, I understand why Andrin Hunziker (YCC) asked me to set up a “platform” to share my preparation. Luigi is the example and role model. But I don’t think I can be as good as him.
June 1
and 15 - First regatta training
Twice visited the regatta training with 3 crew. Remembered all the possible problems with hoisting the spi. Did the No 1 role to practise. Managed the pass my knowledge of the hoisting method on Wednesday 15 June to my crew. They understood well. But we still had at some tangled lines, before or after hoisting the spi. Will have to work it out. And I will have to mark the right distance of spi sheet and guy while hoisting.
June 30 - Registered
Thierry B., the club member, who did the regatta in 2011 send me an email alert about inscription. Happy me. I contacted the committee members and they agree that I do the inscription even before the deadline of the committee decision. They say: “I’m the only serious candidate.”
So I register, and here we go! I did it. I’m registered.
http://www.syztranslemanique.ch/fr-ch/inscrits/liste-des-inscrits
July 21 - First single handed practise
With Denise.
Bf 3-4, Spi hoisting and gybe. All goes well except at the end of the outing: The boat is about to broach as the boat is luffing up while I'm on the foredeck handling the spi boom. My weight (90 kg) plays a major role. The autohelm does not hold the course.
The only solution at that moment: I have to let go the spi sheets (that's why we teach: don't do a knot of 8) and luff up. Once the boat is stabilised, I'm getting the spi in. No problem after all.
But I'm worried about solutions of spi gybing. I contact the pros of the club.
July 22 - Answer of Michal Kwiatek, another pro
He answers me the day after:
- "Nice to hear from you! My notes are at https://66nm.blogspot.com/ - the last post will come up first, but under "Blog Archive" you can access all the posts in which I cover different topics.”
Indeed a very good blog.
He confirms, that broaching with the spi while gibing is a challenge.
But he does not respond to the question on the blog, how he did it.
Five days later, I meet him at the PC asking him that question. He answers:
- “Not to hoist the spi, is the best”. Rather do a good job with jib or Genoa.
July 29 - Second answer from Luigi
I’m writing to Luigi, living in Italy, about the gibing problem.
He answers, very interestingly:
“gybing spi solo was also for me a big problem, these are the option i tested in my training, dyring the race i had so little wind that was easy to gybe :
1. if wind is strong enough to mess up with the spi, the simplest trick (and same trick used by the lady thaf won the race in 2019) is not to gybe spi solo. set spi on the side for the longest leg, when need to change course, hoist the jib, put down the spi, run a short leg with jib and main only, than u gybe again and u hoist spi for another longer leg. considering the time and energy saved could be the winning trick.
2 superslow gybe: i only manged training this maneuver up to 8knots of wind, to be tested again: let the pilot keep the course just few degrees from gybe, semi gybe the spi first (detach the spi pole) and balance the spi sheets, spi should stay up.inflated despite the missing spinnakerpole. gybe the main with a superslow gybe, set the pilot again and then set up the spi pole. note this is unpractical with waves.
3 your solution to put spi down and re rig it on the other side is a good and safe one, however is such a time waisting procedure that i kept it as last option
As lesson learned: despite all the precious training, after 8 hours sailing the race i started to do lot of stupid small mistakes (lines crossed over, stuck lines ...) and consenquentely wasted time and energy to fix them (one was exactly to re rig the spi on the other side). as more tired i was as many new stupid mistakes i was making, and focused on fixing things i ended up being so tired in the night to refuse to hoist the spi again in the exact momenr it would have been more useful. also other non professional sailors will do similar mistakes, so my lesson learned from translemanic was to focus on sailing properly first even with jib and main only, if i would have not wasted so many energy hoisting the spi during the day in low wind to gain probably 1knots.... i would have had energy to run tbe windy night with a full spi .”
My (Andreas) learning: Save your energy to use the spi for the real important action and stay on one tack as long as possible.
End of July - Material research
Not such a pleasant thing is, to find the necessary material of the club.
Where is a life line band?
Tim Foster says, he does not know about and refers to Luigi.
Luigi answers:
“as lifeline as used a static rope for speleo-climbing i had myself, as was not able to find a flat line capable of holding enough load, there should be harness and lines with double connectors belonging to the club,including safety lights to be attached to the lifevest .”
