1966 44’ Pearson Countess Port Townsend to Portland
It's almost one in the morning and blowing 15 to 20 knots from the West as we approach the shelter of Neah Bay. There is a reef in our lee and I don’t want to back off on the throttle because the engine is surging. We are doing 6 knots which is also uncomfortable. Im looking at the boat’s chart plotter that is out of arms reach on a ram mount in the companionway and a more detailed zoom on the chart on my phone. The phone is bright so i close one eye to look at it so I don't destroy my night vision on the moonless night. Im looking for the flashing bouy lights and for the solid color from any boats underway coming or going. There's red lights on the cars driving on the shore road through the reservation that send false alarms to my brain. Once out of the swell and chop from the strait, the crew begin to put out fenders as we prepare to dock. Once we are abreast of the Coast Guard station I back the throttle off and the engine promptly dies sending us drifting silently into the bay. I put it in neutral and go to start it up again and the engine’s instrument panel goes black with a quiet click. Somewhere a fuse has blown but there is no time to track the fuse holder down or a fuse to replace it. I run forward to the anchor to find the chain jammed in the mouse hole where it comes out of the deck. I asked one of the crew to lift the headsail that it lying on the secondary anchor and undo its lashing and pull 10 feet of chain out of its mouse hole and send the anchor uncontrolled into the dark water and set the anchor alarm on an app on my phone.
Keenly aware we are anchored in the channel right off the Coast Guard station I head below to get to work on restarting. I remove the filter; it is black, and so is the fuel that pours out of it into the cup I have to hold it in. I then sent a crewmember on deck to unlash the diesel can to prime the filter and then I tried to jump the starter solenoid with a screwdriver but it was in an awkward spot shortly after I found the fuse holder and spare fuses and restarted the engine. Both my and the crew’s confidence in the boat is seriously affected and we head into the dock ready for the engine to die at any moment but the engine room is open and another fuse is ready. We approach the transient dock and I direct the crew to shine my spotlight on the dock to see the bolts I know stick out of at least 60 feet of the dock section. We land on a spot near a power pylon. A jittery recap begins through the companionway and I instruct the crew to close the door and come bellow so we can retain the heat from the previously open engine compartment. It's warm for the moment and we settle in for the night. The Vbirth is the only proper berth available the second best is the settee that makes up part of a typical U-shaped main saloon. I take the floor and an owner-provided camping mattress. I struggle with the zipper on my lightweight sleeping bag for a moment while I question the decision to bring the light bag and the general life choices that have led me there. Zipper breaks and I go to sleep.
A superstitious person would be concerned. A captain that sent a provision briefing regarding a no banana policy would as well.
Another but lesser know item not allowed aboard.
'The night is dark and full of terror"
Stainless chain looks much better than galvanized chain however it does cost more. Someone tried to get around this by shackling a 3 foot piece of stainless to 200 feet of chain. Unfortunately a shackle between these sections makes deploying the anchor difficult…perhaps even more so in an emergency. Fortunately the kedge anchor (spare) deployed easily
One of the nicest parts of the boat but sadly this seemingly benign scene hides a 2 gallon black water tank made from a 2.5 gallon water container. The container was attached to the blackwater y valve and ether blew off when the head was used the first time or was off when we got to it. Needless to say it was another thing the surveyor missed.
When heading offshore or perhaps anywhere one should be able to “dog” the foredeck hatch. This boat had no way to do this properly so we used a ratchet strap and a fender. File under “Things the surveyor missed”
In the morning I looked at the weather and discussed the situation with the crew. There was little or no wind in the forecast and 10-foot seas building to 15 by the time we were expecting to arrive at the bar if we were delayed much more. If the tanks and fuel were foul we would be looking at going through all the filters we had on board in the rolly beam sea conditions and the possibility of having to bleed air from the system which presented another issue. The engine has an unconventional fuel delivery design making bleeding the injectors hard. If filters clog and create suction in the fuel lines and then air can be pulled into the fuel system. This sometimes requires bleeding the air. The tools aboard were limited for this kind of work. The crew had lost confidence in the seaworthiness of the boat.
Seeking another opinion I called some mechanic friends of mine about the state of the fuel and tanks trying to get a sense of what we could expect moving forward. The boat is from the 60s and the tanks looked original. Over an inch of rust on the tops of both tempted me to see if I could easily poke a screwdriver through the tank. My friend Rick from Salty Boys Boat Works says he can head out and polish the fuel. This generous offer from a family man on a Sunday is not lost on me but it would put our passage in the way of big seas coming in from storms offshore.
