RV Solar Tech: Using the data from a Bogart Trimetric TM-2030 to use excess solar power to power a refrigerator

PURPOSE

I have a 2015 Winnebago 26A Brave, which is a 26-foot Class A Recreational Vehicle (RV). The RV has been fitted with 300 Watts of solar panels connected to a Bogart Engineering SC-2030 PWM solar charge controller to charge the house battery, and a Bogart TM-2030 system monitor which reports net current, state of charge, and voltage among other things. The house battery comprises a pair of Trojan T-105 6 V batteries wired in series.

When we camp, the batteries are usually fully charged by about noon, and we don't use much electricity during the day. Therefore, the solar energy the panels generate in the afternoon used to be wasted. The RV is equipped with a small refrigerator that can run off either electricity or propane. Normally, when not connected to "shore" power (i.e. 120 Volt main power), the fridge runs on propane. This Arduino project utilizes the formerly wasted solar power after the batteries are charged to run the fridge, thus saving propane. It does this by turning on a relay when there is excess power, and the relay energizes a 120 VAC outlet where the fridge is plugged in. When the outlet is energized, the fridge automatically switches from propane to AC.

I have a cheap 700 W non-sine inverter from Radio Shack (R.I.P.) that powers this outlet, and the inverter is on continually when using the RV, and with no load, it draws about 0.5 A at 12 VDC, (6 W) which is acceptable. I could put the relay in the DC supply to the inverter, but to match the capacity of the inverter, it would need to be a 700/12 = 60 Amp relay, while cheap relays such as I use here only drive up to 10 amps.

When the fridge is running on AC, it draws about 270 Watts, so only in ideal conditions will the 300 Watt solar panels "keep up" with the added load continuously, so the relay cycles on and off when in use.

Solar is only one way the house batteries are charged: the batteries also charge when the engine is running or when plugged in, or if the built-in generator is running. A side benefit to this project is that the fridge runs off electricity when the coach engine is running (at least, once the house batteries are charged), so turning off the propane to increase safety on the road, as many RV operators do, won't disable the fridge.

HOW IT WORKS

The TM-2030 has a TTL-level serial port that continually sends out charging data at 2400 baud. Based on what I've seen on the internet from EorEquis and others, it appears that the data is not completely consistent from one unit to another, but the main data needed for my purposes are Voltage and State of Charge (SOC).

The format of the data is par1=val1,par2=val2,par3=val3 where parN is "parameter" N, and valN is value N. For example V=12.4,%=98,A=1.0 which means that voltage is 12.4, SOC is 98, and we have a net charge (charge current – load current) of 1 Amp. There is no white space, and every field is delimited by a comma.

Voltage while charging is typically over 13 volts, so, even if the batteries are full, I don't want to run the system when the batteries are not being charged, or when the SOC is less than 98%. The relay turns on until the SOC drops below 95%, then shuts off and lets the batteries recover to 98%. These limits may change as I get more experience with the system.

I am worried that there could be a condition where the relay is turning on and off repeatedly, and wanted to avoid that. Therefore, I put in some timing logic so that after the relay turns off, it won't turn on again for at least 10 minutes. This shouldn't be needed. As a side effect of this logic, the relay won't activate until the controller has been powered up at least 10 minutes.

I saw Gordon Boulton's (aka EorEquis, https://TristarObservatory.Space) blog post and code to do a similar task on Github, which used a basic Arduino (Uno?) and grabbed the serial data using the SoftwareSerial library. However, based on a comment in his code, it appears his code doesn't actually work. I started out using a Pololu A-Star Micro which has a 32U4 chip, and was unable to read the serial data using the SoftwareSerial library. I wanted to try a hardware serial port, and I don't know how to use the one port on the 32U4 for user needs, (I think it's possible, but didn't want to deal with it) so I switched to a Teensy 3.2, which has 4 serial ports, 3 of which are available for the user. I suspect an Arduino Mega would work too. Using a hardware port, collecting the data was easy-peasy.

The moral of that story is, if you have to collect serial data, use a serial port, imho. I think SoftwareSerial might be ok for sending data, but for collecting a continuous stream of data even at 2400 baud, forget it.

The main "loop" checks if there is anything waiting at the serial port, and, if so, puts the character into a buffer to be parsed later. When a comma is detected, the program attempts to parse the contents of the buffer, determining the parameter and the value. If it's something I want to process, I store it in a structure, and check the criteria as described in the preceding paragraph, and see if I need to change the status of the relay, which is driven by a single digital output. I wrote the logic in such a way that the program discards things that are erroneous, that it doesn't recognize, or that it doesn't care about, which should make it reliable – I hope.

If you dig into my code, you should know that I've done quite a bit of C programming, so the code uses some cool features of C that, for me, increase clarity of code function. This is only my second Arduino project though, so some of the Arduino stuff might not be the best way to do things.

HARDWARE

I did take some care in building the relay box, as I don't want anyone to get shocked, and I also don't want any fires. I used two steel electric utility boxes from Home Depot bolted together back-to-back. Side-to-side would work fine too. One box has the outlet, and the other has a metal cover which I drilled to accommodate standoffs. I attached the relay to the cover because I wanted to be able to remove the cover and get to the terminals easily. A standard 3-prong plug is plugged into the inverter, and leads into the boxes. The ground and neutral are led directly to the plug, while the "hot" lead goes to the common terminal of the relay. The "normally open" side of the relay then goes to the hot side of the socket.

Be super careful messing with 120 VAC. Make super sure that everything is wired correctly before plugging into the wall, and I recommend making the connections inside a relatively fireproof container, which is the reason I used the steel utility boxes. Mistakes with AC power hurt and can cause fires.

The serial port on the back of the TM-2030 uses an RJ-11 socket with a phone extension cable that runs down to the SC-2030. I put an RJ-11 two-line splitter from Ace Hardware into that socket. Note that not all such splitters are created equal -- I got one that didn't give me all the connections in the same place. I use an RJ-11 wall socket with easy-to-access terminals to get to the individual wires. I don't have the patience or skill to strip and solder phone wires, and I didn't have to. The wall socket has 4 connections, which are 5v, ground, data, and something else, I don't know what. Based on wire tracing, the wires I thought would carry the data were wrong, so I used an oscilliscope to find which pair was the correct pair. Am not sure whether Bogart's documentation is wrong, or, more likely, it's hard to trace RJ-ll wires. Again, my patience and skill for dealing with tiny wires is lacking.

The relay is powered from the same 5 Volt USB power supply which powers the Teensy. The USB power supply is plugged into a second outlet powered by the same 700 W inverter. The grounds of the signal line from the SC-2030, the Teensy, and the relay are all wired together. The relay is active when the signal line is pulled LOW, because if the wire breaks or the Teensy dies or whatever, I want the relay to turn OFF. An open circuit should give a HIGH signal.