Check at a marine shop: the life line band costs 5 fr/meter. I decide to do further research.
Key take away: The club material is not easy to find.
July 29 - Second single handed practise
Practise with Denise from 3 to 6 pm
Bf 2-3, Spi
hoisting and gybe. All goes well. but in light wind. How is it in a strong one?
July 30 - Third single handed practise
Practise
with Jochen, bf 3-4, from 3 to 6 pm
Testing the autohelm at its full scale on all tacks.
Sailing with 9-12 knots up to Nyon. Back on spi.
Discovering
Auto-function, which works very well. Even taking is interesting.
Spi
hoisting goes very well with autohelm that is keeping course, even when I'm on foredeck working on the spi boom.
Spi gybing with 10 kt of wind and auto pilot goes very well, too. I’m happy.
That day, and from then on: I’m worried about too much damage from club us on Mamamia. The kicker is missing.
August 1 - Studying weather patterns
Daily, I'm studying the wind patterns on the the Grand Lac, in particular at night.
My assumption: To find the best wind zone in the evening and at night is by far the most important factor to have a good race, more important than rigg tension, weight, sail type and sail trimming.
Key finding: There are regular wind free zones depending of the wind and certain hours. Best to be avoided.
I use meteo-parapente.com and predictwind.com. Mainly Wind model Arome. The forecast function of Predictwind is free to use.
August 2 - The president’s newsletter
He is announcing my race participation in warm words.
But he also
reminds me to set up this preparational blog, which I haven’t made public yet.
" TRANSLEMANIQUE EN SOLITAIRE
Andreas Valda, a pillar instructor of the club who trained tens of club's skippers will represent the club at the SYZ Translemanique en Solitaire on 26th -28th of August, on our Surprise "Mamma Mia". Congratulations Andreas and looking forward for your pictures and report !"
That is a lot of pressure on me to succeed.
I console myself with the fact that some previous ycc skippers had a bad run. Ideally, I would not be worse then them. The best one was Michal Kwiatek 2012.
August 3 - Natalie Bird's attribution of boat for racing
Regatta organizer attributes the boat to me. No crew is attributed :-) First time.
August 4 - Regatta sails, rigg trim, engine and hull cleaning on crane
Again, Michal gives me good instructions how to access the sail's storage not being a Cernie
I want to see them first. Later I have to pick them up on Friday before the sail.
Su Main 17
SuGenoa17
Su Solent 19
SuSpiGauge12
SuSpiBig19
I got to love the Storn Jib this spring. So practical and comfortable sailing with bf 5+
Also, I've got the message from Tim Forster, that the rigg tension was checked by Tim Huckstep today:
"Tim Huckstep checked all the rig tensions today before his holidays so should be fine for 27th of this month."
How to deal best with the engine while regatta sailing?
"Motor? I would suggest that you take it with you but stow it carefully in the cabin, handle up with fenders to keep it from moving and to protect the propeller."
Will have to find somebody to help me to carry.
Still open the question with Francesco Monti, SU Maintenance chief, if I can take the boat out on the crane and clean it.
August 3 - third answer from Luigi
He answers me a couple of questions.
"Yes relax! even during the race keep it simple and enjoy, save some energy, whenever is possible. Spi is worth up to 10_15knots in solitaire, than becomes so easy to mess up that genoa will probably let you gain more water faster (and win over the mistakes done by other sailors messing up with the spi and the gybe)."
- Andreas: Am I right, that the biggest influence to have a good race is to be at the right spot of the winds. All other factors like sail trimming, weight, etc
"biggest ibfluence to me is have raced already tbe translemanique 5 times :) and gain the experience. Yes of course if u ptedict the wind and you manage to be at the right spot is the winning trick... remember Wind is usually stronger on the jura side,, except in the final area where u have to stay on le bouvetet side and u can catch some thermal wind from the mountains. (lake is like a big bent pipe, so max flow you have on the longest side of the pipe, that is the jura -lausanne side). check the tracks of last years. all winner sailors tracks starts from geneve, do one leg to versoix or directly lausanne . i learned this during the race, despite the long preparation nobody told me the trick, as many other not experienced sailors i choosed to run for the shortest path in miles, ending up in zero wind areas all day long on the french side."
- Andreas: Rig tension (shrouds) depending on the wind forecast. Does a right trimming play a big role on the performance of the race?
