One Girls Ocean Challenge

April 27, 2011

This is the spreader bracket.  It’s my spare.  It will fit just fine, but now I need to get a new one from France or I need to find a fabricator who can make me one here.  It’s a cast piece, rather than a welded stainless piece, which makes it much trickier to get a replacement!

Diane

April 24, 2011

Well it’s time for some new standing rigging!
The D4 blew 2 strands while I was in Miami, so it’s officially time to replace all of the standing rigging. While Nick was stripping it all off the mast today to go to the , we found that one of the spreader brackets is also broken straight through….hmmmmmm

Diane

April 18, 2011

And the planning for Bermuda begins! It’s only five and a half weeks away! Didn’t I just get home? Hahahah
Diane

April 15, 2011
Class Mini has officially sanctioned my 1000nm qualifying run in the Bahamas!  Woohoo!  Happy Friday everyone 🙂
Diane

April 7, 2011

Next up on the agenda is the Bermuda 1- 2.  The race starts June 3rd, 2011.  It’s 600 nautical miles from Newport to Bermuda.  The first leg to Bermuda is single handed, and then the second leg coming back from Bermuda to Newport will be double handed.  Nick will join me for the double handed leg back.  There may be four or five minis in this race!  I’ll keep you posted as things develop.

Diane

March 29, 2011

It’s been over a week since my last post as I’ve been busy busy busy!  The last week has been an intensive week of learning, sailing and testing at the Vancouver Island Maritime Academy(VIMA).  We covered tides, currents, boat handling under sail and power, man overboard, pilotage, day shapes, night lighting systems, sounds and the list goes on and on right down to the European method of tidal calculations.  Why you ask the European method?  Well…..VIMA is now a Royal Yachting Association (RYA) accredited facility.  You can check out the VIMA  website for more accurate details and enquiries.  The relationship with the RYA is brand new and part of a new initiative to bring the training to Canada.  It was an amazing course and I was privileged to be part of it with some wonderful people.

On the left, meet Katy the owner, operator, brains behind the operation of VIMA and our instructor for the week.  The other two guys are the wonderful motley crew that together we made up the first three successful training candidates for the RYA program with VIMA.  The guys were successful in obtaining their RYA Yachtmaster Offshore certification and I was able to obtain my Yachtmaster Coastal certification.  Yes…..there were a few short jokes this week, but somehow I still measured up!  The person missing from the picture is our photographer and RYA instructor.  It was a pleasure to be under Christian’s watchful and intuitive eye 🙂

Did I mention tidal calculation?  Check out the current at this south cardinal buoy!  And yes…..they have cormorants here in Victoria as well!  Now I think it’s time to do some sailing and put this new found knowledge to practise! 

Diane

March 18, 2011

I hope you have had a chance to read the crazy events of my finish for the 1000 nautical mile qualifier in my last blog.  Certainly it wouldn’t have been as favourable an outcome if it wasn’t for the support I received to try and get back to my mooring ball and land.  I want to introduce you to .

Rand and his fantastic rigid inflatable were able to amazingly manoeuver around the mini in massive seas and winds and not leave a mark on her. Plus, we’ve all heard horror stories about the significant levels of damage that can result from towing. Often the worst damage happens during towing! Not the case with Rand and Sea Tow. OGOC and I were in fantastic hands. Considering there are no bow cleats on the mini, Rand figured out the best and safest towing method, and was able to negotiate safe towing speeds to keep the loads as minimal as possible while we were underway. Picture a inch and a half tow line stretched out well over one hundred feet and disappearing into the wave behind you, dragging a boat that wants nothing more than to scream at obnoxious speeds down each wave! Thanks Rand for your support and wonderful skills! For the rest of you, check out a membership with Sea Tow. It’s an inexpensive piece of insurance that is MUCH cheaper than calling for an emergency tow, and may just save your life and the life of your vessel one day. 🙂
Diane

Posted March 15, 2011

log date March 2, 2011
N25d10’ W79d50’’ – Cay Lobos to Miami Sea Buoy
0129 UTC  EST (the night before)
Log Reading 1245M
Wind N20 -28knots

