Prep for next year

BlackPig

BlackPig

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www.scottishensign.co.uk
Those who are doing the American run next year would have completed there shake down trips by now.

What did you do?
what did you find out?
what are you changing over the winter?
Graham
 
Well, you would have thought so, wouldn't you? I was hoping there would be some traffic on the site on this very issue. As for me, I haven't done mine yet, incredible though that seems. I'd (much) rather not have left it so late. When it's done, I'll certainly raise a post - and a glass. Stuff just gets in the way, doesn't it?
 
Last year JAC2008 my shake down trip was from Blyth, Northumberland to the start line ( almost 700 nm)giving myself at least one week before the start to iron out any problems or changes to make. THIS IS TOO LATE. Not that I had any problems with Helix but its just “chancing it” a bit.
As it happens I arrived at Torquay (just around the corner) one week early but had to travel home to Newcastle as my son became critical in hospital. By the time I returned and provisioned the yacht the earliest that I could set out was 6 days after the start gun had gone off. Past the start line “really alone”
As I noted in my log, a quote from “somebody”

“Who do we think we are to plan the future, Gods ?”

Best wishes

(My son is fine)
 
Interesting article. I would hope to do the QC at the same time of year as the event the year before.

Being Clyde based a trip to St Kilda and back is just over the 500 nm. I will be aiming for a small island a bit like the Azores but in a different direction.

A video tour around some boats would be nice, possible posted on youtube.

Graham
 
I was more interested in one of the associated Youtube videos which looked at someone cooking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkExqVmFnSI&NR=1

Personally I can't see how anyone can exist on that freeze dried food [Sterren might have water ballast - but some of us use our tins of food as a moveable ballast to put on the weather side every time we tack]. But I thought his cooker was very cute. And the big question is 'How does he cook his Fray Bentos pies on it?'

I was also interested in the video on 'How do you sleep?'. Two things I noticed is that the skipper was using an electronic alarm and also lee cloths. I find if you use an old mechanical kitchen timer, you can set it when half asleep, just turn it a quarter of a turn for 15 minutes. I've found an electronic one actually requires you to be fully awake and turning lights on to set. I also find that setting lee cloths takes time and a degree of concentration. My idea of good watchkeeping is for the kitchen timer to go off [I actually use two set about a minute apart, very roughly] I get up stick my head out have a good look around to see if there are any lights out there - this means making sure that you are on the crest of enough waves to see the whole 360 degrees, then back to the cabin set my kitchen timers and back to sleep for another 15 minutes. I believe I can do all this without being fully awake which means that come the next day I am more properly rested.
 
What did you do? I entered the JAC08 as a qualifying cruise for next year. Learnt a lot, but now feel that a 500 mile qualifier is the bare minimum for a long singlehanded trip.
What did you find out? Lots! Don't get cold, hungry, thirsty or tired!Mostly well prepared, but hadn't reckoned on four days seasickness (I lost over a stone in weight, but wouldn't recommend it to weightwatchers!) - it's the things you don't anticipate that cause the problems. I got bored easily and didn't take enough books, so that's something I'll address.
What are you changing over the winter? Not much, but trying to eliminate all those irritating niggles that seem to assume greater importance than they should when you're wet, cold, tired and seasick! Mostly a matter of ergonomics.

I have experimented with freeze dried food and have found it universally unpalatable. Frankly it's just as easy to heat a tin and it tastes much better. I shall take a complete supply of Fray Bentos pies, nothing tastier in a rough sea, assuming of course that John hasn't cornered the market already. And I have honed my breadmaking skills but have yet to create a loaf in a F9.

If anyone's interested in my boat prep, I'll happily respond to PMs in full detail.
 
jesterchallenger said:
And I have honed my breadmaking skills but have yet to create a loaf in a F9.
Click to expand...

Don't forget scones. I find that when the weather is rough that making bread is difficult, but scones which only take 5 minutes to prepare and 15 minutes to cook are easy to do sitting on a berth, when it is impossible to knead the bread dough. Australians are also famous for damper which is basically a scone mix [flour and baking powder] cooked in an open fire either plain, wrapped in alfoil or plonked in a billy and put over the fire. A variation I use is to just make up my scone mix [but with lots of raisins/ sultanas/ currants] and cook it in a bread tin as though it was bread for 30 mins. Then slice it a bit thicker than bread so that it stays together and cover it with jam - lovely with a mug of tea.

