Sunday, October 30, 2005

First Leg at Corinthian Yacht Club



Donna and Michael head out before a storm.

Sailing to Boston in a Snowstorm


Michael at the helm. We got to check out our gear and found it woefully inadequate.

Saturday, October 29, 2005

First Leg - Marblehead to Boston

Michael and Donna are writing this entry jointly after a harrowing day of sailing. Michael drove to Cambridge for the weekend. We were chauffeured to the boat in Marblehead by Kate. Corinthian Yacht Club was recovering from the Northeaster earlier in the week as well as winding down for the year. All of the launches were hauled for the year and we were taken out to Welcome in a 16' whaler. It was snowing. We approached the starboard side and were shocked to see evidence of a collision. Apparently, one of the boats which broke loose in the storm hit Welcome on the way to its grave. A double stanchion was twisted and destroyed, and the wooden toerail cap was split aft of the stanchion. There was also a huge dent in the toerail cap where the bow of the attack boat must have hit. There was very minor damage to the fiberglass underneath. We were less concerned about the damage to the wood, but the destruction of the stanchions means that the starboard aft quarter is without lifelines. Donna called Randy Krivitsky, our friend who knows everybody and how to fix everything. Randy was able to determine which boat hit ours by having us examine the boat for evidence of red paint, which we found. Monday will be devoted to finding a marine fabricator who can build a new post quickly, since it would be unsafe to take off without lifelines. The insurance company will also be hearing from us. We hope we can get an appraiser out to the marina before we cast off.

We stowed gear, took off the sail cover, and readied the boat for the trip to Boston. Total mileage for the day was to be a mere 20 miles. Small craft warnings were in effect. Wind was northeast 20-25 knots when we cast off at around 11. The temperature was in the 30s. We had two reefs in the main, flew the stay sail, and had to rig the running back stay for mast support. We were headed to the marina in Boston, and had to get there before it closed at 4 p.m. We had a port beam reach to Tinkers Island, and then jibed and were on a starboard reach for the remainder of the trip. Seas were 3-6 feet. Visibility was often less than one-half mile. We were grateful for the chart plotter. During the four hours it took us to get to Boston, we had snow, heavy snow, sleet, rain, and hail. It was a good shake down cruise for our gear. Both sets of waterproof gloves failed. We both changed several times during the voyage, each time adding layers, and never feeling warm enough. Toes were cold, fingers were frozen and inoperable, faces stung with the driving rain, and bodies shivered uncontrollably. Halfway there, the winds dropped to around 15 knots. We shook out the reefs in the mainsail. Slush and snow drenched Michael as the mainsail was raised. We saw a few fishing boats, one tug pulling a barge, a large dinner boat, and another small sailboat headed to Boston. Most of the time, though, all we saw was snow. It was so wet and dense that it covered the window in the dodger. It seemed like four hour watches could be arduous. The only happiness we saw was in a seal leisurely floating on its back. Was it laughing at us?

We were extremely happy to dock at the marina. The fellow at the dock didn't bother to take a credit card, certain that we would remain there until someone else could register the boat for the week long stay. Kate made her way to us in the snow storm to rescue us from the first leg of this puzzling adventure. Why are we doing this, we asked ourselves, knowing that there was too much momentum to do anything but continue.
Donna and Michael

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Ten Days Until Cast Off

I just made reservations at the Boston Harbor Shipyard and Marina for next week. http://www.bhsmarina.com/. Corinthian Yacht Club closes this Sunday, October 30, and we will be without access to the boat unless it gets moved to a year round operation. The Shipyard is located in East Boston, is close to my home in Cambridge, and we can drive on the piers, making provisioning a lot easier than traveling by launch. We will also have electricity, so that we can work on streamlining our electronics without fear of losing battery power. Michael and I will sail the boat from Marblehead to Boston on Saturday. I am really grateful to have half the crew on this coast to help with all of these chores. I will load the boat with all of the assorted safety supplies now sitting in our living room at home, and keep my fingers crossed that the boat won’t sink. The marina offers fuel, so it will be a good place from which to leave on the 6th. I rigged up a stainless steel brace on the port side on which to store 10 extra gallons of diesel fuel. In addition to the 37 gallons we carry, we should be able to run the engine for 60-70 hours at around 2500 RPMs. Of course, that assumes the engine will work. We also have spare fuel and oil filters, and a spare impeller.

