Category: Sailing
Volvo Open 70. From Tortola to Bermuda,¡
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This was a good one. Monday night, Jay called and said, “So…. I’ve got 2 sailing adventures to talk about”…… , can you be ready to leave Wednesday morning?
Tortola , Virgin Isles, to Bermuda, 840 nautical miles, with 4 crew on a Volvo Ocean 70
Dawn took Jay and I to the airport, making sure I picked up a last minute can of chewing tobacco.
Sunrise in Tampa over the skyway bridge
Flew to San Juan with muscle bound blind guy. Took a while to figure out he was blind.
Small Saab powered prop plane with in flight pitch adjustable blades.
We took a Taxi to the west end with a local sailor. He pointed out wrecked boats, trashed mangroves, ruined buildings and tarps all over. Irma and Maria did a number here and there is a lot of real estate going back to nature.
Met up with Johanas and his man Kuba. One hour prep, lash dingy, rig fore sails, final drink at the dockside restaurant and we are off. Miscommunication at dock causes brief moment of chaos narrowly avoiding crushing the stern and possibly collision with anchored boat. All handled with aplomb. Took my jitters away, everybody fucks up sometime.
Dark quickly. First night was 18knots on a broad reach. Double reefed main with number 2 jib. Short choppy sea. Beautiful leaving Tortola lights of small houses all along the coast reaching up the hills. Bunks are spartan and my choice sucked. The crates under the netting were poking into my back forcing me to pick either 20 inches on the left or 25 on the right. On the left I had the hull pressing me and on the right I risked getting tossed 5 feet to the sole. 3 hour watches during dark 4 hour watches while light. Sitting on the stern I was punched in the kidneys by blue water. Took a couple of turns on the wheel, even reefed the boat is bumping up against 14knots. So smooth, so responsive, a F1 race car on water.
Average speed 11+ knots but the boat is capable of speeds in excess of 25.
Decided to put on foul weather gear.
First day at sea , winds were slightly lower.
No frills cruising. Water only. No cushions or deck chairs. I wonder if any of his clients expect those creature comforts?
Here are the best videos of a Volvo 70 I’ve found, the first is Roy Disney’s boat
Getting to know the carbon fiber boat.
Below, its as black as coal diggers… you know what. A very small galley greets you at the bottom of three long steps. Aft of the companionway is crew quarters with 16 bunks slung along the hull. The center is linkage for the 9 huge winches above deck. The Nav station is aft between the last set of bunks. Aft of the nav station is another compartment housing the steering gear connecting the twin Carbon wheels.
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Forward is gear storage, the head and another large compartment leading to the bow where sails and covers are stored. All black.
All standing rigging is synthetic. All running rigging is spectra or similar material. Twin dagger boards ,canting keel. Soft shackles where ever possible.
Second night. Wore Helly Hanson gear and was good. Better berth. Bioluminescence, shooting stars, flying fish. No moon .
At dawn Kuba discovered the main halyard had parted. It didn’t take much to convince Johanas to go up with my GoPro. He recovered the halyard, affixed the sloppy wind instrument and put a different halyard on the main. New to me was the locking mechanism that takes the strain off the halyard. It kept the main up when the halyard let go but at the same time , we couldn’t drop the main until the skipper went aloft and reattached a halyard.
Looks like the skipper is chewing me out.
looks like a moment of reflection….
Buddies again….
But seriously, Johanas was great. Never a sharp word and an abundance of patience.
We never had any balls to the wall sailing but he indicated that I would be welcome on future deliveries. Who knows…. maybe I could get a berth on the Fast Net Race if he doesn’t sell all the positions.
Food was no frills as well, best described as peasant Eastern European, boiled potatoes with 2 fried eggs on top, spicy rice with beans and a Mystery ingredient that had the appearance and texture of heart of Palm. Mashed potatoes with spices and onions, European tomato soup with heavy cream on top. I have no complaints, It was all tasty and nutritious. heavy on carbs low on protein and artfully served hot in a Tupperware container. They will be provisioning the boat to cross the Atlantic in Bermuda and we were just going through the stores onboard.
