Attainable Adventure Cruising—What's New

Best Time for West to East Atlantic Crossing

posted by John & Phyllis Web Site

Question: [edited for brevity] I will be sailing to Gibraltar from the Chesapeake via the Azores. When would be the best time to leave and when would be the earliest I could/should leave?

Answer: This is a pretty standard west to east Atlantic crossing. The best time to leave the east coast of North America is late May to mid-June. The earliest is probably mid-May, although leaving that early will increase your chances of a gale.

The latest date to go is dictated by the onset of the hurricane season. Ten years ago I would have said that mid-July or even late July was the latest time to leave, but we are definitely seeing more frequent and more intense hurricanes in June and July than we did then, so now I would say the end of June is the latest prudent date.

For more information you should consult the excellent Atlantic Crossing Guide, published by the RCC Pilotage Foundation.

Labels: Passage Planning

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Life Rafts

posted by John & Phyllis Web Site

Question: What sort of life raft do you have on Morgan’s Cloud?

Answer: We have a RFD Beaufort 6-person commercial SOLAS raft.

The advantage of this raft is that Revere and RFD Beaufort are partners in it: Revere in the USA and RFD Beaufort for the rest of the world. Or at least that seems to be how it works, although you can buy a RFD Beaufort in the USA too. Anyway, this means that you can get these rafts serviced at any of some 300 RFD Beaufort service stations anywhere in the world as well as at Revere stations in the USA. For example, there are 23 service depots in Norway.

Contrast that to many of the American-built rafts from companies like Swilick, Winslow or Givens that can only be serviced in major yachting centers. This is not a trivial issue if you plan to sail to out-of-the-way places, as we found to our cost when we had to ship our old Givens to the UK from Norway to get it serviced—the shipping cost twice what the service did.

Having said that, I’m not sure that the RFD Beaufort is as good a raft as the top of the line offerings from the above companies. It was certainly a lot cheaper, even though we opted for a commercial quality raft that is SOLAS certified. However, we are comfortable with the RFD because, in our opinion, the most likely scenarios which would force us into the raft are fire or flooding, not extreme weather. Frankly, we think it unlikely that we would make it into the raft alive in a storm strong enough to overwhelm Morgan’s Cloud, so whether or not the RFD is the ultimate storm survival raft is academic to us.

Labels: Equipment

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Radar Scanner Position

posted by John & Phyllis Web Site

Question: [edited for brevity]
What is your preference regarding the best place to mount a radar antenna? As far as we can tell from the pictures of Morgan’s Cloud you have mounted yours on a pole aft.

Our previous experience with radars tells us that the antenna should be as high and free as possible. Wouldn't a radar antenna mounted on the mast just above the first spreaders give better range and a more detailed radar picture than if it were mounted lower?

It also appears from the pictures that your antenna isn't mounted in a way that makes it able to tilt so that it can compensate for heel of the boat when sailing?


Answer: First off we should say that we view radar as the most important piece of electronic equipment on Morgan’s Cloud—yes, more important than GPS, since we can find our way with a compass and sextant but we can’t see unlit objects at night or through fog—so we have given a lot of thought to the position and installation of our radar scanner.

We prefer a pole mounted aft for the scanner over mast mounting for the following reasons:

1. The scanner is much less vulnerable to damage from an errant halyard or sail.
   
   
2. We do not agree that a higher position for the scanner is a significant benefit. Small targets, like buoys, don’t show much over a mile regardless of scanner height and large targets, like ships, show at 10 miles—plenty of room to plot and take avoiding action—with our current scanner height. In fact I think that putting the scanner substantially higher than ours can be a disadvantage since it will be subjected to more motion in a seaway.
   
   
3. A scanner on the mast is more difficult to service than one on a pole and heaven help you if the cable needs replacing.
   
   
4. Mast mounted radars are very vulnerable to damage when the mast is un-stepped.
   
   
5. We don’t like the added weight aloft. Sure it’s not that much, but with the lever arm, every pound counts.
   

Labels: Equipment

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Self sufficiency in power

posted by Colin Speedie Web Site

Keeping the batteries charged

When we were planning our new boat, one of the first aspects we discussed was our preferences for power generation, and our desire to have as much “free” energy input as possible. There were three reasons for this; our desire to avoid the complexity of a diesel generator; our own commitment to renewable power after so many years of both working in the environmental field; and a chance to agree on something – it’s always a good idea to establish some common ground first!

