10/31/2009, Newport, RI
This morning we awoke to a mixed forecast of weather - today there will be a system come through with strong winds but it will lay down and behave better tomorrow. Only problem is that the wind will be from the NE at about the time that we get to the stream. According to those that have done this before, it is 24 hours to the stream and 12 hours to get through it with everything going right. With winds from the NW to NE we would get there all right, but we will need something from the NW around through W to S to cross it, otherwise we would be having a rough time. It may be that we might have to tolerate a few bumps this year. The crossing will take from 8 to 12 hours depending upon our speed. One option would be to head south parallel to the current and make southing when the wind backs and we can go.
The fleet is pretty much all here. It looks as though there will be about 30 boats making the trip as well as another 10 or 12 who are not in the rally but who have been waiting for a window to cross anyway. The photo accompanying today's post is of a portion of the rally fleet at the marina.
This morning, quite early, we changed the oil and filter on the engine to get her ready for the 5-6 day trip to Bermuda. We had a bit of a challenge finding a place to take the used oil rags and filter, but eventually we found somewhere. You'd think that would be a normal service for a marina to provide but apparently not at this time of year. We tied down the dingy to the cabin top and also rearranged the lines holding the kayak down so that it wouldn't interfere with the jib sheets. I also started work on the NMEA bus but didn't complete it.
We had the skippers meeting this morning and we turned in our Bermuda clearances and got the initial briefing and paid up our dues for the event. It was actually extremely informative and it was the first inkling of what we are able to get for our $125pp. The only negative thing that I could have to say was that all of the skippers didn't understand the concept of question and answer period. They would shout out their questions in the middle of the presentation and most of the questions were ones that if they had listened to the speaker, they would have already known their answers.
We took Ron off for a walk through the mansions and the cliff walk when we finally had enough empathy to realize that he had been here for a couple of days and hadn't really seen any of the sites here in Newport. I think that he found it quite interesting and was comparing it to some of the major English country estates, as we did. He was also describing the area of the UK where he and Pye have their retirement home and the major estates and even rectories that are near to it.
It looks like we won't be making contact with our friends Mary Lou and Jay from Screech. With the past few days of weather it was unreasonable to expect that they'd be able to come down in time for our departure. Oh well, perhaps we'll be able to see them in Fernandina Beach in the spring.
Tonight we will have the planned social and dinner at the Rhino Bar and will also get an initial presentation from the weather router that will give us our first inkling of whether we will be going tomorrow. Of particular interest will be the forecasted current charts for the Gulf Stream and the recommended entry and exit waypoints to take advantage of the eddies. I really would like to get started. This is something that I have always wanted to do and I feel like the sprinters must feel like on the televised sports shows when they keep getting called back from false starts.
| 09-10 Cruise |
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10/30/2009, Newport, RI
Today dawned, dare I say it?, sunny!?? It has been a great day for getting stuff done in readiness for putting to sea.
We got the immigration certificates for the dog and cat - the only thing about it is that it expires on the 6th so if we don't leave on Sunday we will have to get it renewed; we straightened the mizzen with Ron's help, and also with both Ron, Barb and the folks from the next door, we got the dink up on the roof of the cabin and ready for sea. Now, let's see, what else do I need to do? Well, I must change the oil and fuel filter changed, and I need to mess around with the NMEA bus to see if I can get everything to talk to each other. I suppose I could have done it today, but I got lazy and made the excuse that I needed something to do tomorrow.
The town is much more active today as the Queen Mary is in port and has dicgourged about 2000 consumers into the community. We were walking down the street wondering where all the Germans and Dutch and Japanese had come from, only to look ot at Goat Island and see the Queen dwarf the condos and hotels over there.
Hank Schmidt, the organize of this event arrived and went about handing out packages which included a very good ring bound pamphlet on offshore cruising, customs forms for Bermuda, a rally flag, and numerous other bits of reading material that we'll plough through during the passage. Most of the boats are here now and we are up to 30 with a last minute entry. They range from 37 to 67 feet and run the gamut from cutters to catamarans, from wooden gaff rigged schooner to sleek 65' Swan cutters. Pretty heady company! We are starting to get quite excited. Tonight there will be an unofficial meet and greet at the RHINO Bar and Grill with we will attend for form's sake and force ourselves to consume a beer or two. Tomorrow in the skipper's meeting and the following day will be the weather brief and, hopefully, the send off.
