Diary of an Ocean Passage
A true ocean passage is the ultimate sailing experience. A passage brings together all the elements of sailing – preparation, planning, boat handling, weather analysis – the ultimate challenge, but also the ultimate in fun.
This diary documents a 1000 nautical mile passage sailed in May 1006 from St Thomas, USVI to Georgetown, Bermuda.
Day One – St Thomas, USVI. Great to be back in the Caribbean! Very sunny and hot, summer here already. Boat check day – lots to do. Bought final few tools on our offshore list, replaced a few small things that built up over the season. Fluids and filters changed on the engine. Time for full boat check. Captain up the mast, everything looks great. Sea berths installed. All major systems A-OK.
Day Two – Completed provisioning list and provisioned boat for trip. Received ocean current charts from our service and plotted the course all the way to Bermuda – faster to sail 30 miles west and pick up favorable current than to follow rhumb line. Got weather forecast from our service and had weather briefing with Captain and crew – looks like favorable winds develop soon. Crew briefing is complete. Final double check of the boat, everything looks good.
15:15: off the dock and to the fuel dock for final topping of fuel and water tanks.
15:35: off the dock and away we go! Wind is light, almost calm and we are motoring but it feels great to be on the way.
18:00: sails up and motor sailing.
Day Three
02:00: late night watch. Wind has picked up as forecast and now under sail power only.
08:20: day is gorgeous. Coffee is made and wind at 12 knots on the beam, boat speed 5.6 knots. Fishing lines in the water and morning sun shots complete with sextant. Sea is flat.
13:00: Captain Alex makes homemade calzones for lunch – fantastic!! Nothing like gourmet food at sea. Fishing lines out of water, no luck today.
17:00: saw freighter on the horizon – first boat we’ve seen out here. Tracked the freighter on radar and practiced radar navigation.
Day Four – 305: miles covered first two days, progress is great. Nice sunny day, sea is such a beautiful blue color. Homemade muffins and fresh coffee for breakfast, might actually gain weight on this trip we’re eating so well.
16:00: getting daily weather briefings, very accurate thus far. Bad weather up north, but won’t affect us.
19:00: pork chops and apple sauce for dinner. Wayne got some great sunset photos!
Day Five – 01:00: shooting star! Seems so close, difficult to believe.
14:00 freighter nearby, we have nice conversation on the phone and wave as we go by. They seem happy to have a conversation with someone nearby. Freighter is dead in the water and making repairs, we ask them if they want a tow – good laugh for everyone.
18:00: picking up and so is boat speed. Fresh made cornbread with dinner, tastes like home.
23:00: Wind up to 30 knots now and seas 6-8 feet. This boat loves it like this! We’re still sailing flat and making great progress – lots of fun. About 400 miles offshore now. Everyone is catching up reading on off shifts and very relaxed.
Day Six
11:00: much cooler now, we’re definitely out of the tropics. First time put on a long sleeve shirt in days. Clouds coming in and it looks like we may get a little rain later. Still moving good and eating well.
16:00: forecast calls for showers later today as we cross a front. The SSB radio makes the world seem so small. We are still getting daily weather updates and hearing all the other boats around. Hard to believe we are in the middle of the ocean and this connected.
19:00: starting to rain, first bad weather of trip. Radar shows only light showers. Not raining hard, though and wind is steady 15-20 knots.
Day Seven
06:00: still overcast. Wind behind us, out of south and still at 25-30 – we’re flying!!
13:00: Alex bakes chocolate chip cookies, we’re really getting spoiled now!
18:00: wind now out of the west and much lighter, boat speed down to 5 knots, but sky is perfectly clear. Its going to be a pretty night.
23:00: steering due north and using polaris as guide – feels like an old time sailor steering to the north star. Sea is getting flatter and we are close. Should be in Bermuda tomorrow.
Day Eight
10:00: porpoises swimming along boat and many birds around, you can tell land is not far away. Arrived in Bermuda and cleared customs at 15:00. Off to dock. Grilled a steak and had a glass of wine to celebrate! 1000 miles complete and ready for the next leg.
Capt Dave Bello is President of Fair Wind Sailing School, (http://www.fairwindsailing.com) an ASA affiliate sailing school offering sailing instruction in the Virgin Islands, Chesapeake Bay, Florida and on Lake Erie and Lake St Clair.
