The last major passage before returning to the States would be from St Thomas to Georgia, appx. 1500 miles. My buddy Sean Jahr flew down to get a taste for “Blue water sailing” and I can say now that I didn’t let him down. We left with 2 other boats, both single handling. Ketching Up and I have been together on and off since the Panama Canal. Mistral we met in St Thomas. He’s an older French man on a 34’ boat. We met him in St Thomas when we did some sail work for the guy. His plan is to end up in NYC but since we’re leaving at about the same time, he asked if he could tag along.
We all took off but Mistral had problems from the get go. First, he told us he has a “marine project” growing on the bottom of his boat. Why he didn’t get it cleaned before a passage like this is beyond me but whatever, as long as he doesn’t slow us up too much. About 5hrs in, his autopilot started acting up and he had to head up a little. Towards nightfall, we were about 13 miles ahead of him. Patience running thin, we told him to motor-sail and catch us or we’re moving on w/o him. He caught us at about 9pm, only to be left behind again at sunrise.
Right about this time, he told us he was taking on water around his packing gland (where the prop shaft enters the hull of the boat). Most of the time, bilge pumps can keep up with a leak like this (usually just a fast drip) but he told us his pumps were clogged! Once again, why you wouldn’t check this stuff out before a 1500mile passage is nothing short of stupidity (sorry Mistral if you’re reading this but you don’t have a leg to stand on). He was pumping by hand until morning when he could then fix the electric bilge pumps. Once we heard everything was under control, we tried to get him to go to Puerto Rico to get some repairs done however received the following response (with a heavy French accent) “I have crossed several ponds hand-steering, no problem”. When a sailor says “ponds”, they’re referring to oceans. My response “have at it but we’re not waiting anymore for you”. He decided to fall off the wind and go straight to NYC. He arrived on the 24th (we left on the 9th). He said he was tired and planned to sleep for 2 days straight. We were just happy to hear he made it.
Anyway, back to Ketching Up and me. We headed for Grand Turk with plans of sleeping, drinking and swimming. About 1 mile out, Noel changed his mind and chose to keep going. He was feeling good and I think missing the wife and kids so he literally spun his boat around and sailed off into the sunset. Sean and I thought about going with him for about 3 seconds until we remembered the steaks we had in the freezer. We approached the anchorage where a pilot boat came out and told us to follow him in. We did as we were told. He pointed literally out his window at the water and said, “Anchor here”. We did. It was after 5pm so thinking Immigration was closed, we proceeded to the beach and had a few beers with some locals, then returned to the boat for those steaks!
6:30am the following morning, we hear and feel this very strong gurgling sound. Sean woke up and thought we were taking on water. After 5 months in St. Thomas, I knew exactly what it was…..bow and stern thrusters from a cruise ship. We popped our heads out and saw a big white wall about 30 yards from us. They were able to squeeze by us but learned later, we delayed them by about 30mins as they tried to hail us on the VHF (that we had off). Anyway, later that day, Sean and I walked around town and as soon as anyone found out we were on a sailboat, the next question was “were you the ones that blocked the cruise ship this morning, that was so funny!”. I was famous on the island after only 24 hours.
Grand Turk was pretty amazing. Great reefs, very nice people, etc however they got hit with a cat 5 hurricane last year. When they went to tap the emergency funds for repairs, they were empty. Guess the Gov’t is corrupt and stole the money. The high school was still in tents after a year. Pretty sad but they’re slowly making progress. Sean and I met a bunch of the locals and negotiated a tour of the island and a ride to the grocery store for lunch. Not a bad deal considering the tour guides were female and about the nicest people I ever met cruising. After 4 days we were ready to leave. We checked the weather one last time and took off. At this point, the only issue was 12hrs of 25-30kt winds on Wednesday, then flat calm on Thursday. With that said, we took off.
We had a great sail the first 2 days, flying the spinnaker and making anywhere between 7-9kts over ground. As we went around the top of the Bahamas, the weather changed rather abruptly and the seas began to build. Within minutes, it was blowing 30 with 20’ seas. Not bad but rather just wet and cold. During the night, we had gusts probably hitting 40. At this point we were talking to the Coast Guard and asking for weather updates. Over the course of 3 days of complete hell (for lack of better words), they repeatedly told us that it’d pass in about 8-12 hours. When we got this 1st update, we decided to keep going. We had 2 options…stop in the Bahamas or head for FL. Both options were at least 8-10hrs away so we decided to stay out and weather the weather.
