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Ron
Polar Bear
I go sailing every week. Last weekend I decided to go for a brisk sail up to the North end of the Great Salt Lake. Low temperatures were in the 20's and a high of around 35 degrees. Water temperature is 37 degrees! My first mate has spoiled me. Since we sleep aboard in the winter (our personal time away from kids) we have adopted the use of an electric blanket. It is amazing how cold it can be outside and the berth is always warm and inviting. During this sail I knew that I would make landfall past my bedtime. So I plugged the blanket into the inverter. Suprised to find it did not draw much and the berth was warm when I made it to the docks. The next morning I sailed in 18knts and was coming up on glassy smooth water. Come to find out it was a thin layer of freshwater ICE on top! I'm thinking of changing the name to "Icebreaker". Wear layers of clothing. I have a portable propane heater for the cockpit. Tuck it in behind the dodger and it keeps the tootsies warm! Auto pilot is a must to get below and make hot drinks and food. Wear a harness and tether to the boat! Any mistake going overboard in these conditions is, well, an end to a great day of sailing. Everyone should try a winter sail. "Including my first Mate!"
I go sailing every week. Last weekend I decided to go for a brisk sail up to the North end of the Great Salt Lake. Low temperatures were in the 20's and a high of around 35 degrees. Water temperature is 37 degrees! My first mate has spoiled me. Since we sleep aboard in the winter (our personal time away from kids) we have adopted the use of an electric blanket. It is amazing how cold it can be outside and the berth is always warm and inviting. During this sail I knew that I would make landfall past my bedtime. So I plugged the blanket into the inverter. Suprised to find it did not draw much and the berth was warm when I made it to the docks. The next morning I sailed in 18knts and was coming up on glassy smooth water. Come to find out it was a thin layer of freshwater ICE on top! I'm thinking of changing the name to "Icebreaker". Wear layers of clothing. I have a portable propane heater for the cockpit. Tuck it in behind the dodger and it keeps the tootsies warm! Auto pilot is a must to get below and make hot drinks and food. Wear a harness and tether to the boat! Any mistake going overboard in these conditions is, well, an end to a great day of sailing. Everyone should try a winter sail. "Including my first Mate!"
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Don Evans
Yup Rob We Do...
Those tell tale temperatures here in Central Ontario indicate summer has arrived...yup...about 2 months of bad skiing. 8^) Don
Those tell tale temperatures here in Central Ontario indicate summer has arrived...yup...about 2 months of bad skiing. 8^) Don
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Todd Osborne
Anacortes "A" boats
So I suppose you saw TV special! (about state of the art commercial fishing boats that were lost at sea in Alaska) Don't know the fishermen personally (I'm shure my father-in-law does), but have known many others who risked their lives out there. many paid for college with the summers fishing take home. I was suprised the show didn't mention "icing" which is when the ocean spray freezes to the topsides of the boat. It can get a foot thick & make a boat top heavy & capsize it. It was commonn practice to send a crewmember out with a mallet or hammer to break off the ice before getting dangerously thick & heavy. Too dangerous for me. I took out student loans instead...
So I suppose you saw TV special! (about state of the art commercial fishing boats that were lost at sea in Alaska) Don't know the fishermen personally (I'm shure my father-in-law does), but have known many others who risked their lives out there. many paid for college with the summers fishing take home. I was suprised the show didn't mention "icing" which is when the ocean spray freezes to the topsides of the boat. It can get a foot thick & make a boat top heavy & capsize it. It was commonn practice to send a crewmember out with a mallet or hammer to break off the ice before getting dangerously thick & heavy. Too dangerous for me. I took out student loans instead...
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Todd Osborne
Note below this one is for John Rollins...
Wish I could go back & edit these so I could make my notes look coherent. I should have used a better title on the previous note in reply to John. Sorry to throw the rest of you off. It's been a great thread!
Wish I could go back & edit these so I could make my notes look coherent. I should have used a better title on the previous note in reply to John. Sorry to throw the rest of you off. It's been a great thread!
