The Voyage-Savannah to Stornoway

June 3, 2010 - July 24, 2010
Savannah GA U.S.A -> Stornoway, Scotland U.K.
3,600 nautical miles
51 days

As previously described, we departed Savannah in a bit of a rush at 1400. We had planned a shakedown cruise, but, only managed a day sail a couple of days before departure. We knew this
wasn't adequate and we really should have done better, but we didn't. As we'd be fairly close to the coast for the first part of the passage, we took extra charts and thought we'd head in if we had a problem. Likewise, due to pressures of various weather windows and that we were leaving at the tail end of the viable time for the passage we decided to do it non-stop. If we'd stopped in Bermuda and/or the Azores, it would have added several weeks to the voyage and would have meant more miles to sail as well. We had been to Bermuda before. The Azores sound nice, but, we didn't want to get stuck in the light winds of the Azores High either. So, we decided to head for a point at 40N  050W and then pick up the Great Circle Route directly to Scotland. We took the Bermuda and Azores (and Falmouth) charts, 'just in case'. We knew the North Atlantic route would be more challenging and that it probably wasn't the best choice for our first, long ocean passage. However, as a proving ground, it was a good exercise. It now means that we feel confident in the boat and ourselves as it probably isn't ever going to be much worse than what we've already experienced! We now know what to expect and how to prepare. We also learned techniques for sailing and living on-board that worked well for us and this boat.

The 3,600 mile length was miles 'made good'. We may have and probably did, sail many more miles than that, but, as our speed log wasn't working we don't really know how many miles we sailed. The most interesting thing about the voyage was how evenly it split into almost two distinct passages of
about 3-1/2 weeks each and 1,800 miles. Both were plagued at times with light and variable winds, but, conditions were quite different in each half.

The first 1,800 miles or so from Savannah to 40N was warm, sometimes too warm, sunny and
quite pleasant. We experienced all the cruiser cliches, the flying fish found on deck in the morning, the porpoises swimming under the bow and beside the boat and the evening phosphoresence in our wake. There were one or two days of extremely nice sailing.

It started like this

It started like this

Sunset at sea

Past 40N, the water temperature changed. Along with this came fog (twelve days of it), cold water with resulting condensation making a wet, miserable boat and winds alternating between way too little and way too much. After the fog, it was grey and cloudy day-after-day. So much so, that we
never saw the moon or stars that we thought we'd be enjoying in the middle of the ocean.

Rather than bore you with a summary of every day, I'll just summarize a few of the major events to give you a feel for what it was like. To be honest, writing this almost two weeks after arrival, the days of the passage seem to have just all just blended together anyway. Only a few events stand out, primarily ones where comments were made in the ship's log.

Day 1 Thursday, June 3.
Departure from Savannah GA. Light winds, lots of thunder/lightning onshore but nothing out here, thank goodness.

Day 2 - our galley cooking skills not quite perfected, eight raw eggs went all over the salon along with some instant coffee on top. To get some idea, imagine trying to cook while everything around you is moving and nothing you put down ever stays in one place.

Not all our galley attempts were failures, this is our first loaf baked aboard.

Day 3 -
Our first 'scary' night, squally rain, one reef in, but, should have been two. A very rolly ride that broke some dishes in the galley.

Day 5 - becalmed, when taking down mainsail noticed a grommet ripped out near the head of the sail, repaired it using the emergency grommets in our sail repair kit.

Grommet failure

Day 9 - we seem to be stuck in our very own 'Bermuda triangle' (probably a Gulf Stream eddy) from which we can't escape. No headway whatsoever, seem to be just tacking back and forth on the same line. Porpoises put on a show under the bow wave.

Day 11 - after perfect sailing yesterday, wind increased to 25-30 knots with squally rain and waves. We decided to heave-to to try and fix a serious water leak coming into our electrical panel. Glenn was able to trace it down to some small fibreglass cracks in a scupper. After he slathered on some caulking, we hove-to for the night and were able to dry it out enough to continue. After this, for the rest of the trip, we were disappointed to find how 'wet' the boat is. A lot of it was probably due to condensation, but, there were a lot of other leaks we still don't know where it's getting in.

Day 12 - noticed our shaft seal was 'dripping' more than normal. Something to keep an eye on. Wind 'on-the-nose'.

