Transit Time? NY-FL

[boatman61]

Check out the Vac Paks... Potato's and Bacon fry... add a can of beans and its a great filler... quite a few others that are not to bad.
I bought a load of Asian lentil and veg curry type meals for my run from Perth to Tasmania... old ply 30ftr and no fridge... made my own naan breads on a fry pan... great stuff..

[scoobert]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Check out the Vac Paks... Potato's and Bacon fry... add a can of beans and its a great filler... quite a few others that are not to bad.
I bought a load of Asian lentil and veg curry type meals for my run from Perth to Tasmania... old ply 30ftr and no fridge... made my own naan breads on a fry pan... great stuff..

i currently have issues with veggies. thou i will slowly train myself to eat them.
my big accomplishment in the past 3 years is now i enjoy rice.
i knew i needed to be able to eat rice, if i wanted to circle the world.
many of the ready to eat dishes have veg in them. i am researching making my own MRE's.
thou i admit, cooking is not my forte. nor is prepping.

[Paul Annapolis]

Gentlemen and Ladies...... Ay yay yay. I am an extremely experienced sailor yet I have not gone through what many of the posters on this thread have done and they really know what they are talking about with their admonitions to Scoobert. And every time I add a day to my already thousands underway, I learn something--and once in a while come up on new hazards. I am awed by the widsom and skills of so many of the vastly more experienced sailors on this forum. Now for you Scoobert, and with all due respect to a stranger and to all members of this forum, LISTEN TO WHAT THESE SAILORS ARE TRYING TO TELL YOU. As someone who has consulted to boaters, coached and trained many a sailor and helped many like you go through a similar process, you simply do not know what you do not know and I can tell you this above all--if your wife is cold, scared, nervous, tied, hungry, seasick, uncomfortable, worried or not fully confident in your skills when you set out on day one you have already lost the game...and her cold feet will never warm up again.
And you've written about having a "solid engine" (well it is iron...), having a six person liferaft and written about your wife having to lift you out of the water. I am not sure if you know how difficult that can be for even five or six US Naval Academy Midshipmen at the Safety at Sea Seminar. You seem to dismiss many concerns of these other seriously salty sailors, have an answer to everything and well, I guess it's just called hubris. The sea is not inherently dangerous but your best ally and only possible guarantor of safety is to prepare, prepare, prepare....and I am not sure you've done that. ...But you'll find out soon enough--and so will Ms. Scoobert.

[annsni]

Whoever mentioned the peeing thing - have you ever been in seas so rough you couldn't even pee safely???? Yeah - THAT is fun and I've not even been out in really bad stuff!! We sail Long Island Sound to Martha's Vineyard and let me tell you, those times make me a landlubber. And very much a praying person. LOL

[annsni]

Originally Posted by Roy M

What's so tough about peeing in the cockpit? And those waves help wash stuff out the scuppers. It sure beats that "one hand for the ship and.......". Of course, my cockpit sits on top of the centerboard trunk and drains completely. Oh, and I just had my second erasure, so I better be on top of my act now. Sorry, moderators, it just slipped out.

Well, being a girl, it's a bit harder but it's tough when you're needing to hold the wheel tight. I've had to go over to grab the wheel and let him do his thing. I've gotten good at holding it in.

Funniest story though was that we were sailing along and a powerboat buzzed us, throwing a good wake at us. Hubby went to steer into it but it still caught us and knocked us over a bit and next thing I know, my 7 year old is FLYING across the boat with her pants around her ankles. She was sitting on the pot when we rolled and that head door doesn't latch soundly. Poor thing was OK (didn't hit anything other than the cabin door) but man, did we laugh hard!

[Vasco]

Originally Posted by scoobert

we are testing the freeze dried foods now.
i can cross icecream off the list, it is nasty.
crackers are a great carb source, and in a pinch, you could do a few weeks on just them. thats why we will have vacuum packed crackers on the yacht,
canned fruit, and we are still building this list

I would not bother with the vacuum packing of the crackers as by the time your'e subsisting on the crackers I think you'll probably prefer them a bit soggy.

