ic Maui—It's about the journey.
Even if he hadn’t been sitting on the floor of the cockpit bracing himself with his feet to hang onto the tiller before the next massive wave filled the cockpit, storm conditions would have prevented Pierre Cote from dealing with any damage the storm had wreaked so far. The sea conditions 500 miles offshore were tossing Delicate Balance in every direction and Pierre and his Vic-Maui crew were focussed on managing the helm and trying to keep water from swamping the cabin as they traded places at the tiller, struggling to deal with confused seas and 30 foot waves caused by gale force winds that were gusting up to 48 knots. A couple of days of these unrelenting conditions had caused considerable damage: the outer casing on the main halyard had been stripped and was causing the main sail to partially drop. The rolling furling line had snapped, allowing the jib to fully unfurl and with winds sometimes approaching hurricane force, there was no way for this crew, intrepid as they proved to be, to find a way to re-furl it. Fortunately, the crew had managed to deal with the aftermath of an uncontrolled jibe which had damaged the rig and which if left unrepaired would have taken down the mast.
It was at this point in the Vic Maui 2010 race, Pierre Cote, otherwise known as le Capitan, tells me, laughing, that the crew decided to rename the boat. Delicate Balance would henceforth be known as Diabolical Bastard.
I asked Pierre when he first thought about doing the Vic Maui and as he thought back to when it had first occurred to him I learned that he has a long sea faring history. Aside from being an avid sailor for many years, he is a licensed Marine Captain, a retired deep sea tug boat Skipper and was once a deep sea fisherman. But it was the purchase of Delicate Balance that gave him the Vic Maui bug, a bug that grew as he refurbished her.
Delicate Balance, an X-One Ton, is 40 feet in length, with a 13 foot beam and weighs about 17,000 pounds. She was designed by Neils Jeppesen and built in Denmark in 1985. Pierre first saw her ‘on the hard’ in North Vancouver where she sat languishing for ten years after an illustrious sailing history that had won her Pacific Yachting’s “Boat of the Year” award, amongst other honours. It took Pierre five years to bring her back to seaworthy condition before relaunching her about 5 years ago.
After enjoying sailing Delicate Balance in local waters for a few years, Pierre decided to take the plunge. He identified and organized his initial Vic Maui crew: Bill Trant, Grahame Shannon (a retired Navel Architect and one of the designers of a recent Americas Cup boat), Russell Booth (a sail maker by trade and an active sailor) and Terry Reid (an international small boat sailor and racer). The crew then went to work and the next refurbishing project began.
To qualify for the Vic Maui, yachts must pass stringent entry requirements. Before leaving on the race every boat has to pass a safety inspection that has a checklist which runs to 100 pages. To prepare the boat for the race it took over six months of work, and cost, by the time the boat was back home, somewhere around $90,000. Some of the costs were the purchase of specific gear: a life raft big enough to hold all the crew members cost around $4,000. The purchase of a single side band radio cost $5000 dollars and took three weeks to install. The Vic Maui requires a specialized and specific first aid kit, and an emergency rudder. This plus changes to the rigging, the installation of additional water tanks to meet water ration requirements kept the crew working fulltime on Delicate Balance for four months leading up to race day.
Race Day, July 3, 2010, was bright and sunny and the crew was exuberant as they left Victoria. They were pleased and excited by their progress when they found themselves in third place as they left the Straits of Juan de Fuca.
But it was at this point that they had their first piece of bad luck – a piece of bad luck that sealed their fate. Working with Grib files (a data format used for meteorological files) to plot the best course to Maui in a weather slot that best suited the boat, the crew decided to plot a course that took them to the San Francisco latitude. But the Grib files turned out to be inaccurate, not having taken into account a weather storm system that was coming north from Mexico. By the time Delicate Balance reached the San Francisco latitude and was 500 miles offshore the crew had been dealing with storm conditions for a number of days and in addition to dealing with damage to the boat, they were beginning to suffer physically as a result of the extreme conditions.
Delicate Balance has an open transom and no dodger or cockpit shelter. The companionway opens directly into the sleeping berths. The confused seas and wave height resulted in the boat being pooped numerous times and as a result of crew coming in and out of the companion way, water eventually soaked all the berths. After a few days of no dry bedding, no dry clothes and limited food options, the crew was physically compromised suffering from seasickness and in one case pneumonia.
And yet, remarkably, the crew managed to maintain equanimity and revealed their indomitable spirit as they joked on their blog. Day 4, they reported that everything was wet but that the computer was still working and then joked “Are we having fun yet?”
But all that water had caused other problems besides wet berths. The crew had lost the ability to start the engine. The batteries were running down and they could not recharge them. Solar panels were not getting any sun and when the crew attempted to deploy their tow generator there was so much salt water in the tie connection that an electrical fire ignited. Vic Maui rules require that the crew check in every day using the Single Side Band radio which uses a lot of battery power. Failure to check in results in an automatic disqualification.
Another look at the Grib files revealed that their current course to Maui would keep them in storm conditions for another 7 days. The risks were serious – without an engine, any way of charging batteries and damaged rig, the crew was at serious risk of requiring a helicopter rescue if they continued.
And so the difficult decision was made. The race must be abandoned. The crew needed to execute a self rescue
They changed course for San Francisco, estimating accurately that they would be in storm conditions for another two days before finally seeing some dry weather. As things calmed down they were able to set to work restoring their electrical system and resolving their engine problems. They determined that their starting issues were the result of a flooded cockpit instrument panel (although advertised as water tight). Upon opening the bottom of the instrument panel they discovered green slime ¾ of an inch deep. The decision was made to bypass the panel and jump start the engine. After deploying the tow generator and waiting for it to provide enough charge the engine was started at the alternator repaired so that batteries could be recharged.
It was on Day 8 that Delicate Balance found itself in calm waters, with no wind and with the Golden Gate Bridge in their sights. With the sail still up but strapped in tight, the crew enjoyed a brief period of euphoria as they started the engine and motored in, and then let the sheets go and began sailing when they suddenly encountered 30 knot winds under the bridge. Their euphoria was interrupted as the engine quit – out of diesel – and the crew scurried to fill up using a jerry can and prepare for docking in Sausalito.
It was a scruffy looking crew that tied up and then met their partners reuniting on dry land. But the mood was festive as they enjoyed all the comforts of a local hotel, luxuriating in all the comforts of dry clothes, good food and drinks!
But the journey was not quite over. There was still the little matter of getting Delicate Balance home. After some discussions with knowledgeable local mariners, the crew realized the weather was not going to cooperate with their intention to sail back up the coast. The decision was made to ship the boat by truck.
It was back to work for Pierre and the crew members who remained to prepare the boat for the truck. It took three days to strip down all the rigging and the mast and make sure everything that needed to be secured was. Pierre and Graham rented a car and followed the boat to Bellingham. A couple of more days were spent putting all the rigging back. The crew then had a leisurely sail home with an overnight on Pender Island before arriving back to home berth in Coal Harbour.
And how does the crew feel now that everyone is once again home safe and sound in dry clothes? A great sense of accomplishment. After all it’s not the destination that counts -- it’s all about the journey.