Captains Log - Our Trip to Bermuda

Black Line Planned vs. Green/Orange Actual  (windy where Orange)

(Warning this is a bit long as I document what happened for my own benefit as well as yours!)

How was the trip to Bermuda??

Well, it wasn't the best! For those of you that considered coming along for the ride (Sue!) and then decided not to...you made a good decision.

It probably sits at number two in our all time least enjoyable list of passages. Tough call, since the Auckland to Tonga trip had more than 48 hours with winds over 30 and this one only 24 hours. But, on the trip to Tonga the Autopilot steered through the worst parts, and on this trip we lost the autopilot less than an hour into the windy stuff. An autopilot is worth at least two capable crew. Lesson learned....we need to fix what broke and organize a backup system for the future!

As earlier posts have pointed out, we left a chilly Newport, RI behind with a forecast (from professionals (that we PAID for!!!)) that predicted 24 hours of very light conditions, the possibility (becoming more likely) of a new Low that would affect us with 20-30 knot winds pushing us downwind for the next 24 hours, and then 36 hours of ideal sailing conditions as we finished our trip into St. Georges Harbor in Bermuda.

Quotes from our Forecast Provider...
1) There is some change to the forecast but still think it looks best to get going today (Sun)
2) You may see adverse conditions for a time Mon, or Mon Night but will see better and more favorable conditions Tue and Wed to Bermuda
3) Look out for increasing NE wind, possible to 20 kts later at Night.
4) Winds: Sun - light and Variable, Mon - 5 to 15, possible gusts to 30 in squalls, Tue - 12 to 26, Gust 30?, Wed - 22 to 11

So, what happened....

Arts & Crafts Day

Rainy day activities onboard Morpheus as yet another gale moves past Bermuda!

Jim Gregory 

Re: Passage to Bermuda

Well wow! Bermuda triangle BAD! Jimmy Kim GOOD! Deb SMART! Snowing in NY. Glad you are out safe!!! Love you / love JIm and I'm becoming very fond of Kim :) T
Sent from my iPhone
On Oct 28, 2011, at 4:17 PM, Deb Gregory <deb@jdgregory.com> wrote:
> Hi All.
>
> Jim, Kim and I are safely in Bermuda. It was an interesting/scary passage.
>
> As soon as you get casual about the ocean, she reaches up to remind you just how inconsequential we are in the scheme of things.
>
> Our friend Kim Comfort from Newport, RI joined us for the passage from Newport to Bermuda. She's the daughter of the Amazing Potato friends, and a good sailor. We left Newport with a good weather window. We use a service call Commanders Weather that helps us plan when to go. Only 4 days and nothing bad between us and Bermuda.
>
> The 1st day was cool, calm and easy. Day 2 the weather was suppossed to get up to 20 knots as we crossed the gulf stream, but not too bad. It definitely got warmer and nicer. By the time we got 1/2 way to Bermuda, it was 30k with gusts to 35. But we were going down wind, so it really wasn't that bad. We had taken down the main sail, and only had this tiny part of it up we couldnt reach to pull down. Waves were huge, about 30 feet, but we were surfing down the front of them. Jim hit 18 knots surfing down the waves. Yucky, but ok. Then we got hit with a gust of 46 knots out of no where. The Auto pilot was steering. Auto handeleld it well, but as Jim was running on deck to make sure all was well, we heard a huge "sproing" noise. Jim didn't tell Kim and I until we reached Bermuda, but the Auto pilot had ripped free of the boat with the force of trying to steer the boat through that gust. Jim reached the tiller before we rounded up or down and started steering or we would have been in big trouble.
>
> That left us in the middle of that big storm with no Auto pilot. Auto counts as at least 2 crew, so with him out, we had to hand steer for 2 days.
>
> So we started steering by hand in 30 knots of wind and 30 foot waves. We had to line the waves up right, or they would butt slap the boat, making it spin out. Sucked. This was during the day. At night you couldn't see the waves, because of course, it's a new moon. We would hear them coming, but you just had to stear by the compass and trust you didnt get butt slapped by a rouge wave.
>
> Kim and Jim steared all night. 1 hour on, 1 off. Somehow I got taken off the rotation. I definitely was scared doing it, and somehow those guys got the impression I didn't want to stear. I didn't correct their assumption.
>
> We got through the night without crashing the boat. The next day was more of the same, but every hour was better. Smaller waves, lower wind. By Thursday am the waves were small, wind was light and it was warm and sunny to finish the passage.
>
> So, long story short, we are good. We need to tell Commanders that they suck, and we need the auto pilot repaired. No worries.
>
> Love to you All,
>
> Deb
>
> On Oct 28, 2011, at 12:04 PM, Deb Gregory <deb@jdgregory.com> wrote:
>
>> In Bermuda. Trip SUCKED.
>>
>> All good now. Phone and texts out of commission for next 6 mos but email works great!
>>
>> Love you all. I am fine, but you were closer to -1 sister than ever before.
>>
>> Deb
>>

