Transit Time? NY-FL

[scoobert]

Originally Posted by Coops

Sometimes, one can only say, "ah well." Good luck.

Coops.

indeed. I will be doing the trip regardless, thou i appreciate the words of warning.

[Matt Johnson]

Can't believe that most here are concerned with the shift schedule on this proposed trip! He will figure this one out himself on day two and make the changes necessary.

I would suggest you do Sandy Hook to Cape May and see how its working out for you. This will give you a pretty good shakedown, you can fix things there, and Cape May is a good stop anyway. Personally, I think you'll end-up just doing the ICW and jumping out for over-nights where advisable like most husband/wife crews.

By the way, We also didnt find warmth until Florida last year.

[scoobert]

Originally Posted by funjohnson

I would suggest you do Sandy Hook to Cape May and see how its working out for you. This will give you a pretty good shakedown, you can fix things there, and Cape May is a good stop anyway. Personally, I think you'll end-up just doing the ICW and jumping out for over-nights where advisable like most husband/wife crews.

By the way, We also didnt find warmth until Florida last year.

this is a good tip. 24-30 hours of sailing in open waters will give a good answer.

[Paul Elliott]

Originally Posted by scoobert

this is a good tip. 24-30 hours of sailing in open waters will give a good answer.

Good tip yes. But as I'm sure you know, you can do lots of things for 24-30 hour that you couldn't do for longer than that. There are plenty of times I've driven my car for 18-24 hours straight (other than fuel stops). There's no way I could keep to that schedule for two days, let alone a week.

In long-distance sailing, one of the first things you learn is to get some sleep when you are off-watch. This is with reasonable 4-on, 8-off, or 4/4 or any number of working schedules. Adrenaline can get you through 24 hours, but you pay a huge price later, and that does nobody any good.

Do you think these watch schedules for long-distance sailors were developed so they could keep up with their beauty sleep? These schedules are as they are because you can only be on watch for so long without sleep and still be safe and effective.

Please read up on the research. Here's one report I grabbed a random: (long link). It contains some interesting graphs showing the effectiveness of a crewmember over a few days:

Note the work/sleep intervals, and the diminishing effectiveness (measured impairment as equivalent Blood Alcohol level).

I'm not making this up!

[boatman61]

If you insist on the 16hrs on... it can be done...
I've done it for 2500+ miles steering by hand from Bermuda to the Azores and from there to the UK... however... I hove to at 8pm.. ate, slept ate then steered from 8am to 8pm again for a total of 48 days...
I suggest you get your wife to keep the lookout from mid day to 8pm then you get up and do the watch till mid day... she cooks in the off watch period..
That way she has a semblance of normality and you do the suffering...

[scoobert]

Originally Posted by boatman61

If you insist on the 16hrs on... it can be done...
I've done it for 2500+ miles steering by hand from Bermuda to the Azores and from there to the UK... however... I hove to at 8pm.. ate, slept ate then steered from 8am to 8pm again for a total of 48 days...
I suggest you get your wife to keep the lookout from mid day to 8pm then you get up and do the watch till mid day... she cooks in the off watch period..
That way she has a semblance of normality and you do the suffering...

wife is an evening person. she would do the 1800-0200.

[Whaubner]

Sounds like a hard row to ho.

[scoobert]

by MD we will have it sorted out.
or if we go to Bermuda i can set the radar and AIS alerts, and we can both sleep a bit now and then.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by scoobert

wife is an evening person. she would do the 1800-0200.

Buy her a set of 'Flash Cards' that give to various lights of ships fishing vessels etc so she can identify at a glance and does not have to keep waking you for confirmation... also some training in VHF and go out and practice Man Overboard a few times till you both have it down pat..
On the spot training sucks... for whoever is in the water..
Harnesses have been known to be inadequate,,

[scoobert]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Buy her a set of 'Flash Cards' that give to various lights of ships fishing vessels etc so she can identify at a glance and does not have to keep waking you for confirmation... also some training in VHF and go out and practice Man Overboard a few times till you both have it down pat..
On the spot training sucks... for whoever is in the water..

we will be doing man overboard training in the next 3 weeks.
she can add the lighting flash cards to her knot flash cards :P
we also have a distress call card down below.

[Paul Elliott]

For what it's worth, I don't trust radar alarms all that much. They work great in flat water, but if the seas are up you have to tweak the sensitivity/etc down so far that you will miss the small boats. AIS alarms are great for ships, but obviously not all boats carry AIS transponders.

Just set up a reasonable watch schedule. You can do this with two on board. It's just that 16 on / 8 off isn't a reasonable schedule. Use the alarms too. Make sure that you have the batteries / power to run the radar for extended periods.

[scoobert]

Originally Posted by Paul Elliott

For what it's worth, I don't trust radar alarms all that much. They work great in flat water, but if the seas are up you have to tweak the sensitivity/etc down so far that you will miss the small boats. AIS alarms are great for ships, but obviously not all boats carry AIS transponders.

Just set up a reasonable watch schedule. You can do this with two on board. It's just that 16 on / 8 off isn't a reasonable schedule. Use the alarms too. Make sure that you have the batteries / power to run the radar for extended periods.

i am working on testing the power.
found i have two bad batteries, not one. one battery had dropped a volt in about 30 min of running solo with every conceivable DC powered item running. so now i need two batteries. guess we can try short watches. 8 on 8 off, or anything else.

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by scoobert

i am working on testing the power.
found i have two bad batteries, not one. one battery had dropped a volt in about 30 min of running solo with every conceivable DC powered item running. so now i need two batteries. guess we can try short watches. 8 on 8 off, or anything else.

What's your energy budget and storage capacity?

[scoobert]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

What's your energy budget and storage capacity?

total AH in house bank will be 600 at 12 volts.
fridge will be an apartment size unit, no idea on the power usage yet.
but i am figuring on 60ah,
autopilot, 80 ah
lighting, 12ah
gps, radar, ect, 40ah
engine will need started twice a day to make a nice life for the batteries,
unless i get the Genny going before then.

[sardinebreath]

Reading through these posts I have been convinced at several points that this is all just an elaborate leg pulling. But I'm not sure. If not, my guess is, best case scenario, you throw in the towel at some point and turn around. Best case. But I dearly hope that I am wrong and that I look like an idiot when you report that it was a challenging but enjoyable trip. I will welcome looking like an idiot in that case. If you actually do set out, I wish you all the luck in the world.