I currently have 26 Fray Bentos pies ready for 2010 a bit more than I require I hope [I only eat one a week at sea and an extra or two to celebrate half way points], but they were really cheap and I couldn't resist. Tescos still have plenty on the shelves but no longer at 76p each unfortunately.
 
[Australians are also famous for damper which is basically a scone mix [flour and baking powder] cooked in an open fire either plain, wrapped in alfoil or plonked in a billy and put over the fire.
-----------------------------------------------------------

God forbid BUT if a boat catches fire and all measures have failed to put it out. one could bussy oneself making "damper" "every cloud has a silver lining" eh !
 
Bonjour
Yes, Sterenn has water ballasts. What a tin racer spirit to ballast the tins... I thought I had a racing boat but John was far ahead!
I don't use dried food. I had some prepared meals under plastic conditioning. I had one a day at sun set "Langue de boeuf sauce madere" for example with a glass of wine... For the fun, I also have on Sterenn "civet de Lapin".
I have a gingle single fire camping gaz cocker; with a spare bottle (no butane in the US) and burner. I used one gaz bottle for a transatlantic crossing. I have a saucepan, a keetle and a frying pan. I also have a Bundum coffee pot.
I took bread for the trip from the start (round loaf). I forgot to take conditionned sliced bread. The bread was a bit green at the end of the trip but the center was eatable.
Eric
 
"Two things I noticed is that the skipper was using an electronic alarm and also lee cloths. I find if you use an old mechanical kitchen timer, you can set it when half asleep, just turn it a quarter of a turn for 15 minutes."

On Sterenn I had an electronic alarm that worked as a kitchen timer. It was screeming like a police car and it was too unconfortable. I used my cellphone alarm and timer functions with an dynamic tune. I would set the timer on a quater and the alarm on half an hour latter. In case I would "forget to wake up" at the first ring, an other one would wake me up a quarter latter.
I also have a kitchen timer, as a spare. I used it during the return trip two-handed where I was less tired.
The racers use a masochist alarm called "screening nanny"....
Eric
 
Timers & lee cloths

I had four battery run kitchen timers and one clockwork. The clockwork one succumbed pretty quickly to salty sea air, but the battery ones are all still working. They have a variety of tones from a gentle nudge to a full blown screaming siren. I usually set at least three to go off within 2 minutes of each other. They are all out of reach of my bunk, so I have to get up! I hate them all!! I have leecloths and tie up the head end with a quick release knot for hasty evacuation in an emergency. I also use a double duvet folded in half rather than a sleeping bag, so as not to hamper a speedy dash for the deck - cold weather you're inside it, hot weather on top of it. My bunks are so narrow I use the lee cloths even in a marina to stop falling out, but at sea the narrowness means you stay put without rolling, so a good sleep is guaranteed even rolling hard downwind.
 
There's an interesting article in the latest Junk Rig Association by Jeremy Snodgrass about his preparation for the last OSTAR. Circumstances conspired to force him to use his delivery trip to Plymouth as his qualifying cruise, leaving him very little time to get the boat sorted before the start. So after heading into some heavy weather just after the start, he was so exhausted that he felt overwhelmed by everything and retired. Moral of the story is, give yourself plenty of time, don't leave it all to the last minute. And qualifier cruises are better done in Autumn than Spring - it can be very cold in April! I delivered my boat to Plymouth for the JAC in early April and we had a N8 and heavy snow!
 
jesterchallenger said:
I have leecloths and tie up the head end with a quick release knot for hasty evacuation in an emergency. I also use a double duvet folded in half rather than a sleeping bag, so as not to hamper a speedy dash for the deck - cold weather you're inside it, hot weather on top of it. My bunks are so narrow I use the lee cloths even in a marina to stop falling out, but at sea the narrowness means you stay put without rolling, so a good sleep is guaranteed even rolling hard downwind.
Click to expand...