Primary Damage

Anyone that has seen this bracket will be amazed that it deformed and pulled up from one base!  That's what 47 knots of breeze does when you don't have time to react. 

The real axing thing when you really think about it is that the rudder did not break!

Jim Gregory 

In Bermuda Safe and Sound

It was one hell of a trip which needs to be fully documented. Stand by for more details.

Jim Gregory 

Arrived Bermuda Safe and Sound

Was an interesting trip. Stories tomorrow. All onboard are fine and would do it again. But, just barely....

More tomorrow. Now to sleep more than two hours in a row!!

-Jim

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This passage will have two stories to tell

All's well onboard Morpheus today.

The biggest issue we had leaving was the fact that our primary computer used for email, weather, and navigation had a problem and needed to go to the shop. Normally that would not be a problem and we'd just delay our departure. However....our weather routers were saying "go now!", or prepare to wait for at least a week.

That didn't seem very attractive. Deb was running out of extra layers to put on in the cold, and we have a perfectly good backup computer. So off we went!

Based on our weather since leaving, and our forecast the first third of the trip will be a very light one, and the second two thirds pretty windy!!

I've spent the first day fixing the solar panel issues and we now have three functional panels pumping free electricity into our batteries when the sun is out!! I've also managed to get all the systems up and running on the backup computer. (This email is proof of part of that!!)

So, it looks like we reach the Gulf Stream between 10pm and midnight tonight. It's always midnight when things get wierd. We should have very nice conditions for the first six hours or so, and then the wind will have built to 20-25 from the NW. The stream is running North at about three knots, so that's wind against current and normally that's not the most comfortable way to travel. Luckily, the wind will be behind us so that should help.

Then tomorrow will be pretty windy but having crossed the stream, I'm hoping for a fairly comfortable and fast downwind ride!

Thats all for now!!

-Jim, Deb, and Kim

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Castle Hill Lighthouse

Here we go as we cross the line of the Newport to Bermuda race start. 

From the looks of Debs outfit we may have waited too long!

Jim Gregory 

Time to leave

Sunrise in Newport. Time to head for Bermuda!

Jim Gregory 

Bermuda Race - Wrap Up

Some final thoughts and a few last pictures

• No matter how challenging, sailing with Gibb and Ted is always a pleasure.
• Paul Cole NEVER complains!! He just gets very quiet...
• I am going to appreciate every moment of the Pacific Cup!!!
• Thank god for today's high tech foul weather gear!
• Fleece is the greatest invention ever.
• Onboard thinking is often not as clear as pre-race analysis.
• Best to share a firm pre race plan with the entire crew and then diverge from that plan only with very good reasons.
• The search for the perfect skilled and compatible crew continues and is worth the effort!
• Any boat going offshore should be able to heat water for coffee.
• Swan 42 decks are too slippery by design or manufacture. Swan should fix!
• Your boat captain or paid hands should work harder than others, while setting a positive example for the rest of the crew. Otherwise why are you paying them?
  
  

Rob - The race is over you don't have to sleep there any more!

Rob can't beleive how good a Dark & Stormy Tastes!!

The soft cooler pillow. Worth millions during the race!!

Mutiny definitely needs better pillows.

No problem, it was easy!!

My rail dream come true!

Hey! This was in that same dream!!!

Nice job on the post race accomodations Gibb!!

Wow!! People sure do wear some interesting clothes on the East Coast!!

Bermuda Race 2008 - The Wrong Way Fast

Ok, no need to dwell on the obvious. We didn't do well. Here is the short version of what happened.

First, we won the start!!! Very port end favored with a big ebb sweeping the fleet up to the line early.









We hit the pin at the gun and tacked on to port crossing the entire fleet!!











Should have called it a race right there! Actually, that's not true. We enjoyed one of the best days of big boat racing that I can remember as our group of three NYYC 42s were stuck together like glue between the start and sunset. Lot's of hard work and fun as we threaded our way carefully through the small boat divisions that had started in front of us.

