Sail Pandora

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It’s been months since I wrote about Pandora, our SAGA 43 and my plans for the coming season.  Now it is  February and I haven’t seen Pandora since getting her winterized at Port Annapolis Marina in Annapolis last November.  The original plan was for the yard to pull the mast and I would return and strip off the hardware and do some of the prep work to get it ready for the rigger to paint.  However, and a big however at that, things got crazy at work and the weather got nasty and very cold.   After much wringing of hands I decided to have the rigger do teh whole job.  As is to be expected, the job grew in complexity and really ballooned in cost. I was being tempted by the new boat sales offered by the local boat dealers. The good news is that by writing a few painfully large checks Pandora’s mast is almost ready to go back aboard. Those who decided to buy a new boat should look into the required documents for USCG vessel documentation.

Here are a few photos taken by the rigger prior to getting the mast ready for the paint shop.  You can really see just how bad it had gotten with corrosion and peeling paint. It does show what a difference good prep can do for a job.  Unfortunately, nearly all of the SAGAs had masts where the builder cut corners on the mast prep and while they looked great at first, over time there was universal peeling of the paint. One more bit of proof that “beauty is only skin deep”.

It’s just amazing how many parts are on a relatively simple mast. Notice the coils of wire that are the shrouds and stays. As it turns out, the rigger recommended, and I agreed to, a full replacement of all. After 10 years there was some corrosion on fittings and I guess you can’t be too careful. Painful but perhaps less distressing than a lost rig. Besides, the insurance company is likely to require replacement of the standing rigging prior to any really extensive offshore cruising down the road. Sailing to the Med anyone? Let’s hope that I don’t remain an armchair voyager for too much longer.

Just an amazing amount of corrosion on the mast. This is the gooseneck, the spot on the mast where the boom attaches. Not looking so good.

The forward portion of the boom where all the lines run in over shivs.  Corroded again. Not too pretty.  And, where there is messed up paint there is the potential for metal failure.

Getting close to painting, the rig is sanded down to bare metal.  A long and tedious (read expensive) process.  Lots of man hours in this. I can’t wait to see it all done in a few weeks when I return to begin the prep for splashing in late March.

I also need to have good cell coverage when I am aboard and the signal is often a bit weak where we sail. However, there’s a solution. I found a company that sells a cell phone booster that can pick up and improve a signal dramatically for both receiving and transmitting as long as there is at least a weak signal. The system involves an antenna at the top of the mast and a amplifier at the navigation station in the boat. There are two versions, one that is hard wired to a phone, through an external antenna jack, and another that works through a local wireless network on the boat. According to the tech folks the hard wired version will work up to 50 miles from a tower and the wireless version up to 20 miles. I have opted for the hard wired version and will purchase a cable to connect my phone to the unit directly. I am hopeful that this system will allow me to get my ;phone service and data virtually anywhere we are in normal coastal cruising. This link will take you to their home page. If you’ve had any personal experience with such a unit, I’d love to hear more. It’s worth noting that ordering this was quite a pain as they only sell through dealers, more like local installers or places that didn’t know marine, and getting any of them to return my call or understand what I was looking for was very tough. I finally called a trusted boat dealer, West Marine, and they were able to special order the parts I needed. Wish me luck.

>I couldn’t resist putting up this video that landed on YouTube today just a few minutes prior to my searching for for the latest updated videos on Abby Sunderland’s departure from Marina Del Rey on Saturday as she left to begin her around the world voyage.  This video only had one viewing prior to my picking it up this afternoon. It’s quite well done and better than some of the others that have gone up.  I hope you enjoy it.   Do you think she is too young?  You be the judge and let me know.

Now there are three solo sailors making the run around to the east, one from India, another from Australia and now from the USA. It will certainly make for interesting viewing over coffee in the morning.

>Young Jessica Watson from Australia survived a storm two days ago in the South Atlantic where she was knocked down a total of four times, once where her mast went to 180 degrees.  Aside from some bumps and bruises, she came through just fine.  As you can imagine, there was also some damage on deck as this picture that she posted shows.  I think it’s amazing that her boat came through in such great shape, Jessica too.  Check out her blog post, it’s amazing to read.  Equally impressive is that after 100 days at sea Jessica’s blog continues to get a lot of traffic.  As of 8am on Sunday morning EST he had 400 comments on her post.  That’s a powerful demonstration of her following.   Actually she is a good writer and recall, that she is only 16 years old.  After a day with winds at hurricane force, Jessica is now sailing along with very calm conditions.  The change in weather does certainly bring the phrase “what a difference a day makes” into sharp focus.  Happily, Jessica can continue on her voyage as planned. 

