A dream of sailors
A sailor dream
Sailing across the Atlantic
There are some necessary background this story of adventure:
This is a true story about a boat called Iemanjá that sailed the Caribbean as a charter yacht with crew. The yacht was about seventy-five feet long from bowsprit boat davits. It was a ketch rigged boat with roller reefing on the jib, mainsail and mizzen and all electric winches. GPS car was in front of controlled, fax time, one side band radio, the diesel engine and diesel generators, etc operated. The ship was built in the boat of Florida, but right now I do not remember the age of the boat, but it was very old and in pristine condition. The Iemanjá was owned by a Frenchman living in Paris who knew While the aristocracy of France, who were his principal business customers. To better accommodate your guests boat was cut in three and a half meters and extended to provide based more spacious cabin for their French guests. My daughter was the chef on the boat, as it was in many other charter boats, so they became familiar with the master time and the crew of the boat and sail Caribbean areas. I received a phone call from my daughter that the boat needed another crew member to serving as medical officer and engineer on the boat, and since I was a sailor and an engineer and a physician with the Navy and Marine Corps who thought fit their needs for an additional crew member. This was to be a temporary assignment when the ship was scheduled to sail across the Atlantic to France. As any string (some do and do not say crazy) sailor would have done for the opportunity to sail through the ocean, he accepted immediately.
Here is where the adventure begins. The ship was scheduled to leave Charlotte Amalie in the U.S. Virgin Islands in the Caribbean on May 10 because he had a letter complete first. On my birthday, 25 April, I received another call from my daughter asked me if I could come to the islands immediately as they had a problem with the boat. While the ship was in the letter that the rudder broke, but enough that the rudder remained what they could to limp back to port. I flew out the day after the U.S. Virgin Islands only to discover when I got the boat in dry dock in Roadtown British Virgin Islands. So my boat trip for the first time this trip was in a not so pristine, small motor launch that gives me the BVI. After passing through immigration and customs which was picked up by another crew member and taken to the shipyard where the ship was dry docked. The first thing he did was check out the damage
the helm of ships, the government is broke. The clip is a U-shaped structure of heavy steel that held the rudder in place and also served as the hinge turn the wheel through. When the government broke the rudder to the left without any support. The rudder weighed about 300 pounds was built with a core foam and a steel plate embedded in the foam core, the rudder was covered with fiberglass. The steel plate was welded directly to the stern. About half of the rudder broke. In discussing the problem with the team, I learned that the stump was broken once before. They were unable to confirm a positive, but the consensus was the first time broke the stump of broken glass fiber covering, allowing water to seep into the core of the rudder, which was weakened, eventually causing break. It is not known if the rudder was broken first put undue pressure on the goby causing it to break, or vice-versa.
So the only solution was to replace the entire steering wheel with a brand new and has a pinch of new construction. The problem, we were in the Virgin Islands Roadtown British and the helm of three hundred pounds was in Florida at the factory of the manufacturers. Calling the factory told us that a spare wheel was made for that ship and that they will ship it immediately. It would take at least ten days for the helm to come.
Well, there was plenty of time to kill, all that could contribute to the boat while waiting for Lee cloths was to build each ship berths. When a boat is not sailing is a weather side of the boat, the wind comes and then there is the Lee side, the side of the boat tilted away from the wind. Lee fabrics (which were made from thick canvas) were placed on the edge of the bunk beds that were in the middle of the boat. The purpose of Lee cloths were to keep a sleep Litter person from rolling off the bunk when the edge of the litter that was towards the middle of the boat was on the windward side of the boat (The bed tilts amidships on one side and tilted toward the center on the other side of the boat) for the person sleeping on the side of Lee was shot to the helmet and the person sleeping on the side windward would roll toward the center of the boat and the canvas against Lee. I also had the pleasure of cleaning the bottom of the boat. The rest of the free time we had toured the island and sampling of all the bars and restaurants.
If I remember correctly, the letter that the ship was broken when the rudder was worth about $ 40,000 had to be returned to the group
provided that the Charter. The five crew members, including myself, had private rooms in a local motel, the cost is borne by the owner of the boat and in the ten days the ship was in the courtyard. The cost of ownership also includes the cost rudder and shipping costs, plus other costs. The construction of a new bra twice the original strength, costs about $ 16,000.
