November 2013

When I spoke with Chris Parker, the weather router, about our plans to head offshore from Beaufort NC to Ft Pierce this week, he said that we would run into what he likes to say are “salty” conditions.

Well, it’s Monday morning, we’ve been out a nearly 30 hours and he wasn’t lying…

The seas are in the 10′ range with some much larger and Pandora has been speeding along, often at 8+ kts since yesterday afternoon.  With winds solidly in the 20s and gusting into the low 30s at times, it has been keeping us on our toes.    The autopilot keeps us on track pretty well but when we get a 30+kt gust, sometimes we have to take over and hand steer.  This means that whoever is on watch has to keep a very careful eye on the wind speed and direction.

The wind has been from the north which means we are on a run or broad reach with the wind coming from behind us.  That does make the wind seem less strong but makes steering somewhat tricky.  Last night, as things really piped up, we found ourselves being pushed off course enough several times to suffer unexpected jibes.  That wasn’t good as it put major stress on the rig.  Fortunately, nothing major broke and we are still moving along nicely.  We are now steering a more conservative course and things are much more controlled.

I spoke with Chris Parker earlier today on the SSB radio and he reported that the forecast isn’t going to change in the next few days so it seems that we will continue to move right along with brisk northeries and significant seas.  He does expect that the wind will shft to a more easterly direction as we head down the Florida Coast on late Tuesdayand early Wednesday and he doesn’t expect that the wind strength will diminish.  Me, I could do with a little less wind. Right now we are running nearly 8kts with only a double reefed main.   That’s not a lot of sail. Along with the brisk winds we should expect that the seas will continue to build so we are in for a  bit of an “exciting” and yes, “salty” run as we continue down the coast.

All and all, however, it’s good to be sailing and it sure beats motoring into the wind.  Yes, a silver lining.  And, no major broken gear.  Fingers crossed that it will stay that way.

We did break the line on our preventer last night when we jibed but it was probably too light a line anyway.   At one point I had to go up on deck last night and underestimated how wet it was.  Oops… I got completely soaked and had to shower before I got into bed.  Not good.  One set, of only a very few, clean and dry clothes are now in a damp heap.  I won’t make that mistake again.

Yesterday, as when I was coming down the Jersey coast earlier in October, we had a feathered visitor.  A sparrow size bird landed on Pandora and hung out for a while.  I had to wonder what the little guy would have done if we hadn’t happened by at the right time.  It’s likely that some, perhaps a lot, of birds perish in the ocean when they get lost on their migration south and north again.
It’s also been fun watching the dolphins jump and play around Pandora as we race along heading south.  With regularity the come up on our stern and you can see them in the water as the waves pile up behind us, and sometimes they seem to be higher than I am standing in the cockpit.  After zooming toward us,  they race along side and cross our bow.  This activity is repeated over and over again.  It looks like they are having a great time.  And, as if to give us a show, they sometimes jump clear out of the water, just feet from Pandora.  The rough conditions don’t seem to bother them at all.

In the first 24 hours we covered just over 180 miles, a very respectable distance indeed.  There aren’t many cruising boats in our size range that can boast 24 hour speeds like this.  There was a time when very few boats of any size could boast anywhere near 200 mile per day but now, with the extreme racers, distances more than twice ours, and sometimes a lot more, in a 24 hour period are possible.  However, for cruising boats, not many can make this sort of time.

I stood the 04:00 to 08:00 watch this morning and a number of times I saw speeds on the knot meter in excess of 10kts.  That’s moving.    Our average speed since leaving the dock yesterday morning is 7.6kts.  To be honest, I’d be happy with a little less speed and a little less “salty” conditions.   Fast is good but not particularly comfortable.  Oh well.

I do hope that conditions hold and that the wind doesn’t move too far toward an easterly or southeasterly direction so that we can continue to sail the whole way.  If things do get nasty we can always pull in and run down the ICW for the last bit once we are in FL waters.

I guess that’s about all I have to say today.   Here’s hoping that we continue to make time.  More to come.

It’s Sunday late morning and we are romping along nicely under sail with a brisk NW wind on our starboard quarter.   Pandora performs particularly well under these conditions and she has already proven herself by running past a somewhat larger sailboat on the same track, leaving it on the horizon behind us after just a few hours.   It is so satisfying to be faster than most other boats on a long ocean passage where the difference in speed of only a few knots can make a trip days shorter on a long run.   On a run of say, 1,000 miles, the difference in that the run will time if we can make 7.5kts, verses 5.5kts, is 5 ― days verses 7 ―, days.  That’s a big difference.    Me, I’ll take the 5 ― day passage.

