Atlantic Crossing - 22ft. E Boat

[e-minor]

I'm thinking of a single handed crossing of the Atlantic, setting out from the UK in a 22ft E boat - lift keel cruiser/racer. Anyone out there tried a similar mad venture in this size of craft. Love to hear about your experiances.
Cheers, Mike

[motion30]

Its been nice to know you

[Mark Johnson]

DON'T DO IT!
M.

[MarkJ]

People have done it in a bathtub.

But others had died.

You might die.

Prepared for that?

[boatman61]

Before you do that... why don't you put your name down for the 2012 Jester Azores Challenge... 27th May 2012
Its an informal 1500mile race run from Plymouth to Pria de Vittoria, Terciera in the Azores... a good way to test both you and your boat... free entry...
If you and the boat survive the Solo factor in this you'll know you can handle the Trans atlantic....
If the boats in good order and you've the skills... I see no reason its not achieveable... uncomfortable... maybe... depending on your priorites..
Should add... the weakness in soloing lies not with the boat but the person....

[doug86]

suggest you read this book:
Amazon.com: Tinkerbelle: Robert Manry: Books

He did it West to East in a 13' boat.

[Pete7]

Mike hi and welcome to the forum.

Peeps have crossed in 22 foot boats, indeed there is a group of Altantic Rowers who use 21 foot boats to cross oceans. A quick look at the E Boat Asso site suggests its been done before, so possible.

But, this is a little worrying:

The cause of "She of Rathan" 's knockdown is less certain. What is certain is that the two boats that sank did so because water entered the swamped boat via the keelbox and the lower half of the companionway (and in one case through the aft locker whose lid, unsecured, had been lost)

However, are you up to it?

Personally, I would choose something else and if cost is an issue then something like an Albin Vega or Contessa 26. Want some speed then ask Phil (Boatman61) about Tiki 26's.

Since its too late this year, suggest you have a read of John Vigors books:

http://www.johnvigor.com/Bookstore.html

and some on line reading:

http://www.atomvoyages.com/articles/boatlist.htm


Pete

[e-minor]

Hi,
Thanks. I never considerd that I might die. Anyway after after 40 years sailing and several single handed long distance trips I realy I'm interested in info about 22 footer crossings.
thanks.

[GorillaToast]

This guy recently did it in a 23 ft boat:

A Yarmouth23 Sailing Blog - “Eileen of Avoca” – The journal of a small sailing yacht.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by e-minor

Anyway after after 40 years sailing and several single handed long distance trips

On this forum we often, repeat OFTEN, get people with no experience asking these similar sort of questions.

So perhaps your initial post could have been more forthcoming. Perhaps you could be so now.



How long have those passages been and on what sort of boats?
Do you own the boat you're thinking of crossing with and whats your experience with it?



Mark

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Mike hi and welcome to the forum.

Peeps have crossed in 22 foot boats, indeed there is a group of Altantic Rowers who use 21 foot boats to cross oceans. A quick look at the E Boat Asso site suggests its been done before, so possible.

But, this is a little worrying:

The cause of "She of Rathan" 's knockdown is less certain. What is certain is that the two boats that sank did so because water entered the swamped boat via the keelbox and the lower half of the companionway (and in one case through the aft locker whose lid, unsecured, had been lost)

However, are you up to it?

Personally, I would choose something else and if cost is an issue then something like an Albin Vega or Contessa 26. Want some speed then ask Phil (Boatman61) about Tiki 26's.

Since its too late this year, suggest you have a read of John Vigors books:

Bookstore

and some on line reading:

Atom Voyages | Voyages Aboard the Sailboat Atom -* Good Old Boats List - choosing a* small voyaging sailboat


Pete

Sorry guys.... after the above thought this might make interesting reading....
its from another forum.... I've cut and pasted... likely start another war but... its more info and grist for the mill...
Some you win... some you lose....lol

Bob Beggs did well in a Tiki 26 in the OSTAR, but I think he wouldn't be allowed to race it now.

Fanie, you're definitely right about the need for safe interior space, not too constrained. Jones mentioned that a small open bridgedeck cat was excellent for that, since you had two hulls; each crew could go be alone if he or she felt the need.

