Attempted Trip to Bermuda

[chuckt]

I just found this thread and enjoyed it immensely! I've perused this forum for a while now but have never posted. I've got more sailing background than BO but admit I have never been in blue water and the boats I've sailed were pretty basic. But I've been out in some hard blows (in coastal waters) and logged a fair number of hours in a 39' sloop on the Pamlico Sound. I say good for you man. I may be risking a lashing but a newbie can get away with a lot if he sticks to coastal sailing which BO has done. He's obviously got some common sense which goes a long way. Come on guys. It is not as hard or as dangerous as some make out (at least where he has gone so far). He's had a pretty fair shakedown I'd say. He has learned to pay attention to weather and charts and that's most of the safety one needs right there.

Maybe you should think about a Bahamas crossing when you are ready. (but you're not ready yet). Its a lot shorter. You have to improve your location awareness and boat handling though. Its one thing to run aground in the mud or sand. Its another to run aground on rock or coral.

For what its worth, I think its awesome what you've done so far. But my mentality may be closer to yours than others. I'm a bit of a risk taker and probably don't have as much sense of preservation as I should. And I like doing new challenging stuff. You've gotten some great advice. I ditto learing about reefing, some better nav aids and heaving to. And whoever said hook up with someone making the crossing in another boat gave some great advice (hook up with someone who has a lot more experience).

I suspect BO has learned more than we can tell by reading the posts. I don't believe at all that he is a troll. Maybe he has used some poetic license and left some stuff out but that just makes for a better tale!

Finally BO, I can tell solo is not the best way for you to sail. I think that's a big reason you aren't enjoying it more. You need your wife, or a crewman, or at least a dog. Or at least know you are working to the point where you feel comfortable taking the responsibility that comes with adding a companion. In the meantime, reach out to the boats and persons around you. You've actually done a good bit of that already. Sailors are a pretty friendly lot.

I hope you keep going. Really think about taggin along with someone headed to the Bahamas.

[chuckt]

Another idea is a trip to Fort Jefferson in the Tortugas. If you make sure the weather is nice for your round trip, it should be a safe trip. Gorgeous scenery down there.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by chuckt

Maybe you should think about a Bahamas crossing when you are ready. (but you're not ready yet). Its a lot shorter. You have to improve your location awareness and boat handling though. Its one thing to run aground in the mud or sand. Its another to run aground on rock or coral.

I am not familiar with Black Oaks locale (nor that end of the world in general!) - but I think a great idea for BO to re-evaluate his original goal of getting to Bermuda, not as a sign of "failure" but simply from having a better idea (for him, at this moment in time). If Plan A ain't fun - go to Plan B (and repeat as neccessary!).

Whether that is to the Bahamas or somewhere else is irrelevant - somewhere nice though, and with a bit of warm weather! .

[knottygurl]

303 pages, almost a novel in it's self.
You'd almost think that it's impossible to to just jump in and start sailing. Bumfuzzle did it, honeymoon did it, and I am sure there are more out there, I had lessons as a 13 yr old, sailed a few boats with my father till 15, then 30 yrs later bought a boat sailed it across two lakes and a canal system in the first week of may with a road map by my self and took me 9 days to do it, two of which i was bobbing around in the middle of lake Ontario with no wind and only what i figured to be 1/4 inch of gas in my tank left so it was only for the marina. I figured sailing into the dock un assisted me be stretching my abilities it a bit.
Then when i look back now going into my third season it was the dumbest thing I ever did.
Sure I could have taken a refresher course like my friend told me about, but that wasn't going to happen for another month, I could have read books to refresh that way, and I tried while driving up to look at the boat which was 8 hours away.
Long story short, i bought it that day huge wind storm 70mph+, knocked boats over in cradles and the next morning i was painting bottom kote xxx, I bought what i figured i needed and launched boat. At 8 am next day I was under way.

I could have but if I waited I most likely would not have it was just the right thing to do at that time so as a student and Graduate of the school of hard knocks I'd also like to congratulate Black Oak on his up coming Graduation..
Who Yaa

If you ever find your way i the Great Lakes you will be sailing in some of the nicest scenery you will ever take in.