With about 20kts of wind on our stern, we are under full sail and moving along at between eight and nine knots through the water, a very respectable speed, for sure.   I am hopeful that we can keep our average speed in the mid 7s or low 8s for this run.  Fingers crossed.

Last night, the wind shifted from the south after the front that left us with several days of rain passed by.   Our plan was to leave Beaufort after the wind shifted to the north, a favorable direction for sailing south and one where it’s forecasted to stayfor the next few days.  If things continue as expected, we should be able to continue to make good time all the way to Florida.   I expect that we will have to motor for the last day on our way down the FL coast as the wind is expected to veer toward the east/south east, and drop to about 5kts by the time we get there.

Yesterday afternoon, after the rain finally stopped, we moved Pandora from a mooring to a dock in town so we could take on water and fuel.  Brenda left that morning to drive home so it’s me and my two crew members, Bob and John, who are with me taking Pandora south.
Bob is skipper of The Abby, a much larger sailboat that I helped deliver from Nassau to Norwalk CT two years ago, my first trip north under sail.  That was good experience for me and to have him aboard for our run south is great.  John, who lives near us in CT is a very experienced sailor too and has done this run many times.

Yesterday, after moving onto the dock, we spent several hours getting everything in shape for the offshore run.  This included deflating the dink and lashing it onto the deck between the mast and dodger along with ensuring that all gear was properly stowed and secured for the run.  It’s not a good idea to have the dink in the davits when we are offshore as if things get nasty the dink can work itself loose and cause all sorts of mischief.  Besides, in the event that we run into trouble, the easiest way to launch the life raft is through the transom door and that can’t be opened easily when the dink is in the davits off the stern of Pandora.

In keeping with the ongoing saga of technical issues that we have faced on this trip, I have been concerned with a turnbuckle on the aft wire stay (one of the wires that hold up the mast) that had become corroded.  Given the fact that the standing rigging is only a few years old, to see the corrosion was particular cause for concern.  After speaking with some folks that I know on another boat visiting Beaufort, I decided that something had to be done to ensure that we would not find ourself in rough conditions and loose the rig from a gear failure.

With this in mind, I contacted a local rigger who came out to the boat yesterday to review things.   As expected, he agreed that there was a real risk in leaving port with the backstay in it’s current condition.  After much discussion, we decided to set up a supplemental backup stay of high tech rope (Spectra), a soft grey rope/line that is actually stronger than steel and easy to put in place.  We rigged up a double strand of ž” line running from the starboard stern turnbuckle, up through the roller on the main stay and  back to the turnbuckle on the port quarter, in essence, setting up a “sister” stay to double the current suspect stay.  In the event that the suspect stay breaks, the Spectra “sister” stay will hold up the rig.  It’s really tough to imagine that a piece of line that is so soft to the touch is actually as strong, or stronger, than steel.   I’d like to think that the stay in question won’t break, but I am not inclined to take any chances.   Besides, I am pretty confident that loosing the mast in heavy winds and seas would not be fun, make that “double not fun”.  Happily, I haven’t had first hand experince on that score.  Let’s hope I can keep up my lucky streak.

The source of my concern with the back stay was a rusty spot called “crevice corrosion” where the wire was attached to the turnbuckle, a problem that can easily lead to the loss of the rig, or worse.   When a boat is being run offshore, you can’t be too careful  so anything suspect needs to be addressed immediately.   I am certainly glad that I was able to find a rigger that would come to the boat on short notice.

All seems to be in good order now so let’s hope that nothing breaks.  Given the fact that we are going to be moving in conditions that Chris Parker, the weather router, calls “salty” for this trip, we want to be sure that everything is in perfect working order.
Along with dealing with the suspect back stay, we also rigged the third reef in the main.   This is a very deep reef that cuts the amount of sail area dramatically in the main.  If we should find ourselves in winds in the 35 knot range, something that could happen on this trip, I had a third reef sewn into the sail when it was constructed but have never used it.  So, yesterday we rigged lines and shackles in place so that we can easily pull the sail down to the third reef if needed.   The third reef cuts down the rig by more than 2/3s.  In this condition the main sail is quite small and that, combined with my storm jib would put Pandora in good shape to handle really “salty” conditions.   Storm sails, like a life raft, are the sorts of gear you want to have on board and hope you will never use.

