Bermuda

[chase]

Steve, congratulations on your passage to Bermuda. Sounds like a good test of man and boat. Can't believe you landed a billfish...that's hardcore! I've always wondered what we'd do if we hooked one but haven't yet.

Great story - thanks for posting.

Chase

[Jim Walsh]

Congratulations Steve! I noticed Raven wasn't on her mooring and figured you were off on a cruise, never imagined how far. Bravo!

[Frank Vernet]

Steve,

First - congratulations on this achievement. You make all us desk-bound CD'ers dream of far away places.

Second - so many questions. So here are just 2:

1) What is your navigation set-up? What do you have in the cockpit/at the helm and what do you have below deck at the navsta?

2) How did you manage the safety while-on-deck/stay-aboard-the-boat question? Jacklines and a safety harness of course, but what else if anything?

Thanks

Frank

[Steve Laume]

Thank you all so much for the congratulations and ata boys. I too have been envious of all of you who are able to make open water passages and go on extended cruises. Most people I have told, have no idea what an accomplishment an ocean crossing actually is. I could just as well have said I sailed Raven to Block Island and get the same reaction. Oh that's nice.

Bill, I know there is a line between foolishness and bravado which I hope I didn't stray too far from. I had no long range radio or weather routing. I did study the Gulf Stream charts for a few weeks before departure. What I gained from that is that the rum line was probably as good as any course I could set without more current information and a greater understanding of the stream and it's effects. I got very lucky on the trip down with a 145 mile day through the stream. For the trip home I got weather and gulf Stream info from Bermuda customs. They were for 4 days out and proved to be amazingly accurate. Including the bit about NE winds when entering the GS. I found myself making fairly slow progress to somewhere East of Newfoundland and if I tacked and set up on a close haul I would be headed pretty much back to Bermuda. It was disorientating to be heading NW by the compass, seeing the sun in the right place but having all of my GPS units telling me I was headed NE at about 3 knots while it seemed like I should be doing close to hull speed. I even spun the boat around and headed in the opposite direction just to make sure things were all working properly and that I wasn't going crazy. That exercise proved that I was fighting a very strong current as my speed jumped to almost 9 knots. At that point I figured I needed to get across as quickly as I possibly could so I started the engine and motor sailed as close to the wind as I could. My plots on the chart are pretty amazing as I kept sailing the same heading there was a big loop to the east.

Frank, I have a Raymarine chart plotter at the helm and my radio also displays speed and course down below. I had a chart chip for Bermuda but I had never tried it and it didn't work. This wasn't any problem as I could set up a go to way point for Kitchen Shoal and I had a local chart. That was the Imray=Iolaire E5, which seems to be very good. For the transit I had the Newport to Bermuda plotting sheet 5161 which was good to keep a running fix. It would be even better if the got rid of all the loran lines that clutter up the chart. It would also be cool to have all of the depths. I sailed off of the area where my plotter still gave depths at about 12,000 Ft. I also had a handheld GPS unit down below that I would reset every 4 Hrs. This would give me basic speed distance and current Lat and Long which I could then transfer onto my plotting chart. What I really wish I had had was a compass that I could read from down below. Preferably from my bunk just to make sure I was still on course.

I had jack lines rigged and my harness. I still treated the boat like the ledge of a very high building. If you fall off, you are going to die. The only difference is it will be much quicker and kinder from 40 stories. One other thing I did do was to add pin rails to my lower shrouds. These were not so much for belaying ad they were for butt rests. I could go to the mast with my tether clipped to the jack line then clip my short tether to the spinnaker car and lean back against the pin rail to work at the mast. This helped a great deal.

Chase, the fish was pretty amazing. I used to fish with my dad out of Delaware and did hook a marlin one time with the same reel as I used for this trip. Back then we had stiff old solid glass rods. The fish crossed three other lines, took one jump and broke free. One more jump and it flung the lure away. I have better rods but the same old Penn Senators with 40 Lb test line. I got some good florocarbon leaders and good sized blue and green feathered lures. I have a fish fighting belt and a gaff. It turns out I didn't need the gaff as you grab the bill on these guys.

I have a whole routine worked out for fishing. For this trip there was only ever one line out at a time. The rod goes in the rod holder on the lee side. I set the click on the reel so I know right away when a fish is on and taking line. As soon as I hook something I disconnect the wind vane and tack the boat. I then lock the helm in order to heave to. The gaff is right in the cockpit. I put on gloves to handle the leader for this trip. I also pull the Monitor vane off so I don't have to raise the rod tip over it. Once the boat is settled I grab the rod and go to work. Much of the fighting with these fish was just holding on. They didn't take and I didn't gain. Then they would run and I would bide my time until I could get some line back. The first fish never surfaced until it got up to the boat. At first I didn't know what I had. The dark color threw me off and I was thinking it might be a shark. Once it got closer the bill was quite plain and my thought was a marlin as I don't have a lot of experience with bill fish. It was definitely a sword fish. The second one jumped four times! I also timed the second one and it was over a half an hour of very hard work getting it to the boat.