If we knew at that time that the storm would last 3 days, we definitely would have popped in somewhere and anchored. But like I said, every time we spoke to our Coast Guard friends, they told us 8 more hours. Let’s just hope they can sail boats and fly choppers better than they can read weather!
About 4 hours after the Coast Guard told us it was going to die, we had 65kts in the middle of the night! We got pooped 3 times over about 15hrs. Pooped is when a wave breaks into your cockpit. It filled the cockpit up to the top, once causing 3 cushions to float overboard. I quickly found out that teak floor grates float as well. I was out there in 65kts in waste deep water trying to keep the cushions and floor grates on board. It took about 10 minutes for the cockpit to drain (a very long 10 minutes).
http://picasaweb.google.com/daniel.l.kinkead/StThomasTurksGeorgiaPassage#5340169381608990386
The following morning, I had about a 2’ tear in the main sail at the batten pocket. Also, the UV cover on the jib started to tear and fray simply from the wind and rain hitting it. I plan on simply taking off the UV cover (the sail is old anyway) and fixing the main. New sails will be on order as soon as I get some funds. Arun at my old place of work in St Thomas said he’d give me a deal. Anyway, after the weather passed, we had a great final day as we approached Brunswick Georgia.
We reached the channel markers at 3am. I wanted to stay out until morning but Sean wanted to go in. I thought about it and decided that I was ok with heading in as the channel is very well marked. Right about then, an alarm went off and said that batteries were low. I quickly looked down and noticed that although the engine was running, the tach wasn’t (usually….no tach, no alternator). This happened before and I simply turned off the engine, fired it back up and the alternator worked. Well, I killed the engine and tried to restart but remember…low batteries! Oops. Now we’re true sailors with no wind. We thought about sailing in but then the wind died (of course). We sailed for about ½hr and went appx. 300 yards. Once we cleared the channel, we dropped the anchor (manually as we had no power for the windlass). The plan was turn everything off and wait for the sun to come up. The solar panels would charge the batteries and we could then fire up the engine.
Finally, something went right and the sun broke at 6am. 9am we turned the engine over and were on our way in. About ½ way in, the engine started to sputter. I quickly switched over to the back up Racor and she settle down. About an hour later, in the middle of the channel, it sputtered again. I had Sean aim for the beach to get us out of the channel. As soon as got clear of the channel and had about 30’ of water, I dropped the anchor. As the anchor was paying out,, the engine died…can you say perfect timing. Once again we had no engine and no wind. I went down below and started the process of changing filters and bleeding the engine. About 45mins later, she fired up and we were once again underway. The marina at this point was laughing at us. It took us about 18hours to cover the last 4 miles of the trip.
Anyway, we finally got in, tied up and proceeded to drink, a lot. Sean flew home today (5/29) and I’m back to the norm. Going to search for some jobs online. This is a safe spot to leave the boat so if I can find anything, I’ll simply leave Spirit here and go work. Otherwise, I may head up to Wilmington next month.
That’s all for now, but as always, there will be more later!
Dan
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
In April, I finally pulled anchor in St Thomas. Not just for a trip to the BVI’s but a 200 mile passage SE to Antigua for the Classics (www.antiguaclassics.com). I was meeting up with some friends on S/V Astor and crewing for them during the races. This was my first and hopefully not last, regatta. I had a great time. Astor won many awards however the “Best in Show” was probably my favorite. The rest were focused on the racing but winning the “prettiest” boat award with all those other amazing vessels is something to brag about. The sail took me about 40 hours as it was east and I had to beat against the wind. I spent about 9 days there, racing for 4, cleaning the boat one day, and partying the rest. Free drinks and food were served every night with Astor kicking down for dinner most nights. I can’t remember the last time I ate so well. I think it must have been on the Sony expense account in Vegas to tell you the truth. The sail back was great, often hitting 8-9kts as I sailed dead down wind for most of the trip.
