Far from home

[Dave Fulghum]

Moonstone in the San Juans

The longest trip we have ever undertaken in our Catalina 22 "Moonstone" was a five day outing in the San Juans Islands. We departed Anacortes, made stops in Friday Harbor, Orcas Landing, and English Fort. We droped the hook on Sucia and Matia islands also prior to returning to Anacortes. We trailered the boat from Salt Lake. Otherwise we routienlt do two to three day weekend cruises on the Great Salt Lake.

 

[Bill]

Mother Superior

St Paul MN down the Mississippi to the Gulf....around Florida....the Bahamas....up the East Coast....the canals to New York City...back through the Great Lakes to the Apostole Islands

 

[donald gibbons]

shakedown .... of sorts

Moved "Windy" from Dataw Island Marina, SC (near Hilton Head) to Edenton NC. about 550 miles North. First trip since purchase in Aug. 01, Lots of fun, 9 days up ICW . If you want to see a lot of boats, go North when everyone else is going South. We were able to raise sails on the Pamlico Sound and had 4.5 to 5 ft. waves. Windy sailed onto the wind well and took the waves over the bow with spirit. Unfortunately, we found that the jib sheet is too old, No major problems (did not sink and engine did not blow up). An alternator defect and stuck-on bilge pump switch combined to delay us 1.5 days. We sailed the last evening in the dark on Albemarl Sound. The sound was dead flat ; it was beautiful clear night. A nice experience for first time sailors. My son, grandson and I had a great time.

 

[Gary Bruner]

3 weeks San Juans/Gulf Islands

Nearly every summer I spend up to 3 weeks in the San Juans and up into the Gulf Islands of Canada. I usually change "crews" every week or so, in that most of my friends/family can't get away for as long as I can. This plan doesn't let me get as far away as I'd like, because I have to be near "civilization" to do the crew swap. I've only been from Victoria, B.C. up to Nainamo on my current boat, a trailerable, SK Cat 25

 

[Jack]

Chesapeake to Georgetown through Nassua

My wife Carole and I took our Hunter 40 "Valkyrie" from Jacksonville for a summer on the Chesapeake, and then sailed offshore from Norfolk to Nassau, and then on to Georgetown in the southern Exumas for the "Cruisers Rally" that is held there regularly. We toured the Keys and the Turks and Caicos, and our Shetland Sheepdog "Guy" had about two thousand miles of ocean sailing under his belly by the time that we quit.We spent that year in the Bahamas without incident (ran aground at Green Turtle and at Walker's Key), returned to Jacksonville, and finally put the boat on a truck and shipped it to Lake Perry, Kansas where the boat still resides. It was quite a sight to see our "home" on a truck moving through the wheat fields of Kansas

 

[Greig Carroll]