"Funny i discussed this point last week with the olimpic trainer that won gold medal on catamarans. his Answer: all fine tuning on the boats plays a big plus role only when u are very sure of the performance gain based on averages of multiple measutement tests. (,they sail 280 days at year the same boat) (in any case, 3 x cent in speed tuning shrouds at best ? on a 15year old club surprise? )".
" i will not tune shrouds, proper mast tuning is very long process of trial and errors. on a short regatta is obvious that if u race in 20kt will be better to add tension, but on 30hours race, as u will never have the same wind force, tuning it now or before the race with the risk to mess it up is not worth,plus the boat will respond differently fron what you are used too."
"a medium mast setting is the best, you have good regatta sails, check only the mast is straight (port and starboard) in marina and under sail with 5-15 knots and be happy with it. Move all the weight at lower as possible, use a lot the powerful backstay on strong wind, and play with the traveller. Mini transat sailor (6.5meters) move some load on the upwind side in the cabin as ballast,you can do it easily. remember is the righting momentum that will make up speed much more than the fine mast tuning."
"clean the hull with a sponge the day before :)"
- Andreas: Night steering: Did you have some nap of sleep (e.g. max. 10 minutes) during the night? If so, how, with a mattrass in the cockpit?
"sleep as much u can before, i had no chance to sleep while racing, i would say is almost impossible and dangerous, there are so many boats around and the coastlibe is so close..., sleep before and relaxed a bit during the day in little wind. my mistake was to arrive very tired to geneve the day before. most skippers sleep in hotel/home in geneve the day before, they have family or friend support for logistics, dinner, breakfast, shower.... while i made the stupid choice to tsleep on the surprise in geneve marina and doing it fully alone with no external support."
- Andreas: Night steering II: The compass on the boat has no light. What as the best for you to use as point device?
"Compass??? use gps, Navionics app on your phone with pre-downloaded lake charts (50 euros?) and a battery pack for your phone."
- Andreas: Were the other boats well visible at night?
"yes they are visible, and have nav lights on. keep with you an additional white omnidirectional emergency light... the autopilot drain the battery fast and i suppose ycc battery is not brand new :"
Key takeaway:
Don't bother about the spi.
Don't bother about the rig tension.
Bring ballast on board if there is good wind forecast.
Use Navionics for navigation. Forget about the compass.
Take additional emergency light, 360 degree.
Check if Battery is fully loaded. Maybe have a second one.
Fantastic, this Luigi.
August 4 - Tim Forster on rig trim, and an unexpected offer
I asked him: Should I bother about the rig trim? I answers wonderfully:
"Rig tension does indeed depend on wind speed; we opt for a medium wind speed tension as recommended by North Sails for instance on the J/70.
On such a long race, you will probably get a bit of everything from light to heavy so medium might be a good compromise.
I am not sure that I would want to have a boat turning away from the wind in gusts and flattening out the main might well reduce weather helm if it excessive; good test is weather the tiller is on the centreline of the boat with manageable weather helm."
So: Yes, it matters, but try the middle range as it is now.
And then, Tim offers me:
"BTW my strong recommendation would be to ensure you have the best possible jib on board and change down to it sooner rather than later if the wind gets up; a flat and well controlled boat will make better VMG than a healing over powered boat.
Happy to go out with you on a windy day to play with sail settings."
August 9 - Mail from Alexander K.
This day, I receive a message from Alexander (Ycc). He is another pro from the Club when it comes to the singlehanded race.
He did it on the boat Mic Mac 2013 and 2016 : https://wolfofthesea.wordpress.com/2016/08/30/racing-the-translemanique/. His blog of 2016 is very poetic, almost litterature.
"Whilst there are no icebergs, shipping containers or pirates to evade, the conditions were demanding enough that I was tested to my limits. I feel that I have lived out a big experience."
And:
"The conditions varied from a hot and oppressive morning, to a breezy sunny afternoon, to a storm and finally a dead calm as I crossed the line". He lived an amazing 22 hours.
This Tuesday night, there is full moon. I'm standing in Rolle VD at the lake side, watching the waves being pushed by a sustained bise of 5 bf. I wish I had this wind and this moon light on August 28. It looks magic. But no, I'm calculating that the race will take place while the full absence of moon light. In other words. I going to have it pitch dark on the boat.
