• Untitled Document

    Join us on March 29rd, 7pm EST

    for the CBEC Virtual Meeting

    All EYO members and followers are welcome to join the fun and get to know the guest speaker!

    See the link below for login credentials and join us!

    March Meeting Info

    (dismiss this notice by hitting 'X', upper right)

Back from St. Thomas

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!
 

Attachments

  • Rigging 2.JPG
    Rigging 2.JPG
    101.6 KB · Views: 63
Last edited:

footrope

Contributing Partner
Blogs Author
Welcome back, Steve

Are you glad the engine didn't fail? It will be interesting to hear the stories our resident passagemakers will tell in their responses. Do you feel like you want to make a personal yacht delivery survey list and carry your own navigation equipment on the next one?

Thanks for passing along your experiences!
 

Frank Langer

1984 Ericson 30+, Nanaimo, BC
Thanks for sharing this information with us. For those of us who haven't done any offshore cruising/deliveries, can those of you who have done so offer any comments on how typical this is? Any general lessons to add to those in the initial post?
Thanks,
Frank.
 
Last edited:

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Since you asked...

https://listserv.surfnet.nl/scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0109D&L=YACHT-L&P=R1045&I=-3

Here, in the YachtList archives, is the narrative of my learning experience a few years ago. I am still glad I went, but would decline any further educational opportunities offshore with that skipper.
:rolleyes:

My trip north from SD to SF in 2005, was wonderful, OTOH. That was with a better-prepared skipper, on a Kelly Petersen 46. Weather was lots nicer, too.

Happy Holidays,

Loren
 
Last edited:

Frank Langer

1984 Ericson 30+, Nanaimo, BC
Thanks, Loren...

Thanks, Loren. It makes for interesting reading--wondering how I would handle those conditions on my Ericson 30+ if I decided to go offshore at some point in the future.:0305_alar
Anyone else?
Frank.
 

Lew Decker

Member III
Years ago - '76-'77 - I made several of those same delivery trips for Patrick Ellam, Inc. They had the contract to deliver a fleet of Gulfstar 37's from the commissioning yard in St. Pete to the Moorings in Tortola. Each of the trips was an Adventure, including a complete capsize, but I had to smile at your story of the loose roller furling drum. We had one come free, but it was the entire forestay assembly at the stem fitting.:egrin: . We could have lost the rig if the wind weren't blowing 20 knots from directly astern. The guys who were crewing for me strolled up to the foredeck - no jacklines, no pfd's, one crescent wrench:rolleyes: - wrestled the drum back into place, hulked out on the turnbuckle, and reattached the forestay. They were back in the cockpit drinking beer in less than 10 minutes. I usually don't advocate that kind of relaxed approach to emergencies at sea, but...:D

The commissioning yard did not secure the tunbuckle with a cotter pin. As they say in Newfoundland, "Who'da thunk it?"

As for the weather and sailing routes, most of my deliveries were in the dead of winter - it even snowed slightly in Nassau on one of our trips - but contrary to what is usually the attitude, we were delighted when a big norther swept down because it meant days of fierce downwind sailing. Nothing like it. We sailed across the banks and out NW Providence Channel riding those northers and then turned to the east until we couldn't stand it any more before heading south for the BVI. The trips usually took 7 days or so. It was a great time to be young and stupid and free.
 

windjunkee

Member III
I spent 14 months on a 38 ft, Island Trader ketch, sailing from San Diego, down the coast of Mexico, Costa Rica (Nicaragua was still at war), Ecuador, Galapagos, Marquesas, Tuamotus, Tahiti, Cook Islands, Samoa (both of them), Tonga and Fiji. I left the boat in Fiji. This was in 1987-88.
For the most part, the sailing was easy, because it was downwind or reaches 95 percent of the time. We had a windvane self-steering which did most of the work, but hank on sails which led to some interesting experiences changing sails in the middle of the night. My memories of the sailing parts are pleasant -- to the point that when able to do it again, I will go. Never suffered from sea sickness and the crew that did got over it within a couple of days at sea. We had our share of issues with equipment on board. Try completely rebuilding the head some time while pitching around in 10 ft. swells. One of the crew (who didn't last long) bent the drive shaft and launched the engine off its mounts while motor sailing between Ahi atoll and Manihi atoll in the Tuamotus. That ended that part of the voyage and we had to bear off to Papeete immediately, cutting our stay in the Tuamotus short by over a month. We had instrument problems and had to rebuild the steering while at anchor in the Marquesas. You know what though? Seeing the stark outline of Hiva Oa at daybreak after over 23 days straight at sea, with an escort of hundreds of dolphins, made every second of the trip worth it. It is simply an experience that lives with you for the rest of your life -- and so few people accept and embrace the adventure, its like a secret you share forever with a chosen few.
I remember moonless nights at sea (I chose the midnight - 4am shift) where the milky way was so bright it cast a shadow, and water so blue that words cannot describe it. I've nearly forgotten about the crew issues, but I have certainly changed as a person forever as a result of the experience.

Just my two cents.

Jim McCone
Voice of Reason E-32 hull #134
Redondo Beach, CA
 

rwthomas1

Sustaining Partner
Steve,
Glad you made it back safely. I don't have any offshore/delivery experience but the stories I have heard basically indicate that you should know the boat and the skipper pretty well and trust in both their abilities before signing on. An aquaintence of mine just returned from a trip to move a 68ft yacht from RI to the Bahamas for the winter charter season. His experience was similar to yours only in that the weather was awful for them as well. He said the boat was very well maintained, nothing broke, captain was professional, etc. Despite huge seas and gale force winds. Seems if at all possible a pre-commitment inspection of any boat you are planning to crew on would be a smart thing? You might notice negligence, etc. leading you to pass on that trip. A guy who left port with something loose at the top of the mast and trusting anyone else to inspect the rig.... Hmmm, dunno if I would go with him. RT
 

Sean Engle

Your Friendly Administrator
Administrator
Founder
Submit to the Stories Section: EY.o v.2

Hey Steve -

Good story - I've captured it for placement in the new stories section in the new site. If any others have such stories (and from what I remember, they seem to pour out evertime we all get together for a drink), please write it up and email it to me; if/when we post it, we'll email you back...

Once things settle down in mid/late January, I'll start work on the new site again and finish it off.... :0305_coff

//sse
 

John Butler

Member II
It's ok to say no.

Sometime maybe I'll take the time to post a write-up of my first offshore experience (was supposed to be non-stop from Annapolis to the Cape Cod Canal, but we ended up stopping at Stonington, CT where I got off the boat). I was pretty ignorant and also made some bad assumptions when committing to the trip. Now I know better. In the future, I will make my commitment to help on any delivery/passage contingent on my assessment of the preparedness of skipper, crew, and boat for the journey. I think it's important to be ready and willing to say, I'm sorry, but I'm not coming because of … I would sail on the same boat again, with the same skipper, but not with the boat in the same condition and not without some commitment from the skipper about certain things he would or would not do (like standing on the stern leaning over the pulpit, flashlight in hand to see if water was coming out of a thru hull while in the ocean on pitch black night in 25-30 kt winds and steep 5'-6' waves with only socks on his feet and not tethered to the boat -- not that it was likely he would have gone in, but if he did, we probably never would have found him).

John
 
Top