Gipsy Moth-eaten

jamesjermain

jamesjermain

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Hi! All, I'm back from my Atlantic ordeal with Gipsy Moth.

Those who have followwed the passage on the Gipsy Moth web site will know all about it. Those who didn't - well let's say it wasn't a typical crossing and Gipsy Moth is pretty well exactly as Sir Francis Chichester described her.

I had serious doubts about the wisdom of sending three 15-year-old first timers on the trip but they cope magnificently and fully justified their selection. Skipper Richard was a saint while Clare, the third adult crew blew the whole plan of having six crew on board for each leg by discovering, half way to Antigua, that she was pregnant - which explained her constant sickness.
 
Well done, James.

Some boats are - well - unlikely to make their crews love them - and others are pussycats. I can remember a very posh S&S yawl that was an utter swine, too.
 
Congratulations on two counts then.....

Managing 193 miles in 24 hrs and reaching Antigua...

Bet you wished for your Cat sometimes? /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
Cats are the dog\'s danglies

I am more than ever convinced that cats are the only way to sail. I spent many off-watch moments planning the modifications I would need to make to Belladonna to make her fit for an Atlantic crossing
 
Re: Cats are the dog\'s danglies

Join the club. I've only ever done one transat - and that was in a cat which looked after us superbly even though we had a fair bit of dicey weather.

There's no way I'd choose to set out on a long cruise in a monohull now or spend time in rolly anchorages. Finding the balance between comfort, speed and capacity for supplies is a bit tricky. I've seen 18.5 knots out of a Lagoon 380 and 15 out of a Lagoon 410 fully loaded, but much less out of a Leopard so my thoughts go Lagoon-wards. The picture of your cat was very interesting, but I wondered what sort of carrying capacity it had to match its good looks and undoubted speed.

I'd still stick to a monohull for Channel/French cruising though, mostly because of getting into visitors berths in marinas.

Well done on the adventure, though - whatever the boat's foibles it's a lot better having it sailing than being a target for beer cans in Greenwich.
 
Re: Cats are the dog\'s danglies

[ QUOTE ]
Cats are the dog's danglies

[/ QUOTE ]
Was this what you mean?
temp7.jpg
 
Re: Cats are the dog\'s danglies

Will this give mr Jermain a proper yardstick to comment on "OCEAN CRUISING YACHTS" next time he does a boat test,Is it true that this was his first ocean crossing?Not that I could aspire to any of the new boats tested!
 
[ QUOTE ]
whatever the boat's foibles it's a lot better having it sailing than being a target for beer cans in Greenwich

[/ QUOTE ]Having read some of the comments made by those who sailed in her, personally I'm not so sure. They just seem to confirm Sir F's opinion that she's a hard to manage dog, and IMHO makes her unfit to take underpriviledged youth to sea, unless it's with a timer fitted to the seacocks and filled full of the kind of underprivileged yoof that goes round spraying graffiti and knicking cars.

But then, the restoration wouldn't have been necessary...
 
That's two birds with one stone then - put her back in Greenwich under the woefully careless protection of the Greenwich Maritime Trust and gather a crew from the first set to vandalise her again.

I'd be fine to see her preserved as a non-sailing exhibit but only if care is taken to look after her and with access for interested people - Sydney maritime museum do this superbly with Kay Cottee's slightly less historical boat.

Whatever the faults, she couldn't be more tender or wet than my current boat, though.
 
I appreciate that a Transat doesn't compare with a week liveaboard but with a crew of other 15 year olds I spent a week on a 50 sq.m with your father, who was the only adult. This included my first night at sea (involuntarily) - a rich, memorable and probably life changing experience
 
So I put forth the suggestion that for next years Design-A-Boat competition the challenge is to make such modifications to GM4's hull,rig,length,etc as to deem her 'companionable'..
 
Re: Cats are the dog\'s danglies

Depends what you mean by 'ocean crossing'. I've been to and fro from the Azores half a dozen times, crossed Biscay rather more often, also North Sea, down to Lagos etc.

I some respects I still haven't crossed an ocean. The Canaries are not the most eastern point of the North Atlantic and Antigua is some way short of the western-most point
 
Hmmm! But you were all under navy discipline, and had sailing experience. Our three lacked amu sort of discipline in their personal lives and hadn't a clue about boats before signing up.

Father was also an exceptional guy.
 
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