August 21 - All at Sea

We left our Norfolk anchorage at about 1:15 Sunday. We'd found
this lovely Willoughby Bay, complete with a great internet feed,
and a nice breeze. So, we slept in a bit, knowing that we had a
long trip ahead of us, and that our time on the ocean would make
the departure time somewhat irrelevant, other than that we wanted
to clear the ship channel, and be on our way to the sea bouy,
which would allow us to be clear of the shoals on our way north.

We motored out of the little channel and into the ship channel.
Being side by side with some of the behemoths was humbling, but
there was plenty of room for us on the south side, as we headed
to the Chesapeake Bay tunnel (over which we'd sail at our exit).
The weather forecasts had us on a beam reach for most of our
initial travels, under moderate winds, so we put up the staysail
as well.

Our point of sail started as a beam reach, but moved toward a
close reach in order to stay on the angle of the channel.
However, once we cleared the tunnel, we were able to angle more
northward and our travel became a broad reach. However, the wind
was clocking around and also picking up, and we ended up having to
pinch to stay off the shoals.

As the wind reached into the teens we put in our first reef. The
staysail and genny were drawing beautifully, and the first reef
in the main kept us pretty upright. However the winds continued
to build, and so did the seas, so we took in a second reef. By
this time we'd reached the shoals' end, and could turn north, but
the winds continued to build, and we had to pinch very hard to
remain off the shoals. This resulted in a heel level of over 20
degrees, so we took in the genoa and went on staysail and
double-reefed main, which brought her upright again. It also
increased our speed.

Unfortunately, the seas were very choppy and fairly sizeable, so
Lydia's hope for a non-medicated trip were dashed as she felt
nauseated. She went below to lay down, her usual salve to that
condition, but reappeared shortly to empty her empty stomach into
a bowl. After several iterations of that, we applied a patch, and
she went down to try to quell the symptoms again.

Several attempts at her trying to provide me relief failed, as I
refused to go until she was comfortable, since, if she could not
read a chart or radar screen, it was useless for me to leave.
However, I'd been fully rested and was fine about staying, and so
she went below to get some rest and allow her patch to kick in. I'm
so glad I got to stay.

Winds had stayed in the mid to upper teens, with occasional guts
into the low 20s. Our double reef and staysail, aside from the
horrible rolling due to our being beam-on to the short and choppy
waves, did marvelous duty. With all the rocking and rolling, and
uncertain conditions, we left the engine running in neutral, and
I put on the fuel polisher to take advantage of all the sloshing,
to pick up whatever tiny remains we might have had from our wreck
and previous thrashings we gave the fuel tank.

We had a slight sprinkling of rain just before she finally gave
up, and the weather radio was talking about severe thunderstorms
inland. I got to watch a variety of light shows, but eventually,
rain appeared in the radar screen. At first, it seemed to skirt
us, seeming to miss us each time. But then, we started to be
surrounded. For 10 miles in each direction, there it was.

And, soon, it was upon us. The wind built, and continued to
build. We had plenty of sea room, and the wind had moved to our
being on a broad reach (the wind more behind than across from
us). With the double reef and staysail set for the right shape at
120 degrees apparent wind, we rode it out.

What a marvelous ride. The wind built into the high 20s, with
gusts into the 30s, but we were continuing to move offshore, so
the waves became less choppy and more like swells, though there
was plenty of wind to make them break. The phosphorescence in the
water was plentiful, so even though it was pitch dark (the
lightning flashes aside) and raining very hard, the waves
breaking were like it was daytime. The propeller stream behind
the boat lit up for 40 feet or so. With my foul weather gear on,
I was dry and warm, my hands and feet excepted. Those were prunes
before I was finished!

However, Flying Pig marched on through the waves, taking her
fresh water bath thankfully. After several hours, the
thunderstorms petered out, and so did the wind, as forecast. So,
Perky, the Iron Genny (Perky the Perkins 4-154 which drives our
boat when it's not a sailboat) came on in order to stabilize the
roll a bit, and we motorsailed on our course to Sandy Hook.

Fortunately, all this time, the course of sail had been pretty
close to where we wanted to go, so we made very good time.
However, with the wind dying, the wind shift promised kicked in.
Lydia, having been able to rest enough to get her patch to take
effect, relieved me at 5, and I went down to sleep. She motor
sailed with Perky just ticking over, but by the time I awoke, the
wind had come around to being exactly on our nose for the heading
we wanted, so we went out to sea.

Slow and slower, it became, but at least we continued to move, so
Perky went back to sleep. Also, as we continued to head offshore,
the waves became far apart and more gentle. Wonderful sailing,
and I tacked back in, pinching as far north as it could go. As I
write, Lydia's about to go off shift and I'll take over for the
night. We've tacked yet again, in very light winds, getting away
from the traffic entering Cape May.

So far, a very entertaining trip, with the most excitement being
the various ships we have to dodge, but the most entertainment,
to me, being the exhilarating sail I had in the thunderstorms.
Flying Pig stood right up - 10-15 degrees of heel, and just
charged along. The log showed max speeds over 9 knots. My kind of
sailing!