Insurance remains an obstacle. My original inquiries resulted in bids which did not include damage incurred during a named windstorm. I am not sure what damage would occur other than in a named windstorm, so once I made that demand, premiums rose 20%. I got the policy, and noticed it was only good for up to 250 miles offshore. I called the company and the broker said it was 250 miles from any land, and that we would probably be okay going to Bermuda. I pushed a little more and got a call back that in fact the policy does not include Bermuda. Back to square one. I am waiting to hear what the additional premium is for Bermuda. Lloyds of London offered to insure the boat in the BVIs for around $3,600 and the trip down for an additional $1,300. Maybe they know something about risk that we have not considered.

Donna

Sunday, October 09, 2005

Saturday, October 8

29 days to go.

Michael and I spent 7 hours working on the boat on Saturday. There were gale force wind predictions and it was raining. We brought the boat to the dock at Corinthian Yacht Club and tried to figure out the best place to mount the new life raft. Just forward of the dodger would be the safest place since it would be near the cockpit in the event of a disaster, but we could not figure out how to get bolts through the deck without interfering with the hatch. We talked about fabricating a stainless steel brace, but without the skill.... We examined the possibility of mounting it on the doghouse forward of the mast, but it would be awkward to get to the bolts to fasten them once the holes were drilled in the deck because of the liner. We also looked at mounting the cradle at an angle against the forward edge of the doghouse, but were concerned about sheets getting tangled. At Michael's suggestion, we removed the life raft valise from the hard pelican case and dropped it with the abandon ship bag in the starboard cockpit locker. This actually is a great solution because it is close to where we would need
it and not so heavy that it would be more difficult to manipulate than crawling out on deck to release it from the cradle and hard case. We decided that the locker would be the safety locker with life jackets, abandon ship bags, and such. We moved the fenders and docking lines to the port side cockpit locker. I will keep the cradle and pelican case until the rest of the crew arrives to make certain they are in agreement with the plan. If they are, I will return it and save $500.

We went for a sail to try out the storm jib and storm trysail. To raise the storm jib, we needed to take the furling staysail off of the roller furling foil. You need to work at the mast to raise and drop the staysail halyard. The luff of the storm jib gets fed into the foil located on the stay. We then raised the jib. The most difficult part of the job was working with the tiny shackles on the head and tack of the staysail. We decided that in rough and cold weather, it would be near impossible to change the sails, so we mounted a quick release snap shackle for the head of the sail and a key shackle for the tack. We measured and tied sheets to the storm jib. The new shackles seemed to work fine with the roller furling when we replaced the storm jib with the staysail at the end of the day. We did try to use the furling system with the storm jib, but because of the way the Harken roller furling system works, the extra long halyard running off of the head of the storm jib guaranteed a jam almost immediately. We set the storm trysail up in the second track on the mast and raised it with the spare main halyard. We realized that we needed to fasten the tack to something and the forward reefing line with the snap shackle worked well for this task. The foot of the storm trysail is not fixed on the boom. We rigged a sheet from the clue of the sail through a spinnaker block and around the large winch. We raised the head of the trysail to just a foot or two above the spreaders. The spare main halyard is also operated from the mast, and while at sea we should probably use the regular halyard to raise and lower the trysail. The regular halyard can be operated from the cockpit. Because of the lazyjack system, and the sheet system, one would not change tacks easily with the trysail
set.

Both sails worked well. We had gusts into the mid twenties, so we were dreadfully under powered with those sails alone. We tried heaving to, which was one of the goals of the day. Heaving to is setting small sails in heavy weather and winds to keep the forward quarter of the boat into the waves for safety. When you heave to you give up making forward progress in exchange for not turning over and having a more comfortable ride waiting out a storm. Based on the Pardy's "Storm Tactics" we used the trysail and storm jib, turned 50-60 degrees from
the wind and then turned the rudder to steer into the wind. We did manage to stall and keep the boat's forward starboard quarter facing the waves for quite a while with almost no effort at the helm. Because we did not have real storm conditions, I am not certain if this was the
optimum way to heave to for the Pacific Seacraft. I know that some boats back the jib while keeping the mainsail on the leeward side in order to heave to. I hope we have the chance to learn additional ways of doing this prior to needing to do it in a storm.

