Crew Wanted: Cape Town to Florida on 52' Grainger Cat

[css145hs]

Find A Crew Posting:
https://www.findacrew.net/en/boat/264906

Boat Pics:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/q1fshmvsb...4sUi4ifga?dl=0

This is not a paid position. You'll have to get yourself to Cape Town and handle your return flight from either Brazil, the Caribbean or Florida. I'll cover any boat and passage related expenses. I can cover your food expenses if you are unable. The trip is expected to take upwards of 2 months, from late May to late July (with short stops at St Helena, Ascension, Brazil and some Caribbean islands).

More info copied below from FindACrew posting incase you can't see it. I'll monitor this thread as well, but I'd encourage you to reach out to me on FindACrew as it's simply more organized over there. I'm hoping to make some crew decisions in the next week or so, and hadn't thought to post here until now.

Introduction
I picked up sailing 6 years ago. Live in Seattle and mainly sail Puget Sound. I mainly do day and weekend trips throughout the year. In summer of 2014 I did a 2 week trip around Vancouver Island, in 2015 I spent a week off the WA coast to get more offshore experience, have spent a few weeks in the San Juan Islands in 2015 and 2016, and done 3 weeks of charters in Tahiti and Mexico in 2016 and 2017. Started living aboard 5 years ago to better learn the boats systems. Spent 2 years upgrading my first boat's systems for better passage making, but it was also my first boat and I didn't quite know what I would want.

In 2016 I began a new boat search, in late 2016 I decided to do a new custom build and contracted with Grainger to design a performance catamaran, which has been in construction since mid-2017 to now. It is slated for completion in April/May 2019. She's a 52 foot 9T catamaran, carbon/glass/foam epoxy boat, with 2 cabins, 2 heads, open layout, fully equipped for passage making and various comforts.

I am calm under pressure, and respond with increased focus and resolve. I appreciate similar traits in others, that are adaptable. I enjoy learning and problem solving more than anything else in life, travel experiences are part of that, but it also often takes the form of various technical topics. I'm a software engineer for work. I enjoy scuba diving, and would like to pick up free diving, spear fishing and kite surfing. In a past life I enjoyed riding motorcycles and camping, but now tend to be water bound.

Boat, Plans and Current Crew:
We will be transiting from Cape Town, South Africa to Marathon, Florida. Departure is dependent on completion of the boat, commissioning, sea trials and weather. She is currently expected to be put in the water in early April, with mast and sails to follow in subsequent weeks. I'm hoping to depart Cape Town in late May, after having a few weeks with her myself.

I don't currently know if we'll be stoping at Ascension, St Helena, Brazil or where in the Caribbean on our way to Florida, but am leaning that way in order to break the trip up. I can guarantee a stop in the southern windward Caribbean islands if crew wish to leave a bit earlier (cuts 8 days or so from trip, and skip remaining passage to Florida). Depending on which crew end up joining, these stops or lack-of will be agreed to before departing. The trip can be done in as little as 5 weeks (non-stop), but may take up to 8 weeks with stops, layovers and weather. We will be aiming for a minimum of 200 mile days, which isn't pushing the boat very hard and should be reliable with trade winds over this route. We may have to time a departure window near Cape Town if we get late into the season, but after a few days north, the winds are historically good. As we will be pressing into hurricane season as the trip concludes, we will take a conservative route to put distance between any developing storms, which may result in added time at sea.

I currently have one other crew signed up, who I know personally, trust as crew and to be reliable under pressure, with a great personality, safe and a sense of adventure. I am looking for 1-2 other people to join as well. They must have decent sailing experience, and some offshore experience. Fishing, medic and diesel mechanical experience welcome as well. It's a 2 cabin boat, and I plan on having 3-4 people aboard. We can create a makeshift cabin in the saloon (convertible bed), or split cabins with sleeping schedules. A couple could also simply take one of the cabins.