Lee cloths:
I had what I thought to be a superb lee cloth on Golden Dragon (JAC08) and I was very comfortable until one night I got thrown into it by one of those 'Mother-in-law swells' that go in a different direction to all the others! I was very lucky to get away with a nasty rope burn across my lip/cheek and a very sore neck. Stuffing some cushions into the berth reduced the width and hence the distance that I would move in a repeat incident. If doing the challenge again, I would make the berth much tighter from the outset although I don't really like to be so constricted. The cushion scenario was probably the best compromise so that one could be a little more comfy when it was really warm but safe when bumpy. It's one of those things that one maybe does not consider important until you venture 'out there'!
Sleep Timers:
I found electronic kitchen timers great. One attached to the lee cloth by my ear, the other set 1 min later and out of reach. I can't remember one instance when I needed the backup and usually switched it off before the alarm sounded bit it was nice to know that it was there should the first fail to wake me for whatever reason. Both were very light weight so unlikely to cause injury and very loud. They are designed for the kitchen and so are waterproof, go for ever on a small battery but yes I did have a clockwork version as well - which quickly failed! It rusted up inside!!
 
Prep Trip Blues

Well, I thought I'd let you know how it's going with the prep trip, or rather the prep trip prep. Yeah, that's it: the prep for the prep trip. I've just about reached the completion point of the prep trip prep - the as-near-as-I'll-ever-get point, rather than the I've-done-everything-I-can-think-of-time-and-money-no-object point. I've just splashed out on the final round of purchases - plb, spare gps, screaming meanie (thanks Georgio), jordan drogue etc. But no Iridium phones, AIS and other jolly nice to have stuff. The Cash Crunch you know.

My final buying trip was down to the chart agent, located in the Port of Liverpool building - one of the three graces, and the finest of them all on Liverpool's world heritage waterfront. The awe inspiring architecture outside is a foretaste for the magnificence within. In the centre of the building, looking up into the dome, I read the inscription "THEY THAT GO DOWN TO THE SEA IN SHIPS THAT DO BUSINESS IN GREAT WATERS THESE SEE THE WORKS OF THE LORD AND HIS WONDERS IN THE DEEP". If there's a joke in there somewhere, I just can't see it. I mean I could really do without that sort of thing right now, thanks.

I don't know what happened during the last two months. I thought I was close to setting off, but I wasn't. I've questioned myself time and again, is that job completely necessary? am I really just putting things off? One thing I've known all along is if I don't do the prep trip I won't be doing the main event. I might be in the company of people whose biggest concern is what they are going to eat or how many Fray Bentos pies to pack. But I'm not in that league, nowhere near.

Eric says the difficult part is getting to the start line. That's not even on the horizon yet and the prep trip has just been getting more and more daunting. Early in the year I was casually wondering where to go. North or South of Ireland? North made sense - closer, less shipping - and in the balmy summer weather, spending a week heading west followed by a week going back east on a modest diet of corned beef and baked beans didn't seem an overwhelming prospect. I googled a map of Rockall as I knew it was out there somewhere, and it seemed to have just about everything going for it. It's actually on the american continental shelf which is rather good, and means going off soundings. Hey serious, dude. And it's certainly proved a magnet for cranks, so that clinched it.

Some time later, back on the internet I came across a page on the Southampton Oceanography site called "The Extended Ellett Line" - hmm interesting stuff eh. Then, what's this link "The notorious Rockall weather"? ... "Over the years the weather in the Rockall Trough has gained a fearsome reputation amongst the oceanographic community..." Whaaat? Fearsome? B-b-b-b-

Turns out that back in February 2000 the RSS Discovery "encountered giant waves nearly 30m high", and "The significant wave height of 18.5 m (representing the height of the waves over 30 minutes [yawn] ) was the largest ever measured in the ocean" Huh? Largest? EVER? The biggest wave was 95 feet.

So what's all that twaddle I've been reading over the years about massive seas building up in the southern ocean with waves of - wow - 40 to 50 feet? Rogue troughs on the Agulhas Bank? "Hell and High Water" - you wanna come up 'ere mate, we've got some proper waves. You're not supposed to get 30 metre waves in anything less than a full blown tropical hurricane, or so I thought. My daydreaming exercise with a map and a pin has taken on a new and alarming significance. What am I to do, slink off with my tail between my legs? Go somewhere else? Go where? Aaaargh.

