Have been planning a trip to Bermuda and back from Virginia Beach for several years now - always getting postponed due to issues in and around the house. Finally looks as though the trip will happen this May - wondering if there is anyone out there who has taken the sail and if so, pointers, recommendations, things you wish had occurred prior to departure - all would be appreciated. Going to go solo there and back - so if there are also any solo sailors out there who have taken the trip, I would love to pick your brain for things I have missed or don't know about. Our boat is a 38' Hunter. Thanks in advance!
Bermuda Bound May 2015
- Thread starter JeffThompson
- Start date
Jeff,
I went out aboard a Pacific Seacraft 36 cutter and my only advice is do not be time constrained. Have enough time so that you can wait for a week or more for the right weather window for your crossing. The "stream" is nasty when the nor'east wind gets going so watch out.
It is a nice sail and if you are going out and back the stream crossing on the way back will be harder to plan than the way out. On the way back, you may want to consider leaving St. George and going south for a day or so and then turn west. That way you will get a bit of a current assist that can be up to a half a knot.
Do not forget to call Bermuda Radio when you are 30-40 miles out from the islands. They are serious about knowing who is around their patch. You can anchor in St. George's after stopping at the customs dock and then stop by the Bermuda Dinghy Club for a dark and stormy and a shower. Nice folks there. Good small grocery store and adequate hardware store in walking distance. Motor scooter rental to see the island.
Cheers
Ansley Sawyer
I went out aboard a Pacific Seacraft 36 cutter and my only advice is do not be time constrained. Have enough time so that you can wait for a week or more for the right weather window for your crossing. The "stream" is nasty when the nor'east wind gets going so watch out.
It is a nice sail and if you are going out and back the stream crossing on the way back will be harder to plan than the way out. On the way back, you may want to consider leaving St. George and going south for a day or so and then turn west. That way you will get a bit of a current assist that can be up to a half a knot.
Do not forget to call Bermuda Radio when you are 30-40 miles out from the islands. They are serious about knowing who is around their patch. You can anchor in St. George's after stopping at the customs dock and then stop by the Bermuda Dinghy Club for a dark and stormy and a shower. Nice folks there. Good small grocery store and adequate hardware store in walking distance. Motor scooter rental to see the island.
Cheers
Ansley Sawyer
I just shot an interview with a coast guard rescue pilot who mentioned that they did quite a few rescues of people who were exhausted. So plan on how to make sail handling easy enough so you dont wear yourself out. And how to get enough rest.
Hi. I have a Hunter 38 also. I was just wondering what, if any, improvements or additions you have done to make a blue water Crossing?
I've added a below deck autopilot and upgraded batteries so far.
Steve
I've added a below deck autopilot and upgraded batteries so far.
Steve
Jeff -
I just did this trip last May and it was great. We left from Long Island NY in an older Pearson 32 – we had a crew of 4 and we were the only boat out (solo run). It was the first time I went this far offshore for me and the crew. I'll provide my pov on this along with some reccos. I know there will be some varying opinions on this topic so take it all into account. The trip took about 6 days from Montauk Pt, Long Island NY to St George Harbor.
- The boat was an older model Pearson but solid and we had back-up everything 2-3x on all systems. New sails. Make sure you review all your gear and equipment and identify all system vulnerabilities and potential back-up requirements.
- I can't tell if you are doing this trip solo as in sailing solo OR your boat with crew is solo. You should try to get a crew of 3-5 to join you if its solo-crew. It gets exhausting at times with a 24 hour watch and you can count on crew members (including yourself), potentially getting sea-sick and completely taken out of commission / rotations. We had 3 men down for up to the first 3 days. 1 was back after 48 hours. That was an exhausting experience and took time for the entire crew to recover. I was the only one not impacted by sea-sickness and luckily, between the other guys we were able to get thru the night watches. If you're going solo on crew, I would advise some precautions and extra planning — do some short 24-48 test runs first.
- Plan and research the heck out of the trip. We spent the better part of last winter researching and preparing supplies and gathering information. Read a book on Weather forecasting so you understand how to read weather charts and in real-time understand how to read cloud patterns and barometer readings. Its very helpful when offshore.