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John Allison
Frostbite Cruise
Every year, we get together a handful of the skippers in our marina, select a boat and go for (what often turns out to be the last outing of the year) a "frostbite cruise"; the length of the cruise determined by the weather that day. It often turns out to be on my Hunter 25, "Whisper" and usually ends up being four individuals. We instituted this in 1997 as a fitting end to a really great sailing season. It was a cloudy day, wind gusting to 30 knots and temperature in the low 40s. In 1999, it was a typical blustery fall day (28F and cloudy to start and upper 40s and sunny in the afternoon). We were out close to 6 hours. This past fall it snowed with visibility poor, temperatures near 32F and fairly good wind. Same four individuals on all three cruises. Foolish? Perhaps! Cold? Definitely! Fun? You Bet! Will we do it again? Beyond a doubt! In fact, next year we will probably have one more boat joining us. The key, a cabin to get out of the wind, good thermal protection .... most of us prefer layering (fleece) with good foul weather gear, staying dry. Good spirits ..... yes ..... but afterwards (reduces ones ability to withstand the cold), at the dock or the nearest pub.
Every year, we get together a handful of the skippers in our marina, select a boat and go for (what often turns out to be the last outing of the year) a "frostbite cruise"; the length of the cruise determined by the weather that day. It often turns out to be on my Hunter 25, "Whisper" and usually ends up being four individuals. We instituted this in 1997 as a fitting end to a really great sailing season. It was a cloudy day, wind gusting to 30 knots and temperature in the low 40s. In 1999, it was a typical blustery fall day (28F and cloudy to start and upper 40s and sunny in the afternoon). We were out close to 6 hours. This past fall it snowed with visibility poor, temperatures near 32F and fairly good wind. Same four individuals on all three cruises. Foolish? Perhaps! Cold? Definitely! Fun? You Bet! Will we do it again? Beyond a doubt! In fact, next year we will probably have one more boat joining us. The key, a cabin to get out of the wind, good thermal protection .... most of us prefer layering (fleece) with good foul weather gear, staying dry. Good spirits ..... yes ..... but afterwards (reduces ones ability to withstand the cold), at the dock or the nearest pub.
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Hugh McCully
July is cool in Battle Harbour
In daylight, if you climbed the hundred fifty foot hill behind Battle Harbor Labrador (52° 16' 00" N - 55° 35' 00" W), you could see icebergs in the Strait of Belle Isle. Late in the long evening, the glow of a just disappeared sun lit the old fish wharf. Ten members of the visiting Newfoundland 2000 Flotilla all saw our breath listening to songs sung by one of the local interpretive and restoration staff to. The low temperature that night was 37 degrees F and felt like it the next day, sailing amongst the “bergy bits” in the lee of those icebergs -but that is another story. Temperature was just a number on the thermometer and was only one part of that adventure.
In daylight, if you climbed the hundred fifty foot hill behind Battle Harbor Labrador (52° 16' 00" N - 55° 35' 00" W), you could see icebergs in the Strait of Belle Isle. Late in the long evening, the glow of a just disappeared sun lit the old fish wharf. Ten members of the visiting Newfoundland 2000 Flotilla all saw our breath listening to songs sung by one of the local interpretive and restoration staff to. The low temperature that night was 37 degrees F and felt like it the next day, sailing amongst the “bergy bits” in the lee of those icebergs -but that is another story. Temperature was just a number on the thermometer and was only one part of that adventure.
Sheer idiocy, post-Annapolis '77
Halfway home from the Annapolis show we put in at Schaeffer's in the C&D Canal. This was a fated trip anyway on account of not having brought enough underwear and we only had one shower (that was not in the boat) all week and we all stank to high heaven. Anyway we woke up Monday morning to find HAILSTONES the size of GOLF BALLS rattling on the deck!! -no kidding. Scared the heck out of me. My dad wanted to wait it out but my little brother, out of 9th grade for the 2-day trip, and I, having this girlfriend, you see... (never mind that) insisted we get under way. Exit Canal into Bay: 5-6-ft swells. Small 33-HP Yanmar 3-banger NOT moving 28,000-lb boat very fast against northeaster. Hailstones. 35 degrees. Gloves have no fingers. Tempermental stove cannot keep cocoa warm very long. Father stands in companionway worrying that he has no emergency throwable PFDs on board; eldest son straddles wheelbox at bitter end of 44-ft rollercoaster car whilst complaining that we need to put more sail on whilst motorsailing over nightmarish river swells under inner stays'l in freezing, sleeting gusts through 50 kts. Wet sweater. No fingers in gloves. No cocoa. (And yachting is a leisure thing.) Fast-forward to Philadelphia bridges, both of which are down and NOT letting 62-ft spar through... waited for 150-car freight train and then rush-hour commuters who cursed us roundly (heard from one later). Unbeknownst to us we dropped a blade off Warren Luhrs' fancy Italian folding prop and could not reverse; smashed younger brother's hand between boom and piling whilst trying to back boat against tide in docking. Ripped only set of foulies about 3 hours back, got soaked to skin. Did not get to see girlfriend for 3 days anyway owning to 50-mile drive and freak October ice on Rt 72. Oh well. JC
