Sea tests late report

[Cmdr. Maegil]

Sea Test Report
or, When It Rains, It Pours

Hi, guys! Hum, I think I had said I'd be back by a thursday a few weeks ago? Well, I appear to be late(ish)... but alive and well, and not arguing with some tug captain about salvage rights!
As for the boat, she proved not to be in any way whatsoever in what is considered "Bristol shape", but I'd like to tell you all about the past three weeks and am jumping ahead of the tale.



Casting off from Chaguaramas. I did, too!

I intended to leave Chaguaramas in the early morning and use the winds at dawn to make my way away from the island an off to sea, with full intention on returning as I lent some charts and need them back. This by itself was an error, but it may have been for the best - it forced me to the full extent of the journey. but alas, the first sign of a nonconformity: the windlass wouldn't work.
I knew it was out of order and needed replacing, but didn't bother with it as the $$$ was too short to buy a new one. I started pulling the anchor by hand, but the months I spent there had been happy times for the barnacles and corals - all of the 20cm radius of them around the chain, to the point it couldn't pass through the hawsepipe!

I got a hammer and a cable, used the cable to pull the chain a bit with the mast winch and hammered away as far as my arm would reach, devastating the beautiful specimens of Caribbean marine wildlife that infested the chain. Locking the chain, I'd advance the cable a bit, pulled a little more and hacked away, for the 9m of chain until the bottom. Finally clear of the growth, I pulled the remaining chain until the anchor was clear of the bottom, ran to the cockpit and started the engine before i drifted onto some other boat on the crowded anchorage.
Opening the sails, I cut the power and headed South into the gulf of Paria. For about two minutes, that is, as I had already missed the dawn winds. I got into the wind's shadow from the nearby islands and started drifting again, so I had to run the engine until I was well out.



The peaceful, peaceful gulf of Paria...

It is peaceful, if you discount the constant traffic of heavy freighters and the mad current that sets from the Serpent's pass on the SE to the Dragon's mouth on the NW. I mean, I could sometimes put the boat on a SE heading and not leave the spot, or drift NW when there was no wind.
These were the conditions: wind from 0 to 10 knots, and no waves or swell... but I was supposed to be running sea tests, wasn't I? Or was it a sunday ride on the lake? This simply wouldn't do. After two days of it, I concluded I had nothing to do there and needed real tradewinds and oceanic rollers. Surrounded by a [insert adequate collective noun here][ EDIT: pod. Thanks, nijineko] of dolphins, midst heavy traffic and under a very light breeze, I shot out Northwards from Boca Grande at nearly 5 knots. Yes, that was mostly current. And yes, I would have to get back...



Reveling with spray on the cheek!

Yahoo!!! Real wind! Leaning to a hard angle on half reefed sails, with two to three meter waves, and just enough cross swell to give it that familiar corkscrewing that makes landlubbers turn green!
But Not all were roses. The Caribbean also has its famous currents. There are even companies specialized on loading hapless weekend island hopper's sailboats onto freighters in Panama and taking them to Puerto Rico or St.Maarten. It sounds incredible, but both the wind and the currents set from Eastward, making it very easy to get in and hard to get out - often impossible if you're not a sailor but a hapless weekend island hopper on a chartered boat.
Well, I'm a sailor, and I wouldn't find myself marooned on Panama while having a seaworthy sailboat. But that's not to say that I can do whatever I want. I ran about for a couple of days and decided to return, but the wind and current still set strongly precisely from where I wanted to go to!

From the charts:
"Information: NORTH EQUATORIAL CURRENT The area covered by this chart lies within the Equatorial Current which, in general, flows northwestward at 2 to 3 knots throughout the year. To seaward of the 200 meter depth contour, sets between West and North (the northerly component being at a maximum between May and October) are likely to be encountered with rates of up to about 4 knots, becoming weaker closer inshore. The eastern part of the area, north of Lat. 6 deg, is affected by the Equatorial Counter-current and, particularly between August and December, variable mainly easterly sets up to about 2 knots may be expected."
"Information: CURRENT THE CURRENT BETWEEN TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO ISLANDS SETS TO THE NORTHWEST,USUALLY WITH SUFFICIENT STRENGHT TO PREVENT A SAILING VESSEL FROM WORKING AGAINST IT.THE FLOW OF THE CURRENT IS SOMEWHAT CHECKED BY THE EBB TIDAL STREAM.THE CURRENT RUNS WESTWARD ALONG THE NORTH SHORE OF TRINIDAD."

