The Xena Blog brings you breaking news: Flying Squid

Oceanic squid flying up to 100 ft, in the Pacific Ocean. Photo: AFP/Getty

 Rather have one of these fellas land in the boat than flying fish....

From The Telegraph:

The mollusc propels itself out of the ocean by shooting a jet of water at high pressure, before opening its fins to glide at up to 11.2 metres per second, Jun Yamamoto of Hokkaido University said.

Olympic Gold medallist Bolt averaged 10.31 metres a second when he bagged gold in London last year.

"There were always witnesses and rumours that said squid were seen flying, and we have proved that it really is true," Yamamoto told AFP.

Yamamoto and his team were tracking a shoal of around 100 oceanic squid in the northwest Pacific 600 kilometres (370 miles) east of Tokyo, in July 2011.

As their boat approached, the 20 centimetre (8-inch) creatures launched themselves into the air with a powerful jet of water that shot out from their funnel-like stems. More...

Happy New Year of the Snake..."patience and steady progress"...

River Snake,  from Lorenzo Duque on the "Foreign Students in China 1973-79"
Facebook page. (I was one, in 1976-77)

Happy New Year of the Snake to all Friends of Xena and motley folk that pass by this site.  A Snake year is characterised by "patience" and "steady progress"....

From regular Xena crew Grant and Iris (aka "Grunta" and "Splash") in New Zealand:

Dear Peter Jing and Families

Gong Xi Fa Cai

Wishing you Guys a Happy and Prosperous New Year 2013  .... year of the Snake.

Enjoying Summer weather down here ..great sailing .. long walks .. Picnics with Family about for Waitangi Day Celebrations.

  

Euroyacht Newsletter this morning quoted:

hark, now hear the sailors cry,

smell the sea, and feel the sky,

let your soul and spirit fly,

Into the Mystic.

(track by - Van Morrison)

Best Wishes As Always

Grunta and Splash!

Katusha "on fire"

Katusha leading the fleet downwind - 2013 RC44 Oman Cup -  RC44 Class/MartinezStudio.es 

Regular Xena crew, Matt Kelway (aka "G"), is bowman on RC44 Katusha above, in the Oman Cup.
From the Sail-World website:

Katusha (RUS) were on fire and dominated the day winning the first two races and making a great recovery in the last to finish third, even after picking the un-favoured left side up the first beat and being buried at the top mark. 
Steve Howe is at the helm of Katusha this week, standing in for owner Gennadi Timchenko, he put their day into perspective.
'Yesterday was a good day and we tried to keep the same plan for the fleet racing today, get a good clean start, sail the shifts and get around the race course ahead of the fleet. It’s one design sailing at its best, you have your good days, your bad days and it’s going to happen when you have a bad race like we almost had in race three, but you just have to focus and minimise the risk.' 

Hat-tip to Stevo for the news.

Cadillac and Bare Essentials Clean up....

What a Grand prize! Grant and Iris heft the trophy...

Bare Essentials, a 55' Robinson stripped out racer

From Grant, this morning:

Hi Peter and Jing

Hope this finds you well and happy.

We have enjoyed a Fabulous B.O.I. Sailing Week - perfect weather and a great result for "Cadillac"

1st Online and 1st PHRF every race. PHRF handicap is a National measured handicap system like IRC but also incorporates a performance aspect relative to all other N.Z. Race Yachts and is revalidated yearly.  General Handicap is a very arbitary local club handicapping system which "Cadillac" is always handicapped out of these days because of her race history.

Having won our division at BOI Sailing Week we then swapped yachts from "Cadillac" to "Bare Essentials" the 55ft Robinson Design for the annual Waitangi, Bay of Islands to Whangaroa Harbour Race  approx 35nmiles.

Turned out to be a very fast race (top speed 24.8knts)  with us taking out line and handicap honours again as well as smashing the standing time record, reducing it to 2hours 35 min, from the previous 3hours 25min set by the TP52 "Kia Kaha" 

So Big Celebrations and lots of hangovers following morning.

Weather has turned a little nasty now .. 35knts from the South, so we have left "Bare Essentials" in the Marina at Whangaroa, came home by car 'til the weather improves .. then we will go back and bring her down the coast to Whangarei where she is normally moored.

All the Best for now

Grant and Iris

Cadillac roars on the water

Cadillac lifts her skirts..