You’ve Got to be Kidding Me – What’s Wrong with Yacht Manufacturers? – Part II
This article is a continuation of my previous article examining the terrible warranty service of US yacht manufacturers. As I describe in Part I, the US yacht manufacturing industry seems plagued with poor customer service. Many terrible business practices seem prevalent, including:
1. Well known design defects are not disclosed until after the purchase is complete.
2. A belief that saying “we know about that” or “it didn’t break, it’s a design issue” makes things all right.
3. The customer is blamed for design and manufacturing problems
4. A complete lack of accountability for factory mistakes and warranty service
5. A shifting of effort to the new owner who must deal directly with the manufacturer’s suppliers and act as a general contractor to get warranty work completed
My next boat was a significantly more expensive racer / cruiser purchased from an Ohio based manufacturer that builds both the racer / cruiser line and also a line of more expensive cruising vessels in the same factory. Despite going more “high end” with my purchase, the problems were worse.
After a short time sailing, I noticed the steering wheel provided no feedback and was extremely difficult to turn. I could do it with some effort and my football-playing oldest son could too, but my other children weren’t strong enough to steer the boat. I called the Dealer, but he absolutely refused to assist in any warranty related issues and forced me to work directly with the factory. The Manufacturer did not like answering the phone or returning messages, so it took weeks (and dozens of calls) to get someone. Finally, I described the problem and was told “yes, that boat has an issue with the rudder bearings. They swell when they get wet.” Huh?? You know about this? “Yes,” I was told. “Don’t worry, we’ve developed a solution.” Sure enough, the Manufacturer came out and fixed the problem in an afternoon and the boat could now be steered without weight training. Although the question remains — why not fix it before it leaves the factory?
A few months later, I was sailing some 15 miles offshore in Lake Erie (single-handing of course) when the sail track in my high tech carbon-fiber mast blew apart, dumping my mainsail all over the deck. Great fun — race over, all alone, offshore, mainsail all over the place, a day and a half motor from home. When I was able to call the Manufacturer, I spoke with an executive and questioned how a carbon-fiber mast could have this defect. He told me (you guessed it), “We know about this. It is a defect in the manufacturing process.” Turns out the sail track is NOT carbon-fiber (missed in their advertising literature). That part is plastic and it hardens and gets brittle when they bake the mast. Again, I was assured not to worry, that they were well aware of the problem and had a fix. Sure enough, they installed a new sail track system that works wonderfully. I am still left to wonder why the “fix” isn’t the standard.
I’ve saved the best for last. My roller-furler never worked. Despite dozens of calls from the first months I owned the boat, there were always excuses why it couldn’t be looked at — “the mast needs to be dropped, we’re busy with boat shows, we’re getting boats ready to launch, etc.” After 18 months, the manufacturer finally agreed to examine the unit since there was “a known issue with this furler on my model yacht.” However, upon examination, we shifted to excuse number two — it was my fault. It appears that my very presence stepping on the vessel had damaged the unit and it had to be replaced. I was forced to buy another model furling unit and a new forestay, but low and behold, this one also didn’t work on my boat. The rigger (not a factory employee) who installed the new unit noticed the forestay tang attachment to the hull was in the wrong place. Subsequent measurement showed this factory defect to be the underlying cause of the furler failure. Despite this smoking-gun, the manufacturer still refused to acknowledge the defect or reimburse me for the new forestay and furler (which was now indisputably a warranty problem) until I got an attorney involved. It’s now been more than 2 full years, I still don’t have a working furling unit. Guess how many more of their boats I’ll buy in my lifetime?
Capt Dave Bello is President of Fair Wind Sailing School, (http://www.fairwindsailing.com) an ASA affiliate sailing school offering sailing instruction in the Virgin Islands, Chesapeake Bay, Florida and on Lake Erie and Lake St Clair.
How to Buy a Sailboat – Part I
There is plenty of advice available on how to buy a sailboat. Unfortunately, much of it is written by those in the sailboat building or sailboat selling business – in other words, someone with a vested interest in steering you one way or another. If you have read those articles, you will quickly realize that this article is different. The suggestions contained in this article (and subsequent ones) are written from the perspective of a sailboat buyer and are the collective wisdom of someone who has purchased 8-10 sailboats and discussed sailboat purchases with dozens of other sailboat owners. The lessons learned apply to both new and used sailboat purchases. I hope you will learn from all our mistakes!!
