Where Is The Far Reach—Part II

[John Stone]

I noticed the white paint on the bulwark caprail was showing some fatigue. So time to touch it up. The mooring field in Elephant Bay, however, has been ridiculously rolly due to strong trade winds and an increase in big power boat traffic. So, I sailed the Far Reach over to Brewers Bay under a double reefed main and stays’l.

It was mostly downwind but then a short beat up into the anchorage. I sailed through the dozen anchored boats twice, sounding with the lead line. With her big rig-even reefed down—the Far Reach was perfectly behaved and easily tacked when asked to do so. Then I dropped the main and stays’l and used the little Honda to pick out a good spot. I dropped anchor in 30’ of water on a sand and grass bottom. I donned mask and fins to see how everything looked. The anchor was fine but about 30’ back from the anchor the chain had slipped under a coral head. I weighed anchor and reset about 50’ away. Back into the water. This time the anchor was in the sand and buried. The chain was clear. Perfect. The water is a lot smoother here.

I spent the morning washing, taping, and sanding the caprail. It’s too windy to paint today. I was not ready for an afternoon siesta—yes it’s a stressful life to be sure but I am bearing up pretty well—so I went back to Michener’s Tales of the South Pacific. Ahhhhh....paradise—there and here.

TTFN....

[tjr818]

A stressful life for sure....

That looks like a well read copy of Tales of The South Pacific, a great book.

[John Stone]

And so night falls on the intrepid Far Reach and her happy skipper, anchored safely in the warm embrace of a West Indies tropical bay. Another day has come to an end. The anchor light is lit. Slx bells rings through the ship. Supper is soon to be served. The evening guests, a blanket of stars and gentle trade wind clouds, will arrive within the hour. All is well....

[John Stone]

Happy Easter.

Got 15’ of caprail painted this morning then it started to rain. There wasn’t even a cloud over us...for the love of Mary. I got the paint and brushes inside. It only lasted a minute. So I waited about an hour. Dried the unpainted rail off. Wiped it down with 333. Continued on. Had about 3 hours before more sprinkles. I think we are OK. Second coat in the morning.

Moved on to block maintenance. I soaked the jib turning blocks, fairlead blocks and blocks for the running backstay in soapy water last night (the actual jib lead blocks are big lewmar snatch blocks we secure around the bulwarks with a nylon strop). I also saddle soaped the leathers. Today I put the leathers in a gently warmed oven for 10 min. Then coated them with Snow-seal beeswax. I do this about every 4-6 months. They are not works of art. Classic example of what happens when you do something temporarily and if it works...it becomes permanent. I made them just before my last trip down the the West Indies. I was only able to sail the boat a couple times between launch and our departure. I identified a need for them but had too many balls im the air. I had time for “good enough.” But the leathers have worked perfectly and held up pretty well. Without the leather the blocks just beat the deck up.

Lastly, I made bread today. Not as good as Gayle’s bread but not bad for a Grunt.

[Vincent]

John:
Great idea on the leathers for your blocks. I just cut some heavy cowhide for my spreader boots. I love doing leather work. The block leather is a good idea, I'll get started on some of those soon. Do you use leather for rigging knives? I just made a sheath and used beeswax on the inside. I'll see how it holds up.
That bread looks delicious. I'll have to play around with my oatmeal recipe, I make 3 loaves at a time. Easy to cut the ingredients, I am guessing you only make one at a time.
The dinghy is coming along, I just started glassing the outside. I haven't posted pics lately because it just routine stuff. Once I get the bottom glassed, I will start on the seats and daggerboard trunk.
I started taking out the binnacle and steering pulleys. Even with a nice big cockpit sole hatch, that is a small area. For plane seats and this tiller job I wish I was 5 foot tall not 6 ft 5.
Have a great time and a good sail back to NC.

[John Stone]

It rained this morning. But the sun was out by 0800. First, I dried the bulwarks then then gave them a light sanding with 3M maroon scrub pads. Next, I used a 2” wide brush to remove the sanding dust. Last, I wiped them down with Interlux 333. It was 0930 by the time I started paining. I added some thinner to the paint and got to it. The second and last coat went on quick enough. Happy to have it behind me.

I took Sweat Pea ashore after cleaning up to dump some trash. A local guy swimming with his girlfriend commented on Sweet Pea. So I asked him if he wanted to row her. “Yah mon!” So I handed over the reins and off they went. They seemed thrilled and that me me feel pretty good. Afterwards they were all smiles and we chatted for a bit. Not always easy to connect with the locals in the bigger more populated islands. But when you do it always seems warm and genuine.

This afternoon the weather is delightful. The driving trades have backed off a bit. Sunlight and a nice breeze are just pouring through the port lights. This is when a varnished wood interior really pays off. It’s so bright out, even with sunglasses, that the soft light inside allows your eyes some rest. I just love how the interior turned out. Four years and about 6000 nm later and I wouldn’t change a thing. The water looks great. I think I feel a swim coming on....

Vince, I never made a knife shealth. Let me know how it turns out. Keep plugging on the nesting dinghy. A couple here on a Crealock 37 have a CLC 12’ nesting dinghy called a “passagemaker.” Have carried it all over the world. They like it a great deal.

When Gayle is here we make two loaves of bread because we can eat them in a week. And seven days is what we get before mold shows. There are no preservatives so it’s my duty to eat fresh homemade bread before it goes bad. By myself, I make one loaf per week. Works out about right.

[John Stone]

For cockpit lighting on the Far Reach we’ve been taking one of the kerosene lamps from the saloon table stanchion up into the cockpit. It works great. It creates a gentle, warm, and inviting ambience. All the guest we’ve had on board at night seem a little surprised at first when we use the lamp instead of the ubiquitous “Luci Lite.” But very quickly the comments turn to “oooh nice, beautiful, excellent,” etc. Tonight there is almost no breeze but we have also used it with great success when it’s quite breezy.

