ronnie_simpson

yeah, that boat is rad. i want to know more. how long is she and what does she weigh? interior photos?

I am honored to be able to serve as the Media Director for the Pacific Cup this year! At previous regattas that i've helped cover, the SA forums were a valuable place to get user, racer and viewer feed back to help guide the coverage in the right direction. After all, this is YOUR race! I've got some pretty cool things planned: drone at the starts, sizzle reel videos for start days and arrivals, almost-daily recap videos with voice over, written articles, social media, final race recap short movie and more. During the race, I plan to do periodic (probably every couple of days) analysis and recap videos utilizing the tracker data and communications form the fleet. If any competitors want to have their boats featured nicely in those videos, if you could drop a few video files you have (Go Pro, etc) of your boat hauling ass and looking hot, then I can then splice those in there as B-role during our almost-daily recap videos. "File footage", if you will. If you give me a cheap 2GB (no bigger please) USB thumb drive at the start with a few video files on it, i'll return it to you in Kaneohe. If I get any sweet video or drone footage of your boat in SF or at the start, i'll drop those files on there and give you the USB drive back in Kaneohe. I think handing off USB drives is easier than dealing with dozens of Drop box accounts, sending big files over the web, etc. An official race communication regarding media stuff will go out in a few weeks, things have just been formally finalized on our end. I hope to help set a new standard in working with the competitors and giving the people what they want to see. Please feel free to PM me on this site and i'll give you my email address if need. Stoked to see all of you at the start and at the finish. aloha

almost all of the Santa Cruz boats.. SC 27's, E 27's, Olson 30. Hobie 33, Santa Cruz 50 and 52, those things all seem to do quite well both inshore and offshore.

yes, absolutely. it was an Alexander Roberts brand part that failed. It was an oversized parr as well - all my shrouds were - and it failed in normal operating conditions. It was a brand new part and they tried to blame me over email and tell me that their parts were not even suited for ocean sailing or some bullshit. it was insane. My rigger (and old boss, as I used to be a rigger) is the one who built the standing rigging himself and he was baffled at the shitty corporate response. I have made sure to use Hayn brand components on the last couple boats now. a bit more $ but apparently a million times better company.

yes, Steve, but not on the Cal 29. My Cal 2-27 dismasted on a lee shore on April Fool's Day 2014 - a week after sailing 20 days solo from Cali - when a brand new lower shroud toggle failed. In either case, both of the Cal's were good boats. It was (in hindsight) shitty rigging components that tripped me up.

I close to agree with you. I think the key is to buy the good, super cheap boat and then start with a good, blank canvas for almost no investment. then put the $15k into the re-fit. on both my Cals, the price of the boat was secondary (and even to some degree on my Peterson 34 now). I used to ask myself, "what is a free boat worth putting money into?". A free, sound hull with a blown diesel and no rig or sails can be easy to find. If you plan to re-rig, piece together sail inventories and replace a ton of parts anyways, then not having those parts to begin with can be a great deal for you. Another example is the free, good boat with a blown Atomic 4, (hence why it's free). Just yank the A4 and go engineless or get a small outboard if you really need. lot of options to get on the water with 15k. lot of good boats. don't know if i orginally stated, but the Ranger 29 is also a fantastic boat, I know them well. lot of options out there. good luck

you only paid too much if you don't use it! Sail it every weekend and get your money's worth! Your boat sounds rad, post a photo!

I can not really state how long they last. On my last two boats with Solbians, I installed them, used them hard for a year and then sold that boat. On this boat, I just got the Solbians a month ago when I also installed my wind generator. Solar + wind = good combo for ocean sailing

I can only knowledgeably comment on the Cal 29... Great boats! and the keel will never fall off, as someone with no knowledge of the boat has alluded to. It's glassed on super solid! I loved mine and it was a bullet proof cruiser that I did a lot of weekends, day sails, coastal and a bluewater passage on. True as to the mast step, though it's not the actual step that's the issue. it's the mild steel piece beneath the compression post (it's a deck-stepped piece). If the previous owners used the ice box for actual ice, then it's probably fucked. my ice box had been used only for dry goods, so it was fine. i did a pretty good write up for cruising world about re-fitting my old Cal and sailing it solo to Hawaii a couple years back... even scored the cover of the magazine! https://www.cruisingworld.com/closing-loophole

Aloha, I have only had lithium-ion batteries on one boat - a Moore 24 - that i raced solo to Hawaii. They worked well as you could discharge them very deep and they were much lighter than traditional lead/acid batteries. Weight savings was my main motivatino in buying them. As for flexible panels, i have now had Solbian brand flexible solar panels on that boat and two others, including my current boat where i have two 68w Solbian panels. They are not the cheapest, but there's a reason most high end boats with flexi panels run them! They rock! I can make .1-.2 amps AT NIGHT off a full moon! I always get my Solbians from bruce schwab (bruceschwab.com) and he gets me dialed in with Genasun MPPT technology multi stage controllers. as far as percentages, its hard to say, depends how you're using the boat, but something that can power the boat at least through the night with all systems running. Depends a lot on your intended usage. running solar only and with small panels and batteries on a solo race to Hawaii on a cloudy year.... ugh. Just something to consider,, even the best panels don't work too well when it's cloudy.

Very inaccurate quote, in regards to lack of buyers. I had a nice Cal 29 that I prepped and sailed solo to Hawaii in 2015 and ended up selling it for top dollar in a couple days on Craigslist. A year later, the new owner got new military orders and he sold it for top dollar in one day on Craigslist. The boat was nice, but we were both shocked at the market's positive response to the boat. People were coming out the wood work! My Cal 2-27 was a good one too. Both boats were purchased for $4k (27) and $6,500 (29) respectively and I took both of them blue water and would do it again in a heart beat. Thick hulls, glassed-in keels, huge rudders, nice interiors, they sail well and they are generally well built with solid spars. and the hull/ deck joint are glassed over from the factory. Older Cal's are GREAT budget blue water boats. As an aside, I picked up my current Peterson 34 for $10k (now way deeper than that) and it's a solid cruiser that was purchased well under $15k. Lot of options as supply outweighs demand on old sailboats.

yeah that high pressure surely flattened out the sea state for him and allowed the high average speeds though! definitely seems to be reaching less pressure and slowing down now. let's hope he can at least keep moving the same speed as the low-pressure and pour on the miles to the RTW reference time.

Checked in at 851, and then at 850.9 and then 850.8. Seems to be sustaining speed, but not increasing, i wonder if he has peaked.

it would be fascinating if the MACIF site would give us TWS, AWS, TWA and AWA numbers as well as what info they do have. Volvo does this. Always curious what speed it's actually blowing when the boats are in these conditions and putting up these kinds of numbers.

He's up over 832 miles! Such a fantastic weather window he's been on, this is incredible!