I called the owner and reluctantly told him that we were not going to be able to proceed with the original plan with this new information. He is apologetic and understanding. After I discussed our exit strategy with the crew as some research had already been underway we found that it was going to take us 5 hours to get back to Port Angeles so we discussed whether it was safe to take the boat back at least as far as Port Angeles. There is wind forecast in the strait so sailing is an option and there is little or no chop in the strait. The guys are keen to salvage the trip and make up for all the time to get to the boat. There is not much of anything in Neah Bay and Port Angeles would have options for polishing and transportation to and fro.
We run this by the owner and decide to head back. We sailed most of the day and as frustrating as it was, the engine didn’t clog the filter. I believe this is because we were not stirring the sediment in the tanks up or that the engine service that was supposedly performed right before the departure never happened and there were many hours on the filter.
The only one way rental out of PA that day was a 20 foot Uhaul. Bringing a 6 person liferaft brings piece of mind offshore but seriously hampers travel ashore.
Day 16 Landfall
Well, we made it.
The true measure of a successful journey is when the crew wants to hang out afterward. These long passages can strain even the closest relationships. Just because you are friends with someone doesn’t mean that you would make good shipmates. This makes “shipmates” a special kind of friendship. Let us sail to sail again and build relationships that take us hundreds of miles together gracefully.
Day Fifteen
VIVACE HAWAII - SITREP 2024-07-13 - EVENING WATCH REPORTING - FINAL (HOPEFULLY)
CREW HIGHLIGHTS: Reaching the end of the delicious meal plan established and primarily executed by Kirill, Craig whipped up breakfast burritos with chorizo and eggs for breakfast while Kirill practiced the art of bread making with a guiding hand from Iain. Piping hot seafood chowder for lunch with the last of the salmon, accompanied by chunks of Kirill's first successful peasant loaf, fresh from the oven. For dinner thawed and baked off the frozen lasagna that had been the cold "anchor" in the on-deck cooler. Our first taste of cheese in days!
CONDITIONS: Winds have remained 15-20 knots from the east, good for consistent sailing but the course has proved uncomfortable with persistent oscillating direction and rolling waves over the past three days. Crew have endured with minimal grumbling but it's not the downhill sleigh ride we might have enjoyed if the down-the-coast route had looked palatable earlier in the voyage.
While we were dealt a challenging hand with the unusual wind patterns, the ambitious calculated route threading through the low pressure was frustratingly unachievable in part due to our reliance on the vessel's "out of the box" performance polars. These describe how the boat should perform, in terms of speed and wind angles, and allows weather routing routines to put us "in the right place at the right time". Taking the generic polars and tuning them for this specific vessel and crew would have taken quite a bit of practice time, with this crew sailing the boat in varied conditions and on all possible sail configurations. In practice this activity is more available to crews who regularly sail together on the same vessel, and a cruising vessel would be strongly advised to make the effort before relying on generic polars. For our delivery crew who had one quick shake-down sail, it might be best to stick to the "south till the butter melts, then turn right" route. If the winds allow.
HOPES AND DREAMS: As of this writing, just over 60 nautical miles remaining to waypoint "ALOHA", the northern entrance to Kane'ohe Bay on the North-East side of the island of Oahu. Planning to make landfall at first light on 14/July.
GOINGS ON: Flurry of finishing course work for the American Sailing Association (ASA) in celestial navigation and offshore cruising. We've tried to document our work and practices to fortify and enhance the course material for future participants. Our ship's time remains in the Pacific Time Zone, but we've travelled so far west and south that dawn isn't until around 1000. There we have a detailed list of tasks to tidy and prep the boat, aiming to get Craig all set up to remain at anchor until his crew for the return voyage move aboard. The delivery crew will depart the ship at the fuel dock and make preparations to fly home.Iain
Day Fourteen
Day fourteen and one more day to go! We are trying to pace ourselves so we arrive the morning of 14th because Kaneohe is a reef strewn shallow bay. I have been in there twice but would rather daylight to see reefs and get our bearings. We plan to fuel and clean the vessel once we arrive and leave Craig to get things sorted before his guests come on Tuesday. Today was rather uneventful other than some PILOT WHALES! Just after finishing dinner I thought I saw a shark (too much shark week as a kid) then we saw some big slashes in the distance and eventually identified them. Hard to explain how exiting that is when we have been our only company for so long. Iain and I also saw a beutiful long tailed sharp winged bird after the other watch went down. The closest I could find was a tropic bird. Some things cant replace a book. Bird books are one of those things that the internet cant substitute well. Okay enough complaining about this internet connection in the middle of nowhere.
Day Thirteen
Not much to say sports fans.
We finally convinced a fish to get on the hook but it took the hook and now we have nothing.
Overcast so not sun sights or Polaris and only excitement was getting the Gennaker in this evening. Now we are under jib and jigger (mizzen and staysail.)
