In part I of this post, I described some of the basic preparations made to my H340, Cut I, to ready her for a 630 nm offshore race from Galveston to Veracruz, Mexico. In this post, I’ll discuss some other concerns I had in preparing for the trip. I’ll add a third part to the story later and in that post I’ll talk about the race and actual sailing events. Washing dishes and washing crew In Part I, I indicated 24 gallons of reverse osmosis water were available for drinking and cooking during the trip. The water in the ship’s tank (maybe 65 usable gallons) was reserved for washing dishes and washing crew. The expected weather for this early June trip was warmish nights with daytime highs reaching the mid to upper 90s. To protect exposed skin from the damaging UV rays, I had stowed about ½ gallon of sunblock on board. In an ideal world one would be able to take a shower each evening after the sun fades to get the sunblock residue removed from the skin and have that nice clean, refreshed feeling when you hit the bunk for the first off-watch. However, assuming we were to be offshore for six days, that sums to 18 showers. Adding that use to the amount consumed washing dishes and it’s easy to project we’d run short of water. Thus, we faced the dilemma: risk running out of water or risk the demoralizing effects of not showering for several days while being exposed to tropical heat. We arrived in Veracruz with the water tank about a third full. Crew member Ed suggested we buy a hand-pump garden sprayer and use that for showers. Doing so would allow us to control our usage and still have pressurized water. We followed Ed’s suggestion and became proficient at getting a rejuvenating shower using no more than .75 gallons per shower. Some days we even took two showers. Food & Drink Ed and Nic shared the duty of shopping for all food and drinks. To start the trip, in addition to a great variety of foods, we had a case of wine and two cases of beer on board. Nic assumed the duties of head chef and dishwasher. He was superbly suited to both duties. Not only did he prepare a gourmet meal each evening, he was absolutely miserly in using our scarce water supply to wash dishes. For breakfast, we were on our own. No common meal was prepared. Mostly we ate oatmeal along with fresh fruit, juice and coffee. We used a French press for making coffee. We had sandwiches and chips for lunch and a set-down dinner around 5 pm. Ed and I eagerly looked forward to dinner each evening as Nic was constantly exceeding our expectations. I was especially impressed with the meals because Nic is a vegetarian and I’m a whole-hog carnivore. Nevertheless, the meatless meals were extraordinary. After dinner each evening, we’d have one glass of wine. I’ve used the galley in Cut I offshore on many prior occasions. It’s not bad if conditions aren’t real rough and if heel is not excessive. No special equipment was added for this trip to the galley. We carried two five-pound bottles of propane in the propane locker and returned after a 17-day trip with one tank completely full. Watch schedule We started the nightly watch schedule at 6 pm. We used the same watch schedule each day and the rotation was as follows: Me 6-9pm Ed 9-midnight Nic midnight-3am Me 3am – 6am Ed 6am – 9am With this schedule, each person could spend up to 12 hours in his bunk during those hours in which the cabin was coolest. Note that Nic served only one watch in exchange for galley duty. Other than these watch hours, we took turns manning the helm. Remember, we were in the autopilot class, and much of the time, manning the helm required only that the skipper pay attention to the course and wind and adjust the autopilot accordingly. I spent the most time at the helm because I was the only one of the three of us actually interested in making the boat go fast…we were in a race after all. Ed and Nic were in “cruising mode” the entire trip. Each crewmember had a fan dedicated to his bunk and that turned out to be a very important feature for comfort. Typically, there were at least two fans in the cabin running at any time. Battery charging Because we were in the autopilot/motoring class, we were allowed up to 36 hours of motoring time during the race. I tried to manage the motoring hours to coincide with the need to charge batteries. I estimated we would consume about 250 amp hours daily. With a 100-amp hour alternator and three-stage smart regulator, I estimated we would need to motor about four hours each day just to maintain the batteries. Over an expected six-day trip, this meant that 24 of the 36 available motoring hours could be consumed by charging batteries. Of course, I was hopeful I could do much of that battery charging during times when it was otherwise necessary, i.e., when the wind was light or from an adverse direction. In fact, we used 32 hours of motoring time in total. I’ll discuss that in more detail in the third and final installment of this story. Passing the Time I don’t think any of us were especially bored on this trip, but there were many times when you had to find an activity to occupy the mind. Mostly the weather was pleasant and predictable. We each brought along five or six books. Nic also brought along his ukulele. At first, Ed and I were fearful he’d actually get the damn thing out and play it; later we were kind of hoping he might. He never did play it. I brought a fishing pole and sporadically trailed a line. I caught one tuna but could have caught more if I’d been more persistent. We had a selection of CDs aboard and spent a couple of hours each day listening to music. And, for the first two days of the race we listened to other skippers conversing on the VHF; however, by day 3 the boats were so scattered we only heard such chatter occasionally. Safety Equipment In the prior post, I mentioned some of the safety equipment on Cut I. In a world with no budget constraints we would have had a life raft and some system for long-distance communication, such as a satellite phone. I lieu of the life raft, we carried an inflated dinghy on the foredeck. Three VHF radios and cell phones were our means of communication. We also had a MOB device and strobe, 406 EPIRB, jack lines, safety harnesses and Type I life vests in addition to the standard emergency flares as well as parachute flares. After dark, anyone in the cockpit was required to wear a safety harness and be strapped to the jack line. Also, anyone leaving the cockpit to go forward was required to wear a safety harness. Nic had emergency medical training and we had a substantially upgraded medical kit aboard. I also purchased a book on emergency medical care and everyone knew where it was and, generally, what information it contained. More to Come I’ll post a third and final part to this story soon in which I talk about the race and the actual sailing. Meanwhile, if anyone is reading these posts and has questions, please let me know. Although this was a race, we prepared more or less the same as we would have prepared for a long cruise.
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Pictures
Mike... Send me the pictures and I'll post them for you. Most likely they are too large and have to be reduced. I can do that... Ron/KA5HZV Captronbob@yahoo.com
Mike... Send me the pictures and I'll post them for you. Most likely they are too large and have to be reduced. I can do that... Ron/KA5HZV Captronbob@yahoo.com
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