{"id":420,"date":"2002-06-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2002-06-22T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/?p=420"},"modified":"2012-03-07T22:54:13","modified_gmt":"2012-03-08T03:54:13","slug":"s_logs-dashew-dashew197","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/s_logs-dashew-dashew197\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Ten Cruising Lessons Learned"},"content":{"rendered":"
10 seamanship lessons learned on BEOWULF’s eventful passage from the Virgin Islands to Panama to San Diego.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

The wonderful thing about the sea and sailing is that there are always lessons to be learned – and occasionally relearned. Our recent trip from the Virgin Islands to San Diego presented us with lots of learning opportunities, some of which we could have easily done without! So herewith are a few of the notes we’ve made to ourselves for the future, based on the recent past. <\/p>\n

Lesson 1 – Cruise planning – be realistic.<\/h3>\n

Two-and-a-half years ago we took BEOWULF to the Caribbean. The plan was to check out the Antilles, and then head to Europe. Southern California to Grenada is a long trip – we could have easily gone to New Zealand in less time with less hassle – but we’ve been through the S. Pacific four or five times and we felt we wanted to see\/do something different.<\/p>\n

We’re now back in S. California, having come and gone from the Caribbean to the East Coast twice, and spent a total of three months cruising in the Islands. That’s crazy! OK – BEOWULF’s performance allows us to do the kind of cruise in a month which a lot of folks would take a year or more to do – but what a waste of good cruising areas to just be at sea all the time.<\/p>\n

We did not make better use of the areas we were in because of scheduling conflicts. Writing that makes it sound like we were forced to leave BEOWULF sitting idle for the better part of the last two years. But the reality is that we made conscious decisions about how we wanted to spend our time. The bottom line is we are too close to our family to enjoy being away for long periods. OK, we’ve learned that lesson. From now on BEOWULF will be in areas which are easier for us to get to, and we’ll plan on shorter cruises.<\/p>\n

Lesson 2 – Don’t push the seasons.<\/h3>\n

Cruising on a schedule never works. We know that one must have the leeway to wait for the right seasons. On the other hand, with tropical weather, you cannot wait too long, or you become trapped. When we were sitting in Virgin Gorda, deciding which way to go, we really wanted to bring the boat back to California. The only alternative was a third summer on the East Coast. Just about the time we were putting BEOWULF back in the water (four weeks ago) we started seeing tropical waves coming off the African continent. These waves form the nucleus for most tropical storm systems – and mid-May is very early for them to start. So we knew that we’d probably have an early hurricane season.<\/p>\n

The conservative thing to do would have been to wait until fall to head for the Canal. But we reasoned that BEOWULF’s speed would allow us to hop up the coast between tropical waves, and perhaps ride the backside of tropical storm\/hurricane or two.<\/p>\n

As things turned out, this is exactly what happened. But making this approach works means pushing the boat (and ourselves) to keep a schedule of sorts, dictated by the tropical waves. We did it, but it is a lot of work, and we were forced to bypass some wonderful cruising areas.<\/p>\n

We’d have been much smarter to be realistic about our own plans, leave a month earlier, and have a leisurely cruise through Panama, Central America, and Mexico. Next time…<\/p>\n

Lesson 3 – Weather logic.<\/h3>\n

Given the right combination of time and boat speed, we’ve learned again that you can journey out of season. But you need to do this carefully, and the boat has to be reliable so you can maintain a consistent pace.<\/p>\n

We left Panama as a tropical wave was passing through, which meant we had four or five days until the next wave came along, and another one to three days until that wave spun up into something to watch – if it did at all. We figured we could easily do 225\/240 miles per day, allowing for current, and moderate headwinds (20 knots or less). That meant 1000 to 1400 miles per “window”.<\/p>\n

As it turned out this logic worked well, and it wasn’t until we were halfway along towards San Diego, approaching Acapulco, that any warning signs appeared. Had anything shown up earlier, we would have ducked in somewhere along the Central American coast.<\/p>\n

Water temperature is a key factor in cyclogenisis – the formation of hurricanes – and we had the requisite 83F or more for most of the trip from Panama to Manzanillo – so we felt under pressure to get on with our passage.<\/p>\n

Lesson 4 – Always have multiple sources or weather data.<\/h3>\n

The amount of outside weather data required for safe passaging depends on where you are and the seasons. Pushing the seasonal limits and worrying about tropical development meant we wanted a maximum amount of data. In our case this includes the following resources:<\/p>\n

Tropical Prediction Center (NMG, New Orleans) weather faxes. These faxes are OK for showing you some of the picture, but they are not 100% of the story. For that you need some insight into the raw data and or the thinking of the forecasters.<\/p>\n

This is easily obtained on the Internet from the Tropical Prediction Center, where you will find any advisories in effect and, most important, a discussion of what the duty forecaster thinks, and how the various computer models are behaving. We has this data e-mailed to us via SailMail daily.<\/p>\n

Using the “Chopper” in SetSail-MaxSea we downloaded (via SailMail and later Globalstar) both the AVN model and the Oceanic Experimental model. The latter proved to be more accurate, and in fact showed the tropical wave which spun up into Boris becoming a problem before any comments by the Tropical Prediction Center.<\/p>\n

We were in daily contact with Commander’s Weather. What we were after from Commander’s was not routing information, but an update on what they were seeing in the satellite images and their own analysis of the tropical developments. Our key concern here was an early heads-up on risk factors which might exist before they were mentioned by the TPC.<\/p>\n