The rudder finally arrives. Remember when I said the boat was expanded from three meters? So enlargement has changed the contour of the bottom hull and the rudder was built to match the contour of the original homestead, the contour of the rudder to the hull extended not match. That left us with an option cut the top of the rudder back and re-cut to meet the required contour. There is no easy job and that was beyond our capabilities. So we had to hire a local company to do the job, it took about three days. The rudder was finally done and the next job was to lift the rudder three hundred pounds and adjusting the position of the rudder through the hole in the hull bottom quadrant (which is the decisive mechanism for the rudder), and attach goby again. You've heard about 8oo pound gorilla? Good lifting three hundred pounds a rudder and a post adjustment through a hole six feet above his head, as might well have addressed the 8oo pound gorilla. As the engineer of the ship of this work was left to me. We managed to abuse the helm until he was in the right place at the rear hole. Now it was only to get up and get the rudder post through the hole. Proved to be a pretty simple job using a lever and fulcrum to raise gradually the helm and put blocks under it until it is all the way up.
Now the boat is ready to be put in the water. As mentioned earlier, we will cross the Atlantic and the rudder problem, although they were satisfied to remain and work well we were all still a little apprehensive. I should mention at this point the reason for sailing the boat to France. The owner will have the boat cut in half again and spread to other three meters. This time so you can add separate changing rooms for each guest cabin. My daughter is a chef in the boat, said the French guests tend to dress before dinner, hence the added dressing rooms, but spend their days on the deck in the nude.
The 60,000 lb. Travel lift is now in the boat to lift Place it in the water, unloaded the boat weighs 30.000 lbs more. The boat is tied to the lifting of travel with one of the straps passing in between the stern and propeller shaft and helmet. Once the ship is in the water someone has to dive
under the boat and feed the strap through the shaft aft of the propeller and hull to ensure it does not stick and damage the propeller shaft. That work was assigned to the second officer. The water was warm so the work was not difficult or uncomfortable. I mention that here because we want to repeat this operation at the end of our journey in different circumstances.
The boats on the water the whole crew is board and the next task, and if I may add an unexpected problem, is to take place in Charlotte Amalie in the U.S. Virgin Islands. All necessary shops for crew of five for about twenty-five days must be purchased and stored on board, so that the work remained with the chef. Meanwhile, a new suit of candles were bought for the trip and turned over as soon as tied at the dock. Therefore, put the new sails to make sure everything was okay. As I mentioned earlier the ship had roller reefing. Instead of sailing down the barrier of her, he rolled on the mainmast about a type of PVC pipe that ran the entire height of the mast. Said would experience an unexpected problem, we did, curly as the mainsail on the mast to be hung for some unknown reason and not to roll in or out. As it turned out, whether it was caused by the curl of the candle or the problem first occurred and caused the wing to hang, do not know. It found that about three feet PVC type pipe broke in the top of the mast. We could not sail without it. We try to buy a new length of pipe, but found that only was available back in the states and would take about a week to arrive. It was the work of engineers to solve this case. I mentioned earlier that was kind of PVC tube but did not really know until I was able to see the same material. As it turned out that was exactly like PVC pipe with a slot along it. Well, That was the solution, cut a small part of the broken end of the tube, even if this were not enough, buy a piece of PVC pipe turned out to be of a standard diameter the part you need, make a slit in it, and insert it in the neck at the top of the remaining part of the tube. The slot in the tube is where the luff of the sail to slide in and would keep the extra piece of pipe into place. We put the original suit of sails back on and it worked perfectly. We had a task more to implement and that was to fill our tanks with diesel and fresh water, and without the knowledge of us in time, another problem to solve. When reached
the fueling dock the first officer asked if I could fill the tanks of water, which I did. I filled the tank on the port side and moved the water line over the starboard side. As I had done this many times before in my own ship and others, did not pay attention and (I'm embarrassed to admit even this) I
began to put water in the fuel tank. Fortunately, the first officer saw what he was doing and shouted at me to stop. It was not a problem as bad as you might think as fuel floating on the water surface so just had to siphon the bottom of the tank until the fuel began to receive out. Who completed all our homework before going to sea and into the unknown.
