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Sailing Notes

Table of Contents Conditions Unusual Gear Watch System Anchoring Astro Navigation Domestics With the Benefit of Hindsight

Conditions

To the left, you can see the effect of one of the milder rachas we experienced in the Chilean channels. These winds are one of the main reasons why sailors have to use shore lines so often in this area. The Argentine pilot gives an effective description of the phenomenon:

Their action is stronger in the coves and the waters lying under steep mountainsides. Gusts descend from the valleys in a roar of shaken trees and whistling whirlwind on rocks. Small twisters of foam and water appear on the sea, rushing at incredible speed on the surface accompanied by curtains of rain or hail that hide the coast to the eye.

The British Admiralty pilot gives the following explanation:

Unlike the majority of gusty winds of more tropical and temperate areas (vendavais), williwaws depend greatly, if not entirely, on the existence of strong winds blowing from the sea on lands of high elevation. When these streams reach the coast of the Chilean archipelago, they generate whirlwinds of different strength and kind. During the most violent williwaws observed west of Cabo Froward and along the continental coast, in one of the stormiest and heaviest sea, gusts may exceed the speed of 100 knots.

Unusual Gear

To equip Sapphire for a voyage which would take her from the Tropics to the sub-Antarctic, we needed to add about three tons of sailing gear. Below is a sample of some of the more unusual or interesting items:

Although by far the most common type, the open, teardrop-shaped thimble is not an ideal design when subjected to heavy loads. The eye can stretch and the thimble tip, allowing the sharp ends of it to contact and, possibly, sever the rode. By contrast, the Samson Nylite Connector (shown left) uses a spool made of a high strength composite nylon with a flexible shield of tough urethane and a special, high strength shackle to transfer the rope load. It can be used with either braided or twisted synthetic rope. They are expensive, so we bought one as a trial and used it on one of shore lines. Our only complaint is that it is heavy and bulky, but otherwise we were impressed.

The greatest disadvantage of an all-chain anchor rode is the lack of elasticity when the chain is drawn taut in a heavy wind. This can be corrected by the addition of an elastic riding stopper, a length of suitably strong nylon rope, attached between a strong deck fitting and the chain forward of the bow. The common grab hook weakens the chain to about 80% of its normal strength because of the eccentric grasp it takes on the chain. The Devil's claw hook (pictured left) is a better solution and is also less likely to drop off under intermittent loading. We found it by accident at a small chandlers in Mooloolaba, Queensland.

Dirty fuel is the leading cause of engine failure on yachts. This three stage Baja filter does an excellent job of removing both dirt and water. We searched for a long time before finding ours at www.sailnet.com in the USA.

Rolly anchorages are a perennial concern in certain parts of the world. The problem occurs when an anchorage is not fully protected from the ocean swell. Then, when the wind either goes light or blows from a different direction to the swell, the boat lies beam on to the swells and rolls from side to side, driving her occupants to distraction! The most common solution is to deploy a stern anchor to hold the boat bows on to the swells (the resultant pitching motion being much less of a problem). However, this can put a lot of strain on the mooring system if a strong wind blows up from abeam. Since we were expecting many rolly anchorages in the Pacific, we purchased these roll dampers (called Rocker Stoppers) at the Southampton Boat Show. We use six on each side, weighted down with our two chums. We finally tried them out in northern Chile, where exposed anchorages are the norm. I am happy to report that they have been a great success, significantly reducing the motion. They would be even more effective if rigged from the main boom and spinnaker pole to give them greater leverage. However, this would take much more time to rig up and we have not yet considered it worthwhile.

Watch System

Theresa and I prefer standing watches (any system where the watches stood are the same from day to day) as this allows the body to adjust. Our normal routine is as follows:

0000 - 0300	Kevin
0300 - 0600	Theresa
0600 - 1200	Kevin
1200 - 1800	Theresa
1800 - 2100	Kevin
2100 - 0000	Theresa

In other words, six on and six off during the day; three on and three off at night. During heavy weather, we revert to three on and three off during the day as well.

We have two happy hours, 1130 - 1230 and 1730 - 1830, when we both stand watch in order to eat lunch and dinner together.

Anchoring

Whole books have been written about anchoring (including Earl Hinz' excellent The Complete Book of Anchoring and Mooring) and it is certainly not my place to lecture on the subject. However, conditions in the Falkland Islands and Patagonia provided a fairly severe examination of our technique and the following notes may be of interest:

We carry four anchors on board (not including the tender anchor): 60lb CQR bower, 50lb Luke (a Fisherman which disassembles into three pieces) and two Fortresses of different sizes. We also carry 80m of chain and a few hundred metres of rope which can serve as anchor rode. We have only ever lain to one rode, but frequently anchor to two anchors in tandem. The CQR is always used. In soft mud, we sometimes add a Fortress; in kelp or rock, the Luke.

We always use a nylon snubber, to add elasticity when the chain's catenary is lost in high wind. We protect the snubber from chafe with armoured hose, which is held in place by drilling holes in each end and threading some small line through to tie to the rope. Since we do not have a dedicated chain stopper, we also take the chain off the windlass and lead it to a cleat (in case the snubber fails or falls off the chain).