[John Stone]

Yesterday I climbed the mast and inspected the rig. I took my time checking all the splices, thimbles, bolts, nuts, circle clips, cotter pins. Everything look good. As always, it a great view from the top.

[John Stone]

Just updated our sailing blog. Nothing in it that has not been covered here on the forum already. But, it’s a complete roll up of our 30 day cruise. A few new pictures. A few things expanded upon.

Feel free to forward as you wish.

https://farreachvoyages.wordpress.com/2 ... n-islands/

[Mbigos]

Fantastic, john. I really enjoy following your posts every week. They help me think about my next trip back to the Caribbean. Hope to meet you someday and see the far reach. Mike

[John Stone]

Mike, glad you’re enjoying the posts. I look forward to a link up too when it works out.

Day before yesterday I was invited to a 1730 “dinghy raft up” in the anchorage. It was enjoyable to meet the other cruisers and share all the treats passed around among the dinghies. After sundown the party broke up and everyone returned to their boats.

[John Stone]

Yesterday I decided that Sweet Pea needed to stretch her legs a bit. The wind in the anchorage was 18 gusting 20-25 kts. I rigged her up while she was still suspended in her bridle from the spinnaker halyard on the starboard side of the Far Reach. I put a reed in her mains’l then lowered her into thewater. After casting off, I raised the main and off we went.

I spent a delightful hour tearing around the anchorage running, reaching ,beating, tacking, and gybing. She always impresses me with her sailing performance for such a small, stout, and somewhat fat
(for her length) craft. She is certainly more like Olympic weight lifter in the “clean and Jerk” competition than a long distance sprinter.

Sure she is fun to sail and that’s reason enough to take her out for a spin. But, she is also my lifeboat and thus it’s as important to get her out on the water to opcheck her sailing rig as it is to refamiliarize myself with her sailing characteristics.

With her mast and boom stowed vertically along the aft lowers on the Far Reach it takes only minutes to rig and derig her.

[Sea Hunt Video]

John:

Very nice

I am curious about your centerboard. In the photos, how much is below the hull It looks like it's raised up high. I, with VERY little knowledge of such matters, would think it should be lowered all the way to give more windward stability in high winds.

Also, does Sweet Pea have port and starboard "seats" or are you sitting down in/on the floor

Finally, in your "ditch bag" does your lifeboat have some type of sea hood or canopy cover for shelter from the sun during the day if, God forbid, Sweet Pea is pressed into service as a lifeboat

As you can tell, this was a day (morning) of visits with quacks in sick bay and time to read posts and write responses. These quacks never have anything positive to say.

[John Stone]

John:

Very nice

I am curious about your centerboard. In the photos, how much is below the hull It looks like it's raised up high. I, with VERY little knowledge of such matters, would think it should be lowered all the way to give more windward stability in high winds.

Also, does Sweet Pea have port and starboard "seats" or are you sitting down in/on the floor

Finally, in your "ditch bag" does your lifeboat have some type of sea hood or canopy cover for shelter from the sun during the day if, God forbid, Sweet Pea is pressed into service as a lifeboat

As you can tell, this was a day (morning) of visits with quacks in sick bay and time to read posts and write responses. These quacks never have anything positive to say.

Roberto
Thanks for responding. Sometimes, I think I am just writing to myself.

Is there anything you don’t miss?

I did not post the first photo in the series which was a run. From the run I rounded up slowly onto a close reach and then eventually on to a beat. There is no jam cleat for the main and it was gusty so keeping the boat on her feet is the number one priority...and I only have two hands.

It’s actually a pretty long daggerboard...almost 40” long. On a run I pull the board up some...maybe a third to half way. Never high enough for the boom to catch on it...”I hate when that happens.” It reduces the wetted surface as it provides no real stability downwind. On a reach I sail with it up about a 1/4 to 1/3. Upwind, I almost always sail with the board all the way down—unless I’m slipping over some skinny water.

So, on that pass in the photos I probably pushed it down a bit as I started to round up. Then once I was fully close hauled and could hold the tiller and mainsheet in one hand I pushed the board down. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

In the photo I’m sitting on the removable teak sole. It’s quite comfy as the slope of the hull on the inside is perfect for your back. The boat actually has a pretty deep bilge sump so even if she takes on some water ye ol’ butt stays dry.

No, I don’t have a canopy but it’s on my list. And I have a pretty good design concept that would protect us from spray and the sun and also catch water. I’d like to get a removable inflatable tube for the hull as well to make her like a rib lifeboat. But it’s a later project.

The reality is I just could not do everything I wanted and leave for the West Indies so I considered the risk of going without those things and decided they were acceptable for this trip.

I have a waterproof ditch bag with a portable watermaker, fishing gear, spear, food, water bottles, sunblock, etc. I sure hope I never have to leave the FR in a hurry though.

When Sweet Pea is inverted on the cabin top the daggerboard and rudder are bolted together and wedged inside her hull. The oars are strapped inside too. I also stow the sail in its bag there as well. So if the worst happened I would untie the restraining straps, flip her over the life lines, drop the mast and boom into her—they are rigged vertically on the lowers so it takes maybe 30 seconds to install them with her along side. Then put the ditch bag in and as much other stuff on my priority list as time allowed.

The last thing to do before I pull on the oars is to put my earbuds in and hit play on the Nano for “Neerer My God to Thee.”

[Sea Hunt Video]

John:

Remember the cardinal rule of leaving a sailboat in distress - always step UP into your life raft lifeboat, etc.