This got me pretty excited as the course back to St Thomas is nearly identical to my next passage…St Thomas to Ft Lauderdale via the Bahamas and Turks. Not sure how long we’ll stop in the Bahamas and/or Turks but we’ll play it by ear. I didn’t chart it out yet but it’ll be close to 1600 miles. Doing an average of 6-7kts…well, let’s just say it’s a long one. My buddy Sean got a pass from his wife and 3 boys in Austin to do the passage with me. I’m excited to have someone else along for the ride but would prefer a blonde, 6’with 34C’s but I guess I can’t complain. Noel on s/v Ketchin Up will be leaving with me…..single-handing the trip. His wife and 3 boys are flying out of St Thomas on 5/7, right before we leave. They’re anxious to get home and Noel wants to do a single-handed passage….well, he picked a good one to say the least! Based on historicals, there’s about a 2% chance we’ll get hit with severe weather so since it’s me we’re talking about, bet on it! It should be all downwind but the swells on the stern may make it a bit rolly out there. At least they won’t be on the nose like I had when leaving Panama to come East. I can’t wait to get back to the States but at the same time, I know I’ll miss what I have here. Hopefully, I can find a job and replenish the kitty and get back down here.
In a sick sort of way, I really do miss work and what not. I’ll start my search when I get to Georgia and play it by ear. If anyone reading this knows of any positions that I may enjoy, shoot me and email and let me know. I’m a hell of a guy that brings the best out in any company I join :) Thanks!
Dan (trying to post pics buy my laptop died and I can't get them to load at this time, stay tuned!)
This got me pretty excited as the course back to St Thomas is nearly identical to my next passage…St Thomas to Ft Lauderdale via the Bahamas and Turks. Not sure how long we’ll stop in the Bahamas and/or Turks but we’ll play it by ear. I didn’t chart it out yet but it’ll be close to 1600 miles. Doing an average of 6-7kts…well, let’s just say it’s a long one. My buddy Sean got a pass from his wife and 3 boys in Austin to do the passage with me. I’m excited to have someone else along for the ride but would prefer a blonde, 6’with 34C’s but I guess I can’t complain. Noel on s/v Ketchin Up will be leaving with me…..single-handing the trip. His wife and 3 boys are flying out of St Thomas on 5/7, right before we leave. They’re anxious to get home and Noel wants to do a single-handed passage….well, he picked a good one to say the least! Based on historicals, there’s about a 2% chance we’ll get hit with severe weather so since it’s me we’re talking about, bet on it! It should be all downwind but the swells on the stern may make it a bit rolly out there. At least they won’t be on the nose like I had when leaving Panama to come East. I can’t wait to get back to the States but at the same time, I know I’ll miss what I have here. Hopefully, I can find a job and replenish the kitty and get back down here.
In a sick sort of way, I really do miss work and what not. I’ll start my search when I get to Georgia and play it by ear. If anyone reading this knows of any positions that I may enjoy, shoot me and email and let me know. I’m a hell of a guy that brings the best out in any company I join :) Thanks!
Dan (trying to post pics buy my laptop died and I can't get them to load at this time, stay tuned!)
Friday, April 10, 2009
Florida Trip
Not really home but Florida to visit the parents for 5 days. I’m writing this update from the airport and find myself already getting annoyed with all the people walking around with their heads buried in their Blackberry’s. This is my first trip back to the States since leaving in Oct ’07 however I did see my parents in Sept. when we went through the Canal together.
I’m still working in the loft and thoroughly enjoying it (however I’m still not too excited about the sewing portion but I’m learning a lot of info about sail trim and build. It will pay dividends if I decide to get on a large sailing yacht as crew). When I return from the States, I’ll be prepping the boat for my trip south to Antigua. I need to get there by the 15th for the races that start on the 16th. The trip down will be a little of a beat against the wind but the way back should be a great sail. I may take a few extra days returning to hit a few islands. Once I return, I’ll work for a few more weeks, then head North.
Noel on Ketching Up may fly his wife and 3 boys home to Charleston and single-hand up the coast. If that happens, we will most likely go together with maybe one or 2 stops along the way. I think it’s 1200nm’s to Miami, not sure how much to Georgia. I booked a marina for a month in Brunswick. It’s $400 for the month so I can’t complain. From there, I think I’ll go up to Wilimington for July. I thought about heading up to Virginia but we’ll play it by ear.
Finllly, the Rolex Regatta was this weekend. A Captain asked if I wanted to crew on his 80’ but unfortunately, I had to work! If you work in a sail loft, you work during the regatta. We fixed a few blown jibs and patched a couple spinnakers. Even though I didn’t race, the party on Saturday night made it all worth it. Live reggae bands and plenty of alcohol and wealthy young ladies.