[scoobert]

Originally Posted by Vasco

I would not bother with the vacuum packing of the crackers as by the time your'e subsisting on the crackers I think you'll probably prefer them a bit soggy.

its more to prevent vermin, and to keep them for crossings.
i like crackers lol.
we have a ton of storage space, and i will be filling it when we hit the south pacific. if i start building my stores now, it will be less last minute work i do before we take off.

[carstenb]

Originally Posted by scoobert

day 1-3 will be training the wife to handle the boat.
at the end she may not be able to dock it, but she will be able to do a figure 8, tie knots, lift my fat butt from the water, lower the sails, start the engine, deploy the liferaft, call for help, and she will know where all the thruhulls are, and how to get the plug in them/close the valve. by the end of week 1 she will be able to sail. her intelligence is slightly above normal, and is a quick hands on learner. thats why i cannot give her a book on it, she will learn more the first week, then she would with 10 books on theory.

Scoobert,

MY congratualtions. You apparently have found the fastest learning person on the globe to be your wife. I'm utterly certain, that as you say, she can learn all that in 1 week. The rest of us couldn't. My wife (with far above average intelligence - couldn't). Me - I couldn't learn it all in a week.

By the way - lifting your "fat butt from the water" - hmmmm. I really hate to say this, but in anything but ideal conditions, she will not be able to do that, especially if you are hurt or unconscious. Yachting monthly did an experiment about a year ago. 3 strong men could not lift a tethered dummy back on board, while the boat was moving.

Try it. jump overboard with your lifevest on and have her try to get you back on board (no helping just deadweight). won't happen, even getting a line on you and getting that on a winch etc, is a major excercise, even in calm weather. In a storm, with heaving and pitching decks - well - I hope your life innsurance is paid up so she will be able to retire

[Paul Annapolis]

Scoobert Will come back with plenty of glib responses about how he's already figured out the whole issue of how his wife will relieve herself and how he's already figured out a person overboard retrieval system. I am beginning to think his wife is like Lt. Columbo's wife...he talks all about here but we never saw her. Scoobert is already an inductee into the nautical know it all hall of fame. Scoobert is all ready all right...all ready with an answer for every raised eyebrow presented to him by experienced sailors on here...he is all ready with an answer for everything......he's just not all ready for his voyage.

[scoobert]

Originally Posted by carstenb

Scoobert,

MY congratualtions. You apparently have found the fastest learning person on the globe to be your wife. I'm utterly certain, that as you say, she can learn all that in 1 week. The rest of us couldn't. My wife (with far above average intelligence - couldn't). Me - I couldn't learn it all in a week.

By the way - lifting your "fat butt from the water" - hmmmm. I really hate to say this, but in anything but ideal conditions, she will not be able to do that, especially if you are hurt or unconscious. Yachting monthly did an experiment about a year ago. 3 strong men could not lift a tethered dummy back on board, while the boat was moving.

Try it. jump overboard with your lifevest on and have her try to get you back on board (no helping just deadweight). won't happen, even getting a line on you and getting that on a winch etc, is a major excercise, even in calm weather. In a storm, with heaving and pitching decks - well - I hope your life innsurance is paid up so she will be able to retire

life sling + topping lift = lifting a whale on board.
if unconscious, she will hook my harness (how did i fall over with a harness on in the first place?) and do the same thing. she can hook the boom vang right to me, crank up the boom, lock it off, then hoist me with the vang. not saying its going to be fast, but then like i said, how will i be overboard with a harness, unless the jack line breaks?

[I.Grind]

Scoobert, the reason everyone's telling you not to go is that calculating transit time for a voyage is such a basic skill, and probably the first thing a competent skipper would do upon the idea entering his head. Since then every comment you have made has further reinforced the growing body of evidence that you are biting off more than you can chew. From what you post, it appears you do not possess enough basic knowledge to comprehend what people are trying to tell you.

