Where Is The Far Reach—Part II

[John Stone]

Underway. Wind 20 kts ESE. Single reefed main, then as soon as I round west end St Thomas haul up the jib and set the pole and start the long run home.

[John Stone]

0950. Wind 20-g25 kts. Double reefed main and stays’l. Speed 7.2 kts. Once I get past Savanah Island I can gybe and set up the pole for wing and wing I think.

[John Stone]

Sailed into the “The Bight” at Cape Look out today after sailing 1,685 nm. Nobody got hurt and we didn’t break anything. The crew and skipper are still talking to each other. I’m bushed. It was a crazy singlehanded passage. Long because I curved aouth along the coast of the Bahamas to stay in the wind vice take the shorter rhumb line where there were large patches of no wind. Also, by Tuesday of last week there was a predicted sou'wester off the Carolinas with winds to 40+ knots for two days along with some high energy T-storms with winds predicted to 50 knots. Chris Parker told me not to go north of 28 north till Tuesday and not to go north of 30 North till Thursday. What to do? To kill some time I made a 140 nm detour south to the Abacos in the Bahamas then turned back without stopping there. I followed that with being hove to for over 20 hours. The Gulf Stream crossing was difficult and uncomfortable as we ended up in an unforecastes north and NE wind that required a beat all the way across the GS. Mind you the wind was light but it was bumpy and very hard to sail through.

Bottom line: the Far Reach and I sailed into “the Bight” at Cape Lookout this afternoon. After a lot of sleep tonight we will shoot the Beaufort Inlet tomorrow morning and anchor for a few days on Taylor Creek, Beaufort NC before we take the boat the last 30nm to her slip at MCAS Cherry Point.

Good to be home. I’ll post a longer trip report with more pictures in the next few days.

[Sea Hunt Video]

Well done John S.

[Vincent]

Welcome back John. Now get back to work, lol. Maybe sleep for a week first.

[wikakaru]

John--

Congratulations on a safe passage. I'm looking forward to reading your full report.

--Jim

[John Stone]

Gayle and I took the Far Reach from Beaufort to Hancock Marina at Cherry Point today. Some early morning motoring on the ICW followed by a great 10nm upwind sail up the Neuse River.

We got her in her new marina slip without fanfare. I’ll spend the next few days removing stores and cleaning her up.

I also owe a post on the voyage home.

TTFN.

[Jim Walsh]

Well done. No passage is all fun and games. It takes a great deal of skill and hard work to make it all appear routine.
I just returned this evening from Bermuda myself. I’ve yet to update my own post, it may be a few days. The trip took six days and seven hours, not nearly as long as yours, but the winds and weather were very trying also. The wind blew, or didn’t, from everywhere but southwest. As a finale this afternoon I was hit by an hour long squall that hit 45 knots and was 35 knots from beginning to end. Not the best way to end a passage but.....everything went well so I can’t complain.
As usual your photos are great.

[John Stone]

Hi everybody,
I have written a post about the sail home from the Virgin Islands to NC.

I have had two weeks to reflect on it. I’m not sure how to characterize the passage. It was longer and had more uncertainties than the last trip home. I did not sleep as well due to the problems created by what I think is a significant increase in the amount of sargasso along my route (the specifics are described in the post). The Gulf Stream crossing while not particularly “rough” was more challenging than last time.

On the other hand I feel like I really know the Far Reach and how to sail her well. I know what she needs and how she responds to a wide variety of situations and conditions. I feel totally safe and comfortable on her day and night. In short I have a lot of trust in her and in my abilities to sail her in a safe and efficient manner.

I continued to learn a lot about sailing and seamanship. There is so much more I don’t know. There are still plenty of things to learn to enable me sail her more efficiently and in a wider range of conditions.

I wanted to provide a more detailed post here on the forum but it seemed redundant to try and condense what I already wrote for my own website. So please click on the link below to see a whole bunch of pictures and read more about the details of the trip from the VI to NC:

https://farreachvoyages.wordpress.com/2 ... -carolina/

Feedback always welcome. I’d be happy to respond to comments either here or there.

I will post a few pictures from the trip home below. Thanks for all the kind comments y’all made and support y’all showed over the last seven moths.

I am not sure what the future holds for us. Right now, I plan to put the boat on the hard for absout a year. I’ve been contemplating a few projects that might surprise a few people. But that’s a story for another day....

[fmueller]

John,

Thanks so very much for all the posting and sharing ... sure makes this web site a must read. Welcome home.

I feel in my own small way I am getting much better with my boat ... and really for the same reasons as yourself ... practice, which is really just sailing, and then sailing some more - paying attention, and working out the details (that old devil). Small changes can have big consequences ... for instance; 2" longer winch handles.

Progress in seamanship is one of this worlds most self satisfying efforts ...

cheers

Fred

[Paul D.]

Always great to hear of others' relationships with their boats. It is OK to anthropomorphize them as, like good horseback riding, you really do need to become a team and understand one another. Thanks for sharing yours in this manner.

[John Stone]

Always great to hear of others' relationships with their boats. It is OK to anthropomorphize them as, like good horseback riding, you really do need to become a team and understand one another. Thanks for sharing yours in this manner.

Who’s anthropomorphisizing?

[Sea Hunt Video]

Paul D.:

Words like

anthropomorphize

are NOT permitted on this board. Please be more respectful of the readers on this board. Thank you.

Miami temp 93; head index 105.

[PortTack]

Love following your posts!

A technique question: how do you avoid accidental jibes when going wing on wing under auto-pilot or when sailing solo?

I'm always comfortable doing it myself, but only when I'm at the helm and watching the main for signs of wanting to come over. If you're on a long voyage wing on wing and, say, brushing your teeth or otherwise occupied, do you tie the boom to a rail or anything as a makeshift preventer?

[John Stone]

Love following your posts!

A technique question: how do you avoid accidental jibes when going wing on wing under auto-pilot or when sailing solo?

I'm always comfortable doing it myself, but only when I'm at the helm and watching the main for signs of wanting to come over. If you're on a long voyage wing on wing and, say, brushing your teeth or otherwise occupied, do you tie the boom to a rail or anything as a makeshift preventer?

I never sail downwind, or even off the wind, without a preventer. My primary preventer, the aft most one, blue in the below photo, also serves as a vang. It’s employed unless we are close hauled. As soon as we ease the main even a small amount it’s employed because it controls leech tension. It is attached from the boomntona point “forward” on the bulwarks, near the midship’s hawes-hole, so it does double duty as a preventer. I can control it from the cockpit as the tail is run to jam cleats on the aft cabin top.

But, offshore, or any time I want the added protection, I employ a second preventer (red in the below photo). It attaches to the boom right next to the primary preventer, but is attached to the bulwarks further forward than the primary preventer.

Sometimes I’ll employ the second preventer in light air if there is a swell running to hold the boom as steady as possible to reduce chafe on the mains’l.

The boom is a killer. You simply can’t be too careful maintaining control of it.