Overnight in Christmas Creek near the island of St. Johns. The next morning after the captain took the motor boat we visit the immigration hoisted anchor and began in the sea. It was a beautiful bright sunny day with blue Caribbean waters and sparkling diamonds. We calypso steel drum music playing to create the environment for the trip. All sails and complete, that is crossed at nine and a half knots and the angle of the boat in twenty two degrees (where he spent most of the trip). The water was relatively calm with a slight dive. The captain set the clock programming, as someone had to be on deck at all times, day and night. The reason is that, although low, no traffic Boat otherwise. Most people would think that the ocean would be something neat, but it is not so. There is much flotsam and jetsam floating in the water, most of which would be detrimental to the boat, but there are 50 gallons floating around, and worst of all large containers are made of container ships have been known to fall off a boat and float just below the water surface.
While sailing across the Atlantic Ocean is an exciting venture that can be very boring very quickly, especially in calm water. Within hours we were out of sight of land and would be for the next ten days. It is difficult to describe the feeling of being alone in the middle of the ocean with water from horizon to horizon. I can only compare the feeling to be one of the astronauts on the moon. The planned route was to sail from San Juan to the island of Fayal in the Azores to the north in the North Atlantic to the city of La Foret in the Gulf of Biscay. As we have Auto Helm and GPS direct the course that very rarely had to touch the helm. For some reason, our single sideband radio interfered with the automatic steering when used we had to manually guide the boat. With nothing to block the view
Scattered showers bursts were visible from horizon to horizon and it was easy avoid them. As mentioned before we had time to fax on board so we were aware ahead of time every time. As you do not have a roadmap for a boat like out a flight plan for an aircraft, if not keep in touch with someone who never know if anyone can
still afloat or some kind of problem. As it turned out there was a ham operator in Bermuda, call sign "to the south two", all the cruise ships that will Contact this operator Ham. We will give the name of the boat and our planned route and weather conditions at our current location. We want to check with him every night at six o'clock in the afternoon and give you our position and the local climate. He in turn, gives the location of the boats that were ahead of us in the field on the route and the time it was ahead of us. What do I say it was very comforting to know that someone was keeping track of you. We had a chance cereals have a boat pass us somewhere near a thousand miles offshore. He came from New Orleans and the delivery of grain to Israel. We had a short opportunity to talk with them the radio. They were advised that we monitor the containers that may have fallen from a container ship. Besides meeting with the ship the trip was uneventful and boring. With one exception, on Friday May 13 we were lucky to see a sunset that was incredible. It was almost neon in appearance with many different colors. We get pictures of her.
The Azores! When first sighted land again was the volcanic mountain on the island of Pico in the Azores. To my great surprise bow of the boat was heading directly for the small mouth of the harbor of Fayal, exactly where our GPS and auto steering is set for. The fund the ocean surrounding the island was covered with large rocks and it would be impossible to anchor outside the harbor. The reason for the steep background was the island of Pico, which was almost a stone's throw from Fayal, was a volcanic island with a high volcanic peak almost in the middle of it, was not active now, but sometime in the distant past, when activated must have fired thousands of lava rocks and areas around the islands that could very possibly missing any anchorage. The port of Fayal was small and we were concerned whether we want to find a berth, otherwise we would have no choice but to continue sailing in the Azores is about 300 miles
to the coastline. We speak to immigration first. Our first officer was in South Africa and this was near or slightly after the era of apartheid in South Africa I would not accept give your passport or a visa that would allow him to go ashore. As expected there was no free space available for what they do is the raft of boats together, ended up being transported in three boats raft of others, so we had to go ashore to walk more than three boats that were tied a. There were hundreds of boats moored at the port from all over the world and goes everywhere in the world. Most of the boats, if not all who are making a stop at the intersection of Fayal on the way through. The port has a concrete pier around him and every ship that passes through paint its logo on the ship and the names of the crew on the pier. We all could do to find space enough to put our logo and the names on the dock. We spent two days at Fayal, sampling local food and bars and replenishment of supplies. If I remember correctly left us on May 21 and headed north towards the Bay of Biscay.