Alex: "Thundering along by myself with the black sky overhead, I felt this would be a key memory of the race. The other was sailing along in a sweet breeze at 2am after St Prex with a clear starry sky and yellow quarter moon rising."
And:
"After 45 minutes of surfing waves with the genoa up, the wind dropped a bit and I thought I really have one thing left to prove…can I fly the spi at night alone?"
Good question.
August 13, D-13, asking for help
I would like to clean the hull and check Mamamia on the crane. The committee and maintenance responsible François said ok for the expense of the crane.
F: "J’ai posé la question au membre du comité et tu as reçus les remerciements et le feux vert pour organiser le nettoyage de la coque de Mamma Mia :)"
There are 6 licenced crane operators at the club. One is abroad. So I'm asking the other ones by mail: "Would
some of you spend time to assist me to take out the boat on the crane in PC?" I would organise the crew of 4 people.
There will be no positive answer. No hull cleaning before the race then.
Also,
I'm asking if there is a spare good battery to use as reserve battery.
There is no positive answer. My concern: What if the autopilot is using up the
battery during the day so I have to autohelm the whole night? A killer.
Other subject: There is a mail arriving from the race organizer to confirm the participation and to agree on the pick-up of the material. I'm confirming on Friday 26 at 11:15.
On the happy side:
Alex G. is confirming to sail with me to Geneva the evening before the start.
Denise L. is confirming to sail the boat back to Geneva on Sunday. I'm so happy about this help.
Also, I'm preparing material as battery bank for the mobile phone and navigational devices for navigating. My main concern: What if there is so little visibility at night so I don't see the shore and I need to use a Navionics screen to navigate? I have to buy an i-pad. On a big sailing boat, you have the navionics device to navigate. On Mamamia you have nothing.
August 15, D-12, a practical helm holding device
Looking at a video of a single handed sailing guy, Sam Holmes in Key West: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ug3b5KNIp3Y. At minute 33:38, he shows how he is holding the helm with two ropes and two cleats on each side of the helm. What a simple and nice idea. I will do copy his idea. - I need to buying 2 cleats to fix it on the helm and install them and buy two short ropes to keep the helm in position.
Also, from the same video, I'm getting the idea that I could do butterfly sailing with the Genua instead of the spi hoisting at night: Using the spi boom as a whisker pole to keep the Genoa out. -> Will try it.
Checking, if one car battery is giving me enough energy for 24 hour autohelm steering. The considerations:
1. Raymarine (autohelm brand) manual says: 0,5A bis 1,5A depending on the frequency.
2. The race is going to take maximum 24 hours. I have a ordinary car battery on Mamamia (I hope). Can I rely on a fully loaded car battery to steer 24 hours?
3. Internet: "An average car battery has a capacity of around 48 amp hours which means that, fully charged, it delivers 1 amp for 48 hours, 2 amps for 24 hours, 8 amps for 6 hours and so on."
4.
Does that mean that I can calculate 48/1.5=32 hours? I'm going to check
with an electrical engineer. Erik B. from Norway, former member of YCC.
His response is six hours later is hard: "In theory yes! however you shouldn’t trust that the battery still has it’s full capacity (when it gets older it looses capacity). Also it harms a car battery a lot to discharge it below 50%, so you should only rely on 30-40% of those 48 Ah"
In other words: I have only 12 hours of autohelm capacity in one battery.
Conclusion: I need to hand steer during the day, or have a second battery! -> From MicMac, my car or buy one.
August 16, D-11, night wind pattern
Looking at two wind models, ECMMF (left) and Arome (right) at 2:55 in the morning.
That night, in Geneva, it is complete wind still. ECMMF (8 km) sees it as this on the whole lake (violett colour).
But Arome, with a square precision forecast of 1 km, detects wind at the coast along Montreux and at Lausanne (green). The reason? Mountain (or land) breeze at night.
These spots might be the chanche for me at night to discover and to advance.
It also shows: Along the Evian coast, there is not much wind in this wind situation.
or
going the shorter route, direct route, from Le Bouveret to Yvoire.
What are the distances?
