The Blue View - Atlantic Crossing Planning

We will soon begin our trek across the Atlantic. The plan is to sail from Cape Town to Norfolk, VA. We plan to make a few stops along the way if time and the winds permit: Lüderitz, Namibia, St. Helena, Ascension and Bermuda.

As the tern flies, this is a distance of about 6700 nm (7705 statute miles or 12,408 km). If the tern was sailing Nine of Cups, however, the distance would be a bit more – something like 7200 nm. Often, the shortest line between two points is not the fastest or most comfortable route. For example, when Nine of Cups sailed from Ecuador to Puerto Montt, Chile, the shortest route was along the South American coast – about 2500 nm. The problem with following this route was that the boat would be fighting adverse currents and winds much of the way. On the other hand, taking a long offshore passage, added 1200 nm to the passage, but took fewer days and was a whole easier on the boat and crew.

So how do we plan the best route from point A to point B? Fortunately, sailing vessels have been plying the world for hundreds of years, and a great deal of information has been accumulated about the best sailing routes and times of year for passage making. We use several resources and references to plan our route.

Sailing Directions. This is a 42 volume reference compiled by the U.S. National Imagery and Mapping Agency that contains sailing information for virtually the entire world. The Planning Guide volumes, 4 of the 42 volumes, are especially helpful as they assist the navigator in planning an extensive oceanic voyage.

Pilot Charts. These are charts of the world's oceans, divided into 5 degree squares, that provide all sorts of useful information: Usual wind direction, likelihood of calms or gales, frequency of tropical storms, wave heights, currents and much more. The data is derived from many years of actual observations by vessels sailing the area. There is a set of pilot charts for each of the oceans, with a separate chart for each month of the year.

World Cruising Routes and World Voyage Planner by Jimmy Cornell. Jimmy has collected information from a multitude of sources and combined it into a couple of books that are well organized and extremely useful. World Cruising Routes has always been our bible for ocean passages. It provides most of the information necessary to plan a cruise or a crossing of any of the world's oceans.

Charts. We plot the actual course on paper or electronic charts, making sure there are no hazards, reefs, islands, or continents in our way.

Using all these sources, we planned our route from Cape Town to Norfolk. We won't be following a straight line. One consideration is the best place to cross the equator. The latitudes around the equator, the doldrums, are known for their fickle, light winds. The width of the doldrums varies with the season and the longitude. We want to pick a place where the doldrums are minimal for this time of year, usually further west. Once across the equator, we will be entering the NE trade winds, and to get a good point of sail, we want to be further east. A good compromise is to cross the equator at about 25° W to 30° W.

No matter how well we plan our route, however, when all is said and done, it is still just a crap shoot. This might be the year that the doldrums are widest at our crossing point, or an unseasonable early hurricane might be heading for Bermuda – perish the thought. We still need a lot of luck and the good graces of Neptune, and you can be sure we will give him a good tot of rum as we head out of Cape Town.

The Blue View - Repairing the Furler Guard

One of the casualties during our Indian Ocean crossing was the furler guard for our headsail. This is a small cage that encloses the furler and prevents the furling line from falling off the drum. The line that secures the anchor when we are underway came loose, allowing the anchor to swing free. It took us several minutes to realize there was a problem, and in that short while, the waves and seas caused the anchor to create several divots in the topsides as well as wallop the underside of the furler guard. By the time we were able to secure the anchor again, the furler guard was broken in half.

There was no replacement to be had in South Africa, but not to worry - Marcie was heading back to the states for a couple of weeks. We should be able to get the replacement guard delivered in plenty of time, and she would have room in her bags to carry it back to Nine of Cups. The part was ordered, it arrived in time, and both Marcie and the bags arrived in Durban on-time and intact.

It took a few days for me to get around to installing the furler guard, and it wasn't until then that I noticed one teeny-tiny glitch – the furler guard was the wrong size. I don't know whether I ordered the wrong size or the wrong size was shipped, but either way, the new guard was too small to fit our furler, and now there wasn't time to get a replacement shipped to South Africa.

It is possible to sail without the guard, as long as there is always tension on the furling line. If any slack occurs, however, the line will fall off the drum, making a tangled mess around the headstay. Once this happens, someone has to go forward and spend several minutes at the bow, untangling the line before the headsail can be reefed or furled. If the seas are big, the person going forward is sure to get drenched and probably banged up a bit – not something either of us would look forward to. Perhaps the old furler guard could be repaired?