It poured the whole time we were sailing, which felt like proper preparation for the trip. Visibility was less than one mile. We saw only one other boat outside of the harbor. Frustrated with our slow progress, we unfurled the genoa, lowered the trysail, and then raised a reefed main. All sails got a workout, as did the crew. Going into the harbor at the end of the cruise, we needed to dump our 120% genoa, because it jammed when we tried to furl it. Back on the mooring, we raised it again and furled it seemingly without effort.

Looking into the cabin of the boat, we had two wet sails, three wet fenders, the empty pelican case, tools, lines, the liferaft cradle, clothes and equipment strewn about, and water everywhere. It dawned on us how challenging it was going to be for four of us to live on the boat for several weeks. It is going to be important for stuff to get stowed immediately after use, and for all of us to live neatly out of duffel bags. Because the boat has two hanging lockers, our bulky foul weather gear can go in those lockers, but the rest of our personal things will have to be stowed in our bags. Michael and I thought that two or three bags could be stored on the port settee, and one or two bags under the starboard main cabin berth.

Back at the mooring we stowed everything, and Michael tightened lifelines. At his initiative, we then went to work on understanding the head system. We discovered that the holding tank was being filled by the lecstan toilet system, which defeats the purpose of the onboard sewage treatment system.The full tank accounted for a persistant foul smell. In fact, things were so "stuffed" that flushing the toilet resulted in water streaming from the tiny deck level vent. We turned all the handles to point in the right direction, emptied the tank, and put a cleanser into the system. We tried to determine if the macerator was operational. No conclusions, nor could we get it to work, but since the current toilet was a retrofit, it could be that the macerator was disconnected at some point. The lecstan system should eliminate the need for a macerator, but had I done the retrofit, I would have removed it if it was no longer hooked up. During this process, we discovered some mislabeled thru hull fittings. Every day brings a new discovery.

We also tried to hook the satellite telephone system up to the PC and failed. I will work on that some more, but from the dry comfort of my study.

Michael was kind enough to help me pull the dinghy and outboard for the season, using the crane and power washer at CYC. I got home late in the day looking and smelling like a tangle of yellow flotsam, and feeling oddly accomplished.

Donna

Friday, October 07, 2005

Jay and Donna

The Captains Turley in July 2005,
or is it the Captain Turleys,
or Captain Turley and the boat owner?

Michael


Able bodied crew Michael McGrenra at the helm in August 2005.

Friday, October 7, 2005


30 days until we weigh anchor

Michael discovered that we don't need a separate ISP to use the satellite phone for e-mail and internet. That is good news. We will have a PC on board for the purpose of e-mail and getting weather information. The idea is to download our e-mails, get off the phone, write our e-mails, and then dial up and send them all at once. The cost is 99 cents a minute, so we are going to try to be conservative. We are subscribing to a compression service known as Ocens Mail. We should all be able to get and send e-mails. BTW, the phone number for the boat is 254-387-1370. Landlubbers - this is for emergency use only. Keep your voice mail messages short, please. I haven't found a phone that can stay on the hook while being subjected to the motion of the boat, so we will probably store it except when we need to call out. Jay had some
information about cellular service if you want to use your cell phone when we are in range.

I plan to stay in touch with most people through the Blog. They can see where we are and read our pithy comments. Michael has already joined. I urge Ann and Jay to join through the invitation sent out last week. That way you can post to the Blog via an e-mail, and your friends/family can get information about us without you having to write to each person. The Winslow life raft arrived yesterday. Michael and I will install it this weekend. Not sure it can go on top of the bulkhead because we need to bolt it through the deck, not just use screws, and I can't figure out how to access the under part of the hatch. We may need to put it forward of the mast. Note that the life raft is in a Pelican suitcase with a separate grab bag, and it can be removed and brought to the cockpit without deploying it. We will also play around with the PC and the telephone to get an understanding of how to use it all. We are supposed to have gale force winds, so we might even try out the new sails if it is not raining too hard. We will measure and put sheets on the sails. Michael and I are also pulling the dinghy and engine, so it will be a busy day. Another goal is to match all the extra light bulbs with the navigation lights to make sure we have the right extras, and to start a preliminary supply list.

Donna