Regular Xena crew Grant and Iris are racing their Cadillac, a Beale 9.6m, in Islands Racing 2 Division of The Bay of Islands Sailing Week.
In Race One Day One, they creamed the opposition by over half an hour on the water, and got 1st corrected in PHRF inshore, 4th corrected on General Handicap.
Well done to Grunter, Splash and crew!
Results here.
Key sponsors are our mates at North Sails...

UPDATE (26 Jan): Grant, Iris and crew on Cadillac finished the race week of three Islands courses with three Line Honours, First in PHRF and Fourth corrected in General Handicap.  Great job guys! Series results here.

Adria Australis: another blast from the past

Back in September 2011 I posted a piece on the Clipper Race, and made a passing reference to Adria Australis, an Alan Buchanan 49' steel sloop built in 1966 on which I'd made a passage delivery from Hobart to Adelaide, via the SW Cape of Tasmania.  That led to contact from Tim Simpson from Adelaide, who'd sailed on Adria in the 80s.  So I posted about that, with some piccies from 1983, here.
Then, just last week, an email from Mark Jones, who had been with us on Adria on that very trip, when we sailed into a major storm, with winds of over 70knots, were knocked down, fell off a wave which dented the forward port side of the boat, damaged the engine, and, in retrospect, nearly did for us, on that savage lee shore, with "many uncharted black rocks" as the Pilot says....
A bit of to-and-froing of emails with Mark, are added to comments section of the earlier post here.
Mark asked for some more photos from that voyage, and I'm doing that below....
First, Mark's email of 18th Jan:

Hi Peter,

As another year started I got to thinking about what I was doing 30 years ago.  Sue, my partner at the time, and I were on board Adria Australis with Lachlan, Ant, Jan and you from Hobart to Strahan.  I Googled a bit and found an ad from when Adria was for sale and read your “Big Waves Tip Yacht” blog – in fact I think that’s me in one of the photos.  The whole trip is still pretty clear in my memory.  If you fancy a bit of a catch up it might be fun.

Xena looks pretty impressive.  There must be a story or two there!

All the best,

Mark

Mark Jones
Welsh Produce Manager/Rheolwr Cynnyrch Cymru
Rural Regeneration Unit/Uned Adfywio Gwledig

Mark then...., January 1983, somewhere off Tasmania....

... and now, Welsh Produce Manager at the RRU.

Sue, at SW Cape. We're about to head into the storm. Nothing in the pictures
I have can give a true idea of the fury we met round the corner.

Being towed into Macquarie Harbour, Strahan, about four days later.
The entrance is really narrow and we'd had no engine for the four days
up the west coast after the knowdown off Port Davey, SW Cape.

Sue drying out the gear in Strahan

"Cowboy", one the fisherfolk who met us, all kindly and friendly.
Here he steers us up the Gordon River on a look-see

"Cowboy's" fishing boat.

Cowboy, Jan, Skipper Ant Harry and ??..

Bay of Islands Tall Ships and Classics

"Black Panther".  Click on photo to go to video

Thanks to Iris for the link to the YouTube of the 5th January Tall Ships and Classics race in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand.  Iris and Grant take part on "Black Panther" a Spencer 64' (screen shot above).
BTW: I note that the first boat mentioned in the video on-water action is a Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter called.... Iris....(at 1:50).
Grant says: "Great Day enjoyed by all again this year."

Xena arrives

Xena drifts in, 4:35pm yesterday.  Being pushed by Benny in Moonblue 2's
RIB, on the port quarter, as engine not usable....
Kowloon in the background, IFC (108 floors) on left.  Lovely sunset.
(Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, Kellett Island)

Benny (Moonblue 2), Oscar ("Junior"), Noel, June (Ffreefire), and Grant
dockside yesterday afternoon, with welcome drinks in hand

Grant, Noel and Oscar left Phuket on 12th December, so a 4-week trip back to Hong Kong, a lot of it tough, against the NE monsoon, with 40+ knot headwinds (gusting 50+ ...), for days, big waves and countercurrents.... As Iris says in her comment :
"8.30p.m. here N.Z. (23DegC) I'm so excited "Xena" and the Boyz at R.H.K.Y.C. safe and sound .. such a Looooooooong Journey .. Well! it's Cheers!!!! to Grant, Noel, Oscar and the Seafaring Warrior Princess "Xena". ... Iris xx"
Issue with the engine is that it revs in neutral, but not when in gear.  Not sure what the problem is.  They were without it for the last eight days, hence sailing all that way. ("heaps of fuel left", says Grant...).
Cheers again to Grant and the boyz for a fantastic delivery, well done to all!

