11/08/2009
Accolades to the Crew of Sirocco
I wish to reflect on the many accomplishments of the crew of our adventure to get to Cabo San Lucas with the Baja Ha Ha fleet. As you probably are more aware than I, sailing is a team sport. And to be successful in a race, rally or just a cruise off the harbor, there is a need for the skipper to rely, indeed depend, on the crew to attain a successful voyage. Boy did I really need to depend on the other five on Sirocco.
Half in fun and half in seriousness, I gave job titles and vague job descriptions to each of the crew. Ladies first and then in no particular order:
Cathy Sweet was assigned the job of Communications Officer. Her job was to figure out how we could send and receive messages and data (weather the most important) from land stations.. She conceived a plan to accomplish this function with a sat phone and a netbook computer. It took a couple of months to work out the bugs and get the right cables, software, etc. She tirelessly researched what other cruisers not having SSB had experienced with this minimalist approach. Picture this: Sirocco is 80 miles off shore. Cathy has the sat phone antenna pointed out the companion way. And Eureka! The small, battery powered printer is writing weather forecast and grib files. There is a lot more to it than that but the point is her system worked flawlessly.
Bill Roush who likes to keep his head in engine compartments was a natural to be assigned the job Diesel Dude. He was responsible to get the Yanmar ready for the Ha Ha and to keep it running smoothly, preferably without the use of fuel. He accomplished his tasks in the most competent manner. We still had to buy fuel probably due to evaporation.
Dave Bowser was given the title of Vessel Nutritionist. Since morale of a sailing crew is positively correlated with good eating, you can imagine how important this function is. Listen! Not many people are willing and able to take on this tough job. Dave was in the corner of the cabin (43' is still a small boat) with a hot stove cooking unbelievable meals three times a day despite the fact he was on watch the same amount of time as everyone else. The fact that some of the crew actually gained weight is ample evidence of Dave's culinary exploits.
Mike Borer was assigned the title of Energy Czar. His job was to figure out how we could sail all night drawing mucho amperage and have the batteries regenerate for the next night. Sirocco battery capacity is also minimalist due to space limits. The complexity of solar, alternator, battery temp, bulk charging time, voltage levels, and shunt to measure draw took an engineer's training. Well, Mike figured it all out and we now call him Dr Watts.
Bob Ray was given the job of Boat Mechanic. Bob is an incredibly resourceful fixer upper. So his job was to keep all the sailing gear, plumbing, and anything else that was held together with bolts, nuts or chewing gum in working order. Now you know that if anything in the plumbing area is going to need fixing, it would be the head. So about half way down we noticed water (definitely not potable) backing up into the bowl. Bob set up a committee to ponder why water was backing up since this was no joking matter. After many meetings, the committee concluded it was the Joker valve that was the culprit. Bob's installation of the solar panels proved to be plenty strong to sustain the buffeting to the waves. All systems were go from the start to the finish.
Besides all these jobs done with perfection, the crew set spinnakers, doused spinnakers, changed spinnakers, reefed and reefed again. It was like Sirocco was running on autopilot, not the electronic kind, but with the predictability that the human team would make the right decisions and get to port safely.
In the company of Cathy, Bill, Mike, Dave and Bob a skipper wonders if his function is all that necessary. I guess writing checks for the right equipment is pretty important
If it is not too presumptuous, my 35 years of sailing I think gives me the authority to render an opinion on the seamanship knowledge, skill and attitude of the Sirocco team. It is that these guys and gal are the BEST. Thank you crew!
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The crew relaxes at "The Office" in Cabo.
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The crew found a great tequila tasting shop in downtown Cabo
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This is the view from our condo at the Marina Sol complex. The crew enjoyed sleeping in real beds that didn't move side to side during the night.
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Bill captured this great picture of the full moon rising over land.
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Cathy hooked this dorado just before we finished.
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