Yvoire-Lausanne-Le Bouveret, 2 x 24 km = 48 km = 26 nm = 5.2 kt, 5 hours
Yvoire-Le Bouveret, 43 km = 23.8 nm = 5 kt, 4.6 hours
Difference is only 5 km. = 3 kt/h
In other words: If there is a better wind, of e.g. 7 kt between Le Bouveret and Lausanne like tonight, it pays off to sail the longer distance faster...
... than the wind in the middle of the lake or on Evian cost with only 1-2 kn wind speed.
August 16, D-11, solar panel and self stearing solution
Going to my favorite marine shop in Eaux-Vives (Geneve), I found the solution for the electricity problem: Solar panels recharging the battery. 20 W/h, It's about 2 Amp. That is more than the Autohelm uses. During the day, I will recharge the battery, so I can use the helm all the way.
Cost: Panel 118 chf, Control device 37 chf. It's plug and play. I will need to attach the panel on board somewhere it does not bother. It is about 40 x 60 cm big and flexible.
The self stearing device are 2 clam cleat and 2 x 6 mm of 1.5 m lines dineema (no elasticity). The cleat, I'm going to it screw to the helm, the lines just knot to the reling from both sides. Minimum impact.
Cost: 53 chf
I'll ask if YCC will cover these costs since it will become club material as the autohelm that Luigi had bought 2019. The next regatta skippers will able to use it.
August 18, D-9, organisational change and solar panels
I have to find a new skipper to bring back Mamamia on Sunday. Denise cannot.
I'm going to pick up the solar panel and test it with autohelm on Saturday. So exited.
Alberto P., our president, will help me to access BA5 to pick up the regatta sails, after Vittorio and Michal are out of town.
Torsten L., the Vize president of the club, sends my a offering message. "Brauchst du noch logistische Unterstützung am Translemanique Wochenende?" So nice, all this support get.
I found a solution with a camping solar panel of how to recharge my mobile phone on the way during the day. Great. I will mainly need it at night to navigate. But the tracing beacon of the race is on the whole day. That will suck a lot of battery.
Again, analysing the weather pattern. Thursday, 18.8. at 20 h 40.
Whitch course would you sail being in front of Lausanne? With the aim (and bearing) Le Bouveret SE? That is the question for tonight.
If you watch the picture of the forcast, it is an interesting weather pattern: SW of Lausanne good wind from NNW, but E of Lausanne the doldrums.
1.5 hours later, at 10 pm, a total change: There is a wonderfull wind from Lausanne to the South. And then turning to the West towards the bouy of Le Bouveret. Why? Because of the mountain wind down the Valais and Aigle. The Northerly wind from Lausanne gets deviated by the Grammont towards E and then joins the Southernly mountain wind (green between Le Bouveret and Vevey).
Conclusion: one could wait in Front of Lausanne until the shore wind of Lausanne sets in and then head S in a running course and turn E to Le Bouveret to arrive there at Midnight. Interesting.
Two hours later, at 1 am, it is still the same structure, but connecting even stronger.
To sail back, after reaching the the bouy, means to head north to Vevey going with the mountain wind from Valais/Aigle. And then wait, until you can sail W.
But that is no good idea.
As the forecast picture shows at 5 am, 3 hours later. In front of Vevey, the wind is still the doldrums and offshore, about 2 nm further South, the wind is blowing dead against the boat heading from W to E to Geneva. Terrible.
So the best is, at after turning aroung the buoy, at 1 pm, to head NW and beat the wind and tacking until you reach Lausanne and then go on a beam reach towards Rolle. Means: 2 hours suffering on Close Haul and then turn WSW, a easy ride towards the Petit Lac for another 2-3 hours.
7 am. Little wind South of Morges and Rolle, 3 kt, with a Spi on beam reach, can make sense until Yvoire at around 10 am.
At 10 am. The Westerly sets in. Not a local wind (thermal) but a so-called "Meteo"-wind. A wind from far to far due to pressure systems, flowing from High to Low.
Hard sailing on Close Haul, up to Geneva. Hard work. But one arrives.
A nice lesson for tonight.
August 19, D-8, regatta sails in a Polo and solar panel
Andrin H., another regatta pro from the club gave me a nice idea: Hook up the life line directely on the boat. There is enough length to do the necessary work on board. No need of a life line band. True. I'll skip installing the life line band.
Alberto opens me BA5. I can pick up 5 regatta sails as mentioned above. They all fit in my little Polo.
