Bermuda

[Steve Laume]

Raven finally made it to Bermuda and back. I have been thinking about this trip for a few years. You can plan and prepare forever and never really be ready. I finally decided to do it instead of just talking about it. It took 6 days and 21 hours to get there and 5 days and 9 hours to get home. There was about 25 Hrs of motor sailing on the way down and 29 Hrs on the way home. Most of the motoring was due to light winds on the way down. Some of the motoring was to get the hell out of the Gulf Stream as quickly as possible on the way home. I had one 24 Hr run of 145 miles in the Gulf Stream on the way down but I paid it back on the way home.

I spent a week in Bermuda and the people are so nice it is hard to believe. They will apologize if the weather is not perfect but it usually is. They will always talk to you and are willing to help you better enjoy their lovely island. Beautiful reefs for snorkeling. St Georges is a very old and lovely quiet little town. There are forts and cannons everywhere. The bus / ferry system is an easy and affordable way to get around. I also took about a 10 mile cruise in the new rubber boat I got for this trip. Poor Feather didn't get to go. I putt putted out of the harbor and out around the reefs on the south side of the island and returned through Castle Bay. Hamilton was a bit less to my liking but I got down to see all the fastest boats from the Newport Bermuda race. The docks were crazy with what looked like gigantic open sailing dinghies. Carbon fiber everything and crewmen that looked like the missing link. They truly fit the name of deck apes but I didn't tell any of them that. The Long Tails (Tropic Birds) were everywhere and the water has no right to be that blue nor the reef fish that colorful.

Raven lived up to any claims ever made as to how tough are boats are. The Gulf Stream also lived up to it's own reputation. There were times when we would get hit by a wave or drop off of one where I might have worried about cracking the boat right open if I didn't know just how strong a Cape Dory is built. Raven handled everything in stride with a great deal of dignity and finesse.

There were a couple of problems but none with the boat herself. My wheel pilot totally crapped out to the point that it then wanted to interfere with the vane steering. Not wanting to stop and remove the wheel to get the thing off of there I disconnected it from the spokes and tied it up, out of the way to let the wheel turn freely. The Monitor worked flawlessly.

I also had an issue with the roller furler where it jammed up and would not furl or unfurl. I had used a big genoa for the first day or so of the trip home. At first I thought it was a problem related to that sail. When I changed back to my yankee it was still messed up. It got to the point where it was partially furled and would not go either way. Which meant I couldn't increase sail or even get the thing down. I had to take the sheets forward and unwrap the sail from the head stay so I had the entire sail flying and could at least take the thing down if I had to. The sheets were flying around like crazy as the sail flogged. My biggest concern was that a loop would find it's way around my neck and either strangle me outright or yank me overboard and then choke or drown me. I did manage it and was able to carry the sail for the rest of the trip home. When I finally got back and lowered the sail I discovered that the halyard was nearly chafed through. The halyard must have gotten wrapped around the head stay so it would not allow the drum to rotate.

I also want to revise my stance on bilge pump hose configuration. I still do not think check valves or combining pumps are very good ideas. I tend to get water in the bilge from the anchor hawser and should probably do something about it for long trips. Knowing that I was taking on a bit of water led me to check the bilge and casually flip on the electric bilge pump instead of going to the cockpit and manually pumping it. Sleep deprivation or just plain stupidity might have caused me to forget that I was not supposed to do that on a port tack. Maybe a half hour after pumping and approx 300 miles off shore I noticed a little water on the cabin sole. Curiosity led me to check the head to see that it had not spilled and all was well there. Then I noticed a bit of a dribble that seemed to be coming from the bilge cover. I picked it up and the bilge was full to the cabin sole! Not good! I knew it must be coming in pretty fast because I had just pumped it out. I switched on the pump and noticed that I was gaining and in fact I was able to pump out all of the water while checking all of the hull penetrations. This was good but I still couldn't figure out where it was coming from. I shut off the pump and pulled the other bilge cover to see if it was coming from anywhere in the aft end of the boat and that is when I noticed the water draining back down the pump hose. I felt like an idiot. First for installing a system that was not fool proof and then for being enough of an fool to actually hit the switch on the port tack and forget that it would be a problem. It was a nice exercise in remaining calm and was easily remedied. Not only did turning the pump on again, get rid of the water but it also stopped the leak. Once it was empty again I brought the boat into the wind in order to raise the through hull clear of the water and shut things down. Everything worked out fine and I certainly learned from the experience. I will definitely be installing a vented loop.