That’s all for now,
Dan
I’m still working in the loft and thoroughly enjoying it (however I’m still not too excited about the sewing portion but I’m learning a lot of info about sail trim and build. It will pay dividends if I decide to get on a large sailing yacht as crew). When I return from the States, I’ll be prepping the boat for my trip south to Antigua. I need to get there by the 15th for the races that start on the 16th. The trip down will be a little of a beat against the wind but the way back should be a great sail. I may take a few extra days returning to hit a few islands. Once I return, I’ll work for a few more weeks, then head North.
Noel on Ketching Up may fly his wife and 3 boys home to Charleston and single-hand up the coast. If that happens, we will most likely go together with maybe one or 2 stops along the way. I think it’s 1200nm’s to Miami, not sure how much to Georgia. I booked a marina for a month in Brunswick. It’s $400 for the month so I can’t complain. From there, I think I’ll go up to Wilimington for July. I thought about heading up to Virginia but we’ll play it by ear.
Finllly, the Rolex Regatta was this weekend. A Captain asked if I wanted to crew on his 80’ but unfortunately, I had to work! If you work in a sail loft, you work during the regatta. We fixed a few blown jibs and patched a couple spinnakers. Even though I didn’t race, the party on Saturday night made it all worth it. Live reggae bands and plenty of alcohol and wealthy young ladies.
That’s all for now,
Dan
Saturday, March 14, 2009
St. Thomas.....still......
Once again I’ve been bad about updating the blog but after staying in one spot for 3 months, I don’t feel as if I’m cruising anymore but rather just working! I got a job in the sail loft down here and love it. Not a big fan of sewing but love learning the trade. The biggest news is that I went back and got my Captain’s license. I passed all my exams last week and plan on sending in my paperwork this week. I’ll definitely get what they call the “6 pack” which means I can up to 6 paying customers out on a boat. I also passed the Master’s tests and will be given a 50 or 100ton license. Since most of my time at sea was on my 37 footer, I think I’ll most likely get the 50ton. That means I can take a 50ton vessel out with as many passengers as its capacity states. Not sure what I’ll do with it but time will tell.
The other big news is that I have a broker coming out this week to take pics and list the boat. Not sure if it’ll sell fast or not but I have friends that sold their 34 foot sailboat in 3 weeks. If it sells, I’m going to try to get on a megayacht for the summer and go to the Med. If it doesn’t sell, I’ll be heading North looking for jobs somewhere out of the way of the hurricanes.
So with that said, all you deadbeats who said you’d visit and never showed up better hurry, not sure how much longer I’ll be living this lifestyle!
Dan (well….Captain Dan I guess!)
The other big news is that I have a broker coming out this week to take pics and list the boat. Not sure if it’ll sell fast or not but I have friends that sold their 34 foot sailboat in 3 weeks. If it sells, I’m going to try to get on a megayacht for the summer and go to the Med. If it doesn’t sell, I’ll be heading North looking for jobs somewhere out of the way of the hurricanes.
So with that said, all you deadbeats who said you’d visit and never showed up better hurry, not sure how much longer I’ll be living this lifestyle!
Dan (well….Captain Dan I guess!)
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Working in St. Thomas
It’s been a bit since my last update so I thought I’d let everyone know what I’ve been up to. I’m still in St. Thomas but I actually now have a “job”. I’m working for Quantum Sails as a “sail-maker”…doing repairs on old sails and selling and installing new ones. The owner of the loft (in this industry, they are called “sail lofts”) is a great guy and has been doing it for 11 years here in St. Thomas. I’m learning a lot and if I continue to sail, the skills will definitely help me down the line.
Christmas was spent on other boats with friends. I had brunch with my friends on s/v Ketching Up (Noel, Ashley and their 3 boys) and dinner on s/v Astor. Richard and Lany on Astor are the ones that so gratefully donated their old auto-pilot and SSB tuner back in Panama City when I got hit by lightening. They were here in St Thomas and put on a great Christmas dinner. I plan on heading to Antigua for the classic boat races in April. Astor asked me to crew for them and seeing it as a chance of a lifetime, I committed. The raceing lasts for 4 days, then I’ll most likely work my way back North and make plans for hurricane season come May.
New Years: It was time to get out of St.Thomas for a bit so I headed over to Foxy’s on Yost Van Dyke for their infamous New Year’s party. The anchorage was parked full of boats and the party lived up to its reputation. My parents read my blog so I can’t tell too much but if you ever have the opportunity to be there in the future, make it happen! I stayed for 4 days and let the crowd disperse before I attempted to raise my anchor. I was afraid that I probably had 3 other anchors on top of mine.
