Cherbourg Trip Statistics

[Robin]

Since it seems discussion can now take place in an open forum, can we have some 'Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics' to compare please?

Which boats made it there and back, what ratio of 'classics' to 'quality' or 'AWB' were there to prove or disprove some of the recent postings on suitability for offshore use?

As an outsider reading post trip posts so far it seems that:-

Some 'classic' yachts are not perhaps as seakindly as has oft been claimed.

Some 'quality' yachts fall apart in a bit of a sea and in strong winds need some engine assistance.

Some paper qualifications disolve quickly in salt water spray (or alcahol).

No SWMBOs made it across.

Culinary expertise is only used in the context of choice of restaurant.

Yet a humble AWB of moderate size had a pleasant, speedy and uneventful trip.


All somewhat tongue in cheek of course.......:0)


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[Sergeant_Pepper]

Try this opinion:

Was forging along in my 33' relatively full keeled GRP classic and getting wet. What I wanted was:

- 6 or 7 feet LOA more ... for internal comfort
- 6 - 7 feet more LWL ... to get me homw faster
- A cabin heater ... to dry out my oilies (thrown in the skip on arrival)

I would not have minded a bit more freeboard either, and I would love an HR style windscreen with one of those integral sprayhoods to make it dry sailing ...

IF I win the lottery it will be an HR 42 for me!

As to culineray skills afloat, I took the apporach this time of going very lightly prepared and we munched on apples, cheese, bread, local jams, and such all from the local market in Cherbourg. Delicious. WOuld I have cooked in my normal way? not on your nelly.

I can say that my older slower boat fought her way around the I of W VERY close inshore and while we started the engine at one point we did this as a precaution.

I did envy those 40 footers galloping offf over the horizon to be home hours ahead of us though!



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[Twister_Ken]

Boats there.

HR 42*
Dehler 37
Oyster 37 Heritage
Benny Oceanis 36 CC**
Tradewind 35
Roberts 34
Benny Oceanis 331
Colvic Countess 33
Van de Stadt Seacracker 33
Wauquiez Centurion 32

*Engine mounts broke in seaway
**Roller furler line parted

Boats that didn't make it

Twister 28 - turned back due to crew considerations
Najad 44 - damaged mainsail

SWMBO one
Young daughter one

So two plastic fantastics, and one Dehler. The rest older and/or heavier designs.




<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.writeforweb.com/twister1>Let's Twist Again</A>

 

[iangrant]

To be fair to Asterie - my fault - I think perhaps I had a mount or two broken before - there was a slight vibration on the rev range which is now explained ..I'll let you know when they come out how many she was running on..

How many other boats can you think of would get you home in those conditions with just a little vibration and no engine mounts? .We didn't even have a drip on the shaft seal.
I'm bloody sure my Jeanneau S/o would have been a broken shaft and a sinker in that situation..

I'll stick with the HR ta..

Ian

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[tome]

Robin

Richard and SWMBO Gill made it safely on Ayesha. Shame there weren't more going as my wife would have enjoyed the company if there were a few.

Making a cup of coffee was a challenge. Some stats from Amaya:

Left midnight Thursday tied up Cherbourg Friday 14:30 crossing distance 76.5M av speed 5.3K. Five crew max wind F7 0300 - 0600 else F6. Wind was WSW starboard tack throughout (close hauled). No use of engine except entering/leaving harbour.

Left Cherbourg Sunday 0500 tied up Northney 1740 crossing distance 85.6M av speed 6.75K. Five crew wind F6 beam reach, starboard tack throughout.

Engine hours total 3.6 sailing hours total 27.1. No damage to report, except minor liver wastage. Boat felt good throughout!

Regards
Tom

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[Oldhand]

If you have an Aquadrive between the gearbox and the shaft, then this takes the shaft thrust and locates the inboard end of the shaft thus a broken engine mount is probably not a disaster. However, an Aquadrive takes much of the load and any shaft vibration off the engine mounts so they are less likely to fail in the first place.

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[Oldhand]

I'd rather be located lower down and further aft than on an HR, thus I would rather be in a Malo.

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[bedouin]

I can't speak for other boats, but Bedouin acquitted herself very well. Her low freeboard means she is wetter than many other boats but her motion was very comfortable.

We were the smallest boat to make it all the way across, but by no means the slowest, and managed to pass a couple of other boats on the way back (I will spare their blushes by not naming them). On the way back we averaged >6.5 kts harbour entrance to harbour entrance. The GPS claims a maximum SOG of 23kts, but I am not totally sure I believe it.

We would have gone even better if her stupid skipper had listened to the weather forecast and hoist the right sails. To make that mistake once was perhaps understandable given the forecast was for the winds to lighten during the day - to do the same 2 days later must suggest that said skipper doesn't learn from his mistakes (and that wasn't the only one).

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[StugeronSteve]

Two J'sIII (Oceanis 331) AWB made it back in admirable form, average speed, Cherbourg outer wall to Needles Fairway Buoy, in the order of 6.3kts SOG. Rounded up to a few nasty gusts, recorded at 30knt plus, but responded to helm well throughout (was lashed to it for 10.5hrs and survived the experience). Crew stayed relatively dry but for skipper / helmsman who took each rogue greeny straight on the chin and navigator Gezzer who copped a freak that came over the starbord qtr. and deposited some of its contents in through a rearward facing dorade.

Boat seems to be in one piece and ready for further action.

First cross channel trip for boat and skipper, latter well pleased with former but not sure if the feeling is mutual!





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[tome]

Well done StugeronSteve on a first xing in challenging conditions

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[StugeronSteve]

Cheers Tom, didn't get much time to talk at weekend but look forward to another chance.