Boat: 52 foot Grainger ~9T performance catamaran, max displacement 12T
Construction: all foam epoxy with carbon roof and bulkheads, and glass elsewhere
Layout: 2 aft cabins, 2 fwd heads (1 in each hull), fwd sail cockpit, open saloon layout (closeable to aft cockpit).
Sails: FiberPath J1, J2 headsails, Code 0 and fully reefed main; Spinnaker, Storm sail.
Power generation: 3kw of solar, 5kw diesel genset, double engine alternators
Water: 110 gallons, plus watermaker with spares.
Fuel: 100 gallons (1000+ mile range)
Climate: 3 Heat/AC units
Emergency: InReach tracker, EPIRB, Liferaft, Iridium Go!
Navigation: Standard kit, radar, AIS, autopilot, etc

What's expected of crew:
Everyone will share in keeping watch and cooking. Everyone needs to have experience sailing and single-handing in "normal" conditions (even though there will be 1-2 others awake at all times). Experience with harsh weather and/or ocean sailing is a plus. As she is a performance boat, with a suitably equipped rig and sail package, and we may at times be sailing at higher speeds, crew must use caution when making sail changes and keep active watch depending on conditions. We will generally remain conservative though with the sail plan, especially over night.

[Craig Cape Town]

Hi. I've done a few trans-Atlantic deliveries out of Cape Town during the summer months, when the prevailing wind is a strong south easter, and you're able to fly along using the spinnaker.
Late May/June the wind starts to turn NE and the swells can get big. These new boats always have a few snags to iron out, which pushes the departure date a little further along. I'd try for the earliest start to avoid beating up to St. Helena.

[css145hs]

We'll have about 6 weeks to do sea trials and commissioning, but point taken Craig. I'll be there for 2-3 weeks before departure as well. I was thinking I'd stick to the coast for 800 miles or so before heading off.

[Taichungman]

Congratulations on the new boat; post some pics when you get it. I am not available for crew at this time but wanted to make a few comments.
I've sailed this route on a new St. Francis 50 from CT to Annapolis MD during the months from August to Oct. Had good wind all the way to St. Helena. At this point I would say, Don't miss this stop if you have not been there; it is well worth the time and one you might not get again.
Study on how to tie up to mooring there as it is different. The mooring is round and flat with a big ring in the middle and hard to reach and you can't pick it up. Best way we decided since we were on a cat was to ease past mooring and reach it from the stern steps and then lead it back to bows.
Had good winds all the way to the equator and then they died for 5 days straight. Have plenty of fuel as you might/will need it. Also, don't get to far off Brazil or you will have an opposing current, which we did.
Good sailing from St. Lucia onward to the Bahamas but with lots of thunderstorms marching westward (September) so watch the weather and radar close and be prepared to reduce sail. We did not sail with spinnaker up at night at all. Of course be prepared for hurricanes. We were on Stockton Island in the Bahamas when Hurricane Matthew was developing somewhere around Sept. 25th-28th. 2016. We had good wind and a straight shot to Annapolis, so outran it and were safe at anchor by the time it reached the lower East coast. Bottom line, be prepared for everything as usual when you sail. Don't forget a baseball bat to knock the dorado out with; we caught many and had to fight to keep them once landed.
Also, three crew plus yourself will make for a better watch schedule that will allow enough rest and a happy crew. And just my two bits; don't take couples ( boy/girl, girl/girl or boy/boy); if they have problems they both have problems; if one wants to leave, they both want to leave and they will always gang up against you. OK, I'm finished and the couples can beat me up now. Have fun.

[css145hs]

Will do for pics prior to launch. Thanks for the informational reply. Yea, I read up on the moorings on noonsite. I think we'll definitely stop at St Helena and Ascension, though I'm thinking we skip Brazil because the clearance sounds like a nightmare. Good tip on the currents off the Brazil coast. Yea, I do worry about that a bit with a couple. So far I have a half dozen people that are interested but still unsure if they can commit, we will see how things solidify in the coming days. Hadn't thought about the bat ;-)

[johnrseager]

Re the moorings at St Helena: I was there in 2015 and they had a loop of line running through the eye in the middle of the large flat buoy. Get hold of this with the boat hook and attach a line to it and then pull on the loop to thread the line through the eye. Seems to work pretty well. John.

[Gaia]

St Helena is easy peasy. Landing a bit of an adventure. There is boat taxi that everyone takes. Good fun.

ASCENSION . Not to be missed. Marvelous place but the anchorage can be foul. We did major damage there catching our chain around rocks and then a swell came in. We dropped the chain and were permitted to pick up a mooring. Only done in an emergency. Recovered the chain and anchor with arriving friends from Indian Ocean crossing days.. good fun as well.

Do not miss either place.

Be careful in Brazil. Choose the three Guyanas instead.