Anyway, I plan on heading to Puerto Rico next month to visit some friends from college. They’re staying in a 5 star resort and I can’t wait to take a long, hot shower! It’s been 1.5 years since I stood in a shower and could let the water run….needless to say I’m looking forward to it.
The boat is doing great. The water is clean enough that I can make water here in the anchorage. I’m anchored right outside a new marina that’s filled with Megayachts. We’re doing some work on two of them now. The larger one is the 2nd largest in the world. It belongs to Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle. It’s appx 420 feet and stores a helicopter below deck in the bow. We got to see very little of the boat while on board but they have 5 tenders with one of them costing 1.5million (just for the tender!). To think that I’d love to have a new 15hp Yamaha on my dinghy but I’m too cheap to buck up.
Anyway, the owner is selling the loft and if it goes through, I may take some time off and get my Captain’s license. I’ve been making a lot of contacts and think I could get on one of these megayachts for the summer, maybe try to get on one gong to the Med or something. Who knows, tomorrow’s a different day.
Just spoke to my very good friends, The Millers, in California. They plan on coming down sometime in March or April and I’m already looking forward to it. This will be their 2nd trip (Steve’s 3rd) so I guess they enjoy the boat and island lifestyle. Depending on where I’m at, we’ll hit all the best anchorages and see if we can find some trouble at the same time.
I think that just about covers all my updates. Sorry I don’t have any new pics but I’m too cheap to buy a camera (but always willing to accept donations!). If anyone wants to visit, it would be great to have you all!
Dan
Christmas was spent on other boats with friends. I had brunch with my friends on s/v Ketching Up (Noel, Ashley and their 3 boys) and dinner on s/v Astor. Richard and Lany on Astor are the ones that so gratefully donated their old auto-pilot and SSB tuner back in Panama City when I got hit by lightening. They were here in St Thomas and put on a great Christmas dinner. I plan on heading to Antigua for the classic boat races in April. Astor asked me to crew for them and seeing it as a chance of a lifetime, I committed. The raceing lasts for 4 days, then I’ll most likely work my way back North and make plans for hurricane season come May.
New Years: It was time to get out of St.Thomas for a bit so I headed over to Foxy’s on Yost Van Dyke for their infamous New Year’s party. The anchorage was parked full of boats and the party lived up to its reputation. My parents read my blog so I can’t tell too much but if you ever have the opportunity to be there in the future, make it happen! I stayed for 4 days and let the crowd disperse before I attempted to raise my anchor. I was afraid that I probably had 3 other anchors on top of mine.
Anyway, I plan on heading to Puerto Rico next month to visit some friends from college. They’re staying in a 5 star resort and I can’t wait to take a long, hot shower! It’s been 1.5 years since I stood in a shower and could let the water run….needless to say I’m looking forward to it.
The boat is doing great. The water is clean enough that I can make water here in the anchorage. I’m anchored right outside a new marina that’s filled with Megayachts. We’re doing some work on two of them now. The larger one is the 2nd largest in the world. It belongs to Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle. It’s appx 420 feet and stores a helicopter below deck in the bow. We got to see very little of the boat while on board but they have 5 tenders with one of them costing 1.5million (just for the tender!). To think that I’d love to have a new 15hp Yamaha on my dinghy but I’m too cheap to buck up.
Anyway, the owner is selling the loft and if it goes through, I may take some time off and get my Captain’s license. I’ve been making a lot of contacts and think I could get on one of these megayachts for the summer, maybe try to get on one gong to the Med or something. Who knows, tomorrow’s a different day.
Just spoke to my very good friends, The Millers, in California. They plan on coming down sometime in March or April and I’m already looking forward to it. This will be their 2nd trip (Steve’s 3rd) so I guess they enjoy the boat and island lifestyle. Depending on where I’m at, we’ll hit all the best anchorages and see if we can find some trouble at the same time.
I think that just about covers all my updates. Sorry I don’t have any new pics but I’m too cheap to buy a camera (but always willing to accept donations!). If anyone wants to visit, it would be great to have you all!
Dan
Monday, December 29, 2008
Still in St. Thomas
Just a quick update. I picked up a job working for Quantum Sails in their loft here in the marina. It's a fun job and I'm learning a skill that I can use to make money no matter where I cruise in the future. It covers the beer tabs and takes away my need to hit up the ATM machine so I can't complain.