[sabray]

You do not enter a distress situation in need of a tow and not disclose your real situation. Lets applaud oak for going at it but. He is now getting towed because its easier then dealing with the situation. Then he is towed with a working engine and is not happy how he was delivered to the dock.
Could he make Bermuda sure.. Is he showing any sense of responsibility? No. resourcefulness? No. Command of the situation? No it's just hope,wish and luck that his sea tow policy will follow.
I bet I would enjoy sailing with oak but guess he is not prepared for this water stuff .or else he is having great fun writing in his preferred style.

[Rocketman]

Ok, everybody, lets calm down alittle. I have spent the last two days with Blackoak, and I want to tell everyone, Blackoak is for real, he is not an imaginary person posting on this forum to get attention.

Lets get down to the facts. Blackoak had a goal when he started this voyage. He needed to get back to Bermuda so he could get his passport renewed. The story is long and twisted but Blackoak has spent most of his life in the USA, served in the Navy, worked as a truckdriver for 25+ years and still is not concidered a US citizen. Go Figer. So how do you get to Bermuda without a valid passport? Sail yourself? Maybe? How hard can it be? The rest of the srory is what you have here.

Now after these 2 days, I have found Blackoak to be a great friend and not a risk taker. Quite the opposite. He is very concerned about almost everything, but willing to go forward with some direction. He doesn't know a whole lot about sailing, boating, or anything else to do with cruising, but I would bet money he knows more then anyone else who has only spent less then a couple of months near any water.

We have worked on his boat since he came to Marco Island, it needed some minor repairs, the engine fuel system needed some work, the sails need some work, the anchoring needs some work and so on but he is making it work. If anyone out there knows were there is a servicalbe main sail for his boat, please let us know. His current main sail is made of something that resembles PVC material that you would make a dinghy out of. After we raised the main sail today and sailed it, so much air was spilling off the trailing edge it would hardly move the boat. So, even though the sail looks OK, it isn't. Everything else is serviceable. He has a GPS that must me 15 years old, and will tell you the Long/Lat but little else, so I am trying to talk him into a Cartplotter. I can tell he isn't convinced of this yet so we will see.

So right now, Blackoak has his boat for sale. He is also continuing his journey until he sells his boat, or his money runs out. I have a feeling, that he wants to continue until his money runs out, but is also missing his family, so who knows who will win this battle. I think he has enough money to make it to his final destination if not to many things go wrong. Right now, I think he can make it.

[Jim Cate]

Rocketman, thanks for that on site evaluation. Clears the air a bit, at least for me. And thanks for taking him under your wing. It's the kind of thing that yotties do for each other at all levels of skill, and one of the aspects of the life that keeps us interested and going on.

And just to show where I am on the BO criticism scale... I think that his entry into coastal cruising was too quick, but that he has muddled through and will likely continue to learn and improve his skill set. Will he make it to Bermuda? Who knows? But I credit him for hanging in there and I for one hope that he gets there (intact)!

Cheers,

Jim

[Sumner]

Originally Posted by Rocketman

.. He has a GPS that must me 15 years old, and will tell you the Long/Lat but little else, .

Which GPS is it? I'd sure like to help him get setup to at least use the laptop for planning and downloading waypoints into a GPS. Also if we had something that might help him would you possibly be a mail drop for him if we PM'd you?

He and I talked at some length the other day on the phone and I really enjoyed the conversation and told Ruth that if we were in his neighborhood at some point I'm sure we would be friends. I can somewhat relate to him as Ruth and I just started sailing with no experience and did some pretty dumb things on our trips and still do at times. We're too old to ever be good sailors, but we aren't too old to still have some fun and adventure,

Sum

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Our Endeavour 37

Our MacGregor 26-S Pages

Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Mac-Venture Links

[CapnZiggy]

Earlier...

"BlackOak;
Just a quick update.....