- Weather — We used passage weather.com for our pre-planning analysis and window of when to leave. Familiarize yourself with weather forecasting and how to read reports. You should figure out a way to get weather forecasts offshore too. You may want to invest in a router service or SSB receiver. We had a receiver but it failed on us — we got lucky on the way there and our forecasts held the entire week based off what we printed off passage weather. Over a 7 day period, expect to hit just about every and all weather situations.
- Communication plan: We used a VHF w/ AIS and rented a satellite phone. If you have a land-buddy, it's a good idea to check in 1x per day via sat phone and provide that person your lat/long, heading and avg speed. Even better, perhaps that person can provide offshore weather reads to you too (we did this on the return and it worked very well).
- Secure everything on the boat (deck and cabin) as if it will roll. It's like working in outer space when on a heal and sliding down 15 foot waves. Keep an eye on everything above deck / rig that has the slightest potential to chafe. Line chaffing is important to monitor — make sure no lines are touching each other. Check you're rigging multiple times per day, including your halyards. Be very careful tying / lashing stuff to the deck and avoid doing so if at all possible. The last place you want to be in breaking swells is on the bow securing an extra tank that is about to break loose.
- Make sure you and crew are harnessed in whenever on deck or in the cockpit…if you fall overboard there is little chance of recovery if there are sizable waves or if its dark.
- Food: I would pack accordingly for whatever types of meals you prefer. In addition though, make sure you have some very-easy to prepare meals such as cans of soup , bread w/PB&J and a large supply of Power Bars. Avoid excess containers and such as best you can. Large bottles of water are best and you pour into a water bottle for individual consumption. Less is more..
- Bring a fishing pole w/ tackle.
- Clothing — it's not that cold out there once you pass the Gulf Stream. Before though , it could be chilly so bring some fleeces / sweatpants and such to stay warm. I found the most useful clothing to be a baiting suite and an under armor running liner T <non-cotton tee short used for running>. Then I would wear a fleece over at night. I had foul weather gear but did not really need it. I would pack a couple of bathing suites and liner Ts.
- I assume you will research all the appropriate safety equipment such as medical supplies, inflatable raft and provisions — so I will not get into that. If you happen to know any doctors personally (i.e. family member, relative, close buddy) , it would be a good idea to bring their cell phone number along in the event there is some type of medical emergency. We had a medial book with us titled something along the lines of "What to do when a Doctor is not available".
- Necessary items: Always wear a pair of sailing gloves when on-deck and recommend such for the crew. You never know when a gust takes a line out that your holding the wrong way...rope-burn on your hands / palms is one of the most painful things that could take you out for a while. One of our guys ripped the skin off his palms for the better part of the trip down because he was not wearing his gloves. Sunglasses, hat and sunscreen -- backups too as you can easily loose these items.
- 24 Hour watches — make sure yourself and/or crew is on watch 24/7. If your solo, then thats a different story. We did 4-hour rotations w/ 2 men of for each at night. During the day, it worked out that we always had 2-3 men up on deck at will. There s a way to calculate against the lights of an oncoming vessel whether or not your on a collision course. Research how its done online — you monitor the degrees on your compass as an angle of approach over time. Its eerie at night when you spot lights from an oncoming vessel and you have no idea if your on a collision course or not — it happened once to us. Try to radio contact any other vessels you come into line of sight with so they know you are there. A couple of cruise liners had no idea we were 15 miles away when we hailed them. If you make contact with another vessel, try to get a weather report from them if you don't have it yourself already.
- Have fun and take lots of pictures….it's an incredible adventure that I only read about for years until I just went out and did it. Glad I did and look forward to hearing back your story.
- Rob
I just did this trip last May and it was great. We left from Long Island NY in an older Pearson 32 – we had a crew of 4 and we were the only boat out (solo run). It was the first time I went this far offshore for me and the crew. I'll provide my pov on this along with some reccos. I know there will be some varying opinions on this topic so take it all into account. The trip took about 6 days from Montauk Pt, Long Island NY to St George Harbor.
- The boat was an older model Pearson but solid and we had back-up everything 2-3x on all systems. New sails. Make sure you review all your gear and equipment and identify all system vulnerabilities and potential back-up requirements.