The Teensy's digital lines are only 3.3 Volt, while the relay I used is 5 volt. The 3.3 volt signal is sufficient to operate the relay.

CONCLUSION

The program parses more data than it needs, and it prints it out to the Serial port occasionally. A future project may be to put these values on a display, and maybe even a time history graph.

I'm not sure how much propane will be saved by this project, but I really like the idea of wasting less of my excess solar energy. The project was fun and educational and maybe helps save a few bucks in the long run.

Here's the Arduino code:

//  *************************************************************************************************************
//  *  Excess Solar Power Utilization Project
//  *  Feb  2019
//  *  Works on Teensy 3.2
//  *  Chris Hill
//  *  Collects, uses and displays data continuously from TM-2030
//  *  Turns on a relay to add load to a solar system that is fully charged, e.g. a propane/electric refrigerator
//  *************************************************************************************************************

  // **********************************************************************************************************
  //
  // The comments documenting the data stream are from Gordon Boulton, but the code below that is all my mess.
  // 
  // **********************************************************************************************************
  //  V = Volts (Batt 1)  *Both
  //  FV = Filtered Volts (Batt 1)  *Both
  //  V2 = Volts (Batt 2) *Both
  //  A = Amps  * Both
  //  FA = Filtered Amps (Batt 1) *Both
  //  PW = Charge controller pulse width (First number is charge state, then is hex number defineing pulse width from 0-FF hex.)  *2030
          // Charge State Values
          // 0 - Discharging, < 98% Full : See section 4.5.3 of http://www.bogartengineering.com/sites/default/files/docs/SC2030-9-10-15-UsersInstruc.pdf
          // 1 - Bulk Charge
          // 2 - Absorb
          // 3 - Float
          // 4 - Finish
          // 5 - Max Voltage Finish
          // 6 - Was in float, now discharging, still > 98% Full 
  //  AH = Amp Hours From Full  * Both
  //  T% = State of charge  * Both << CJH  FOR ME, I only see a % symbol for State of Charge, not T%
  //  W = Watts * Both
  //  DSC = Days Since Charged  * Both
  //  DSE = Days Since Equalized  * Both
  //  PW = (Why is PW here twice??  No effing clue) *2030
  //  r% = Replaced Percentage Data - Replaced percentage of used AH since last full charge   *2030 
  //  pD = Lowest previous discharge Amp Hours.  Total used, remaining capacity?  I dunno yet.    *2030
  //  X = Shows up occasionally ??  CJH

// Here's a list of the data I'm actually collecting, some of it just for the heck of it
#define VOLTS       1
#define FILTVOLTS   2
#define AMPS        3
#define FILTAMPS    4
#define SOC         5
#define WATTS       6
#define PREVDIS     7
#define INVALID     0  // bad value

#define BUFSIZE  32

int   RELAY = 22 ; //  Pin for the relay
int   LED   = 21 ; //  Pin for the LED

boolean processBuffer(char *, int) ;
boolean relayOn ;

struct {
    float          parameterValue ;
    unsigned long  collectionTime ;
} measurement[20] ;  // leave a little room for expansion

void setup(){
  Serial.println("In setup ... ") ;
  Serial.begin(38400);     // UART Serial for comm w/ PC over USB
  Serial3.begin(2400) ;
  delay(1000) ;
  Serial.println(" Setup Finished ") ;
  printHeader() ;
  initRelay() ;
  pinMode(LED, OUTPUT) ;    // Set up LED

}   // End Setup

void loop()
{
    // continuously collects data from serial port = TM-2030
    static char buffer[BUFSIZE];
    static unsigned long lastEvalTime=0, lastBannerTime=0, lastOffTime = 0 ;
    static unsigned long lastLEDTime = 0 ;
    static int ii = 0 ;
    unsigned long currentTime = 0 ;   // in mSec since board powered up
    static boolean LED_On = 0 ; 

    // get the time
    currentTime = millis() ;

    // Go to the serial port and get the data from the TM-2030
    if (Serial3.available()) {
      char c = Serial3.read();
      if(c == ',') {      // commas delimit the data fields, so when we get one, we discard it and process what we have

        processBuffer(buffer) ;
       
        for(ii = 0 ; ii < BUFSIZE ; ii++) buffer[ii] = (char)0 ;           // clean out the buffer.  (I'm sure there's a better way)
        ii = 0 ;
        
        //
        //  check criteria for changing state
        //  consider whether to turn the relay OFF
        //
        if(relayOn) {        
          if(measurement[SOC].parameterValue < 95.0 ||
             measurement[SOC].collectionTime + 10000 < currentTime)  {
                lastOffTime = currentTime ;
                turnRelayOff() ;
          }
        }
        // now consider whether we want to turn the relay ON
        else if(measurement[VOLTS].parameterValue > 13.0 &&       // relay is OFF, do we want to turn it on?
              measurement[SOC].parameterValue > 98.0 &&
              measurement[VOLTS].collectionTime + 10000 > currentTime &&
              measurement[SOC].collectionTime + 10000 > currentTime &&
              currentTime > lastOffTime + 600000)  {   // wait at least 10 minutes before turning on. unfortunately, this means won't turn on immediately on power up.
                // consider putting in anti-chatter logic, e.g., don't turn on if you've been on more than 4 (?) times in last hour
                turnRelayOn() ;
        }
      }
      else {
        if(ii      } 
    }

    //
    //  LED is on for 1 second, then off for 1 second
    //
    if(currentTime > lastLEDTime + 1000) {
      lastLEDTime = currentTime ;
      if(LED_On) {
        LED_On = 0 ;
        digitalWrite(LED, LOW) ;
      }
      else {
        LED_On = 1 ;
        digitalWrite(LED, HIGH) ;
      }
    }
   
    //
    //  Print out the data and headers in the Serial monitor
    //
    if(currentTime > lastEvalTime + 10000) {  // 10 seconds since last evaluation
      lastEvalTime = currentTime ;
      Serial.print("  ") ;      Serial.print(currentTime / 60000) ; // minutes of run time
      Serial.print("  ") ;      Serial.print(measurement[VOLTS].parameterValue) ;
      if(currentTime > measurement[VOLTS].collectionTime+2000) Serial.print("*") ;
      Serial.print("  ") ;      Serial.print(measurement[FILTVOLTS].parameterValue) ;
      if(currentTime > measurement[FILTVOLTS].collectionTime+2000) Serial.print("*") ;
      Serial.print("  ") ;      Serial.print(measurement[AMPS].parameterValue) ;
      if(currentTime > measurement[AMPS].collectionTime+2000) Serial.print("*") ;
      Serial.print("  ") ;      Serial.print(measurement[FILTAMPS].parameterValue) ;
      if(currentTime > measurement[FILTAMPS].collectionTime+2000) Serial.print("*") ;
      Serial.print("  ") ;      Serial.print(measurement[WATTS].parameterValue) ;
      if(currentTime > measurement[WATTS].collectionTime+2000) Serial.print("*") ;
      Serial.print("  ") ;      Serial.print(measurement[SOC].parameterValue) ;
      if(currentTime > measurement[SOC].collectionTime+2000) Serial.print("*") ;
      Serial.print("    ") ;    Serial.print(measurement[PREVDIS].parameterValue) ;
      if(currentTime > measurement[PREVDIS].collectionTime+2000) Serial.print("*") ;
      Serial.print("       ") ;
      Serial.print(relayOn ? "ON" : "OFF") ;
      Serial.println() ;
   
      if(currentTime > lastBannerTime + 100000) { // 100 seconds have elapsed since last banner
        lastBannerTime = currentTime ;
        printHeader() ;
      }
    }
}

void printHeader() {
      Serial.println("Mins   >Volts FiltVolts Amps  FiltAmps  Watts   >SOC  PrevDischarge  Relay On?") ;
}