Solar panel is aquired. No I have to install it on the battery.
Paid 253 Chf all in all for 1 spare position safety light white 360 degree 2nm, 3 AA batteries to run it up to 12 hours, 1 solar panel 20 Watt and one charging controler.
Benoît S. from the Club and SU-skipper is sending me pictures of the battery so I see how to hook the solar panel on the battery. Also, he is sending me the picture of a damaged barber hauler pully. I'll have to replace it next Friday.
August 25, D-2, repair, battery and boat check with Tim
Met Tim and Benoît in PC to discuss repair items: Clem cleat traveller bridge is broken, guide main sail (will sail without) and pully for baber holer (replaced).
And still the kicker! It's not in place after 6 weeks out of order. I will have to raise the sail with a hanging boom.
Discussing with Tim F that the club has urgently to change its strategy of how the maintenance is done. It's too much work for single volunteers like Tim and François! Either a professional maintenance has to be put in place (with the financial result of it) or we put a new origanized structure of how to deal timely with damage and maintenance issues. My proposition: Organize it as the Surveillance shift. Tim's proposition: Do one maintenance course compulsory to aquire the SU key. And the extisting SU holders? My proposition: Make them do an additional maitenance exam key in order to keep their SU key.
Found the speedometer called Velocitek with empty batteries and broken battery cover. One cannot install it on the mast now. How annoying. How is this possible? Nobody did a log for it? François M had brought the device on board 3 weeks ago.
I'm struggeling again with the committee's decision one month ago about not replacing the broken speedometer on Mamamia for "budget reasons". This is the hollow decision because: A installed device is much more stable in use for skippers than a mobile device like Velocitek, whitch never (!) works when I come on board. A mobile device does not suit in a club with 200 SU users!
*
I attached two clem cleats on either side off the helm in order to use them with 2 ropes as a self steering device.
Brought the battery home to charge it. It was very low. It did not serve as a battery of 12 volts in order to use the solar panel. Grr.
*
I'm charging all electric devices at home: two frontal lamps, 1 power back (3x), two mobile phones (one for the beacon, one for navigation and weath information) and the battery
*
3 pm: Finally, the solar panel works on the battery! Yess! Why now? Because I had to charge the battery to a minimum of 12 volts.
Below: first picture (in test mode on my balcony): The controlling device - the green lamp means it is charging.
Second picture: The solar panel delivering 2 amps, more than the autohelm uses. There will be sun (forecast) the whole day. I will attach it with a tape on the hatch roof.
*
The whole experience is getting expensive...
Regatta inscription and temporary licence: 180 chf
Solar panel and modulating device 118+37 chf = 155 chf
Frontal lamp 59 chf
Power bank for mobile 59 chf
Voltmeter (to check battery charge state) 20 chf
2 clem cleats and+ 2 ropes (selfsteering Plan B) = 54 chf
AA Batteries for Velocitek : 9 chf
Security position light (in case the battery or lamp do not work) : 84
AAA Batteries for Security position light: 22 chf
Solar protection for neck and face: 29 chf
Total of 699 Chf
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Writing to the regatta responsible about papers I need to confirm the inscription on Friday at 11 am:
"Votre licence, le certificat de jauge SRS et l'attestation d'assurance (ou une photo sur portable, c'est également valvable)
en fait, votre licence est déjà contrôlée et le certificat SRS également, si vous ne pouvez pas les produire ce n'est pas capital
Donc seulement l'attestation d'assurance, par contre le mysuivirégate et l'application push météosuisse sont obligatoires"
I'm writing urgentyl to Andrin H (regatta coordinator and pro) and Haude M., responsible for insurance of the club, about where to get an attestation d'assurance.
20 minutes later the reply of Andrin (a regatta coordinating angel):
"The insurance certificate is located on our webpage in the fleet section. To save you the search, I put a copy to this email. " Uff!
I'm happy with my decision that I took off the Thursday before Friday so organise everything.
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Media release of the regatta:
"Genève, le 25 août 2022 - Organisée par la Société Nautique de Genève, la Syz
Translémanique en Solitaire est considérée comme la régate la plus exigeante du
Léman. Pas moins de 127 navigateurs·trices en prendront le départ samedi à
9h30, ce qui constitue un record. En solitaire, elles·ils navigueront jusqu’au
bout du lac et retour, sur un parcours de 120 kilomètres.
