May. 5, 2008 - Transat rethink

It has been a while since I updated, so here goes. We hauled Bejasus out of the water on 17th September 2007 and relaunched on  28 February 2008. In the intervening months, the hull topsides were prepped and repainted in white using Awlcraft 2000. A new dark blue bootop stripe was added and a go faster stripe in dark bluewas run along a hull moulding about a foot below the toe rail. This gave the effect of breaking up the slab of white and making the boat look a bit sleeker. Toerails were stripped and revarnished using Bristol finish. Then the hull was prepped and what we thought was a small repair on the bottom of the keel was opened up for repair, and opened and opened and opened. Arrgh!! Turns out to have been an old repair that was a real bodge up. I guess the boat had been aground, perhaps on a coral head or a rock or something, and a repair had been carried out, but it was a mess. They had tried filling the area with old rags, paper and even a diaper, then had it glassed over. Pathetic. Anyway it was all stripped out and fully glassed back and was now probable stronger then the original build. This was followed by three coats of Micron Extra antifoul in mid blue. Masts and rigging was removed and all fittings stripped from the masts and the booms, including grinding off the aluminium winch pads which were showing bad corrosion signs. Finding new pads was a nightmare, but eventually Selden Masts came up trumps. They opened a location in North Charleston, SC and they had the correct pads coming into their inventory, which they had shipped over from England. Next we cleaned up and repainted the engine and gearbox, and then Theresa went nuts ripping out furnishings and repainting bilges and the interior of the hull using light grey Interlux bilgepaint, this was after she had scrubbed everything spotless. All the time this was going on, I was rotating back to Europe on a monthly basis to work. Anyhoo, new wind speed and depth transducers were fitted and the old Furuno radar removed from the mizzen, the mount reworked and a new Raymarine 4kw unit fitted. Masts were completely rewired and a new Hella 3 mile LED steaming light fitted, and a new Raymarine GPS antenna. New 55w spreader lights were fitted to both masts and a Raymarine Loudhailer fitted to the mizzen spreader. I know this was overkill and the first time I holla at Theresa, I know she will want to kill me. Anyway it also has a great control unit which can set all kind of signals like foghorns etc. While the masts and rigging were being renewed, I stripped and examined the furlers. The forestay Profurl NC42 was fine, but bearings in the older Hood on the inner stay, were feeling a bit worn. I decided to replace the unit with another NC42. Most people seem to have a lighter unit on the inner stay, but I don't agree with this. When the weather picks up, the genoa will be the first thing to get rid of and the staysail will be used through the rougher weather, so the staysail furler should be at least equal to the genoa one. My thinking anyway, plus only one set of parts required, since both units and fittings are now identical. Once back in the water, the electrics were hooked up and the Electronics guys got into the act. A new stainless pedestal and a Navpod were fitted in the cockpit, and a Raymarine E80 Chartplotter, ST70 Multi-instrument, the AP16 Autopilot control head, and a Ray 240 remote handset, all fitted into the Navpod. A seatalk backbone cable was run and the transducers, ST70 sensor pods, Ray240 VHF unit, Ray250 AIS and Loudhailer control head wired in. Also a Ray240 handset was fitted at the nav station along with another ST70, and the connection run to the new laptop running Raymarine RNS 6.0 software. The laptop will also have the Ocens Weathernet and Gribware software installed and be hooked up to both the Icom M802 SSB, and the Qualcomm Globalstar satellite phone. Theresa also proceeded to finish the toerail varnish work on the stern.   Anyway, here comes the kicker. Theresa was stepping off of a friend’s boat and it was only 2ft to the dock. Somehow she managed to badly break her tibia and fibula on the lower left led, just above the ankle. What a mess. One 10mm 15 inch rod, 6 inch plate, 11 screws, a 2 inch incision on her knee, a 10inch incision in her calf and two 1 inch incisions on her ankle. Poor girl, she was in agony for a while and will be in physio for a while. She cannot fly for 8 weeks, and we had to cancel our departure which should have been around the 21st May. We had everything arranged including crew and a delivery skipper. Still I do not want to do the trip with out her, it was our first big cruising adventure and we are determined to do it together. Luckily we had insurance for her and didn't get hit with huge bills.   So that’s where we are at the moment. I am sure we had loads more done than described, but the one thing about remaining in the US for another year, we should be able to get everything else done at reasonable prices. Including new 316 welded handrails instead of the current this 304 riveted ones we currently have. Also I can get on with rewiring the rest of the boat. By the time we leave next year she should be pretty comprehensively refitted. Perhaps we will get that Bahamas trip in after all.   Fair winds to all. G&T

Aug. 17, 2007 - Savannah, GA

Well we finally got to Savannah in May, and after an uneventful overnight sail, we tied up in Sail Harbour Marina on Wilmington Island, where we currently will remain until our Transat next year, although a trip to the Bahamas for christmas may be on the cards. Boat will be hauled in September and hull repainted and rigging stripped and checked. New wind instrument and various other bits fitted and all the through hulls serviced, plus of course anything else we can think of.

