Attainable Adventure Cruising—What's New

Staying put

posted by Colin Speedie Web Site

What does the word “harbour” mean to you? A safe haven, perhaps, sheltered from all sides? Well, in some of the less frequented parts of the world it can mean something quite different. Many “harbours”, such as Hugh Town on St Mary’s in the Isles of Scilly are far from safe in all conditions, being open to winds from the West and the Atlantic swell. And nowadays so many of these harbours are full of local moorings, pots for storing live crab and lobster, and with marked fairways for ferries, there can be little or no room to anchor. And it’s the same here in southwest Ireland, a beautiful and wild cruising area.

Visitors moorings are now an established feature along the south and west coasts of Ireland, installed to encourage visiting yachts to stay (and spend) in this remote and lovely seascape. In the absence of room to anchor they are much appreciated, and offer crews a chance to leave their boats to step ashore, where in the past they might (quite rightly) have been reluctant to leave their boat unattended at anchor. All the ones we have seen seem to be of the same type, look to be well maintained and can take a boat of up to 15 tons, and there are usually a good few of them.

Last week we were in the picturesque harbour at Schull in west Cork, which opens on to Roaring Water Bay (the name ought to tell you something), well sheltered in most winds, but wide open to the south. The board outside the Harbour masters office had not one, but two notices (complete with photos) showing how to safely attach a boat to the visitors moorings, with an explanation that this was made necessary after a number of boats had broken free during bad weather. Sadly this is becoming a common theme wherever we go.

In the old days such moorings generally had a chain strop to secure aboard, but this is becoming a rarity. Nowadays you are more likely to find that the buoy simply has a ring on top to make fast to with your own warp. This change can largely be laid at the door of boatbuilders that seem to think that their craft will never leave a marina, and equip them with undersized and poorly attached mooring arrangements on deck. A decent sized chain will not fit through the inadequate bowrollers on many modern boats, or around their small cleats, and we’ve often seen yachts moored to a chain strop with warps outboard of the boat, a recipe for chafe on rusty chain. So the chances are that you will have to moor up to the buoy using your own gear.

Where this is the case, we always hear cases where boats have parted company with their mooring due to chafe on rusty mooring rings, having never prepared in advance for mooring up in anything more than sheltered places and conditions. It is still possible to see boats tied up to mooring rings without even a friction turn on the warp to minimise chafe, an absolute beginners mistake. It can be unbelievable to see how quickly chafe will eat a warp in a mix of wind and chop.

Nearly all commercial yachts working in remote areas are more like workboats, and carry a range of heavy duty mooring gear, enabling them to moor up and leave the boat unattended in safety, and that legacy of preparedness stays with you. The picture at the top of this piece shows the basics of what we carry.

The first line we use is a remote mooring hook made by Kong (www.kong.it), to which is spliced a 3/4” nylon warp that is made fast to a cleat. This simple device is a godsend and has saved my marriage on more than one occasion! The hook is rated for a maximum load of 2 tons, and so is perfectly adequate for us to moor temporarily to a buoy, while we rig up one of our main mooring lines, usually to be attached from the dinghy.

The second line is a 33ft length of 1” nylon, with a large eye splice in the end, which is passed through the mooring ring with the end then threaded through the eye of the splice and brought back aboard to be made fast at an appropriate length. The doubled turn of the eye splice helps to spread the load and the surface area of warp in contact with the ring to minimise chafe. We keep adjustable lengths of chafe protection and a section of reinforced toilet pipe on it to protect it from chafe at the buoy or at the bow roller. As it is long, we can either extend it to allow more elasticity, or single it back to the buoy and attach it again for added security. This is our normal attachment, and with a single additional line loosely passed through the ring of the mooring, we can detach it before we leave and then simply slip the single line to depart.

Our third line is a more permanent strop for extended stays or rough weather. This is a doubled length (33ft) of 7/8” nylon, with a large galvanised thimble seized into the middle, with an equally large shackle to attach to the ring. With this there is almost no chance of chafe, and we can extend the lines to allow plenty of stretch to keep shock loadings down. This strop also doubles as our towing bridle. We put on anti chafe material at deck level, and always mouse up the shackle carefully with monel seizing wire.

Finally, there is always the option of unshackling the anchor chain from the anchor and shackling it to the ring. This works well in extreme conditions, but if we do this we are always sure to attach one of our nylon strops too, tensioned to take the load before it is passed onto the chain to avoid the shock loading that can snap chain. If the mooring ring isn’t big enough, then we use one of our chain hooks and snubbing lines on the chain to achieve the same effect.

