Time and tide wait for no man
15 December 2012 | Atlantic Ocean
Gary Mellon
The final Count Down
A lot of personnel planning has to go along side making sure the integrity of the boat is sufficient for the task. The crossing itself would take about 3 weeks and because of sleeping and working shift patterns I figured 5 people would be the optimum number. Allowing for two people to be on watch through out this would mean our 3 double berths would be sufficient working split shifts of say 3 hours each. (Eventually this system was used on the crossing but we changed the pattern of who started in the evening so that everyone would have ample day time to relax). We could then use a system known as hot bedding. Therefore since only one person would sleep in a double bed at any one time we could use half of each bed for pre-boxed food or other storage. Further since we would be an all male crew (having a female on board would have made too many compromises) we were therefore able to use the second bathroom for storage also. In this case for spare sails and bottled water. Ultimately every dry floor compartment and crevice would be utilised for storage.
The (ARC) crossing organisers arrange meetings and demonstration at Las Palmas from two weeks before the event starts and with about 250 boats taking part local accommodation has to be pre-booked. We would need some accommodation in Las Palmas for the crew since not everyone would a have bed as indicated above. However, as we did not have a fixed date this would be done nearer the time of departure. Likewise, the Marina at Rodney Bay in St Lucia becomes a sea of some of the finest yachts in the world and many tourist turn up to view both the beginning and the end. So it fell upon Lizzie and I, just after Alexis and Dan's wedding in October 2011, to check out suitable accommodation for ourselves, the crew and their partners as well as some of our friends in St Lucia. Being over a year early we were able to find two wonderful adjacent town houses overlooking the bay and marina which we booked for the month of December, 2012.
The delays in completing the work on the boat in Vilamoura compromised a number of fixed dates we had for sea trials and personnel training. Also this caused a problem with pre-booked work holiday periods (especially for Dan, who is in full-time employment) as well as confirming who would be our skipper on the leg down to Las Palmas. In particular we were to have split the journey South into two legs allowing us to sail to Madeira, as part of our sea trial, in the late summer. A trip of about 450 miles. As this is still technically Portugal we would not need to do customs clearances etc and could have easily returned to the Algarve if need be without to much trouble. This would have left us only about 200 miles from Las Palmas. Also the trip we had to do eventually in one run, would have been less arduous that it ultimately was. This leg South also is a lot easier to do before the Autumn when head winds become more common.
There are lessons to be learned here; be busy at the start of a project rather than at the end; have the specialist approved contractors fit the key parts, this will not only give you peace of mind it will make sure that you have a warranted job with all the spares you will need, but also provide the the manufacturers guarantee to fall back on; not sorting out the problems as you go along ultimately means you have a lot of problems to fix when time is of the essence and this can lead to rash decisions being made and antagonism between all those involved.
In order to mitigate the delays we were forced to use more local labour than had been anticipated. A key activity was the installation of the electrical navigational and SSB radio together with there associated antenna and integrating this with the existing compatible equipment. Also the wind charger and PV panels, which were to be installed on the arch could not be completed until the arch was finished. The integration of these elements proved to be very problematic due to space limitations, and since Neil was the only person who knew the existing wiring and system installations, everything revolved around him. The local person involved in commissioning these electrical elements, though pleasant and seemly competent took more than a month instead of the expected week - my experience with using local ex-pat tradesmen is that they seem to always promise more than they can deliver and they purport to be able to undertake work beyond their current knowledge or experience. In this case it seemed our man needed to read the manuals a lot and we still didn't have a fully operating system by the time we left! However, our experience with the stainless steel fabricator and welder (Sergio) was very pleasant and heartwarming since he could not have done a better job in such difficult circumstances. He was very inventive and thorough in his approach and even worked on his days off to complete work and get us away as soon as possible
The lack of proper sea trials with our new equipment meant that any problems would need to be fixed during the trip South (which in itself would be an open Atlantic sea run of 650 miles) or during the short time we had in Las Palmas! This brings to mind a journey I had with Jon Linbergh, the youngest son of Charles, the first person to cross the Atlantic by air. In the run up to the 70th anniversary of this flight I got an email from Jon saying he wanted to visit his childhood home of Long Barn, in the Weald of Kent, which he had not visited since WWII. The house was owned by Vita Sackville-West at the time but Jon had no idea where it was. His family had taken refuge in England, after the kidnapping of his elder brother, to get away from the press. Through a contact at the Sevenoaks Chronical, Bob Ogley (local historian) and I kept his visit a secret until he had left. After which Bob was allowed to put out a big spread in the local paper and scooped all the nationals. As his initial host I collected Jon from Heathrow, together with his wife, and brought them back to Sevenoaks where his was reunited with Lord Sackville, who had been a boyhood friend of Jon's. We were all slightly bemused because instead of blending in with the crowd he arrived wearing a Stetson and a flying jacket, rather in the mode of the way you would have expected his father looked in his heyday. During his visit he explained that his father would have been broke had he not won the prize for his flight and although everyone remembers his transatlantic feat the most important trip was his solo flight across the USA from San Diego to get to the start line. His plane, Spirit of St Lois named after his sponsors home town, was specially built with lots of his own ideas built in, but because of delays etc he too would be taking an arduous trip in a vessel that he knew was not properly tested. His quick turn-around in New York left him little time to make further modifications before he set off on his epic journey.