Saturday night? SHEAR TERROR...winds at 15 to 20 knots, seas 4ft - 7ft, cloudy. There I was...zero sailing experience, zero open ocean experience, old boat I knew almost nothing about, being tossed around like a ceasar salad on the waves. All I could do was sit down in the middle of the sole and get religion. This little tempest went on for about 15 hours, and moved my little boat all over the place, sideways, thissaway and thattaway, till I realized, this was my time to die, and it would be here in the open ocean...why I cried...why did i do this stupid faking idiotic thing to get in a boat and go into the ocean, all alone, out in the middle of nowhere. This all night long, and into the morning did I plead, cried, screamed, beg God for mercy. I call the coast guard on the VHS and said...will someone PLEASE help me! Where are you at...and all the normal details, vessel name, long lat, description, name, how many people on board...and all the time I just asked Where is LAND...I need LAND!! I was weak, sleep deprived, in total terror. The CG guy said, "You are 85 miles from Ft Pierce, and 35 miles from Hommasass" I asked where is hommassas, CG says...due east..u gota a compass? yes I do..he said go east. I turned the boat due east....35 miles and 17 hours later...dark again, cold north wind, seas 2 to 4 feet, clear night..as I watched the last rays of the sun sink into the west...crab pot bouys ahead for as far as I could see, i dodged them all...ah a light in the distance..I headed for the light and LAND...depth finder beeping..7 ft.....I got a 5ft draft.....beep beep beep...6ft. Dropped anchor, 10 miles due west of the hommasssa river. I went to bed, CG called me and ask my position, just as I dozed off...I said I was anchored, gave him my lats/longs...he said great, be sure you have ALL your nav lights on, I said ok and went to sleep..or tired to go to sleep...chain locker rattling, squeeks and moans from the boat, fish flopping, and every few seconds it felt like someone was yanking the front of the boat real hard. Tried to sleep, but only short cat naps maybe 5 or 10 minutes long. Thought I heard people talkin on deck...jumped up the stairs and only the wind rattling through the riggins was there. Around 5am this morning, I go to crank up the motor...batteries FLAT...nothing....short end of the story...called tow boat, an 12 hours and $1050.00 later, here i sit in Crystal River at Petes Pier tied to the dock. At least I can get a decent nights sleep.

For ALL you romantics that want to go a-sailing in ships..stay the fak on land! Cause being out there all alone being tossed around, with no place to go is the most terrfying situation you will ever imagine!!!.....