We held the NYYC 42 lead through the entire day and only began to spread out sometime after midnight on that first night!!

Little did we know that we were already heading the wrong way, and options for recovery were going away fast!!

We had chosen to sail in a fast upwind mode. Not really worrying about pointing, as much as going fast and getting down the rhumbline. Our ultimate goal was to work West of the rhumbline in order to reach the edge of a favorable eddy on the way to the gulf stream. (red line) Our forecasts had convinced us that a 20+ degree lift was on the way, so not wanting to tack 90 degrees off the course to Bermuda, we and our NYYC 42 competition waited for it as we worked our way towards Bermuda.

Unfortunately, that lift never came and by the time we figured that out, it was too late to recover. We ended up missing the +3-4 knot eddy completely, and entering the gulf stream itself to the East of Rhumb in an section moving to the Northeast. (green line)

We were dead, and worse that that, we knew it!!




While the conditions remained relatively moderate for the entire race, it was all uphill and to have any chance at all we needed weight on the rail night and day.







Sleeping below was discouraged strongly, and crew moral suffered when some chose to ignore the skippers request and were regularly spotted asleep below.

A rare site! Danny was the winner of the Golden Pillow Award for the race.












Most of us toughed it out through a couple of the most awful cold and wet nights I can remember on a boat.

Our alcohol stove caught on fire the second night out, so that was the end of warm food, and without the ability to boil water for hot drinks we froze on the rail.

Huge compliments and thanks to the Mutiny crew members that toughed it out those nights!! Undoubtably, that experience will be the source of many hilarious stories once we put some time between us and the race.


The last evening prior to the finish the shift to the Southwest came through (bigger than forecast) and we were finally able to enjoy some fast and comfortable reaching conditions on our way into the finish line.








SUMMARY

What we did well

• We worked the boat hard, made all the sail changes that were needed, and made huge sacrifices to comfort in order to maximize the boats speed through the water.

Where we went wrong

• Obviously easier in hindsight...
• Missing that warm eddy north of the stream was 75% game over right there. We should have realized that and taken whatever steps were needed to ensure that we did not miss it. Even boats that tacked away 24 hours after the start to hit the eddy (Celeritas) ultimately made out via the benefits of the eddy itself, and hitting the stream in a far superior location.
• Having missed the eddy, we should have tacked to the west prior to the stream. This is what both Conspiracy and Barleycorn did, and it paid off big and allowed them to pass us and establish a 10-20 mile lead.
• Finally, there was no need to tack on the day prior to the finish. Again this is easy in hindsight, but the sw shift that filled in would have allowed us to reach the finish line without tacking and that may have been enough to allow us to beat both Conspiracy and Barleycorn. We didn't want to get stuck on the outside of the wheel and have to tack later at a less optimal angle. I guess at this point, we should have simply rolled the dice and prayed. Oh well....

Newport Bermuda 2008 : Pre-Race

Just returned home from this years slow (especially for us) Bermuda Race.

Have had a few complaints regarding lack of blog postings, so will try to throw up a couple of quick summary posts now with lot's of pictures.

I sailed with Gibb Kane and Ted Madera on Mutiny, one of five NYYC 42's to enter the race. Gibb and Ted were kind enough to ask a couple of other Morpheus regulars (Rob Moore, Joe McCoy) along for the ride.

While the race didn't ultimately turn out well for us, we sailed with a good group and hopefully learned some lessons that will pay off in the future.

We're not sure, but perhaps over time, our memory of the race itself will fade enough that we might even do it again.

Anyway....a quick summary via pictures...


Lucky for us, Mutiny was well prepared for the race and we had some time off to enjoy a great harbor cruise with Lyn Comfort on his new toy. What a beautiful boat!!

Lyn dropped us off at the NYYC















Where we enjoyed a few cold beverages













While enjoying one of the best views that our sport has to offer.

Joe hadn't been to Newport too many times, so we decided to walk back to the hotel after leaving the NYYC.

I slipped into tour guide mode and we made a couple of stops along the way.

Our first stop was at the International Yacht and Athletic Club. The International Yacht & Athletic Club has long been known as a refuge in the city of Newport for sailors and their friends. Since 1992, the IYAC (or "AC" for short) has been the home for many of the world's most famous, and infamous, yachtsmen.

And, our second stop was one of my long time favorites, the White Horse Tavern which claims to be the longest continuously operating tavern in the United States. A great spot!!

After a casual pre-race crew dinner, it was finally time to go racing....