Truth is, and the real reason I'm sitting writing this, I'm having a severe case of the jitters. Bottling it. Even the very idea of going to Rockall looks pretty stupid. I mean, who in their right mind, with a whole empty ocean in front of them, is going to head for the one and only rock for hundreds of miles in any direction? Chances of hitting the thing are pretty remote, but as Jessica Watson demonstrated, snit happens. Admittedly Rockall's a lot smaller than a supertanker, but it's not a moving target and it ain't going to try and get out of the way. And it's not even as if you could actually go and sit on it as it's just a sheer rock face on all sides. People have gone all the way there in the summer just to clamber onto it and had to give up.

I wish Achilles had two heels. Then my two biggest concerns could be the self steering gear and the skipper. Both are untested. But I guess I'd have a fighting chance fixing the first one. So there's really only one Achilles heel after all. Go! Go on! Do it! Now what's the problem? Oh me shoelace has come undone.

My vision of my prep trip has changed from a jolly summer jaunt into something rather less appealing. I set off from Liverpool, making my way generally northwest leaving the Isle of Man to starboard (been there) and crossing the belt of gales (but not like that) currently running up from St Georges Channel about forty miles off the Irish coast - as graphically depicted by the magicseaweed over the last weeks. By the time he reaches the tidal bottleneck and narrow TSS of the North Channel, the hapless skipper will be prostrate on the cockpit sole, shivering uncontrollably and expending every last ounce of energy in a vain attempt to find something to throw up. I try not to think much beyond that as the Rockall Trough lies not far enough away. Better to concentrate on the good times and avoid dwelling on the unpleasant side of things, I always think.

Anyway, enough of all that. The time has finally arrived. Tomorrow, I'm gonna go for it. Er, well, I can't actually cos I've just remembered I've got to register the plb. Oh, and correct those charts. And, I don't know, there might be enough space on deck for yet another grab rail, and you can't have too many of those, can you?
 
Pre prep trip trip

Thanks, David. Forum's been quiet lately so here's today's milestone...
I've crossed off every one of the dozens of jobs on the latest A3 list, so apart from awaiting the arrival of my Jordan Drogue kit, the Prep Trip Preps are officially ended, binned off. The kit should arrive in about two weeks.
So today, therefore, marked the beginning of the next stage with the first of the Pre Prep Trip Trips. A forecast of Southerly F6 to 8, increasing 7 to 9 doesn't get fulfilled here as we are sheltered from that direction and I wanted a run out into the river to try out the "storm jib" and discover what the self steering gear does in anything other than light airs. The "storm jib" actually looks rather like a Flying Fifteen jib to me. Pretty thin material compared to any of my other sails, but I guess it'll hold out. Never used it before.
The JC itself is actually the last of a series of mighty leaps for me. I've only ever been a strictly fair weather sailor. But I've long known the theory, I know people like Guzzwell have been voyaging in small boats for many years. After two years work, my own boat has gone from a completely unsuitable craft to an eminently suitable one in my eyes. Even after taking into account the odd blunder, such as going to the expense of buying a liferaft and then putting it in a locker on deck that I can't get open with much less than a hammer and chisel, the boat still looks to my eye thoroughly seaworthy.
So, it was out the dock and into the Mersey for a couple of hours. The log only crept up from 77 miles to 82, so I didn't get very far, just 5 miles. But it was nevertheless a major milestone in this campaign. The web enabled met station on Hilbre Island, about ten miles to the west, recorded F7 for the period with a short lull F6. My own eBay instrument recorded max gusts of 37 knots in the first hour and 30 knots in the second period. On the water, the wave height was about 1 metre and with the wind against tide they were breaking continuously. But the thing that really made me feel this was a great milestone was I didn't have any doubts. I went down to the river, looked at the cascading piles of water, and I felt confident about everything - the engine, the jackstays, the sails, the boat and in my ability to go out there, sail around in an F7 and come back again.
That was new and unexpected. I actually enjoyed it. It was fun.
 
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