Noob: so you're in the middle of the ocean...

[boathead]

But surely then, logically, if the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers is better known as the ARC. it would be the .............

This is becoming even better, I could engage in a blog whilst participating, between naps of course, I could list it as 'My AR*' and then do a video or two and request you all watch 'My AR*'

p.s. Coll regs!!!!!! Who keeps letting bogeymen out of the bag. Damn it someone will say singlehanded sailing is irresponsible next!

Seriously though, respect to all points of view. We all have our ways of doing things according to our sailing areas and needs.

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

I would suggest that the following year we could do a minimalist version of the event, following the KISS principle...

Meaning the blog could be 'KISS my AR*'

 

[boathead]

I would suggest that the following year we could do a minimalist version of the event, following the KISS principle...

Meaning the blog could be 'KISS my AR*'

Oh you folks are so much quicker than me! So, so good ..... of course the "keep it simple stupid" principle, well spotted 'Morgana'. If this doesn't get taken forward ...... well damn it all what's happened to the world, are we all straight jacketed and poker faced!

If I knew how to do a web site thing ........ well..... oh how beautiful. Thanks for the insightful post 'Morgana.

By the way... I DO HEAVE TO AND AM PROUD OF I, well when I'm not daydreaming or snoozing.

 

[Twister_Ken]

Once hove to North of Alderney for a couple of hours coz otherwise we'd have been to early into the race which would have then been wind over tide. Weird feeling, sitting there doing nothing but reading a book, keeping a look out for shipping, and going nowhere.

 

[timbartlett]

So, anyway, most of these places take more than a day to get to so I'm assuming a set of standard procedures for anchoring at sea. I'd be interested in reading some of your blue-water anchoring tips.

Well, first of all you need a very long piece of rope. About 20,000metres should do, so long as you put 5 metres of chain on the end.

 

[Angele]

Ignore the first day or so after departure and before your eventual landfall, when the density of shipping means you are more likely to be involved in a collision. Mid passage, your chance of a collision per hour if you don't have anyone on watch is, as mentioned by someone else already, about the same if you are progressing onwards under autopilot or windvane as it would be if you were hove to. However, if you press on towards your destination then the total passage time will be reduced and hence the number of hours you are exposing yourself to the risk of collision (and hence probability) is reduced.

Seemples.

Even better, have someone on watch at all times. Then risk of collision should be almost nil.

While we have all asked daft questions at times (although some may claim not to have!), I'm inclined towards the belief that this is a troll.

 

[RichardS]

Well, first of all you need a very long piece of rope. About 20,000metres should do, so long as you put 5 metres of chain on the end.

.... and with that weight of rope you're going to need a damn good design of anchor that holds well without adding too much to the load on the windlass. Might I suggest a R aaaahhhh sh*te - my head just exploded.......................

(name withheld)

 

[cimota]

But really all this at the moment is a complete and utter pipe dream. You need to read a lot more books by people who have actually done it - I am sure people here will be happy to supply a list. Then you need to organise some sailing for the coming year.
- W

It is completely and utterly a pipe dream...today. But that's all going to change this year. Thanks for the additional links.

While we have all asked daft questions at times (although some may claim not to have!), I'm inclined towards the belief that this is a troll.

Not a troll, just trying to change from a magazine-buyer to spending some time aboard.

 

[nathanlee]

your chance of a collision per hour if you don't have anyone on watch is, as mentioned by someone else already, about the same if you are progressing onwards under autopilot or windvane as it would be if you were hove to.

Actually, I'd argue that there's a marginally better (relatively worse, of course) chance of getting whacked while under AP since you could sail straight across a recognised shipping lane.

Anyway, this was not really the point I was intending to make when I mentioned it being a bad idea. It's a bad idea because the OP stated that he intended to get a decent night's sleep, which I presumed to mean hours rather than minutes. THAT bit is the unsafe bit.

Not for the ship though. They'll never know they hit you. It'll just pass through your hull and be your last ever alarm clock.

 

[westernman]

I have been surprised from my passage making at how low the chance of actually getting close to a ship is. All of our passages are in the Med, and across shipping routes. Not once on passage have we had to alter course due to other vessels until close to the coast (less than 5 miles). I can well believe that you have a reasonable chance of being able to sleep 8 hours every night while crossing the Atlantic and not be run down or hit anything.

I will add that passage making a night does have its magic and unless you have experienced it, you are missing out.

We do of course keep proper and continuous look out 24/24 and will continue to do so. Long voyages are more fun with enough crew, and with enough crew watch keeping is not a chore.

 

[cimota]

, this was not really the point I was intending to make when I mentioned it being a bad idea. It's a bad idea because the OP stated that he intended to get a decent night's sleep, which I presumed to mean hours rather than minutes. THAT bit is the unsafe bit.

Not for the ship though. They'll never know they hit you. It'll just pass through your hull and be your last ever alarm clock.

Yeah, I know I said that I wanted to sleep the night - but that was when people said you could. At the moment it sounds like a terribly bad idea. I can certainly handle reduced sleep and I'm reconsidering my crew needs. Sailing shorthanded seems far too risky for me - I've been on some cruise holidays on large cruise ships and I've seen the difference in size between these behemoths and thirty foot sailers.

 

[Twister_Ken]

Yeah, I know I said that I wanted to sleep the night - but that was when people said you could. At the moment it sounds like a terribly bad idea. I can certainly handle reduced sleep and I'm reconsidering my crew needs. Sailing shorthanded seems far too risky for me - I've been on some cruise holidays on large cruise ships and I've seen the difference in size between these behemoths and thirty foot sailers.