That post was bouncing in my head for a long time, almost from "day one", when I've spotted BO tale.
And I am NOT judging BO story to be truth-or-fiction. Not at all.
I am seriously upset with the "coaststies" from Florida West Coast.
Look at them!
Here is disoriented sailor crying via air waves from the top of his lungs for help, and they calmly giving him "baloney" about distance to Ft. Pierce (is there Ft. P. on the West Coast?), and advising - go East sailor, go East.
Next, they advising BO to fire up ALL nav. lights. Jokers IMHO. Wouldn't anchor light suffice?
They didn't bother to come (just 10 n.m. from the river inlet) to check on desperate sailor*.
Not sure what to make from this...

``````````````````````````````````
Back in days, I called tow-boat 20 25 n.m. from Beaufort, N.C. Inlet.
After 4 hours tow-boat came back on radio with information, that sea condition is forcing him to turn back. Not later than 5 min. CG from Fort Macon (apparently they are monitoring such events as call for tow) came on radio, and after assessing my situation, dispatched their cutter to give me a tow.
Here on the Great Lakes they relentlessly calling every boat to keep sharp look-out, even if some "yahoo" is missing with his jest-ski. The search continue until them call it off.

So what is wrong with the West Coast?
Are we not paying enuff in taxes?

Brother Oak, keep posting.
I wish, that you would keep us updated every day, even if noting interesting happened that particular day.
(love your writing , some others not so )
Cudos to "rocketman", I would love to meet him too, perhaps not for oil change, but swapping stories and shooting the breeze in general, with single malt in hand.

* catchy title for upcoming novel?
(hope to get credit for it)

[Richard_W]

I am seriously upset with the "coaststies" from Florida West Coast.
Look at them!
Here is disoriented sailor crying via air waves from the top of his lungs for help, and they calmly giving him "baloney" about distance to Ft. Pierce (is there Ft. P. on the West Coast?), and advising - go East sailor, go East.
Next, they advising BO to fire up ALL nav. lights. Jokers IMHO. Wouldn't anchor light suffice?
They didn't bother to come (just 10 n.m. from the river inlet) to check on desperate sailor*.
Not sure what to make from this...

Their mission has changed in the last decade or so ... they do not tow boats anymore unless it is an evidence (accident, drugs, smuggling, etc).

[Bijimini]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Ive generally stayed out of this thread, Im not a fan of the " just go for it" approach, I used to teach sailing etc, the experiences of the OP is not uncommon and often results in people leaving the sport. This is especially true for women crew of male skippers, who undertake passages neither is prepared for and often results in it being their last.

I think that those that applaud derring do etc are severly mis-informed. I happen to know many adventurers, ranging from Mercenaries, extreme mountain climbers, Antartic sailers etc, All can be characterised by the diligence they prepared, trained and prepared their ground. THEN , they did the derring do stuff and generally survived to tell the tall tales to the likes of me.

Dave

I think that BlackOak's entries illustrate this. Fortunately he hasn't run into any serious (i.e., life threatening) conditions, and he is learning the importance of the basics--for example anchoring techniques. This could be the theme of an article he might publish some day based on these experiences.

[chuckt]

Thanks for helping him Rocketman. The mainsail sounds atrocious. Someone must have a spare one they could part with. Not close to anything I have. Looks like he needs 35.16 by 12.5.

I am all for his adventure. A bit scared of him doing a crossing by himself but he seems to be improving his skill-set rapidly.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by chuckt

Thanks for helping him Rocketman.

+1

[BlackOak]

Yesterday started out well enough, a hot shower, a real toilet, some good coffee and a cig. I did some piddling on the boat, just some new toggle switches, and pulled the hoses off the manual lift pump, as Rocketman was on the way with the new re-threaded lift pump to put on.

The idea of going into this somewhat murky green water to check the prop for barnacules was foremost on my mind. I wasnt looking forward to doing that. I have scuba'd before, (I am NASDS open water certified) but scuba'd in places with almost gin clear water, even a few lakes in arkansas I have dived the viz is 30 to 40 feet. This wasnt gonna be one of those situations, and it made me feel uncomfortable.

John (Rocketman) called me on the phone, and I dingy'd over to the dock to pick him up. We got the new lift pump on, and after a couple of trys and tweaking, the motor fired off just fine. Ran the motor for a time and made sure all was copacetic. Now was the time I knew I would be getting wet. As we dingy'd back to the dock, the talk was of going under my boat. I think John knew I felt uncomfortable about it, and he offered to make the dive. No, I said, summoning my what bravado I had, its my responsibility and I need to see the bottom of my boat.