I'm taking off today and making the short trip over to Yost Van Dyke in the BVI's. It's about 20 miles away and home of Foxy's, the famous bar down here. www.foxysbar.com I'll be there for New Years, then back to St. Thomas to work some more. There'll be about 4000 people on this small remote island and I hear the anchorage becomes a parking lot, with some boats "rafting" to others since there's no room to drop anchor. With that said, I'm taking off early to hopefully set up shop w/o difficulty.
Everyone have a great New Year!
Dan
I'm taking off today and making the short trip over to Yost Van Dyke in the BVI's. It's about 20 miles away and home of Foxy's, the famous bar down here. www.foxysbar.com I'll be there for New Years, then back to St. Thomas to work some more. There'll be about 4000 people on this small remote island and I hear the anchorage becomes a parking lot, with some boats "rafting" to others since there's no room to drop anchor. With that said, I'm taking off early to hopefully set up shop w/o difficulty.
Everyone have a great New Year!
Dan
Thursday, December 4, 2008
St Thomas Update
I pulled anchor on Thanksgiving and left Venezuela, heading for St. Thomas. My plan was that if I missed St Thomas, I’d go to Puerto Rico for a few days, then head east to St Thomas. On the day I left, winds and swell were coming from the NE and I made my first mistake, I continued NE towards St Thomas. My boat got rocked for about 20 hours and I was not covering much ground. Looking at the chart plotters reminded me of when I was a kid and how I felt when we used to drive cross country camping. After a day, you’d look at a map of the US and realize you only went a ½ inch or perhaps an inch. After 20 hours, I only made 65 miles. At that point, I turned east and decided to grab as much East as I could, then head north…hopefully with a better angle on the wind and seas. It worked and half way in to the 2nd day, I made my turn north.
I had 2 days of great sailing, never touching the engine. I will say though that it was a hard sail, a lot of crashing and blue water over the bow and rails. The winds change velocity pretty quickly. One minute you have 15 kts, then, within a few seconds, it hits 30! Rails get buried and you can wash your hands in the ocean while it goes past the cockpit. Pretty scary but fun! Anyway, my only scare was when I went down below on the 2nd day and had 2 inches of water on the floor! It was all on the port side since I was heeled over and I immediately went into troubleshooting/survival mode.
First, I tasted the water to see what it was….salt, fresh or fuel. It was salt water…not good! I previously closed my thru-hulls forward before I left. They’re for the head, sink drain and saltwater intake. So, I knew water was not coming in there. I also noted the bilge pump was not going off, even when I turned it on manually, it was dry. Ok…now what? Water was not rising but I will admit I looked at my ditch bag and Ephirb and mentally rehearsed a plan just in case something gave. It didn’t and I manually pumped the water out and all was good. A few hours later, I had water again! I found out that although my boat floats, it’s not completely waterproof topside. Like I said before I had blue water coming over the bow and had my rails in the water. When this happened, salt water snuck in around the toe rails (I guess) and got into the cabin. It’s the only thing that it could possibly be. I pumped the water out immediately, then tested my theory by trimming in the sails and turning to a beam reach (wind perpendicular to the boat). Rails went into the water immediately. I held the course for a few minutes, then eased the sheets. Sure enough, water down below. Although not what you want, I was relieved to say the least!
Outside of that, the passage was pretty good until about 100 miles out. My jib (front sail) is a big 130 and in anything above 20kts, I’m way over powered. Well, I had about 20 the entire trip and just prayed the sail would hold together. About a year ago, I hand-stitched some repairs and was watching the repairs closely throughout the passage. They held but unfortunately, the halyard snapped and the sail went limp. I was having some pretty large seas picking me up and literally putting me down wherever they chose. I should rephrase that….dropping me would be more appropriate. After what felt like a 5 foot free-fall, the boat crashed and the halyard snapped. The halyard is the line that holds the sail up at the top of the mast. I thought about using my spinnaker halyard as a back-up but the seas were pretty rough and I’d need to drop the jib and attach the new line. I didn’t feel like going forward and playing around so I simply fired up the engine and motor-sailed with just the main for the last 100 miles. It worked out good as I needed to charge the batteries and make some water anyway.
