The folks in Ireland were very impressed with my solo passage across the Atlantic in such a small boat. The boat is certainly capable, I can't believe how she held up in the storms we encountered. I don't have any way to measure wave height or wind speed but from the Beaufort scale pictures I would say we had a least one ten and several eights over the last two summers. And on the trip from the Azores to Ireland a six was a restful day...........
I was wet so much after the 15 day passage my fingers began to deteriorate. They are well now after several weeks on land. Also I met a German couple and a Norwegian fellow in the Azores and then again in Ireland. They were both finishing a one year Atlantic circumnavigation and said this leg had been the roughest weather of their voyage. The German couple's foredeck and port side had been cracked open by a wave that had hit them. I had never seen that before.I really encountered few problems with the boat while at sea. I thought my tiller bearing was goinig out because I could hear a squeak so I greased the heck out of it for two days. Turned out it was a block the windvane rope ran thru and by the time I discovered that, the rope on the windvane had chaffed so I had to retie it. The pin that holds the boom to the mast fell out on the deck one day. A true miracle from God in that I was standing on the deck at the time and it fell at my feet. I checked my rigging daily after that.
I did have my rigging and sails inspected before I left. I figured out a way to secure everything below in case of a knockdown or rollover. I bought an inflatable life jacket and ran a jackline from the bow to the stern and always hooked on when I went outside. Also put a new Yanmar 1GM in, not out of choice but necessity. Bought a life raft and a spare GPS and an EPIRB and a Monitor windvane. The windvane is a necessity in my opinion. I went thru two autohelms on my trip across and met several other sailors who had lost their electronic steering for some reason. The windvane requires no electricity and no engine. I only used the autohelm when motoring. The first one that died was old so not unexpected that it quit. The second was brand new and was replaced no charge by Ray marine when I got to Ireland. Had about everything else I needed on the boat from time spent lake sailing. I did rent a satellite phone, I don't have any other communication except my cabin radio and a handheld radio.
I only carry three sails, the main, the jib and a spare jib. Told you I'm not much of a sailor. A better inventory would have been helpful in all the bad weather assuming I could have properly used it. I sailed from Bermuda to the Azores though (2,000 American miles) on the jib alone in 23 days. The reason was I blew out my main the second day out of Bermuda and it had taken all the courage and energy I had to leave Bermuda. I was afraid if I went back to get the main repaired I wouldn't leave again. Not a very smart thing to do but I was more afraid of giving up on a dream that I had had for 25 years than I was of sailing 2000 miles with just the jib.
In a way ocean sailing is a lot easier than lake or coastal sailing. You don't have to worry as much about other ships, running aground, and tides. You don't have to drop an anchor or manuever in and out of a marina. And generally it's easier to navigate, you got the same waypoint for hundreds or thousands of miles.
Most of the time though I was scared to death out there. Afraid of bad weather, of the shipping traffic, and of something breaking and I not being able to fix it. I prayed and read the Bible a lot. And, I'm ready to go back....................
Odie
