What follows are Curtis’s offshore log notes, both on- and off-watch, during the 9-day passage on Alaria, a PSC 34, from Bermuda to Sint Maarten in the Caribbean.
10-29 1800-2100
On Watch
We leave the Bermuda Customs dockage @ 1640 to go out through St Georges Town Cut and continue our journey. The heavy rain has dissipated but it is showery all around us as we head NE into 6 ft swells from the North. The sun disappears behind low cumulus clouds as we motor away under full sail. The forecast is for showers and wind from the NE and this allows for us to run on a beam reach port tack.
We watch as 3 large cruise ships leave the island about the same time we did. They are going back home, I assume, to ports in Boston and Baltimore. The wind gets up to 17 kn so I cut the engine and we sail along our course @ 6.5-7.5 kn. Excellent sailing as it gets dark. We have new weather cloths along the cockpit combing below the glassine side panels which will keep waves and spray out of the cockpit. The cockpit is much more comfortable already tonight.
The m/v Atlantic Explorer, a research vessel, is paralleling our course about a mile west of us. They call on the VHF to ask us to stay 1 mile away as they have gear over the side, restricting their maneuverability.
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| Bermuda evening sky departure |
10-30 0600-0900
On Watch
Upon coming on watch I note some lights from a vessel off our starboard bow. They are distant and there is no AIS target associated with them. We are still "easting" on a course of 163. I want to make a turn further to the south to get back to our rhumb line of 180 so I make some adjustment to the autopilot to do so. The wind is 13-16 kn and we are on a beam reach port tack. This is what gives us the best sailing speed but not the best VMG (“velocity made good”) toward our destination waypoint. Falling off to a broad reach actually keeps our SOG above 7 kn and turns us closer to our desired course. The only issue is this lit vessel that is now directly ahead, moving between slightly port or starboard bow depending on the swell and the autopilot heading adjustments. It makes sense at this point to take the helm and steer past him leaving him to port.
The wind comes up to 21 kn as I try to steer past him but his lights disappear. He may have turned or turned off the lights but either way I lose sight of him. Ansley comes up and suggests we put in a reef to settle the boat down and make the ride more comfortable and this he does. We pass some rain showers but stay dry and then the wind drops back to 14-16 kn. We never see the boat’s lights again.
10-30 1800-2100
On Watch
We disable the Sayes self-steering oar we have used all afternoon and set up the autopilot for the night watches. Wind is 9-13 kn and we are on a broad reach with wind out of the NE. Swells have settled to 2-5 ft and fair weather cumulus clouds cover the sky.
Darkness falls and we are on a COG (“course over ground”) of 167 degrees magnetic so about 30 degrees east of our desired course. This is giving us the best speed, about 6.8 kn and a comfortable ride and low heel angle.
At 2030 we pass south of the 30th parallel. The planet Venus is bright enough to shine on the black sea of the Atlantic.
There is a lot of bioluminescence in our wake and in the foam of cresting waves off our bow tonight.
10-31 0600-0900
On Watch
Clear sky warm air and water temps make for a comfortable cockpit this morning. Wind is east, light 8-12 kn with a small 2-3 foot swell.
It's an excellent morning with dawn and approaching sunrise off our port side. I have full sails up on a beam to broad reach listening to Enya Watermark... Outstanding!
The wind is forecast to come up and the swell to build out of the east. It is now consistent at 15 kn at 0820 am out of the ENE.
White-Tailed Tropicbird off our stern. Single adult bird that follows us for a few minutes and then stays behind as we sail on.
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| Evening squalls |
On Watch
Before my watch at about 1745, I identify a single Sooty Shearwater.
Dinner in the cockpit is a salad with baked sliced chicken on top. One bowl meals are popular when we have high swell and wind. Tonight winds are 18-27 kn with occasional waves breaking, sending spray into the cockpit. We are sailing with a 1/2 furled Yankee jib and staysail with a reefed main sail on port tack and beam reach. This sail combination settles the boat down to a 15 degree heel for better sleeping. The wind is constant 20 kn and the swell is still 6-10 ft. The swell angle is better quartering off our port stern now that we have adjusted our course to 190 to 210 degrees with the Sayes windvane. When we were on a 170 to 180 degree course, the swells out of the east were hitting us more on the beam and we sailed on a more chaotic manner.
Lightning storm off to our east as I come off watch.
