eat, drink, play, and sleep - jul 2014, part 2

July has been a good month for sailboarding in the Gorge this year. Last week I took a trip there for 4 days and sailed 3 out of 4, all with the same 3.4 sq. m sail. Actually there were a few sessions in which the 3.0 sq. m would be better match.

The air temperatures were unseasonably cool for July and that were just godsend. Brunnhilde didn't get hot inside at all as there was very little solar gain with her exterior constantly being cooled by the stiff breeze. I love sailing days like these. Also I got to experience reduction of solar gain from my recent painting of the skylights white.
Brunnhilde's panoramic skylight painted white

the bath skylight painted white

pork bone both with daikon radish and shitake mushroom - have to eat up the cooked food in the refrigerator before the trip

cantonese noodle with oyster sauce 蚝油撈麵 topped with braised pig stomach

a smoked salmon meal with a great beer from Dusseldolf - a gift from Peter and Barbara

The section of the river near Hood River and White Salmon is referred to as the corridor. Most often the wind and waves tend to be the best early in the morning for a few hours. Seasoned regulars would take advantage by starting early - referred to as dawn patrol. I have become a regular dawn patroller too recently. 

this morning the wind was building nicely and i took this picture before hopping onto my board

The wind direction that morning lines up just right with the river gorge. The swells were exceptionally wide and smooth across the river which you rarely see. Within 10 minutes I saw a ramp forming and I was there to catch it just right with great board speed. It was a nice big air and I landed. Upon landing something felt very odd and was a sensation I had never felt before. It just felt something substantial gave. My immediately thought was either the board broke from the impact of the landing or the base of the mast has snapped. It happen so fast and while I landed the jump, I was immediately in the water with both my feet still in the foot straps and my hands still holding the boom, but with the sail rig separated from the board. I then saw the severed rubber universal joint at the mast step of the board.

When this happen I was almost in the middle of the river and it was blowing close to 30 knots. It was early and there were only about 4 of us sailing but there were a number of sailors just arrive. I hand signal to someone on the shore that I broke down. I also immediately plan for self rescue. The swells were quite big and the wind was relentless. As always I want to preserve my equipment. I knew at such active wind and water if I were to let go of the board for just a moment it would take off faster than I can swim after it. In fact it can tumble side over side on the water as it blown away by the powerful wind. For the sail rig the risk is it sinking. I have a floaty mast pad for this reason.

The water in late July is not cold for someone wearing a wetsuit. I figure my best option is try to swim back to shore myself. I had no idea how long that would take in such heavy weather, as well as how far down river I would be when reaching shore. I was ready for a very long day. I figured the best way to hold on to my broken gears and the most efficient way to swim to shore. I grabbed the sail by the mast top with my right hand. The webbing and the rope there provides a lot of friction make for a secure grip without tiring my arm. For the board I grab it by the rear foot strap with my left hand. By keeping the board upright and down wind I can securely and tightly grip the foot strap without tiring my left arm. With both the sail rig and board pointing downwind (as they naturally do due to the waves and wind) I can swim with just my legs doing back strokes. I knew with such strong river current, heavy swells and close to 30 knot wind I need to swim with good amount of effort to make headway. Otherwise I would not gain any progress before exerted all my energy and strength.

My friend Bruce sailed by and he stopped by to offer help. He offer to tow me back but we both knew that was not possible with the small boards we sail and the great amount of drags of the broken gear. I told him I could use a piece of rope (thinking to use it to secure the sail and the board together) and he went back to shore to fetch one.

I continued to swim perpendicular to the river flow towards the Washington shore. 20 minutes went by and I was making good, albeit slow progress. I only checked my progress a few times while steadily swam hard to not lose ground to the wind, wave and current. By now I see that I am within comfortable distance to the other side of the point where we launch. My friend Bob came by to check on me and I signal to him I am now fine. Seeing I am making good progress he said he would keep an eye on my and sailed off. Then Bruce came with the rope and he also knew I am good now without assistance.

