Bermuda or Bust

Clay Stalker · Post by **Clay Stalker** » May 23rd, '05, 18:06

I'm flying to Bermuda on Wednesday morning to meet up with Mike Thorpe, Cathy Monaghan and Bruce Halley to sail Mike's boat back to Rhode Island. This is my first real blue water passage, so I'm as excited as I can be..

I got some Transderm Scop patches so we'll see how these work. I'll let you know how this novice handles the big wind and waves

Clay Stalker

Neil Gordon · Post by **Neil Gordon** » May 23rd, '05, 18:28

Enjoy the trip! Nice that you're not approaching Rhode Island tonight. We've got another nor'easter in New England, seas building to 20 feet, wind gusting to 50 knots and more.

Should be an interesting night... it's an astronomical high tide, about two feet higher than normal on Boston Harbor, and the storm surge could be another two feet. I'll either stay up or set the alarm to wake me just before high tide so I can watch the surge come over the sea wall.

jambalaya · Post by **jambalaya** » May 23rd, '05, 20:15

Clay
I made the round trip from WPB in '02 (the month of May because the pilot charts indicated that would be the best time for a pleasant cruise.) There were three of us on my CD 30, with gear. Man was it crowded although it made a good watch schedule. IT was good weather except for two days going and two days returning when we experienced 30 knot winds and 10-12 foot seas. Not comfortable, but the rest of the time was idyllic.
May your breeze be fair and the ocean tame. It will be a wonderful experience. I wish I could go.
Will
Jambalaya

barfwinkle · Post by **barfwinkle** » May 24th, '05, 06:52

Clay

Enjoy the downhill run and look for dolphins.

Fair Winds

bottomscraper · Post by **bottomscraper** » May 24th, '05, 07:50

Hope you have a great trip!

Rich & Melissa

Capt JT · Post by **Capt JT** » May 24th, '05, 15:13

at about the same time as "Garmine" ( a 20ft pacific seacraft Flicka ) that left from New Jersey last week.. I have been following his solo trip through his posts on the Flicka group in Yahoo.. his name is Steve.. should be there Tomorrow late.. had 1 day or so of motoring, 1 day of being hove-to and several days of 20 knots in the right direction.. I know there were threads comparing the CD25D to this same task.. I have to hand it to him. Should you run into him in St Georges give him the groups best !

Former CD25 Happy Daze

Michael Heintz · Post by **Michael Heintz** » May 24th, '05, 16:34

Have a great trip Clay

Did the same trip with Mike about two years ago. What a great cruise.

We made it from Bermuda to the Vinyard in 4.5 days.

What a ride.

Good luck and say hi to Mike!!!!

tony Batchelor · Post by **tony Batchelor** » May 27th, '05, 05:22

50 knot winds no problem!

I brought my CD 30 from Whangarei to Wellington in January. on the east coast of the north Island of New Zealand, my crew of two and myself experienced winds in excess of 60knots as reported by the meteological office.

with a four metre swell the conditions were a little rough.

We had to stand the conditions for around 12 hours as we worked our way inshore to gain shelter in the lee of the hills along the coast. With the motor going flat out and only a double reefed main up. we could make no more than 1/2 a knot over the ground.

No damage to the vessel but my crew were all set to desert when we anchored just off shore overnight while we waited for a calm spell after the frount had passed. which it did.

The next morning we hauled anchor and had to motor the next 20 miles as there was not even a breeze until we entered the port nicholson.

elbows wychulis · Post by **elbows wychulis** » May 27th, '05, 22:37

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMOKQL26WD_index_0.html

elbows wychulis · Post by **elbows wychulis** » May 27th, '05, 22:40

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMOKQL26WD_index_0.html

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news ... waves.html

Clay Stalker · Post by **Clay Stalker** » May 29th, '05, 17:48

Well, my Bermuda journey did not turn out too well. I flew there on Wednesday, met up with Mike, Cathy, and Bruce, and we prepared for the journey. Nice to see them all. We were unable to leave on Thursday, due to weather, so ended up leaving Friday afternoon. We were about 30 miles out when all the other boats headed to New England began to turn around and head back to Bermuda. We conversed with them on the radio and discovered that the weather window had slammed shut and all boats leaving Bermuda for New England were advised to return. So far, the next window doesn't open up til next Thursday at the earliest, so I just had to return home....Mike, Cathy, and Bruce are still there and hope to leave in 5-7 days, but who knows.....a great disappointment for me, but they were great company, and Bermuda is a beautiful harbor to hang out in for a few days....maybe another time....

Clay Stalker

Warren Kaplan · Post by **Warren Kaplan** » May 29th, '05, 18:56

Clay,
What a bummer. We all know that we sailors (prudent ones at least) are at the mercy of Mother Nature. No fun sailing into a Nor'easter, even the tail end of it. As you said, there will be another time. Still a bummer!

GeorgeV · Post by **GeorgeV** » May 31st, '05, 20:49

Clay.

I feel bad that your trip did not pan out.... but last wednesday we had a gale blow through the Newport area.... better to be safe then sorry.

Cathy Monaghan · Post by **Cathy Monaghan** » Jun 10th, '05, 15:01

Hey Bill,

barfwinkle wrote:Clay

Enjoy the downhill run and look for dolphins.

Fair Winds

When we finally left Bermuda we had to head west to avoid a big ugly low before finally heading northward toward Rhode Island but it was uphill all the way with winds either on the nose or we sailed on a close reach. Anyway, we're glad we waited out the bad weather but it was not a dry trip. I think I was rained on the most, followed by Mike. Bruce managed to avoid the soakings during his watches somehow. We also had a couple foggy nights and low visibility days but it didn't prevent us from having a good time.

By the way, we finally left Bermuda on Saturday, June 4th arriving at Jamestown, RI early on Thursday morning around 5:00 a.m. on June 9th.

Cathy
crew aboard S/Y Adagio
CD32 Realization, #3
Rahway, NJ
Raritan Bay

adevans · Post by **adevans** » Jun 10th, '05, 21:04

Cathy - Thanks to you and Bruce for the pictures! Our passage on Whisper was uphill the last 5 days. Three separate fronts whomped into us. Nathaniel pushed Whisper one night on watch ... close-hauled, beating the sh.. out of us, but registered 10.2 kts! Hove-to for coffee and a breather the next morning while still in the Gulf Stream. Then set sail under staysail and deep reefed main. We had rain, fog, wind. And the slog up the Chesapeake was cold, head winds, 2 kts, short,choppy seas.

But, we had a great passage! Whales, dolphins, a sparrow taking a rest on the lifelines 200 miles from anywhere.

The life of a sailor for all.

Allen
Whisper

The Cape Dory Board

Bermuda or Bust

Bermuda or Bust

Re: Bermuda or Bust

Bermuda cruise

Bring us back some better weather!

You should arrive..

Have a great trip Clay

hell or high water!

sighting near bermuda

sighting near bermuda

Bust for me, I'm sad to say....

What a shame

Bermuda or Bust

Uphill all the way!

Uphill and then some