I am also considering refrigeration. My ice held up pretty well all the way down but I had no way of knowing if this would be the case. On my third day out I was fishing in the hope of catching a nice fish for a dinner or two. What I caught was a swordfish that I managed to land and take a picture of while it was laying on the cockpit seat. It stretched the entire length of the cockpit! That is over 6 ft. There was no way I could keep that much fish so I hoisted it back over the life line and set it free as soon as I could. It was an amazing fish and took me at least a half hour to get it to the boat. I put the lure back out in hopes of getting something a bit smaller. What happened instead was akin to dropping a line off a highway overpass and snagging a semi doing about 80 mph. The line went out so fast that I could smell the drag like it was about to bust into flames. Fortunately the line broke at the lure end and I stopped fishing for a while. This was just not the sort of beast i wanted to deal with. The next day I tried again and wasted another half hour getting another sword fish to the side of the boat. This one was a bit bigger than the first and I didn't even try to take it on board. We were both really worn out, to the point that I could hold onto the bill and take out the hook. I sent the fish on it's way and decided not to fish again until I got well away from that area. I got lots of ice for the trip home but the Gulf Stream crossing was pretty rough and I never caught anything else. I did have a little flying fish for a snack as he decided to deliver himself to me.

The water is so incredibly beautiful. I now know why it is known as blue water sailing. I had dolphins at my bow and tropic birds flying around in a curious state. There were beautiful sunsets and meteors. There were perfect days and horrible ones too. This was probably the greatest accomplishment of my life and I have done some other pretty cool things.

I now have an even greater respect for Raven and also for those individuals that do this sort of thing on a regular and or prolonged basis.

It was an awesome experience, Steve.

[Paul D.]

I give you joy of your successful passage Steve. Good to hear your trials and triumphs. Quite practical too. Thanks. Femme has a check valve in the whimsy little electric bilge pump. I must revisit it.

And you must post a picture of that fish!

[Bill Chapple]

Very cool, Steve! I have always dreamed of sailing to Bermuda, but you have done it. It sounds like a great trip. Were you single handed?
Bill

[david g]

steve sounds like a great trip.what have you done to your ice box to get 6 days?

[Steve Darwin]

Thanks for this narrative and congratulations on the success of your open ocean voyage. Please tell us: was the transit time about what you expected it to be? How many were on board and how did you divide the watches?

[moctrams]

When I put Gabbiano up for the winter I remove the anchor and anchor rode. I then get a plastic soda bottle that fits in the hawser pipe. I then use silicon caulk all around the soda bottle and in the spring, simply remove it along with the silicon. My anchor locker is always dry. I was wondering if I would use this process on a long voyage and could I get the anchor rigged in a hurry.

[Steve Laume]

In reading back over my post it sounds more negative than it feels at this time. There were entire days of just cruising along with perfect winds and a hissing bow wave. Reading and relaxing in a very uncluttered world while Raven just kept going.

Bill, I will always credit you with giving me the incentive and or encouragement to get started on this voyage. I dreamed of this trip while reading so many accounts of people on all sorts of open ocean voyages. From the early days of exploration, lots of cruising stories and modern yacht racing. Sailing to Bermuda is a fairly minor journey compared to most of those stories. It was still a major adventure for me and sort of a validation of my abilities.

I did do it single handed for a variety of reasons. I wanted this to be of my doing for better or worse. Going alone had a lot of advantages. I was able to take enough food and water for the time away with a reserve. The blow up boat got one bunk and I got the other so nothing had to be stored on deck. Two 5 Gal diesel jugs and a 2 Gal gas jug got lashed into the cockpit up against the bridge deck. A very important consideration is that I was in no way responsible for the well being of anyone else on board. I feel it always adds some stress when you are worried about the comfort and safety of someone else on board. I did question weather I could stand my own company for so long a time but I was okay with myself. I found that I didn't talk to myself any more than usual. There were very few conflicts with the crew.

David, I drilled a grid of 1" holes and sprayed in expanding foam a few years ago. I keep a foam plug n the drain. It was cut with a hole saw so it has a tiny little 1/4" hole in the middle to let very little cold get away while allowing water to drain. I start with frozen water jugs from home. Freeze as much food as I can before I leave. I also found that Sierra Nevada makes a good IPA in a can so that went in cold too. Once everything is loaded I put a couple of sheets of mylar covered bubble wrap insulation over everything and a polyester stadium blanket on top of that just like tuckin in a baby. The covers are a little bit of a pain but they greatly reduce the volume of the cold area. I was also pretty careful about how often and how long I opened the box.