Many firsts

We bought our 77 H30 in July of this year. We had to travel from Halifax to Fredericton. About 5 hours. We had never had to do anything long distance before. It was a treat finding people in the area to do our survey and check our sails etc. Fredericton is about 90 miles up the St. John river. IT is not known for it's sailing. we had to trust a lot of people and take them at their word. We had seen the boat several times so had a fairly good idea ther shape she was in. We were told the engine was overhauled and had 5 hours on it since. The sails wwere checked out by a reputable sail loft. The hull survey reveilled some small things that we didn't think were a problem.  We arrived on a Friday to launch the boat and ready her for sea. All went smooth until we left the dock. About 4 1/2 hours down river the engine died. We had a 15 kt wind coming up river. We dropped the pick and my wife who is a deisle mech by trade got us going again. An hour later the engine died again. We wound up sailing down river actually tacking is a better way to put it. We sailed until after dark when we couldn't see the shore anymore so we again anchored. It was a pleasent night and we had a swim the next morning. My woife got the engine going long enough to get us off the pick and into the main stream. At that point the engine went again. So we tacked all the way down river. We pulled up to a ball in the Kennebekasis YC and were towed alongside. A "mechanic" came down and had a look. He said we didn't bleed air from enough places. We found 2. There were 3 or 4. The manuel we had was not complete. So we got under way and the engine died about 10 feet off the dock and we were now drifting down on the mooring field. The RKYC has a lot of very expensive boats and we were about to play pin ball off them. We amnaged to signal a passing powerboat and he towed us back in. We found a real mechanic who went through everything and taught us as he went. After an hour he too was baffled until he accedently touched the govenor. Well that got us under way. We managed to get cklear of the RKYC, who by the way are fantastic people. We had one more major obstical to overcome. The reversing falls in St. John's. We found out that our exhaust had a crack in it and was over heating so we had about 1/2 throttle. Not good in the current we were about to transit. By the grace of God and a top notch Mech on board we made it through. That was the first two days. After that we had 40ft tides to deal with 6kt currents at ebb tide and as we were entering Yarmouth, NS on day 4 our exhaust let go and we were flooding the main cabin. We couldn't shut down because of the current. We were in the centre of the channel and it is a major fishing town so we had lots of fishing boats to contend with. All of them out bound. We made it in and with the help of some truly terrific people we were underway the next day and haven't had any problems since. This was a shakedown cruise like no other I've done. I'm glad we did it and especially glad we had a good boat under us. Our boat is very forgiving and very user friendly. Our trip took us a week and we travelled about 300 miles. Would I do it again. In Orion you bet. We already have plans to sail to the US and beyond.

 

[RALPH]

THE LONGEST JOURNEY

Sailed from Marina Del Rey to San Clemente island located on the back side of CAtalina Island. Spent three days off shore with three other boats. Great first time off shore experience near home, farthest distance about 70 miles.

 

[Gregory Velie]

Far Away Places

My wife and I have owned our 30 Catalina only two years. We sail it on Seneca Lake, one of the finger lakes in upstate New York. The lake is only 42 miles long and 2.5 at it's widest point. Our marina is located on the southern end of the lake. We've sailed four times to the other end of the lake. It once took us 9 hours to get back to our marina one Sunday this last summer. We had 22 -25 knots out of the South on this particular day and we had to get back that day. WOW!!, what a heck of a day of sailing!Our goal is to one day sail the Caribean.

 

[Paul Osborne]

Longest Trip

Longest trip, about 5weeks, complete trip arround Lake Ontairo, singlehand. Want to do it agin this summer.Good sailingpaul

 

[Kenneth Pfaff]

From the Dealer home

My longest trip was when I took delivery of my boat and moved it from the South Shore of Long Island into the Atlantic and up the Hudson River.

 

[Herb Olson]

Catalina the long way

Sailed My Catalina 22 - Slow Motion- from San Diego to Cat Harbour on the backside of Catalina Is. It was a distance of 130 miles and 30 hours on the way there as we sailed up the east side and around West End. The trip back was only 21 hours and we sailed up to a Blue Whale just off the lower end of the island.

 

[Trevor]

Portland to Bull Harbour

I bought my 1986 Catalina 36 in Portland and was talked into sailing it home to Seattle (thanks again LaDonna!) one year ago (1 day to Astoria and 50 hours from Astoria to Seattle). This summer we circumnavigated Vancouver Island over 9 weeks and had a blast.... our second trip (the first was on an Islander 28 six years ago). Someday I'd like to sail to Alaska, but there's enough to see and do in B.C. to last several lifetimes!Trevor

 

[henkmeuzelaar]

Racing through paradise

Longest trip was 5000 NM in 1998 from Hawaii to Australia, total sailing time 5 weeks (plus stopping over for 1 week in Tuvalu and 4 or 5 days in Vanuatu). Longest non-stop trip was Sea of Cortez (San Carlos) to Maui (Hawaii) in 1997 in 30 days (due to the strong El Nino there were no trade winds).Since Rivendel's first trip to a distant foreign port in 1993 (La Paz in Mexico) we have always had just 10-11 weeks to cruise each year in order to keep our jobs, often causing us to "race through paradise". By leaving Rivendel dry- or wet-berthed in foreign ports (Mexico 95

 

[roger marshutz]

first overnighter

We bought the boat, a new 310, in August, my 5th sail boat. Our longest trip to date was to Catalina island, only a 30 mile sail. Great winds going over. The autopilot worked ok. but discovered that if I put metal cans or other metal stuff in the starboatd seate storage the Fluxgate compass that is in the compartment is not happy. My wife had a medical problem Saturday night and was flown home. So I sailed the boat back alone. Actually wind was very light and I had to motor most of the way. We love the boat...the best I've owned.