Drifting toward the Sea Buoy with control would be one way of describing it.  Wishing I was strapped in with a five point hitch would be another!    Here’s the summary.  11 days out.  A potential sum total of 24 hours of cumulative sleep.  Busiest shipping lane in the world.  20+ foot square waves you can’t see in the dark and fifty miles to the finish!  I can honestly say at this point exhaustion was starting to win.  By 0230 I was loaded on my third coffee.  The rain was pouring across the sky.  The traffic was never ending.  Each time a new vessel would pop up on my AIS I would write it down in my book and hail them.  Most times they were headed directly in my path, headed for Miami or Fort Lauderdale, or south to the ditch.  We were all sharing the same bucket of water.  Thankfully they were all very happy to alter course to avoid.  Once we had confirmed positions and a collision was averted, I would put a check mark next to their name.  Then I would move on to the next.  The closest call came when one ship “thought” they saw me.  When they altered course to avoid me they actually came closer.  I opened the companionway hatch to see both bow lights staring straight at me.  I called on the VHF again and after several flashes with my spotlight, a 965 foot freighter banked hard right and brushed past us.  Everything looks bigger and faster in the dark, but I’m sure I could hear the waves smashing against their hull.  It couldn’t have been more than a quarter mile away.  Then again I was also up to seeing and hearing crazy things.  I could clearly see someone climbing in over the stern of the boat right where the safety gear was mounted.  On the one hand I knew it wasn’t real.  On the other, I was perplexed as to why this person was invading my cockpit, and at one point even ran back into the cockpit to address the issue!  Then, while stationed inside the cabin, I was hearing people talking.  Again I knew it wasn’t real, but it was amazing how clear and vivid the voices were.  I think everyone who has ever done a long distance haul will attest to those odd wee hours where the unreal starts to catch up to you and the brain suffers a little!  Crazy, but nothing a little nap can’t solve.  Unfortunately I wasn’t getting a nap.

The new plan.  At the current calculations, I will drift north with the Gulf Stream at 4 knots.  I should be adjacent to the Miami Sea Buoy (my finish) around first light.  There’s an anchorage just inshore from the Sea Buoy.  The plan is to finish, sail west in to the anchorage, drop a hook and wait it out.  Then turn around and head south back to Coconut Grove or head in through the main channel.  My next course of action was to radio the US Coast Guard and inform them of my position.  I often live by the “just incase” rule of thumb.  Although the Coast Guard was a little perplexed as to my VHF call, they took my information and agreed that even though the anchorage was a lee shore, that it was probably a good idea.  By daylight I was ready.  I had almost 300 feet of anchor rode and chain.  I poked my head outside of the cabin to see what life really looked like.  Holly cow!  The seas were gigantic!  I was about 8 miles off shore and I couldn’t see the city when I was in the troughs.  There was no power when I was in the troughs.  Then we would rise up to the crest of the wave, 28 knots from the north would hit us.  We could have sailed in this but the new concern was getting in…or more specifically when something went wrong trying to get in.  Any channel would be narrow and have deep chop.  I would have to sail in.  The engine’s prop wouldn’t even touch the water.  To get to an anchorage would be feasible, but would my anchor set?  What if it didn’t?  I have a fortress anchor, which is the correct size for the boat but is one of the lightest ones you can get.  Would it even make it to the bottom before we got picked up by another wave and pushed in to the lee shore?  That close to land we wouldn’t have a northward push from the Gulf Stream.  We would be completely at the mercy of the wave action, wind and counter current pushing us onto the lee shore.  I called the Coast Guard again.  Gave them the details and asked for support to get in safely.  At 0712 on March 2, 2011 I finished.  Not only was I past the Miami Sea Buoy, but now I was heading north quickly!  Coast Guard agreed to come out and pull me in.  Sea Tow also rang me up on the VHF and offered to tow in.  Rand from Sea Tow was familiar with the boat and campaign, as we had been moored in the same basin.  They offered to come out free of charge!  It’s amazing what the human spirit is capable of!  Coast Guard arrived first, then Sea Tow.  Rand dropped a towing bridle into the water and floated it downwind to me.  I hooked it up to the primary winches.  We towed to weather and everything looked good.  Then we stopped for me to take the main down.  If my brain had been working a little better I would have realized the error I was about to make.  The next step was to drop the main.  Remember, I was heaved to.  The main was what was holding me still.  As soon as I dropped the main and the sail lost its anchoring ability, the boat took off like a rocket down the face of the next wave.  Rand said “one minute you were there, the next you were gone”.  We started screaming along with a wave and as I was at the mast trying to drop the main, I wasn’t steering, and I hadn’t thought to put the autopilot on to drive us into the wind.  Then the next wave picked us up and we started to scream even faster.  Rand saw what happened and gunned it.  He dropped the hammer on 400 some odd horsepower of outboard strength and tried to run ahead of us.  Remember….we’re now hooked together by the tow line.  Rand couldn’t catch up fast enough.  I ran over my towline and face planted into the next wave.  No damage, and now we were parked for a second and I got the rest of the main down on deck.  In the process, the towline had wrap itself once around the keel and up through the rudders.  A bit of a mess to say the least, but nothing a knife couldn’t fix.  To help, the Coast Guard put a body on deck with me.  Poor kid!  Two years in service, struggling with a bowline and plopped onto a boat with a crazy blonde who prefers to control her own domain!  He was very helpful and did everything I told him to do.  Plus he had a great time!  Eventually we got the towline sorted out and were on our way.  Then we deployed the drogue to slow us down and control our ride in.  Kyle from the Coast Guard was having a little difficulty negotiating the lumpy seas and the big gulp coffee he had slammed!  The whole towing process took 7 hours.  By the time we got to the main channel entrance to Miami, the Melges 32s that were headed out for the offshore regatta were turning around in the channel because they couldn’t get out.  Another support boat came out.  My wonderful new friends at Coconut Grove Sailing Club Nick, Dave and other helpful hands came out to lend assistance.  Nick came onboard to replace Kyle when he had to leave and said “let me drive…you need a break”.  I’m a bit possessive to say the least when it comes to my Mini, but Nick offered me a fresh tuna sandwich on a croissant, fresh fruit and a Gatorade in exchange for the tiller…..I thought it was a good deal!  Three bites into the sandwich I switched to the fruit.  Three pieces or so into the fruit my brain said “that’s it…..time for a break”, and I passed out cold.  Next thing I knew we were pulling up to my mooring ball and my little adventure was over.   
Finished 1212 UTC  0539 EST – N25d38.65’  W79d 54’