Allswell
Until 4 am
Day Twelve
~~o~-
Sun glimmers on gentle waters
Sailors study on deck
Shade of a big white sail
~~o~-
Three sextants peer at horizon
Hunting for sun
Local area noon approaches
~~o~-
Tantalizing aroma engulfs the cabin
Crew in anticipation
Fresh bread in the oven
~~o~-
After a day of deep sleep
Wind goes back to work
Veer, back, veer, back
Forgot how to do it
~~o~-
A school of fish does a victory lap
Around white hull of the boat
“Try again tomorrow!”
- Kirill
Day Eleven
VIVACE HAWAII - SITREP 2024-07-09 - EVENING WATCH REPORTING
CONDITIONS: After the past couple days of beating hard up an unfavourable southerly wind, weathering 30 knot+ wind squalls, and eventually being left with empty, slatting sails as the wind died off, we've been motoring at our best endurance speed towards the high pressure easterly "trade winds" that will carry us the rest of the way to Hawaii. Hot and sunny weather with occasional rain squalls that bring a touch of wind and some temperature relief. Even the most stalwart pant-wearers are now in shorts 24/7.
CREW HIGHLIGHTS: Kirill started us off today with a delicious breakfast of syrniki pancakes while Iain baked off some bread. With the engine running 24/7 and the mercury rising, it's warm below decks. The wind was almost completely still after our delicious panini lunch so we decided to stop for a well-deserved recreation break. All hands (but not all at once) enjoyed a second swim in the 82F, 17000+ ft deep Pacific Ocean. Iain had a close encounter with an Albatross that landed to investigate the swimming "safety" bouy behind the boat. It looked like it meant business so we gave it a wide berth. Craig broke out his inflatable foiling wake board and fashioned a tow line and handle bar. Unfortunately either the small stature of the inflatable board, or more likely Iain's driving of the 55' sailboat-turned-ski-boat made it challenging to fully achieve lift-off. Kirill did his best to troll for fish but has disappointedly declared there must be none left in the Pacific, at least that won't bite at our home-made lures.
Fizzy mocktails! One of Craig's many galley improvements is a water fizzing station (CO2 injection) and a wide selection of concentrated artisanal flavour syrups. These powers combined with a little ice transform the ship's quite palatable plain tank water into delicious beverages that can be enjoyed at any hour. While hot tea or coffee was a popular kick-off for the bleary-eyed night watch, now it's all about the delicious iced drinks in the rapidly increasing temperatures.
HOPES AND DREAMS: The morning watch is excited that the wind should pick up by dawn and build throughout the day as we continue to make our way south, with forecasted ideal 15 knot conditions and a downhill sail for the rest of the voyage.
GOINGS ON: The recreation break afforded an excellent platform for celestial navigation practice in using the sextants to measure accurately the "solar noon", which allows us to (insert MATHS HERE) to calculate our position on the face of the earth. Practice makes progress, and combined with finally being able to measure some stars at dusk/dawn we're increasingly confident and noting an improvement in consistency. Backup navigation could probably be achieved. If it wasn't cloudy all the time. And if we had the precious worksheets and sight reduction tables.
The recreation break also afforded a test flight of a camera drone, finally resulting in a SpaceX-inspired capture-landing after the drone gained the self-awareness level and attitude of a toddler refusing to go to bed. Hovering 10 feet off the water but refusing to move as the boat drifted slowly away, we quickly pulled in the tow line, fired up the engine, and maneuvered underneath for a hand-capture off the starboard bow. Success with only minor injury.
Day Ten
Last night was the first of some pretty hard sailing. For 24hours in squalls up to 30 knots and lulls as low as 7knots we sailed. One hour I remember making only three miles and wind shifts of 50 degrees to add to it and in total darkness under hard downpours. More tacking than we have had to do far and all to reach a point we could comfortably motor or remaining range underpowered keeping a %30 reserve.
We are motoring now and just finished the first night class of shooting Polaris. We haven’t had this much clear sky the whole trip.
I think we all feel like we paid some dues last night and are actually appreciating motoring in flatter water so we can catch up on celestial navigation studies.
Hopefully, we can get the line in the water tomorrow because I know Kirill would really like to cook something that’s not frozen.
Rhys
Day Nine
The only way to offset the discomfort of beating into 20 knots is to make Sous Vide steak diner.
The sweet downwind dream has passed for the moment.
We have a reach ahead so only a night of tacking.
Day Eight
Today, with winds going down to just 3 knots, crew got an opportunity to pause.
Fishing lines were out and sunbathing on bean bags was in full swing.
Rhys and I used sextants for the noon sight and plotted a nice-looking parabola of sun reaching its highest point in the sky and starting to go down. This allowed us to get our latitude and longitude from sun observations alone. What a thrill!
After the mid-day sun, it was hard to resist the blue waters. We used a floating sheet from spinnaker to float a small stepping fender behind the boat, as a safety measure to help catch up with it. With that in place, we took a splash jumping from the bow, floating by the moving boat, and catching up with it at the stern. So amazingly refreshing! 17088ft of water beneath us with surface temperature of 74.4F!
