Cruising in a Typhoon Weekender?

jsaltsma · Post by **jsaltsma** » May 16th, '10, 22:08

Hello All,

So I have a Typhoon Weekender on the Chesapeake near Baltimore, and I'm moving up to Portland Maine. I did a fair amount of searching for easy (and cheap!!) land transport methods but found nothing that was within my budget. I sent a couple emails up to friends in Maine who suggested that I sail the boat up there.

I definitely realize this wouldn't be comfortable or quick cruising, but just wanted to check here on the board to see if this sounds doable (i.e. relatively safe and not totally crazy).

I would appreciate any thoughts/advice you have!!

Best,
Jamie

Markst95 · Post by **Markst95** » May 16th, '10, 23:33

Jamie- you are my hero for even contemplating this. Being that the distance from Baltimore to Portland is 500+ miles I would think the trip would take at least a month to complete if you were stopping every night(figuring in bad weather, no wind, ect). Finding places evenly spaced might be difficult. I'm only familiar with Long Island Sound up through Narragansett Bay but that section would definitely be doable. Hopefully someone else will chime in on some of the other sections.

seajunkie · Post by **seajunkie** » May 16th, '10, 23:33

Have you looked into buying or renting a trailer and bringing it up yourself? It's a pretty light boat. You could buy an old trailer and have it adapted to your boat. When you get to Main you could get most of your money back by selling the trailer.

That would be a long trip via sail, and it wouldn't be wise to try to attempt it on a tight schedule.

The Patriot · Post by **The Patriot** » May 17th, '10, 05:24

jsaltsma wrote: ... friends in Maine ... suggested that I sail the boat up there ... just wanted to check here on the board to see if this sounds doable ...

I'd say the question is not "Can one take a Typhoon from the Bay to Maine?" but rather "Is the particular Typhoon in question ready to make the trip?" For starters you will need a reliable and sufficiently powerful outboard with spares and plenty of fuel and extra containers. You will need a complete collection of safety gear and a boat set up to use it (jacklines, MOB gear, USCG required gear, etc.). You should not even consider going without at least 2 good-sized manual bilge pumps, and perhaps an electric pump for convenience. You should make every effort to employ some means of self-steering (most likely a small autopilot), even if there is more than one person on board. You simply must have excellent mooring equipment, and that means much cordage, anchorS, fenders, chafe gear, etc. All or most of the above also suggests you will need good heavy batteries and some means of charging them. Next throw in whatever creature comforts you can handle, plenty of water, rations, entertainment materials, etc. It won't hurt either to have a reasonable collection of navigation gear, charts, publications, VHF, GPS (plural). Lastly most trips like this require a dinghy at some point, and in this instance one that rows well.

If you can answer yes to most of these questions, and then put together a stretch of uninterrupted time that's essentially open-ended, you should be just fine. Be sure not to overlook the fact that the most important part of your boat's equipment is the person using it. That person should have enough experience to make the trip a cruise and not a stunt.

Otherwise, look more closely into trailers. It's always possible that the folks who named this boat "Weekender" weren't kidding.

Neil Gordon · Post by **Neil Gordon** » May 17th, '10, 06:22

Markst95 wrote:I'm only familiar with Long Island Sound up through Narragansett Bay but that section would definitely be doable.

And from there through Buzzards Bay and up the Mass coast to Cape Ann is also straightforward day sailing.

Russell · Post by **Russell** » May 17th, '10, 06:23

Everything that Armond said.

Most every cape dory design is able to do that trip (I wouldnt suggest it in the CD 10 though), but that does not mean the boat is. Boats vary in condition and equipment. It also does not mean every sailor is able to.

Some people spend their lives sailing in inland waters only to find on the calmest days in the ocean they get highly seasick or bad anxiety. If you had confidence in your boat, do you feel up for it? Confidence has a lot more to do with it then experience, everyone has to do their first trip sometime.

The trip itsself is an easy trip if you have the time to wait for weather windows, I wouldnt blink at sailing a typhoon on that trip given the flexability of time (and properly set up as Armond already covered). The hardest part of the trip will be Cape May to NY because most of NJs inlets are simply not something anyone wants to do in a displacement boat with a small outboard, your options for overnight stops are very limited. Your best bet on that leg, if you have crew, is to do some night sailing with good weather windows and maybe just 1 stop between cape may and NY. The entire rest of the trip will be easy day hops after that.

I would like to actually suggest Armonds suggestion of an electric bilge pump actually be manditory for the trip, typoons if I recall do not have a proper bridge deck and even in fairish ocean weather, given the low freeboard and no bridge deck you can pretty much count on a fair amount of water needing to be pumped out, and manual pumps will tire you very quickly. If using a tiller pilot you should invest in a cheap battery bank specificly for it for the trip, 2 sams club golf carts or such. I think you can manage the trip without a tiller pilot if you have 1 or 2 friends along and pick a very kind weather window for the NJ stretch and a tiller tamer type setup.