Thanks for the warnings. In fact, the situation is even more annoying, as one never knows about one's own points of sail! The current is so unpredictable that often only the oddest and most absurd sail/rudder combinations work, and almost none of the old truisms apply... I'd even say that there is no learning curve to Caribbean sailing - either you can or you motor!
Oh, well! If this is so, we resort to the engine to defeat the current. Simple!

Ooops! What's with the shrill beep from the instrument pannel? Eh, a red light on the oil pressure? Two, with the engine temperature? Could that have possibly been the engine head cracking? I think I thaw a putty cat!...



I wouldn't find myself marooned on Panama...

...while having a seaworthy sailboat. But what if the boat wasn't seaworthy?
Engineless, I spent two days of intensive tacking to gain 40NM. Not bad, not bad at all... But I'm all alone and have to sleep sometimes. It is also said that the best lessons are the ones learnt from your own mistakes...

MENTAL NOTE: do NOT fall asleep with full sails on. A tropical wave might hit and find you overcanvased.

Well it did. The main sail's leech was shreaded to ribbons (literally! It was hell to mend it!) and the genoa hailyard snapped. Considering, I was actually lucky not to have been dismasted, but that didn't console me much. But no point in crying over spilt milk. I don't even like the stuff, so let's get on with it.
Lowering the genoa, I jury-rigged it with a spare hailyard. The original one, however, had snapped on the masthead and fell right into the mast. To repair it, I'd need someone to hoist me up - it'll have to wait until I've arrived at a harbour and can ask someone to lend a hand.
As for the main, I set the jib to try and minimize the drift, and spent the next four days mending the mainsail. After what felt like two million stiches, one of the duct tape rolls run out and a lot of broken needles, I proclaimed it done. I also got a sunburn and ended over two hundred and fifty miles NW into the Caribbean sea. Smack into the hurricane belt, during the hurricane season. All things considered, it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. Or wouldn't be if I only had brought more cigarretes... I want a smoke!



The long way around

The first thing was to get the hell out of the belt before the boogieman found me idling about... and not spend too much time fighting to pass the island chain into the Atlantic.
Altough a bit of a gamble, I didn't had any hurricane alerts on the SSB, so I went further North up to the Martinique, left the Caribbean, then NE away from the islands to gain angle to tack SW. Actually it was more like S, or sometimes SSW as the current kept messing up with the course. At least I could sleep a bit better now, or so I thought. And, how I crave for a cigarrete - I'd hunt down the ashtrays for fags to break and roll, but there are none: I throw them overboard as I finished them!
Then, on the third day I woke up at less than two miles from a lee shore...Ain't I lucky?
Well, I made it so far. I went around Granada and got caught on a calm on the North coast of Trinidad. That meant going adrift and again having to beat aginst wind and current to get back to the Boca Grande, creeping at less than 1.5kt and hoping to arrive at the proper tide to go through. And I will, see if I don't!

Or will I? I had some wind, dolphins swam and jumped around my bow wave, I got as close as 6NM, and fiuuumm... no wind again. Back, back, and at 18 miles away I reached the water division zone to where the current from the gulf of Paria pushes the Carib sea's water!
Maybe I should give up and go back to the Atlantic, South around Trinidad and into the Serpent's pass. At least I was considering it seriously after three days spent off the Boca Grande. Three days seeing the freighters dodging around me and being thankful for the rules that forbid insults on the radio... although a guy shouted at me from a passing ship. Well, it might not have anything to do with my boat slouching in the middle of the sealane, but because I was lying naked, sunbathing on the cockpit... ahem, never mind! "HEY MATE, CAN YOU SPARE A PACK OF CIGARRETES?", I shouted back. No answer. Bummer!