As we approach the midpoint of our journey, things are settling down into a good rhythm. All the daily boat tasks are becoming easy and familiar and body and mind is fully adjusted to the motion and views of the open ocean.
On long passages like this, two things come to the forefront as great sources of joy: learning and food. I’m grateful for so many little and big things I’ve learned and continue to learn from every member of the crew:
Rhys continues to work through celestial navigation practice problems and is using some new techniques from David Burch’s book, which helped me sort things out in my head by looking at a different way to do things.
Iain compressed his days-long learning curve into a 30min crash course of weather routing software qtVLM for me. Now I have it on my own computer and can play pretend-navigator in parallel with his focused effort to get us the best route.
Craig gave me awesome pointers on creating marinades and salad dressings. He manages to balance flavors so well and uses ingredients I’ve never touched before. Who knew I’d really enjoy a splash of Coconut Aminos or that half of a lime could brighten up salad dressing so much!
Speaking of food, the prep put into developing a balanced and varied meal plan is paying off. Our shake-down sail helped gauge who likes what type of food and flavors. We managed to pack some good surprises into the menu and generally not repeat any dish twice. A bit more cooking effort than usually (I did bring a sous vide!) but results are great and crew is happy. Many more fun meals ahead!
Based on predictions, we are bracing for some lively winds overnight and then likely a few more days of motoring with stops for a dip in the ocean along the way.
Onward!
Kirill
Day Seven
VIVACE HAWAII - SITREP 2024-07-05 - EVENING WATCH REPORTING
CREW HIGHLIGHTS: The food! Kirill, Craig, and Rhys have been serving up gourmet meals at every turn. Never thought I would see a sous vide strapped to a pot perfectly cooking chicken breasts for a killer salad. Sardine melts on toast for breakfast? Oh My! Had a few close encounters with freighters out in the middle of nowhere. Hundreds of miles off shore and we come within 4 miles of these giant 800ft+ vessels. While sailing under spinnaker, which limits our maneuverability and is a lot of work to set up or take down, we did hail one that was particularly close and ask them to slightly change course to pass behind us which they graciously agreed. First time for the crew using the VHF radio's DSC call capability to hail that vessel specifically.
CONDITIONS: Wind has been 15-20kts all day on the starboard quarter with a settled 3-4 sea state. Not a single tack or gybe. While unsurprising given the vast open ocean it's a remarkable difference from coastal sailing where you're constantly having to tack and avoid land hazards. We've made great strides, looks like another 160+ nautical mile day will be in the books when Craig tallies it up at 03:00 while thinking about breakfast.
HOPES AND DREAMS: About 36 hours ago we made a routing decision based on the developing wind/weather forecast models and departed our rhumb line course to instead pick a way through the uncommonly shifty low-pressure conditions that now separate us from Hawaii. Rather than long tacks on a constant heading, we have a carefully calculated route to minimize our travel time while optimizing and balancing factors such as speed, sailing angles, wave heights, and if there's no wind, motoring range. Through practice and experience we're learning how this particular boat sails at given wind angles and strengths, now it's time to put that to the test and follow a specific maze-like course through the shifting conditions.
GOINGS ON: While frequently frustrated by the persistent overcast conditions, we've all been enjoying developing our celestial navigation skills with Kirill's knowledgable tutelage. It's rewarding to learn how to tune and use a sextant to measure, more accurately for some than others, elevation of sun and stars over the horizon, and then apply reasonably simple maths and paper plotting to derive our latitude and longitude. Impressive performance and accuracy from a basic plastic tool that was standard issue for all WWII lifeboats. Maybe tomorrow my plot will put us in the ocean somewhere... Iain
(We are slowly approaching the first tricky part of the routing Navigation at sea is different than inland or on the coast because rather than negotiating rocks and the hazards of land you have to navigate the weather. Surprising as it seems the wind and waves are moving all different directions at different times. Pressure changes and move causing winds to change strength and direction. Fortunately, we have amazingly powerful technology that helps us predict these winds so that we can stay in wind of favorable strength and direction at the same time head towards more of the same. Every day we download weather charts for the coming days called GRIB files. These gribs combined with data about our Boat’s sailing angles and performance allow us to plot the fastest and most comfortable route to our destination. This is called Weather routing and Iain has been in charge of gathering this data and looking ahead to help us discuss what we hope is the best route involving the least motoring or uncomfortable sailing. We have some motoring coming us and some upwind sailing in 20 + knots so we are enjoying the tapering winds and calm for now. These are predictions and fallible but other than slight wind angle discrepancy’s and strength they have been right on. The “polars” or the boats performance data has been the most challenging part of this work because the polars we have for this boat seem to suggest we should be sailing faster most of the time which means it point us to places that we can’t reach in time and out here the right place at the wrong time is not the right place at all. This and the fact that we have new sails aboard that allow us to perform better than the “out of the box” Amel 55 is proving us with a great challenge. We are having to tune the polars to our crews ability’s and our particular quiver of sails. Soon we will get to try out the “Code Zero” a sail that is a mixture of a spinnaker and a Genoa and should help us get through the light stuff ahead.