Theresa has been busy varnishing whilst I returned to Europe to work. She did join me in June/July when we were there for the birth of our second grandaughter, and then she returned to Savannah. I am currently back at work in Denmark, but looking forwards to getting back to the boat late August for a month, and getting started on the work.

Apr. 7, 2007 -

Apr. 7, 2007 -

Apr. 7, 2007 -

Apr. 7, 2007 - To Miami with Bob

following on from the naming post, while we were in Tierra Verde in Florida having some work done on the boat, we met up with Bob, the owner of a Bowman 42 who for tax and registration reasons, also wanted to move his boat to Savannah, Georgia. Since we had never made the journey before and being pretty much novices, we decided it would be a good idea to journey in company with Bob, especially as he was singlehanded for the trip. Well, we set off into the early evening sun on Tuesday the 20th March in fairly calm weather, with NE winds forecast at 10-15 mph and seas 2-4 ft. headed out through the channel, turned into the wind and raised Genoa, and Main only, and headed South towards Key West. All was going along nicely although the wind did pick up somewhat with 32 kts seen at one point through the night. Practically no shipping to be seen.
Next morning, we caught up with Bob who had got a bit of a lead on us, being the faster boat. As we got closer it appeared he was having a problem with his main, and it turned out that one of the blocks on his mainsheet had broken. Anyhow, no big deal at this time, as the wind died so we went to motoring. Meanwhile as we were hanging around, we were surrounded by about 20 or so dolphins all leaping around the boat which greatly impressed SWMBO and I missed completely as I was down below.
Later that evening, the winds returned and we went back to sailing again, although as the forecast was for the same as before, I put a reef in the main and used the staysail as well as the genoa, feeling that I could always reef the genny and still have a well balanced rig, which turned out to be the case. Anyhow it got a bit lumpy during the night, with Bob disappearing into the distance.
Next morning, as we arrive at the North Channel approach to Key West, we catch up with Bob again in all sorts of problems. Having seen us pass him for a while at sunset, with everything up except the mizzen, he decided he would follow suit, except that he had a problem and couldn't furl his genny because the line snapped, so he headed for his bunk and woke up with his genny loose and flapping good style in the early hours. Next problem, his staysail was jammed and he couldn't drop it either, so he now has problems with all his sails. After struggling with it for a while he decided to drop his hook just outside the channel and try to sort things out. He managed to drop the genoa and stow it below and drop his main and secure it, but his staysail was well and truly hooked up, and as we were turning into the wind once around Key west, we would have to motor as it would be wind on the nose travelling up the outside of the Keys but inside the reefs in the Hawk channel.