Last night the Canadian contingent went out to a place called Billie Goode's for dinner and had prime rib with the fixin's for $6.95! Everyone was saying "Too much meat", while scarfing it all down. The place was clearly a neighbourhood bar, and Billie was a fellow who had made his initial fortune during prohibition by being an open speakeasy. Tonight we are treating ourselves to a lobster dinner after the social at the Rhino. Ymmmmmm.
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10/29/2009, Newport, RI
We had another wild night last night - winds to 30 kts, the boat rockin' and swayin' at the dock, and the rigging howling. Oh, and did I mention the rain? I sure hope the flights for our crew person Ron will not be delayed too much. He flies into that black hole of flight schedules, Newark, and makes a connection to Providence. My experience with the US airlines is that they overbook and schedule too tightly and a bad weather pattern in Seattle will affect the timings in New York. All we can do is keep our fingers crossed. He arrived at about noon having completed a pretty much full day which started at 04h00 and included two flights and a bus ride. We met him at the bus terminal, that's the photo on the blog.
I have got to stop looking at the weather router. It now appears that there will be northerly winds out to Tuesday which will mean a bumpy ride across the Gulf Stream. Maybe the answer will be to ride the northerlies south and when the system passes and the winds come 'round to southerly, nip across. Besides the obvious advantage there is also the one that the stream will be narrower the farther south we go, plus we will be cutting it more obliquely so the time to cross is decreased. Of course if the wind never comes to the south then we're screwed. But, of course, that would still be the case if we waited it out here. There is one possibility, though. It looks like there is an abrupt shear forecast for almost right at the Stream where the wind goes around through 180 degrees and comes from the south. If that is the case and this continues to hold until our departure, we could have a downhill run for the first couple of days and then a cooperating current and wind for the crossing. Regardless, it is starting to look like we will definitely need some expert advice. I remember going to a presentation at the Annapolis Boat Show last year, given by Donald Street, who, by the way, is a very short gent, and he was saying that if you don't leave for Bermuda by the end of September, you will have to wait for November. Well here it is and here we are. I guess this Global Warming business is messing up all the sage wisdom of the old salts.
I have never crossed the Gulf Stream but I have crossed bodies of water where there is a tidal current in opposition to the prevailing winds. We just did so across the Gulf of Maine. Is it really all that much different? I understand that the Gulf of Main the tidal currents change every six hours so you will get a respite 50% of the time, but the current speeds aren't any greater. So, if we can handle one, why couldn't we handle the other? Barb wouldn't enjoy it and neither would the animals, nor me, for that matter, but we would be making progress. I will ask the pro skippers when they come in.
The other boats that are participating in the rally have begun to trickle in. As of late yesterday evening there were 11 or 12 or a little less than half of the total number. The marina is starting to look at space and plan where everyone is going to be squeezed in. Apparently they are booked full. Moonlight Maid and Nelleke just barely fit into a spot that they normally only try to put one boat. There is enough room for fenders between each other and the dock, just! They have taken up some of their docks for the winter and there are a couple of larger boats that they weren't expecting that have tied up also waiting for a window, so it is going to be really interesting to watch them shoehorn everyone in. I had a conversation with one of the dock staff and learned that there are also a second group here that are going to be loaded on a yacht transporter for transit to somewhere. It will all be done across near Goat Island so we won't get to see. Too bad, I would have loved to get some photos. We are starting to meet more and more of the other yachties that will be participating in the trip and I must say that there is a rather eclectic group ranging from professional skippers to experienced Gulf Stream crossing amateurs to relative neophytes. Nelleke's skipper and crew fit into that spectrum somewhere.
I have some significant jobs that must get done over the next couple of days: I need to repair the headsail bolt line, ship the dingy on the cabin top, I need to correct a small misalignment of the mizzen which has a 1 degree list to port since we rebuilt the pulpit in Halifax, plus I would like to try again to hook up the NMEA data bus between the radio, AIS and auto helm, and I need to install some boards on the stanchions to hold fuel and water on the deck. Neither are huge jobs, but they are ones that shouldn't be left to the last minute. I'll get Ron to give me a hand with them to give Barb a break.
Today has been a rather full day, what with Ron's arrival and the various jobs getting done.
| 09-10 Cruise |
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