11-1 0600-0900
On Watch
Coming on watch this morning begins with the need to solve a crisis that is developing. We are over-canvassed for the squally conditions as lightning lights up the skies to the east. Earlier on his watch, in a low wind period, Paul put out the Yankee jib instead of just the staysail and reefed main sail we were using during the night hours. I man the roller reefing line and Paul is letting the jib sheet out as we try to reef the Yankee. There is a knot on the jib sheet that catches in the car on the starboard jib track and won’t allow me to get the jib furled. The winds come up from 18 to 25 kn, and the Sayes self-steering is heading us up, so the jib is now flogging violently. Ansley and Bob come up to the cockpit to assist. Bob also tries to furl the jib, but the flogging likely overrode the line in the furling drum, making it impossible to furl more than half of the jib in. The knot in the starboard jib sheet is still jammed in the jib car, so we think we need to undo the Sayes self-steering mechanism to gain better control of our steering. This is quickly forgotten when the jamming knot passes through the jib car and winds rise as high as 35 kn. It is still hard to furl the jib in, but we stabilize the jib about 1/2 furled and sail with this half-furled jib and staysail.
The other 3 crew members leave the cockpit to go below to sleep and I continue my watch.
Upon daylight some damage to the jib becomes obvious. The foot and leech lines are hanging free from the sail edges. There is a large knot in the 2 jib sheets where they have been flogging and wrapping together because the stopper knot in the lazy sheet came undone as well. Bob calls it a Gordian knot. After everyone is up, the knot and fouled furling line are untangled. Bob doesn’t want to use the Yankee jib before it gets some repair.
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| Ansley Sawyer and Bob Steneck in Alaria Cockpit |
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| Bob Steneck using pliers to unsnarl knotted sheets |
We sail all day in rough swells of 6-10 feet with winds 13-24 kn under 2x reefed main and staysail alone and then motor sailing.
11-1 1800-2100
On Watch
Tonight we encounter another squall at watch change. It is not a big deal to take in the staysail. You loosen the staysail sheets and crank in the furler. This leaves the main sail up but with a single reef in. We decide to put the second reef in as the wind is getting to be between 20 and 25 kn. Bob notices that another casualty of the trip is one of the Dutchman sail system monofilament lines has broken and he removes it.
It is another glorious night with Venus reflecting off the sea to our SW and bioluminescent particulate organisms displaying in the froth of our wake.
11-2 0600-0900
On Watch
Lightning and squalls in the area as I take watch with showers pelting the ship. At 0630 we enter into a heavy squall. I turn off the autopilot that has been in windvane mode to take the helm by hand. The wind rises quickly from 13 kn and stays above 22 kn. It starts raining heavily and the wind goes to 29 kn and clocks completely around coming from the North then NE as I try to hold course to no avail. I throttle up the engine to 2500 for some forward assist so I can get the sails back across the bow back to the port tack we were on. Ansley gets up and comes up the companionway ladder to check it out. He sees what’s going on and says to get back to the port tack to bring the sails back to a semblance of being trimmed. He's right as the staysail is backwinded. Once I get the correct tack for the sail set, we are coming out of the squall and the wind is now 17-19 kn again out of the SSE. The wind subsides to 15 kn and I'm again able to use the autopilot to hold a course to the SSW.
Sue reports that @ 8:37 the In-Reach satellite messenger reported our boat experienced a speed of 70 kn and had us turning a circle. The speed was wrong but we did turn a complete circle as I got the vessel under control in that squall.
After the squall the wind stays consistently 160 degrees between 9 and 17 kn so we motor on a heading of 180 on a port tack into quartering swells from 160 degrees as we try to get a little more easterly on the way south.
Last night 2 flying fish came aboard. One was thrown back alive by Ansley and the other was dead and returned to the sea.
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| Alaria Yankee Jib assessment in cockpit |
motor the boat into the wind. Using sailor palms Bob and Paul stitch the leech and foot of the jib in the cockpit. They work on this repair with the goal of getting the jib back in service and sail or motor sail with more speed. It is now after 1500 and Paul and Bob are still sewing the leach and foot tensioning lines back into their respective sleeves. We have been motoring for hours to make some easting and some southward progress under 2x reefed main and staysail. The winds are from 160 degrees blowing 15-23 kn and we are close hauled.
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| Bob and Ansley looking over the Yankee Jib in cockpit |
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| Alaria motor sailing in swell and wind |
11-2 1800-2100
On Watch
This watch has us with a port quartering head wind and 4-8 ft swells from about 150 degrees. We would like to make our course about 150 degrees, but this is not going to happen.
Dinner in the cabin tonight for a change instead of the cockpit. I cut back on the engine rpms to smooth the rise and fall over the swells making dinner prep and consumption easier.
