Orion is in Bermuda....again

[Capt Hook]

Jim, thanks for the pic.

[John Stone]

Jim, it looks like you are using twin vangs. That’s a very smart seamanlike technique. Controlling the main off the wind is so important to protecting the ship and the crew.

[Nebe]

Last year, a couple on another boat showed me a copy of a reef fishes book they had. Something like; reef fishes of the Caribbean. It not only had great pictures of the various species but also the depths and environments in which the were likely to be found. The best part of each description was a rating of eatability. That was probably an excellent eating fish. You could have gotten a guy who would be passing off the equivalent of sea robins or conners. Then again, the people are nice there so I would trust a local with his fish choice, Steve.

http://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/profiles/saltwater/

word on the street says that sea robin tail is actually an amazingly delicious cut of fish.. you have to find a big sea robin though, as there is only enough meat to harvest on the tail. The same goes with Skate.. its amazing and gets no respect.

[Jim Walsh]

Jim, it looks like you are using twin vangs. That’s a very smart seamanlike technique. Controlling the main off the wind is so important to protecting the ship and the crew.

I'm a big fan of Hal Roth. He used the twin preventers on his boats after one of his French fellow competitors in one of the singlehanded round the world races showed him how his boat was rigged. I keep just a bit of slack in them. They are very reassuring when I go forward to tend to the main. I don't have to worry about the boom sweeping me off the deck or giving me a concussion.
They are attached to a boom bail and to a bail and on the relevant stanchion base. The blocks attached to the stanchion bases have snap shackles so I can release them in a hurry if need be. I only use them at sea or if I'm sailing in strong winds near home.

[Jim Walsh]

We finally have nice weather predicted for the next few days. It has been unusually rainy and the winds have made things uncomfortable at times. Not what I've experienced in the past. This morning at 4:00am the wind picked up in the 20's and we had heavy rains for an hour. At 7:00am a very strong squall line came through and the winds topped out just shy of 40 knots. My boat was heeling in the gusts and visibility was nil. The associated downpour was amazing. Luckily the duration was about 40 minutes then the front moved on. Within a couple hours the sun appeared and the winds were a steady 8 to 10 knots. The rest of the day has been perfect, weather wise.
My son has flown down to spend a week with me and we visited the Dockyard and the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute which is featuring exhibits on the Bermuda Triangle. I actually met some of the inhabitants of the Bermuda Triangle.

[Jim Walsh]

The weather here has been outstanding for the last couple days and the outlook is promising. I've been poking around an old shipwreck here in the harbor and I've only seen friendly sea creatures which is perfectly fine with me.
Yesterday I saw pipefish, spotted grouper, rainbow parrotfish, and a puffer....a deflated puffer....I didn't want to mess with it. Some of the coral attached to the hull certainly looks like brain coral, but I didn't realize it would grow on vertical surfaces. Also some sea fans which were a dark purple. I don't touch anything because I don't know what I'm doing. There are some big snappers poking around also but I don't know what species. As long as they snap something other than me I'm fine. I also followed my chain down to my anchor and I saw these purple sea cucumber looking monsters working the bottom.

All is not fun and games. I had a persistent coolant leak and it was getting on my nerves. I emptied my starboard sail locker, opened my engine hatch in the cabin and, after checking everything with a finger looking for drips, finally found the culprit. The end caps on my heat exchanger were not snugged up. The starboard side only took a quarter turn but the port side needed a little more. If I weighed 40 pounds less and my arms were 20 inches longer the job would have been much easier. Oh well.
There's nothing better than the absorbent pad lining the pan under your engine looking like new after your engine has run for an hour and stayed that way overnight!

[Jim Walsh]

The weather here has been outstanding for several days. Unusually low humidity and the wind has been 10 to 15 knots. Of course today it has been from 23 to 28 knots with occasional gusts in the low 30's. I'm doing a bit of rocking and rolling but it's still just glorious here.
On Tuesday my son and I visited the Aquarium and Zoo. We've been there befor a few years ago but it's a great place and very well kept. It's also a good excuse to have another early dinner at the Wahoo Grille.
The harbor at St. Georges has only a handful of cruisers. Most have moved on to the Azores so it appears empty, especially when compared to last year. The Annapolis race contestants must have concluded their event as I've seen a couple boats sneak in here. According to the radio traffic others are already headed home. Seems a waste to arrive and depart so quickly. Then again I guess the race is the point and it doesn't matter where the finish line is.
One contestant arrived here an hour ago and proceeded to anchor as though he was in Great Salt Pond. He ended up about two boat lengths ahead of me. I avoided saying anything and he realized his placement was a little too close for comfort and amid much yelling to his poor crew pulled his hook and moved a few boat lengths to windward. My only observation is that he would appear to have no more than a fathom of chain and a nylon rode. Not the best ground tackle but we must all learn.

I've attached a photo of the conditions today but as usual the photos seem to flatten the seas. The other photo is of my son and a new friend.

[John Stone]

Good report Jim. Great pictures too. Looks windy for sure. Nothing like good ground tackle when you need it. Im glad I went up from the 15kg Spade to the 20kg Spade. I’m sure you’re glad to have your son there.