It's common for a Ma and Pa crew to take extra bodies aboard for long-distance cruising, to help with watch-keeping and if extra muscle is required. Some insurers, I believe, want a minimum of three crew for trips lasting more than 24 hours. The crew then find their own way home after arrival, while Ma and Pa get involved in some serious coast-hopping.

In the case of the trip you're contemplating, as someone said earlier, almost all of it could be accomplished by day sailing, as long as you're in no rush. If you choose to get to the Med via the north-south canals in France, or the Canal du Midi, you could get your heads down safe and secure every night, with your slumbers aided by French cooking and the a glass or two of local produce.

 

[westernman]

In the case of the trip you're contemplating, as someone said earlier, almost all of it could be accomplished by day sailing, as long as you're in no rush. If you choose to get to the Med via the north-south canals in France, or the Canal du Midi, you could get your heads down safe and secure every night, with your slumbers aided by French cooking and the a glass or two of local produce.

And you will like some places so much that you will stay a few days or more. And then before you know it, it will end up taking years to get to the Med.

But it will have been good fun.

 

[haydude]

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Heres a good one



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Gorgeous bird!

 

[Toutvabien]

Actually, I'd argue that there's a marginally better (relatively worse, of course) chance of getting whacked while under AP since you could sail straight across a recognised shipping lane.

Anyway, this was not really the point I was intending to make when I mentioned it being a bad idea. It's a bad idea because the OP stated that he intended to get a decent night's sleep, which I presumed to mean hours rather than minutes. THAT bit is the unsafe bit.

Not for the ship though. They'll never know they hit you. It'll just pass through your hull and be your last ever alarm clock.

Not many recognised shipping lanes mid-ocean, very few boats and those we met crossing the Atlantic seemed to be pretty random. I would NEVER risk sailing without active watch keeping anywhere near a recognised (charted) shipping lane. Big difference between acceptable behaviour mid channel to mid ocean.

 

[Bajansailor]

"I have been surprised from my passage making at how low the chance of actually getting close to a ship is"

I seem to have had the opposite - boats and ships seem to have a magnetic attraction for each other out on the open ocean!

I quite often saw ships on my watches when crewing on 2 passages across the Atlantic, and would usually call them up on the VHF for a chat - sometimes they came quite close, a few had to change course to give us a reasonably wide distance off.

And we were nearly run down by a large Chinese bulk carrier 30 miles outside the shipping lanes off Cape Finistere; we were hove to in a gale under storm jib and reefed mizzen, engine chose not to start, we saw him coming, but couldn't get out of the way - literally his bow wave pushed us clear...... no response from the ship on VHF, SSB (this was 15 years ago) or to a flare.

Pal of mine was sailing singlehanded from Cape Verdes to here 5 years ago in his 28' wooden boat - he was running fast, in a F 5 - 6, big seas, was down below listening to Herb's net, just after the sun had set, and (I think) he went into the side of a bulk carrier heading north. He put out a call on his VHF, as he was holed and sinking (and no liferaft or dinghy....... I had a dinghy here ready for him), and the ship came back and took him off - amazing seamanship on their part to get a 45,000 tonne ship alongside a little yacht in those conditions.

Changing tack, re the Honeymoon video above, they have quite a few others on YouTube, including one of their transit of the Panama Canal :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzzHEIU_KCQ

 

[jax]

Alongside a quay in the Med one day we were asked by a passing onlooker "what do you do about sleeping at night?" They went away quite happily with our answer " we check in to the Aqua-Hilton" - Don't think they were sailors

 

[Babylon]

What about a C.A.R.D. radar detector?

Slight drift here, but concerned with sleeping on passage singlehanded.

My boat came with C.A.R.D. radar detector fitted (are these still being made?), with an alarm volume which could be set from quiet to pretty loud. The analogue display is very basic (8 points of the compass), but sufficient to very quickly let you know there's a big ship within your horizon and on what rough relative bearing.

The point is that this kit is in effect maintaining some sort of 'watch' against ships while the singlehander sleeps, significantly reducing the chance of catnaping or dozing resulting in a collision. (Doesn't mean you'll not hit a chap in a radar-less folkboat mid-ocean, but at least this won't kill you.)

See: http://www.survivalsafety.com/

 

[shaunksb]

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Gorgeous bird!

Yes.....quite.

and she can stand her watch and make fresh Pizza - what more does a man want?

In this video it's not so plain sailing




Fred drift - having seen how the other boat is rolling in bad weather I am starting to lust after a catamaran.

 

[Twister_Ken]

Slight drift here, but concerned with sleeping on passage singlehanded.

My boat came with C.A.R.D. radar detector fitted (are these still being made?), with an alarm volume which could be set from quiet to pretty loud. The analogue display is very basic (8 points of the compass), but sufficient to very quickly let you know there's a big ship within your horizon and on what rough relative bearing.

The point is that this kit is in effect maintaining some sort of 'watch' against ships while the singlehander sleeps, significantly reducing the chance of catnaping or dozing resulting in a collision. (Doesn't mean you'll not hit a chap in a radar-less folkboat mid-ocean, but at least this won't kill you.)

See: http://www.survivalsafety.com/

I think the C.A.R.D. is no longer, but the active radar transponders from Sea-Me and Echomax have an alarm function. I have the Echomax fitted, but haven't tried the alarm out for volume, yet.