Dances with dolphins

At least the dolphins were around to cheer me up, and I might as well keep trying a while longer. All I needed was a suitable combination of a decently strong wind further away from the 90° (preferebly with a northerly component) and getting the tide just in the right moment. This last item is trickier than it may sound to the uninitiated landlubber as I wasn't able to just stand and wait by the pass' entrance - at every tide change I'd get pushed away and had to regain the lost room against a strong current that never reverses but is just somewhat checked by the tides. Also, being alone means that I must pull out to open sea to sleep as I wouldn't dare to try and nap close to shore.

But! After a ungodly week I made it through the pass, surrounded by my dolphin friends, as the night fell - that is, after over three weeks at sea when I intended to stay only one. So I started planning: in the morning I'll be dropping anchor and posting this shameless report; then I'll ask Lars on the 'Turbolaans' for help to climb the mast, and that's the only repair I can do; the engine will have to wait for money.
That was the plan. As (I think it was) Lennon sung, life is what happens to you while you're making other plans...
I stepped on grease. Or more accurately, I got nearly becalmed again only 5NM after the straight and scram in frustration as the current slowly dragged me back despite my efforts. It'd have been much worse if I had just let go, and when the tide changed again I was 8NM away from where I started. The sun rose, and with it came the morning wind which i made the best use I could, going back and 3NM into the gulf of Paria. The wind went away. Back. Off. Luff. Not. My friends' squeals caught my attention and pulled me out of my despondency. I knew just what to do: Got the diving googles (but not the fins), belayed a lifeline around my chest and leaped out of the boat... WTF?! The barnacles are already THAT big?!




Dystopia according to Orson Welles - or was it Terry Gilliam?

Oh, look, the Coast guard! A pursuit boat with three 250HP outboards came alongside. Gripping their submachineguns, they asked permission and two of them climbed aboard, while the others remained on their boat with their submachineguns ready (except for the helmsman who didn't had a submachinegun but his the pistol holster was unbuttoned). "Problems?", their leader asked.
"Well, I'm trying to go to Chaguaramas but my engine is broken and I've been having a hard time to go through the boca."
"Ah. Show me your boat papers", he commanded dryly. I went inside to get the papers and one of the guards came after me (submachinegun ready). "Here they are."
The guy looked, looked, and just when I had a little wind and had to trim the sail, the guard demanded my attention and started asking inane questions. "All right, take your papers, but you can't stay here. This is a busy seaway!", he berated me!
"Yes, I know, I'm doing all I can but got no engine."
"Do you need a tug?"
"Well, not a tug, but I'd appreciate if you could tow me until we get out of the wind shadow from the islands. (maybe 5 NM)"
"Are you in immediate danger?"
"Danger? Well, not in danger, but you said yourself that I had to..."
He dismissed me with a wave of the hand. "Well, if you aren't about to sink or crash into the rocks we can't tow you. Just hurry up and clear the channel." That said, they left my boat. Oh, and the wind went down again... Not that I have problems about dealing with authority (it's more like a distaste), but I can't bear that kind of mediocre dimwit that turns self-important when bestowed with the slightest bit of authority. Especially when they forget completely about basic courtesy and the use of the words "hello", "please" and "thank you". "Constipated pederastic anal orifices!", I mumbled as they sped off into the gulf of Paria. The only thing I have to say for them is that they didn't actually trained their weapons at me, but kept them pointing down. The dolphins returned but that didn't help a bit about my cigarrete craving.

A few hours later, near nightfall, I was almost out of the channel when a tug did come to take me away, and the crew was just too eager to pass me a line. So eager, in fact, that one of them wanted to come aboard to tie it up himself... alarm bells started ringing! Not that I would take their line anyway, even if they were just offering a a legitimate deal. That would be the best case scenario, but the way it was going was too suspicious. I asked if they'd do it for free or if who sent them had already arranged payment. No to both. The way I figured it, the tug must belong to a brother/friend of a coast guard crewmen, who sent them to draw me into a salvage scheme (or more accurately, scam). They'd say that I was without power and drifting into the rocks, that they had to endanger their own ship by going so close to the rocky shore with poor visibility and since I was in panic they'd be forced to risk a a crewmember on a difficult transfer to connect their own rescue gear. In it, they gambled some fuel, but could have gotten away with a very large percentage over my boat's value - even if they had to have it impounded and auctioned. It's an old trick but there's a sucker born every minute. Fuck off!