Bob has worked all day on the leech line of the Yankee jib but has more to do tomorrow to "finish.” Actually the sail will need the work of a sailmaker to re-stitch the sun cover and leech and foot lines. Bob will try to get this done in St Maarten.
Tonight we passed within 4.5 miles of the cargo ship Chiquita Scandinavia. It quickly and quietly passed by in opposite direction to our own off the starboard side.
The squalls we have encountered and passed close to have provided us with more wind to sail by and make some speed toward our destination. This is the “boomerang” effect of the passing rain cells that show up on the radar.
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| Alaria track and postion with radar showing squalls |
11-3 0600-0900
On Watch
Warm calm air this AM with wind still out of the SE @ 150 degrees. Last night the decision was to tack and take a course East to give us an easterly position. Sooner or later we should run into the northeasterly trade winds. If we had to come to the island from the SW, we would have to beat into the trades. We are @ 24.19.843 degrees latitude and we thought that we would have trade winds for a reach by now. Instead, the winds have been consistently coming from 140-160 degrees and sailing now is a beat port tack. This morning however we are motoring into only 10 kn of wind with a steady pulse of the diesel @ 1500 rpm. The seas are the calmest I have seen yet.
Bob will try to get the repair to the leech line sleeve on the Yankee jib finished so we can use it again.
11-3 1800-2100
On Watch
No sooner than taking on the evening watch do the wind and rain showers in the area start to affect our trim. We are heeling 20 degrees and motoring @ 1800 rpm bashing through 7-10 ft swells. So Ansley comes up to the cockpit and agrees we should put in a double reef in the main sail to reduce the heel. It works as planned and the others eat dinner below. We enter an area of rain showing on the radar and the wind shifts 50 degrees. I hand steer for a while to see if the wind is going to continue from about 180 degrees. We are now sailing WSW away from our destination and west of our intended rhumb line to St Maarten.
I suggest we tack to get on a more easterly course, which we do. The rest of this watch has us motoring into swell and wind under the double reefed mail and staysail as we continue slow tacks making our way south.
With the high winds and swell the heel angle is constantly 15-30 degrees and the cabin is decidedly damp due to some leaks from above. It is now more of a sticky feeling sleeping on the starboard settee, because it is the leeward side, where green water is over the rail constantly and drips find their way onto the bunk. This water on deck has also found its way into the cabin near the electrical panel and the quarter berth where Bob is sleeping. The pounding over the waves probably caused some deck fittings to loosen and start leaking. These will have to be re-bedded to stem the leaks before Bob heads back north on passage.
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| Alaria cabin and galley view from cockpit on night watch |
11-4 0600-0900
On Watch
With the time change back to Daylight Standard Time the watch starts at dawn. The sea state is much calmer than the previous watches with 1-2 ft waves and 2-4 ft swells from 170 degrees. The wind is 16 kn apparent but coming from the direction of our intended destination, so we continue to beat. There are cumulus clouds scattered over the sea rising from bases about 1500 ft. Radar shows only small area rain returns to our east. There is a higher layer of scattered cumulus above with some cirrus.
It's nice being the only one up in the cockpit as it is normally full with 4 people.
Reflecting on Cilantro, I will be looking forward to sailing with Sue and occasionally guests. Our PSC 37 is larger in some important ways from Bob's PSC 34. The larger cabin and galley are the most profound differences and make food prep and meal cleanup easier because of the additional counter space. The slightly larger head and its layout with the toilet angled to the door is better when heeled because the bracing is a bit easier. Coastal cruising along the Baja coast will hopefully be a dry experience with sun being more of an issue than water leaking from above. A biminy for shade will need to be installed with enough of a gap between dodger and biminy to see the sails adequately and so Sue and I can stand up to see birds. Side panels should favor shading but with panels for air flow. Maybe 2 horizontal panels zipped.
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| Alaria crew redeploying Yankee Jib |
11-4 1800-2100
On Watch
Tonight an area of weather/rain off to our west starts to dissipate by 1830. We will be motor sailing with full sails for awhile in light wind out of the SSW but are making our way south on a course of 190. The swell has settled to 2-3 ft so a decent evening for comfort in the cabin.
We are trying to make as much distance south as possible when conditions permit. It looks like we will be having light winds for the next few days.
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| Paul Calder prepping dinner in Alaria on passage |
11-5 0600-0900
On Watch
Calm and slight breeze from 210 as we motor along @ 3.5 kn on course of 180. There were some course deviations over the night for wind shifts near areas of rain. It looks like we made some progress toward our destination but not what was hoped for. At the end of the watch the wind is still only 5-6 kn but starts shifting to 150 degrees.