We got to John's boat, and he handed me a wet suit and booties, I went below and put it on, all the while growing more and more uncomfortable with the idea. I got the suit on, it was a little big for me, but it kinda fit. John had gathered the equipment I would need. A suction cup, an abrasive pad, and gloves. We wrapped the bc to the tank, hooked up the regulator. We put everything in the dingy, mask, fins, weightbelt, etc and headed back to my boat. I donned the gear with some effort and tried to appear nonchalant. John handed me the fins, and they were a little too big for my feet, and I put them on. Sitting there on the edge of the achillies, knowing that very soon, I would be in the murky green water, I was thinking of how I could forego this whole mess, and graciously back out of the situation, but could not think of a thing. Finalily, as I threw myself backwards off the dingy and into the water, the last think in my mind before I hit the water was, why in the (explitive) did I ever buy this sailboat. The water was so cold, and magnified my fear, it took my breath away. I must of sucked half the air out of my tank as I wildly flapped my arms and kicked with my feet for the surface, as I did not want to sink to the bottom some unknown feet below me. I grabbed the side of the dingy and for a moment felt safe. John was there looking at me, apparently unmoved at what he just witnessed. Ok, I thought, I am in the water, step one accomplished. Now it was time to go check the prop. After a little procrastination, and discussion as to the coldness of the water with John, I filled the bc with more air so I would not sink. John commented that he thinks I lost one of his flippers. I reached down with my free hand and felt my feet, yup, sure enough, one was missing. I stretched out my other leg and pointed my fippered foot towards the dingy and asked john to take this one. I looked around, thinking I would see the other floating nearby, no such luck. Dont they float I asked John, he said nope. It had been some 20 years since I last made a dive, and I couldnt remember if a fin would float or not. Now I am feelin bad about the lost fin, on top of being in this cold murky green ass water.

After apologizing profusely, it was time to get to the business of checking my prop for barnacules. I sorta breaststroked over to the back of my boat, and grabbed onto the rudder. I hung to it for a time, still immensely uncomfortable about going under the water. There is a feeling of safeness when one can see all around them clearly, but that quickly departs when your head goes beneath the water, or in my case, my face.

I slowly deflated the BC and sunk myself down to the prop. The prop didnt look all that bad. I saw a thin layer of brown growth, and maybe 3 or 4 small barnacles attached. I checked for any string or rope wrap on the shaft, and there was none. Ok, I thought, mission accomplished, I saw the prop and it was fine, good now I can go up into the daylight and report this to John.

I inflated the bc and rose to the top, told John what I saw. I think he asked if I cleared the barnacles off, but I dont remember my reply, though I remember fishing for the knife attached to the BC, and couldnt get to it, so John reached down and pulled it out for me and handed it back to me open. Well **** I thought, now I have to go back and scrape off them few barnacles, oh well, Im already wet and I know my way to the prop now, so back I went. I scrapped off the prop all the foreign object, ran my hand along and around the blades to make sure I didnt miss anything, and went back to the dingy. How did the keel look asked John, it looked fine I said, though I only saw a couple of feet of it, from where I was at the prop cleaning. No I didnt actually go beneath the boat, nor did the idea of it compell me to do so. What I saw, I reasoned was a good indication of what the rest of the keel looked like. That reasoning also provided me a way out of more of this in the water stuff.

I got back to the dingy, and hung to it. I heard John say, " I think you lost that fin over here in this area. Its probably right down there on the bottom somewhere." HUH?!! I thought to myself. He is suggesting I go to the bottom to retrive the fin? Well, ok I guess, it would be the right thing to do....even though I cant see more than 2 feet away from my face...I will go take a look.

Now this is from my perspective....I let some air out of the BC and started to sink, I stretched out and started kicking and was looking down towards the bottom, couldnt see anything further than my arms length. I felt I had submerged a few feet, and still couldnt see anything. So, it was like OK, I cant see the fin and back to the surface I went. Now...what probably really happened, now that I think about it was, I didnt go any deeper than a few inches, kicking only pushed me further away from the dingy, not down.

When my head was out of the water, I reported to John, nope I cant see it, then quickly added ( to cover my whimping out), just take me to any dive shop ya want, and I will buy you a any new pair of flippers ya want, no matter the cost! John said, nah dont worry about it they werent that expensive, but I knew he was just being kind, as is his nature as I have discovered over the past couple of days. I really feel awful about losing his fin, an will make up for his lost, but still I feel, even more degraded for being a first class pussy, but not so much as I will attempt to go to the bottom of this bay to find his fin. There are somethings in life that will carry in ones thoughts a long time, and feeling bad for the lost of a persons property, because of my own chickenshitness, this memory will last a long time.