Day 16 - more porpoises and a sea turtle

Day 17 - becalmed again

Day 18 - the generator stopped working and we couldn't get it restarted, will have to cut our power consumption now

Day 19 - grey, cloudy and damp, very poor visibility, dolphins followed us for hours

Day 20 - really crummy night, downwind sailing = rolling from side-to-side

Day 21 - decided to head north earlier than planned to try and pick up more wind

Day 22 - becalmed again, almost 400 miles to 1/2 way still, cool, foggy and grey

Day 23 - thick fog and rain

Day 24 - heavy fog (and so it went for 12 days straight)

Day 25 - log entry reads 'fog/fog/fog and calm/calm/calm', it's getting tiresome

Day 26 - rough seas

Day 27 - becalmed again

Day 28 - grey and foggy, large waves

Day 30 - we have now left the ice limit (luckily we didn't see any, reports prior to departure indicated none south of 47/8N anyway). Hoping for better weather now.

Day 31 - gusts to 35 knots

Day 32 - one of the 'bad' days. Winds only around 30 knots, but very large seas. Waves were very confused and coming from two different directions. Boat entirely swamped by a breaking wave. Luckily hatchboards were in and sea hood was closed, but, still got a few litres in my lap below while
sitting at the nav station. Noticed a rip at the head of the mainsail.

Day 33 - spent most of day repairing mainsail, very difficult sewing.

Day 34 - becalmed again, grey and raining

Day 35 - G's 60th birthday. Opened a jar of jellybeans to celebrate.

Day 36 - first sunshine in 10+ days

Day 37 - becalmed again, grey and raining

Day 38 - gale conditions (Force 8, 34-40 knots), barometer 994. Continued to sail to windward, took a beating. Bilge full to floorboards, bilge pump decides to quit. G pumps manually.

Day 39 - heaved sigh of relief when pressure started to rise, assumed gale was over. However, when pressure rises too quickly it can cause even greater winds which it did. At 1930 the wind started to rise and went to Force 9, Strong Gale, 41-47 knots. We saw gusts over 50 knots. After last night's experience decided to heave-to. Caught by surprise as wind escalated so quickly, we still had the staysail out. When trying to roll it in somehow the middle third wouldn't roll up and it was flogging severely and vibrating the entire rig so much we thought the whole lot was going to come down. Eventually, we got it rolled up, but, found out the next day there was both a rip in the sail and the leech line had ripped right out. The severe gale ended at 0500.

Day 40 - sunny and cold and becalmed again.

Day 41 - winds 28-33 knots overnight. Why does it always come up at night? Staysail fixed and operational again. Another grommet is ripping out of the mainsail. One windvane wheel clamp has broken.

Day 45 - a near gale, gusts to 37 knots

Day 47 - our second gale. All of a sudden, the windvane jibed the boat which was alarming. Rushing on deck we soon saw why. Our mainsail had ripped in half. Luckily, it was between the second and third reef (which we'd just had added), so, were able to put the third reef in. Decided to heave-to in case the rest of the sail decided to shred itself.

Not a pretty sight

Day 50 - land-ho! We can see St. Kilda, the most westerly islands of the Outer Hebrides.

Land Ho! St. Kilda

Day 51 - Saturday, July 24, hove-to off the Flannan Isles at 0100, gusts to 35+ and we are tired. So  close, but can't seem to quite get there. Very foggy in a.m., but, made landfall at Isle of Lewis, Scotland. As we couldn't get to Stornoway before dark, we dropped the hook in Broad Bay, Isle of Lewis, made a couple of phone calls and then went directly to sleep. We decided to go around the point to the town of Stornoway the next day where we could do Customs and Immigration etc.

Butt of Lewis

Broad Bay, Isle of Lewis, our first anchorage after our transAtlantic passage

In summary, the passage seemed unusually long. In reviewing other people's experiences, it did seem to take us much longer than 'normal'. However, we were in a much smaller boat than most people do it in. The design of the boat is also not 'fast'. The design is very seakindly, stable and safe and we'd rather have that than speed. We were also sailing cautiously at night and also during the day after our sails started to disintegrate. We also didn't motor at all as our diesel was limited (we took 50 gallons in tanks and 30 gallons on deck. We arrived with 30 gallons left.) The light and variable winds and lack of predicted winds didn't help either. We were probably becalmed at least 4-5 full days on the voyage. We were also hove-to for maybe 2-3 days. Our worst day's mileage was 5 which was only achieved by drifting in a bit of current. Our best day's mileage was 116 which we did on 2-3 days. Generally, we found our average mileage to be about 500 miles per week. We had hoped this would pick up on the second half of the trip, but, it didn't as the expected prevailing Westerlies never materialized.