Final day…. We motored all night a didn’t have a proper wind to raise the staysail and Genoa till dawn . I helmed the boat for a couple of hours in the afternoon and thoroughly enjoyed it. We should be at Bermuda late tonight and plan to drop hook once in and shake it out sometime tomorrow.
Great dreams,,, Getting into all kinds of trouble in Vienna formal circus.
Becalmed… the first 24 hours we sailed 255 miles under sail. The rest we motor sailed.
A real highlight was going up the mast.
Dinner at Rick Thompson’s House.
Oxford Guest house
Snooker at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club
Dock yard
Oceanographic institute with VR
Key West & The Return to Reality Regatta
Racing from Naples Florida to Key West and back
Tired…in the Best Way
After a personally EPIC dive, I spent the some time hanging at the boat, enjoying the skippers hospitality.
The boat deserves a comment. Its the best equipped boat I’ve sailed, since 2005 with Burley. It has all the required equipment for a Cat. 2 offshore race…. And, everything is in good shape and ready to be deployed. The lines are good, the sails are good. Their was a jackline and clips positioned for rough weather. It’s hard to find anything to complain about. Well OK…. The propane tank was out, so no coffee or hot meals but that didn’t bother anybody. The cabin is light with long windows and light colors. The wood, is Cherry Yew, a species popular in Europe and not easy to find. The cabins and salon were just the right size and Jay had added grab rails and leeboards to make it safer and more comfortable during an offshore passage.
I especially liked his playlist. It was an eclectic mix of old and new. All the songs we grew up with and a bunch from the 30s 40s and 50s that neither of us were alive for the first performance. Seems we were both the children of music loving families with an early connection to vinyl.
So I spent the early afternoon recovering from the dive and listening to, The Beatles, Billy Holiday, Cab Calloway and Gershwin. I did a quick edit of the mornings footage. It was amazing! If you would have asked me a week ago, if I would be interested in a serious penetration dive at 100 feet I would have said, “No Way”. When I booked the dive, we didn’t talk about it. He asked me what my certification was and when I said, “advanced”, he just nodded. It wasn’t until we were away from the dock and the briefing started that I learned the particulars. And…. Here it was, I was not only going inside the hull but transversing it and entering spaces with no visible exit. Wow! I’m going to be reliving this one for awhile.
When Jay showed up we went back to the Commodore to try their famous burger that wasn’t available on the dinner menu. It was hot but that didn’t stop the continuous parade of beauties and tourists strolling the boardwalk in front of us.
That evening was the award ceremony at Dante’s. There were several fleets and two starts with small fleets. Since they were giving awards to the top three, just about everybody got time on the podium. About half way through I was feeling like somebodies uncle at Graduation. Playmobil received a handsome framed burgee of the Conch Republic and we trooped up front for the photo shoot.
That night I was planning to take in the songwriter/singer fest but I’d had enough excitement and opted to go back to the boat and sleep.
Return to Reality Regatta
There were only 5 or maybe 6 boats in the start but our fleet was intact. Fancy Free, Southern Cross and Playmobil loitered around the mark trying to gauge the current and figure the best place to be at the start. Nothing too exciting, Don, Bob and I were in position and the winds were an easy 7 – 10. At one minute we were making our way to the line on starboard with Fancy Free behind us. Southern Cross was making for the line on port tack and it was obvious that they wouldn’t make it in time to cross before we got there. Jay hollered, “starboard” and Bob repeated it just for good measure. From the actions of the Crew on Southern Cross it was clear that they heard us but their Skipper held his course and Jay was forced off his course. We were clearly fouled and Jay didn’t hesitate protesting.
I was right! The “Big Boxy Skipper” was a bully. He drove his boat right at us! We had to turn or T-bone him. He had nothing to gain by hammering us at the start. He was bigger, faster and pointed better. What a jack ass! Jay put up the red flag and we continued the race.
As we pulled away from Key West a colorful little bird joined the boat and stayed with us for several hours. He went below a few times but never stayed long. Occasionally he would fly off the lee side and pace us for a few minutes and then return. I took half a dozen bad photos and only got one of the bird. We also had a small pod of dolphin hang for awhile. Good times!