John helped me back into the dingy, and we headed back to the dock and his boat. we put away the scuba stuff, then went back to my boat to take it out for a little sailing. We cleared the Capri Pass, and last marker. We hoisted the main with some difficulity, reason being, my boat has some quirks, John's unfamialirty with the quirks, I know the quirks but have really practiced working them out in a timely manner, but shortly on we were good to go.

The main was up as best we go get it, we rolled out the genoa. The wind was fair out of the southeast, and we were on a southwest tack. John at the helm moved the boat for the best position, and off we went. I was sitting on the port cockpit bench, I could feel the boat start to heel starboard, and heel more, then more, and things below on the table started to slide. Ever been a frontseat passenger in a car, and the driver coming up to a redlight with a car in front of him, and you start pressing your feet on the floorboard of the car in like a braking motion? well that was me, in the passenger seat of this boat. Though my efforts, pressing my feet against the starboard bench did not lessen the heeling action I was feeling. The boat was layed over pretty good, what was a few momnets ago on the table in the salon, was now on the floor. I think I would of felt more at ease being at the bottom of the bay looking for the lost flipper at this point. I looked back at John at the helm, and with his big wide grin, said, THIS IS SAILING! Holy Crap! I thought, we gonna flip over... The starboard toe rail wasnt far above the water from my perspective, we was heeled over more than any thing I had experienced this whole trip, or in my whole life. Now I have thrown my harley into some very tight curves, and drug my pegs on the asphalt quite a few times. I have even been leaned over on my harley enough to scrape my highway pegs, which sit a little higher on the bike, but it pales in comparison to this "sailing" thing we were doing in John's announcement. Even the storm I went through coming out of St Marks my first night out, the boat leaned over a few time, then went upright again quickly, but this was prolonged leaning. Dont worry John said, we cant flip over, and that put me a little more at ease. After a few minutes of being heeled like we were, I got sorta used to it and it wasnt bad really.

John explained to me ( as I remember it ), that a boat of my keel configuration, will heel over only so far, before the rudder comes out of the water, and basically looses steerage, and the boat will automatically right itself and gets into the wind instead of off the wind, before the rudder catches enough water again for steerage....something like that. I understand the concept, even if I didnt expalin it correctly as I heard John's explaination. I had heard the term, "washing the decks" from Captain Fred while I was in Crystal River, as in his younger days as a boy growing up with sailboats on the Massachusett coast, did alot of deckwashing on old wooden boats. I believe, my boat will "deckwash" long before the rudder looses steerage, an experience I have no desire to be involved with.

We sailed around abit yesterday, and John made some instructive comments and advice about my boat and the mainsail. Then we headed back to the docks. We got back and we sorta straighten up my boat, and called it a day. It was a full day, and I was tired. John opened the bar on his boat, and we sat and chatted on into the late evening. I dingy'd back to my boat, and straighten up the mess from the "heeling", checked my emails, and threw myself into the vberth and fell into a deep sleep. Best sleep I have had in a while. Nothing throughout the night woke me from that deep sleep. Really feel bad about that lost flipper..............

[svHyLyte]

Originally Posted by BlackOak

Yesterday started out well enough, a hot shower, a real toilet, some good coffee and a cig. I did some piddling on the boat, just some new toggle switches, and pulled the hoses off the manual lift pump, as Rocketman was on the way with the new re-threaded lift pump to put on.

....we sat and chatted on into the late evening. I dingy'd back to my boat, and straighten up the mess from the "heeling", checked my emails, and threw myself into the vberth and fell into a deep sleep. Best sleep I have had in a while. Nothing throughout the night woke me from that deep sleep. Really feel bad about that lost flipper..............

Gary--

I'm glad to see you've resumed your ascent of the Learning Curve. Trust me, it does flatten out eventually.

From Rocket Man's description, it sounds like you could use a replacement Main Sail. You might put a call in to Atlantic Sail Traders in Sarasota at (941) 957-0999. They might have a used sail that's still in reasonably good shape that would work for you. If so, and you can put it on a credit card, we can figure a way to get it down to you. A better sail will allow you to trim the boat up and sail more comfortably (you'll get used to the heeling, it's part of the process). You've actually got a pretty good boat so, if you can hang in for awhile longer, you'll do fine.

Cheers,

s/v HyLyte

PS: PM me about the sail if you find one.