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[Cutter]

As Cutter's SWMBO , soon to be known as "Cutterlass", thanks to all those we had fun with last weekend...enjoyed Stingo's stability test, even if own stability somewhat in question at that point!

Honked over the boat in both directions for the second time in 25 years ...must be age or fitting with good evening before!

Curiuos to see you were all afraid to take SWMBO's on your trip! Must be good reasons................?

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[NigeCh]

Outlaw Problems & Lee Bowing

Sorry that I couldn't be on Sgt Pepper. I got scuppered and had to deliver the Lima Outlaws to Gatwick last Saturday AM (very early) from Reading-by-the Sea.

I understand from Humps that you had a good but wet Tom Cunliffe excercise on the way back which involved lee-bowing. Did it work? (See Tom Cunliffe's 'A Question of Navigation' in YM Nov 2003 pages 57 & 61)

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[Guest]

Re: Arcturus

Arcturus.
Great weekend. Well worth the trip. Only just beginning to catch up on sleep.
Uneventful and pleasant trip over from Gosport however return trip raised an eyebrow.
Departed Cherbourg 6am BST, arrived Gosport 11.40pm.
A few incidents but down below looks like carnage or a teenagers bedroom. Not sure which is worse.
Experienced engine failure on the way back. The engine would only start if I hand primed it but once I stopped the engine would die. I suspect a defective fuel lift pump. This is our brand new Beta Marine engine. They are despatching a new pump so I will be able to confirm or otherwise. As a consequence we arrived 5 hours later than planned and had to sail into the marina. Tony has suspected fractured ribs (slight exageration) after being hurled from the chart table into the cooker and smashing the galley door in the process. However – sympathy from his partner makes this all worth while. Also his determination to give up smoking failed at this point only to be limited by the soggen cigarettes. We shipped about ½ ton of water via the gas locker. The water was coming up the gas vent pipe and over the top of the gas locker. One of the baby stays seperated. The slatted seating broke where the autopilot mount is rendering the autopilot out of action. The cockpit was relatively dry with the occasional dumping of water. What made it bearable was the realtively warm weather and no rain. Lyndsey our 11 year daughter enjoyed the meet in France and survived the return experience. I think it will be a while before she does a cross-channel again but any future boyfriends will be required to pass the boat test!


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[BlueSkyNick]

Cutterlass?

Nah, BlowDry (as labelled on the night) would be much more fun.

Glad you had a great weekend.

Wanted to get my own first crossing out the way before inviting SWMBO - maybe next time.

Hope to meet you both again shortly.

(Liked the trousers, by the way!)

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[Robin]

I always felt that our last boat a Westerly 33 Ketch should have gained 'classic' status but never did except to me. She would have revelled in last weekend's conditions, possibly under cheat's rig of mizzen and part rolled genoa. I suspect for the same LOA of 33' she had a lot more internal volume than yours and also a longer LWL at 28'10" she was a 'big' 33 for her time. I can say certainly our latest boat at 41' would have been very quick indeeed and surprisingly much drier too than the W33 where the centre cockpit put you much closer to the green stuff being thrown back if the wind was ahead of the beam. The advantage of the aft cockpit, especially on 41' is that you are well back from the spray, we sail mostly with the sprayhood down these days even upwind up to F5, whereas on the W33 default was 'up'.

As to oilies (actually haven't needed them at all this year in almost 2000mls!) we have gone back to the old plastic fantastics in keeping perhaps with our new boat. PVC wet gear from Guy Cotten in France, much much cheaper, very dry and very robust with the big advantage that at the end of a rough trip you just wash down with a hose, shake most of the water off and hang to dry in double quick time. No longer do we struggle for days trying to dry fur lined collars and pockets of ultra heavy, expensive Southern Ocean gear.

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[Robin]

Re: Arcturus

Wow!

Hope everything is sorted quickly for you. The positive thought is that at least now the problems that might occur have identified themselves and can be fixed for the future! Well done too for sailing back and not calling the RNLI's get you home service.

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[Robin]

Volvos seem to have a tendency to break engine mounts, we installed a new MD22L on our last boat and a weld broke on one of the mount brackets in the 1st year.

What kind of shaft seal do you have, is it the old fashioned type or one of the new ones? I wouldn't trust our Deep Sea Seal to stay dry if the engine was going walkabout, in fact I don't trust it full stop and will change it for a PSS this winter.

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[themount2]

Re: Arcturus

As crew on Arcturus I would like to second that "well done" for getting us all back safely and in one piece ( Tony might even have an extra piece for a while due to that rib!). When I first met up with Edward I told him "I wanted to experience some heavy weather situations" - we're getting there.
Pictures in development at the moment will post when available.

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[Robin]

Just a regular nice weekend sail, just as it should be!

We, SWMBO and I, were hoping to go as last minute entrants but it seems everything was set in stone before we found out we were available so we just did Poole - Lymington and back. Hit 16.7 kts off Poole Bar on a wicked wave, maybe more before I dared look, and we only had a bit of genoa out ready for the rough bit as we went in too. The sea state on both Friday pm and Sunday did not match the wind (F5/6 Friday, F6 gusting 7 on Sunday in Poole Bay), the strong tides were probably to blame. The survey boat operating in Poole Bay was working on Friday but by Sunday was just motoring gently into the seas without their cables down, reflecting the sea state I suspect.

We (well SWMBO) makes only filtered coffee, straight into a 2L S/S pump operated Vacuum Flask kept in one of the sinks, with cockpit S/S insulated mugs with lids as well. Not easy in bad seas but at least it cuts down the number of times to make it.



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