Rhys
Day six
A very quiet Fourth of July this evening out under the stars. We can still hear the bar reports from the Oregon coast all the way out here 700 miles offshore. We managed to be somewhat patriotic on this US flagged vessel by barbecuing burgers on the rail while listening to the Boss. Everyone is quite stuffed and those that aren’t asleep wish they were. We are also pleased with ourselves after a big mile day under Spinnaker all day with a top speed of 11.5. Were are getting better at setting the big beautiful blue beast but I think it’s safe to say everyone is at least a little afraid of setting it and taking it down and sailing under it sleeping while it’s up and going to the head or whatever else because it can wrap around the headstay and has a few times requiring all hands on deck to untwist it and get it flying again. It is very powerful and also very delicate and also expensive but it is beautiful and it’s how we got 166 nautical miles today. Wish us luck we miss this light patch coming for us so we don’t have to listen to the engine in the next few days.
Sleep tight and don’t blow your fingers off or the country up while we are gone. .
Rhys
Day five
The highlight of the day is hard to pick but I don’t think I’ll forget tonight’s dinner. It was one of the best passage dinners I’ve had. At about 19:00 with the appetites getting sharp and the smells of cooking coming from below Craig is playing some beautiful classical guitar piece in the cockpit on and equally beautiful flamenco guitar he said he picked up on his travels to Portugal. The performance is interrupted by the call from the galley that dinner is served and we eat in the cockpit as the sun shines scattered beams low through the clouds and we gently surge along at 7 knots dead downwind with the Genoa poled out wind on wing.
The vegetarian stir-fry that Kirril made would have brought anyone back to this restaurant if the parking wasn’t so bad. Before that it was generator and water maker on so we could all have showers
Before this, there was the setting of the whisker pole in order to sail a more direct route and continue to skirt the wind that, while blowing gale force off the coast are quite pleasant out here 300 mile or so offshore. Before that it was our first opportunity to get out the sextants and try some celestial navigation practice and work on our noon sun sights….or at least three of us employed our newfound sunny day that way. Craig’s idea of enjoying the sun was having a nap in one of his new bean bag chairs on the aft deck.
Before that Iain, I enjoyed the first glimpse of offshore stars and a waxing moon through the clouds at 4 am.
The days are packed I tell you. Between the important work of naps and chores and lessons, it’s hard to get far into a chapter of some non celestial navigation text. Will I ever find out what happens to Frodo?
Sorry for the late post everyone. It really is a busy little ship.
I hope you are all eating half as well as us.
Rhys
Day Four
After a nice uneventful night we started the day with light rain, gray skies, and waves abeam that gave us lots of rolling.
Making steady progress to the destination, averaging about 8kts.
Everyone is feeling well and it seems we all got our sea legs - nobody got sea sick even with the heavy rolling throughout most of the day. Catching up on sleep nicely as well.
Sparky continued to perfect weather routing system by monitoring actual performance of the boat with observed weather and comparing that to the predictions we got. We have much higher confidence in the route now. It’s great to have such an expert onboard!
Craig and I did a set of practice sextant sights, which proved especially challenging with the cloud cover. But with enough patience and quick action, we managed to catch the sun in brief moments it showed up and now have some sun angles to practice sight reductions with.
Continuing to stick with the original meal plan and using up the first-to-spoil produce. Started a day with a veggie omelette quesadillas for breakfast. had miso soup with carrots and tofu for lunch, and wound down the day with a greek salad and gnocchi.
Crew is eager to start fishing and got the lures prepared on the rods; unfortunately, we are moving too fast for fishing so will have to postpone the excitement of reeling in a catch to a day when there is no excitement from the wind.
Water is getting bluer and warmer. The sun is peaking out from the clouds. Spirits are high.
Onward!
Kirill
Day Three
VIVACE HAWAII - SITREP 2024-07-01 - EVENING WATCH REPORTING
CREW HIGHLIGHTS: Sailing! Food! Birds! Whales! Reportedly some pancakes at breakfast. Delicious avocado toast and tomato salad at lunch. Italian-style tilapia for dinner w/ potatoes. Kirill's hands must be missed at home. An albatross cruised by to check things out while setting the spinnaker. Craig and Kirill had close encounter with two huge whales close alongside. Several what we believe to be storm petrels have been seen flitting about.