Delivery: approaching home

Just south-east of the Limas, about 30 miles to go, at 10:01 this morning.

Battling NNE breezes of up to 20knots, and chilly here: 13 C, no doubt way chillier on board....
They should be berthing mid afternoon-ish.  Have spoken to Roger and Simon at the Boatyard, to prepare in case they still don't have working engine by the time they get to the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, at Causeway Bay.
Have also sent message via Satphone and just now with local mobile phones, as they should be in range.... haven't heard from them yet.
LATER (11 Jan): got email from Grant yesterday afternoon:
Hi Peter
Thanks received your message
My phone receiving but not sending most likely needs top up
My plan is to have Benny from Moon Blue 2 bring their big rib out to marina entrance when we arrive (very slow no wind here could be a long time)
I will strap along side Xena and berth at the RHKYC jetty that way
Hopefully there is a berth by the fresh water hose as we need to do a big fresh water hose down get rid of all the salt on everything
Cheers Grant.

Delivery to HK: updating the routing algorithm...

Position 10:00am 18 42N 112 59E

Delivery update: tacking towards Hong Kong

I've been in daily contact with Grant and the Boyz, by the on-board email, as they wend their way to Hong Kong.  Seas nasty on beam, winds up to 40+ knots, wet and cold [eg: Grant on 4th Jan: The GFS & CMC so far below actual not sure why they predict 18 & 19 we get 38 & 42 actual].  From Grant today:
Around 26Knts here all day and nasty cross sea....wet wet wet and cold Brrrrrrrrrrrr
Noel and Oscar wearing every bit of clothing they own ..then wet weather gear over ...........look like round balls with two eyes peering out...

Position at 11:00 today 18 05N 111 33E, making 7 Knots SOG, 086T

Delivery back to HK: *not* heading to Hon Chut

As Grant and the Boyz battle the NE monsoon, big waves and currents, they've decided to head ENE as in the first screen shot below from PredictWind (PW).  It's interesting to note the different routes suggested by PredictWind for a "comfort" route back to HK.... (ignore the lines to the East, to the Philippines, etc.  They are earlier routes).

As of 12:01 today Xena is at 11 10N 110 26E, in winds of 20-25knots,
at least according to PW (Grant has reported higher, to 42knots...)

Delivery back to HK, heading to Hon Chut

At 11:00 today: 11 00.8N 108 56.3E heading to Hon Chut just
south of Nha Trang.  Screenshot from PredictWind tracker.

Predict Wind predictions of wind have been too low, and didn't cover the NE surge early enough.
From Grant yesterday:
...42 knots here at present time for me to look for shelter
Most likely around Hon Chut 11d 50 N 109d 07 E  [near Cam Ranh Bay south of Nha Trang].  See how she behaves on the heading to there.
If wind drops as predicted will allow us to continue north, but their prediction so far well out
Back to the wheel for me.
Cheers Grant

Note: Grant has the Predict Wind predictions and routing on board... "Comfort" routing suggestion by PW was to head East to 113-114, to avoid the NE surge, thence N to HK.  But they unable to do that due to higher winds than forecast.

Current latest "comfort" routing suggestion from PW, below the fold...

Syd-Hob update: boats we're following...

 Wild Oats XI at sunrise, just past the Iron Pot Rolex/Daniel Foster

Well, we picked it three days ago: WOXI gets the Treble for the second time: first over line, first on handicap and new race record.  As our Kiwi crewmates would say: Awesome!

Others we're following:

IRC2: Veloce with Bicky and G aboard finish 4th.  Well done, guys!
Chutzpah 5th (a website story here) and Toybox 2, the new Xp44 6th.  In this div, two Ker designs took out first and second: GTS43 Occasional Coarse Language Too and Ker 40 AFR Midnight Rambler.

Phil Simpfendorfer's Elliott 44cr Veloce ROLEX/Carlo Borlenghi

Is that G we see in front of the stack on the windward rail?

IRC3: Gordon's Zen has just finished, placed 11th in class (may improve, some boats still to finish in this div)

PHS: Brindabella finished 10th over line, 2nd overall PHS and 1st in Div 1 of PHS.

Sydney Hobart: looking at boats we know...

Looks like Wild Oats XI may pull off the Line Honours - Handicap double.  As well as their new race record, of course, for the Treble..