  March 14, 2011

post on March 11, 2011

log date Feb 27, 2011
N21d45’ W75d Great Inagua to the Old Bahamas Bank (aka the ditch)
1155 UTC 0655 EST
Log Reading 835M
Full main and genoa and 2 reefs in both
Wind SE 15-20 knots

Between Great Inagua and the beginning of the Old Bahama Channel, there’s a large section of water where you can line yourself up gybing to get up the Old Bahama Channel (the ditch).  My gybing work takes me a little north of the rhumb line and then with a gybe over I come to the south side of the rhumb line very close to Cuba.  With one more gybe in mind, I gybe over and start working my way toward the ditch. 

It’s hazy out this morning.  You can’t really see the horizon.  Cuba is a great place.  I’ve never been, but everyone I know who has gone there on holiday has had a fantastic time.  I’ve also heard lots of stories of drug running and patrol ships along the Cuba border.  For many reasons I have no intention of wanting or needing to go into Cuba.  As the sun came up the haze showed how thick it was.  I could just make out the form of land….just barely.  Then out of the haze I see a ship.  My usual procedure, I check the AIS…..doesn’t  show up.  It’s also pretty much standing still.  The AIS will only pop a ship up on the screen if it’s within about 4 miles and this ship could have easily been outside of that range, but still….things were a little eerie!  It’s almost like they were trying to figure out what or who I was.  If they looked through their binoculars I bet they were saying….”what the heck is something that small doing way out here?”  Regardless of who or what they were, a few minutes later they moved on.  Later on that night, as I got very close to the narrows of the ditch I got to chat with some guys on Chemical Pioneer.  They were making their way out of the ditch and I was gybing my way in through a section that’s about ten miles wide, depending on your angle.  I wanted to make sure they saw me, and in the conversation ended up telling them about the campaign, as they were seriously curious about a 21 foot single handed boat way out in never never land!  Then the ditch narrowed and the traffic swelled, and I plodded my way just outside of what seemed to be the shipping lane, and we quickly made our way through the ditch to Cay Lobos. 

Feb 28, 2011
N22d34’ W77d58’ – Great Inagua to Cay Lobos
1605 UTC 1105 EST
Log Reading 1049M
Full main and genoa
Wind SE 20 +knots

 Feels great to be on our way home.  As much fun as this is and as much incredible hard work as it is it’s always nice to pass a mile marker and know that you’re on your way.  So, where were we…..right, Cay Lobos and still in the ditch. Cay Lobos is my final waypoint before returning to the Miami Sea Buoy.  As you know, the depth meter isn’t working. Upon final approach to Cay Lobos the depth meter decided that this was an appropriate place to commit final suicide.  The meter had been steady at 28 meters for almost a thousand miles, or was flat lined.  Most likely the problem I was experiencing was from the soundings reflecting back through the different thermal layers of the water.  Now upon final approach to Cay Lobos lighthouse the meter decides to jump to 2 metres below the keel.  This of course sets off the shallow depth alarm.  Fine…hit reset.  Should be plenty of water here according to the chart.  Then it jumps to 12 metres and then 99 metres and the deep anchoring alarm goes off.  I’m ready to heave the friggin thing right into the water.  Patience prevails as I continuously hit the reset button, try to get a picture of Cay Lobos and the GPS and try to read the chart all at the same time.  Then… almost as if all of the other alarms on the boat were jealous, they started going off as well.  The Active Indicating System felt inclined to tell me about two ships in the area, and the autopilot chimed in with an “off course” alarm for the apparent wind.  Maddening to say the least!  Scary as hell as everything was going off at once.  Fine…take the damn picture and head back out. 