Crawling to a landfall

I made it! I went through and immediately started off in a course that would take out of the current's direct path - just in case... Two hours later I was at 8NM from my destination. Close? Not really, as it was at a bearing of 88° from me, against both Easterly wind and current. Oh, and the wind was going down again... and although not toward a lee shore, it was pushing me back in the direction of the channel!
Raging in frustration, I'd have given reson for any witnesses around to confirm the proverbial sea Captains' foul mouths. Not that there was anyone around to listen, but I shouted curses to the dying wind to my heart's content (or rather, contempt). Apparently, the wind was so miffed by my insults that it attempted a half-hearted comeback.

For the rest of the night, I tacked up and down while the wind flittered on and off (mostly the latter). 145°, 15°, 170°, 34°,130°,340°, 205°, 20°, 140° with speeds ranging from 3.2KT to -0.5KT... Got the idea? It dawned and I was at only two miles to go, and the wind picked up a bit. I'm arriving! I'm arriving! I'll drop the anchor, go ashore to post this and bathe, and I'll take the rest of the day off for a well-deserved little hibernation before I try to climb the mast. YAY!!!




Up with the Navy

Only one Nautical Mile left, I'm becalmed again and have been for the last hour or so. A black submarine surfaced some 2NM to the South, and the coast guard came to me again. A different ship this time, it was a cutter that came alongside and ordered me to change course Eastward.
"Eh?! What do you mean, change course? Can't you see I'm running close hauled, nearly becalmed and the sub is downwind?"
"Look, man, just run your engine and give the sub a wide berth."
"I've got no engine. It's broken!", I shouted back.
The guy just shrugged. "Move away and stay clear of the sub!"
I couldn't hold myself. I've been awake all night, I've got no cigarretes, no engine, no wind and no more patience for this nonsense anymore. "OK, I'll reset the sails and pretend I'm going somewhere!"
"You do that!", the guy said before moving away.

A few minutes later, the sub went by. The crew was preparing mooring lines and there was a cannon trained at me. Ohhh, the scary sailboat might try to attack the innocent li'l non-yellow submarine!
What the hell am I complaining about? when the Yank's destroyer arrived here a few months back, they trained a deck gun at my anchored boat and I gave them the finger, so the sub is nothing new.




Arrived!

It's a sunday, the bank is closed. No-one will give me a cigarrette. I think I might just quit... not! The simple truth is, I came to the conclusion that I like to smoke.
As for the boat, I'll have to ask a business associate for some money and make repairs before I consider crossing.

[Captain Hesperus]

Good God, Maegil!
You should publish this, 'cos no-one would believe it was real (unless you have photos)! How much do you think it'll take to get the boat 'ship shape and Bristol fashion'?

P.S. Glad you made it back to shore in one piece.

Captain Hesperus

[Commander McLane]

I'm wondering what Drew or Roberto could make out of this...

Anyway, welcome back to the board, Maegil! And welcome back ashore and living as well!

[TGHC]

Ha Haa Jim Lad! Welcome back, great to hear you are ok, and by the sound of it undaunted by your "adventures"

I guess the Galcop navy boys suspected you might be a fugitive or pirate, could you not hit the escape button to take you to the nearest port of call and re-equip you with your boat back in pristine condition?

Having done a little sailing myself, I know exactly what it's like to sail against wind and current and end up further back than where you started, but I take my hat off to you for your endeavours, all that stress and no fags!

This could be the inspiration for an OXP

[Rxke]

Wow.

Quite the (mis)adventure!

[Captain Hesperus]

This could be the inspiration for an OXP

Could you do an 'up _crap_creek_without_a_engine.oxp'?

