Wednesday, May 10, 2023

Ouch!

You would have thought I would have learned my lesson. This is the second time I have burned myself with boiling hot water while in the galley in rough seas aboard Sea Dog. The first time was when we were bringing the boat up from Ft Lauderdale to Liberty Landing Marina in 2014 (our first voyage on our new to us boat). In that case it was water that splash onto my leg while boiling a pot of pasta. In that case, it hurt, nothing serious, not quite a first degree burn. This time it was a bit worse, a second degree burn with a nice assortment of blisters.  The culprit was a 12 oz cup of very hot coffee that dumped down my right leg onto my foot. I was wearing wo,ol pants, so my leg was spared. I can't say the same for my foot. I had on my boat shoes with socks. Unfortunately the shoe and sock did not provide much protection, in fact I think it was worse since the hot liquid just soaked into my sock and sat on my foot.  Our resident nurse on Sea Dog, Michelle had me apply ice until it cooled. She then applied an antibiotic salve and bandaged it up to keep the blisters covered and protected. 



Fast forward, each day the blisters got a bit larger, now three days and a couple of bandage changes later, most of the blisters have popped. Michelle and Keith found a wild Aloe Vera plant, on a trip to the local liquor store, that nurse Michelle is having me apply to the blisters several times a day.


Most of the blisters have popped. While my foot is not looking its best, it is not hurting anymore which is nice.  There is one lasting blister on the inside of my ankle.


Note, the bloodied third and fourth toe was caused by stubbing my foot against a shroud while barefoot. In this case I am pretty sure my boat shoes would have protected me.



We are in Bermuda!

Leg 1 Liberty Landing Marina to Annapolis MD done.

Leg 2 Annapolis MD to Norfolk VA done.

Leg 3 Norfolk VA to St Georges Harbor Bermuda done.

Leg 3 was the first of three offshore legs on route to Lagos, Portugal.  We left Norfolk VA at 7 am on May 5 and arrived in St George's Harbor Bermuda around 11 am on May 9, 4 days 4 hours. The first two days were spent motoring and hoping for wind.  Well we found the wind and plenty of it. The last two days were spent hoping for a bit less wind. We had wind against current as we crossed the Gulf Stream which can make for an uncomfortable ride. This combination creates steep tight choppy waves, and if you have ever boated in really choppy waters its just not much fun. Once out of the Gulf Stream the wind continued to increase, which in turn created larger confused seas. The winds built to 25, gusting to 30, then 30 gusting to 35 for more that 2 days. As the winds increased, our sail plan (amount of sails out) decreased, from full genoa and main to a triple reefed genoa and main. Our course was a starboard deep broad reach for most of the passage. Those of you following our track via PredictWind will have noticed a slight jog to the north to get back to the rhumb line to Bermuda. Prior to the job, we were flogging sails in light winds and PredictWind was showing wind to the north.  After a short port gybe, we found our wind, gybed back to a starboard deep broad reach and made excellent time to Bermuda.  For most of two days our speed was between 7 to 9 knots. With a combination of wind and surfing down the backs of decent size waves we saw boat speeds in excess of 11 knots, which is fast for Sea Dog. Note, these speeds were with a triple reef in both the genoa and main sail. 

We are currently on a mooring ball just off the St George's Dinghy and Sport Club.  There are currently several other boats that are part of the Arc Europe 2023 rally in the harbor. The fleet from St Maarten, which left a day later than us, May 6, are currently about 210 to 400 miles to the south of Bermuda, with some low wind areas in-between. The fastest boats should be arriving tomorrow night, and the rest of the fleet sometime Friday into Saturday.

We depart on Leg 4, Bermuda to the Azores on May 17, which will give all the boats sometime to re-coup, re-fuel and re-provision before we set off on the longest leg of the voyage.



Proof that we are really in Bermuda. :)






Calm before the stronger winds, we were able to fly our asymmetrical spinnaker which is a great reaching sail in lighter winds.


A beautiful sunset transitions into ...


 

A magnificent moon rise!

Sunday, May 7, 2023

Halfway to Bermuda

As of Sunday May 7 at 12:40pm, we are halfway to Bermuda. We have 14knts of wind, sailing on a broad reach. The seas are gentle and it's a beautiful sunny day 

Follow our adventure:
https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/SeaDog/




 

Thursday, February 23, 2023

For Families and Friends. FAQs



Here is our FAQs page.  We will continue to update this page.
Use this post to also communicate with each other.

Follow Sea Dog online:

https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/SeaDog/

Follow the Arc Europe 2023 boats online: 

  Satellite trackers are fitted to the boats and regular position reports will automatically be displayed on the “Fleet Viewer” on the World Cruising Rally website: www.worldcruising.com. 
  The fleet viewer is located on the upper left side of the website. It provides an overview of location, daily distance sailed and distance to the next port. 