The North Atlantic! We left the island of Fayal in a day that seemed too easier for sailors, wet and gray, ominous clouds cloudy. The weather forecast for the North Atlantic was stormy winds. We decided that if we find the climate was too dangerous to "raise up" and wait for the weather. rises and is a procedure used to set the boat in the wind and set the arm and the mainsail to keep the boat heading to the right, if necessary, there would be a storm anchor to float off the stern of the boat to keep the bow into the wind. As it was in the moment in time and seas are reasonable for the safe navigation so that its action. We can even put a fishing line with a lure Large stern. After a few hours the reel on the rod began to scream and the line was the division of the coil at a speed that the spool is empty line very quickly. The first officer took the post and adjust the tension on the reel and started reeling in trouble all watched with concern that we hoping that this far out at sea have to be a big fish. It took some time before we could take a look at the area where the attraction was and we could see a dark object that appeared to be connected to the temptation, but that still did not know what it was. As he approached the boat they were sure he had a fish, but as I have even started to doubt that it was a fish, the more likely to be algae. As it turned out it was neither fish nor algae, which
was a plastic garbage bag black. Since then known as a Portuguese fish stock.
Continue north about 120 miles offshore Spain. I was standing at the door of the car and something happened around me and in the main hall of the ship. It was a small bird the size of a sparrow and stayed on the boat during the night and flew. As they were more and more northerly wind was increasing and that in a sea following the waves about ten feet high, up to 30 knots and wind howling through the lines of the deck. Another bird landed on the boat this time landed on the rise of the mizzen sail. It was a pigeon that had some kind of band is the leg, which is presumed to be a bird or a racing pigeon. Is passed
night and flew in the morning next. The same night that the bird was on board, around midnight, I guard the bridge, a multi-engine plane flew directly over the boat about a hundred meters and shone a powerful spotlight down on the boat and went flying. Later it was discovered that regular patrols conducted by the French coastguard looking for pirates.
The sea was rough and confused by what they came from different directions, but especially to our bow, we slowed down considerably green water breaking over the bow. The next day the wind was still in our bow, he did not mention riding in diesel in the last couple of days, and we were not making much progress. We started to see some boat business, pilot whales and dolphins swimming many in our bow wave as it is approaching the coast of France. We hoped to get to our point of entry to the city of La Foret sometime early the next morning, but the wind and currents we decreased speed so that we do not reach our entry point to the end of the afternoon. As was approaching the Azores, in our approach to France the ship's bow was pointing straight our entry point. GPS was absolutely incredible.
Our destination was a port large enough for a small river that flowed from the City of La Foret to Bay of Biscay, it was just a short distance down the river to the marina. Arriving at the Marina boat owner was there to greet us. We ship largest in the marina so the owner arranged for us to dock at the outer dock. After having crossed the ocean to the Premier
Crew of the duration of our stay in the Navy.
Our adventure at sea is now over, but there's more to come. The next day we moved the boat to a dock where a crane can reach it. We brought the boat
here to be halved, so there was work to be done. The masts and rigging had to be removed from the vessel and all that loose fittings on the boat. A small crane was brought in to raise the masts the boat. Then a 60,000 lb. crane was hired to lift the boat out of water. As I said when we put the boat in the water on the belts had to be Roadtown submitted to the boat so that the crane could lift. One of the bands had to pass under the stern of the boat, but as it was in the band had to Roadtown be fed between the propeller shaft and the hull and someone had to go under water to put the strap in place. Again, the second officer was elected to do the job. This time there was a bathing suit as she had to strip down to their underwear. Also at this time there was water in the Caribbean was the North Atlantic water was freezing. The work was done and the crane proceeded to lift the boat out of
water and placed in a cradle of several wheels that sat low to the ground. The ship had to be moved about 200 meters to the construction of large reservoir type where the work is carried out. A semi tractor and a fork lift is attached to the boat to transport the 200 meters. The ship and the base is sitting in a shallow groove in the pavement and semi tractor is just spinning wheels without moving the boat at all. Had to use the large crane to back up the lift conveyor and is attached to the front of the semi tractor and were able to carry ship to its destination. We spent an extra week in France watching the preparations to cut the boat in the middle.
Well that's the end of my story, I feel that I have to omit many details, but not the end of the story Iemanja. Iemanjá is still sailing through the Caribbean, but now I think is 108 feet long. We cover approximately 3,500 miles and spent 19 days at sea. Sailors is a saying that I do not remember exactly what I'm going to paraphrase. The candle is 85% boring and 15% of pure terror. We experienced both.
The final
Paul L. Vives http://www.lindasfloridaphotos.com
About the Author
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