Zed, I agree that there is more hope for recovery if a small mono is capsized. But there may be more to the story than that. The disaster for a mono is not capsize-- even if you lose the rig, as often happens, there's always a chance to jury rig something to limp home on. The disaster for a mono is sinking, which a cat sailor doesn't have to worry about. A violent capsize can rip off hatches and doghouses, leading to sinking. Even then, great seamanship and heroic effort can save a boat-- look at Tzu Hang, which capsized twice in the Roaring Forties, ripped open, and saved only by what seems almost superhuman effort. Another thing to bear in mind is that although capsize can be a disaster for a small cat, it takes a whole lot more energy to capsize a small cat than it does to capsize a small mono. Presumably any attempt to take a small cat across the Atlantic would be timed to provide the least risk of heavy weather. The beach cat came across on the tradewind run from east to west in 18 days. Their big concern was light weather, since they only had food for 17 days.

In the hurricane that Jones and his wife weathered in their modified Wharram Hinemoa, Two Rabbits, they were spotted by a good-sized, well-found, new fiberglass Dutch yacht, Banjo. Later that night, Banjo fell off a wave crest and split open. Despite the crew's best efforts, the boat sank, though they were lucky enough to be taken off without loss of life. As the storm reached its peak, Jones crawled across the deck to the windward hull, where he waited out the storm. When the storm had passed, they hoisted sail and headed back to the U.S coast. They had no gear breakages or other damage.

Your point about seaworthy cats possibly being slower than mini-transat boats is well taken. I don't know how it would work out, but it would be interesting to see the times. My feeling is that ingenuity would eventually lead to the cats being faster than the monos. For example, some sort of gunter main and a screecher on a prod might allow a lot of sail in light conditions, but you'd be able to reduce windage substantially in gale conditions. In any case, the cat would be far more comfortable than the mini-transat.

People forget, but the first Atlantic crossing by a cat was a boat only 23 and a half feet long, crudely built and sailed by a near-novice... I have to add that after that experience, Wharram built a 40 foot cat, which may tell us something.

I have to confess that much of my enthusiasm for multis comes from my overactive imagination. Whenever I've been out on blue water in a mono, I can't help thinking about all that black water that my corpse would be sinking down through to the bottom of the abyss, if something went badly wrong-- say, I hit a shipping container and the life raft didn't inflate.

I recently read a tragic book about a woman who was sailing around the world with her husband and two children in a big strong monohull. They were within 20 miles of the New Zealand coast, when an unlit freighter ran them down. Their son probably died in the collision, as his bunk was in the area crushed by the freighter. She, her husband, and their young daughter got out as the yacht sank, but the life raft had been torn away in the collision, so all they had to get into was a half-deflated dinghy. The husband had been off watch and had little clothing and began to suffer from hypothermia. The freighter did not stop, and the woman could see the faces of the crew watching her as they steamed away. The daughter was washed out of the dinghy, the husband went after her, but was unable to reach her before she drowned, and then he slipped under the waves. For a long time that morning, she could see her daughter's body drifting in the red lifejacket they'd put her in.

By a miracle, she survived and the currents carried her to shore, but it's a cautionary tale for anyone who puts too much faith in any particular kind of boat.

Sorry about writing so much, but it's a subject I find very interesting, though I don't know that I'd ever have the nerve to try crossing the Atlantic in a small cat.

[Blue Crab]

What's the big deal? It's been done on less boat and by apparently far less experienced sailors.

You could potentially save us all some expense and drama by leaving the EPIRB and Satphone at home. No malice is intended here but I'm in that tiny minority of gray-bearded old farts advocating personal responsibility for risky enterprises.

[e-minor]

Well that's a turn-up for the book, I'm an old fart two, and still use a sextant. Sat phone / EPIRB what are these? By the way I've just shaved my gray beard off.

Cheers,
Mike.

[Unicorn Dreams]

Welcome Aboard CF and enjoy.

And don't forget that Robin Lee Graham made it from Los Angeles, Ca. west about to the Caribbean in a 24' Lapworth day sailor. Maybe not the best choice to use, but he did it.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by e-minor

Hi,
Thanks. I never considerd that I might die. Anyway after after 40 years sailing and several single handed long distance trips I realy I'm interested in info about 22 footer crossings.
thanks.

That makes you (one of) the experts on this forum

As already said, we do have lots of folks turn up with similar plans We all give them loads of advice (some even good . lots contradictory ) and they set off - usually never to be heard from again.....either because they discovered unicycling to the Moon would be more "funky". or could be because they sank..........