My first day’s error pushed out my arrival time and when passing St Croix, I knew that I’d be arriving at St. Thomas at about 2 in the morning. I dropped the revs but still arrived before sunrise. The approach is pretty simple but I don’t like going in to new ports at night so with that said, I spent 6 hours bobbing around outside of St Thomas waiting for sunrise. It was a beautiful night so I drank tea and stared at the stars. The only place that had better stars than that night was Kirkwood’s parking lot in the winter. Anyway, the sun came up and I entered the harbor and dropped anchor.
I checked in and it hit me that after 15 months, I’m back on US (sort of) soil! Pretty cool, plus they take dollars and speak English here! I treated myself to a few drinks and some chicken fingers. After 4 days at sea with nothing but Ramon, oatmeal and Tuna fish sandwiches, I was ready for some real food. Today I’m cleaning up the boat, tomorrow, I’ll start the job search. There’s a small marina here but I will most likely change anchorages and make my way around to Brenner or Redhook Bay. They have a lot more boat facilities that hopefully need some help. More later!
Dan
I had 2 days of great sailing, never touching the engine. I will say though that it was a hard sail, a lot of crashing and blue water over the bow and rails. The winds change velocity pretty quickly. One minute you have 15 kts, then, within a few seconds, it hits 30! Rails get buried and you can wash your hands in the ocean while it goes past the cockpit. Pretty scary but fun! Anyway, my only scare was when I went down below on the 2nd day and had 2 inches of water on the floor! It was all on the port side since I was heeled over and I immediately went into troubleshooting/survival mode.
First, I tasted the water to see what it was….salt, fresh or fuel. It was salt water…not good! I previously closed my thru-hulls forward before I left. They’re for the head, sink drain and saltwater intake. So, I knew water was not coming in there. I also noted the bilge pump was not going off, even when I turned it on manually, it was dry. Ok…now what? Water was not rising but I will admit I looked at my ditch bag and Ephirb and mentally rehearsed a plan just in case something gave. It didn’t and I manually pumped the water out and all was good. A few hours later, I had water again! I found out that although my boat floats, it’s not completely waterproof topside. Like I said before I had blue water coming over the bow and had my rails in the water. When this happened, salt water snuck in around the toe rails (I guess) and got into the cabin. It’s the only thing that it could possibly be. I pumped the water out immediately, then tested my theory by trimming in the sails and turning to a beam reach (wind perpendicular to the boat). Rails went into the water immediately. I held the course for a few minutes, then eased the sheets. Sure enough, water down below. Although not what you want, I was relieved to say the least!
Outside of that, the passage was pretty good until about 100 miles out. My jib (front sail) is a big 130 and in anything above 20kts, I’m way over powered. Well, I had about 20 the entire trip and just prayed the sail would hold together. About a year ago, I hand-stitched some repairs and was watching the repairs closely throughout the passage. They held but unfortunately, the halyard snapped and the sail went limp. I was having some pretty large seas picking me up and literally putting me down wherever they chose. I should rephrase that….dropping me would be more appropriate. After what felt like a 5 foot free-fall, the boat crashed and the halyard snapped. The halyard is the line that holds the sail up at the top of the mast. I thought about using my spinnaker halyard as a back-up but the seas were pretty rough and I’d need to drop the jib and attach the new line. I didn’t feel like going forward and playing around so I simply fired up the engine and motor-sailed with just the main for the last 100 miles. It worked out good as I needed to charge the batteries and make some water anyway.
My first day’s error pushed out my arrival time and when passing St Croix, I knew that I’d be arriving at St. Thomas at about 2 in the morning. I dropped the revs but still arrived before sunrise. The approach is pretty simple but I don’t like going in to new ports at night so with that said, I spent 6 hours bobbing around outside of St Thomas waiting for sunrise. It was a beautiful night so I drank tea and stared at the stars. The only place that had better stars than that night was Kirkwood’s parking lot in the winter. Anyway, the sun came up and I entered the harbor and dropped anchor.
I checked in and it hit me that after 15 months, I’m back on US (sort of) soil! Pretty cool, plus they take dollars and speak English here! I treated myself to a few drinks and some chicken fingers. After 4 days at sea with nothing but Ramon, oatmeal and Tuna fish sandwiches, I was ready for some real food. Today I’m cleaning up the boat, tomorrow, I’ll start the job search. There’s a small marina here but I will most likely change anchorages and make my way around to Brenner or Redhook Bay. They have a lot more boat facilities that hopefully need some help. More later!
Dan
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