So, as I take over the dawn patrol, I'll leave you here, in the
middle of the coastal Atlantic ocean off Cape May, NJ.

L8R

Skip

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery !
Follow us at http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog and/or
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog

"You are never given a wish without also being given the power
to make it come true. You may have to work for it however."
(and)
"There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in
its hands. You seek problems because you need their gifts."
(Richard Bach, in The Reluctant Messiah)

On Tue, 21 Aug 2007 16:59:59 -0000, Skip Gundlach
wrote:

Unfortunately, the seas were very choppy and fairly sizeable, so
Lydia's hope for a non-medicated trip were dashed as she felt
nauseated.

Unless you are ocean racing, getting away from a hurricane or on a
time constrained delivery, the proper maneuver at that point would
have been a 180 degree turn.

There is absolutely no point in putting yourselves and your boat
through adverse conditions for no reason. I'm not impressed and
neither will most of your cruising brethren. Nor is there a good
reason for making that run non-stop and risking fatigue at some point.
The easy path is the way of the serious cruiser. If you keep pushing
the envelope as you are right now, you will run out of luck sooner or
later.

On Aug 21, 9:59 am, Skip Gundlach wrote:
August 21 - All at Sea


Dear Skip:

Please correct me if I am reading your log incorrectly.
Based on your words below there are only two people on board who stand
watch? Is that true? Just you and Lydia?

Unfortunately, the seas were very choppy and fairly sizeable, so
Lydia's hope for a non-medicated trip were dashed as she felt
nauseated.


And if she is prown to sea sea sickness why did she not pre-medicate
so she would be able to stand her watch?

She went below to lay down, her usual salve to that
condition, but reappeared shortly to empty her empty stomach into
a bowl. After several iterations of that, we applied a patch, and
she went down to try to quell the symptoms again.


And what would happen if you were disabled some how and needed to rely
on Lydia? Whould she sit up in perky fasion and be cappable of
functining at 90%


Several attempts at her trying to provide me relief failed,

Well I guess you answer my questions here. NOPE!


as I
refused to go until she was comfortable,

HOw sweet and noble,........ but stupid.

since, if she could not
read a chart or radar screen, it was useless for me to leave.


This says there are only two of you and now you are taking here
watch.............................. You just took one more step closer
to disaster and death!

However, I'd been fully rested and was fine about staying, and so
she went below to get some rest and allow her patch to kick in. I'm
so glad I got to stay.

SKip, Skip, Skip............ You havent learned anything from your
crash. You are makeing exactly the same mistakes ! !


Lydia, having been able to rest enough to get her patch to take
effect, relieved me at 5, and I went down to sleep.

Transderm scopolmine is the drug used, no? Has she used it before? ANd
for how long? Directoins say apply 12 hours before needed. Has she
used the patch for 2-3-4 days on shore to see how she reacts to longer
term use? SO what happens when she makes a mistake and touches the
patch with her finger when puting it on. Then rubs her eye, which
trasfers some of the medication to the eye and it goes bonkers
causeing impared eye sight. Oh, you say that will never happen. Ive
sen it happen. Ive worked on boats where deployments were 60-90 days.
Many of the "scientifics" used the patch but after 2-3-4 weeks could
not "handle" the drug. Try the drug for long term use on the beach
first!

Lets debrief.
1) two old people on a boat
2) boat systems not completly shaken out.
3) Inexperienced operators
4) One operator incapacitated
5) Other opperator required to stand double watches therefor building
a sleep deficit.
6) sailing unfamiliar waters.

This all adds up to a repeat.

Am I wrong here? Please repond. I may not be able to sleep well
toninght.
Bob

"Skip Gundlach" wrote in message
oups.com...
August 21 - All at Sea


Skip, there is nothing inherently wrong with sailing in foul weather --
provided, of course, that you and your crew are up to it. But from your
report, Lydia is NOT up to it, at least not yet. Please don't repeat this.
You don't have to be ANYWHERE at any particular time. And there is
absolutely no "shame" in turning around and heading back to port if
conditions deteriorate unexpectedly.

"Those who fight and run away, live to fight another day."

On Tue, 21 Aug 2007 13:28:52 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

the easy path is the way of the serious cruiser. If you keep pushing
the envelope as you are right now, you will run out of luck sooner or
later.

And when that happens, it is no accident, it is a fulfilment. Few
accidents anywhere really are accidents. Lots of people ask for it and
get it.

Casady

On Tue, 21 Aug 2007 12:48:25 -0500, "KLC Lewis"
wrote:


"Skip Gundlach" wrote in message
roups.com...
August 21 - All at Sea


Skip, there is nothing inherently wrong with sailing in foul weather --
provided, of course, that you and your crew are up to it. But from your
report, Lydia is NOT up to it, at least not yet. Please don't repeat this.
You don't have to be ANYWHERE at any particular time. And there is
absolutely no "shame" in turning around and heading back to port if
conditions deteriorate unexpectedly.

"Those who fight and run away, live to fight another day."