//
//  processBuffer takes the buffer, hopefully containing a parameter e.g. Volts, Watts, SOC (state of charge)
//  and a value, e.g. V=12.5, in which the "parameter" is Volts, and finds the parameter and the value
//  I would like to see the Solar Amps in this data, but that is not available.
//

boolean processBuffer(char buffer[])
{
  int eqLoc ;
  String s=buffer ;
  int parameter ; // was global, but didn't need to be, i hope.

  eqLoc = s.indexOf('=') ;  // is there an = sign
  if(eqLoc == 0) {          // no good -- set values and bail
    parameter = INVALID ;
    return 0 ;
  }
  String sParmID = s.substring(0, eqLoc) ; // just the parm ID
  String sParmVal = s.substring(eqLoc+1) ; // just the value as a string
 
  if(sParmID == "V") {       parameter = VOLTS ;   }
  else if(sParmID == "FV")  {    parameter = FILTVOLTS ;   }
  else if(sParmID == "A")   {    parameter = AMPS ;   }
  else if(sParmID == "FA")  {    parameter = FILTAMPS ;   }
  else if(sParmID == "W")   {    parameter = WATTS ;  }
  else if(sParmID == "pD")  {    parameter = PREVDIS ;   }
  else if(sParmID == "%" || sParmID == "T%") {    parameter = SOC ;   } // my TM-2030 just says %, but Gordon Boulton's says T%
  else {   
    parameter = INVALID ; 
    return 0 ; 
  }
  measurement[parameter].parameterValue = sParmVal.toFloat() ;  // place data in structure so can use it
  measurement[parameter].collectionTime = millis() ; 

  return 1 ; // valid result
}

void initRelay() {
  relayOn = 0 ;
  pinMode(RELAY, OUTPUT) ;
//  delay(200) ;
  digitalWrite(RELAY, HIGH) ;   // Note: Relay is set up to be HIGH=OFF
}

void turnRelayOn() {
  relayOn = 1 ;
  digitalWrite(RELAY, LOW) ;
}

void turnRelayOff() {
  relayOn = 0 ;
  digitalWrite(RELAY, HIGH) ;
}

New Series

First race of the second half of the summer, and I had a Plan for my start.  I wanted to start 1/3 of the way up the (short, beam reach) line and be upwind of the competition.  That part worked, but my plan for a fast approach didn't as Steve and Bruce were early, and turned head-to-wind on the start line in front of me.  We started about even, but Steve managed to pull out ahead, inch by inch.  He told me later he'd sheeted his jib for the reach, and heeled the boat to weather.  It was a close reach, and so I wouldn't have thought that to be the best approach, but it worked...

We changed the course before the start: Down to X, up to 11, X, 11, finish, which gave two windward legs.  11 is in the lee of Bay Island.  Therefore, the center of the windward leg had a big wind shadow, and we had to decide which site to approach on.

We went around the corner toward the leeward mark, and we were overlapped with two boats.  We had already decided on a starboard rounding, and I was on the right side of the other boats, except Steve who was, as usual, in the process of disappearing in the lead.  So I rounded the lee mark in 2nd place and stayed on starboard across the channel.  I figured the better wind was on the right side of the island, so I tacked on to port and stayed there until I was almost at the layline.  This turned out ok, and we got closer to Steve than we had been at the leeward mark.

After the windward mark, though, I had to deal with Jonathan coming up on starboard tack, and then got stopped.  Steve went right, but I tried to follow and had NO wind for a minute or so, and of course the boats behind, Jonathan and Bruce, caught up. 

Jonathan's and my courses converged going downwind, and he blanketed me for a time.  Then, fortunately, he decided to go right to get the inside overlap, which cleared my wind.  Bruce caught up while we were slowing each other down/playing tactics.  When we started back upwind, I must have got on the wrong side of a shift or otherwise goofed up, because I had to duck Bruce on a port-starboard crossing.  I'm pretty sure we had the boat trimmed ok, and were moving ok, but Bruce made up a number of boat lengths in the first part of the beat.  Gotta figure out how that kinda stuff happens, and make it not happen :-)

Anyway, Jonathan got a bit slow for a part of the upwind leg pinching to try to avoid tacking -- not a good idea in a J22, and we got a solid 3rd place.  In retrospect, I generally consider Bruce to be the most important competition and should probably keep at least a loose cover on him when I get the chance, which is rare.  The split early in the 2nd leg gave him a chance I didn't need to give him, and it worked for him real well. 

Trying to keep learning: that's where the fun is!

Sundowner Series, final race of first series

The ALYC Sundowner series is actually two series; the first is May and June, the second is July and August.  The last race of the first series was held last night in 6-10 knot winds inside Newport Harbor and started between Lido Island and the mainland.  Our group of six UCI J22s lined up for the start about 150 yards downwind from the sailbase.  Very convenient, in a way.  It's a very crowded start area. 

One of our group, Jonathan, elected not to raise his jib until the start, and had his jib already set up in the whisker pole.  Very clever, I thought.  I was about 10 seconds late to the start due to a misjudgement, and the series leader, Bruce, got a great start.  He tried to escape the wind shadow to the right, then was immediately blanketed by two other boats, so didn't get away, and we caught up gradually on the left side of the course.  The six boats jockeyed position all the way down the harbor to mark 6, a pylon channel marker, and I was about third rounding, right behind Bruce.  I tacked to get clear air and the next time I was in the group was in fifth position.  Every tack, I would look upwind and see one of our boats on my wind.  I started to feel like I had a target on me. 

The series leader and the third place boat for the series, Jonathan, were first and second at this point, and everyone else just ahead of us would tack onto our wind.  Oh, well.  We tried to ignore them and sail for speed on the shifts, but it was a challenge.  Definitely went the wrong way at least once, as one of the boats behind, Dave O' passed us.  We got ahead of two of the boats and Dave got by and away from us, so we established a solid 4th place.  As we went up the channel, the wind picked up a bit, and we were coming closer and closer to the third place boat, Dave O' who also was closing on second place Jonathan, but were unable to get close enough to threaten.