I can see it now

Your hyperspace engines have failed/died. Behemoth drops out of WS 10km from you. A Viper glides over and sends a message: "You are too close to the Behemoth, please hyperspace to Tianve immediately or be destroyed.":lol:

Captain Hesperus

[Cmdr. Maegil]

Ha Haa Jim Lad! Welcome back, great to hear you are ok, and by the sound of it undaunted by your "adventures"
<snip>
Having done a little sailing myself, I know exactly what it's like to sail against wind and current and end up further back than where you started, but I take my hat off to you for your endeavours, all that stress and no fags!

Thanks for the support, TGHC and everybody, but it'd take a hurricane and a lee shore to daunt me. That, or running out of smokes AND coffee!

I guess the Galcop navy boys suspected you might be a fugitive or pirate

Naa! just an honest sm(cough, cough, ahem)... cruiser!

could you not hit the escape button to take you to the nearest port of call and re-equip you with your boat back in pristine condition?

RL has one of those? where you get a brand new ship with all the equipment in working condition - for free? You'll have to tell me where it is, I'm quite certain it's not inside the escape pod.

This could be the inspiration for an OXP

Maybe a bit of flavour on the CG, the tug and the sub, but not the (lack of) plot, I'm afraid... Oolite hasn't got suitable problems. It would maybe in FE2 or FFE, having to go around into high-G planets without main thrusters and no maintenance available...

[Cmdr. Maegil]

Good God, Maegil!
You should publish this, 'cos no-one would believe it was real (unless you have photos)!

Most of it is in the schoool notebook I call my 'ship's log', but even if I had pics they'd still say "photoshop". Naa!

How much do you think it'll take to get the boat 'ship shape and Bristol fashion'?

Ha ha, ha, ha... I won't cry! I'm laughing so I won't cry...
To Bristol fashion, let'sseeeee... no less than 30,000€, maybe 40,000 would do the trick.
Just to get it temporarily fully seaworthy i'll have to part with some 5,000€, but I can (as in "I'll have to") handle it as is for a short while longer.

P.S. Glad you made it back to shore in one piece.

Cheers, mate!

[nijineko]

wow. impressively survived! hang in there!

(and for the curious, dolphins swim in pods. sorry, but i'm a bookworm, i can't resist filling in the blanks.) ^^

[Captain Hesperus]

wow. impressively survived! hang in there!

(and for the curious, dolphins swim in pods. sorry, but i'm a bookworm, i can't resist filling in the blanks.) ^^

You don't want to know the next chapter of this sad tale. It involves an anchor, an unfortunate error and an unsuccessful dive to retrieve said anchor plus 30ft of chain from the sea bed. <sigh> Whoever said that a life on the ocean wave is idyllic should be set adrift in a liferaft mid-Pacific with an mp3 player that has nothing but Bing Crosby's Greatest Hits on it.

Captain Hesperus

[TGHC]

Actually Bing Crosby can be quite relaxing, it could be worse, William Shatner'must be at the top of the list for wrist slashing....... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVbv6r_tKnE

[nijineko]

you're kinder than i. i would have made it the carpenters. and at least four different mixes of 'on top of the world'. ^^

[Cmdr. Maegil]

wow. impressively survived! hang in there!

Thanks, but I ALWAYS survive! (Until I don't, that is...)

You don't want to know the next chapter of this sad tale. It involves an anchor, an unfortunate error and an unsuccessful dive to retrieve said anchor plus 30ft of chain from the sea bed. <sigh> Whoever said that a life on the ocean wave is idyllic should be set adrift in a liferaft mid-Pacific with an mp3 player that has nothing but Bing Crosby's Greatest Hits on it.

That's 30 meters of 10mm chain, not feet, and I dove twice.
Also it wasn't only one error, it was a chain of events starting with me anchoring a bit too far from the crouded anchorage to avoid colliding with someone because of the current in very feeble winds with no engine nor windlass. Add laziness, pain in the back, a slightly chafed 14mm mooring cable and end with a gross display of impatience and lack of respect from a harbour pilot boat with far too many HP and you have a sad loss of an perfectly good anchoring gear (but for the cable that was 'only' in reasonably acceptable condition - it held me in stormy conditions without any problems).

And yes, sailing is far more work than most people imagine. Imagine all the hassle you have to maintain a house, add the ownership of a truck with overinflated spares and the need for lots of different outdoor survival skills and you start to have an idea...