Wind has stayed light less than 10 kn all day as predicted. We are motor sailing a bit westerly of our intended course to try to get a better VMG.
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| Sunrise on passage |
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| Paul with flying fish |
On Watch
Wind is light 5-7 kn apparent so not much being contributed by sails to the motor @ 1600 rpm. We motor on hoping to have enough fuel for the remainder of this trip. We have a 5 gallon jug still on the deck but are keeping it as a spare to know exactly how much we have remaining for arrival into Simpson Bay on the Dutch side of St Maarten. There are still scattered rain showers showing up on the radar and if we penetrate or get near them, we usually pick up a lift or a knock...usually a wind speed increase.
There is no evidence yet of the trade winds, at least not from the NE, but maybe the south winds with a southeasterly component are the trade winds. We theorize that a tropical depression over Hispaniola may have been causing the south winds.
11-6 0600-0900
On Watch
An uneventful watch but with a fabulous sunrise through clouds and rain showers. A Parasitic Jaeger flies by after sunrise.
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| Sunrise aboard Alaria on passage to St Martin |
11-6 1500
Off Watch
A Brown Booby travels along with us for 2 hours, fishing along the way with shallow angle dives. He is an adult bird with crisp plumage. A second Brown Booby arrives and departs and then then a Masked Booby flies in. This is the third Masked Booby of the afternoon to fly along with the boat.
11-6 1800-2100
On Watch
Tonight may be the first night when we can sail instead of motoring because the wind is 10 kn out of 110 degrees. This sets us up for a course of 170 degrees on a close reach port tack. We are doing 5 kn SOG and should make our Dog Island waypoint at about 0200. Tomorrow morning we should be just off of Simpson Bay, St Maarten.
The crescent moon will set shortly off the starboard side, while a cargo ship slips by 4.75 nm off our stern, headed west to P. Bolivar. There is a dim glow on the horizon directly off our bow. That must be the light from Anguilla or St Maarten 40 nm away.
This is my last night watch on this passage. In the a.m. we will be negotiating landfall on my watch. We had a Cliff Swallow land on the stern last evening and he perched there for a while to rest. Before dinner he flew onto the cabin, where he is spending the night with us, hitching a ride for the last 40 nm to St Maarten.
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| Cliff Swallow rides along with us |
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| Paul Calder hooks a Marlin but it got away |
11-7 0600-0900
On Watch
The last watch for this trip will be focused on arriving safely in St Maarten. We are sailing slowly with full sails in light ESE winds. All hands have come up for photos and watching our arrival. The smell of smoke, a small panga fisherman, many AIS targets on the chartplotter are all part of coming back to port. St Maarten is hilly but not as mountainous as Saba, a steep volcanic island to the south. Anguilla on the other hand is very flat and low. Bob says that’s why the reefs are good there.
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| Alaria arrival to St Martin |
11-7 1000
At Anchor in Simpson Bay Lagoon, St Maarten
Bob has gone ashore to clear in Alaria. We are waiting for this to happen before going to a marina for showers.
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| St Maarten view from Alaria |
On the way into the Simpson Bay Lagoon, just past the swing bridge and Snoopy Island where very large yachts tie up. There is a yacht that I remark on that looks like the one Steve Jobs commissioned. Later we find out it was his yacht.
I fly home on Nov 9th as Bob has work to get started here in the Caribbean and George Stoyle is arriving to join Bob in his research. This means there would be 5 souls aboard Alaria which will be very tight with gear and supplies.
It has been a great trip and an experience I will be looking back on over the years. A good Captain and crew mates made this a fabulous time and journey and all for a great cause, to assist Bob in getting his floating home and workshop to where he has critical work to do.
Bob's blog for his research is here:
http://bobsteneck.blogspot.com
The map below is of our route from Maine to St Maarten, a trip that took us 5 weeks to complete.
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| Sail repair in St Martin |
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| Alaria captain Bob Steneck and crew Paul Calder, Ansley Sawyer and Curtis Smith |
It has been a great trip and an experience I will be looking back on over the years. A good Captain and crew mates made this a fabulous time and journey and all for a great cause, to assist Bob in getting his floating home and workshop to where he has critical work to do.
Bob's blog for his research is here:
http://bobsteneck.blogspot.com
The map below is of our route from Maine to St Maarten, a trip that took us 5 weeks to complete.
END PART 3 OF 3