It was a very satisfying race, despite finishing 4th out of 6 boats, because it was so tight overall.  Going dead downwind in evenly matched boats is a very interesting exercise in tactics (protecting your wind, getting inside at the mark), and strategy, seeking the strongest winds.  I believe we ended up in 2nd place in the series, maybe 3rd.  We'll see how the scorers count it.

ALYC Sundowner Series 1, penultimate race

As the club is scoring this race, Bruce Thompson and I are tied for first heading into this one.  Naturally, I plan to get a great start, lead wire-to-wire, and win.  So much for that plan. 

We got a great start at the pin end, which appeared to be favored for getting down the course - closer to the leeward mark on the downwind start.  Again,  a traditional downwind start for the ALYC.  Would it have been so painful to send us up to a weather mark first?  Apparently, downwind is how ALYC starts, and that's that.

Only half of my regular crew was on board, B, plus Claudia who is delightful, obedient and very new.  While I thought B was up to speed with whisker pole work, I learned quickly that I was mistaken.  He and I have only spent one session doing the pole, and that simply wasn't enough to get the concepts cemented in place.  We spent the first 4 minutes of the race discussing how to set the whisker pole, and quickly slid from first to last place. 

In retrospect, I should have had him hold the tiller and keep the boat on course, while I set the pole up... but i didn't realize until too late that would have been the right course of action.  Oh, well.  We live and learn, right?

I spent the long downwind leg jockeying for position between Jane and Dave, i.e. between 4th and 6th place.  Somehow, I managed to break the overlap ahead with Dave toward the leeward mark, and then Jane had an encounter with a starboard tacker coming the other way, and took my stern.  So I got the mark rounding ok, then spent the rest of the race trying to figure out what tack to be on.  We did catch up a little on the boats ahead, but not nearly enough. 

So Bruce ended up over the horizon in first place, and I got a well earned fourth place.  I think this series will go to Bruce, unless a miracle happens next week. 

Sailing for Performance III

One thing Frank B talks about in High Performance Sailing is "modes."  There are three basic modes of sailing: underpowered, adequately powered, and overpowered.  When underpowered, the sails need to be tuned to maximize lift, which pulls the boat forward most effectively.  The extra drag that goes with it is not important (or not so important) because we need full sails that give lots of power to accelerate and move quickly in light air.

When the power is adequate to power a boat at hull speed, the situation changes a lot.  To go upwind in this situation, the sails need to be set for maximum efficiency, or max lift/drag ratio.  To get there, we pull on some vang, flatten the jib some with halyard, apply some cunningham and outhaul to the main.  Twist is not needed, and the jib should flow as smoothly around the back side of the main as possible.  Efficiency means smooth airflow, sticking to the sail as much as possible.

Of course each of these three modes are subdivided further.  Underpowered goes down to "drifting" where you heel the boat like crazy just to get the sails to hang in a sail shape.  We do this so that when some air does start moving, it moves the boat in the desired direction.  Then as wind picks up to 2-4 kt, you set the sails for maximum fullness with lots of twist and flatten the hull out, maybe heeling a few degrees to leeward to help the sails keep their shape and give some weather helm.  Twist is needed because the apparent wind is more forward at the bottom of the sail than at the top.  Why?  The wind at the top of the sail is stronger than that at the bottom of the sail, and so the boat's forward motion affects the low, weaker wind more than the stronger, higher wind.

ALYC Sundowner Race 2

We left the dock as the "wind" went from a moderate breeze to a light breeze, and saw it shift from SSW to S in direction a few minutes before our race started.  The start was essentially a beam reach, and the race ranged from a close reach to a broad reach, out on starboard, back on port.  At times, the race was a drifter, then gusts came out of nowhere and pushed us forward.

The race was almost a parade, although I managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory...  I had a great start, right by the pin, moving at "full" speed, right as the horn sounded.  I might have got there a half second early, but the R/C called "all clear", and I started to breathe again.  Steve Reed was two boat lengths behind me, but I got hung up looking at him and not steering my boat, and let him go to weather of me and roll on by.  We stayed in second for the entire trip around.

In retrospect, I should have luffed early and decisively, and made it clear that if anyone wanted to pass, they could try, but only to leeward. One problem I had is that I thought the south wind (beam reach) was shifting back to a southwest wind, but it never really happened, and I'm not sure why I thought it would

Later in the first leg, we were in a gust and I had a chance to threaten Steve's lead: I went to weather slightly, he luffed hard, and I dove to leeward.  Back in my windsurfing days, a move like that might have worked, but in a J22 in light air?  Not so much. 

By the end of the race, I was 150 yards behind Steve, and the third place, Jonathan, was 200 yards back.  It was a parade, but not a tight one.

American Legion Sundowner Series 2012, Race 1A

Race 1A, because the R/C had some serious difficulties last week, and threw out the first race.  Oh, well.

Tonight, the wind was brisk, about 8-15 kt out of the west making almost a dead downwind start.  I sailed Sunday, and the wind Sunday was stronger and much gustier, with sharp edges on the gusts and sudden drops from 15 kt to 5 or so kt.  On Sunday Brent and Alice sailed with me.  Today when Alice and I arrived about 5:10 pm, Brent had the boat half rigged already.  Getting away from the dock went smoothly, and we got to the start with 15 minutes to spare, and got to time the line and the distance from the dock to the pin (port) end of the line before the A class started milling to start.  We were able to sail on a constant heading with the main luffing enough to determine that the wind changes were not big shifts, except near land which is normal, but mainly just speed changes.  In stronger breeze, I like to reach with a luff in the mainsail and use the amount of luff in the main while holding a heading to discern any significant changes in wind direction.

We figured we could get away with a close reach start, and with 1:30 to go before our start we were near the line.  We did a quick circle to kill time, then got into position for the close reach to the line.  We were set up with about 30 seconds to go, about 20 seconds from the line and moving slowly.  In 12 kt or so, it seems to take these boats about 15 seconds to accelerate to speed.  We slowly sheeted our sails in and started accelerating toward the pin with 20 seconds to go.  Other boats were on the line to our right, and one was behind us and after the start went left, and we got the left-most spot, and started with good speed within a few seconds after the start horn.  Nice!  Flogging around doing practice starts on Sunday really paid off!

As we were running downwind, the majority of the boats were bunching up to our right.  We noticed that the skipper who had been behind us, Dave O, had gone way over to the left, maybe 4  boat lengths closer to Lido island than us, and he was starting to pass us.  I gibed to port and went left to join Dave at Lido Island, then gibed back to starboard as we got close -- we were overlapped, and I had no interest in a luffing match.  I got maybe 1 boat length outside Dave, and steered more or less rhumb for the corner, and gibed again on a shift.  Yeah, I know I said the wind direction we measured before the start appeared steady.  You have to sail the wind you see, not the wind you expected!  I have to wonder if my method to determine shifts is not sensitive enough, or if the wind we saw on the course was actually shiftier than what we had before the start. 