As Key West was very busy, we called ahead and arranged a couple of berths at Marathon where we arrived about 18:30 with Bob exhausted, and I secured his staysail to the dockside to prevent it getting out of hand during the night, as we couldn't induce it to drop at all. Let the riggers deal with it in the morning.
Next day, with the wind still around 25 mph on the nose and the seas lumpy at 4-6 ft, we hung around for the riggers and decided to hang out there for another night.
Later that day the riggers arrive and are not impressed with the way Bob's staysail has been rigged up the mast but manage to release the halyard and drop the sail. However as they are checking things out, they find that one of his intermediate shrouds has a chainplate with a break at the backing plate underneath, so sailing is out for Bob, but as we are motoring due to the conditions, he decides to carry on with us.
We are late getting away the next day, as we both need to fuel and it is now Saturday morning and of course everyone in the marina wants to fuel up and play so we finally leave at 14:30 and head North towards wherever we can get to.
As we clear Key Largo and the protection of the reefs, the Gulf Stream is very close and the seas now extremely lumpy, but we are ahead of Bob, so heave to and wait for him to catch up. As he does, swmbo notices that his Danforth anchor has come loose on his bow roller, and is beating up his bow, so we call him and he puts on his harness and crawls forward to secure it. At this point we are now practically opposite Miami and he has had enough, so I call into Dinner Key in Biscayne bay and secure a couple of berths and we run for shelter. We enter first and get moored up, but there is no sign of Bob although he followed us in. I call him on his cell phone, and he is exhausted and feels that he could not safey enter and manage the boat, so is outside sitting at anchor. Fair enough, we inform the marina and take off to West Marine for a few things including ICW charts, as that may be our only choice for the rest of the trip.
We return to the marina and I call Bob on his cell phone and he decides to come into the marina with me standing by to assist. As I am standing waiting for him, he appears, still dragging his CQR, into the marina. Anyway we get him berthed and I take a look at his bow and jeez, his anchor that had been hanging when we were outside, had really tore up the front of his boat. What a mess. I felt sorry for him as he was in a really exhausted state. Anyway the next morning, as the weather was still up, he hired a car and drove back to St. Petersburg to take care of some business and said he would be back the next day. We stayed for another night in what was quite a nice marina.
On Tuesday as the weather dropped to 5-10 mph and with seas of 2-4 ft forecast, we decided to head North and as there was no word from Bob, we set off without him. We soon learned that was not so easy, as we ran ground in the middle of the channel on a sandbank, but as we were on a rising tide we just waited for an hour and managed to back off it and carried on, keeping very much to the port side of the channel. We got back outside Biscayne Bay and headed North once more and with the wind now from the east, hoisted the main with one reef and the staysail and genoa. When we got to around Ft. Lauderdale, we ran into the western edge of the Gulf Stream about 3 miles offshore and it was still very uncomfortable but gave us a couple of knots for free, so we carried on through the night and the next evening we stopped at Port Canaveral where we had a meal and showers and a nights sleep, as it looked like we would be able to head staight across to Savannah with the forecast to carry on the same, and I also had a deadline as I was due to fly back to the UK on the following Sunday.
The next day we set off and it was a beautiful day and a continuing forcast of 5-10mph winds from the East and 2-3 ft seas, and with the Gulf Stream now curving away from us, we thought it was feasable, just. So with everything up, we head off and were enjying a nice sail with dolphins popping up every so often and dozing in the cockpit in the evening. Next thing, we started to get a shift in the weather to North East and turned on the NOAA forecast to hear that not only had the wind shifted but was due to increase to 20 mph gusting at least 25 and seas expected to increase rapidly to 6-7 ft and above. I dropped the main and rolled away the genoa leaving just the staysail and the mizzen up but with one reef in the mizzen.
Anyway as the night progressed things had gotten worse and winds were gusting 30 and seas now 8-9 ft and no sign of a let up anytime soon. We had had enough and although the boat was proving very capable, we were not, so I decide to make the 30 mile run into the St. Johns river near to Jacksonville, and we would leave the boat there, providing we could get a secure berth. I had rolled away the staysail and dropped the mizzen during the night and was motoring as hard as I dared to keep control of the boat in the very confused seas we now found ourselves in.
We reached the outer marker and there was a large tanker at the pilot pick up point as we headed in. Halfway there and the pilot boat passed us on the way out and soon the tanker was bearing down on us and getting huger by the minute. At this point I was having a real hard time at the helm due to the now quartering seas coming out of the North East and a flood tide. Every time a wave rolled under the stern and caught the rudder end of the long keel, it swung the boat hard around to starboard and I had to continually fight it all the way to the breakwater whilst trying to keep to the edge of the channel so as not to impede the tanker as he overtook me and informed me that he needed to stay on the same side of the channel as us.
As he passed us, he thanked us for keeping clear as he appreciated the problem I was having with the weather, and we watched as a dolphin was playing in his bow wave leaping around a couple of feet from his enormous bulbous bow. We entered the river and headed down the ICW to the nearest marina where they had a berth for us. However, still some drama to come. As we motored gently down the ICW I started tidying up on the deck, don't want to roll into the marina looking like crap, I discovered that the bolt joining the boom to the gooseneck, had lost it's nut and also as it looked like it was a bit on the thin side, I decided to replace it with one better suited for the job, so I lashed the boom in a suitable position and began to drive out the old bolt with it's replacement. Oops, caught the edge of the bolthole on the opposite web and cracked the weld where it joined the boom. So no hoisting the main until this is repaired. Next thing, just as we are approaching the entrance to the marina and with a bascule bridge immediately past the entrance, the engine died. Aarrrggh, I quickly spun us around and ran down below and quickly opened the bleed screw on the fuel pump and pumped like mad to get some fuel through and got swmbo to restart the engine, which luckily started and we got safely turned and into our berth for the night. Upon examination I discovered the Racor filter bowls full of crud that must have been stirred up in the heavy seas. I am amazed that it did not stop before, whilst we were out in it. We later found out that what had started out to be a nice sail from Jacksonville had turned into winds gusting 40kts and 10-12 ft seas.
So now the boat is residing in Beach Marine Marina on the ICW at Jackson Beach where I can get everything done when I return in a month. It has also made us decide to cancel our transat for this year and get everything I want done in the US at the good dollar rate at the moment and hopefully be able to do a shakedown cruise down to the Bahamas or the Keys next winter after the Hurricane season, with a fully sorted and repainted boat.
Fun this cruising lark, innit?