So… We were sailing along just fine, our competition was out of sight but there were sails behind us for perspective. It was all good. Bob and I were high in the cockpit on the windward side, when… BANG… Sounding like a .30.30 the windward chainplate exploded. My first thought was the carbon mast had failed and we’d lost the rig but when I looked up I could see the mast was intact but swinging wildly. Jay and the crew were great, almost instantly, the main was eased and we started to get the spinnaker down. I was having a hard time pulling it in and thought the halyard was still locked or maybe something else was preventing it from coming down but when another hand, got to pulling, it came down fast. Some of the spinnaker hit the water but we got it aboard. Jay’s first order was to chill for a second, then he called for a couple of life preservers, and then, we took down the main. Next we used the spinnaker halyard to begin to brace the mast. While were rigging the spin halyard I could see the mast doing sine waves and wondered how much it could flex before failing. Jay had me go below and bring up some Spectra. We tied a bowline on a turn buckle and ran it through a spinnaker snatch block and back to a winch. Realizing that only the lowers were braced we repeated it with another turnbuckle and tensioned the uppers. Now the mast was looking good. With disaster avoided we started the motor and headed for Naples.
We had been debating weather or not to leave the boat in Naples and retrieve it later or stop at the Yacht Club, file our protest and continue on to Charlotte Harbor. Now, it wasn’t an option, Jay had to get the boat north or deal with it stuck in a remote slip for possibly weeks. The protest was a moot point since we didn’t finish so we made Naples and dropped Bob and Don at the first open dock. They shuttled the cars back and Jay and I brought the boat home.
Other than a broken rig, it was a nice ride. I got to see the IWC up past Fort Myers beach and the West side of Pine Island. We were watching some weather to the North West and Don called to tell us there were small craft warnings and water spouts but we were below the worst of it and never even needed the foul weather gear I brought up. Getting into Ponce De Leon after dark was a trick but Jay had us at the dock well before 11:00 and I was in bed by Midnight.
The next day we met at the boat and put it away for the season. Thanks for the great experience Jay!
Bone Island Regatta
Two offshore Regattas and a kick ass Dive in Key West
The Bone Island Regatta is actually 2 races. The first race is A southern sprint from either Naples or Sarasota to Key West. The second is called the Return to Reality Regatta and it goes north back to our respective starts.
Playmobil, was a C&C 110 out of Punta Gorda. On the Tuesday prior to the race, the owner,( Jay Nadelson), and I, delivered the boat to the Naples Yacht Club. We left his house Tuesday morning shortly after 7:00am and mostly motor sailed. We arrived about 5:30 that evening. Don MacAlpine kindly provided us a shuttle home. During the delivery I had time to explore the boat and spend a few minutes on the wheel. Playmobil features V-Pro sails and a carbon rig. It is a serious racing boat with a beautiful cabin and lots of amenities. We made the Naples Jetty about 5:00p. The canal has a 30 mph speed limit and it seemed like every other boat was wake-ing us. I was reminded of Rodney Dangerfield in Caddy Shack, wrecking havoc while cranking and banking around the Yacht Club, The difference was…. we were the ones, getting, “No Respect”.
The Race
During the start I watched our competitors, Fancy Free and Southern Cross. Southern Cross is a Mereck designed 46′, it sported a tall rig , and a center mounted grinder? Fancy Free is about the same size as us with an expensive suite of Carbon Sails. Both are faster boats that owe us handicap time. Southern Cross owes 1 1/2 hours and Fancy Free 15 minutes for the first leg.
The skipper of the Southern Cross is a big boxy guy with a mop of blond hair, I decided, for no good reason other than from what I cold see from 200 feet. That he was might try to bully us. No good reason, except that it seemed to fit and as the race progressed my initial impression proved correct. The start was clean, with Playmobil getting off first, Fancy Free second and Southern Cross not far behind. No question about it, Southern Cross was a fast boat and it passed both of us shortly after the start. Fancy Free on the other hand is a pretty good match and we paced each other until nightfall.
That evening a beautiful full moon came up and the winds came down. We struggled through the night to keep the boat moving. Jay and Bob had the first watch from 8 till 11. Don and I went below to rest before it was our turn. I was awakened about 10:30 when Jay lost course and spun the boat. We all joked about losing situational awareness and sure enough, I made the same error a couple of hours later. One minute we were drifting along counting our speed in yards per minute and the next I was pointing 180 off course in irons. Looking back, I should have called for some help and set the whisker pole to maximize the little air we had. I don’t think it would have won us the race but it would have made driving the boat a little easer.