Quick Access: https://www.worldcruising.com/arc_europe/arc_europe/eventfleetviewer.aspx

Rally Facebook Page:

www.facebook.com/arceurope 

Friends and family can post messages and ask each other questions on the rally Facebook pages. These are kept up-to-date with the latest photos and news from the rally. 

Satellite Phone: Given upon request. Please try using WhatsApp for chat, call and videocall. John 510.589.9038  Michele 510.325.3662

Starlink

We have Starlink which provides reasonable internet service while sailing. This means our cellphones work, calls are a bit sketchy (drop in and out) while texting seems pretty solid.

This also means the WhatsApp can be used to perform internet based calling. You will need to install WhatsApp on your mobile device.

Important Dates:

May 17, 2023 Departing Bermuda to Horta, Faial, Azores 1800 NM
June 11, 2023 Departing Azores for Marina de Lagos, Portugal 820 NM
June 18, 2023 Rally ends in Lagos.

Where are you going once you get there?

   We do not have definite plans yet.  Our route will be influenced by:
1) Information we learn from the other people we will be meeting on the rally, many who are from Europe.  Our past experience has taught us that talking to folks from the area is the best way to get the inside scoop,  beyond what you can learn from guidebooks.
2) Avoiding the “hot spots” as far as crowds and temperature goes.
3) Managing the 90 day visitation limit set by Schengen.  If you want more info on this zone:





Saturday, February 11, 2023

Active Topic List with Plans

The following is from our team meeting.  Please let me know if I missed something or if I missed the point of the question.

What division are we entering?
 Crusing which is the fun and friendly competitive group.

Deviation card
  See dog has been swung and there is a deviation card on board. However that card is from when we first bought the boat and there have been changes made.  We have not made this an annual event like many articles suggest.
THE PLAN: swing the boat and update the deviation card.  We have a handheld compass onboard to help and will look for a spot to do it.

Staysail
  One has been installed and it is not self tacking.

Boom Furler Failure
  Our system is not hydraulic, it works with our electrical winch but can be hoisted manually in the cockpit or at the mast.

Storm Sails

Storm Jib 
  We have one that hanks on.
THE PLAN: not need it.

Storm Main Sail
  We have one that runs on an independent track on the mast and does not involve the boom for set up.  It is a great shade of “please find me orange”.
THE PLAN:  Have crew play with installing once we are all onboard.

Boom Preventer
  We have set up a boom preventer system that we got from Attainable Adventure Cruising - great reference site at morganscloud.com.
  THE PLAN: have written instructions on hand.
  
Emergency Rudder
  In the event of sliding backwards down a fifty foot wave (thanks Keith for the visual)
I have started research on commercial emergency rudder kits and self made systems.
THE PLAN: 
  What is clear is to have something built ready to go versus the non-plan of improvising if it happens.  I liked this article:
I have started to contact some of the products available.
One suggested product category that I do not think will work for Sea Dog is the use of a drogue.  In spite of how many people suggest this, on closer inspection I do not think it will be logical.  Given how slow it will cause a boat to go.  So for now I am moving forward on an emergency rudder system that is a true to an actual rudder replacement as possible.  
All suggestions, leads, are appreciated!

Communications
  We have an Iridium Go and a SSB onboard, besides the typical VHF both installed and handheld.  Unfortunately the SSB does not have DSC.
We are looking into Starlink but it will not be considered part of our reliable communication appliances.

Bow thruster battery
  Can be used as an back-up to the engine start battery.
THE PLAN: We have jumper cables onboard if needed.

Spare halyards:
  THE PLAN: We have the topping lift that can back up the main.  And upon Keith’s suggestion will look into a second spare.  Great question for the rigger we will meet with in Annapolis.

Broken Stay
THE PLAN: I did not have a plan but we will now “carry aboard 200ft of emergency spectra” nothing over 12mm.

Dates of the 2023 ARC Europe. Let’s try this again, shall we?

  There is nothing like a global pandemic to teach you that all plans are tentative.  Yet here we are with another go at it.  

Leg 1: NJ to Annapolis, Maryland.  Departure: April 1, arriving April 5/7.

Leg 2: Virginia to Bermuda.  Departure:  May 1/2 arriving May 6/7.

Leg 3: Bermuda to Horta, Faial Azores.   Departure: May 17. 

Leg 4:  Azores Cruise with the rally.  June 3 through 10.

Leg 3a: Azores to Marina de Lagos, Portugal.  Departure: June 11.

Rally ends in Lagos, Portugal June 18th with Social Event and Ceremony.