Amel Super Maramu

Frustrating…..repairs on a sailboat are just not straight forward. Each vessel is a custom and unique complex platform requiring a cunning mind and endless stamina
Darrel has spent a fair number of days bent double inside Liberate’s engine compartment overcoming each successive hurdle as the transmission was removed rebuilt and re-installed. Our departure time has slipped 3 times but it is looking like we will depart tonight, Sunday July the 11th hoping to catch the outgoing tide under the Golden Gate Bridge!
The crew is well rested and each is familiar with the 3 hours on and 9 hours off rotation that we will engage once the dock lines are untied.
On the roster, Ryan May (Mayday), Alan May (Uncle Al), Emran my son (E) and myself (T-Rash)
We will be posting daily blogs. Some of my dear friends have requested more technical detail on conditions, ground covered how the systems are working. I will gladly oblige on this next leg.
Mr. Castle, I will don the LO300 shirt from last year as we leave the Bay area this evening. Good luck next week on the longest fresh water race on the planet. Keep that crew in line and safe!
Estimated time at sea, 4-6 days.

I must thank a few people that really helped Liberate get under way from Victoria. Paul at Leitch&McBride who willingly re-cut our oversized Storm Jib one whole day before departure, all the staff at Trotac Marine who tirelessly helped with my numerous requests for strange fittings and accessories, John from AcuFab who has a thousand stories one has to endure...great stainless work though and all my friends living aboard at the Coast Harbourside Hotel. A special thanks and my appreciation to the staff at the Coast especially to James Bingham, the Marina manager.
The internet is a wonderful tool....but also a destructive abuser of ones time....I like to use it (most of the time) in the former context and did so upon our arrival to the Bay. Knowing Liberate could not limp any further in her condition, I reached out to the Westsail owners association looking for recommendations to reputable Volvo Penta Mechanics....
Well the board came up trumps and Darryl made his way down to the dock to assess the situation. Diagnosis: Transmission needs to be removed and rebuilt.....Prognosis: immobile for 3 weeks while the engine is jacked up, transmission removed, rebuilt on the bench, re-installed and engine/transmission re-bedded and re-aligned!
ETA for departure, somewhere from July the 7th to July the 10th.
Good news for staffing, we will have two new crew members joining Liberate on her next leg to San Diego. (more to follow)

Waking up on a cool Northern cali morning does not entice one to don full dive gear and jump overboard in Drakes Bay to carve away 20 wraps of Spinnaker Sock snubbing line from the propeller shaft! Neither of my crew looked more eager than me so over I went in a 3mm wet suit...that first rush of cold water inside the neoprene invoked a involuntary gasping reflex...and my nuts ended up in my stomach! 15 minutes later the offending line was cut away, interesting to note that the shaft Zinc which was installed new in March at Westport in Sidney had disintegrated so much that it fell off the shaft...another future dive...before exiting I asked Ryan and Chris to engage forward gear just to make sure we had propulsion...well, not today. Several minutes of debating back in the cockpit (I don't like that word) with the floor up it appeared that when the shaft bound and stalled the engine out at sea we broke something deep inside the transmission...fiddling around with the gear shift we were able to select forward gear only and decided to see of we could limp to SF. 5 hours later, dodging tankers under the Golden gate Bridge and a lovely sail past Alcatraz, we quite skillfully found ourselves in Emeryville City Marina managing to make our assigned slip without any reverse thrust whatsoever! 9 days, 800 offshore miles, few events but safe and sound. Let the next saga begin...the repair of the Volvo Penta MD17C transmission! The picture is of Drakes Bay where Sir Francis supposedly stopped over in 1579

For those of you who are not familiar with the time convention used here, Zulu time or GMT is used. 23:40PST. We had a little secret that is in the ships log and appears here after 700 miles under sail. A day out from Port Angeles we decided to fly the Asymmetrical Spinnaker. in light winds off Cape Flattery. All went well for a few hours until the wind built. We doused the cute with dousing sock...all well and fine....except the dousing line which is 60 feet long was trailing behind the boat....had to start the engine to head to wind to raise the main...yep....fouled the prop with the sock line! After a galliant effort by Ryan jumping overboard to cut the wrap and to no avail, I decided it wasn't that much of an issue off shore and decided to deal with it when we made land. Landing at night in an unfamiliar port is to be heeded with extreme caution, making the same port with no engine is not for the faint of heart. After many what if's and much debate with several plans of action, Ryan took the helm (what a sailor) with Chris and I watching charts and out front. Again, intimidating especially with a North West wind bringing us to shore and having to round the south western point which stands approx 200 feet tall and head up 2 miles into a bay that the pilto chart states to be filled with anchored fishing boats. Well, someone took care of us..as we rounded the Point and trhe green marker can winds shifted and carried us deep into the bay....and in a totally uninhabited Drakes bay (indeed, where Sir Francis Drake landed here in the 1500's) we sailed to our anchorage, dropped the Rocnor and all toasted our 782 Nautical mile offshore passage with a single measure of El Dorado 12 year old rum from the Captains hidden bottle. Tomorrow, I dive the prop, free it's shackles and we head to San Francisco.

177 Miles off shore with no safety net can leave one feeling vulnerable. Post my afternoon watch on the 7th, I fell into my routine of a quick bote to eat and sleep. During my watch the wind had steadily rose to 25 knots with 10-15 foot swells, Liberate under Double reefed main and Jib galloped along contently under the watchful eye of the Cape Horn Wind Steering Vane. Under Ryan's watch and subsequently Chris's watch winds built as did the seas. Abruptly woken by banging on the cabin top my senses tuned into the shreaking of wind through the rigging and the wild sound and motion of Liberate surfing down waves. Both Ryan and I instantly jumped to the companionway to see Chris at the helm doused in water. Liberate had been pooped (Wave broke over her from behind)over the top of the Solar panels (Yes Johnny Boyo, they held up!)It was consensus that for the rest of the night we would hand steer (supplementing the wind vane)and two would be in the cockpit until the gale subsided. The cycle continued all night and into the following day, flooding of the cockpit and dousing's several time an hour. Coupled with fatigue and adrenaline this was a challenging night for all. Ryans experience and cool headedness was comfort for all and I dare say without this crew things could have been much worse. My estimation, 35 Knot winds, gusting to 40 knots and seas to 20 feet with occasional breaking tops (hence the pooping) A couple of points noted in my mind, a well rested, capable and trusted crew, invaluable. Heat on board a necessary creature comfort (Webasto Diesel Furnace) This is a dry ship (no Alcohol)it's comforting to know that at any time we are all 100% present. Cape Horn Wind steering vane, don't leave home with out one! A vessel that is designed for a specific purpose, use it for that purpose. Many people criticize the old salty lines of the Westsail 32. Heavy displacement, probably over built, double ender with a wet ride...I am fortunate to have been on Liberate through this Gale....As you see in all the movies, the next morning brought sunshine with winds diminishing to 20 knots and seas back down to 10-15 feet...onwards to Point Reyes.