Top of the list was a wind generator. Having owned one of these devices on a previous boat, my views on them are straightforward. None of them are the quietest things to live with, so if you must have one, then its output must justify the discomfort factor. So we opted for a Superwind, and having lived aboard for the last few weeks it is a revelation. Not only is it quiet (enough not to annoy the neighbours), but with a maximum 350 watt output when there is enough breeze is well worth having. Being German, it is nicely engineered and built, and looks like it should be a real asset in the long term.

We also wanted plenty of solar, so we have two long slim panels with a combined output of 90 watts on the OVNI arch at our stern. Following good advice we had these mounted so that they can articulate. Two more semi flexible panels with a combined output of 96 watts are about to go on the coachroof ahead of the mainsheet where they will not be subjected to too much foot traffic, and hopefully will not suffer too much from shading by the boom. Finally, we have a very nice 80 watt solid panel which can be articulated on the guardwires for maximum output when in port or at anchor. All of the panels were carefully selected for reliability and sustained output, as opposed to peak, so we feel that we should be able to make a solid contribution to our daily needs in this way.

The aim has been to achieve a balance between wind and solar. In the higher latitudes we tend to frequent, wind will generally have the upper hand, but solar can still contribute due to the long hours of daylight, and, very occasionally, when the sun shines. The best we can hope for is that each technology works at its best for some of the time.

Our engine is fitted with a high output alternator, rated at 105 amps, and we are going to see how we get along with this unit without any “smart” type regulator for this season. With a battery capacity in excess of 600 amp hours we may have to consider fitting a second alternator in any case, so once we have tried it out over an extended spell living aboard, we’ll know more. We really want to avoid running our engine at anchor, which is not only unpleasant to live with, but is death to a diesel engine in any case. If all else fails, we have a neat little Honda petrol generator that we’ll use.

We are planning on buying a towed generator for longer passages, as these units are reckoned to offer the most amps per buck, normally around 1 amp output per knot of boatspeed. Being simple, robust units, we have high hopes of running the engine as little as possible on passage, as long as fish don’t go for the spinners too often.

Finally, we have tried as far as possible to audit our requirements, and reduce our daily power consumption. We are slowly going through the boat checking what lights in the interior can be fitted with LED’s and which not. We have a masthead combined tricolour and anchor LED unit to conserve energy when sailing or overnight, but have not bothered with our running lights, as we’ll be under power then, so little will be saved. And we have no freezer unit, simply an efficient coolbox, so that’s another significant drain we don’t have to worry about.

We are aware that none of this has come cheap. If we added it all up it, including installation, it would amount to perhaps two thirds of the cost (and installation) of a genset. But we think that if you have a genset, then the next thing will be that you will have more need of it – your power requirements will increase in line. Then there are the spares, and so forth – and don’t even mention reliability. And we accept that we may have to live more frugally than some others out there, but feel it is all relative, and that living simply is a tiny price to pay for the huge privilege of going long-distance cruising.

[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 by clicking here and scrolling down to Colin's posts.
If you want to make sure that you don’t miss the next installment in this series, without having to keep checking this blog, subscribe to our feed or automated notification e-mails, both available on the side bar. 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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Heavy Weather Gear and Strategies #13—Drogue Retrieval, an Alternative from Hal Roth

posted by John & Phyllis Web Site

The last two posts in the series, in which we wrote about our solution for the retrieval of our Jordan Series Drogue, drew an interesting e-mail from Hal Roth, who did not like our solution because of the loads involved.

He was kind enough to share an excerpt from his upcoming book, to be published by International Marine in May, detailing the problems our mutual friends Willem and Corri Stein had retrieving a Jordan Drogue in the Southern Ocean (the event that inspired our own testing) and outlining his own retrieval idea. With Hal’s kind permission we are reproducing it below:

“At the end of the day, the Steins, tired from steering and the violent motion, deployed their Jordan series drogue which had 150 small cones sewn along a one-inch polyester line 400 feet long with a 22-pound block of lead at the end. As soon as the drogue was out, Terra Nova's speed dropped to two knots, and she kept her stern nicely into the seas. Life became tolerable and allowed the crew to sleep.