You can also see where she is now,  (this link is best viewed with Google Earth installed on your computer)  just north east of the Falklands where the Indian Sailor Dilip Donde is refitting prior to setting out on the next leg of his around the world voyage as well. He’s sailing from Mumbai India.

This video is from a BBC segment that provides some context to the power of waves, and rogue waves in particular.  Jessica experienced conditions that were probably less severe than the biggest ones shown here but devastating, none the less.   The power of water is must immense.  As I look at this and Jessica’s photo, it is clear to me that my dodger and bimini would definately not survive this sort of punishment. 
  

While Jessica is making her way, Abby Sunderland left on Saturday from Marina Del Ray in California on her boat Wild Eyes with the hope of becoming yet another, and perhaps the youngest, to make it around unassisted.   Abby’s blog post from yesterday also notes that there will be a segment on Good Morning America on Monday morning about her voyage and departure.  Well, another journey for me to follow.  Lot’s going on in the world of solo sailing these days.

>Yesterday Jessica Watson rounded Cape horn earlier this week on her quest to be the youngest unassisted circumnavigator.   Actually, in the last week, two sailors have made the rounding including Dilip Donde with the Indian Navy.  Dilip beat Jessica by a few days, coming up from behind in a larger and faster boat.  Also, Jessica was trying to make her rounding in daylight in order to allow for a flyover by her parents in a small plane.   They had flown out from their home in Australia in time to fly over Jessica and speak to her over a VHF radio.  I recommend that you read her post on this event as it is quite touching.  Imagine that she has been alone at sea and passing The Horn was her first land sight in months.  She left home aboard Ella’s Pink Lady in mid October.  Combine that with being in the “vicinity” of her parents who circled overhead for 45 minutes before heading back to land and you can certainly imagine how emotional it was for everyone involved.   There was a video from her parents on her site earlier today but it seems that they have pulled it down, perhaps to do more editing.  Who knows. 

Here’s a video Jessica posted as she rounded the fabled rocky point at the very most southern tip of South America.   It’s obvious that she was very excited when she made this video.   Still a long way to go but passing The Horn is such a major milestone.

This video shot by Jessica’s parents while they circled overhead is very touching. Imagine how they felt being so close and yet not able to actually be together.  The dialogue between Jessica and her mother is quite touching.   The boat looks so small on the big, bad southern ocean.

Dilip is now in the Falklands, a stop over for so many ships over the years that had sustained damage in the Southern Ocean.  Dilip had planned to make 4 stops on his way around and this port was on his list.  Good thing as he had a number of gear problems including a broken electronic autopilot.  Fortunately, he also has a vane steering unit so he was still able to manage fine.  Oddly, he hasn’t posted since earlier in the week.  However, I did find this article about his arrival in
Stanley, Falkland Islands.  It’s short but worth a look.   It seems he will be there for a while and will then head out to continue on his journey.  What a great trip.

>Yet again, YouTube comes to the rescue with a bit of background on the sailor from Mumbai that is sailing around the world.  The video gives a good feel for the yacht, which looks like a good one to make such a voyage.   This is certainly a more powerful boat than the older design that Jessica Watson is aboard.

Dilip has been thrashing into unusual easterlies for the last few days, making for a very uncomfortable ride. It seems that the weather forecast will have a shift to more normal westerly winds soon. 

>Today, when doing what I do most mornings, checking out a few blogs including Jessica Watson’s, she mentioned that she had been corresponding with a member of the Indian Navy who is sailing around the world on the first fiberglass boat built entirely in India.  What’s interesting, is that they have been communicating and are currently closer to each other than they are to any other person on the planet, or at least to anyone that they are aware of.  They are both so far from land that it’s each others boats that they are closest to.  I checked out the other blog and it turns out that the skipper is Dilip Donde who is sailing around the world, with a number of stops, on a custom made 47′ sailboat.   His blog is interesting and I have been reading some of his past posts.  He left last August from Maumbai India sailing south and then to the east making his first stop in Fremantle Australia.  After a week he headed back out and is now closing in on Cape Horn as is Jessica.