Have fun. It is a great passage. Include Namibia if only for a few days. Fantastic!

Jim sv Gaia wish we could join you.

[ffdlm1]

Hi my name is Dave retired career military officer, good with my hands can trouble shoot most mechanical systems. I have limited sailing experience with one 3 week trip from the gulf up the east coast and a few day sails. I can cover my own expenses, cook, and stand watch. I’m a non smoker and social drinker (beer). I have worked with and led hundreds of men and have no problem pulling my own weight and being part of a team. Understand if you want more experience but would love the opportunity to make this trip.

[css145hs]

John, cool that does make it easy.

Gaia, yea I think Brazil is out. Def spending a little while in Namibia, want to stop in Spencer Bay at a minimum.

Dave, I'll send you a PM.

[Dirk01]

I know that catamaran. Is it a Shionning design?
May I have more information?
How can I get them?
Dirk

[css145hs]

Originally Posted by Dirk01

I know that catamaran. Is it a Shionning design?
May I have more information?
How can I get them?
Dirk

It's a Tony Grainger design. My builder previously did Schionning builds until this one, but they are now focusing on just doing multiple of this design (tho they can customize).

Builder: https://www.facebook.com/northstarmultihull/
Email: ashley@northstarmultihull.com

[mcosgriff]

Just read your posting and hope I'm not too late. I'd really like to do this crossing with you. I'm retired school admin but also building contractor and hobby is restoring exotic sports cars - so I know my way around mechanicals, electrical, plumbing, etc. Been sailing since I was 15, last boat owned Gulfstar 44 Ketch, and there is another mono or multi in my near term future. Sailed many different boats on San Francisco Bay < if you know the Bay you know it gets very challenging>, my own boat up and down New England coast, charters in the Bahamas etc. Rescue Diver cert, lifesaving first aid cert and on and on. I'm finishing up a house renovation so your timeframe certainly works and I can join for as little or as long as you want. Be happy to participate in sea trials if you desire. I live in Orlando, FL so Marathon would be great. Stops in between would be great too. I'd be happy to cover my travel expenses. let me know if your interested and we can talk further. I'd like to calendar this in so I don't accept any renovation work. Fair Winds, Michael. mcosgriff@usa.net

[Dirk01]

css145hs,
thanks for quick reply. The 52 might be a number to big for me/us. I'll focus on the 44.
Try to find out more about end-price. Can you give me/us a hint about what you paid for her?
Just roughfly would be nice.
Dirk

[css145hs]

Originally Posted by Dirk01

css145hs,
thanks for quick reply. The 52 might be a number to big for me/us. I'll focus on the 44.
Try to find out more about end-price. Can you give me/us a hint about what you paid for her?
Just roughfly would be nice.
Dirk

I was the first guinea pig, I'm paying about 50% more than I originally intended, since they didn't know what it would cost going in. It's over a million USD and less than a Balance 526, which is one of the closer comparisons in the market. I don't know what they are pricing it at for the next buyer, but I do know they already signed the second hull and have started on it. The open saloon design, with the loss of both primary bulkheads (which are now curved or largely non-existent), massively complicated the engineering and build requirements, which is largely what drove my costs up, that and an extensive fit-out.

[css145hs]

Originally Posted by css145hs

The open saloon design, with the loss of both primary bulkheads (which are now curved or largely non-existent)

It likely doesn't matter, but since that was worded oddly. The "curved bulkhead" is referring more to the angled fwd bulkhead exiting the saloon into the forward cockpit. However, it's completely non structural, so not really a bulkhead. Forward of the forward cockpit, below the deck, is a hefty composite beam between the hulls. There's another below the aft saloon wall under the bridge deck. The saloon roof is also a thick sandwich of more than 1/2" carbon + 3-4" foam + 1/2" of more carbon, that acts to carry load between the hulls and down the areas between the windows back into the deck (forget the name of that), the bridge deck is heftier than normal. So the bridge deck and saloon roof act together as a box frame. I'm sure my terms are half wrong. The mast is stepped on top of that fwd beam. Then there's another thick composite box frame down the middle of the bridge deck (fwd to aft). All of that also required doing solid e-glass plates thru the hull sandwich at the deck join, saloon sides, and other load sites, so just a lot of requirements that came from the engineering firms after initial design work. Long as she doesn't break apart