CONDITIONS: Wind filled in over night and by morning making 8+ kts boat speed in 12-14kts. Sailed on broad reach putting in good miles right along the rhumb line. Set the new spinnaker for several hours making 9+ kts. Stronger winds gusting up to 20kts required hand steering to keep from rounding up, forced to shift gears and pull the spinnaker down around 18:00. Geared down further to settle things out while Kirill crafted delicious dinner. Night watch forecast for rolly beam seas and 20kts+ that have materialized. Tolerable but somewhat rough down below. Kirill hasn't launched out of the vberth bunk but the night is still young.
HOPES AND DREAMS: Weather models calling for clear skies tomorrow morning that may yield opportunities for celestial navigation practice with noon sun sight, possibly carrying on into evening for star sights. So far has lots of low overcast and/or fog. Lots of wind to carry us for a few days yet, route and performance seems to be hitting the right marks thus far although wind angles not quite as predicted.
GOINGS ON: Excited to have flown the spinnaker successfully, some minor notes include not trapping the tack line under the razor-sharp roller furling drum (chafed cover) and to mind the plastic "toilet bowl" snuffer ring when in the vicinity of your face. Diesel shut-off still showing minor leak across the hall when heeled over 20 degrees. Had hoped that would settle down after using up some fuel but no such luck. Helm seat came unstuck at one point - pin/plates were held on with tiny #0 Robertson fasteners - perhaps snuck on board by a Canadian engineer. Reattached without incident. Digital/smart/assisted weather routing getting dialled in on laptops and Furuno system. Adjusted calibration of boat speed sensor and tackled some problems with network card in the ship tracking data box. Ships log is detailing energy consumption/battery status to better judge generator runtime requirements.
Iain
Day Two 2024-06-30 - EVENING WATCH REPORTING
VIVACE HAWAII - SITREP 2024-06-30 - EVENING WATCH REPORTING
CREW HIGHLIGHTS: Hot Showers! With the engine running all day we had plenty of hot water. Food delicious as always, high cuisine courtesy of Kirill and Craig. Egg salad sandwich or granola and yoghurt for breakfast. Lunch was fresh spicy shrimp on a bed of arugula and grilled turkey/pepper panini with chips. Dinner we powered down to create favourable BBQ conditions - grilled salmon with a spicy senegalese salsa, spinach salad w/perfectly ripe avocado. Everyone napping well and comfortable in the gentle conditions, although the vee-berth is a bit active in the swell, and could have been more exciting if Kirill hadn't discovered that the lift-up berth hadn't been fully latched down. Recently improvised lee cloths doing their job.
CONDITIONS: Winds continue to be unusually calm for these waters at this time of year. Finding mostly F2/F3, velocity mostly less than 7 kts. Unfortunately not enough to make our minimum desired boat speed of (6 kts). On track for 175nm day.
GOINGS ON: Tested the desalinating water-maker to top off the freshwater tank. Careful observation revealed a loose fitting on the saltwater side that threatened to drip water directly onto the control electronics. Judiciously tightened and passed testing with flying colours, water tank was successfully filled.
HOPES AND DREAMS: Wind models predict an increase to 15 kts overnight with an approaching high-pressure system. We are angling to ride down a sweet spot off a high-pressure ridge as it pushes up against the west coast of North America. The trick is to stick to the right isobars between the light conditions at the centre of the system and the heavy stuff closer to shore. And then of course to actually make a good course towards our direction on a point of sail that works for the vessel and crew. All a question of how to be at the right place at the right time. Too soon or too late and that becomes the wrong place.
Iain (Sparky) McBride
Day Two - Evening
Developing high pressure to the west
Day Four Prediction
Riding high along the sweet high isobars
Day one Anacortes to Hawaii Blue Water Sailing 101
Kirill, Craig, Iain and Rhys
Left the dock at 7 am and motored out into a beautiful glassy calm Strait to begin our 100-mile cruise to the last fuel dock we will be seeing for a few weeks.
I went up the mast and taped possible chafe points and anything sharp enough to rip a spinnaker. It was amazing looking out on the eastern end of the Strait of Juan De Fuca. I saw a pod of whales in the distance after finding nothing of concern in my rigging check aloft.
Craig and I installed the lee cloths in the forward bunk so anyone who has to sleep there will roll out of bed when the boat heels.
We also ran the jack lines other side of the boat which allows sailors to be attached to the boat at all times while working on the deck. This is standard practice but less standard is having a boat so wide in the stern that we needed to run a jackline athwartships (across the boat). We rigged this a different way when we did our shakedown sail a little while ago. Im hoping this will work better. The last thing you want to struggle with when you have a big fish on the line is your safety tether.
The next stop is the fuel dock in Neah Bay before we head out to sea and our first night underway. Ive been here many times for fuel and i’m so glad it’s there. The Makah Tribe who live there have always been very nice even when there was a lockdown and I needed fuel on a challenging yacht delivery.