At times, as we approached the lee of the island, the apparent wind was light, and we heeled the boat as needed to fill the jib.  When the wind was stronger, we heeled to weather to steer the boat where we were going with no force on the tiller.  I'm sure to an observer from shore, it looked like we were making very random movements.  Many compliments to Alice and Brent for following these changes constantly, conscientiously, and very smoothly.

We got into the lee of Lido Island in first place, and all the other boats were hollering and jostling for position.  Nice for us.  Dave got stuck close to the island, and as he told me later "got spit out the back".  Bummer.

Alice and Brent shifted gears really well again as we got into the dead air on the lee corner of the island, and we heeled to leeward and softened our sheets for temporary light air trim.  We knew we were getting into strong air soon, so our vang, jib halyard, cunningham and outhaul were tight, but we worked hard to take advantage of the minimal wind in the hole at the bottom of Lido Island.  We passed about 2 feet from the edge of the dock on the corner of the island, but that was enough for me, although my crew felt we should have maybe left some more space.  In the wind hole, we got a little lucky puff and shot away from the pack, and out into the gusty winds in the channel. 

As we tacked  up the channel on the north side of Lido Island to mark Z, Jonathan's was the closest boat behind and he managed to catch up by catching some good wind while I was in a hole.  I stayed on the right third of the channel which usually gives the best wind, but that didn't work so well today.  I may have messed up tactically -- I probably should have kept a loose cover on Jonathan as soon as he got close, but I really felt as if I was racing the pack not just him. 

As it happened, we got a fortunate shift on the right side and I was able to get  back in front of Jonathan, then tack on top of him.  That slowed him down some, and then Bruce caught up to him, and they started slowing each other.  That gave us the opportunity to pull away some and keep between the two of them and the wind, so we opened up some distance.

We went around mark Z - the only mark of the race - with a big lead, and it never shrank after that, so the race was basically over, although we kept sailing as fast as we know how, because you never know what might happen.

When we rounded the bottom end of Lido island again headed for the finish line, a cruising (crushing?) style boat named 401k was headed on starboard, about 15 boat lengths ahead of us.  Ahead of her there were two boats on port.  One was ahead and to leeward of the other, and 401k was heading right for that one.  401 called "starboard", and barreled on into the port tackers!  The leeward boat headed up to close hauled, then the windward one followed suit, and then the starboard tack 401 did the same.  I think there was some crunching of fiberglass based on how much hollering was going on.  Geez, how much beer are these guys drinking on these beer can races?  Just tack, hail "protest" and put up a flag.  Don't run into the other boat to prove the point!

When all this crap happened, I got kinda mesmerized by it, and here I was on starboard headed for the melee!  As soon as I "woke up" we tacked and got out of there.

At the awards ceremony, the other UCI J/22 sailors all carried a bottle or two of wine up to the race committee, and I got the honor of carrying the remainder of the case-and-a half we bought as homage for the committee gods.  They appreciated the grape juice, I'm sure.  It was a great honor to be able to take the major part of the gift up to the hard-working committee.  They had some serious screw-ups last week, to the point where they had to throw out the whole thing.  I have done race committee work and know just how stressful it can be when things go badly.  To make it worse, most of the racers who did well will bitch and moan for awhile.

It's a lot of work some dedicated souls do, so that others can enjoy themselves.  A nice gift to show our appreciation is the least we can do.

Results

1st  us
2nd Bruce
3rd Jonathan
4th Jane
5th Dave O
6th Bill / Marty

ALYC Sundowner, race 1

The American Legion Yacht Club puts on a Sundowner series on Monday nights all summer long.  May 7, 2012 was the first race of the series for the year and UCI fielded six J22s for the race.  Wind was about 4 to 6 kt out of the southwest.

Our boat was the last one to leave the dock, and we had to sail as fast as possible to get to the starting area.  We arrived with about 4 minutes to the start, and quickly figured out what end to start at.  It was a downwind start, and the port end was more downwind, so starting somewhere near there seemed best.  I didn't get settled and figure out a starting strategy, and ended up tacking onto starboard about 30 seconds before the start and trying to get some speed.  There were two boats to windward, and the closer, faster one was Bruce Thompson.  Bruce got a great start, hitting the line with speed at the right time.  We got an ok start, crossing the line a few seconds after the start but with not much speed.  Bruce was a few boat lengths ahead by the time we got up to speed.

Bruce seemed to be in better air, and his lead just kept stretching and stretching.  I think at one point he was 150 feet ahead, while we had maybe 50 or 60 feet lead on three boats behind.  But then, 2/3 of the way down the downwind leg, the wind dropped way off, then filled in from behind, which compressed us all as we approached the leeward mark.  I was amazed that we caught up to Bruce, although we were not able to establish an overlap.  Bruce went below his rhumb course to defend me trying to get inside.  I told him it looks like he's below his proper course, and he tells me that the rule forbidding sailing below proper course to prevent a pass to leeward no longer exists.   Some sailors you can't trust if they talk about rules on the racecourse, and some you can.  I'm inclined to trust Bruce.

Meanwhile, though, Dave O' got an overlap inside (to the port side) of us, as we approached the mark.  I went as low as I could, so that when we all turned toward the mark he'd be behind me.  Didn't work though, so I was maybe 10 ft behind Bruce, with Dave O inside our boat.

On the rounding I went real wide hoping Dave would leave room for me to fit inside on the exit.  I didn't go wide enough though, and turned downwind then sharply upwind to get clear of Dave's stern and get back to the inside.   I tacked onto starboard as soon as I could, but had killed what little speed we had, and not much wind to accelerate with.  Seemed like the whole fleet was getting by me, but we set our sails to the wind we had, and eventually we started moving on starboard.

This turned out to be a fortuitous situation, although I have to say it seemed like a complete disaster at the time.  The wind was better out in the middle, and we had a little favorable current.  I went out a ways from the shoreline toward the middle of the bay and tacked back to port.  Meanwhile, Bruce was hugging the shoreline and, I think, never tacked from his close hauled port tack he'd left the mark with.  It looked to me like I had gone too far, that it would  be a close reach up the channel to Y mark, so I eased sails and sailed on the close-reach side of close hauled.

After a few minutes it dawned on me this was really a one-sided beat, and I was giving away distance, so I went up to close hauled again and we actually got a lift to where it appeared we might be ahead of Bruce.  Then we got a header, and Bruce's lead became clearer.  The boats behind seemed far enough back to not worry about, so I settled into following Bruce on the port tack beat and seeking opportunities to make up ground.  As the beat tightened up in the channel, we had some traffic to contend with, and a few tacks to make up the channel to Y mark, and we got on the right side of some shifts and caught Bruce up a little.  Meanwhile, Dave O was catching up behind us, as he made several better decisions on the shifts in the channel than Bruce and I did.