Finally, we had our own daily observations of what was happening around us. This turned out to be the most important data of all when we were messing with Boris during his early development.<\/p>\n

Lesson 5 – Don’t take chances with tropical weather.<\/h3>\n

We’ve covered this subject ad nauseum in previous reports, but it is worth recapping here, as the lesson is important. First, Eastern Pacific tropical storms tend to develop more rapidly than those further out in the Pacific or in the Atlantic. Second, the forecasters typically have only satellite images and the odd ship report with which to refine their forecasts (with Atlantic storms they often have hurricane hunter aircraft flying through the storm to determine how it is developing). The combination of these two factors means you need to be more cautious with Eastern Pacific risks.<\/p>\n

As we were approaching Acapulco, all the official data, and that from Commander’s, indicated we had a minimum of 24 hours and probably as much as 48 hours before the tropical waves would start to spin up – if it did at all. As we were sailing with a lovely following breeze, making really good time up the coast, we elected to bypass Acapulco. Twelve hours later it was obvious that something was going on with the weather which had not been forecast. The almost continuous heavy rains and linear-shaped rain squalls were indicators that the tropical wave was developing into something more serious.<\/p>\n

By the time we realized we could potentially have a problem on our hands, we were way downwind of Acapulco.<\/p>\n

Obviously, the conservative thing to do in this situation would be to stop in Acapulco until the weather situation clarified itself, one way or the other. If nothing was going to happen, it would have cost us just 12 hours – 24 if we checked in and out. Not much of a penalty to pay for the peace of mind.<\/p>\n

Lesson 6 – Never trust outside forecasters when your senses show you something else.<\/h3>\n

By midmorning of the day after we’d bypassed Acapulco we were pretty certain we were closer to a tropical storm center than any of the external sources indicated. The intensity of the squalls had increased to a point where we could not kid ourselves into thinking the situation was temporary – and the report that indicated we were 80 to 100 miles from the “eye” of Boris did not give us a lot of comfort.<\/p>\n

The one ray of sunshine in all of this was the fact that the wind direction remained stable, indicating that the forming storm was not pulling us into its center (in which case the wind would have been shifting in a counterclockwise direction). The new Data Trend Center in SetSail MaxSea 9.2 was invaluable is helping us determine what to do.<\/p>\n

By the end of the day the TPC had changed the center of Boris to a position which would have put it 20 to 30 miles from where we were in the morning – more in keeping with the conditions we encountered.<\/p>\n

Lesson 7 – Boat speed is the ultimate safety factor.<\/h3>\n

Throughout this passage, and in particular whilst we were playing with Boris, BEOWULF’s boat speed gave us a crucial tactical advantage. Not only could we use favorable conditions when they existed, but the ability to average eleven to twelve knots at a minimum, meant that as long as we headed away from Boris’s storm track, it was highly unlikely that it would ever be able to catch us.<\/p>\n

Obviously, not everyone has the luxury of BEOWULF’s performance – but whatever your speed potential, the key thing is to be able to maintain it. This means a clean bottom, efficiently trimmed sails, and continuing to push, even when it is a bit uncomfortable. Tropical storms rarely move at more than seven knots, so most boats can at least maintain their distance, if not put space between themselves and the storm center.<\/p>\n

Lesson 8 – most problems in heavy weather stem from delayed maintenance.<\/h3>\n

BEOWULF’s broken mainsail boom was precipitated by a broken vang\/preventer. We could have easily fixed this by running a new chunk of line, but to do so meant getting very wet, and we delayed fixing this until we had the boat slowed down by dropping the mizzen. It was the next thing on the list just prior to the accidental jibe. As it turned out, this was not a big deal, but it could have been.<\/p>\n

Lesson 9 – Stay in tune with the elements.<\/h3>\n

The second contributing cause to the broken boom were a couple of sea birds. These had been trying for some time to land on our masthead wind sensor (and finally opted for the bowsprit). What we did not realize until later was that they had twisted the sensor mast, so that it was cranked 25 degrees to starboard. This gave us false readings on the sailing instruments in the pilot house – and lead directly to the uncontrolled jibe – the first unexpected jibe on BEOWULF in over 40,000 miles of sailing. A few bits of yarn on the rigging would have shown us the instruments were off. We once had yarn all over the boat. It will now be there again.<\/p>\n

An aside on the boom: it is now repaired with a long, heavy reinforcing splice in the area of the failure – which was obviously too light.<\/p>\n

Lesson 10 – When there’s a problem, take time to think the solution through – and then act.<\/h3>\n

Once we were faced with dealing with the broken boom, and getting the mainsail secured, we’d have much preferred to go to a movie, or maybe take a nap. But the situation had to be dealt with, and expeditiously, in case the weather continued to deteriorate.<\/p>\n

So, we discussed what had to be done, who had to do what, and a system of hand signals with which we could communicate, and went to work. In reality, the situation was handled quite easily. Inside of five minutes the main was down, the boom and sail secured, and we were under way as a motorboat towards Manzanillo.<\/p>\n

The key here is to stay calm, and have a rational plan. And then think each step through carefully before acting.<\/p>\n

— <\/p>\n

We’re happy to report there were no further significant lessons. We are now looking forward to cruising this summer in Southern California. If you see us around, stop by and say hello.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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