It must be wierd to be so far from everything and yet so close to someone that you have so much in common with.  Dilip’s blog includes a daily posting of position so check his out and see how it compares to Jessica’s

>For those who enjoy following blogs of sailing exploits, like me, today is somewhat notable as it was today that Jessica Watson, the young girl trying to circumnavigate the world in a small sailboat, reached the point in the ocean called “Point Nemo”.  That point was named for Captain Nemo the fictional hero of Jules Verne’s “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea”, 1869″.  It is the point in the ocean that is the farthest from land of any place on the planet.    This position was computed by drawing lines between three points, in this case islands.  These points are…

s48:52:31.748 w123:23:33.069
This point is exactly 2 688 220.580 meters (slightly more than 1 450 nautical miles) away from the following three coastline points:
s24:40:39.360, w124:47:25.872 Ducie Island (Pitcairn Island Group, South Pacific)
s27:12:29.304, w109:27:33.120 Motu Nui / Rapa Nui (“Easter Island”, South Pacific)
s72:57:57.024, w126:22:30.793 Maher Island / Siple Island (Antarctica)

Jessica is probably less than two weeks from passing Cape Horn, what is likely to be the toughest part of her voyage.   Interestingly, she has been sailing in fog for some days now and I have to wonder what it’s like being in reduced visibility of only a few hundred feet and yet being 1,450km from the nearest land.  Sounds a bit surrealistic to me.

When she was leaving port for a test sail months ago, she had an accident that made headlines when she collided with a huge ship. This video also has an interesting interview with a fellow long distance sailor who attempted such a voyage with disastrous results.

When Brenda and I were in Key West last week we saw an IMOCA 60,  a really terrific ocean racing boat.  This video is in French but does have some footage of Bel, the big red French boat that we saw sailing near the docks.  What an amazing boat, and so fast.   What a contrast from Jessica Watson’s Ella’s Pink Lady. 

>While we were in the Keys last week with our friends, we took a day trip down to Key West.  Grassy Key, where we were staying, is about half way between the bottom of Florida to Key West so the drive down to the end of the island chain and Key West was about two hours and a world away.  Unfortunately, much of the Keys Highway is just one long strip of small motels, dive shops and a mess of generally unattractive roadside real estate.  However, once you enter Key West the world changes and you enter an amazing world of blue water, eclectic lifestyles and wonderful 1800s architecture.

There’s loads of boat traffic all around the tip of Key West with dive boats, private sailboats and this amzaing IMOCA 60, a state of the art ocean race boat out for a day sail.  I think that they must have been taking out sponsors or paying clients as a chase boat went out to it and changed passengers.  I took this photo from the deck where we had lunch.

Just off of the city marina dock there were tremendous tuna and tarpon.  No kidding, the tarpon were five feet long and the tuna three to four.  It seems that these fish are fed at the docks as if they were ducks in a city park.  These fish were just amazing and the biggest that I have ever seen in the “wild”.  That’s if they can still be classified as wild given the fact that they get fish kibble tossed to them daily. 

The area is jammed with all sorts of amazing old homes.  Given the hurricanes that come through this area nearly every season, it’s hard to imagine that they still are intact after 100 plus years. 

Another wonderful tree lined street scene with Brenda and Port walking and taking in the sights.

Quite a few wonderful historic hotels.  In fact Key West served as the Winter White House for Harry Truman.   At that time, the Navy had a massive presence and took very good care of the visiting president.  Today there is a section of the town called the Truman Annex, and it’s very, very exclusive. 

>About a month ago good friends from our yacht club, Port and Kathy invited Brenda and me to visit them in Grassy Key Florida, a long drive out into the Keys and about 40 miles short of Key West.  Port is a retired architech and high end home builder in CT.  About 20 years ago they purchased some land in the Keys and spend about 4 days a month here enjoying the great weather.  Well, here we are visiting a wonderful warm place, with 80 degree water and air temperature to match.  Not bad as we have had snow twice in NJ already.  Forgive this post as it has much of nothing to do with boating.  Well, perhaps it does as we are surrounded by water.

It is such a treat to be here and enjoy a really amazing place on the warm Gulf when it’s so cold at home in New Jersey.

We came down late on Saturday night, landed in Ft Lauderdale and drove 2 1/2 hours south arriving at their home shortly after midnight.  Imagine our reaction as the lights came on revealing this magical place.  This is a view of the entrance area as viewed from the stairs leading up to our room.