Of course, all of this takes more time than simply passing a line through a mooring ring, but we never have anyone dangling over the side of the boat trying to attach a line, and once we’ve got our chosen strop set up, we can go ashore knowing the boat is as safe as she can be, and leave her with a clear conscience. After all it’s not only our pride and joy that might suffer if she breaks free – she might damage someone else’s boat, too, or somebody may even risk their life to save her.

We’d never leave our boat attached by a single line in any case – that’s solely for lunchtime stops, when there are people aboard. And whilst the rope sizes we use may seem like overkill, that’s as much to do with allowing for loss of strength through chafe over time. In any case, we would reckon to replace our main strop every few years due to chafe, wear and tear and concern over potential UV damage. Using the same logic, we’re reluctant to use chain or nylon strops permanently attached to mooring buoys by the harbour authority, unless they look adequate and are in really good condition.

Visitors moorings in remote spots are becoming more and more common, and it’s becoming inevitable that you’ll have to use them from time to time if you frequent such areas – and why not. But it is well worth spending time in advance sorting out at least one purpose made mooring strop, so that when the wind and swell come into the harbour and you’re ashore, or clearing out to sea is not an option, then you’ll have a good chance of still being there in the morning, as well as making the Harbour Master smile!

[This post is part of a continuing series on the selection, building, and fitting out of an aluminum Ovni 435 by guest writer and very experienced offshore sailor Colin Speedie. You can read earlier posts in this series here.

If you want to make sure that you don’t miss the next installment in Colin's series, subscribe to our feed or automated notification e-mails. You will then receive a short notice when the next post comes up.

Of course we will respect your privacy and will never divulge your e-mail address or shower you with junk. If you don’t like the feed you can unsubscribe in a moment.]

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A Rugged Boat for the High Latitudes

posted by John and Phyllis Web Site

A few weeks ago we met up with our friends Michael and Martina on their beautifully designed and built custom Hutting 54 Polaris. They were kind enough to give me, camera in hand, a tour and to patiently answer my many questions.

While few of us will ever have the resources to custom build a boat like Polaris, we can all learn from the choices these two very experienced sailors made when having their once-in-a-lifetime dream boat designed and built.

This is our first go at using a slide show for a technical post. Please let us know, in the comments to this post, whether you like it and want to see more of these.

View the slide show

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Departures and arrivals

posted by Colin Speedie Web Site

There is nothing quite like the final moment of departure at the start of a long cruise or voyage. A strong mixture of anticipation and apprehension, it generally follows a stressful period, with all of the usual last minute glitches and hassles, however careful your planning and preparation. Then there are the goodbyes to friends and loved ones which can tend to cast a sombre mood over the proceedings, with thoughts of the many months it may be before we see them again.

Far better we feel to make a short trip before setting off on the long haul, just to settle into the rhythm a little, especially if it puts you in a better position to step off from. And off Cornwall we have the perfect place in the Isles of Scilly.

A tiny group of 48 islands and rocks lying just over twenty miles from Lands End, the islands have a number of advantages for the sailor. Whether bound north or south they give a little additional westing, always useful with our prevailing winds, and they also allow a clean departure, in that there are no tidal gates to dictate the time of raising anchor. Finally, they are beautiful, remote and oceanic – and whilst the swell and the surrounding sea leave you in no doubt that you are out in the Atlantic, in the right weather they are the perfect place to unwind.

So we were delighted to have a settled forecast with light easterly winds that would allow us to make a brief stop-off in the islands on our way north. We left Falmouth on a glorious day, making most of the distance under our new asymmetric spinnaker, feeling the tensions slowly slip away before making our first arrival in the loveliest of all the anchorages at St Helens Pool in the north of the islands. There we sat and watched the sun go down in the peace and quiet of an island evening with only two other yachts for company – a magical first night.

I have made the crossing between Cornwall and Ireland on many occasions, generally heading to Scotland via the Irish Sea. But on all occasions it was for work, with the associated deadlines, and we either didn’t have the time, or didn’t have the forecast to go around the West of Ireland. Besides, there is little pleasure in blasting around such a magnificent cruising ground. It’s far better to take your time to explore and enjoy the flavour of the place and the people, and not just to rush by. Much better to slow down and cover a smaller area in more depth, we feel.

So with this in mind we decided to make the crossing out to the southwest corner of Ireland, for a short cruise before departing for Scotland. The only time I had been to the area previously was during a Fastnet Race, when we rounded the rock on a sunlit day in a big ocean swell. Just off on our starboard side lay Cape Clear, and beyond it the hills and islands of Ireland, and it looked just fabulous. I remember thinking that it would be far better to turn to starboard and head in to Baltimore or Schull and see the place, than turn to port round the Rock and head back to Plymouth - I knew that moment that my racing days were over. Ever since then it has been an ambition to go back and put that error right, and so we felt that it would therefore make a really fitting addition to our cruising itinerary to make this our first real landfall of the season.