When the sun came up, so did the winds. At Sunrise, we were closing on the entrance to the North West Approach. It’s a tricky narrow course and it was hard to see the marks. Against an 11 knot wind, we made 17 tacks, with the big Genoa, to reach the finish. This was the best sailing of the trip. The four of us were in good sync and every tack was a little better than the one before. The finish line consisted of three people standing at the sea wall with a flag, I smiled when Bob Sween calmly announced that he could hear the screaming of the crowds.
Key West
We lowered the sails and made our slip at the Galleon Marina. After putting the boat away the four of us shared a dockside breakfast. The big question on everybody’s mind was how we placed. What had happened after dark? Were the others caught in the same black hole as us? There was no sign of Fancy Free or the Southern Cross, we assumed that they had finished before us, But…….by how much? We broke as a crew to pursue our own devices, but not before making plans to meet at the Regatta Party later that evening. After a little housekeeping, I rented a scooter and cruised Duval Street. Key West seemed so different to me compared to the last time I was here. The streets seem smaller and I could barely recognize some of the more popular clubs and bars. I’m sure they were exactly the same as before. A lot of water under the bridge. So many issues have run their course and resolved. Not to say everything is perfect, but my head is in a much better place than my visit in 2010. Its all good.
On a whim I stopped at a couple of dive shops and ended up booking a dive for the next morning.
That evening we had cocktails at the Galleon Tiki Bar and dinner at the Commodore Restaurant. We were entertained by a table of Irish Gents in their cups. After most excellent lobster dinner I motored my scooter around and enjoyed the energy on Duval St. Its like no other. The walkways were as dense with visitors as Vegas or Bourban St. in New Orleans and there were a few drunks stumbling around but Key West has a flavor all it’s own. I like it.
The Vandenberg
Awake at 6:30, I quickly pulled together my stuff and walked down the dock enjoying the dawn and sniffing the air for fresh coffee. I found a seat by the walk where I could watch some sport fishermen preparing for the day. At 8:00 I checked in at the dive shop and picked up my dive computer. The first person I saw was an elderly guy in short shorts and bandanna. I guessed he must be OK, because even though he was moving slow you could tell, he knew, what he was doing and where he was going. A few minutes later the skipper arrived and we selected my gear. Its all good!
During the dive briefing, I discovered that this wasn’t just a small wreck in 30 feet of water. The Vandenberg is a 10,000 ton troop transport 522 feet long and 72 feet wide and 100 feet tall with a 25 foot draft. During its last deployments it was configured as an Advanced Range Instrumentation Ship (ARIS) with three large antennas topside. It was sunk in 2009 to create an artificial reef in 120 feet of water.
We were lucky, there were only 6 divers booked and the boat could hold 30 plus. The older gent mentioned above, turned out be Denny, an 82 year old with many hundreds of dives. He is a legend around here, and Franco Piacibello, also a Key West legend, a master photographer and well known saxophonist. The other divers were Claudia and her husband Ray who were from the D.C. area and two other gents I didn’t get to know. Franco asked and I planned to dive with him but shortly after getting into the water the master tugged on my fins and indicated we should Buddy up.