It ended like this

It ended like this

After the first couple of weeks, we had our routine set and each day seemed much the same, just dealing with the different weather conditions. Sleep deprivation was a problem early on when we tried to maintain the standard three hour watches. After a couple of weeks, it was clear this wasn't going to work and we changed to six-hour watches on a fixed night schedule (A. did 8-2, G. did 2-8). During the day, there were no set watches. This improved things immensely.

The windvane was the absolute best piece of gear we bought. Everybody crossing an ocean should have one. We thought it would be difficult to learn and use. However, maybe due to the traditional design of our boat, it worked perfectly out of the box, from the very first sail. It worked on all points of sail and in all winds. Expensive, but worth almost any price! It meant we only had to steer for as long as it took to make a course change and reset the windvane. The fact it requires no power was also a huge benefit. After the generator died, we could only charge one hour a day and needed this to run the instruments. Actually, an hour a day wasn't enough and as it was we could only check AIS every 1/2 hour. We will have to deal with this charging issue at some point.

Monitor windvane

Second best piece of gear was the AIS. We bought a new VHF radio that has an AIS receiver in it, so, the cost was neglible. It is so great to be able to see at a glance whether an approaching ship is going to be a problem or not. It enabled us to take evasive action for one ship and also use DSC to call up a couple of others that we were nervous about to make sure they knew we were there (they didn't know we were there but at least they answered the call). We do have an old radar set, but, didn't use it due to power consumption and also more interpretation practice is required on our parts.

Towards the end of the trip, it was very hard to believe we'd been out there almost two whole months! The lack of exercise was causing negative physical symptoms and we were running low on food. We had originally planned to go direct to Bergen, Norway, our original destination, but, due to the length of the voyage and the damage to our gear we decided to make landfall in Stornoway, Scotland (another one of the extra charts I'd purchased 'just in case') to rest, make repairs, obtain Norway visas and reprovision before moving on to Norway, about 350 miles away.

Black Sheep II at the dock in Stornoway

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The Departure

We had a number of 'hard-stops' that we had to meet in order to make it to Europe this year. The most important hard-stop was the appropriate weather window for west->east Atlantic crossings. May/June seemed to be the consensus for the best time to leave. We'd hoped to be gone by mid-May on our return to the boat from Canada. We definitely wanted to be gone by June 1 as that is the start of hurricane season and although it wasn't likely that there'd be a hurricane in the very first week of the season we didn't want to risk it. We also knew we needed to be east of Bermuda by the end of June at the very latest.

This weather window drove the decisions for A to leave work at the end of April, the return to Canada to sort out our affairs (sell our vehicle, renew passports, doctor, dentist, accountant,
propery managers and all that 'stuff'). We also needed to breakdown the Savannah apartment and move things back to our home base apartment in Canada. We already had arranged most of our affairs for a travel lifestyle with mail forwarding in place, so, this was probably easier than it might have been for others.

Hard-stops on a project always lead to stress and we were no exception. Of course, we could have just stayed in Savannah and not gone anywhere, but, that wasn't an option either. Savannah, this year, had the coldest winter in twenty years with even a few snowflakes. We missed the snow as we were at the Miami Boat Show at the time. Floridians had their fur coats on! The cool weather was perfect for us with the amount of outside work that needed to be done. However, once spring arrived, the weather quickly became extremely hot and humid. Even the natives were complaining although
they indicated that the worst was still to come in July/August. All the boats in the marina had air conditioning except ours. We had just finished installing the new hydronic heater instead. The heat was incredible. Almost 100 degrees F in the boat and in the a.m., 100% humidity to go with it.

A typical May day's temperature

We couldn't wait to leave. The last few weeks were unbearable. These were also the last few weeks where tempers were fraying as the pressure to leave was mounting and the jobs to do list wasn't getting any shorter. Actually, it even led to G threatening divorce for the first time in thirty-seven years of marriage. I have forgiven him though, as this was after he had spent an entire morning hanging upside-down in the steamy heat of the nether regions of the bilges of the boat trying to get our water system to function. This was just after we filled the tanks for the first time to find that we hadn't screwed down the maintenance ports well enough and had water all over the cabin sole.