With an every diminishing amount of time we would finally cast off from Vilamoura with less than 13 days to go before the start of our crossing of a further 2,800 miles. By now I had already secured the services of an experienced skipper, who would see us through the transatlantic waters. Shane Cole, a 40 year old Sailing School owner based in Mar Menor on the Spanish Coast in the Mediterranean. He and his lovely wife Debbie (also a RYA sailing instructor of repute) have run a highly successful sailing business for over 17 years. They had both been on our list of highly recommended people and although I am told that she is the better cook Shane is also a bit of a chef in the galley too. The deal was finalised on their stand at the Southampton Boat Show in September but neither one was available to help us on our first leg, especially since we had not got a final date,at that time.
The rules of the World Cruising Club say that any boat and crew that is able to take up the start in Las Palmas will be approved to take part as long as they have completed a 500 mile open sea crossing. Shane would be our insurance for this qualification and we would now all qualify should we be successful in a single down leg run. As the owner of the boat it is my responsibility to have all the ships papers and insurance etc up to date but in the absence of a skipper at the moment I was responsible for the whole crew and making sure the boat was sea worthy in every detail. We had been looking for a suitable skipper for some time. It is not always necessary to have a professional help you sail a large cruising boat but on a voyage such as this most sailing people would think it unwise for a limited experienced, part-time sailing person such as myself. The amount of detail and know-who that these professionals have is huge and just what you need at a time of crisis which can happen at any time during a long voyage. You have only to read Dan's accompanying daily blog to understand this. As I write this item I note (15th December) that about a dozen yachts have retired and a further two earlier today sent out fleet advisory notes about there perilous situation will damage/loss of equipment use and with limited amounts of essentials, and still over 500 miles from the nearest safe harbour. I say that a good skipper is more use at sea than comprehensive insurance cover.
With Keith, Neil and I as the basis of the crew and Dan and Shane not able to join us until Las Palmas, we had two spaces available for other competent sailing people to join us. The more experienced the better. We were lucky to find two experienced people to join us at short notice. Peter Bearman, a seasoned 30,000+ miles man and all-round sailor, who would compliment the crew really well, and a brash 30 something Australian called Simeon Michaels. After training as a lawyer he became a sustainability expert, ecologist, and writer. He was traveling the world writing about his adventures for his hometown newspaper in Byron Bay. His name was passed on to me by the ARC office, who have a short list of qualified people looking for places on boats to cross the Atlantic. We couldn't offer him that but gave him the opportunity to join us and ultimately get on another boat for the crossing. He had ample ocean sailing experience and was a tireless and willing worker both on land and offshore. Both joined us in Vilamoura and help get the boat ready, working tirelessly and making valuable suggestions. Unfortunately due to another delay, Peter had to leave us. We were going to sail to Madeira with another yacht "WifeofPi" owned and sailed by Enda Connellan and his good friend Kevin, and his crewman Adrian. After a good "Irish Night" together it was agreed that Peter would join them on their next leg rather than fly home direct. We parted best of friends and hope to sail together in the near future. This still left us a man short and fortunately Marco De Polonia (Mark) who though only 35 is a seasoned skipper, after having work as a lawyer in PWC. He flew in from Poland at a days notice and quickly integrated in to our team. Mark's harsh North Atlantic sailing and knowledge of the area down to Las Palmas was later to prove invaluable as we struggled to get through ferocious head winds for two and a half days.
We left Vilamoura in a rush on Monday the 12th October, almost a month after what should have been our final leaving date. But like Linbergh before us we had our date with destiny and were eager to achieve our goal. After a harrowing 7 days at sea I felt we had earned the right to cross the Atlantic. We arrived in Las Palmas as the Harbour Master was closing his office on the evening of 19th November. Both Dan and Shane were there to meet us and smooth our way through the formalities.
Our few days in Las Palmas ae now a blur of activity. With Shane, now about to enter his second ARC, taking over the role of skipper and overseeing the many remedial jobs that were required. The facilities in and around the marina are superb with the ARC team hosting a large number of events. We had a number of equipment issues to resolve with the generator, engine, SSB radio and Raymarine electronics needing specialist attention and all were resolved by the experts supplied by the manufacturers at little or no cost! In particular Jason a 17 year veteran of Raymarine showed what the system could do when other sales and authorised dealer/installer network were unsure or simply unaware. However, we managed to pass our safety inspection by the following Thursday and we duly allowed into the fleet to do the crossing. That evening we celebrated with a memorable Tapas and Beer night in the Old Town, where I was able to introduce many locals to the cork and egg tricks, winning a free beer along the way. We had worked tireless for several solid weeks and our adventure was about to begin. However, we had been dogged by electrical and battery charging problems throughout our downward leg and these were proving difficult to sort out. Since we would be at sea for about three weeks we were keen to have a workable solution for any more problems that may occur. Fortunately we found the right man. Jon Crouch, an Englishman from Kent, who currently works offering Yacht Services in Las Palmas. In the short time we had with him he was at least able to identify our problems and provide a series of solutions, whilst rendering services to other boats in urgent need of his services. It is partly through his efforts and those of many other suppliers that we were able to make the start line.
Due to bad weather, and for only the second time in 26 years the start of the main event was delayed. The racing fleet and a few others left on the due date, as the rules require in any conditions, and we were to join them two days later. However, due to a minor hiccup at the dock as we were leaving (those electrics again) we were able to cross the start line 32 minutes after the rest of the 200 odd fleet of yachts at 11.32am on Tuesday 27th November. At that moment Keith, Daniel, Neil and I, on my boat "Canapesia", became transatlantic yachtsmen.
Gary Mellon At Sea, 300 miles from The Caribbean.