Bruce looked to me like he had tacked above the layline to mark Y, so I tacked just below his course behind him.  Near Y the wind dies almost completely sometimes, and I was worried that this tack was a horrible decision, but the wind filled in and I was able to round without tacking again.  More good luck.  Bruce was on a dead run on starboard, and I wanted to get away from the light air near the houses of Lido Island, so I gibed onto port to get out in to the stronger wind in the middle of the channel.  Bruce decided to go out with me and gibed onto port, and about the time he gibed onto port, I gibed back to starboard, and he followed suit shortly after.  I felt like he was covering me, and I was glad to feel like I was on the attack, while he was playing defense.

We  fooled around a lot trying to get some advantage with the whisker pole.  However, it wasn't really a run, more of a broad reach, so the pole didn't really help much.  We held position with Bruce about 3-5 boat lengths ahead of us then we managed to catch up to within a boat length as we approached the eastern tip of Lido Island.  It was clear he was going to hug the shore, and I stayed with him until the wind got really flukey, then fell off about 30 degrees.  It was a big gamble, but I figured following him would get me second place for sure, so why not gamble a little?  I aimed to the closest point on the wind line trying to get to the better air quicker.  By the time we were both rolling along with good speed again, we were about even, and when I tacked, I had to duck Bruce.

Then when we crossed again, he ducked us, and we tacked as soon as he passed our stern.  I was worried at first that I had made a huge mistake tacking right then.  Tacking sooner would have preserved my starboard advantage, and I was risking him getting into my lee bow.  However, it worked out.  Our bows were dead even for what seemed like an hour, although it was more like 30 seconds, then we squeaked ahead.  Bruce said "It looks like you got me."  I wasn't convinced yet, though.  I managed to give him dirty air and no room to tack off, and built small advantage.  Then when he tacked clear onto starboard, I tacked too, keeping cover.  Ditto on the next tack, back onto port.  We were close to laying the finish line at this point, and Bruce tacked off.  I decided to call off the tacking duel and just sail to the finish line.  I did have to take a short tack to finish, but by then had a comfortable lead.

During the whole race, and notably while we were tacking to cover, Alice's crew work was flawless, even though I often gave no warning that we were tacking.  Kudos for her great crew work.

Lessons learned:

When heading for the leeward mark, I didn't try to cover Bruce's sails.  I worked downward trying to clear an opportunity to break the overlap with Dave O, who approached from behind.  I wonder if i should have tried to get on the high side of Bruce.  I don't like to get into luffing matches though.  If I had covered his sails from behind, he would probably have gone up to defend his wind.  Might that have created an opportunity to get inside him?  However, if i had got inside Bruce, without breaking the overlap with Dave, I would have been the meat in a leeward mark sandwich, which I really, really dislike.  OTOH, that would have screwed Bruce, so I need to consider that kind of option later in the season when the points situation is clearer.  For now, though, I think I took my best option, given that I was unable to get inside Bruce or break the overlap with Dave.

I can't believe, having sailed Newport Harbor for a year, that I would crack the sails on a lobsided beat.  Aargh.  That was really dumb.  Won't do that again.  Definitely important to have a "fast beat" mode though, where you're nowhere near pinching, and speed is maximized while still pointing.  Ditto to be able to pinch really high without giving away too much boat speed: max efficiency.  Bruce had his main looking tighter than mine, and I have to know when you can get away with that, and when you can't.  Sheeting to centerline and having the traveler high definitely works in light air.  When I sheet hard with the traveler centered, the leech seems overly hard, so maybe that's not a good idea.   I wonder if sheeting to the centerline and working the traveler is a good idea even in light breezes. 

We set our jib travelers for upwind while approaching the downwind marks.  This helped us enormously to transitions smoothly to beating.

Sailing for Performance II

Sailing for performance means going as fast as possible under the circumstances, whether it's point to point, around buoys, or just reaching a harbor mouth before sunset. We usually associate sailing for performance with racing, while in "Cruising" or "daysailing", sailing for maximum performance is not usually the focus. However, maximizing performance can become very important when getting home in dying wind, for example, or sailing against an adverse current.

Therefore, the discipline and knowledge of sailing for performance is not just for racers, it's for any sailor who wants to maximize comfort and safety.

So how do you optimize performance anyway?   In beginning sailing texts we learn that to sail to windward, set the sails all the way in, then steer to where the jib's telltales are streaming aft.  To sail on a reach, aim the boat where you want to go, then adjust the sails to where the telltales are streaming aft.  Simple, effective advice, and mostly true. 

When is this simple advice most ineffective?  I've seen beginning sailors with the sail (especially main alone!) all the way in, pointing very high, and going nowhere.  Actually, not nowhere, they are actually going sideways very, very slowly.  With no flow over the centerboard and the sail strapped in hard so there is almost no sail force aimed toward the front of the boat, the boat can drift sideways, stuck with a near-luffing sail and a stalled centerboard.

I was at the Windsurfer national championships on Lake Michigan in the early 1980s, and was sailing upwind between races in 8-12 kt of wind.  To leeward of me, about 30 feet away was Bobby Wilmot, then Australian national windsurfing champion.  We were going about the same speed -- mostly.  Sometimes, for no apparent reason I would, in the span of about 5 seconds, lose about 1/2 board length to him.  Then, we'd resume going at the same speed again for maybe a minute or so.   This pattern repeated itself over and over. 

After a few minutes of this, I started to realize what was happening.  As a gust reached us, I would respond appropriately, heeling slightly to weather and heading up slightly to maintain a barely-planing speed which optimizes windward performance in that wind speed range.  However, when the gust ended in a lull, I didn't reverse the process right away, but instead would lose speed for a bit, then get it back together and accelerate.  I was sloppy enough to lose about 1/2 board length to Wilmot every time this happened.

The key to fixing this problem was to develop a more keen sense of boatspeed; when I lost a bit of speed and then worked to get it back, I lost ground.  If I could react and fall off slightly when the lull began, I could keep speed more constant and sail more like Wilmot was sailing.

I learned to race at the Cal Sailing Club in Berkeley in the late 1970s.  On Sunday mornings, we raced Lidos around a semi-sheltered corner of the San Francisco Bay.  I understand these club races continue even now, 40 years later, although the Lidos are long gone.  There was a Finn fleet that used the same location, and occasionally we would invite the Finn sailors to join us in the Lido racing, rotating into our boats.

They kicked our butt, almost every sailor, almost every time.  I was amazed at how much more proficient these Finn guys were in our boats which they never sailed otherwise.  One race when I wasn't racing, I was walking on the shore not far from the weather mark, and watched one of the better skippers round the mark, followed by one of my peers.  The Finn skipper lost only a small percentage of boatspeed rounding the weather mark and falling off to a run, while my clubmate lost about half of his boatspeed making the same rounding 5 seconds behind.