We descended to 30 feet and picked up a line that would take us to midship. I let some air out of my BC and holding the GoPro in one hand and the decent line in the other I began to glide down toward the ship. Wow! There it was. Visibility was good but not good enough to see the entire ship. We arrived slighty aft of midship and headed toward the Kingpost that was the highest point. Descending toward the balloon launch deck I flew over the massive radar discs. The outer skin was gone and what remained was the skeleton of disk, it was covered with growth, and looked like the product of a giant, obsessive compulsive sea spider. I followed the master diver along what might otherwise be called the lido deck, to an open bulkhead a third of the way to the stern. We entered a large open space that spanned the width of the ship. I think it was the Balloon hanger. At one end there was a second level and half of it was open to the sea overhead. On the port side there was a 80-100 pound grouper hanging out, he slowly exited the ship as we approached. From there we passed through the Balloon Hanger to the gym space. Then we reentered the ship and followed the corridor and stairs down to the carpenter and paint shop. It had been stripped of everything except a bench bolted to the center space. I hunkered down and spent a little time using the flashlight examining the area. There were the beginnings of stalactites hanging down from the ceiling. Right now, it was just pliable sea growth, but I could imagine, if left undisturbed, it could grow into something to behold. There was a workbench bolted to the floor and I envision the sailor standing there working on a project. The master diver beckoned and I followed him to the far side opening. Once outside we followed a flight of stairs up a deck to another space where I could see light from several large openings. We slowly worked our way down and through the ship traveling toward the stern. After crossing several frames we emerged below the fantail through an opening by the transom. From there we moved back to midship where we picked up the mooring and made for the surface. Bottom time was 17 minutes at 102 feet with a 10 minute decompression stop.
The video is mine….
Music by Lannie Garrett
the stills were shot by Franco.
I got the Sketchy…He got the Beauty.
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decent
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The second dive was much like the first except that we explored the forward areas of the boat. Some penetrations were surprisingly tight, with narrow corridors and lots of 90 degree turns. At one point the master handed me his light, I didn’t know why but was happy to have it and kept it mostly on the master as he led me through the labyrinth. I remembered reading of deaths in sunken ships. How divers got tangled in fallen wires or wedged into a space they couldn’t extract themselves from. I was breathing like a steam engine on the first dive thinking about all the ways I could kill myself but by the middle of the second I was back to sipping air and enjoying myself. This ship was safer than most wrecks, before she was sunk the Vandenberg was completely stripped of moving hardware, all the bulkhead doors were removed and the wires had been pulled. There was no glass to debris to complicate our dive. One diver called it an underwater “Jungle Jim”, and while I think I’m beyond playground equipment I certainly enjoyed this one!
GoPro footage is mine. The stills were by……Franco Piacibello, Key West Legend, Musician and Photographer extraordinaire.
Stay tuned for the Return to Reality ……..
Waterworks Delivery
We have a new neighbor. Tim and Robyn moved into Dave’s house last week. The have a new Gemini 35 up river from Bradenton and Tim asked if I would like to join him bringing it home.
Robyn provided the shuttle and we arrived late in the afternoon. I wandered around the town and got a feel for the area. Tim and I had dinner at the Marina restaurant and the food was excellent.
The next morning our mate “Jorden” (?) showed up at sunrise and we were off the dock by 8:00. There was a low fog but visibility was good enough. We motored down the river and into the bottom of Tampa Bay. Once out, the winds were on our nose so we were forced to motor down to Venice. The Gemini is a catamaran and not a full displacement boat. It’s beam is 13ft and it rides the chop as expected….. we might have chosen to sail but it would have been poor VMG and we would have had to sail all night and I don’t thing anybody sign up for a hard passage.
After running a strong current at the Venice Jetty we arrived at the Venice Yacht Club only to find a large cruiser had taken our slip. We called the office and were informed that the dockmaster got of at 4:00 and there was nothing they could do. That sucks! So we called the Crows Nest which was the first marina we saw on the way in and were able to get a slip. Docking was a bit of a trick against the current but Captain Tim worked the twin screws like a master.
After dinner at the Crows Nest Restaurant (which was excellent) “J” and I took advantage of the loaner bikes and cruised town. I stopped at the VYC and spoke with Sue the receptionist, she apologized big time and we all agreed the offending skipper was an arsehole. Ah Well… theres arseholes every where, it’s a part of life. It was a beautiful night, the boy and I had a great ride. We hooked up at the Venice Jetty which appears to be “the place” for sunsets and rode through downtown and over the bridge to the Fishermans wharf. When I got back to the marina, I took a shower and slept like a baby. Good Times
The next morning we set off early and motored down the outside to Boca Grande. Once in the Harbor we set the sails and enjoyed a nice broad reach the rest of the way home.
