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