Rollo, if my Monitor had given up on me in the GS I am pretty sure I would have turned around and headed for home. I would never attempt to make this trip without a wind vane even if I had crew. It is just too hard to concentrate on steering for a very long time and there are certainly times when you do not want to be in the cockpit. While an auto pilot might work, if it worked better than mine, it still can't steer the wind. I guess they can be integrated with wind instruments but that is beyond my budget. The Monitor was my very best friend. There were only a couple of times on the way down when motor sailing in light air that the auto pilot did the steering and the Monitor pretty much had control the rest of the time.

Overall I think I made really good time in both directions. There was one boat that got towed in when I was in St Georges. They left from the Chesapeake with a full crew. The skipper was chasing GS eddies way south before he made the crossing and it just didn't work out for them. I got all this information from a pretty experienced sounding crew member who was not planning to go back with the boat if he could help it. I guess it took them 8 days and in that time they had run out of fuel and water! When I met up with them they were searching for a plug to go into the bottom of their Racor filter. The original found it's way to their bilge while trying to drain water from the bulb.

I know a lot of my good fortune was just plain luck but you can never have too many points in the black box either, Steve.

[barfwinkle]

Thank you so much for the update Steve. I was just curious as to the radio and routing information. Nothing more. Low tech has been around since the beginning.

Again Congratulations and you should seriously consider (please do) getting your write up to cdmasthead@gmail.com.

Fair Winds!

[Dean Abramson]

Steve,

Do you have any pix of your pin rails? I am not on my boat right now, but I am having trouble visualizing this setup as a butt-rest. I assume that the rails run fore-aft between the lowers. It seems that that would be too far away from the mast. Are your lowers' bottom ends not out at the rail like the uppers? ?? Also, did you use the butt-rest on the leeward side or just on the high side?

I love the idea of having butt-rests, but not having to buy/install mast pulpits (which I am not considering, btw).

Also, used in the conventional way, what is the supposed advantage of using a pin rail and pins? Why, in theory, is that better than cleats on the mast? Just the quick-release ability?

Again, Congrats!!!

Dean

[Dixon Hemphill]

A great description of an amazing ocean voyage! You are to be commended for undertaking the trip alone. I too would love to see some photos. You should seriously consider writing a book about this adventure.

[Steve Laume]

No joy.

I am struggling with this photo thing again after I thought I had it figured out a couple of months ago.

Too big to go direct. So where are those directions for posting pictures once again?

I find this very frustrating, Steve.

[Joe Myerson]

I'm late to the party here, but: Steve, what a tremendous achievement!

When I crewed to Bermuda two years ago on George Van Drasek's CD33, there were four of us on that trip. Ours was the smallest boat in the group--but there was a group. Even so, the trip was a real eye-opener.

But doing it singlehanded on a 30-footer, that's really impressive.

It's obvious that you thought this trip through very thoroughly. One thing I noticed sailing with George was that you HAD to have a wind vane to make a voyage like this. Ocean sailing is a whole other world.

Your observation on having AIS was right-on, too. We hardly ever saw another ship. except when we were close to shore. Still, we kept strict watches.

Too bad you didn't have a way to enjoy fresh swordfish on board.

Best,

--Joe

[Dick Kobayashi]

Steve,

Re the pics - you can just post them on Picassa or similar as a public album and then just post the url. No need to "learn" how to post on the Board. We are all anxious to see them

[Squid]

Stever,
I am somewhat new to this board but... thank you for the great read! Your trip planning is very evident. I would suggest that helped a bit with the luck. "Bravo Zulu" good sir.

[MFC]

Bump!

In the absence of a "Like" button, I figured I would give this thread a bump. It totally deserves it, but it is also just emblematic of all the great stuff in the archives of this board. I was looking for info on the placement of a vented loop on a larger CD and had a chance to revisit Steve's old posts . . ..

Happy Memorial Day all! And, happy summer to you CD'ers on the top of the sphere! Hope to see some of you on the water.

Best,
Matt

[Paul D.]

Steve,

Congratulations on a safe and fruitful voyage. Well done! Someday I am going to get the fishing thing down, if only for whitefish and lake trout! Your GS tales sound very interesting. Being in confusing waters like that can be mind bending.

As for posting photos, I have used Photobucket for years and they always post to this board without problems. Simply register an account and begin uploading photos to your site. When wanting to post a photo here, copy the IMG link which pops up on your Photobucket site for each picture.

As you can guess, I am telling you this as I'd love to see your photos!

Again congrats,

[Steve Laume]

That trip was now 4 years ago. I remains as one of the epic adventures of my life. I might do it again or some longer crossing but it will never be the same as that trip. Kind of like your first love.

The Gulf Stream is not to be underestimated and sleep deprivation does become a factor. Or maybe my thinking is never that clear.

I am trying to get to Newfoundland this year. I had hoped to go last year, but lots of stuff broke at home so I was short on time and money. I still am but don't want to put it off another year. The trip will be longer than Bermuda but with an entirely different flavor.

I would really like to get back to Bermuda next year and see some of the America's Cup races. How cool would it be to have a Cape Dory rendezvous in St George's Harbor, Bermuda? Is it too early to but it on next year's schedule for June?

I am finally off to do some much needed work on Raven today, Steve.

[bobdugan]

Steve,

I wish you the best on your next adventure. I'm taking a mostly Cape Dory crew with me to NS/Halifax the last week of July and another crew returning from Halifax the third week of August. My family and I will be cruising Cape Breton and the Bras D'Or Lakes for the first three weeks of August. Perhaps we'll cross paths

Bob