Crew Wanted: For Out-of-the-Way Places, West-About

[Michael D]

Want to visit Oz or perhaps return to Oz?

Starting August 2010 south to S. California then further south to Galapagos, Easter Island, Juan Fernandez Islands for the winter (their summer). Subsequently back north and west to some S. Pacfic islands and on to Australia that portion is open to planning. Newly refitted and upgraded boat in lieu of ruby slippers.

Watch this space for more information, photos etc. starting about March/April 2010



In the meantime I'll try and posta couple photos in the appropriate forum.

Cheers

Michael aka Krabben Knekker which should tell you what kind ofboat if I have my Norske correct.

[anjinsan]

Ill sign on from Southern California to Catalina Island. I am so thrilled over this opportunity, I'm listing my boat on Craig's list tomorrow, Divorcing my wife who is half my age and buying a book on Knots and stuff....been waiting a long time for this!!

[BIG JOE]

I'm interested let me know as you get closer to shoving off. What kind, of boat what year, and most important what experience do you have with such a long journey if I may ask.

[lightstreetmike]

I'm interested as well. 37 year old non-smoking male with around 10,000 atlantic/caribbean sailing miles under my belt. Living in Baltimore at the moment but may be driving west this winter to do some skiing. Keep me posted of your plans. Where are you (the boat) currently located?

Cheers, Mike

[Michael D]

Well to start with thirty plus years on and off with 100 ton Master license with ofcourse sailing endorsement, Able Bodied Seaman Unlimeted and Able Bodied Sail. Currently doing one last trip on a tanker to say where I'm at....Nov through early March 'at sea.' When done I'll have been on every body of water too include the Southern Ocean, except the three B's - Baltic, Bering, and Black, the White Sea and Hudson Bay.

From Port Townsend WA where the boat is currently located I've done four down the coast trips, Hawaii and Alaska sailing and too may to count on freighters and tankers. Crewed on a 70' schooner in the CRISR and various other events. Furthest trans-Oceanic on OP boats was out to New Zealand. From the tall ship Alvei, 50' stays'l schooner Victory and 28' cutter PaTyLee. That's also the longest. French Polynesia, N. Cook Islands (Suvarov) American Samoa, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and NZ. How I am doing.

At one point I wanted a boat which would do safe blue water plus be able to gunkhole and transit rivers and canals at destination points. Someone mentioned the european twin keel boats so I gave the a try. The first was a Westerly Centaur the current a Westerly Berwick 31. Both with Lloyds Blue Water certifications. The Centaur is stll the class record holder with two circumnavigations under previous owners and is currently still sailed by the son of one of the first circumnav crew. In the PugetSound, Bainbridge Island area look for S/V LookFar.

The Berwick has undergone an extensive upgrade refit. For one it got bridge deck at the forward end ofthe cockpit. All new plumbing, electrical from scratch featuring a 6 volt battery systemin two banks, solar and wind gen. Second fuel and water tanks, Major rigging upgrade including Selden boomer and hard vang, Four lower shrouds, Baby stay replaced with removable inner jib stay. Upper shroud chainplates moved to outside of hull from midpoint of sidedeck. new ProFurl up forward and double back stays, one an antenna for the ham/marine band. Whew!...Double slab reefing with running bacstays available, ALL new sails featuring a loosefoot full batten main.... Radar, radar detector, AIS receiver, Icom 502 VHF....and that's just a beginning. Lessee anchors? Rocna, Bulwagga, Spade and folding Admiralty Patent. 120' of chain on a new electric/manual winch with lots of synthetic brait rode. Water maker. New bow pulpit and stern rail/arch. Navico TP30 and wind vane">Aries wind vane.... dinghy, folbot, folding bicycle, Life raft and related items...... That's enough. Oh and a KiwiProp.

D__mn,no wonder it took me so long.

Right now it's at Goldstar Marine or at PT Rigging in Port Townsend WA getting cabin wndows redone, the rudder pulled and serviced and oh yeah it had a re-conversion from wheel back to tiller.