We have two 13.6kg chums or angels (weights added to the chain to improve the catenary effect). One of these takes rope or chain, the other only rope. I have only ever used the chain version, which has worked very well and is particularly useful when I cannot deploy the desired scope of chain for some reason. Ours are called Anchor Buddy and are made in New Zealand by Guardian Marine.

You can see most of this kit in the photograph to the left.

We have three 100m reels of floating line for taking ashore, plus a further 100m in a bag. The latter is always the first to be used (since I row it ashore in the tender). Two of the three reels were semi-permanently mounted in Patagonia by lashing them to the port and starboard gates. The third reel is mounted at the bow when required.

The use of shore lines in itself could provide a severe challenge. The difficulty lies in securing enough lines to be safe before being blown out of position by the gusts. Typically, I would row ashore with the first line, make one end fast to a tree (with a boat lifting strop) or a rock (with a length of chain) then row the rest back to the boat. Theresa would then drop the anchor, while I steered the boat back towards the shore and simultaneously hauled in the slack in the line. We would then attach further lines as quickly as possible. Rowing through kelp, slippery rocks, thorny bushes, lines fouled by ice from glaciers, but most of all poor holding and strong gusts, combined to render this a somewhat traumatic experience at times.

Astro Navigation

We practised astro navigation both for safety reasons and as a hobby. The photograph to the left shows the various accessories we used. Working clockwise from the top left, you can see:

• The Rough Guide to the Universe - of general interest and whose star maps helped to learn the constellations
• Rapid Sight Reduction Tables for Navigation
• Freiberger sextant
• A laminated sheet containing the most commonly used data from the almanac.
• The Nautical Almanac 2005
• Ocean Navigator
• A clipboard for writing on the various observation forms. On top of it, you can see a table of navigation stars I put together, which was helpful in getting to know the constellations in which the various navigational stars appear.
• The British Admiralty's Star Finder and Identifier.
• We used an almanac and sight reduction program on the Palm to check our work.
• An accurate watch, of course.
• A torch, for help when taking star sights.
• A selection of sight forms, including celestial twilight, planned star sights, planet sights, Polaris, moon, sun, noon, compass check and plotting sheets. Most of these were obtained during Stokey Woodall's excellent astro navigation course.

Star sights can only be taken during morning and evening twilight (unless there is sufficient moon light for the horizon to be observed). However, they have some advantages which caused us to use them more often than any other sight. First, being a point of light, they are easier to shoot accurately than the Sun. Secondly, because multiple sights can be shot in one session, a position can be plotted without needing to transfer position lines. Finally, the use of volume 1 of the Sight Reduction Tables allows stars to be chosen in advance which provide a good angle of cut and also simplifies reduction.

We checked the accuracy of each sight by using an assumed position taken from the GPS. (This cannot be done with the tables but can with software.) After some practice, we were pleased to note that the majority of our fixes were less than a mile out.

The sextant was useful in other ways than for navigating. For example, on 8 June, 2004, we both used the sextant to observe Venus' transit across the sun. It was very clear and appeared as a little black disk just above the bottom limb. This is the first time this transit has been seen in over 120 years. Mapping the transit of Venus across the sun was one of Captain James Cook's main responsibilities before he was allowed to look for the great Southern Continent.

Domestics

The domestic running of the boat has been successful largely through trial and error. (We don't talk about the lasagna food poisoning episode any more..)

Victualling has become easier through time as we have learned which foods last longest. Naturally we eat a lot of rice and pasta and the pressure cooker has paid for itself many times over in the gas it has saved. A real bonus since our arrival in South America and especially in Argentina has been a ready supply of vacuum packed meat. This is not expensive, is entirely delicious and lasts for months. (This is especially important as I believe that we are both the worst fishermen in the world.)

We have found that fruit and vegetables last much longer if kept in the "green bags" and additionally I have discovered that potatoes last much longer when stowed in a dedicated heavy cloth bag. (Both obtained from Lakeland Plastics, UK)

As a rule we tend not to carry bottles of wine on the boat unless we are in harbour. Instead we ensure that we have a plentiful supply of boxed wine. Again in Argentina and Chile this is of very fine quality and is a fraction of the price of the UK.

When the weather is rough often neither of us feel like eating much though this is precisely when calories are very important. Luckily I have a great recipe (courtesy of my mum) for "Dutch Ginger Cake". This is not only delicious and (fortunately or unfortunately) high in calories but has the added advantage that ginger is an anti-emetic. We always make sure that we have our supply of Dutch Ginger Cake ready for a potentially rough passage.

Mum's Dutch Ginger Cake Ingredients 1 3/4 Cups Plain Flour 1 Cup Castor Sugar 125 g Ginger 1 Egg 185 g Butter (melted) Almonds (optional but very good!) Method Mix flour, sugar and ginger together and then add the egg. Add the melted butter and mix. Press into a cake tin and arrange almonds on top. Bake for 40 mins in moderate oven.