And what a crossing it was, with hardly any traffic, and a moonlit, then starlit night. The wind came and went from the East, but we were able to keep sailing in generally the right direction, before sighting Galley Head and entering the lovely little harbour at Glandore the following day, and then sleep.

So far, so very good. The stop-off in the Isles of Scilly had allowed us to draw breath and relax for the crossing, and the crossing had resulted in an arrival in a beautiful part of the world, with so much to look forward to in visiting this part of Ireland. Cruising isn’t racing, and in getting the initial departure and arrival right we can help to establish the mood of a cruise, and slow ourselves down to the right pace to savour every moment of it.

[This post is part of a continuing series on the selection, building, and fitting out of an aluminum Ovni 435 by guest writer and very experienced offshore sailor Colin Speedie. You can read earlier posts in this series here.

If you want to make sure that you don’t miss the next installment in Colin's series, subscribe to our feed or automated notification e-mails. You will then receive a short notice when the next post comes up.

Of course we will respect your privacy and will never divulge your e-mail address or shower you with junk. If you don’t like the feed you can unsubscribe in a moment.]

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Bermuda Fitted Dinghies

posted by John and Phyllis Web Site

Bermuda is a very different place than it was 50 years ago when I was a child, but one of the few things that has endured from that time is the Bermuda Fitted Dinghy. Fourteen feet one inch long, alarmingly overcanvased, stubbornly old fashioned and raced with a six person crew, one of whom bails continuously when going up-wind--there is nothing quite like them anywhere else.

It was great to see one out practicing last night. Oh, by the way, the rig she is carrying in the photographs is a small one! You see, Fitted Dinghies don’t reef, they change the whole rig: mast, boom and sails. The skipper must make the decision before the race; too small and you are last, too big and you are swimming.

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Anti-Seasickness Product Hurl Off

posted by John and Phyllis Web Site

Despite my somewhat opinionated tone in many of the articles on this site, there are very few things I feel that I’m really the absolute ultimate authority on. The exception is seasickness. Thirty-five years of blowing my dinner during the first 24 hours of almost every offshore passage gives me the right, I feel, to set up as an authority—sort of the king of puke, if you like.

Over the years I have tried just about every remedy for mal de mer from ginger to scopolamine. As far as the drugs are concerned, I have come to the conclusion that, at least for me, the remedy is worse than the illness due to the side effects. In fact, after a recent experience where I watched a normally competent crew member turn into a non-responsive and potentially dangerous zombie, we have banned the scopolamine (Transderm) patch from Morgan’s Cloud. (We do still carry Gravol in both pill and suppository form.)

I have had some success with wrist pressure point bands. They certainly don’t stop the problem completely, but they do take the edge off my nausea, hasten my recovery, and all without side effects. So, when I heard about the ReliefBand I reasoned that something that zapped the same point as the bands might work even better.

My real-world testing took place our first night out on a recent passage from Beaufort, North Carolina, to Bermuda, as Morgan’s Cloud gleefully close reached at over eight knots in 18-22 knots of true wind and a short, confused Gulfstream sea—perfect conditions for scientific study.

I donned the ReliefBand well before I felt sick, following the instructions carefully, which state that you must keep the band in contact with your wrist in such a way that you constantly feel the tingle of the shocks.

First off, I found that it was extremely difficult to keep the electrodes in the proscribed position on my wrist when active. Worse still, even when I was not active and had full contact all the time, I found that the ReliefBand had no effect, even though I could feel it merrily zapping me as I hung over the rail calling for my old buddy Ralf a record three times in an hour. Not only did the ReliefBand not help, I think, based on years of experience monitoring myself in these circumstances, that I was sicker than without it.

After three hours—never let it be said that we at Attainable Adventure Cruising don’t go the extra mile (or hurl) for you, our readers—I removed the ReliefBand, donned my trusty wrist bands and immediately felt better.

Calling all fellow hurlers; leave a comment and tell us all what has worked for you.

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Beaufort to Bermuda

posted by John and Phyllis Web Site

Two days out from Beaufort, North Carolina, bound for Bermuda. Spinnaker up all day, eight knots, smooth sea and dolphins; it does not get better than that.