Making landfall on the rocky point was a bit tricky. The strong eddy current wanted to carry me around to the other side of the big boulders and back out to the river. I swam as hard as I could to pull my gears from being propelled by the crashing waves onto the boulders. Eventually I made safe landing onto the small rocky beach without any damage to my gears. The entire ordeal lasted about 25 minutes. Not bad considering I thought it would be most of the morning and likely a need to hitch a ride back.

i joked that i made landfall at the Normandy as this small rocky beach is on the West side of where we launch

it turned out the rubber universal joint is defective and was a well known issue many year ago

i put on my spare mast step/universal joint assembly and went back out - i was surprised that the self-rescue didn't wear me out much

i made myself a good early lunch to replenish the energy

the aftermath of preparing a meal

a pasta dish with wild shrimps and andouille bits

this is my quick breakfast after a session of dawn patrol so i can go back out for more; i really like the young coconut as the water is so refreshing to crunch the thirst; the meat inside give me a small quick snack; the only down side is one takes up a lot of space in the refrigerator and they take a long time to cool due to the well insulated husk

the mylar has delaminated long time ago and been making the sound of rattle snake so I trim out the loose shreds carefully with a pair of scissors - i joked that i was making aerodynamic fine tuning; this is a 25 year old sail

In the last day of good wind i sailed about 6 hours and my body was holding up quite well. I outdid everyone that day thanks for a hearty lunch and some snacks through the day. During the 2-hour dawn patrol session I made every of my jibes, and I only blew about 3 all day.

a hearty lunch that i can now prepare and finish in 1/2 hour

When I go camping I usually bring along the fresh vegetable from the fridge at home. I am getting better now in being able to quickly round up the cooking ingredients that is conducive to preparing relatively easy but yet nothing short of good meals. I found that Asian ingredients and cooking methods don't usually work as well as West. With owning Brunnhilde for two years now I have come up with ways to control the temperature of the food stored in the chest style refrigerator. I use cardboard box that I cut out as divider to prevent items like vegetable from frozen on one side, and meat and seafood frozen on the other side. I just love this chest style refrigerator as you don't spill out the cold air when accessing it.

i had this painful swollen little toe that i thought i must had stubbed it on my equipment; only days later at home that i realized it was a wasp stink; it was painful to insert my foot into the footstrap and in heavy air that is not something you want

It was a very profitable trip. I used 1/2 tank of diesel fuel and camped for 4 nights with 3 days of excellent sailing. I used the same 3.4 sq. m sail all three days. During my stay in the Gorge the builder of my board came by to meet me. He was very surprised someone still sailing the board he first built in circa 1987! I asked him a lot of questions on the internal construction of the board - so I am in better position to maintain and repair it. I finally found out the true volume of the hull from the horse's mouth. It is 49 litres. There were only about 30 built and each took about 50 man-hours.

Coming home I went about to put on a piece of webbing for redundancy should the rubber u-joint fails. To not damage the rubber u-joint I needed a strap wrench which I don't have. I went to the garbage can and retrieved the old worn harness lines I throw away before my trip. I cut one end off and with the vice I managed to create an improvised strap wrench and got the job done. You see, instance like this time and again making me very reluctant in throwing anything away. I am condemn to die an old pack rat with house jam packed with junk.

the hitch knot like loop of the webbing serves as a strap wrench

improvised strap wrench with the aid of the vice cinching the loop tight as you crank the bolt with a wrench in opposite direction

i also needed to grind down the head of the stainless steel bolt

the bolt is secured to the thread of the rubber u-joint with red loctite to prevent it from loosening

a bit of elbow grease save me a trip to the sailboard store - a mast step/universal joint ready for use

i have two of these boards; and water always find ways into the hull - it is just a fact of life with these boards

the brown stain at the tail is from draining the water from inside the hull - very much like tea stain

i found out from the builder to drill (at the existing drain hole) at an angle to both sides of the tail to reach the styrofoam for drainage

examining closely i saw water weeping out at the fin box - the fiberglass of both board has delamination at the fin box; rebounding them together is tricky as one have to devise a way to force the viscous epoxy resin in the very tight gap

I have been thinking of how to inject epoxy resin into the tight gap between the fiberglass skin and the fin box. My current idea is to apply vacuum to the hull thereby creating suction at the gap to help the epoxy resin seeps into the crevice. To accomplish this I would have to improvise a fitting at the tail drain hole which I can hook up a vacuum pump. I only need a slight vacuum so I am thinking of using a metal tube and seal it with a piece of putty. The vacuum hose would be connected to the metal tube.