I'm done but I'm sure I forgot a bunch of stuff... But then I've had theadvice of multiple sailing BBS and in person sailing friends.

After all that I find I'm still learning.....

Film at eleven.

Michael

[Michael D]

sorry bout the typos I can't seem to locate the edit button.

Two more.

Twin Keel boats are nick named crabcrunchers which roughly translated to Norske...Krabb or Krabben Knekker

and I did forget to mention French Press coffee and an Engel M40 fridge/freezer chest. This boat, the last one I'll do probably is the BMW/Mercedes version. The previous were very plain vanilla.

M.

Hmmm? this one had an edit function .....oh well

[BIG JOE]

DAMM MIKE, I just was asking... Boy you have so much experience you don't even need anyone else... Well I am the opposite but I'm learning constantly by racing in local regatta's I went the Block Island races this year and got a ride on a J-122 which won for the week (I can't say what boat due to the fact that I wasn't supposed to be on it, but they were short one and new I was dying for a ride). I am also going to the Key West Races this coming January and am enrolling in a week long course for racing and liveaboard with the J School.
So you have to much experience and I have barely any, what a perfect combonation. I'M IN DAMMIT!!!!
The only thing is the size of the boat, 31 boy are you gonna be rockin and rollin right? Oh how long will this cruise be?
Well I would love to learn from a skipper like you so keep me on the short list of prospects please.

[Michael D]

I have very little racing experience. BUT when I didI learned a lot from the iracers. Sail Trim and handling especially. The rerigging and new sails are of the bullet proof Port Townsend variety but any racer will find everything they are used to having except jib sheet tracks (down the road item) and a bendy mast.

With these racer types I learned that good and constant sail trimming translated to cruising is not measured in tenths of a second but maybe 1/2 to 1 knot per hour. Translated into a long voyage segment of thirty days.....12 to 24 extra nautical miles per day cuts the voyage significantly. Add that to the gain from the feathering KiwiProp and that one knot gain is very possible.

Sail handling procedures and positioning of equipment (ergonomically and within practicality) is another area heavily influenced by racers. In my practice sessions on any boat I try to break each evolution into sections and find the most efficient way to accomplish it all. The hard part is switching from doing it all to dividing the jobs suitably.

I don't aim for a marker buoy but a land fall so staying on course or as much as possible on the trackline is important. Straying out of the way just adds to the voyage length.

Finally properly trimmed sails exhibit much less wear and tear. No time savings but huge expense savings.

Both or rather all sides of sailing have much to contribute.

By the way it's set up for singlehanding or single watchstanding where much can be done without leaving the cockpit. But not all.

In short learning is a two way street.

The boat rolls probably as much as any 31 footer but the design is particularly sea kindly. Doesn't much bother me and the worst so far on h26' version was cutting the Columia River's Peacock shoal a hair to close and going over the bar a bit to much north of center channel. The design doesn't broach I noticed LOL. Anyway I don't get mal de mer so it was more like a roller coaster ride.

Length of Time? About four years Washington to Florida. Longer if I want. For down the west coast allow two weeks. Mid Aug with the Pacific NW Cruisers Party as the send off, to Mid Sep. After San Diego it gets longer no matter which route. But like parts of the east coast if you can handle it you can handle anything. Biggest differences are direction of current and the whole West Coast is a lee shore. Helluva good training ground though. Can do the whole thing nonstop or harbor hop. I'll have two have-to dates in California (Gordon West School and a cruisers party on Catalina) prior to departing Taxifornia.

The rest is fill in the blanks and allow for weather.

Caveats. No drinking at sea...no drugs at all ...and I'm a reformed non-smoker. Don't talk politics or religion either. Always gets me into trouble.

Experience no matter how much is always a plus...but none or not much is not some kinda deal breaker. We all had to start somewhere.

OK more in March/April....I'm going to work. 2010, social security and sailing every day beckons

Ya'll have a great winter!

Michael D

[Vasco]

Originally Posted by Michael D

1/2 to 1 knot per hour.