I thought that if there was a good aluminum fabricator/welder around, perhaps a bracket could be welded to the bottom of the broken furler, and it, along with a couple of additional welds, might do the trick. I made a drawing and set out to find someone who could make the bracket and do the welding.

I found just the place ... a company called GW Industries located a few miles north of Durban. They build aluminum (or aluminium in SA) boats and certainly had the necessary expertise. In addition, even though the job was pretty small for them, they were more than happy to help us out. I delivered the broken furler and drawing, and a week later, they returned the repaired part.

The part needed a little tweaking – a little sanding here and a touch of grinding there (my fault, not theirs BTW) – and it fit in place nicely. The repair held with no problem from Durban to Cape Town.

Now if I can manage to keep the anchor secured in place, perhaps the repaired furler guard will stay in place on our Atlantic crossing. Stay tuned for some thoughts on a method of tensioning the anchor in the bow roller.

The Blue View - The Legend of The Flying Dutchman

As a boy, I never tired of reading about sea lore and tales of the sea. Robert Louis Stevenson, Jack London, C. S. Forester, Melville, Richard Dana and Jules Verne were just a few of my favorite authors. One of Marcie's recent blogs mentioned the legend of The Flying Dutchman, which reminded me of an obscure anthology of sea legends I once read. The book was rather cheesy, and I'm sure it never made anyone's best seller list, but it did recount the tale of the ill-fated ship. I have since read several versions of the legend, but my favorite remains the rendition as told in my old anthology, and is as follows:

The ship was a Dutch vessel and sailed from Amsterdam in the 1750s. The captain's name was Van der Decken. He was a stubborn seaman, and very strong willed. They were heading around the Cape of Good Hope, but the wind began shifting until it was on the nose and kept growing in strength, and as it did, Van der Decken paced the deck, swearing at the wind. Another vessel signaled that they were heading into Table Bay, and did  Van der Decken intend to do the same, whereupon he replied : “May I be eternally damned if I do, though I should beat about here till the day of judgment.”  The devil heard his oath and took him up on it, and to this day, Van der Decken on the brig The Flying Dutchman continues to beat around the Cape in the nastiest of weather. The Flying Dutchman is only seen when the weather is, or is soon to become most foul, and is a sure portent of doom and bad luck. In fact, it is believed that a serious accident or death will soon befall the first person aboard to spot the brig. Sightings of the ship report it to be glowing with a ghostly light. Sometimes it is reported that the sails are in tatters, other times sailors say the ship is under full sail and bearing down on them at high speed.

There have been many sightings in the 19th and 20th centuries by other ships, lighthouse keepers and people ashore. One of the more interesting accounts was by Prince George of Wales, the future King George V. He and his older brother, Prince Albert, were on a three year training voyage on a British naval ship. Before dawn on the 11th of July, 1881, the prince's log records:

“July 11th. At 4 a.m. the Flying Dutchman crossed our bows. A strange red light as of a phantom ship all aglow, in the midst of which light the masts, spars and sails of a brig 200 yards distant stood out in strong relief as she came up on the port bow, where also the officer of the watch from the bridge clearly saw her, as did the quarterdeck midshipman, who was sent forward at once to the forecastle; but on arriving there was no vestige nor any sign whatever of any material ship was to be seen either near or right away to the horizon, the night being clear and the sea calm. Thirteen persons altogether saw her ... At 10.45 a.m. the ordinary seaman who had this morning reported the Flying Dutchman fell from the foretopmast crosstrees on to the topgallant forecastle and was smashed to atoms."

The Flying Dutchman has also been depicted in many movies and TV shows: Pirates of the Caribbean, at least two episodes of Rod Sterling's The Twilight Zone, Xena: Warrior Princess, The Simpsons, and even Sponge Bob Square Pants. Based on the genres, I don't think Hollywood is taking the legend seriously.

As for me, a very superstitious sailor, I have no desire to look for portents of foul weather or  doom, nor do I want anyone smashed to atoms. Fortunately, knock on wood and thanks to the good graces of Neptune, there were no sightings of the legendary ship by the crew of Nine of Cups when we doubled the Cape of Good Hope.