 

[DJ Dreyer]

Fun in a H34

When I first bought my H34 in 1984, I sailed her from the Chesapeake to Maine for the summer (was working up there) and back to the Chesapeake. In 1993, sailed her from the Chesapeake to Boston for the summer, then took her to Pensacola Fl via the ICW from Norfolk to Ft Lauderdale, outside to Tampa and then across to Pensacola (via Panama City). Wonderful trip, the ICW. Hope everyone can make that trip one day on any boat they happen to own.

 

[Joe Mullee]

Not Far Enough

Longest trip was 110 NM up the Chesapeake from the Rappahanock River to my home port off the West River. Want to do a Delmarva circumnavigation this coming spring and get my first blue water experiance. Love my boat.

 

[Tom Keough]

Newburyport to Martha's Vineyard

Several week long trips from Newburyport, MA (NH border) along the coast, through the Cape Cod Canal, down Buzzards Bay, through Woods Hole and along Nantucket Sound to Oak Bluffs, Vineyard Haven and Edgartown on Martha's Vineyard. In fact, I posted a photo of us sailing in Nantucket Sound in the album section of this web site.

 

[john bonner]

not far enough

From Halifax nova scotia, and every thing in between, to grenada on the western atlantic and ireland to england to france to spain on the eastern atlantic. miles beyond count, experiences beyond belief. ok, it took 12 years on and off, my boat, charter boat, somebody"s boat, etc, but being on a sail boat on any destination from near to far is an adventure. you and i will never forget the wonders we have encountered and will to the last of our days beg for more. Never deny yourself the opportunity.

 

[Ronald D. Butler]

Sailing from home

We have a 1985 31' Hunter that I bought new. We have sailed it extensively in B.C. waters. Our 2 longest trips with this boat was 2 circumnavigations of Vancouver Island. The first trip was in 1991 and the second trip was in 1997. Each trip was app. 900 nautical miles. The boats performance for both trips was exceptional. We encountered all sorts of weather during both trips. The most enjoyable was the northwesterlys we had in 1991 down the most of the west side of Vancouver Island. We had everything from great spinnaker runs to gale force winds 40 - 45 knots rounding Brooks Pennisula with the 110 jib and reefed main. The boat loved it, felt like a train on tracks with the wind behind us and 12 - 16' swells. We never had a doubt about our Hunter after that. No special preparation was taken other than retuning the rigging, rigging jack lines, and new halyards. The only problem we had was getting the main backwinded going up Johnstone Strait and getting it caught in the spreader making an L shaped tear. A quick patch job in Pt. McNeil held for over 2 years!We are planning on taking her up to the Queen Charolotte Islands during the summer of 2003, and probably going back down the west side of Vancouver Island on the way home. About the only thing I will do is replace the lifelines and finally put on a roller furling head sail!!We generally spend anywhere from 4 - 8 weeks of the summer sailing in B.C.

 

[john bonner]

to greig velie

your tale has a mowatt tilt to it and, i love it. fredrickton with it's "tidal bore" can be a challenging situation for a new boat owner , especially if the engine is " fluky" to put a name on it. congratulations for surviving to adventure without bofdily or boatly harm. now the reversing falls in new brunswick are another story, has any one actually sailed though the falls? and for those of the bravest or most foolish, without testing the engine for good performance. you will make it to the carribean, follow your course and plan carefully, ther are delight's on the horizon that will shatter your world. good luck.