So many things weren't working close to departure that I couldn't see how we could ever leave in time. However, one-by-one, we cleared most of the issues and even though there were still quite a few things on the to-do lists (speed log didn't work, head (toilet) was leaking, foot pumps not hooked up etc.), we decided it was now or never. So, on Thursday, June 3rd, after painfully paying our rather large yard bill, sending a few emails, getting the latest Gulf Stream report and finishing up laundry, we were off!

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Boat Refit

In January 2010, we finished up in the U.K. and temporarily relocated to Savannah, so, we could start making the necessary changes and do the maintenance required for a boat to be capable of making a long, offshore voyage and support a liveaboard lifestyle. G had finished up work in the U.K. at the end of November so was able to devote full-time to the project doing just about all the hands-on work. A was still working, but, was able to pitch in on weekends and also managed the project management, gear research, ordering and financials etc. We rented an apartment for four months to have somewhere for A to work, stage the new gear and store the old gear while we had the boat in pieces for maintenance.

The boat wasn't in too bad shape mechanically, although there were a lot of very complex systems for such a small boat (more on that later). However, the cosmetics were another matter. The brightwork (wooden accents) had been let go and was in varying states of finish, mostly peeling, or, absent varnish.  The exposed wood had weathered. The gelcoat was faded and chalky. The teak decks were grooved. The dodger was coming apart, the interior upholstery was very old and ugly. There was mildewed wallpaper inside. The previous owner's custom changes weren't to our taste etc. The boat has an all-teak interior, but, even the galley counters were teak, so, it also needed to be lightened up
and modernized. All in all, the boat looked very tired and needed a thorough going-over.

'Before'

Here's a summary of the maintenance items we did:

1. painted the hull black. In hindsight, if we'd know how much work this was going to be, we probably wouldn't have started it. The  gelcoat wasn't that bad and could probably have been brought back. However, we've always been partial to dark-hulled boats and we started, so,  had to finish. G had to hand-sand the hull five times. Once initially, then between each of two coats of epoxy primer undercoat and then between two coats of topsides paint. We applied the paint together, using the 'roll-and-tip' method. It worked ok and we are reasonably pleased with the results. A professional could probably have done better, but, then it would have cost way more too. As long as nobody looks too closely, it's fine!
1. reupholstered interior, added lee cloths
2. painted interior lockers, stripped wallpaper and painted salon walls
3. Corian overlay on galley counters, new faucet
4. sanded teak decks, rebunged where necessary
5. stripped and applied eight coats varnish to all brightwork. This was an incredible amount of work taking G almost a month  to just strip the wood. Used Interlux Schooner Gold varnish.
6. removed and painted bowsprit, replaced dolphin striker bolts
6. replaced chainplates
7. replaced running rigging, fenders and docklines
8. replace some standing rigging including bolts, clevis pins etc.
9. cleaned and repaired sails, added a third reef and new boltrope to main, replaced suncovers
10. replaced dodger skin, replaced all boat canvas
11. cleaned and polished all fibreglass and stainless
12. rebuilt chain locker partition, removed and replaced some rode and marked and sorted out the rest
13. replaced water filters and watermaker membrane
14. unstepped mast, cleaned/waxed, replaced VHF cable, installed wind system
15. removed davits and bimini frame
16. removed old aerials and cables from radar arch, ran new ones
17. new valve/fuel pump for our diesel heater
18. sand bottom and two coats bottom paint
19. new hand-painted lettering and bootstripe
20. new gaskets, glass and screens in all twelve bronze portlights
21. built plywood covers for offshore use on butterfly hatch
22. new interior bookshelves, storage cabinet
23. rebuilt teak boom gallows
24. removed and rebedded most deck hardware including headsail tracks, stanchions
25. replaced keel bolt for grounding system
26. refrigeration serviced
27. rebuilt the head (toilet), checked seacocks, seawater manifold etc.
28. installed a hydronic heater to be used for free engine heat when motoring
29. new lifelines
39 fibreglass repair to leading edge of keel
40. rebuilt generator, installed new alternator on it, installed separate water pump switch
41. repaired exhaust manifold on main engine,

