{"id":8819,"date":"2018-05-20T08:29:29","date_gmt":"2018-05-20T13:29:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=8819"},"modified":"2018-05-20T08:29:29","modified_gmt":"2018-05-20T13:29:29","slug":"so-bob-how-was-your-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=8819","title":{"rendered":"So Bob, how was your trip?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am always a bit remiss when I arrive home after a winter afloat as it seems to take forever to find a moment to do that” one last post” about the trip.\u00a0 Anyone who has followed our run must wonder if we made it as I go silent after near-daily posts when we are on passage.\u00a0 Well, we made it and here’s yet another post that proves that I am indeed “here to tell the tale”.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday we cleared customs in New London after several conversations with officers on the phone who were universally insistent that we show up in person for an inspection.\u00a0 As a point of clarification, I didn’t object to an in-person inspection and even asked for clarification and asked what was “not allowed” so that I could dispose of everything before making landfall.<\/p>\n

The items that had to go over the side were any fresh fruit or produce as well as any chicken products including frozen items that were not labeled from the US.\u00a0 So, over the side they went as we passed Montauk.\u00a0 Anyone watching would have seen a mile long slick of limes, celery, apples and even an errant turkey thigh bobbing in our wake.\u00a0 Here fishy, fishy…<\/p>\n

We tied up at the Customs Dock in New London and a short time later the officer arrived.\u00a0 It’s a big dock and the step from the dock to Pandora’s deck was a pretty good drop.\u00a0 After taking one look at the dock and then down to Pandora the officer said, and I quote “that’s a big step”.\u00a0 \u00a0And I said “yes, that’s a big step.\u00a0 Would you like to come aboard?”\u00a0 Hoping that he wouldn’t given the large variety of rum that I was “importing”.\u00a0 \u00a0After a long moment of hesitation, he said, “Hmm… please pass up your passports” and “do you have any fruits, vegetables or chicken aboard”.\u00a0 To that I said, “nope, tossed everything overboard and there is a trail of the stuff looping around Montauk point.”\u00a0 And, he said, “welcome home.\u00a0 You’re all set.”\u00a0 \u00a0And, I said “that’s it?” and he said.\u00a0 “Yup”.<\/p>\n

Now, wasn’t that easy?\u00a0 So, there we were, back in US waters and free to go on our way.\u00a0 Bob jumped ship to catch a train home but not until we had a “Tot of rum” to celebrate our arrival.\u00a0 George and I headed toward the CT River and the Essex Yacht Club, the official landfall for our journey.<\/p>\n

The fog was really thick as we approached Montauk earlier that morning with visibility of only a few hundred feet.\u00a0 After months of clear warm weather in the Caribbean it was a shock to suddenly be in damp, cold fog.\u00a0\"\"Montauk light.\u00a0 Almost home.\u00a0\"\"Visibility was closing in by the mile.\"\"The closer to shore we got the thicker the fog.\u00a0 \u00a0The Orient Point ferry emerged ominously from the low hanging fog bank off of New London.\u00a0\"\"Nearly there, the mouth of the CT River.\u00a0\"\"The last time I passed this point was the third week of October, last year.\u00a0\"\"After nearly 4,000 miles under Pandora’s keel since passing this point last fall and 9 days since leaving Antigua, we were home and none the worse for wear.<\/p>\n

Actually, I was a little worse for wear after my trip up the mast way back, 600 miles south of Bermuda when the headboard gave way and the mainsail came crashing down onto the deck.<\/p>\n

But then you already know all about that if you follow this blog as I wrote about that experience in an earlier post.<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0I won’t bore you with a replay except to show some photos which I wasn’t able to send from Pandora given our limited “bandwidth” while underway.<\/p>\n