That is why so many are advising against this trip.

[carstenb]

Originally Posted by scoobert

life sling + topping lift = lifting a whale on board.
if unconscious, she will hook my harness (how did i fall over with a harness on in the first place?) and do the same thing. she can hook the boom vang right to me, crank up the boom, lock it off, then hoist me with the vang. not saying its going to be fast, but then like i said, how will i be overboard with a harness, unless the jack line breaks?

I truly hope for your sake that she won't have to try this. Yachting Monthly tried this as an experiment with three (3) experienced sailors, who knew exactly what they needed to do. Additionally, they were practicing on a mannequin and therefore not terribly concerned if they broke some arms or legs in the process. Nor were they concerned about the mannequin drowning.
It was also not in storm conditions.

I'll submit that you really haven't got the slightest clue about what you are talking about. Earlier you noted that now you knew everything that you needed to know about sail trim - because you had read a book.

I simply won't comment on that.

[Richard5]

Originally Posted by scoobert

we are testing the freeze dried foods now.
i can cross icecream off the list, it is nasty.
crackers are a great carb source, and in a pinch, you could do a few weeks on just them. thats why we will have vacuum packed crackers on the yacht,
canned fruit, and we are still building this list

By hook or by crook you have evaded the point. The point is in all thee sea miles Boatman has not experienced a sea state which was so violent as to prohibit making a cuppa tea or whatever. Instead you talk of nasty ice cream and cardboard freeze dried pseudo food.

The point is exactly that short of repeated knock downs one can in fact produce a hot meal. The point is that in even green water over the bow one can be cozy and safe.

If you have to resort to survival food the trip is already in jeopardy. Passage making is not doomsday preparations. The Poseidon Adventure was not an accurate presentation of the open sea which commands survivalist mode.

BTW: eat foods local to your area. They are plentiful, inexpensive, and at least keep the flying critters from targeting the newly arrived meat packet which is you if you insist on maintaining the diet of your point of origination. Eating foods of your next destination is a favored tactic.

[MLOI]

Originally Posted by scoobert

life sling + topping lift = lifting a whale on board.
if unconscious, she will hook my harness (how did i fall over with a harness on in the first place?)

Umm - if you fall over without a harness and tether on, then your body is already lost. The only chance you have is if you are still attached to the boat.

I've been over (actually I slid across the deck and broke through the lines) on a 52 ft boat. With a full racing crew of 12 it was a struggle to get back on board - and i was fully concious and pretty strong. (I do mast for offshore races, so need to be pretty competant at hauling on string)

BTW - have you checked that that topping lift reaches to the water at the stern of the boat?

Just as one point of comparison, the last two deliveries (post race) I've done on the 52 ft boat, we've taken 5 days and 6 days respectively to make it ~550 nm home. And been beaten up badly, destroyed a mainsail and a headsail, had the engine die at the wrong time, had one crew member with 3 broken ribs etc. That's with a crew of 6 with a lot of offshore racing between us. And we've hidden from the worst of the weather for days at a time.

Mike

[Richard5]

Here I go....

Making way to de island mon is not like you gonna barely make it. It's a matter of perception, you either think you have barely escaped death or it's high tea all the way. The water doesn't have the mind what way you think about it. You either commit yourself to the thrill and enjoyment or you commit yourself to fear of the unknown.

Truth be told, it's the latter with you. There is no shame in admitting that. But you have to at least be honest to yourself. And by God you have to admit that to your passengers. Be the captain of your ship. Take charge. You either put the fear in them or that it will be a grand time. Never let them see you sweat and never ever scare the passengers, crew, wife, whatever you call them.

Actively create memorable and pleasant experiences...even if it's stormy conditions. Fear and fraught is a matter of perspective. High winds is a time to feel alive or a time to be frightful. Some of my best memories are of a big sea state. The threat is more imagined than real. Take charge my friend.