Les meilleurs régatiers du Léman ont répondu présent; ils s’affronteront à bord
de monocoques avec un point commun : la passion du lac et le plaisir de la
navigation en solitaire. Parmi les favoris en temps réel, sept monocoques
Psaros33 et un Psaros40, le Cellmen ARDENTIS de François Thorens, double
vainqueur de la course (2017 et 2020), à suivre de près compte tenu de la météo
annoncée.
Egalement à observer, Alexander de Weck, 17 ans seulement, à la barre du
redoutable Luthi 1090 Katana, bateau vainqueur de l’an passé avec Charlie Dalin
à la barre. De Weck est l’un des nombreux représentants de la relève de la
voile suisse : pas moins de 19 concurrents sont en effet âgés de moins de
trente ans. A l’inverse, six concurrents ont plus de 65 ans, parmi lesquels
Pierre Mercier, véritable légende de la voile lémanique, âgé de 83 ans. Enfin,
le nombre de participantes féminines est lui aussi en augmentation, avec onze
femmes contre six l’année passée.
Sponsor-titre de la Syz Translémanique en Solitaire depuis 2014, la Banque
Syz est fière de compter sur la navigatrice française Alexia Barrier,
ambassadrice de cette édition. « Finisher » du dernier Vendée Globe,
elle vient à peine de boucler la régate du Tour des Îles Britanniques à bord du
célèbre Pen Duick III, skippé par la fille d’Eric Tabarly. Après deux semaine
de haute mer, cette Translémanique - qu’elle disputera sur le Luthi 38
Body & Soul de la famille Bottge - devrait être une partie de
plaisir.
La classe reine du Léman sera elle aussi très bien représentée : pas moins de
46 Surprises seront au départ, parmi lesquels certains des meilleurs spécialistes
de ce monotype populaire. Douze Grand Surprises rigoureusement identiques sont
également inscrits, et disputeront une course dans la course qui s’annonce
passionnante.
Les prévisions météo annoncent pour l’instant un temps partiellement
ensoleillé avec des éventuels orages. Des conditions très éloignées de
l’édition 2018, où le vainqueur en temps réel, Patrick Girod (Raijin), avait
pulvérisé le record du parcours en 8h17’30’’"
Having problems to download the beacon app (the one the localises the boat during the race every minute). The password is missing. Where do I get it?
I'm thinking of Luigis advice to rest as much as possible.
Tomorrow: Only food, navigational tools, rules reading and weather analysis as tasks.
My girlfriend says to me before going to bed: "You look nervous". Indeed, a lot of worries.
August 26, D-1, The evening before
Lisant les règles de regatte. 3 points intéressants:
- J'ai pas droit d'appeler ni recevoir des appels.
- J'ai droit à un autopilote.
- J'ai droit à amarrer dans un port durant un orage sans sortir de la regatte.
*
Finally, I installed the Beacon app. It will show where I am during the race on
https://www.suiviregate.ch/race/SYZ22
The SNG organisational staff is of a fantastic help. The race director Christophe Amberger has an amazing precision and speed when answering questions sent by mail. He must be quite a personality.
*
11 h 15 confirmation of regatta at the SNG desk and receiving material. They are so friendly.
The port captain tells me to moor the boat at the 2nd pier at the port SNG tonight.
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Weather forecast
It looks as if it would be a boring morning. At 10 am no wind at all in the Petit lac.
At 2 pm still very little wind, even at the Grand Lac. 4 kt
Only at 6 pm, the wind from NNE is refreshing.
An then at 8 pm, a good bise with 13-15 kts.
At midnight up to 17-18 kt.
There is this terrible wind "hole" at 2 am at night between the upper lake and Lausanne as if Vevey and Montreux was wind shielding the lake. Have a look at it:
We will see!
*
Getting further messages of cheering and wishes for a successful race from ycc members! So motivating.
Michael J,
Pierre-Yves R,
Alex G,
Eva S. ,
Jochen S.
..
only to mention the first ones to arrive until 12 pm.
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A last minute hassle occurs! I found some aspect I haven't addressed yet: The regatta rules say that I have to have the SRS-number on the boat at a hanging shield or stickered on the sail. SRS means the number of the boat registration. It is for Mamamia 982.