So far, so good and our current course will take us to our first turning point off of Frying Pan Shoals, an aptly named point with very shallow waters off of the coast about 90 NM (nautical miles) from the entrance of Beaufort.  At that point we will head toward another waypoint just west of the western wall of the Gulf Stream which will keep us inshore of the strong northerly running current of The Stream.    The Gulf Stream is a great “conveyor belt” of water that makes for a fast run north but you want to stay out of it when going south.

If you are inclined to plot our plans on a chart, the first coordinates we will point toward after rounding Frying Pan are 32.00.00N Latitude and 79.20.00W Longitude, approximately.   After that we will have another imaginary point to go to, 31.20.00N, 80.00.00W and then 30.00.00N, 80.30.00W that should allow us to continue south without messing with the adverse currents of The Stream.   Any further east of these waypoints, and we would find ourselves fighting a nasty current that runs several knots against us.  And, with north winds opposing these currents, big and sharp waves.   Those conditions would be totally “unfun”.

It will be interesting to see if Chris’s coordinates are right.  Only time will tell.

Sorry, no pictures in this post as I sent this to my son Christoper via e-mail on the SSB long range radio.    This technology is very slow and not suited to big files.   Perhaps in Monday’s post I will include one small photo.

So far, so good, as Pandora romps along on the third leg of our trip south to Florida in preparation for Brenda’s and my run to The Bahamas in late January.

It’s late Friday night, nearly midnight and I am waiting for my crew to arrive.  Bob and John have driven nearly all day from Norwalk CT to Beaufort NC.  I can’t believe that they are still on the road and the day is nearly over.

I feel badly that they have had such a long day and even worse that I will be picking them up in the dink at the dock and schlepping them out into the night where Pandora is moored.

We had planned to bring Pandora into the dock today so that it would be easier to get them on board but decided against it at the last minute as the wind was really honking and blowing right onto the dock.  Yes, we could have done it but I wasn’t into excitement first thing this AM and the easier decision was to just stay put.  Now that Bob and John are about to arrive, I do wish that I had taken a slip. I expect that I will get some teasing.  Oh well.

As the day wore on today I was able to go shopping for provisions, specifically for fresh food and meals that will be easy to prepare underway.   Brenda helped me to make a list of meals for the trip and I am hopeful that the guys will be happy with what I have in store for them.

The weather forecast for the next few days is a bit uncertain, as is so often the case.  There is a front coming through tonight and tomorrow which will shift the winds from the south to the north, a favorable direction for our run south.  The bad news is that the winds will be quite strong, in the high 20s with gusts that are even higher.   Worse is that as we get further south, toward Florida, we will see stronger winds that will begin to shift to the east.  That means that the winds will become less favorable and will be stronger than I would like.

When I spoke with Chris Parker, the weather router, earlier today, he suggested that our best option would probably be to stop in St Mary’s on the Fl/GA border to wait a few days for more favorable winds to make it down the FL coast.  He feels that we will be able to carry fair winds to the FL boarder but after that, not so good.  The problem is that we will be heading on a more S/SE course once we are in FL than we will have for the NC/SC/GA leg that will have more favorable winds.  A complicating factor in all of this is that we have to stay fairly close to shore to avoid the contrary northerly flow of the Gulf Stream.  On the way north, the Stream is our friend, not so on the way south.  This means that we can not carry a straight course for FL but will have to head SW with the coastline and then begin to shift to a more southerly and then SE course as we get closer to Florida.

In any event, time will tell as to what the winds will do.  For now, it looks like we may be able to leave later on Saturday afternoon or perhaps on Sunday morning.

One rub that has gotten into the mix is that I have a fitting on the back stay that looks somewhat questionable and I have asked a rigger to come down to the boat on Saturday morning to take a look at it and probably replace it.  I had all of the standing rigging replaced just a few years ago but one particular fitting on the end of the back stay looks corroded and might not be safe for offshore work.   With this in mind, I am having it addressed in the morning, as soon as the rain begins to moderate.

I normally don’t have much in the way of technical issues with Pandora and it seems like this trip has been full of fun (not) details that have had to be addressed,  I sure hope that the worst of these is behind me for now.  Unlike the issues related to the engine work, I can’t blame this on them.  I guess that there must have been a bad fitting used by the rigger a few years ago.  Who knows.

I will know more in the AM.  Fingers crossed that we won’t be totally dumped on with rain and that the rigger can get to me early.   I sure hope that this won’t delay our departure.  Fingers crossed.

For now, I am getting a bit pooped and can’t wait to hit the rack.  Sleepy…