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Stuff That Works, Badger Sunscreen

posted by John and Phyllis Web Site

So, after years of slathering on sunscreen in order to avoid getting skin cancer, we’re now being told that a number of the chemicals used in these very sunscreens are themselves carcinogens. It just makes me crazy! However, after getting over my snit and doing some research, I have found what I think is a great solution: Badger 30 SPF sunscreen. It is a mineral (zinc oxide) instead of a chemical sunscreen. Though Badger uses micronized zinc oxide, studies have shown that it doesn’t penetrate the skin the way nano-sized chemical particles do (more on this).

We’ve noticed two things which support the fact that Badger is safer:

• Our eyes used to burn terribly if we got chemical sunscreen in them. That doesn’t happen with Badger sunscreen.
• It used to be that chemical sunscreens would dissolve the varnish on surfaces we touch a lot (handrails, the edge of the navigation desk, etc.). That is no longer happening since we switched to Badger.
  

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Atlantic Crossing East to West via the Arctic

posted by John and Phyllis Web Site

Question [edited for brevity]: We are toying with the idea of sailing the northern route [to North America from Scotland] with stops in Iceland, Greenland and Newfoundland. Is that nuts? I know you have done it at least once if not more times. Our boats are sound, an Alden 48 and a Shannon 43, and we want to end up on the east coast rather than the Caribbean.

Answer: The northern route east to west is a challenge, even more so than west to east, because:

1. You are likely to have at least one gale a week and, since the lows originate in North America, you will be heading into the weather instead of away from it.

2. Lows often track up Denmark Strait (between Iceland and Greenland), potentially making the icy east coast of Greenland a lee shore on your approach in the event that the weather deteriorates during the 600-mile passage from Iceland.

3. Your first exposure to ice (I’m assuming that you haven’t sailed in icy waters before) will be the seriously ice-choked and poorly charted southeast coast of Greenland on your approach to Prins Christians Sund (the passage through the southern tip of Greenland).

4. The east entrance to Prins Christians Sund (PCS) usually doesn't open up until, at the earliest, mid-July and sometimes much later than that. If you have to wait too long in Iceland for it to open, you could be late in the season for heading for Newfoundland (you really don't want to leave West Greenland later than mid-August, if at all possible).

5. If PCS doesn’t open, you will have to round Cape Farewell and this has some significant issues (see this post).

6. Once you leave West Greenland, you still have the challenge ahead of crossing Davis Strait and the Labrador Sea and working your way down the Labrador Coast if you don’t manage a straight passage to Newfoundland. This is never a picnic, especially later in the season.

On the positive side, you have good boats, it sounds like you have a lot of sailing experience, and the fact that there will be two of you traveling together provides a safety factor in case of an emergency.

Our usual recommendation is that your first exposure to the high latitudes be a cruise in Svalbard or else the west to east northern route, which is less challenging than east to west since you start out with the more benign west coast of Greenland, you can wait there for PCS to open and, if it doesn’t, turn back to North America or round Cape Farewell well offshore with a favourable wind. Then, if you get through PCS, you can leave Greenland on a solid forecast and get good offing in case a low does track up Denmark Strait.

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New Photograph Portfolio

posted by John and Phyllis Web Site

As an antidote to Boat Yard Hell I spent the evenings while we were hauled revamping my portfolio of photographs. Some of my old favorites are still there, but there are new images in all the albums. There is also a complete new album, albeit with a few images from the old Maine album, titled Maine, Working Waterfront.

Note that if you touch the “F” key after selecting an album you can now view the images full screen and at much better resolution than before.

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E-Paint Antifouling Paint, an Update

posted by John and Phyllis Web Site

We have been using various formulas of zinc based antifouling paint (copper is out for Morgan’s Cloud since she is aluminum) from E-Paint for 12 years with varying results. For the last three years we have been using their ablative ZO product with generally good results.

However, there are a few things to know:

1). E-Paint ZO works well as long as you move the boat at least once a week but it is very poor at warding off slime and grass when the boat is sitting in one place. What happens is that once a layer of slime appears it seems to encapsulate the active ingredients and prevent them from releasing. The key is not to let this process get going, either by moving the boat once a week, which will slough off the slime easily, or by giving it a light scrub about once a month while diving. Let it go more than that, and you have a nasty job getting the growth off and will lose a lot of paint in the process. By the way, I think this effect is why paints with biocides don’t do any better than those without in static tests like the ones performed by “Practical Sailor” magazine.


2). The paint has failed at the water line (see photo) twice in just 9 months resulting in us having to recoat even though the paint on the rest of the bottom had plenty more life in it. And this despite having applied five coats to the water line area. We understand from the manufacturer that this is caused by the combination of lapping action and sunshine. This time, in an attempt to stop this happening again, we first applied two coats of ZO-HP, which is the same formula as ZO but non-ablative, prior to coating with three coats of ZO. We’ll let you know how it goes.

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