What kind of boats are you seeing in the cruising fleet? Length, condition, equipment? Can you draw any conclusions? Foreign or US mostly?

[Jim Walsh]

Good report Jim. Great pictures too. Looks windy for sure. Nothing like good ground tackle when you need it. Im glad I went up from the 15kg Spade to the 20kg Spade. I’m sure you’re glad to have your son there.

What kind of boats are you seeing in the cruising fleet? Length, condition, equipment? Can you draw any conclusions? Foreign or US mostly?

Good report Jim. Great pictures too. Looks windy for sure. Nothing like good ground tackle when you need it. Im glad I went up from the 15kg Spade to the 20kg Spade. I’m sure you’re glad to have your son there.

What kind of boats are you seeing in the cruising fleet? Length, condition, equipment? Can you draw any conclusions? Foreign or US mostly?

Several were aluminum hulls, a lot of steel and fiberglass. Hardly any boats less than 40 feet in length. I only saw one German guy who had to do any extensive repairs. As you can see in the photo he did everything himself. I saw him replace three stays, including his headstay. Everyone else seemed to have no noticeable rigging issues. (Just this evening I went ashore and I saw a boat from my home port with a jury rigged rudder in place, I'll try to get a photo of it in the morning)
Half of the boats here were French flagged. They tended to be the newer and best equipped.
One French young lady was singlehanding an aluminum 33 footer. She just left this afternoon for Nova Scotia. When I pointed my boat out to her last week and said I was the smallest cruiser in the harbor she laughed. She was looking for advice on how close she could come to the New England coast. She was going to sail directly east of her destination then tack back in towards the coast. I advised her to take a more direct route, if possible, but be sure to avoid Nantucket shoals, Cape Cod, and don't go anywhere near Sable Island. I showed her my U.S. charts and my old Admiralty Ocean Passages for the World which have the old sailing ship routes on them. Her intention is to visit Nova Scotia then take the mid-Atlantic route to the Azores before returning home.
Most boats were equipped with solar and wind generators. Years ago the wind generators were very noisy but all the ones near me were very quiet. Most boats have electric windlasses and roller furling headsails. There were about six catamarans but the vast majority were monohulls, no trimarans this year. Overall pretty solid looking cruisers. Of course, nothing in the same class as a Cape Dory.

[John Stone]

Is that a wood Bill Garden design or a FRP Down Easter? I think that design is supposed to have a dolphin striker. At least that is how I usually see it configured.

[Jim Walsh]

Is that a wood Bill Garden design or a FRP Down Easter? I think that design is supposed to have a dolphin striker. At least that is how I usually see it configured.

Fiberglass. He had a J105 mainsail....apparently trying to pass himself off as a racer

[John Stone]

Looks like it fits pretty well. Improvise. Adapt. Overcome. He is out there doing it.

[Jim Walsh]

Not every boat arriving to Bermuda can do it with the style and grace of a Cape Dory. This boat had to resort to a jury rigged sweep because her state of the art carbon fiber rudder post snapped in 25k winds and moderate seas 200 miles northwest of Bermuda. I have taken several photos and will post them since it's always interesting to see how they resolved this unplanned event.
I spoke to a crew member who was polite but busy securing the vessel in preparation to flying home so I have some details but not all.
The boat was sailing along nicely under a double reefed main and a full staysail when they heard a very loud bang. They did not hit an object. It became readily apparent they had lost the ability to hold a course but they didn't realize their rudder was gone till they frantically checked belowdecks to confirm there was no water in the bilges and that the steering gear was intact.
They sacrificed a Forespar aluminum and carbon fiber line control whisker pole and a fiberglass hatch cover to make a sweep which itself was attached to their emergency tiller. Attaching the sweep to the emergency tiller allowed them to use the starboard wheel, she has two steering stations, to steer the boat. In addition they had two portside and two starboardside lines attached to the sweep to keep things together.
I was informed they had initially tried to use a drougue to steer the boat but it would not hold course.
You can see the screwdrivers used in place of bolts in the photos. Good thing they had a drill aboard. They also used a hacksaw to cut the ends off the whisker pole for clearance, it pains me just to type this. That whisker pole cost thousands, not hundreds of dollars.
Nowhere on the boat does it state the make and I forgot to ask. It looks very new and expensive. The Hoyt boom for the staysail is distinctive and it looks like a Tartan but I'll have to do some online detective work.
With its long keel and attached rudder my boat will sail on a reach and a close reach for hours without touching the rudder but the more "modern" designs are not so well balanced. I think they did very well with what they had.

[Jim Walsh]

A couple more photos showing screwdrivers used in place of bolts.

[John Stone]

Excellent post Jim. Great pictures. Very interesting. Good on ‘em for developing a solution, jury rigging a way to steer, and getting their boat safely into port without assistance. That’s seamanship. It would be interesting to hear how they worked the problem and how the crew reacted. You learn a lot about people when something goes wrong or the sh#t hits the fan.

I agree with you Jim, our boats are tough and made for blue water sailing. You seldom hear of problems like this for a Cape Dory.