Again, the key to fixing this problem was to develop a more keen sense of boatspeed, what we do to kill boatspeed (sudden, sharp tiller motion works great for this!), and what we can do to preserve our speed while turning, for example heeling the boat to take advantage of the tendency of a boat heeled to windward to fall off. 

Once again, getting sensitive to where I might be losing speed helped developed my awareness of how fast the boat is moving through the water, and how I might be able to slow it down less.

 

Sailing for Performance !

I sailed back in the late 70s and early 80's, then mostly stopped for a number of years. Recently (early summer, 2011) got back into sailing with the UCI Sailing Club. While I was "gone" the sailing world has changed a lot in some areas, and not at all in others.

My co-worker lent me his book "High Performance Sailing" by Frank Bethwaite, and it was an eye-opener. Reading the book helped me gel some ideas about sailing that have been rattling around in my head and inspired me to attempt to put together information in a useful way.

Frank's book is organized like a pyramid, with basic information first, leading to conclusions about how to sail later. After extensive page flipping, I read the book backwards, starting with his tips on sailing and working back to the earlier chapters on wind and water.

I've read several, maybe 30 or 40 books on sailing. Of these three have really inspired me. One was "Start to Win", by Eric Twiname. Start to Win is focused on dinghy sailing and really emphasizes prioritizing attention. There are way too many things to think about when sailing, and figuring out which to focus on is a major success skill. Eric points us in that direction.

The second I only recommend for the True Nerd: "Aero-Hydrodynamics of Sailing" by C.A. Marchaj. Marchaj brings out a number of technical ideas and explanations, in a form only a tech person can love. His book offers lots of great diagrams and wind tunnel work that help in understanding basic phenomena, and is a great technical reference.

The third is High Performance Sailing. Frank Bethwaite. Frank offers TWELVE chapters on wind. Turns out he is an atmospheric scientist as well as a sailor and pilot, so he has lots to share on the subjects of air, air movement, and boat propulsion. What's really great about this book is that it is mostly pretty easy to read. Occasionally his weather descriptions get a little complex, but we are talking about complex things. He never loses track of how what he's talking about relates to sailing.

2008 Xmas Letter

Two big news stories for the year: Chris and Lucia are getting married. The date was originally planned for summer, 2009, but we have decided to postpone, and of course will be putting out the word when we finally pick a date. And Allison has been accepted to the College of Her Choice, Emerson in Boston. She is working hard on being a costume designer; she's sewing like crazy and also getting lots of backstage experience. I am really pleased with her focus and energy, and when we visited the school in June, I was impressed with the breadth and depth of their program. Emerson and Allison will fit well together.

Two trips to Guatemala for Chris, and four for Lucia. Plus Chris's trips to Boston, Portland, Yosemite, Washington D.C., Utah, Arizona, and Grand Traverse Michigan made this a pretty busy year. The photo trip isn't comprehensive, but I hope will give a flavor of what the year was like.


Allison posing outside Emerson College. The College main entrance is in this cul-de-sac walkway across the street from the Boston Gardens, about 1/4 mile from Cheers. It is RIGHT in the middle of the city. Boston seems like a great town, and I am really pleased that Allison is going to be going to school there.


Another college visit with Allison: this one is in Seattle, which you might have guessed if you noticed the Space Needle outside the window.


Got to go to Utah and Arizona on a fabulous mountain biking adventure.


The weather was not great for May, with snow at the higher elevations.



So we got to sample a beautiful location near St. George, Utah,




Gooseberry Mesa is an absolutely amazing place to ride a mountain bike, with trails that flow smoothly from uphill to downhill, around trees, and over boulders. I think it is better riding than the famous slickrock trail of Moab. I can't wait to go back.


We finally did make it to the Grand Canyon, and got to ride along the rim. Amazing.


Allison really wanted to give motorcycle riding a try. So here she is on my Hawk at the local community college parking lot. She did pretty well, only dropping the bike once. But I didn't do as well -- I don't remember not knowing how to ride a motorcycle, and am terrible at trying to tell someone how to ride one.


Another trip: this time a short flight northward to Portland for a professional conference. Got to see RS and Annie Soppe there. We spent a lot of time together in High School, and we blinked, then we all have kids in high school ourselves. Man it goes fast.



A group of folks gathering on the dam crest at Sisk Dam, near Los Banos, California. The dam has some stability issues in a really large earthquake, and we're discussing what to do about it.



Lucia's niece Ana had a beautiful baby this year; Sebastian.


Wildflowers had a good season in southern California this year. These are at Diamond Valley Lake, near Hemet. Our photo club was invited to make some photos of the flowers in full bloom.



The photos our club got from Diamond Valley Lake were displayed at the visitors center there.



We had a number of presentations raising consciousness about the situation for women in Guatemala. This presentation was in Orange, California, with the National Organization for Women.



On a local bike ride, I rode up Black Star canyon, near Silverado, to this ruin, built and still owned by a local family, the Beeks. The cabin is known as Beeks Place.



One of the recurring themes at work this year was Security. This was a visit by Homeland Security to one of our reservoirs (I could tell you which one, but then I'd have to kill you, haha), and they got a comprehensive view of all aspects of the reservoir.


The Raconteurs at Coachella. Why was I at Coachella, you might ask? Allison wanted to go, and her mom wouldn't let her go without an adult. So I volunteered. It was an experience.


The lights at Coachella.


Swift No. 2 powerplant. The embankment I'm standing on to get this photo failed a couple years ago, and was rebuilt.


Forest glade along the Columbia gorge. This area is spectacularly beautiful.


Waterfall along the Columbia gorge.


Sequim, Northern Washington State.


Sequim, Northern Washington State.


Also on the beach at Sequim.


Umpqua River, OR.


Covered bridge near the Umpqua River, OR.

I worked on an early design of this reservoir early in my career. Finally got back to the site and saw the finished product. I hope the owners don't get too much trouble from those "reglators".


A different Washington.


Our photo club at work put on a show in July.


During a conference in Indian Wells in September, I stayed at Mom and Dad's house. Unfortunately, they were still in their summer location near the beach.


Huntington Beach pier just after sunset.


The beautiful side of Guatemala, the side the tourists get to see. Antigua, only 40 minutes from the capital, with it's amazing surroundings and cobble streets.


More Antigua.


A less scenic part of Guatemala; the main city dump at Guatemala City, on one of our Delegations to Guatemala. We visited a group there that provides a really high-end day care experience for the children of the dump-dwelling families.


A visit to Sobrevivientes, a survivor's refuge and resource center in the capital.


I'm not sure the grafitti refers to the little girl, but maybe.



Our delegates on the No Violence Against Women march in November.


Bianca, a survivor we work with.


Wishing you and yours all the best for the holidays and for the coming year...

Chris and Lucia

Racism

I just read an article on Yahoo about a huge number of anti-black hate crimes popping up around the country, and it reminded me again of how entrenched hatred and racism are in this country.