D

????????????

[High Heels]

I just looked your boat up in our 'The Westerly Story' book...The Berwick looks like a great boat with more head room below than our Fulmar. We have had great fun with our Fulmar and have been gunkholing for the last couple years on the Neuse and Pamlico Rivers in NC and Pamlico Sound to Ocracoke recently. She handled like a champ in 20-25 knots and four foot waves...Ours is a fin keel.

I am a little anxious to see how she performs in higher winds...have you had The Berwick out in 30-40 knot winds or more? How did she do if you have?

I love the Westerlys...and am glad a Fulmar was the first boat that was mine and my husbands!

[Michael D]

Vasco - Having the ability i.e. equipment to fully trim a sail and then doing so provides a gain in speed. The increase depends on type of hull, conditions, and how the boat is handled. For a racer most course lengths are short compared a cruisers voyage segment. So a racer might gain just enough of an increase to win by tenths of a second. They fight for every second and every tenth of a second. A cruiser is often out for days, weeks, or months on just one 'leg' or segment of a voyage. But the idea of keeping the sails trimmed is the same. The difference is not seconds but days.

Example. About 2400 nm west coast to Hawaii. At five knots average speed or 480 hours and disregarding tacks and so forth thats 20 days.

By keeping the sails trimmed as do racers you should gain at least 1/2 knot per hour average speed perhaps more.

The second way is replacing a fixed prop with a folding or in my case feathering prop. This time reduced drag increases speed.

The effect is not one plus the other but synergistic meaning they each complement the other so the total effect is greater than simply adding one to the other.

But to keep it simple since its late and this keyboard is dyslectic let' call the total effect one knot and THAT is easily obtained.

Now divide 2400 nm by 6 knots per hour average speed which is 400 hours or less tha 17 days. People feel free to correct the math in the example.

In real life it isn't all that easy as it depends on any number of factors but doing just those two things will increase speed and decrease start to finish time be it a club race or a sail out to Hawaii.

Decreasing wear and tear is an added bonus.

and a big thank you to all you racers especially the Old Farts Thusday race at Dana Point.

M.

PS For winds see the answer to High Heels

[Vasco]

Michael,

I think you missed my point. A knot is one nautical mile per hour therefore if you write knots per hour you are really saying miles per hour per hour which is units of accelleration. Sailors never say knots per hour. It is a mistake landlubbers make.

[Michael D]

As you said. Kinda like calling a chart a map or saying The El Dorado or The la comida. No excuse. My apologies for the fox paws.

I'm gonna go get a flu shot now...

hasta la later

Miguel

[Julie Poch]

I'm not sure how many people you are looking for but I am interested as well!! My sailing experience would i guess be qualified in the 'starting somewhere' category Which means no bad habits! (trying to put a positive spin on the fact that i don't know have much experience!)

[Michael D]

For a31' boat hull one or two at the most unless it's overnight or day sailing. That too will happen next summer prior to leaving Pac NW. Wouldn't be that bad for one long sail down the coast to S. Cal with or without stops but there you're really talking one or two again. Although it doesn't have to be one long nonstop run.

After that it's both long and far.

Keep in mind you have to think about traveling to and then from the boat's location. Out of the US think about innoculations, passports etc. Also no 'hard' luggage must be able to roll it up for storage.

Now since a lady asked think about things like personal hygiene and 'primping.' Temperate zone it's 1/2 gal. water per day per person. Tropics double that. Cooking, Washing dishes, washing self.....drinking all comes out of that allowance. I'm at 50 gal in tanks, probably 30 more in other storage containers and a 1.5 gal per hour water maker IF the engine is running.

Also for the longer segments bear in mind you can't get further than 31 feet from any one or two others. Geneally this is solved by rotating seawatches AND by providing some space that can be, at least part of the day, private be alone space.

Get a hold of one of those books written by the sailing ladies and from their viewpoint. Plenty of time I'm now scheduled to depart on/about Nov 5 or 6. Four months clear for researching and thinking about it.

There you go.

Michael