- I can't tell if you are doing this trip solo as in sailing solo OR your boat with crew is solo. You should try to get a crew of 3-5 to join you if its solo-crew. It gets exhausting at times with a 24 hour watch and you can count on crew members (including yourself), potentially getting sea-sick and completely taken out of commission / rotations. We had 3 men down for up to the first 3 days. 1 was back after 48 hours. That was an exhausting experience and took time for the entire crew to recover. I was the only one not impacted by sea-sickness and luckily, between the other guys we were able to get thru the night watches. If you're going solo on crew, I would advise some precautions and extra planning — do some short 24-48 test runs first.
- Plan and research the heck out of the trip. We spent the better part of last winter researching and preparing supplies and gathering information. Read a book on Weather forecasting so you understand how to read weather charts and in real-time understand how to read cloud patterns and barometer readings. Its very helpful when offshore.
- Weather — We used passage weather.com for our pre-planning analysis and window of when to leave. Familiarize yourself with weather forecasting and how to read reports. You should figure out a way to get weather forecasts offshore too. You may want to invest in a router service or SSB receiver. We had a receiver but it failed on us — we got lucky on the way there and our forecasts held the entire week based off what we printed off passage weather. Over a 7 day period, expect to hit just about every and all weather situations.
- Communication plan: We used a VHF w/ AIS and rented a satellite phone. If you have a land-buddy, it's a good idea to check in 1x per day via sat phone and provide that person your lat/long, heading and avg speed. Even better, perhaps that person can provide offshore weather reads to you too (we did this on the return and it worked very well).
- Secure everything on the boat (deck and cabin) as if it will roll. It's like working in outer space when on a heal and sliding down 15 foot waves. Keep an eye on everything above deck / rig that has the slightest potential to chafe. Line chaffing is important to monitor — make sure no lines are touching each other. Check you're rigging multiple times per day, including your halyards. Be very careful tying / lashing stuff to the deck and avoid doing so if at all possible. The last place you want to be in breaking swells is on the bow securing an extra tank that is about to break loose.
- Make sure you and crew are harnessed in whenever on deck or in the cockpit…if you fall overboard there is little chance of recovery if there are sizable waves or if its dark.
- Food: I would pack accordingly for whatever types of meals you prefer. In addition though, make sure you have some very-easy to prepare meals such as cans of soup , bread w/PB&J and a large supply of Power Bars. Avoid excess containers and such as best you can. Large bottles of water are best and you pour into a water bottle for individual consumption. Less is more..
- Bring a fishing pole w/ tackle.
- Clothing — it's not that cold out there once you pass the Gulf Stream. Before though , it could be chilly so bring some fleeces / sweatpants and such to stay warm. I found the most useful clothing to be a baiting suite and an under armor running liner T <non-cotton tee short used for running>. Then I would wear a fleece over at night. I had foul weather gear but did not really need it. I would pack a couple of bathing suites and liner Ts.
- I assume you will research all the appropriate safety equipment such as medical supplies, inflatable raft and provisions — so I will not get into that. If you happen to know any doctors personally (i.e. family member, relative, close buddy) , it would be a good idea to bring their cell phone number along in the event there is some type of medical emergency. We had a medial book with us titled something along the lines of "What to do when a Doctor is not available".
- Necessary items: Always wear a pair of sailing gloves when on-deck and recommend such for the crew. You never know when a gust takes a line out that your holding the wrong way...rope-burn on your hands / palms is one of the most painful things that could take you out for a while. One of our guys ripped the skin off his palms for the better part of the trip down because he was not wearing his gloves. Sunglasses, hat and sunscreen -- backups too as you can easily loose these items.
- 24 Hour watches — make sure yourself and/or crew is on watch 24/7. If your solo, then thats a different story. We did 4-hour rotations w/ 2 men of for each at night. During the day, it worked out that we always had 2-3 men up on deck at will. There s a way to calculate against the lights of an oncoming vessel whether or not your on a collision course. Research how its done online — you monitor the degrees on your compass as an angle of approach over time. Its eerie at night when you spot lights from an oncoming vessel and you have no idea if your on a collision course or not — it happened once to us. Try to radio contact any other vessels you come into line of sight with so they know you are there. A couple of cruise liners had no idea we were 15 miles away when we hailed them. If you make contact with another vessel, try to get a weather report from them if you don't have it yourself already.