Apr. 7, 2007 -

Apr. 7, 2007 - March 2007

Finally, after a few months of getting the boat USCG documented, we have now renamed the boat which we purchased last October, in Mississippi..
Due to nasty weather conditions in the Gulf in January, we couldn't move her and so I had a skipper deliver the boat to St. Petersburg in Florida while I returned to work in Denmark. Whilst there, we have had all new covers made for the hatches, winches, windlass and sails, including a stackpack for the main. We also had our liferaft recertified and a new rip and outboard delivered. Two weeks ago we began to move the boat around to Savannah in Georgia. It was an interesting trip, involving storms and dolphins and the accompanyment of a Bowman 42 singlehanded by BOB who definitely had more than his share of problems along the way.

Oct. 19, 2006 - Bejasus lives....................well almost

Woohoo, boat now purchased and we have all but moved aboard. Only thing that remains is to rename it, as it is still registered as Walkabout. We are just waiting on the redocumentation papers to come through. On the whole very pleased. Surveyors main concern was over cracked exhaust manifold and also exhaust discharge flange on transom, however these have been supplied new by the seller, although wrong manifold was specified and had to be returned to the manufacturer. Hopefully will be resolved in the near future. Vessel needs a bit of a clean up, but we already have that in hand. Other items will be sheets and halyards that will need replacing fairly soon and cockpit seats and sail covers and some work required on the bimini, mainly to the zips.

Enjoyed our few nights aboard at Moss Point, but it really is a bit of a backwater, although it has to be said that what we have seen of the Missisippi coast thus far, still shows a lot of post Katrina damage.

tbc........................

Aug. 27, 2006 - Links to brokerage details and pics

Current Brokerage

http://www.yachtcouncil.com/ct_live/565/main.asp?-vessel_detail.asp-&vessel_id=52006&curr_id=7

Previous Brokerage

http://www.contemporaryyachts.com/webpages/brkgsail/h45walkabout.htm

Click on pics to enlarge

Aug. 26, 2006 - I guess it was always going to be stressful, however................

we are almost there. After the trials and tribulations of the Greece debacle, it looked like we were going to have to start the search again, and we were looking towards a boat in the USVI.

However, fate has taken a strange turn.

In October 2005, whilst I was in the US on business, I had only really seen the Hardins on the web, which doesn't give away too much. I viewed 2 in Ft. Lauderdale, but they were the wrong layout(there are 2 layouts) and I didn't like them. I had planned to view another one a couple of days later, and in between, I went to view a Vagabond in Ft.Myers on the other side of Florida. Whilst a nice boat, I decided it was too dark inside, and returned to Ft. Lauderdale.

Next day I went to view 'Walkabout' deep in Ft. Lauderdale and what a difference!

I loved it, and even although SWMBO was not with me, I just knew that she would too. At this time we were just viewing boats to find something suitable and not seriously into buying until the house was sold, and we still had to put the house on the market. I left the owners in no doubt as to our situation and left saying that I hoped the house would sell before the boat was sold.

The owners were really nice and kept us informed as things progressed. However, in January, just as we put the house up for sale, the boat sold and that was that.

Or was it?

Not long after the wasted trip to Greece, 'Walkabout' suddenly reappeared on the market, and I immediately called the broker in the US. This was a different broker and he told me that the boat had indeed been purchased in January and that he had helped deliver it to it's current location in Moss Point, Mississippi. It turned out that the new owner had bought the boat, knowing he had an illnes, but thought he would be able to enjoy several years of sailing it before having to give up sailing. What transpired was something very different and during the early summer, his illnes took a sudden turn for the worse, and he has had to give up on his sailing dreams. Bad luck for him, but good luck for us. It seems that apart from the delivery trip, the boat may have been hardly used at all since it was purchased in January.

Anyway, from this point things just snowballed. We accepted a full asking price offer on the house and the deposit is paid on the boat, just got to organise the survey and agree the final price. It should all be tied up by the end of September and the house done with by the end of October, after which we will be liveaboards in the US until we get across to the Med next year. Just hoping for a gentle hurricane season now.