I remember seeing the Watts riots on TV in 1963, and wondering why the blacks in Los Angeles were so angry, and why they took it out on their local businesses, burning and looting the furniture stores and liquor stores of the south Los Angeles area.

I remember being shocked at the disparity between the opinions of blacks and whites in the O.J. Simpson case. As I recall, during the criminal trial, some 80-90% of white people though O.J. was guilty while some 80-90% of black people thought O.J. was not guilty. I remember wondering how this could be so, when the facts of the case seemed so clearly to point to O.J.'s guilt.

The Yahoo article pointed out that the widespread expressions of anger and hatred against blacks is like when a man comes home from a bad day at work and kicks the dog. The dog didn't cause the bad day at work, but gets to be a convenient target. Likewise, the store owners represented wealth and power not available to most Watts residents, so they were the target of their anger.

The only way I could reconcile the disparity of opinion on O.J. is this: It seemed that blacks wanted O.J. to be acquitted because it would show that wealth and status counts in overcoming being accused of a crime, even for black people. That the black population wanted to believe that the reason so many black men are in jail, are on death row for crimes white people would not be in jail or be on death row for was because of economic disparity not because of racial bias.

If this were true, if a rich and prominent black man could get acquitted or a light sentence for a crime he clearly committed, as so often happens for white people (Nixon, Dan White, Charles Keating, Enron for example), that would give black people hope. Hope that the source of the bias in the legal system is economic, not racial. After all, we can change our economic situation more easily than we can change the color of our skin.

I for one am amazed and pleased that 52% of the population is willing to elect a black man as president. I take it as a hopeful sign that racism is waning, as significant a step as abolition of slavery and the 1964 civil rights act. Those milestones brought about open expressions of racism, bringing hatred's ugliness out into the light of day. Is it possible that we can look forward to a day when race is not a factor in how people are viewed? That a man can "be judged not by the color of his skin but by the content of his character" as Dr. King prophesied?

In the Yahoo article about race crime, someone was quoted as saying that racism is like cancer; it goes into remission but is never really cured. The racist response to Obama's victory has shown that the cancer of hatred continues to thrive in the Land of the Free, and the Home of the Brave.

"Model" Photo Shoot

My daughter is in high school and wants to go to college to learn costume design. Part of getting in to an art school where they teach things like that is to provide a portfolio. Fortunately, she goes to an art-oriented high school, so she has some art already, and also has made some of her own clothes.

So she came to me yesterday wanting me to make photos of a few outfits she has made for herself. Great oppo to put my Strobist learning into action.

So we hung a sheet over a PVC frame I made for a backdrop, set the camera up carefully. My new D90 has a great function where you press Info and it displays all the important settings on the back, and you can just work your way around the screen and make sure all is well. Focus mode AF-S, WB Auto, ISO 200, Shutter speed 1/200 s, and F-stop about 6 or so.

We're in the living room with no direct sunlight in sight -- am figuring to light the scene entirely with strobe. Pop a test shot with no flash, make sure ambient is not a factor.

Create ambient: set an SB-600 on 1/16 power and aim it at the ceiling behind me. Adjust power up a couple times. Final test shot shows about 1-2 stops below normal exposure. Cool.

Next, create key light: set an SB-800 at 1/4 power into a shoot thru umbrella on a stand about (her) head height. Test shot shows fall off down her body; we're not doing portraits, we're capturing how the clothes look. Lower the stand one foot.

Last, set up the on-cam flash for a bit of fill. TTL set at -1 should fill in any dark shadows. A test pop and things look great.

Made all the shots with no further fussing on lighting, which was great; we had to concentrate on making poses and making sure everything looks right. Except for the all-black outfit. Chimping showed there was little detail on the black (I didn't think to check the histogram though). So I boosted the key light up one full stop to 1/2 power.

She opened the images in photoshop and said "these are great. The only thing I have to do is take out the bruises on my legs." She expected to have to mess with the images, and was happy that they were great as-is.

Thanks David Hobby for the Strobist inspiration!

Gooseberry Mesa and the Grand Canyon

What an experience! Five days with Rim Tours on mountain bikes.

The plan was to ride across the Kaibab Plateau to the Grand Canyon. But the weather at the Grand Canyon was not cooperating, with 4 inches of snow reported on the Arizona Trail.

We met up Monday, Memorial Day. I was eating breakfast at the hotel when Mike, one of our Rim Tours guides comes in to the breakfast area and introduces himself. He explained that the weather wasn't looking good, and got onto his laptop to get a weather report. Then we went outside and, at the planned meeting time, 8AM, I was the LAST guest to give my stuff to the other guide, Christina. Yep, all the other participants in the tour were there, ready, and had already loaded their stuff before I showed up at 8:00. Well, maybe it was 8:05.

We rolled out about 8:20 and headed to some of the local trails near Hurricane, UT.



One was called the Jem trail, and I can't remember the other trail. The weather was sorta warm - maybe 65-70, but very unstable, with occasional squalls and hard rain. The trails were very cool, with some medium steep climbs, and some really great roller coaster sections. After riding for a few hours, a great lunch provided by our guides, then a few more hours of riding, we packed up and headed for Gooseberry Mesa.

I should mention this is the second trip I've done with Rim Tours. They really do it right. Their fees are not cheap; you can stay in a nice resort for the $/day Rim Tours charges. But it's so worth it. The food is great, the guides are really cool and knowledgeable. The other patrons were a lot of fun to ride and hang out with too.



Gooseberry Mesa was above where we were riding earlier in the day, but it seemed like another world. The only structure I saw there was an outhouse; one of those cool cinder block ones with a vent stack that is designed not to stink much and isn't loaded with graffiti and trash.



We found space for our five tents - two Australian couples, and three of us who came on the tour by ourselves. Our guides didn't bother with tents for themselves; Mike slept on a cot under the stars, and Christina slept in the van.

Tuesday morning we got to sample the trails of Gooseberry Mesa. Unbelievable. Trails that wind in and out of pinyon pines, yucca and various cactuses and lead to technical slickrock sections. These trails have *flow*, and are super enjoyable riding. There are a few areas that were too technical for me, so getting off and walking messed up the flow a bit, but the trails are just super cool riding.




I'm already looking forward to my next trip to Gooseberry Mesa.

After 2-1/2 days near St. George, we did take off for the Grand Canyon, and of course it was beautiful. We were in the Kaibab National Forest, so we could ride on the trails. In National Parks, riding on trails is against the rules.



Our camp near the edge of the Grand Canyon



This view was a 3 minute walk from the camp site.



Riding through this meadow, I was really impressed with the trees bowed toward the trail.



Aspens.

So, the Grand Canyon was an awesome experience, and I do want to go back to the Kaibab Plateau. The mountain bike riding at Gooseberry Mesa was the very best I've ever seen, and I probably never would have ridden there if the weather hadn't been too cold at the beginning of the week. How lucky can a guy get?