One little item we found in Ipswich before we left was our Wonder Washer. When we bought this we suspected that it might be a bit of a gimmick and did not know whether it would last or even work. It has been a real asset as it has enabled us always to have a supply of clean clothes. It uses no power (other than arm power) though does require some room for stowage.

With the Benefit of Hindsight

During our voyage we have come to realise that some of the decisions we made prior to leaving the UK were not the best ones. If we had our time again we would of course do some things differently. A selection of these ideas follow.

• We had not realised how scarce good yachting facilities and services would be. This has had various knock on effects, the latest being that we need to use some of our precious French Polynesian visa time being hauled and re-antifouled. We would have done very well to carry our own anti fouling paint with us. In Buenos Aires, our preferred ablative paint (International Micron Extra) was not available, so we were painted with hard antifouling. In French Polynesia, we could procure ablative paint (at great expense) but the paint available was not our preferred brand. In short, despite the additional weight we regret not carrying our own paint and not being hauled before leaving the South American mainland. The rate at which growth delights in hitching a ride on our tired antifouling in tropical waters has been a lesson.
• We purchased two folding bikes. We did use these extensively in the Channel Islands and then packed them away under our bunk for the Atlantic Crossing. They next saw the light of day when we sent them home on the plane from Buenos Aires with Kevin's VERY tolerant parents.
• Prior to leaving the UK we had not needed to refuel using fuel cans. We left with five 20 litre plastic fuel cans. These cans are rubbish, there are no o-rings in the lids and the lids have split on all but two on the cans. We purchased four steel cans in Ushuaia which degenerated into rust buckets within a couple of months. The abject misery caused by leaking, rusty and filthy fuel cans is hard to appreciate until one is forced to refuel regularly using them, especially at sea. With the benefit of hindsight we should have paid more attention to this issue and purchased the very best cans that we could find. Additionally we have found the best way for us to decant the fuel from the cans into the boat is by using a piece of hose running from the cans to the deck filler in conjunction with the dingy pump with which we force air into the cans whilst creating an airtight seal around the two hoses. This forces the fuel through the hose and into our filler. This task would be easier still if we had purchased a hose with an integral inline pump. That would also be a useful piece of kit when changing the engine oil.
• Sapphire has a barometer of course (two in fact) but we wish that we had made room for a barograph. When so much depends on the weather this would have been an extremely useful indicator.
• When we specified Sapphire's electronic equipment we opted for SatCom C. This was for us the right decision as SatC provides Safety Net information as well as enables personal email communication. However we would with hindsight definitely specify a pactor modem as well. We have an SSB radio and this used with the modem would not only enable us to email home for a much lower cost, but would also enable us to receive GRIB (Gridded Binary) files for weather data. We did not realise at the time that these can not be received through Satcom C.
• Due to the large amount of gear stowed on Sapphire she sits a little lower in the water than her waterline. The consequence of this (in warmer waters) is that she often sports a "moustache" of weed growing where the water meets the fibreglass. This not only looks unsightly but can significantly impact her speed. This could have been avoided had we had the waterline (and therefore the level of antifouling) raised slightly.
• We would definitely do a little more research before arranging to receive parcels or spare parts in different locations. When taking delivery of a replacement (under warranty) towed generator in Salvador we had to pay import duty of about 98% (or £300)!! Argentina is another place NOT to receive parcels for a different reason. A Christmas parcel from home as well as a package from Kevin's parents both went astray in Argentina. We have since been informed by other cruisers and by our Argentine friends that the postal service in Argentina is notorious for items being "lost".
• Receiving spare parts and parcels from home has not been straightforward. We have used DHL and Fedex and had big problems with both companies. Personally I would not choose to use either of these companies again. If using courier companies it is worth confirming (if you can find anyone to speak to you) that they will deliver to the chosen address. All too often our parcels have been left at airports or storage depots where the recipient pays storage charges, sometimes by the hour! We have never had anything but very good service from the UK's Parcel Force . We have also noticed that whereas the more well known courier companies always attract the attention of Customs (with the inevitable delays and extra charges that entails), Customs have never been involved (as far as we are aware) with deliveries via Parcel Force.
• We have been surprised at the amount of time that we have had to spend repairing or servicing various pieces of equipment. These tasks would have been much simpler had we carried a full  set of service manuals for every piece of equipment on board. We did try to collect as many as possible before leaving the UK but we missed several (e.g our Outboard Engine user manual is useless so we had to order the workshop manual from the UK).
• We carry with us wetsuits and snorkling gear (masks, snorkels and fins). However we would have been much better off had we procured weight belts and possibly lycra (short) wetsuits. We have spent a lot of time under the boat (cleaning or examining) and this is tougher without any weight belt. Several boats we have met carry electric (or battery powered) air pumps to connect to a hose. That would be even better but we are low enough in the water as things are! I have been on the receiving end of several jellyfish stings so now we usually snorkel with a t-shirt though a fitted lycra suit would be better. This would also help to prevent sunburn.