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The Journey

Gord Bell

Member II
The journey has started. For the north west boaters that were at the pnw gathering, you heard about my planned trip south to mexico. I am leaving today on that trip and am looking forward to meeting some of the california owners.
cheers Gord Bell
Huckleberry E35-2
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
I wish you fair winds and smooth seas. I doubt that you will be wandering up the Columbia River to Portland, but if you should do so, we have dock space at our YC for visitors.
When you get to the SF Bay area, be prepared for some very friendly Ericson and Olson owners. :)

Coincidentaly, by this coming Monday or Tuesday, I plan to be crewing an Ericson 32-3 from Port Angeles to Astoria. If you are in the Straits or off the WA coast, our VHF call is "Magic".

Best,
Loren
 

Geoff Johnson

Fellow Ericson Owner
Loren, since I have the same boat, I will be very interested to hear how it performs offshore. I once spent a summer working out of Port Angeles on an Olympic National Park trail crew. It's a very beautiful part of the country (other than Port Angeles itself). I envy you.
 

Seth

Sustaining Partner
35-2 Offshore

When you get down to SF, you should have had some good heavy downwind miles behind you-I am going to wager you will wish the boat tracked a bit better in those conditions (and why many have gone with the bigger, deeper rudder mod).
Having sailed one like this-it is a revelation. Points higher, so nets much better upwind, but the control downwind is something simply amazing.

If I were going to sail one of these boats and do serious offshore miles, I would think very hard about this-If you agree when you get there, SF is a good place to have this done.

Please let us know how it goes!

Fair winds,
S
 

Seth

Sustaining Partner
Rudders

Not really-although I know what you mean.

The problem with the 35 mainly stems from a small rudder-the hull form is actually pretty good for this condition-that is why it makes such a big difference to go bigger on the rudder.

The 38 has a fairly deep rudder already, and the rolling tendencies of this boat are more a function of the hull shape (and weight distribution to a lesser degree) than the rudder size...

Would a bigger/deeper rudder help? Probably yes, but the issues are qute different between the 2 hull shapes..

Hope this helps,

S
 

Gord Bell

Member II
Up date

The journey has come to an unexpected ending. I have never had any problem with sea sickness in the 20 years of sailing untill now. Was off the Origon coast in about 2 1/2 days and been sick the whole time so I chose to turn around and head home, that was anouther 3 days of hanging over the side and feeding the fish. The boat handled the open water great and would of had no trouble completing the journey. It was a sad day for me when I decided to turn and come home.
Gord
Huckleberry 35-2
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Gosh, I am sorry to hear how your plans changed. I have had friends that took 48 hours (and not an hour less) to get over their motion sickness when they would head out for a blue water crossing. OTOH, I sometimes turn a pale shade of green when it gets rough, but in 25 years have only thrown up once -- and that was a couple years ago on a heavy disp. round-chine long keeler going up the WA coast.
Everyone has their particular situation and or limit of motion that will set off their inner ear-stomach emptying alarm...
:(
FWIW, this summer has been one of the roughest (i.e. windiest) in many years off the Washington coast in the NW, from what a lot of friends have told me. And after temporarily halting one trip north on a 42 footer, in Grays Harbor for 4 days to let the sea "settle down" I believe it!
:eek:

Better luck next time!

Best,
Loren in PDX
 
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Geoff Johnson

Fellow Ericson Owner
There was a recent episode on the Discovery Channel about the the float on-float off vessels (named "Super Servant") that carry yachts around the world for their owners (@$250/ft). They interviewed one couple that was having their 35 to 40 foot yacht shipped from Panama to Vancouver because it is supposed to be such a hellacious trip. The Super Servant 3 encountered 40 waves, which were apparently not unexpected. The narrator said that most people who want to make the trip in their own boats do it by way of Hawaii so that they are not broadside to the waves. Makes the East Coast seem like a bath tub (except for Florida right now).
 
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Seth

Sustaining Partner
40' waves

Unfortunately, in the open ocean, if the breeze blows above 40-45 knots for long periods of time, you will see waves in the 40 foot and higher range fairly often. They are routinely seen in the North Atlantic and North Sea-I spent 3 days in a NE gale of the East coast of the Bahamas and saw lots of them-some bigger (in a Tartan 37).

And yes, off the Pacific Coast of the US and Gulf of Alaska they can get as big-In the Sydney Hobart Race several years ago- many of the boats encountered waves in the 70-80' range at the height of the storm...Imagine racing-never mind sailing, in that weather!!

And there was the famous rescue in the Single Handed Round the World Race (Vendee Globe) by the British guy (Pete Goss) of the Italian guy (Raphael Dinelli).

Goss (who was ahead and downwind of the sinking boat) turned around (alone, mind you) and sailed UPWIND (alone, mind you) in 60-70 foot seas and 60+ knot winds for over 120 mn!!! Alone. Then, he managed to find a guy in a life raft-floating around in those Gynormous waves and low visbility. Alone. In a 60 footer. And then picked him up and nursed him back to health..amazing feat...

"And there be Kraken, too"
S
 
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Jeff Asbury

Principal Partner
Super Servant

You were brave to try, I am originally from Washington and I have seen few settled days off that coast. Wish I could afford the Super Servant. Might actually save money with what you might spend on provisions for that many days.

http://www.dockwise.com/?sid=22

:eek:
 

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Geoff Johnson

Fellow Ericson Owner
Actually, the couple interviewed did say it was cheaper because their insurance company required them to hire a third crew member offshore (and you have to allow for damage to the boat). Of course, they were headed north, which I understand is much worse as it is against the current and the waves.

Anyone with notions of taking off on his or her boat really should try some blue water sailing with someone else. I have and decided there other things I would rather do. I like to sleep too much and frankly staring at the waves and talking to the same people for days on end gets just a little boring (not that they don't feel the same way about me). There is a reason why all the sailing magazines have stories about life in port as opposed to the trips between the ports.
 
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Seth

Sustaining Partner
Yep

Offshore sailing is an acquired taste for sure-Geoff's advice of doing it on someone else's boat first is a very good idea. You need to be sure this is for you before you set off on your own-and as he says-it is not for everyone!

Well put!
S
 

Geoff Johnson

Fellow Ericson Owner
Yesterday was the kind of sailing I really enjoy. One of those "top 10 days" with clear skys and a steady wind of 15-18 knots. I put a reef in the main and and rolled the jib down to about 110% and was still doing 6+ knots upwind (it took me a while to learn that you do better keeping the boat on its feet.) I flew across the Sound to Oyster Bay. When I returned to my mooring a friend was taking out his F31 trimaran so we did it again at twice the speed.
 
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Seth

Sustaining Partner
A flat boat is a fast boat

Sounds like a ball! True enough though-keep that rail out of the water-and anything over about 18 degrees of heel (maybe even 15) is just sideways motion-Boat speed decreases dramatically once the heel angle gets beyond this point!
Cheers
 
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