Some others we're following:

In IRC 2:  Chutzpah, an IRC40 owned by Bruce Taylor, father of HK's Ambush Drew Taylor is lying 3d, with 234 miles to go (DTG). Veloce, an Elliott 44CR, with Bicky and G aboard, are lying 5th, with 237 DTG.  Toybox 2 is a new Xp 44, lying 6th with 265 DTG.

In IRC 3: two previous crew of Xena -- and owners of Sydney 38s -- are battling it out: Tony Levett in TSA Management is 7th (271 DTG) and Gordon Ketelby in Zen is 8th (277 DTG).

In PHS: Brindabella, a boat I cruised on a couple of times years back, and used to be owned by old mate George Snow, is lying first in this division, with 128 DTG.  Challenged by Helsal III.

Great to see the Boyz making headway - Thanks for Tracking

From Iris, in NZ...

Meri Kirihimete (Merry Christmas) from Kiwiland to "Xena's" Awesome Skipper and Jing.

 

Re-iterating Humungus Thank You to you Both.

Always Great Racing, and Crew Comeradery over the years.

 

Special Christmas Greetings relayed to Grant, Noel and Oscar on the Deep Blue and their Brilliant effort at Singapore to ensure "Xena" seaworthy for remaining journey to her home berth in Hong Kong.

 

Have a Fabulous Christmas Day Guys.

 

Lotz Love

Iris and Family - Paihia, Bay of Islands N.Z.

 

p.s.

Peter can you plez put this picture and (if you like) the paragraphs  too on "Xena's" Blog Page .. Thanx. I think the picture is appropriate for the Boyz.

 

Asian Yachting Grand Prix Championship: we're sitting first on countback...

Thanks to MC Danger for the heads up:

Above is a screenshot.  Website here.

We're sitting first on countback, equal on points with Nick and Fred's EFG Mandrake, with one less regatta sailed..... Makes you think, dunnit?  Maybe we should do a few more of those remaining ones....

King's Cup, catch-up photos... a day on the water.

07:00 on the beach each morning: Noel, Biggus, Iris, Strompfie, Digger,
Oscar, Jing, Forse, Bicky, MC Danger, Bucket, Grunter, G, TC

Single file to the Longtail

On way to racetrack: MC, Bicky, Biggus, TC

Grunter has just checked rudder and keel for junk

On Wednesday, we do sail past of Thai Navy vessels
to pay our respects to King's birthday.

Stromfie and MC

Oscar, Biggus, Noel, Bucket, Digger

On way to racecourse, Strompfie, MC Danger, Jing

Digger makes his beer sacrifice to the wind and sea gods...

"Grunter the pirate", says Bucket

Start in light airs: Pine, Tonga, Titania

"Legs 11"

G hands J1 jib at spinnaker hoist.  (Guy Nowell photo)....

.... and Grunter trims it downwind in light airs

Light airs Race 6: Bicky and Biggus.  Forse at helm.
Pine and Titania behind us.

Race 6: we're still in front of Titania and Pine here.
We won this race.

On the way back to the beach.  Check out the headgear on this dude!

"Noice" says Bucket.  Jing, Bicky and Grunter

Forse collects first prize for Race 6

G at the piano, with Jing and TC chillin'.... Crew dinner,
The Boathouse, Kata Beach...

... and again... a pensive TC... G @ piano, Bicky, Bucket, Jing.. (my iPhone)

And so to bed... Sunset South Kata Beach. 

Thanks to Bucket, Catherine, Biggus and Guy Nowell for the photos.

More photos from the King's Cup website here.  Scroll down and do search for "Xena".

Pine Needles Us: King's Cup Day Five

"Sunset on our dreams?" (oh dear...).  Jude, aka "Bucket" photo
of Kata beach last night, south end looking to the regatta boats.

Well, we didn't quite make it...

Last day and two races, one a windward/leeward and one an islands course.  Fine winds of 10-knot-ish..

The short story: we got a third and a second, while Pine Pacific scored two firsts, to beat us into second place by three points.  They sailed well and deserved the win: full marks to them.

General consensus: best King's Cup ever for us, with close racing and exciting duels with the other X-55 in the race, Pine Pacific, and even catching Titania sometimes...

After an arvo in the pool by the beach at the Kata resort with Bicky, Jing, Bucket and TC, I'm here waiting to go to meet the King's Representative to pick up our third place prize.

Jing, Strompfy, Bucket, Bicky.  Kata Resort pool

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