As you recall, the headboard, the piece that holds up the top of the mainsail, broke, disconnecting from the top of the sail.\u00a0 \u00a0The headboard shot to the top of the mast and the sail, to the deck.\u00a0 Messy.\"\"We pulled the top of the sail through the front of the dodger so we could work on it under cover.\u00a0\"\"After a lot of discussion on what the best fix would be, we decided to drill holes in the sail and thread lengths of super-strong Dynema rope to support it.\u00a0 Good thing I have a large tool and spare parts selection aboard.\u00a0\"\"Several hours, nine holes and a bunch of knots later…\"\"All done.\u00a0 Not beautiful but plenty strong.\u00a0\"\"The “better side”.\u00a0\"\"George and Bob put the sail back into the mast slides as I was still feeling a bit shaky from my run up the mast.\u00a0\"\"And, speaking of my time “aloft”, I had a few bruises to prove that it was a rough ride.\u00a0 This one was particularly tender.\u00a0 Not sure what I banged into but I thought that it was pretty impressive.\u00a0\"\"The inside of both thighs from clinging to the mast.\u00a0 \u00a0“Thanks for sharing Bob! Disgusting, really!”\"\"Ok, if you insist.\u00a0 The insides of both arms.\u00a0 I was really clutching the mast with all my might.\u00a0 \u00a0Superman I’m not, but I was clutching the mast “super hard”.\u00a0\"\"As rough as it was the day I went up the mast, a few days later, not so rough.\u00a0 Once you get north of Bermuda the winds are all over the place if there is any wind at all.\u00a0\"\"We ended up motoring something like 100 hours and yet still managed to sail between 800 and 900 miles and sometimes at near double digit speeds for days at a time.\u00a0 I wrote about one of our best days of sailing, early in our trip in this post.<\/a><\/p>\n

However, after crossing the Gulf Stream the wind just died and didn’t come up again.<\/p>\n

As much as I hate motoring day after day, the calm seas that come along with no wind do make for good conditions to spot sea life.\u00a0 We saw a small pod of humpback whales and also many of these sharks, Basking sharks<\/a> I think.\u00a0 \u00a0 The fin, tail and “nose” of the shark are very distinctive as they slowly swim along with their enormous mouth agape.\u00a0 \u00a0These sharks run in the 15-25′ long, the second largest shark species.\u00a0 In spite of their enormous size, their primary food is plankton, tiny invertebrates.\u00a0 \u00a0We saw dozens as we approached the continental shelf about 100 miles south of Montauk.\u00a0\"\"One of them slowly swam toward Pandora until he\/she was only about 2′ from our hull and suddenly realized how close we were.\u00a0 And with a violent splash, turned away.\u00a0 They really look primeval.\u00a0\"\"All and all, we had a good run and in spite of 100 hours of motoring, we still made very good time, nearly 180 miles per day for 1,600 miles, over the bottom.<\/p>\n

Now that Pandora is in a marina, I’ll have the mechanic take a look at the prop shaft bearing to see how tough it will be to put in a new one or at least fix the one that’s there.\u00a0 \u00a0I may also have the transmission pulled for inspection as I fear that the vibration might have caused some excess wear.\u00a0 \u00a0I’ll wait until fall to pull her, I hope, to take a look at the cutlass bearing on the shaft to see if that wore too.<\/p>\n

You know, they say that cruising is “boat repair in exotic places” but being home means even more boat repairs, but in a marina.\u00a0 And, it costs a lot more. funny thing.<\/p>\n

So, how was my trip?\u00a0 Well, I am already thinking about my run south in November as part of the Salty Dawg Rally to Antigua<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Oh yeah, the rally will be adding a second “official” departure point, from Essex Yacht Club.\u00a0 Gee, I wonder how the board chose Essex Yacht Club? Hmm…<\/p>\n

Who knew?\u00a0 But I didn’t want to schlep Pandora all the way to Hampton.\u00a0 A rally departure from my very own home-town club?\u00a0 I’m excited.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am always a bit remiss when I arrive home after a winter afloat as it seems to take forever to find a moment to do that” one last post” about the trip.\u00a0 Anyone who has followed our run must wonder if we made it as I go silent after near-daily posts when we are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","_s2mail":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8819"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8819\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8844,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8819\/revisions\/8844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}