"The next day the wind abated a bit, but the strain on the drogue was still too much to even think about getting it back on board," said Willem. There was a new problem. Due to the heavy pitching of the boat in the seaway, the bridle lines tangled around the water blade of the Aries wind vane gear. The Steins hoisted a storm jib which put more force on the drogue lines and kept them free of the water blade.

When the wind eased, the Steins tried to haul the drogue on board, but the task seemed impossible. "Even getting it around one of the sheet winches was such a dangerous exercise that I gave up after I nearly got one of my hands amputated," said Willem. The Steins might have been able to use their engine to back down a little on the drogue while they pulled it in, but the engine was out of order because water had run into the fuel tank during the knockdown a few days earlier.

Willem and Corri waited two more days for the sea to calm down. Finally in desperation they cut the lines to the drogue. I've sailed with Willem and Corri in Newfoundland and know they are tough, dedicated, experienced small-boat sailors. It must have been a hard decision to cut away the drogue which they had made with so much effort.

After thinking about this problem, I wonder if the following might be a solution? Run a 1/2-inch diameter recovery line from the anchor windlass at the bow outside the lifelines and back to the stern. Loosen one of the bridle lines (hitch on a short line and take it to a winch to pull some slack in the bridle line so you can disconnect the shackle from the chainplate) and attach the recovery line. Then let go the other bridle line. Now with the stern no longer fastened to the drogue, the boat should swing around 180° and drift downwind from the drogue, bridle, and recovery line. You will have to pay attention to the lead of these lines at the bow, but it should be possible to pull them straight in with the powerful windlass, whether it's operated by hand, an electric motor, or hydraulic power. I've never attempted this with a series drogue, but I think it or some variation is worth a trial.


Anything to save fingers! Note that this scheme moves the recovery effort away from complications of a line around a spade rudder or the water components of a wind vane steering device. Additionally, the recovery effort at the bow eliminates problems of winching in the line in the cockpit with complications from the stern pulpit and other cockpit or transom gear.

In spite of these reports, other users of drogues write of simply pulling in the line by hand with no apparent difficulties. Obviously the recovery of drogues needs more investigation."

We think Hal’s idea makes a lot of sense although we would probably stick with our own plan, at least initially, since it keeps the operation in the security of the cockpit and does not require a turn into the wind and seas.

Another thought is that if we did try Hal’s method we would hoist our triple reefed mainsail or storm trysail before making the turn. This would allow the boat to lie heaved-to and keep her steady while we retrieved the drogue over the bow. This would be much like our technique for stopping wave strikes when heaved-to.

Earlier Posts in the Series
#1 Goals
#2 Heaving-To
#3 When Heaving-to is Dangerous
#4 Options When Heaving-to is Not Working
#5 Stopping Wave Strikes While Heaved-To
#6 Survival Storms
#7 Our Old Backup System
#8 Our New Backup System
#9 You Need a System
#10 Jordan Drogue Launch System
#11 Jordan Drogue Retrieval System
#12 Drogue Retrieval, The Devil is in the Details

If you want to make sure that you don’t miss the next installment in this series, without having to keep checking this blog, subscribe to our feed or automated notification e-mails, both available on the side bar. 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.

Labels: Seamanship

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Nick Cobbing Photography

posted by John & Phyllis Web Site

Nick is an award-winning photographer with some of the best sailing and high latitude pictures we've seen. His site is well worth visiting if you are interested in the north. Click on "ice" for some truly stunning shots of Greenland.

Looking at Nick's stuff makes me want to throw my camera overboard and forget the whole thing! Just kidding, actually his images inspire me to keep trying to do an ever better job of photographing the north.

Labels: Rants and Musings

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Staysail Stay, Roller Furling and Fixed or Hanks and Removable

posted by John & Phyllis Web Site

Question: [edited for brevity] I’m refining the deck layout on the 41' voyaging boat I'm fitting out from bare hull. She will be sailed as a sloop, but fitted with an inner forestay for heavy weather. I am currently weighing the benefits of keeping that sail on a furling unit versus hanking it on to a removable stay. As she will be sailed shorthanded and pointed away from the equator, I like the safety and flexibility of having the sail ready to go on a furler, but worry about the problems of tacking the genoa through the 5' slot between headstay and inner stay when sailing in normal to light conditions. I am wondering what your experience is with this, and how you balanced the equation.