I'm getting a bit confused here. It didn't seem that Skip was putting
himself in danger, given the weather reports. Lydia's seasickness
is another issue, and I have no idea how that gets sorted out.
Skip has indicated he doesn't care too much for the crowded IC, and
likes to do some sailing offshore, and plain likes to sail.
I don't think all cruisers power all the time, and never venture
offshore.
There's a lot of talk of fatigue and multiple watchkeepers, yet
singlehanders seem to sail overnighters all the time.
Having no experience in this myself, or the waters Skip is in, I'd
like to know what's the big deal.
It just seems that if you wait for flat calm seas, you'll never be
sailing.

--Vic

"KLC Lewis" wrote:


"Skip Gundlach" wrote in message
roups.com...
August 21 - All at Sea


Skip, there is nothing inherently wrong with sailing in foul weather --
provided, of course, that you and your crew are up to it. But from your
report, Lydia is NOT up to it, at least not yet. Please don't repeat this.
You don't have to be ANYWHERE at any particular time. And there is
absolutely no "shame" in turning around and heading back to port if
conditions deteriorate unexpectedly.

"Those who fight and run away, live to fight another day."

I have to say that I did not find what he did particularly untoward. I
noted that he said he was well rested at the start, and at the start
someone that is well rested can do more than if it is at the other end
of the trip (as it was the first time). I don't know if the boat
could have been hove to or sailed in a direction so that the waves
weren't rolling the boat so much or not.

Managing seasickness is not something that one can do for someone
else. It takes a certain amount of trial and error to get it right.
Second guessing Lydia won't help her.

In our case, there's no seasickness problem, but Bob doesn't sleep
well underway. So I adjust to that by sleeping as much as possible
(especially during the day) because I can usually sleep whenever and
wherever I want to. When he runs out of steam or when he would
normally be asleep, I can take over the watch and he can take a nap.
Of course we also don't make a multi-day passage - I don't want Bob
doing that for more than 24 hours.

I have been told that the first 24-36 hours of an extended cruise are
the most difficult because it is hard to sleep at the beginning. After
a day or so, people adjust and are actually able to sleep off-shift so
they think Bob would eventually be able to do more sleeping. I think
that is true. I'm just not sure that he wouldn't get too tired to
sleep before he adjusted to the routine. And actually Lydia being out
of commission from seasickness at the start might make adjusting to
the watches easier because she started out rested in the middle rather
than at the beginning - the equivalent of my sleeping in the daytime
of the first day.

"Vic Smith" wrote in message
...
I'm getting a bit confused here. It didn't seem that Skip was putting
himself in danger, given the weather reports. Lydia's seasickness
is another issue, and I have no idea how that gets sorted out.
Skip has indicated he doesn't care too much for the crowded IC, and
likes to do some sailing offshore, and plain likes to sail.
I don't think all cruisers power all the time, and never venture
offshore.
There's a lot of talk of fatigue and multiple watchkeepers, yet
singlehanders seem to sail overnighters all the time.
Having no experience in this myself, or the waters Skip is in, I'd
like to know what's the big deal.
It just seems that if you wait for flat calm seas, you'll never be
sailing.

--Vic

Perhaps not, but the conditions were very similar to those in which the
Flying Pig had her first serious encounter with the hard and unforgiving.

Lin and Larry Pardey's early voyages had Lin seasick often -- but I don't
know that Skip is the sailor that Larry was at that time. I do know,
however, that Skip and Lydia are at least 30 years older. My impression is
that Skip keeps getting "gottagetthereitis" -- an often fatal ailment.

It is reasonable to deliberately go out in conditions that will test the
crew, gradually increasing one's experience with handling those conditions.
But I think it should be done in small bites. And the crew has to be up for
it.

On Tue, 21 Aug 2007 13:26:52 -0500, Vic Smith
wrote:

It just seems that if you wait for flat calm seas, you'll never be
sailing.

Really? No wind, no sailing?

Casady

On Tue, 21 Aug 2007 14:44:43 -0400, Rosalie B.
wrote:

I have to say that I did not find what he did particularly untoward.

The way I read Skip's post, they started to encounter deteriorating
weather conditions right outside the Chesapeake Bay-Bridge tunnel
area. That's not a very auspicious start for a 200+ mile offshore run
to NYC. Subsequent weather confirms that assessment. I also take
issue with not breaking up the trip into multiple legs, especially
since Cape May is not only an easy inlet, but also a fun town to
visit. What's the rush?

To answer Vic Smith's response, the alternative to the proposed plan
was not the ICW but rather Chesapeake Bay, arguably one of the finest
cruising areas in the mid-atlantic region. Skip's choice was to go
offshore along the Delmarva Penninsula which has no good cruising
inlets for over 100 nautical miles. That violates my "Plan B" rule
which says there should always be a Plan B in case Plan A starts to
look a little sketchy for some reason.

I have made the decision to run offshore of Delmarva several times but
only in a stable weather window, and never for more than 36 hours
which is about my limit for staying fully alert. In addition, neither
my wife or I get seasick under normal conditions, and my wife is an
experienced watch stander who knows her limits.