Steve, the time was about what I expected. I figured 6 to 8 days if all went well. I had planned on a 100 mile per day average. I just about nailed it on the way down and did slightly better on the way home. It would have certainly been longer if I wasn't able to motor sail at times. The trip down had days of light winds.

Watches were the big mystery before I left. I did an overnight trip to Maine a couple of years ago and took only 20 Min naps between scanning the horizon. This seems impractical for such an extended period of time. One of the additions before this trip was an AIS receiver. This enabled me to set up an alarm for any transmitting vessel within 15 miles. That pretty much took care of the big boys of which there were very few. The only places I had any significant shipping was in the NY lanes and right near Bermuda. There were not that many ships and the closest one in the NY lanes was 7/8 of a mile away. I also made sure my trip did not coincide with the Newport race. The last thing I needed to worry about was 180 crazed race boats charging down on me. I slept at all times. Usually naps of less than an hour but never more than four. I used a combination of alarms and a kitchen timer. I found it kind of remarkable that I could sleep through the rocking and the noise of beating into waves. At the same time I would wake up if the motion changed or a sail began flogging. It would be like living next to the freeway but waking up if your child started to cough. If the winds were steady and things were settled I would sleep longer. If there was a chance of the wind changing I made sure to check on things every hour. Only one time did I wake up and find that the wind vane must have lost control and I was hove to, heading in the wrong direction. I never really felt sleep deprived until the last day and the worst of that was after I got home. There was no set scheduled for sleep. I would try to nap a lot during the day but I still slept more at night simply because it seemed there was less to do. Sometimes I would find myself wide awake and having dinner at 1:00 or 2:00 am. I still seemed to want coffee in the mornings. It was a bit strange to be charging along at near hull speed in the dark while sleeping or even reading down below for that matter. It is probably somewhat irresponsible to single hand but the odds are so very much in your favor. It really is a big ocean and there are very few other vessels which you would hope are looking out in some manner. I also have a pair of radar reflectors and a nice LED tri color masthead light.

I considered taking the anchor off and stowing it down below. I just couldn't figure out a good place to stow it where it wouldn't try to chew things up. I could have duct taped over the hole but didn't want to goo things up. That little Spartan cover is a thing of beauty but it does seem to go askew and let some water in. It is still not that big a deal to pump the bilge a bit every 4 hours or so if it is rough. I have heard of using electricians duck seal, better known as monkey shit, or modeling clay to seal things up also. It really wasn't that much of a problem and now I have a well rinsed bilge.

What a long strange trip it's been, Steve.

[JimMc]

Please post some pictures!!!

Thanks,

Jim.
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[NateHanson]

I'm inspired! Thanks for sharing your adventure.

I would love to see pictures.

Nate

[barfwinkle]

I'm curious Steve:

Did you use a weather/Gulf Stream "router" ($$$$)?

Did you have SSB/Ham radio?

I had another question but I can't remember what.

Congrats & Fair Winds.

[Dean Abramson]

Steve,

Congratulations!! I am in awe.

I would love to sail to Bermuda someday, but kind of doubt it will ever happen. And virtually certain I'd never go single-handed.

What a great accomplishment. Good on ya! Terrific. Thanks for the report.

Dean

[jbenagh]

Thanks for the report! Add me to the list of envious onlookers.

Jeff

[rollo_cd26]

Really great post and thank you for sharing. My brother did the Bermuda trip out of Charleston in 2006 in aweful weather taking 19 days to cross in the CD26D. His Navik self-steering failed within sight of Charleston and he had to simply survive the trip. Many unfortunate things followed that led to him abandoning the voyage coming out of port headed to the Azores. That is how I got my boat, he decided that blue water was not for him and the boat sat for 5 years. You story is an inspiration and a blessing to know that the sea is not always unkind. I would love to make the trip one day. Thank you again.

[Dick Kobayashi]

Steve,

Thanks for this wonderful narrative, both the descriptive and personal parts, and for writing it while everything was fresh in your mind. There is a real immediacy to the story.

dk

[MFC]

Congrats Steve. That sounds like a great trip - done well. Look forward to more when you feel like writing. Sometimes, as much as the grand narrative, a little 5 minute episode is a story unto itself. It is amazing how *not boring* it is out there!
Best,
Matt