A view of our room.  Below is an area storage and is left unoccupied in the event of high water during a storm.

The main house in the center with two story bungalows on both sides.  The building furthest to the right is for the caretaker.  For 10 hours of work a week the caretaker couple can live here rent free.  I understand that when Port runs an ad looking for help he gets over 100 responses and an amazing cross section of humanity, much of which is from the bottom 5%.  The current couple that watch over the place have been here for three years and beyond looking after the place don’t seem to do much.  I can relate to that as the environment certainly would lull anyone into a stupor after a few weeks.  No such thing as a New York minute.  It’s more about manana.

 

 

>Jessica Watson, sailing around the world from Australia, has crossed the equator and back in the last few weeks and is now headed south on her way to The Horn, the southern most tip of South America.  You can follow her on Google Earth.  With more than 4,000 mile to go, she won’t be there for about a month.  The good news is that she should round The Horn in the middle of summer, good timing as it’s one of the nastiest places on earth to be on the water.   Jessica’s blog is apparently the most popular one in Australia and has a very loyal following, regularly getting 200+ comments on each post.  Interestingly, she seems to have an avid following of women. Perhaps it’s just all the “mothers” out there that are fretting about her and how she is doing.  At 16 years old there are many who feel there’s plenty to worry about as she makes her trip around alone.

Another young woman, Abby Sunderland, hopes to set a record and be the youngest to do a circumnavigation alone under sail, will soon leave from Encinada Mexico.  Abby, the daughter of a shipwright,  also has an older brother Zac who briefly held the record as the youngest to sail around alone. Abby decided when she was13 years old that she wanted to break her brother’s record.   No doubt, Abby was inspired by her older brother’s voyage.  If she is successful, at least she can keep the record in the family.

Jessica is making her voyage in a 30 year old classic sailoat design and Abby Sunderland, on a refurbished Open 40 ocean race boat.   As an interesting side note, Abby’s brother Zac was briefly the youngest to circumnavigate alone when he completed his voyage a few years ago at the age of 17.  His record was eclipsed just a few weeks later by someone from England who managed to finish shortly after Zac, and who was just a few months younger.

The part of this exercise that I find fascinating, setting aside the question of how young is too young, is that Jessica is making her attempt in a 30 year old design that is not capable of going much faster than 5-7 kts while Abby is going on a very modern design that is capable of speeds upwards of 25kts.   A key issue of all this will be if they are able to complete their voyage at all. I wonder if it may turn out to be the classic tortoise and the hare question.  Will Jessica’s slow, easy going, older design ultimately outrun a much faster, but tougher to sail, Open 40?   A key consideration will be fatigue as the faster boats are very hard on crew, and keeping spirits up and not breaking gear — or worse — is a major consideration in this sort of voyage.

This is an interview with Abby in Portmouth RI when she was purchasing her Open 40, Wild Eyes.  It gives you an idea of what sort of boat it is.

And this is a tour of Jessica’s boat, Ella’s Pink Lady.  You can really see just how different these two boats are.

With regard to different designs, I can tell you that sailing our current boat Pandora, a modern SAGA 43, with a long waterline and fine entry is a very different experience than sailing our last boat, an older style design, Tartan  37′ with long overhangs and a shorter waterline.  Pandora’s motion is much less lively but does reqire more dilegence when it comes to reefing the sails to keep her sailing in her best trim.

Jessica’s boat Ella’s Pink Lady is a Sparkman & Stephens 34, a very seakindly design, more analogous to our T37, that’s been proven over many years of ocean sailing.  On the other hand, Abby’s Wild Eyes (the name certainly suggests a different temperament), is an extreme-purpose built boat designed to go as fast as possible.   Abby’s boat, built to the Open 40 class design, is a boat built to break records, but certainly not designed for comfort.  It’s all about getting there as fast as possible.  This link is an example of just what this class is all about.

Abby will be leaving soon from northern Mexico where she has moved the boat.  Her site isn’t fully functional yet but her blog is up and running. 

This will be an interesting pair of voyages to follow in the coming months.

Oh, and one more thing…

This video of the BMW Oracle new racing yacht that’s going to compete in the America’s Cup soon.  Now, this is what real money will buy.  Is this what the America’s Cup is all about?   Perhaps not, but it’s fun to look at.