Ken Barnes' Description of Situation

[Trim50]

Originally Posted by dana-tenacity

Trim, you haven't been in big enough seas then. You are right, an autopilot won't do it, you must get the boat to orient itself to the seas on its own then get below.It's safer there, and no-one can hand steer a boat for over 48 hrs

You gotta be carefull with statements like this one since you have no idea where most of us HAVE been.

I was at the helm in a storm that sank five other boats and killed 3 people. Without saying how large the seas were, let's just say that we hit hull speed in a 44 foot boat half way down the back face. I was at the helm for 14 hours without an autopilot or working radio. I was 24 yo and too naive to be afraid. Nonetheless, I think a I can speak on this topic.

[capt lar]

I don't know enough to know, but in the back of my mind, I think I would have been in something like a Shannon 28 and after the roll my mast would have been there. I look at his choice of boat and it just seems too big and too round in the wrong places. For those that would consider such an adventure, what would your specs be on a proper boat ? size ? disp ? rig ? underbody ?

[David_Old_Jersey]

Donna Lange the Musician, the Sailor

An interesting read.

[btrayfors]

Larry,

Here's my suggestion. Note that there's plenty of room to carry batteries for the satphone, and a neat platform for watching the SAR teams come in :-)

[Raven]

Originally Posted by capt lar

For those that would consider such an adventure, what would your specs be on a proper boat ? size ? disp ? rig ? underbody ?

I'd take my Crealock 34 without hesitation.

[capt lar]

Yeah - I am looking at the PS 34 and 37 as a possible next boat. Tough little mothers.

[capt lar]

I've read Capt. Lange's webpages. She is one tough momma. The part where she was trying to replace lost prop was totally wild. She clearly has the right stuff.

[dana-tenacity]

Apologies Trim, I must be having a bad day. But try this, in retrospect do you think your life would have been less at risk had you not been on deck?

[Trim50]

I had no other choice at the time since the AP wasn't working. The rest of the crew (4 people) were sea sick and holding anything that didn't move inside. The cockpit was half full of water most of the time and quite honestly, I had a smile from ear-to-ear. Like I said, I was young and naive...I didn't know that I should be scared out of my mind. Would I do it differently today…nope. But this time I WOULD be scared!

When we would rise up the approaching face, the boat would stall and start to roll to port or almost slide backwards. It required human steering to manage the correction fast enough. As the wave rolled under us, the boat would straighten and accelerate to hull speed in seconds and make a low frequency vibrating moan as it drove the bow into the trough and shook the rigging. When we hit the trough, a wall of water would rise and travel the length of the boat to drop directly on my head and then the process would then start all over again. It was a 14 hour E-ticket ride.

[ssullivan]

I dont know where my post went, but I had said a little earlier, after seeing Raven's post quoting Donna Lange's log:

SCREW THAT! lol

Not a single bone in my body desires a solo 'round the world voyage. Ouch! I have no idea how she was able to hand steer that distance solo. She must have gone crazy several times over. She's certainly a much tougher cookie than I.

[dana-tenacity]

Trim, can't make out whether you were sailing to weather or running. What were you carrying? What happened after 14 hours?

[Trim50]

35 - 60knts on broad reach, main to the last reef with a storm jib. In the trough you couldn’t feel the wind and at the crest it felt like a hurricane.

After 14 hours we pulled into the harbor. Quite honestly, I don't recall being the least bit tired...probably the adrinaline.

At 24, you were probably like me, and never got tired It is amazing I lived through my youth

[Trim50]

Yep, likewise. When I read Bumfuzzle, I see myself when I was younger...totally unafraid and oblivious to the danger. I even hated “yachties” because they looked down their nose at me because I was young with a nice boat. Now I’m getting to be an old cruiser yachty myself…and enjoying it.

Is that your boat?

She was until about a month ago. I sold Kittiwake. Live aboard a Challenger 40, and are building a bare hull Piver trimaran. Plan to make the long term leap on the trimaran.
Oh, and I was single handing when I took that photo