The next several hours were spent heavily engaged with a manual, the cockpit floor and the ST60 display in hand trying to figure out how to shut the damn alarm off.  The ST60 manual is possibly the worst written manual in the world for someone who is semi-conscious and barely able to construct a sentence due to exhaustion and fatigue!  I’m sure that for your average person who is lucid and coherent, it’s an excellent manual, but under the circumstances this was a loosing battle!!!  Note to self….make a cheat sheet for when the alarm goes off again!     Next stop….Miami Sea Buoy J

March 1, 2011
N23d19’ W79d05’’ – Cay Lobos to Miami Sea Buoy
0324 UTC 2224 EST (the night before)
Log Reading 1133M
Full main and genoa
Wind SE 5-10 knots

We’ve worked our way out of the ditch and are making our way north back into the Gulf Stream. 
At this point the current is completely in our favor, which is really handy as the breeze is dying to a gentle drift.  The cruise ship and cargo ship traffic are building quickly also.  All night long we played “dodge the cruise ship”.  Luckily they have just as little interest in plowing into us as we into them.  With a little radio work we all chat our positions and they happily alter course around us.  I felt bad having a big ship like that alter course around me, but honestly, it was that or get mowed down. 

By the next morning the breeze finally fills in a little from the east.   The weather forecast is not so good.  The breeze is going to swing around to the west by mid afternoon and then go north in the evening and north east through the night…..bad weather coming.  During the day I finally got to take advantage of some nice kite flying conditions.  The water was flat and the breeze was 5-10 knots.  I got the biggest kite up and then as the breeze started to shift forward switched to the code 0 and then back to a headsail.  By the time the headsail was back up we were smack in the Gulf Stream again.  My calculations were excellent.  A Course of 320 degrees gave us a course made good of 348 degrees as the stream pushed us north.  We were on port tack and getting tighter.  Before the sun went down I checked the jib was ready to go and gave everything a final check over to make sure we were ready for heavy weather.  It was going to clock and build to 20+ knots.  The weather forecasts were inconsistent.  May or may not rain, and may or may not build past twenty and probably only 4-6 foot seas in the stream. I made dinner, made a coffee and got my gear on.  The next problem was that as the breeze shifted, the breeze also died a little which changed my set and drift calculations for the stream.  I had to point higher and was almost up to 290 degrees just to make my course of 348 degrees.  Keep in mind that that course of 348 degrees is the course made good according to the GPS….otherwise known as my “track”.  So the bow is pointed in one direction and we’re heading in a different direction….crazy, but calculated.   So the plan is to carry on west as much as possible, and when the breeze swings north, I’ll tack and sail upwind on starboard and let the current take me rather than fight it, then if we’re heading north a little too much, we can just crack off and push more west.  The angle should also be good for the wave action, but regardless, they are going to be steep and sharp.  Sounds like a good plan…..right? By nightfall the breeze builds to 20+ knots. At one point I had just finished sharing my position with a ship and went up to the bow to put a reef in and change headsails.  While I was up there, the breeze swung hard from the west to the north.  It seemed like only ten minutes.  This is scary!  I’m tethered up on the bow.  The breeze has moved almost ninety degrees in a very short spell of time….I decided to leave the headsail down and go back to the cockpit and check our direction and wind etc.  23 knots and from the North hard.  Within what seemed like minutes, the waves stack.  I sheeted in the main and went without a headsail until I got a feel for the new conditions.  Keep in mind, there’s no moon and I can’t see the wave action at all.  These waves are pressing up against the Gulf Stream.  They are literally square.  No curling or cresting, but just standing straight up and close to each other.  As we made our way we we’re falling hard off the waves.  The bow would climb up a wave and then the wave would disappear out from underneath us and we would free fall down the backside of the wave.  I couldn’t see the wave to slide down it.  We landed with a thunderous crash.  The rig would chatter and scream.  Te hull smashes and bulkheads feel like they are going to pop.  My nerves run for cover.  This is too hard on the boat.  It’s also not getting us anywhere other than closer to breaking something. Time to heave to.  At least heaved to we’re not crashing around and we’re a little anchored in the water with the main hanging down wind.  Granted it’s a lot like being in a washing machine twisting and turning with no great consistency, it’s easier on the boat.  Did you know that according to the locals, the Coast Guard and anyone else you talk to that this is smack dab in the middle of the busiest shipping lanes in THE WORLD!  I didn’t know this.  So the new plan is to drift with the stream in the right direction.  I’ll recalculate our position and our drift every hour to make sure that we’re going in a favorable direction, and once the  sun comes up I’ll carry on sailing to the Miami Sea Buoy.  Time for more coffee….holly crap there are a lot of ships on the AIS now.  Time to get on to talking with the traffic on the radio to make sure we don’t get run over!