There is a multi-step process that involves answering a series of questions. Successfully answering those questions will lead you to choose exactly the best boat for you. In the course of this series, I will discuss all those questions and cover the whole process. This article covers only the first step in the process because in my view, the first step is by far the most important.
The first – and again, most important step – is to answer the question “How will I use this sailboat?” When I say this, I don’t mean a general answer like “to race” or “daysail” or “to cruise.” If you can only answer the question to this level of detail, you have a very high probability of making a very large (and probably very expensive) mistake – buying the wrong boat. When I say “How will I use this sailboat?,” I mean in extensive detail. Here are some examples of questions you should be able to answer immediately and without any thought BEFORE you consider buying a sailboat:
You’ve Got to be Kidding Me – What’s Wrong with Yacht Manufacturers? – Part I
If you took delivery of a $25,000 car and found four or five manufacturing defects in the first couple of months, how would you feel? Suppose that vehicle was a $50,000 car. Now suppose it’s a $125,000 boat. Wouldn’t you expect it to work when you took delivery? And that you would supported by the manufacturer if it didn’t? I know I did. This article is a summary of issues I’ve had with brand new boats I’ve purchased — and the treatment I’ve received from the boat manufacturers. You will notice certain themes to the issues that seem to be endemic to the US yacht manufacturing industry. I just don’t understand why. All stories related in this article are true.
My first experience was a new 35 footer purchased from a production yacht manufacturer based in Florida (I proudly purchase all my vessels from US manufacturers.) I had told the Dealer that my intention was to use the yacht for family cruises, “round the cans” racing and the occasional more serious race, and was assured that this was the right boat for me. With my excitement at getting my first new keelboat, I took delivery early in the season and began putting the boat through its paces. A number of small trim issues developed immediately and the Dealer did a great job of tweaking and tuning — so far so good. But major issues occurred shortly thereafter. First, I noticed the autopilot (a very popular wheel drive mechanism) failed in any wave over 2 feet and in winds greater than 10-12 knots. The Dealer spent hours with me on the water, but all adjustments to the autopilot were futile. Something was wrong and it was time to call the Manufacturer. The call was shocking. The Manufacturer very calmly told us that “the configuration was not designed to handle those conditions.” I asked what owners do when they sail in those conditions and was told “people who buy our boats don’t sail in wind conditions greater than that.” I thought he was joking, but it was all too obvious that he was serious and was ready to let the matter drop. After much cajoling, letters, and reminders about their advertising claims, they told me it was “a design issue and I should speak with their vendor because they couldn’t do anything.” I didn’t find this suggestion satisfying. Now maybe my standards are too high, but if my new car doesn’t go faster than 35 mph, I expect if fixed. I certainly don’t expect to be told “it’s a design issue” and referred to the drive-train supplier for a re-design. I guess the yacht industry works differently. Since the yacht manufacturer wasn’t budging, I had no choice but to deal directly with the supplier tech rep in Michigan — who apparently took his customer service cues from my yacht manufacture. After several efforts, it became clear that the manufacturer was right – the boat design did not allow an autopilot to be used in winds greater than about 12 knots. Sure wish that had been disclosed prior to the purchase.
The problems continued. Every time we put the cruising spinnaker up, the halyard broke near the top of the mast. The Dealer was quick to replace the halyard, but did nothing to address the root cause of the problem. A quick look at all three halyards seemed (at least to me) to indicate that it was being sliced by something (since it was a very clean cut) near the mast top. I was assured, however, that I was the problem. “It’s the way you’re trimming.” Now, I’m not an America’s Cup racer, but I was pretty sure that I wasn’t trimming in such a way as to slice a halyard. The manufacturer disavowed any problem and the dealer would not even go up the mast to examine the issue (their rigger actually told me he was afraid of heights). The truth would come many months later when we found a defective metal lead at the mast head that had been slicing the halyard.