Here's list of new gear we added to the boat:
1. Nasa Clipper Wind System
2. Nasa LPG Gas Detection System
3. Standard Horizon Matrix GX2100 VHF with built-in AIS
4. Icom, model IC-M34 Handheld VHF Marine Transceiver with battery pack
5. Standard Horizon CP300 GPS Chartplotter
6. Aqua Signal, Series 32 LED nav lights
7. Bitstorm Bad Boy Extreme Wi-Fi device
8. McMurdo G5 Smartfind EPIRB
9. Iridium 9555 Satellite Phone
11. OGM LED tricolor and anchor light
12. Aqua Signal steaming/deck light
13. Nasa Target HF3 SSB receiver
14. Astra III-B Sextant
15. Viking four-person liferaft
16. Monitor windvane
17. ATN storm jib (Gale-sail)
18. Fiorentino para-anchor
19. ATN top climber (mast climber)
20. second depth sounder
21. all new flares to SOLAS requirements
22. offshore medical kit and fire blanket
23. two immersion suits
24. lifesling
25. replaced prop line cutters

Here's a list of existing gear we kept:
1. Sitex, model T-180 Radar
2. Autohelm Boat Speed (2)
3. Autohelm Depth (2)
4. Autohelm, model ST6000 Autopilot
5. Magellan GPS
8. PUR Survivor 06 hand-held watermaker
9. PUR 35 watermaker

'After'

Launch Day!

Most of the cost of the refit was hiring a mechanic to help us with our 45 HP Perkins 4-108 diesel engine and Kubota generator. Our surveyor pointed out that the end fitting on the exhaust manifold looked like a problem. It was. The mechanic found a dangerous exhaust leak that led to an expensive, custom made part repair. Of course, one thing led to another and a few more jobs got done. Although expensive, it was well worth it as we are now confident our Perkins should last a few more years and the Kubota one-cylinder generator is functional again  after it was rebuilt and reinstalled. In the process though, we 'fried' our battery monitor and as it was obsolete had to install a basic one so we at least had something to look at. It also didn't inspire much confidence when our mechanic stated that '...the charging system on this boat is the most complex that he's ever seen in thirty years in the business...'. The former owner of the boat that installed the system must have been an engineer with too much time on his hands. We tried to avoid problems and not change the existing system design (i.e. kept the generator and didn't install wind/solar options), but, I'm sure we are going to pay the price of an overly complex system in future.

We've read and heard that most people planning to live aboard often spend years preparing the boat. We did our refit in four months flat. It required a high degree of organization, an incredible amount of hard, dirty work and more money spent that, if we'd known how much, we probably wouldn't have
started! However, it's all behind us now, we're proud of the boat and are enjoying all the positive comments on it that we've been receiving wherever we go.

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Boat Purchase

In January 2008, we purchased our boat, a Baba35, in Savannah GA. Many people have asked how we came to choose a Baba. It actually was a very easy decision.  From our research and reading we knew we wanted a blue-water capable boat, at least 35 feet for comfort, but, no longer than 35 feet (so it can be easily handled by only two and be more economical to use and maintain), a very traditional design with a full keel/ cutter rig, a quality build and built in the early 1980's (before they started underbuilding production boats). It also had to have 'character'. With these characteristics, the list of suitable boats was actually was very short. We liked Bob Perry's designs and started looking at Hans Christians and Tayana 37s. This eventually led us to the Babas. The Babas were built in Taiwan in the early 80's by TaShing, who were considered the best yard there at the time. We planned to buy in the U.S. as that's where most of the boats ended up, the prices were better and the exchange rate was good at the time. So, we lined up five candidates to view on a boat-buying trip and luckily we found one that was in good condition and proved suitable. We were based in the U.K. at the time and toyed with the idea of shipping the boat over to use in the U.K. as we didn't have time then to sail it over. We quickly decided that the cost of shipping plus the cost of marinas in the U.K. was prohibitive and it would be cheaper to fly over 4-5 times to visit rather than ship. So, a number of visits ensued, none of which allowed us to do more than day-sail the boat and think about what we wanted to do with it (while we watched it deteriorate in the hot Savannah sun).

When we purchased the boat, we hadn't yet finalized our cruising plans and Europe was a far-away 'maybe'. However, over the two years, with a lot of sailing experience gained in the U.K. and a very capable offshore boat, we thought 'why not? We can do this...' and starting planning a transAtlantic
voyage. This decision dictated a lot of what we did next.

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