I thought that the sail number visible on the main sail would be enough: 702 for Mamamia. But not: not enough.
I'm calling to regatta pro Michael J. He says: Either you get it from the regatta orginazier (as Bol d'Or) or you don't need it (Geneve-Rolle-Geneve, Founex).
Andrin H confirms per mail: "Ich kann mir aber nicht wirklich vorstellen, dass es ein Problem sein sollte, wenn du keine solche Nummer hast. Beim Bol d'or werden normalerweise solche selbstklebende Folien mit den Nummern verteilt. " And he finishes the mail: "Mach dir keine Sorgen zu so einem Detail." : Don't worry for such a detail.
I'm writing to the Translem-director and his subordinate. I'm getting two anwers:
1: "Le no srs dans la GV est suffisant "
2 (race director): "le Numéro SRS doit être visible avec des lettres de 15 cm, vous pouvez faire un panneau en carton avec le numéro au feutre noir visible de loin"
Funny enough, the sail rules of the Translemanique say that the numbers should be 37 cm high.
Since I cannot buy autosticking letters to put them on the main sail, I have to seach for the plan B:
I'll stick to what the director says: 15 cm high letters and homemade.
I'm making my old
shield on carton and seal it with a waterproof surface! 1 hour work lat
minute. The challenge will be to attach it so it does not fly away with
strong gusts.
Looking on the boat like this
*
Things to be done today (green = done)
- Picking up regatta sails at BA 5.
- Checking rigging with Tim Forster (hopefully)
- Checking the whole boat, install the life line band
- Leaving for Geneva, mooring in harbour. Alex and Roberta are assisting me.
- Deinstall the engine, put it inside.
- Install charged battery.
Connecting the solar panel
And in between the charging control, the green lights show: It works!
- Check weather
- Make everythink ready for departure
- Install the spar security position light if the battery fails
And finally: The plan B self steering device
*
*
Many greeting messages coming in until 10 pm: from
Pawel K, Roberta P, Maureen, Simon V, Alberto P and Denise L.
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At 8 pm. Moored in SNG, second row. The small Mamamia in the big Nautique:
Here, you better wear a tie, a SNG tie!
August 27, D-day, The race
7 h 00 Check weather
8 h 00 Breakfast at the Nautique.
9 h 00 be on the boat, take of the engine on lake.
9 h 20 be on the starting line
9 h 30 the race is open
The rest, to be told after the race.
Watch live on:
https://www.suiviregate.ch/race/SYZ22
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Check list from June on:
1. Bateau
- Contrôler les aubans (shrouds), lateral – longitudal
- Contrôler le spinnaker pole
- Contrôler les cleats
- Contrôler la lumière de position et la batterie
-
Speedometer marche? (AA-Batteries for the Velos-Speedometer)
- Voiles de
regatta? BA 5. Alberto 12:30 pm on Friday Also checked the number on it: 702
- Ancre?
- Installer
une life line
- Ecoutes de reserve
- Spray pullies
- Bring battery home, charge it, check if Battery is fully loaded (on Saturday/Sunday Morning). Maybe have a second one (take the one from MicMac..)
Check if solar panel works to recharche, together with the helm and battery (at home)
- buying 2 cleats to fix it on the helm and buy two short ropes to tie the elm in position.
- Install cleats and rope (Friday D-1)
2. Matériel personnel
- Mobile pour naviguer y c. protection du mobile
- Battery bank
- Camping solar panel to recharge mobile phone.
- App pour
naviguer (Navionics)
- Compass
- caméra pour filmer, attacher au mat
- Lumière de position transportable.
- Big deck light (headlamp, to buy!..)
- Face tissue protection
- life line
- life vest
- lunette de remplacement
- 3 paires de gants
- Food and water
- Sun protection
3. Préparation de la forme du skipper
- Pratiquer à sortir du port
- Pratiquer à hisser le spi
- Try to use the spi boom as a whisker pole of the Genua
- Try the new solution to hold the helm (not very convincing!)
4. A organiser :
- Pratique à solitaire (demander d’assistance)
-
Préparation pour la voile. Laisser le moteur au port.
- Equipage
du départ, Alex Confirmed
- Equipage
d’arrivée, Krysztoph confirmed