Answer: The key to this decision is the shape and size of the forward headsail. If the boat is a true cutter, like our own Morgan’s Cloud seen above, with a relatively large foretriangle and a high cut 100% (no overlap) jib topsail (yankee jib) then I think that a roller furler that can’t be removed is the way to go. The advantages, some of which we wrote about in this post, outweigh the slower tacking.

(Our technique when tacking short handed, which is most of the time, is to simply leave the staysail cleated and let it back on the new tack until we have ground in the jib topsail. Handled this way, the jib topsail slides across the staysail and between the two stays relatively easily. Once we have the larger sail all set we then tack the staysail at our leisure. The backed staysail does slow the boat a bit, but then everything on a boat is a compromise.)

On the other hand, if the boat is really a sloop with a staysail used only for heavy weather, and particularly if she is fitted with an overlapping headsail (genoa), then I think the problems of getting a genoa through the foretriangle outweigh the benefits of roller furling and a staysail hanked on to a removable stay is the way to go.

Generally, all other things being equal, our recommendation is that a boat to be sailed by a relatively fit couple should be a sloop with a removable staysail stay if her displacement is under about 28,000 pounds (12,700 kg), and a cutter if over. (Morgan’s Cloud displaces 52,000 pounds 23,600 kg).

We prefer cutters over two masted rigs like ketches as the answer to the problem of individual sails that are too large for a short handed crew; but each to their own.

Labels: Boats and Design

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Heavy Weather Gear and Strategies #12—Drogue Retrieval, The Devil is in the Details

posted by John & Phyllis Web Site

In the last post in this series we talked about the difficulties in retrieving a Jordan Series Drogue and a way to make it practical using a drill motor and winch bit. However, that is only part of the solution. Like so many things in offshore sailing, the devil is in the details.

But before I get into that, a word of caution from a very experienced source:

“I'm scared of the way you have tested the series drogue, particularly motoring ahead with the drogue out behind you and then trying to winch it in. I feel there is a potential life threatening load on the winch and blocks and if anything lets go, someone could be killed.”

This quote came in an e-mail from Hal Roth. For those of you who don’t know of Hal, he is the author of 13 (soon to be 14) well respected books on offshore voyaging drawing from several hundred thousand miles of experience, including two single handed races around the world. This guy, together with his wife Margaret, has truly “been there and done that”.

Based on nearly 100,000 miles of sailing Morgan’s Cloud, I was confident of her gear’s ability to take the loads—after all they were no higher than we typically see on our genoa or spinnaker sheets. However, Hal’s point is valid: the loads we are talking about here are potentially life threatening, so be careful. If you try the techniques we are discussing, think about every step and make sure that you don’t position yourself in the bight of a line or where a piece of gear that fails will hit you—this is just another good reason to practice retrieval before you have to do it when tired and seasick.

Now back to the details. When testing retrieval, the first challenge we were faced with was to get the heavily loaded series drogue line onto the winch. To make this easier, before deploying we tied a retrieval line (blue) to the point where the bridles and drogue line connect. We took this line to our largest sheet winch and ground it in until the bridles came tight, preventing further travel. We then used a nipper line (red), that we dead-ended at a massive chain plate, tied with a double rolling hitch (a single slipped) to the drogue line to take the load. Next, we moved the blue line down the drogue line for another haul. It took three iterations to get the drogue on the winch (it would be fewer on an aft cockpit boat).

By the way, a rolling hitch is probably the most useful of the four or so knots that we regularly use on Morgan’s Cloud. I like the second version in the linked Wikipedia description best. If you can’t tie a rolling hitch, or another equally effective constrictor knot, then we recommend that you learn. This knot can get you out of deep yoghurt. A double rolling hitch is simply two rolling hitches tied one after another with about a foot between them. In my experience, the rope will break before a double rolling hitch slips.

Other things we discovered during our testing:

1. We need exactly four turns on the winch; less and the line will slip, more and the drogue cones will not strip off the winch.
   
   
2. A second person must aggressively tail the winch to stop the cones fouling.
   
   
3. The cones will hang up on any fitting in their path. That is the reason for the black sail tie on the aft cleat.
   
   
4. You need a really large and well rounded fairlead with some way to capture the line to stop it jumping out. Our fairleads were custom built to our design some years ago as part of our rudder loss strategy and have fastpins that capture the line. They worked great during our test with no hang ups.
   

Labels: Seamanship

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