u079721
Contributing Partner
Just got back from delivering a boat from Ft. Lauderdale to St. Thomas. This was my first offshore voyage, so I don’t have any basis for comparison – but the trip sure could have been better.
We were four guys in a 1978 Perry 47 center cockpit cutter. We were waiting for a south wind to cross the Gulf Stream, but settled for a brisk east wind and started out motoring into 25 kts of headwind. But at the speed the skipper was willing to motor the boat would only make 3 kts. Which when you add a 3 kt crosscurrent meant we were going as fast north as we were east. We barely made it across the stream before missing the Bahamas channel altogether. We then started about 900 miles of upwind work to the east.
Which is when we found out what a dog the boat was. To start with, you could not tack the boat without starting the engine to motor across the wind. Really. After coming across the wind the main winches were so underpowered that it took two people together to sheet in the genny. Absolutely exhausting. And after all that the boat would only tack through about 120 to 130 degrees – which meant that we did a lot of motor sailing to make any headway. (Thank goodness we had 150 gallons of diesel aboard.) I have never missed the upwind sailing ability of my Ericson 38 so much!
I was gloriously seasick for the very first time the first night out, so apparently my Stugeron tablets weren’t doing it for me. I switched to using Transderm patches and accepted the dry mouth for the balance of the trip and was just fine. But even so I didn’t eat much, and lost about ten pounds during the trip.
On the third day out the masthead lighting arrestor, which had been a bit loose at the dock, finally came free and was bashing about the masthead, threatening to break the wind instrument. So we had to hove to so the skipper could go aloft in lumpy seas to secure it. Lesson learned – do everything at the dock before leaving!
The next morning two of us were up at about 5 AM during a 30 to 35 kt gale, and decided to roll in the staysail when we were headed. The furler stuck a bit, but we were able to get it rolled in, when we saw that the entire staysail, stay, drum, and all, had come undone from the deck and was now flying free across the foredeck. We jumped out of the cockpit, clipped into the jackline and ran forward to tackle the mess of rigging and secure it to the sidedeck (see photo) which is where it stayed for the balance of the trip. At daylight when we examined the mess we found that the turnbuckle at the base of the stay had simply come un-screwed. Nothing was broken or lost, so we felt confident that we could get it rigged again once we had calm conditions.
After ten days of bashing to windward (including 123 engine hours) we made it to “highway 65” and turned south for a glorious two days (290 miles ) reaching at over 7 kts. If only the entire delivery had been like that! On the afternoon of the 12th day and 1367 km we made landfall at St. Thomas, and were anchored in “paradise” by nightfall.
The next morning we were able to reattach the staysail. After rolling out the sail and inspecting the damage we found that we had bent the foil at one joint a bit, but it was nothing that a file and some rigging tape would not fix. The frustrating thing was that the skipper had hired a rigger prior to the trip to inspect the rig and make sure it was ready for sea. This rigger had not bothered to mention that the staysail turnbuckle was not pinned! I then inspected the eight shrouds, and found that two of them were also not pinned. Lesson learned – don’t abdicate your responsibility to be sure the boat is seaworthy!
As I write this I have been back on land for 4 days, and I still can’t walk in a straight line. How long does this last? As an offshore newbie my overwhelming impression was just how much work it was to work the boat to windward. All you wanted to do after your watch was crawl back into your bunk. I sure hope downwind deliveries are easier, because if they are not, I’m not sure why you people do this!
Beyond that there were some personality issues with the skipper by the end of the trip that added to the experience. As things on the boat began to break (staysail, head, fridge, electronics) and leak (the mast leaked so much that it soaked our bunks) his retirement dream began to unravel and he started to blame the crew for everything. Let’s just say that right now I would not be in a hurry to sign up for another offshore trip - I am perfectly satisfied with the Great Lakes!
We were four guys in a 1978 Perry 47 center cockpit cutter. We were waiting for a south wind to cross the Gulf Stream, but settled for a brisk east wind and started out motoring into 25 kts of headwind. But at the speed the skipper was willing to motor the boat would only make 3 kts. Which when you add a 3 kt crosscurrent meant we were going as fast north as we were east. We barely made it across the stream before missing the Bahamas channel altogether. We then started about 900 miles of upwind work to the east.
Which is when we found out what a dog the boat was. To start with, you could not tack the boat without starting the engine to motor across the wind. Really. After coming across the wind the main winches were so underpowered that it took two people together to sheet in the genny. Absolutely exhausting. And after all that the boat would only tack through about 120 to 130 degrees – which meant that we did a lot of motor sailing to make any headway. (Thank goodness we had 150 gallons of diesel aboard.) I have never missed the upwind sailing ability of my Ericson 38 so much!
I was gloriously seasick for the very first time the first night out, so apparently my Stugeron tablets weren’t doing it for me. I switched to using Transderm patches and accepted the dry mouth for the balance of the trip and was just fine. But even so I didn’t eat much, and lost about ten pounds during the trip.
On the third day out the masthead lighting arrestor, which had been a bit loose at the dock, finally came free and was bashing about the masthead, threatening to break the wind instrument. So we had to hove to so the skipper could go aloft in lumpy seas to secure it. Lesson learned – do everything at the dock before leaving!
The next morning two of us were up at about 5 AM during a 30 to 35 kt gale, and decided to roll in the staysail when we were headed. The furler stuck a bit, but we were able to get it rolled in, when we saw that the entire staysail, stay, drum, and all, had come undone from the deck and was now flying free across the foredeck. We jumped out of the cockpit, clipped into the jackline and ran forward to tackle the mess of rigging and secure it to the sidedeck (see photo) which is where it stayed for the balance of the trip. At daylight when we examined the mess we found that the turnbuckle at the base of the stay had simply come un-screwed. Nothing was broken or lost, so we felt confident that we could get it rigged again once we had calm conditions.
After ten days of bashing to windward (including 123 engine hours) we made it to “highway 65” and turned south for a glorious two days (290 miles ) reaching at over 7 kts. If only the entire delivery had been like that! On the afternoon of the 12th day and 1367 km we made landfall at St. Thomas, and were anchored in “paradise” by nightfall.
The next morning we were able to reattach the staysail. After rolling out the sail and inspecting the damage we found that we had bent the foil at one joint a bit, but it was nothing that a file and some rigging tape would not fix. The frustrating thing was that the skipper had hired a rigger prior to the trip to inspect the rig and make sure it was ready for sea. This rigger had not bothered to mention that the staysail turnbuckle was not pinned! I then inspected the eight shrouds, and found that two of them were also not pinned. Lesson learned – don’t abdicate your responsibility to be sure the boat is seaworthy!
As I write this I have been back on land for 4 days, and I still can’t walk in a straight line. How long does this last? As an offshore newbie my overwhelming impression was just how much work it was to work the boat to windward. All you wanted to do after your watch was crawl back into your bunk. I sure hope downwind deliveries are easier, because if they are not, I’m not sure why you people do this!
Beyond that there were some personality issues with the skipper by the end of the trip that added to the experience. As things on the boat began to break (staysail, head, fridge, electronics) and leak (the mast leaked so much that it soaked our bunks) his retirement dream began to unravel and he started to blame the crew for everything. Let’s just say that right now I would not be in a hurry to sign up for another offshore trip - I am perfectly satisfied with the Great Lakes!
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