Open Ocean Sailing in Multihull for Inexperienced Crew

[travellerw]

I just finished a run between Isla Mujeres and Key West with an inexperienced crew on a multihull. Our trip was much rougher than 8-10 footers on the beam and everyone did fine. We had short period 10 foot waves for over 24 hours.

One crew member was prone to seasickness and as predicted, he got sick. We gave him Phenergen and he was back to normal in 2 hours.

Our boat was also much smaller than yours (40'). I'm pretty sure you will be fine. If you are really worried, just "premedicate" the crew you are most worried about. Scopolamine, Phenergen, Bonnamine, Sturgeon all seem to work very well in my experience. I prefer Sturgeon as it seems to have the least side effects (I don't get sleepy or dry on it).

[Moontide]

Have a Lagoon 470 cat and have found that most of the time a minor change in speed has a disproportionate change in the comfort of the ride. Sometimes better to speed up, other times to slow down a little. Sometimes just a 10 degree course change is enough. Just have to experiment when the ride gets bumpy.

Bill

[donradcliffe]

Just premedicate the crew and don't let them below and you will be fine. The rolly part should only take about 3 hours and its an enjoyable sail. They would probably get sicker on the ferry.

[admiralslater]

Originally Posted by 2Hulls

Assuming typical wind, once he gets out of the lee of Grenada this route will be very much hard on the wind and require tacking to lay the entrance to Hillsborough. May as well motor along the shore and motor sail in the header coming around the north end of the island, then make the best you can upwind. Here's betting the hired Captain will motor all the way....

Dave

I have done it both ways .The motoring toward Windward and then heading heading north is actually quite a nice sail .If you throw in a hitch when you get a little lee from the small islands you can sail though them . Its a bit bouncy but it makes you fell like you have been sailing.
But you know what we do 100% time.

[805gregg]

15 NM you are not going to have enough time to worry, 3 hrs tops

[monte]

Yeah definitely just sail it and enjoy the ride. Another option is to stop at Ronde along the way to give them a break. Last trip up we had 1.5m swells and NE wind. We had to tack most of the way from st Georges and stopped at Ronde around sunset. I think we left st Georges around mid day. The guide recommends motorsailing close to the north coast of Grenada to make some way to windward before sailing. I saw a couple of yachts doing that but I wouldn't recommend it, besides, motoring makes me seasick 🤑

[Sail IC]

I sailed back and fourth in the Caribbean for a year now, including your stretch three times (one time single handed) in the smaller sister to the Salina, the Orana. If you have decent experience from your Hunter 39, you'll do very fine.


My advice to you would me to sail, not motor, even if its upwind. More comfortable and in my view faster. Don't point too high, make sure you do at least 7 knots, and the ride will be alright. The boat will probably slam from time to time, but they are built to take that punishment.


Check passageweather before you leave so you don't have the reef in unprotected waters. Too little sail is also not good as it doesn't give enough drive into the waves.


Enjoy

[alansmith]

Have them eat some real fishy tacos before you leave so that you can post Youtube videos of them barfing their brains out. It is a real sport amongst good friends to see who barfs first and asks for bat to head for merciful death.

That is a very short hop and don't overthink it. As others have said...premedicate 2-3 hours before departure and keep them out of the cabins.

[monte]

Originally Posted by Sail IC

I sailed back and fourth in the Caribbean for a year now, including your stretch three times (one time single handed) in the smaller sister to the Salina, the Orana. If you have decent experience from your Hunter 39, you'll do very fine.


My advice to you would me to sail, not motor, even if its upwind. More comfortable and in my view faster. Don't point too high, make sure you do at least 7 knots, and the ride will be alright. The boat will probably slam from time to time, but they are built to take that punishment.


Check passageweather before you leave so you don't have the reef in unprotected waters. Too little sail is also not good as it doesn't give enough drive into the waves.


Enjoy

Have to agree on sailing, although NE can make it a bit slower, it's still preferable to motoring. Here's our track from last month