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This log is current through October 30, 2004 September 27, 2004 on the Chesapeake It will be a mad scramble before the November 7 scheduled departure from Hampton, VA getting ourselves, and Pioneer, ready for this major ocean voyage. Preparation is VERY involv That’s just the life raft materials. If we have to abandon Pioneer at sea, we’ll be taking additional flares, smoke bombs, food and water, a hand held radio -- and most importantly, a top-of-the-line GPS Satellite Beacon (photo). From anywhere, it can instantly send our precise location to rescue facilities. We were almost hit by a tornado this afternoon. It touched down two blocks from Pioneer. October 2, 2003 on the Chesapeake October 7&10, 2004 in Annapolis, Maryland More fun: removing and replacing sewage hoses, hand-pumping and filtering fuel, calibrating the compass, testing electronic charts, ordering paper charts, ordering rigging hardware, hand-pumping all the fuel out of the boat, cleaning the tank, replacing the fuel, spilling diesel fuel everywhere. It never ends! October 14, 2004 in the Chesapeake Two able sailors -- one from Vermont, the other Colorado (of all places) -- will join us for the long trip from Hampton, VA to Tortola, BVI in the Caribbean. Depending on weather, the trip should be about 1,750 miles of open ocean sailing. It will be a great relief while sailing nonstop for up to two weeks, having four people onboard rather than two. Three hours at the helm followed by nine hours off, rather than three on and three off, will be a luxury and a real safety factor should anyone become sick or injured. We’ll post our crew photos soon. Meanwhile, we’re planning 170 enroute meals -- plus snacks. It’s a real challenge. Water consumption will be limited to 2.5 gallons per person per day, for all uses. For sleeping arrangements, we’ll “hot bunk.” Another challenge will be staying warm the first few days. We’re trying to work out a problem (we refuse the use the meaningless word “issue”) downloading weather faxes via the short wave radio. More fun: testing emergency and communications gear, stashing spare filters, hoses, tools (including a large wire cutter, in case of mast disaster at sea). We’re buying charts, replacing fuel hoses, installing netting to hold gear in place, replacing radar reflectors and calibrating the wind instruments at the top of the mast, cleaning the bilge, removing everything we don’t need. A big jog: cutting all the shrouds and stays (9 of the 11 steel cables that run from the mast to the deck) and replacing the lower connectors with a stronger and reusable type. Then we’ll service the engine and transmission and replace the raw water impeller and all fuel, oil, and water filters. October 18, 2004 On this satellite photo, the warm Gulf Stream is in red, cold water in green, and our proposed route from Hampton, VA to Tortola is in blue. On this 12-14 day, 1500 mile trip (1,750 or so after considering wind and wave direction and storms) most important is the avoidance of hurricanes or a Gulf Stream crossing with adverse winds. If we sail close to the direct line, we will never be much more than 500 miles from land anywhere along the route. If we have to go as far east as 62 degrees west, we’ll be as much as 800 miles from land. No wise sailor crosses the Stream when the wind is blowing against the northward flowing water, which builds huge, steep waves capable to threatening any vessel. The crossing will likely occur on our second day at sea. In the upper right you can see huge eddies that spin off the main current and constantly meander, further challenging sailors. We continue to work like dogs on Pioneer. We’ll depart Solomons in less than two weeks and will post detailed logs and photos of the adventure. We will be joined by two talented and experienced sailors, both women. One is from Vermont, the other from Colorado. October 24, 2004 in Solomons, MD October 25, 2004 in Solomons MD Later today Becky will go to the top of the mast to check hardware and calibrate the wind instruments -- the try to kill the hornets calling our mast home. Photo: Becky 50 feet up the mast in Florida. She is becoming an expert at mast-top inspections, repairs and radar reflector replacement. Tomorrow we’ll service the engine and replace every filter on the boat. We’ll depart for Norfolk in five days. Once there our crew of two will join us and we’ll participate in five days of planning meetings, boat inspections, provisioning and related details prior to departing for Tortola on Sunday, November 7. We hauled Pioneer today for two hours and were glad we did. We freed a “frozen” thru-haul valve, scraped our fouled propeller, touched up bottom paint, replaced the drive shaft collar zinc, cle As one of the smallest and slowest of the 46 boats in the Caribbean 1500, we need all the speed we can get. Power washing the bottom and cleaning the prop probably gave us an additional knot/hr under power. October 26, 2004 -- HORNETS! So Don, using one of the ropes that normally pulls up sails, is about to pull Becky up the mast and she’ll be furiously spraying hornet killer as she goes. Hope her aim is good and the spray doesn’t run out. October 27, 2004 in Solomons, MD Yesterday we also serviced the engine, changed all fluids, replaced all filters, fell into the engine compartment, and sorted and sifted tons of stuff, storing unneeded items off the boat. Only three more days before heading south to Hampton (into a forecast southerly wind, of course). October 28, 2004 More final preparations: provisioning, canceling the phone and wireless Internet service in Solomons, stopping/forwarding mail, paying bills in advance, preparing the car for winter storage, servicing the dinghy and its motor, checking the weather, planning a “last day in Solomons party,” testing systems, working on a fax-via-shortwave problem, cleaning, checking expiration and service limit dates, calling friends and asking them to send us cookies for the enroute night shifts, stocking up on every replacement part we might need for six months of Caribbean sailing (a monster task) and replacing everything and anything that looks the slightest bit worn. This is a truly exhausting process, one mercifully nearing an end. The good news: no tropical depressions currently exist anywhere in the Atlantic Ocean. October 30, 2004: finally heading out. Please continue to the next log. |
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ed. The following gear is ONLY that related to our LIFE RAFT:
aned the dynaplate and depth sounder transducer, and serviced and check all 13 holes in the boat below the water line. Not bad things to do if you’re going to sail in water more than 25,000 feet deep!