#296 #297 #298 East Springs Airport
A Beautiful Summer Morning with the PPPPG Club
There was rain last night but it was beautiful this morning. I was out of the house and on my way to East Springs Airport by 4:30am. It’s 20 minutes farther South and East of the soccer field. For Some reason the GPS routed me through about 10 miles of dirt roads. Whats that about ? Last time it took me a few more miles south but at least it kept me on the pavement. So I arrived at the Air strip in a cloud of dust about 6:00am. On the way into the area I spotted a solitary glider and silently congratulated him on the early start.
There was a good crowd setting up ….Jerry K…Kevin K…Mathew W…John B…Shad…Mike B.. Alex D (was seen blazing out of the air port early. I saw him later but we never did talk so I don’t know what that was about).
(photos by Mike Bennett)
Anyway The air was great with a layer of warm air sitting on top. It was fun bumping through into the warmth. There was also a bumpy area directly east of the LZ right above some cattle. Somebody was making jokes about the cows creating bumps. It was a pleasure to launch in such perfect conditions. Light laminar air….nice smooth surface to rollout in all directions and super flat terrain, the prescription for low stress flying. The PPS 250 came up clean every time and it was great how the buggy took the load and kept on pulling as the wing inflated. Those are the right tires for the surface… I noticed that I was staying on the “A’s” longer than normal and it felt good to stay with the wing until it was well overhead.
I topped out at 1000 feet and practiced a little low and slow , nothing special but getting the feel of the Power Play.
While packing up I saw Ranger Bo…great to see him! Turns out he was the pilot I had seen on the way in … he had launched from another field at dawn and was doing a fly-by. We chatted a little about the X-Country that John Black is talking about and he made a good point. Monument pass may be splitting the air flow because I seem to remember mostly SW breeze for early flights in Denver and the Springs boys tend to get Northerly air. I’ll have to do a little research and see if i can spot a trend.
When I got home the girls had fixed a special Fathers Day breakfast and later we all went to the Paradiso for a lazy afternoon on the lake.
#276 & #277 Flying Simms and Boating Chatfield
Dawn Flight
I awoke at 3:50 this morning when the cell phone’s low battery tone woke my bride. After 40 minutes of trying to go back to sleep I slipped into the closet and pulled on the thermals. It reminded me of the first couple of years when I routinely was out of the house before dawn. At 5:00am it was just beginning to get light and there was a fresh breeze from the SW. I took my time looking for the smoothest place to launch and was ready to go at 5:30. The wind was light and I launched after the longest run out ever. It was a little dicey because the climb was very slow and I ended up threading the needle between the trees on the south side of the field. The air was mixing and in some spots down right ratty. I climbed to 6000 and it was no better descending to 200 ft AGL it got very active with the wing yawing and generally making the front wheel describe circles. I set it down just as Marek was pulling into the LZ. I would have done a touch and go but this darn motor is so slow to respond and it felt like sinking air so i satisfied myself by greasing in by the truck
We chatted and I was glad to hear that his Chrysler Dealership was not on the hit list of thirteen to lose their franchise in Colorado. After 20 minutes or so it seemed to be mellowing and I set up for a second shot. Marek saved me the hassle of laying the ramps under the tires and the take off was much better. It was still a long run out but the climb was better. I stayed up 45 minutes and ventured away from the field because the air was much better. This was the first time I have hooked up the foot steering and it is absolutely easier than with the rig I had on the Simonini. I’m going to have to practice maneuvers because I cannot tell it I’m not using enough input or this wing is just plain doggy. I do notice that it seems to be a little more cranky when I’m turning to the left.
I love the way this machine is so problem free but I’m not sure I’m going to be able to adjust to the slow run up to power and general lack of punch.
The last several flights I’ve noticed that the motor is running between 3500 and 3600 but not coming up to 3700. At the house and before take off it had no trouble getting up there so I’m thinking it’s time to put in the high altitude jets to see if I boost the power. It might also help with gas consumption.
After packing up I rushed out to Chatfield where Spencer and I put in the Paradiso. The impeller seems to have frozen. Stay tuned for the damages.
#76
Great day! Marek and I took of in moderatly strong winds. It was great crabbing around the south end of the park. There were areas where it was blowing hard enough that there was no way to penitrate and just 100 feet away it was lite air. I really felt like a leaf in the stream.
That evening I won the last race of the season by a good margin.
A very good day!
Powered Paragliding. A most Personal form of Flight 
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