Halfway home from the Annapolis show we put in at Schaeffer's in the C&D Canal. This was a fated trip anyway on account of not having brought enough underwear and we only had one shower (that was not in the boat) all week and we all stank to high heaven. Anyway we woke up Monday morning to find HAILSTONES the size of GOLF BALLS rattling on the deck!! -no kidding. Scared the heck out of me. My dad wanted to wait it out but my little brother, out of 9th grade for the 2-day trip, and I, having this girlfriend, you see... (never mind that) insisted we get under way. Exit Canal into Bay: 5-6-ft swells. Small 33-HP Yanmar 3-banger NOT moving 28,000-lb boat very fast against northeaster. Hailstones. 35 degrees. Gloves have no fingers. Tempermental stove cannot keep cocoa warm very long. Father stands in companionway worrying that he has no emergency throwable PFDs on board; eldest son straddles wheelbox at bitter end of 44-ft rollercoaster car whilst complaining that we need to put more sail on whilst motorsailing over nightmarish river swells under inner stays'l in freezing, sleeting gusts through 50 kts. Wet sweater. No fingers in gloves. No cocoa. (And yachting is a leisure thing.) Fast-forward to Philadelphia bridges, both of which are down and NOT letting 62-ft spar through... waited for 150-car freight train and then rush-hour commuters who cursed us roundly (heard from one later). Unbeknownst to us we dropped a blade off Warren Luhrs' fancy Italian folding prop and could not reverse; smashed younger brother's hand between boom and piling whilst trying to back boat against tide in docking. Ripped only set of foulies about 3 hours back, got soaked to skin. Did not get to see girlfriend for 3 days anyway owning to 50-mile drive and freak October ice on Rt 72. Oh well. JC
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Sailboatowners.com
Final results
Final results for the Quick Quiz ending 2/26/2001: What's the coldest temperature you've sailed in? 33% 30-39 degrees 24% 40-50 degrees 22% Over 50 degrees 21% Under 30 degrees
Final results for the Quick Quiz ending 2/26/2001: What's the coldest temperature you've sailed in? 33% 30-39 degrees 24% 40-50 degrees 22% Over 50 degrees 21% Under 30 degrees
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C. McKernan
Jan. FL to NY
We took delivery of our new 470 on Dec 26th, just in time to sail from Tampa Bay to Key West for "The Millenium". After the revelry we got underway bound for NY. WHY? Well we wanted the boat and didn't feel like waiting, and hey, we're bad. On up the coast we went, making over 200 miles some days. Then, around NC, winter hit. It started blowing HARD right out of the north and the temp. dropped to around 0. We began icing up pretty bad off VA so we put into Little Creek for a while until we got some temps in the 40's. We headed back out the Ches Bay entrance and 36 hours later we were moored in NYC. When it got really cold, we wore: silk long johns, fleece socks, fleece sweats, pants, shirts, sweaters, jackets, mustang suits, thinsulate gloves, fleece hoods, and ski goggles... all at the same time. With this "space suit" we were warm enough, and we ate a lot of food to keep up strength. We kept on going and finally got there. At times it seemed like we were the only ones on the planet. Sailing in Jan off the East COast is lonely.
We took delivery of our new 470 on Dec 26th, just in time to sail from Tampa Bay to Key West for "The Millenium". After the revelry we got underway bound for NY. WHY? Well we wanted the boat and didn't feel like waiting, and hey, we're bad. On up the coast we went, making over 200 miles some days. Then, around NC, winter hit. It started blowing HARD right out of the north and the temp. dropped to around 0. We began icing up pretty bad off VA so we put into Little Creek for a while until we got some temps in the 40's. We headed back out the Ches Bay entrance and 36 hours later we were moored in NYC. When it got really cold, we wore: silk long johns, fleece socks, fleece sweats, pants, shirts, sweaters, jackets, mustang suits, thinsulate gloves, fleece hoods, and ski goggles... all at the same time. With this "space suit" we were warm enough, and we ate a lot of food to keep up strength. We kept on going and finally got there. At times it seemed like we were the only ones on the planet. Sailing in Jan off the East COast is lonely.
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