Wish you were here
This link will update when our Starlink is on.
https://saillogger.com/svvivace#
Capt Rhys Balmer
Interview with Capt Erden Eruc about his entrance into the Golden Globe race.
I wonderful chat with my friend and shipmate Capt Erden Eruc about his entrance in to the non stop round the world sailboat race the Golden Globe in 2026. We talk about his subsequent adventures and accolades as well as his inspiration to take on this amazing new challenge. We plan to do more interviews about the boat prep and logistics as the start approaches.
Follow along and help support this amazing mariner here.
Interview with Capt McCormack on the sinking of SV Bum Gal
Captain Ray McCormack's interview regarding the sinking of Bum Gal.
Postmortem
I have read a little bit of what people have been posting about this incident and a lot of the comments refer to other instances or deliveries and digress into focusing on the character and history of Capt McCormack. While I can see it’s tempting to damn the man in question I think that the most productive way to talk about the incident is to look at the facts or at least what we have been told happened and focus on how it could have been avoided as a learning opportunity. This is hard because the accounts of the boat owner and McCormack don’t support each other so we will have to imagine what really happened is somewhere in between these and direct our thinking toward how the sinking could have been avoided.
This event has many people in the sailing community up in arms and perhaps this makes sense. We humans have been looking to each other for guidance for a long time. We look to a person’s past to help us evaluate the worth of their opinion and capabilities. We do this as a shortcut to knowing them firsthand. With an aggregate of their documented successes, and failures we can find it easier to dismiss their competence or not. In an instance where we don’t know exactly what happened this helps us know if that person was likely at fault such as in a case like this. Unfortunately, the only public accounts of McCormack’s former jobs are edited by himself so this is not reliable either. To add to this the fuel of the indignation comes from a feeling that a captain should be infallible. This means leaders get a lot of criticism for the decisions they make for others to follow. This can be hard and maybe selects for people who have thick skins and are overly confident.
The first thing we know is the boat owner wanted to head to Mexico. She chose to go with a cruising rally renowned for its great parties and we may suppose that she sought safety in numbers rather than going independently. McCormack admitted in his account in the Lat 38 article that he weighed the deficiencies against this idea of safety in numbers. We also know the boat owner does not have offshore experience herself. She described herself as a newbie in the Lat38 write-up. We know as well that one of her crew left the vessel or for whatever reason decided not to go at the last minute. I would like to know about why and more generally how she chose her crew. She said she found McCormack’s Facebook page and was impressed by his experience. Another interesting aspect that puzzles me is why McCormack volunteered to help them sail the boat south. McCormack is a professional captain living as he says “paycheck to paycheck” and doing pro bono work in the field is rare. Another very important thing to point out at this stage is that even though McCormack did not have a per diem and a corresponding contract the fact that he received compensation for transportation puts him in somewhat of a professional position. When delivering boats and applying for riders insurance companies want to know if crew are being compensated. If they are they want to see that they are experienced. Another point to note is that as a captain whether you are paid or not you have an obligation to ensure that whatever vessel you are on you must do everything in your power to ensure its safe operation. McCormack said that he did not go through his normal procedure, before departure because he was not under contract for hire. This was a big mistake as we will see. He did however tell the crew because of his experience he would be in command. He also said that he does have an uncanny ability to know the seaworthiness of a vessel just stepping aboard and the boat owner said that he looked the boat over and gave it a green light but after the sinking, McCormack questioned the seaworthiness. The normal process of application to deliver a boat is to start with a survey. I don’t think this boat would have gotten a good enough evaluation to satisfy most insurance companies and certainly wouldn’t have been a boat I would deliver. That said the fact that the windlass didn’t work would have been enough to make me walk away regardless of a good survey. The windlass is an essential piece of safety equipment on a cruising boat of this size. Even with the lightweight anchor McCormack encouraged the owner to buy (there should already have been one onboard.) it would not provide adequate ground tackle to cruise or conduct safe passage in the waters they were intending to sail. I believe this was bad counsel on McCormack’s part.
The next issue was the charging/electrical one. Corrosion on the alternator terminal and corroded wires resulted in the batteries not charging and made them decide to turn around. Then once in the harbor instead of advising the owner to get a professional to ascertain the extent of the electrical issues, he enlisted one of the crew to make another wire lead. They left again and it sounds like they did not fix the issue but instead of turning around or because they were past the halfway point, they continued on. At this point, McCormack hooked the gasoline-powered generator to the battery charger on the AC side of the system, and it continued to blow breakers (running a gasoline power generator on deck underway is very unusual). This was done to continue powering the navigation system he was using on his computer down below and as I understand to continue using the autopilot or not. I'm not clear on this. There are mixed accounts of this. All this was going on while he was skirting the shore in 30 feet of water. When sailing close to any land whether your autopilot is working properly or not, you should have the ability to navigate from the helm, and if there is the possibility that you will lose power to the navigation electronics you should, if you’re not already, begin plotting your position on a paper chart. As I understand it there were no paper charts on the boat but apparently, the boat owner did have an iPad for navigation. It is not clear why it was not at the helm.