The bottom line of course is though that unless you have already invested in the things you need for the boat for this trip, once you figure the outfitting costs, mooring fees, etc.. its likely buying a trailer will be cheaper, especially if lost wages from missing work and reselling the trailer after the trip is factored in. But if the adventure of the trip is what you are after, rather then cost savings, then go for it, it will be a tremendously fun trip.

Russell · Post by **Russell** » May 17th, '10, 06:33

As an added thought as well, if you do want a mix of the adventure but taking out the toughest part of the trip, consider the option of trailering the boat from the chesapeake to LI sound, splash it in western LI sound and cruise from there with easy day sails and a lot of the outfitting issues becoming a moot issue. Seriously the NJ coast is your only real issue on the trip without having to put a lot of thought into outfitting. But figure heavily on mooring fees if stopping every night, getting stuck in the wrong spot in new england waiting for a weather window, you can expect to pay absurd amounts per day (with no space to anchor for free).

bhartley · Post by **bhartley** » May 17th, '10, 09:31

Assuming you are moving during the summer, this is a great time to borrow a trailer from a fellow Typhoon owner (for a fee of course as there's lots of wear and tear over road).

As my Dad always liked to say "Time is Money" and that's a long sail in a small boat with the added expense of mooring fees, etc. If someone is having to pay to store their empty trailer, they may be more amenable to having it gone for a month or two giving you time to deliver and return.

Just a thought.

Bly

Sea Hunt · Post by **Sea Hunt** » May 17th, '10, 09:58

Hello Jamie:

Russell and Armond are experts at this stuff. I would take their advise and recommendations very seriously and follow them.

On a personal note, when I bought S/V Tadpole two years ago it was with the idea that I would do mostly day sailing but I would also like to do a few "overnighters" or "weekenders" - at least during the winter months when it is not oppressively hot in South Florida. I sort of took the name Typhoon "Weekender" literally.

To that end, in January 2009 I decided to spend a few hours in the cabin of S/V Tadpole to see what it would be like for 6-7 hours a night for 1, 2 or 3 nights. After about 4 hours, I was more than ready to end my little experiment.

Despite having very little extra gear, it felt cramped. With the recommended gear added I would guess it would be (or feel) even more cramped.

As I have told people, I am old, fat and out of shape. At 20 yoa with a 19 yoa girlfriend "camping" on S/V Tadpole would have been great fun

Unfortunately, these days, a little more comfort is required - at least for me. Before investing in the equipment recommended by Russell and Armond I would recommend you spend 1-2 nights aboard on your mooring (or at your dock) to see if it is doable for you.

You can put a bimini type cover over the boom and sleep on the cockpit bench in good weather. You cannot sleep on the cockpit sole itself as water comes up over the scuppers sometimes depending on sea conditions, trim, weight etc. With the weight of recommended equipment I think freeboard would be even lower.

Joe CD MS 300 · Post by **Joe CD MS 300** » May 17th, '10, 11:12

Jamie,

Everyone has talked about the boat. What is your background? How long have you been sailing? Unless you have a lot of experience I think the trip might be somewhat over ambitious. If you don't have a good idea yourself of what is involved it might not be a good idea. Not trying to put a damper on anything but that trip goes through a lot of very high traffic areas with very strong currents. What is that expression "discretion is the better part of valor"?

Joe

Steve Laume · Post by **Steve Laume** » May 18th, '10, 10:38

Having sailed and trailered a Typhoon I would opt for the trailering to Maine.

If you had lots of time and a sense of adventure you could certainly do it. People with virtually no experience and with far less capable boats have done far more ambitious trips. If you are used to roughing it the TY is rather pleasant compared to a small tent set up in a bug infested area on rocky uneven ground.

As for mooring expenses, the TY can anchor in all sorts of areas where there is little room for deeper draft boats.

I think crew or lack of it would be the real problem. You could go it alone if you were that sort of person but they are extremely rare and it would create additional problems. If you do chose to take a friend or lover, make sure it is one you get along with extremely well and are willing to part with at the end of the trip. You may not hate each other forever but there is going to be some separation time required. The other option would be to take a child under the age of 12. They may still think it sounds like great fun at that age and they are going to hate you for a few years in their teens anyway so there is little loss.

The biggest problem with this trip is that it will be a delivery and not a cruise. You will always feel the need to push on. A delivery along that stretch might not be that much fun.

If I had over a month to spare I would run down there with a trailer and get back as quick as I could so I would have more time to spend fooling around in Maine with my new TY. You could even invite a friend to help and then take them sailing once you got back, Steve.

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Cruising in a Typhoon Weekender?

Cruising in a Typhoon Weekender?

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