Incredible.......................................

Jul. 8, 2006 - Grrrrrrrr!!

a bit hacked off at the moment. Pulled the offer on the boat in Greece at 5pm. Owner was being a prat and would not move on the price of the boat. Even his own broker was a bit miffed with him, to say the least. Truth be told, I don't think he ever really intended to sell. I certainly don't think he would have honoured anything a surveyor had to say. So the search is still on. Looks like a visit to the Virgin Islands may be on the cards soon. Never give up, never surrender.

Jun. 7, 2006 - Almost there

Well we went to Greece(Lefkas), saw the boat and took her out with the original owner as skipper, which was great, as he was a really nice Greek guy with a wicked sense of humour. Anyway, the main reason for the trip was to see if SWMBO loved these boats as much as I do. No worries, really. A few items need to be sorted and a bit of TLC required, but it looks like a real goer, and at a good price too. So offer in and waiting for one coming on the house this week. Oh, and Lefkas was fantastic. Fingers crossed.................................watch this space.

May. 26, 2006 - a ray of hope......perhaps

Well the house still hasn't sold, but after the last disappointment of missing out on the boat we were interested in, we have found another which is in the Med and going for a look next week. Here's hoping. Also another has come onto the market back in the US. Have to say, I have spent hours and hours searching through Yachtworld looking at boats and to be honest, we can't really see much out there that we really like. There is one in Turkey but why oh why cant people put proper pictures of boats that are for sale. I don't just want to see cockpits, decks and saloons. I want to see cabins and berths in particular. The boat in Turkey is advertised with 3 different brokers with 3 different prices, £10k apart. Err, which one should I talk too.

May. 10, 2006 - Bored and frustrated

Oh well, house still hasn't sold and the boat we had our eye on in the US has sold, without the broker even letting us know there was an offer in, even although we were in regular e-mail contact with him. Needless to say, when we found out, my final e-mail to him was scathing. Well there is only another one of these currently for sale anywhere.

Just dumped the estate agent we were using and switched to another. Here's hoping for a result. Incidentally, over 5k to sell a house and what do you get. A picture in their window, an add on their website and a pic & details in their brochure. I am definitely in the wrong business. Oh and they tie you in for 16 weeks too.

Jan. 27, 2006 - A little boost!!

Whoopee, mortgage down another £10k and shares up £10k, nothing like a little boost in the finances. C'mon house, sell-sell-sell, and let us out of here.

A bit boring I know, but as I said, this IS a slowly developing saga.

Below is a picture of the first Hardin we wanted to buy. A Mk.1 now sadly sold.

Read on......................................

Jan. 16, 2006 - What the hell are we doing??

Ok, got to start somewhere. We started of with our first boat in 2002, which was a 24ft Seamaster Cadet Mk.1 built

in 1963 and in need of a lot of TLC.

We managed to get her finished by the end of 2005 and had a lot of pleasure from her too. Cruised around almost all of the Norfolk Broads including 95% of all the pubs.

However, we soon discovered that we wanted more, and once we went out on a sailboat, that was it. Hooked!! Thanks Jimi.

SWMBO aboard Second Wind Sailing's 'Chewsy' in Cambeltown during Comp Crew training.

Leaving Cambeltown behind

Lamlash the following morning

Visited friends with boats in the Med(CCScott49 and his brother, Warren) and that was it again. Hooked once more.

CC Scott's 'ENGLANDER' (our bolt hole from time to time)

Warren Scott's 'Swn-y-Mor' in the Carribean 2005

So here we are.

House is on the market and got a viewing on the first day with an offer 2 days later. 15K below asking price. Sod Off!! Plenty of time.

The Boat - Well, our first choice has always been a Nauticat, but they are generally expensive and hard to find the one you want. Then one day, we started looking at Taiwan Ketches and liked the look of the Hardin Voyagers, especially the 4 cabin layout. Spotted 3 or 4 like this for sale on the web and wanted to take a closer look.

The best one we could see was in Puerto Vallerta on the Pacific Coast of Mexico and as such, would be expensive to get back to the Med. So went to Florida to look at one when I was on business in the US and thought, yes, this is what we want. However, the house wasn't even on the market at this point and we need the cash for the boat.

Anyhow this boat, which was literally in sailaway condition and lacked for nothing, was sold before we could go any further. However, there is another for sale almost as good and about £6k cheaper, so this is what we are now looking at. So fingers crossed.

The big deal is that we have only done competent crew at this time and we will need to find a skipper and an experienced crewmember to help us move the boat back to the Med.

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