- Have fun and take lots of pictures….it's an incredible adventure that I only read about for years until I just went out and did it. Glad I did and look forward to hearing back your story.
- Rob
Have you heard of the 1+2 Race? Race from Newport to Bermuda solo, can then enter a Race back with one crew aboard. I've never done it but a friend is about to do his third. Has the advantage that as a sanctoned event there is some training courses, guidance and oversight. If I had the time and the guts would be the way I would attempt it. A wide variety of vessels enter each year. Mostly cruisers of all sizes and vintage.
Sailing across the Gulfstream requires attention. There is traffic and the currents to contend with. My main concern with the solo sail would be exhaustion. A tired sailor can make mistakes. Have a good autopilot and choose a route away from shipping lanes. At night use bright lights to make yourself more visible and use a radar unit to alert you in time of approaching traffic.
Go onto the Newport Bermuda Race website and download their inspection checklist. It is a very thorough checklist that is very helpful. Rob19574 has very good advice, as do others on this post. I have done the round trip 3 times from Newport in addition to a one way trip (crew size ranged from 5 to 10 and the boats ranged from 38 to 48 feet so no solo experience). Have two or three of everything, including methods of navigation, emergency nav lights and although it sounds silly, two heads are better than one. I have never been on a trip across the Gulfstream where at least one head didn't fail. I bring a small porta-potti and throw it in the aft locker somewhere. They all laughed at me the last trip, until 2 days out.........
One other thing that I believe is very important (especially after my return trip in 2013) is the volume of your cockpit and the size of your scuppers. How quickly can you drain water out of your cockpit? We took breaking seas into the cockpit on and off for about 18 hours and I was very glad I was in an open transom boat (Aerodyne 38).
One other thing that I believe is very important (especially after my return trip in 2013) is the volume of your cockpit and the size of your scuppers. How quickly can you drain water out of your cockpit? We took breaking seas into the cockpit on and off for about 18 hours and I was very glad I was in an open transom boat (Aerodyne 38).
Jeff,
I did this trip a few years ago from Little Creek to St. George's. Left Friday night, arrived Wednesday night, had dinner and breakfast and was back in Little Creek by Sunday afternoon.
Overall a great trip, though the trip out was rough - beating hard to weather the whole way. We had three crew, three hour watches, which was a perfect rotation. Doing that alone would have been difficult (and I like singlehanding). But that's just me - I am sure that others have endured far worse than we experienced.
The trip back was a breeze, wind on the quarter and a nice swell to occasionally surf. I would have enjoyed going solo on that leg.
Loved Bermuda - might stay for lunch next time.
Let me know if you have any other questions or PM me.
I did this trip a few years ago from Little Creek to St. George's. Left Friday night, arrived Wednesday night, had dinner and breakfast and was back in Little Creek by Sunday afternoon.
Overall a great trip, though the trip out was rough - beating hard to weather the whole way. We had three crew, three hour watches, which was a perfect rotation. Doing that alone would have been difficult (and I like singlehanding). But that's just me - I am sure that others have endured far worse than we experienced.
The trip back was a breeze, wind on the quarter and a nice swell to occasionally surf. I would have enjoyed going solo on that leg.
Loved Bermuda - might stay for lunch next time.
Let me know if you have any other questions or PM me.
Ansley - thanks for the reply. I keep hearing patience time and again for departing. Luckily I will be able to flex if the wx isn't right!
Doubled the battery bank - other than that, not planning on any other upgrades apart from those already there (radar, AIS, etc).
Rob - thanks for all the info and time to post it - very detailed and much appreciated! Was you VHF/AIS receive only? Also, what luck contacting vessels that you spotted during the day/night? Glad to hear you enjoyed the trip - made the race twice but never tried outside of that - definitely looking forward to it.
Gary - thanks for the info. Emergency nav lights is a good catch. Been going through the what-ifs and had not gotten there.