This is a list of the actions that in succession led to the sinking of the vessel as I understand it.
1-Leaving without a working windlass.
A windlass is a key part of the seaworthiness of the boat. If you can't sail out of trouble or motor out of trouble you stabilize the situation using the ground tackle. The lightweight “Fortress” folding anchor is a backup device and you don't count on using backup devices before you leave safe harbor. The fact that the windless didn’t work did not lead to the sinking but the fact that it didn’t work is indicative of the condition of the boat. The age of the wiring on this old boat did contribute to the sinking. I have learned that even though failing systems may not be related the fact that they are failing and require attention can lead to accidents. For example, it doesn’t take much imagination to see how a broken head could lead to a crew falling overboard.
2- Not hiring a professional to repair and diagnose the electrical systems and fuel problem.
To be a delivery captain on a boat of this size you have to be able to fix everything. That said when you are underway any attention from the captain that is taken away to navigating the boat is dangerous. There were several issues with the vessel that they were all aware of before they were out of the area where support and facilities were available. It’s one thing to discover issues underway and to “Jury rig” a repair but the float plan should be reassessed given the knowledge that the vessel is now less seaworthy.
3- Sailing close to the shore and not reefing
Sailing close to the shore in this case in 30 feet of water is very dangerous in unknown waters. This requires very close attention. It would require a plotter at the helm and hand steering with a depth alarm on with good visibility. That said there are mixed reports who was at the helm. McCormack gave a report the the Mexican officials that he was at the helm and then we heard that the third crew member was at the helm or at the shrouds.
4- Continuing to use the autopilot given the issues involved.
Whether there was an issue with the autopilot or not this is too close to hazards to do safety.
5- Not having a plotter at the helm
Every smartphone on the market can be used as a chart plotter these days and I see no reason that the crew could not have a phone with Navionics up in from of them as they are on watch. I require my crew offshore now to all have the app on their phones. This reduces fear and the “need to know basis” as well as adds redundancy. I monitor the boats heading from my bunk and often come on deck to make coarse or speed corrections.
6- Given all the things happening approaching in the dark was a bad idea.
Regardless of the boat’s faults, this wouldn’t have happened if they had waited to approach in the dark. This could have been done by slowing down or heaving to outside the entrance.
It is tempting to hang ALL the responsibility on the licensed captain here because of his experience and endorsement and I would say that most of it is. I’m sure most people will but it is not as simple as that. Before all the decisions I just listed should have been made by the person in command. Ray should have walked away from the passage or offered to oversee the vessel’s refit but I'm sure this would have been challenging to the relationship as the boat owner paid for his flight in exchange for his help sailing. This previous investment trap is a huge contributor to accents like this. If NASA can fall into it so can most.
This boat was not in good condition and certainly not in good enough condition to make a coastal passage and even more so to sail into waters with limited resources. The owner may protest and say that the vessel was in good condition (the statement in Lat38 said she “had the boat checked out by many mechanics and riggers”) but she has also admitted she is a newbie. It is common to seek safety in numbers or offset the risk of doing dangerous things with limited experience by joining a group like this rally but coastal and blue water sailing is one of the more remote things a modern person can do. It is something that few moderns can even wrap their minds around. The self-reliance this sailing demands is one of its greatest rewards. Preparing for a cruise like this often takes years of refitting and practice to be properly prepared. Once the time comes to cast off it should be done with a crew that represents known entities. A truly seaworthy vessel and crew must be shaken down first.
We can’t be too cautious in choosing who we sail with and what vessels we board. Going through someone’s Facebook profile does not constitute the due diligence necessary to choose the people we may find ourselves in a life raft with.
Hiring surveyors, certified techs, and instructors is essential alongside the time spent building our experience before advanced sailing.
I hope that everyone involved is not too quick to move on and spends the time necessary to reflect on their respective errors. Shirking responsibility with blame or just quickly moving on does not give this serious incident the grave attention it demands. This loss could have been prevented.
Here are some links that illustrate the risks the previous investment trap or sunk cost fallacy represents. #challenger, #endurance, #crowhurst,
https://youtu.be/4kpDg7MjHps?si=UHkemPWt91r4q-V5
https://youtu.be/yV7EBF8LAw8?si=bdrvIh1ZMm9hUPgj
https://youtu.be/4kpDg7MjHps?si=3h5COhu4x5WxxUyU
https://youtu.be/qvrEMhm3Z-g?si=ds6kUyFLYtJLpOFs
https://youtu.be/SiWv12EL4LE?si=VcI1PE_YjGzaQF2Z
And a good example of accountability in leaders and crew.