These issues highlighted several attitudes / problems that seem to be prevalent throughout the US yacht manufacturing industry:
1. Well known design defects are not disclosed until after the purchase is complete.
2. A belief that saying “we know about that” or “it didn’t break, it’s a design issue” makes things all right.
3. The customer is blamed for design of factory-caused problems
4. A complete lack of accountability for factory mistakes and warranty service
5. A shifting of effort to the new owner who must deal directly with the manufacturer’s suppliers and act as a general contractor to get warranty work completed
The US auto manufacturers figured out long ago (although not until significant market share was lost) what happens when you continue to ship products with known defects and take your customer for granted. I hope the US yacht manufacturers learn soon.
Capt Dave Bello is President of Fair Wind Sailing School, (http://www.fairwindsailing.com) an ASA affiliate sailing school offering sailing instruction in the Virgin Islands, Chesapeake Bay, Florida and on Lake Erie and Lake St Clair.
How to Buy a Sailboat – Part II
Once you know exactly how, where and when you will use your dream boat, the next question to answer is “what are the characteristics of a boat best suited for how I will sail the boat?” I believe this question is best answered across five dimensions: Rig type, sail plan, keel type, interior accommodations and overall hull design. Many great books are available to discuss these considerations in any level of detail you would like. Here is a quick overview.
Rig type and sail plan go hand-in-hand. Typically, there is a trade off between ease of sail handling and safety/flexibility. For example, a cat rigged boat with one large mainsail and no headsail (think Laser) is very easy to handle by one person, since there is only one sail. If you are day sailing in a small lake or close to shore where you can take cover if things heat up, this is a great rig — simple, easy to handle, quick to set up. However, it is not a very flexible design, since the sail can’t be reefed in big blows. A standard Marconi sloop is one step above in flexibility since it adds a second (head) sail that can be changed in size to accommodate wind velocity changes. In addition, these rigs today almost invariably offer roller-furling of at least the headsail, if not both sails, making on-the-fly adjustments simple and easy. This is certainly a rig with enough flexibility for stronger wind.
The tradeoff is that you have now added a second sail to handle, change, and furl. Moreover, the sloop is still pretty limited in terms of the changes you can make to sail plans. The cutter rig is the next step up in flexibility with 2 headsails and typically a much smaller mainsail. This configuration allows for significantly greater variations in sail configuration and a much wider spectrum on wind ranges within which the boat can comfortably be sailed. The tradeoff is a third sail to manage. Finally, the double-masted designs — ketchs and yawls — provide the greatest level of flexibility and therefore the greatest range of wind velocities to comfortably sail through. The obvious disadvantage is complication — 2 masts, 4-6 sails. For my money, the sloop wins for Bay, Great Lakes and Coastal sailing, while I would want at least a cutter rig for ocean passages, with the ketch and yawl being that much better.
Keels are the next consideration with two primary questions — how deep and what kind. Deep keels allow for more stability (less heel) and greater angles to weather (into the wind), but limit the places you can safely sail without running aground. For me, the depth question is easy — racers should opt for the deepest keel practical for their sailing area, the difference on windward legs can be dramatic. I would recommend deep keels to anyone else who spends a lot of time beating to windward (whoever that may be). For everyone else, the shallower the better — more cruising grounds, more safe anchorages and less chance of hitting something as you go. As for type, if you are doing offshore passages or even long coastal passages, I recommend a full keel — the boat tracks better and gets much better “holding” than a shallow keel. Alternatively, if you do a lot of close quarters maneuvering, I would NOT get a full keel and instead opt for the fin keel.
Interior accommodations range from practically nothing in race shells, to full blown luxury (microwave ovens, flat panel TV’s, DVD players). The simple rule is to match the sailing type to the interior type. My guess is for all but the hard core racer, budget will dictate here (more on this in Part III).
Finally, consider the overall hull type. I examine two dimensions: SA/D (sail area to displacement ratio) for overall speed estimate and D/L (displacement to length ratio) for overall stability and maneuverability. Neither is a perfect measure and manufacturers have a tendency to fudge the numbers (but that is a different article), but they are a good general reference point.
In summary, the first step in buying a sailboat that will make you happy is to know exactly and in great detail how you will use the boat. The second step is to identify the characteristics of a boat that will best match your usage and start looking for boats with those characteristics.
Capt Dave Bello is President of Fair Wind Sailing School, (http://www.fairwindsailing.com) an ASA affiliate sailing school offering sailing instruction in the Virgin Islands, Chesapeake Bay, Florida and on Lake Erie and Lake St Clair.