LORD'S PRAYER LOG, Part 07:
February 2, 2000
0557 Sunrise. Today is the anniversary of a special event. My son Jamie was born
on this date in 1968 and I became a father. Now Jamie, himself is father of two
- Jenny and Dalton.
0730 The air temperature is 74 degrees. Seawater temperature is 72. I am in
shorts today and a tee shirt for the first time since departure. It is almost
hard to believe that only one week ago today I was clearing snow and Ice off the
decks in Hampton Roads in preparation for leaving the Chesapeake. I had been
quite concerned for a number of days prior to that - even discouraged because
the weather off shore had been so grizzly for the previous month that I was
certain I would to have to take the Intercoastal Water (ICW) at least part way
south before I would ever see a window of opportunity to get free of the US
Atlantic coast. The ICW can be a marvelous trip if done at the right time of
year and at the right pace; but it is long. The segment between Norfolk and
Miami is 1,096 statute miles in length - much longer than the straight-line
distance between the two points because it winds about. Most of it must be done
under power and the best that a fellow in a sailboat can hope to accomplish is
about 40-50 miles per day. My father and my grandfather both did it in sailboats
and it was clear to me that it can be a real ordeal under the wrong
circumstances. My father's log revealed that it took thirty day of running time
and that did not include the days he laid over to rest. Because of the confined
nature of the ICW, there is a requirement for hand steering and in an open
cockpit sailboat, such as Lord's Prayer, that of course means one would be
exposed to the elements throughout the trip. Travel at night is not generally
considered prudent in the ICW, but single-handed I considered it out of the
question, as I was sure that I would be completely exhausted after 8 hours of it
each day. The trip from Norfolk to Morehead City is about 200 miles, which would
have taken me 4-5 days; I was planning to do that to get south of Cape Hatteras,
as it had seemed to me that the worst of the
winter gales were forming to the east of Hatteras, a Cape that has a treacherous
reputation in the winter! A trip out of Moorhead City looked like it would
probably offer about a 5 kt reduction in the top wind strength. When I saw in
the aftermath of what they are now calling "the winter storm of 2000"
that the weather was predicted to be in a lull and that there was a forecast
opportunity to leave
from the mouth of the Chesapeake, it was like a gift from the Lord Himself. The
gale that materialized on the second night out was not in the forecast when I
departed. In fact, it had already developed and I was in it by the time the
National Weather Service (NWS) put out a warning of its existence. Even at that,
the highest winds forecast by the NWS were for 35 kts, whereas I actually
encountered a peak of 43 kts. To question the wisdom of my decision to take the
route I did is reasonable, although I stand by it. I confess that it was a bold
decision and one that I would not likely have made were anyone else aboard the
boat with me. Furthermore, I would not have made it in any other sailboat that I
have sailed in. Lord's Prayer was built from the keel up as an offshore
sailboat. Her
construction is unusually rugged both in hull and rig. The company that builds
this boat (Pacific Seacraft) has twice been cited in Forbes Magazine as one of
the top 100 companies in the US for the quality of its product. No other boat
manufacturer has had that distinction. In its mission statement, Pacific
Seacraft claims to build "quality offshore sailboats for couples". I
think they make a very good start at it. But that is only the beginning in
preparing a boat to go offshore. Once built it must be equipped. To do it right,
a substantial investment is required (witness my selling the house to complete
the effort). In so doing, one can easily double or triple the original cost of
the boat itself. In the beginning the equipment list seems almost endless. It
would be a major error to accept any
reduction in quality of the equipment in the interest of savings on cost for an
offshore vessel, since in the end you get what you pay for. For me it has been
two years bringing Lord's Prayer to the level that she is at. A portion of that
time has included two wonderful summers in Maine, Nova Scotia, and last summer
in Newfoundland as well. These have served as learning and testing periods for
me
as well as for the boat. After each trip I have come home with a long list of
things that needed doing to the boat.One of the more recent items that have been
added and the item that I consider most important in the successful manner in
which the boat handled the recent gale is her new dual jib with Harken roller
furler. This sail was of my own design - but with the assistance of the
sailmaker Jack Rosemere of Cambridge
Canvas and Sail Loft, who actually made the sail. We additionally received
some technical assistance from a representative of North Sails for the actual
cut of the sail. This sail is made of the new Oceanus sailcloth, which was
developed by the sailmaker in Boothbay, ME (whose name unfortunately escapes me
at the moment) for use by the old traditional sailing schooners that still can
be seen on that marvelous coast. The Oceanus cloth is soft like the old
traditional cotton and nice to handle. We used 9 Oz cloth for Lord's Prayer so
it would stand up to a gale but it feels much lighter than the other kinds of 9
Oz sailcloth that are available on the market today. This sail, which I refer to
as a dual jib is really two identical jibs that are sewed to the same luff-tape;
it rolls up on a single over-sized Harken roller furler, recently installed by
Generation III Boat yard. When sailing before the wind, the two clews of the jib
are spread like the wings of a butterfly. They are held outboard with poles that
are butted at the mast like traditional spinnaker or whisker poles. While I
happen to be using whisker poles, spinnaker poles of the correct length might be
just as good or maybe even better, as they tend to be more rugged and less
costly. The great beauty of this
dual or "butterfly" jib arrangement is in the ability of the sailor to
adjust the size of his headsail. Three winches are required to do this. Two are
for the two jib sheets. The third is for the reefing line that is used to
control the Harken roller furler. By easing the sheets and winching in the
furler, the entire
butterfly reduces in size with the poles swinging forward. By easing the furler
line and winching in the sheets, the butterfly increases in size. And so as the
wind increases or decreases, it is possible for a boat running before the wind
to maintain just the right amount of sail and to do it without the crew having
to go onto a pitching foredeck to change sails. It is, of course necessary to go
forward to rig or unrig the poles and this can be a breathtaking experience. But
once installed the poles remain so until it is necessary for the boat to turn
back up wind. I have used a long piece of bungee with either end snapped to the
shrouds - and at two interim locations on the bungee - snapped to the forward
ends of the poles. This helps to reduce wild swinging about that can occur when
one is rigging or unrigging the poles. Guy lines would work even better if
tended by a crewmember on a boat with a crew of more than one.
1030 A tropical rain shower soaks down the boat - washing away the salt on the
topside surfaces.
1400 The boat is now in steady rain. It looks like I am going to finally see the
long-awaited frontal passage - hopefully with the associated wind shift into the
NW. . The boat is close hauled on starboard tack making between 4 and 6 kts. The
wind is 18-23G32. As has been the case for the past three days, the Staysail jib
remains in use, the mainsail remains double reefed, and the dual jib
is partially rolled up with the weather side of the jib lying atop the lee one.
There was a point in time when we thought it would be necessary for the two
clews to be tied together, while on this point of sailing but the two halves
seem to lie together fine without doing that. In my view, tying them together
becomes a nuisance when turning away from the wind onto a down wind heading if
one wishes to spread the two clews.
1417 The wind just went completely flat.
1425 Now there are 11 kts of wind but no change yet in its direction.
1505 The wind is up to 15-18 still out of the SW; the temperature has dropped.
1652 Sunset.
1910 Position: 27-03N 062-31W. This about the same latitude as Lake Okeechobee
in the Florida Everglades and just over 900 NM east of the Florida coast. After
a week underway I am now just now past the halfway point in the trip from the
mouth of Chesapeake Bay to the island of Barbados - a trip of about 1800 NM.
END OF LORD'S PRAYER LOG, Part 07
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