[Rhodes22-list] Bahamas offshore cruising class

Mark Kaynor mark at kaynor.org
Sun May 18 10:58:46 EDT 2003


Roger,

Thanks. We wished we had had more wind and waves, too. One of the reasons we
selected this course was to get some open ocean experience. The roughest it
got was 3-5ft with an occasional 6 footer thrown in. The seas mostly ranged
from calm to 2-3 ft. It was pretty cool to look around the horizon and see
nothing but water, though. And every once in a while a cluster of flying
fish would burst through the surface and take off in all directions...

When was your last Gulf Stream crossing? Seems like I remember reading about
it a year or so ago?

Mark



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Roger Pihlaja" <cen09402 at centurytel.net>
To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Sunday, May 18, 2003 8:25 AM
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Bahamas offshore cruising class


> Mark,
>
> I enjoyed your story.  It reminded me of my own trips down the ICW,
> anchoring overnight in Lake Worth, & leaving in the wee small hours of the
> morning to get across the Gulf Stream to Port Lucaya in daylight while the
> Immigration & Customs Agent was still on duty.  I had a lot more wind &
> waves on my last Gulf Stream crossing!
>
> Roger Pihlaja
> S/V Dynamic Equilibrium
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mark Kaynor" <mark at kaynor.org>
> To: <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
> Sent: Saturday, May 17, 2003 5:38 PM
> Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Bahamas offshore cruising class
>
>
> > Julie and I are just back from our offshore cruising class that went
from
> Stuart., FL to Grand Bahama Island and back.We took and passed ASA 101
> (basic keelboat), 103 (basic coastal cruising) and 104 (bare boat
> chartering) at the Chapman School of Seamanship.
> >
> > Both our flights down (US scAir)were late and we didn't get in until
> almost 11:00 pm the night before classes started. With no time to get to
the
> store for food for our dorm room, we walked over to a nearby marina for
> breakfast and were almost late for the first of two days of our 101 class.
> >
> > In retrospect, we probably could have challenged and passed the 101
tests
> fairly easily, given our experience w/ sailing Raven. We spent the first
> morning in class and the afternoon practicing docking, tacking, jibing,
etc.
> in a 27' full keel Morgan with an inboard diesel and tiller steering. I
was
> particularly surprised by how the incoming tide and prop walk combined to
> make the thing just about unmanageable in reverse at the slip.
> >
> > Before we left home, I had dropped an email to Bob Quinn ("NoKaOi")
> letting him know we'd be in Stuart. Bob called Thursday and invited us out
> for dinner. He picked us up on his way home from work, dropped us at a
nice
> "local knowledge" restaurant (at the marina where NoKaOi is berthed), and
> headed home to pick up Kathy. Julie and I had a great time walking around
> the docks looking at the boats, then sat on the deck and had a beer until
> Bob and Kathy arrived. We had a great dinner on the deck, watching the
> sunset. On the way back to the school, Bob was gracious enough to stop by
a
> grocery so we could pick up a few things <important stuff like breakfast,
> lunch, beer, etc>. He also showed us some of the local sights and proved
to
> be an excellent host. Bob and Kathy are great people and we're really glad
> to have made their acquaintance. Thanks, guys!
> >
> > The second day included an hour or so of classroom time during which we
> took the written test, and the remainder of the day was the practical. We
> headed out to an open, protected bay and did our figure eight MOB drills,
> sailing to a mark, trimming the sails, etc. The most interesting part of
the
> day for me was heading back. The tide was coming in and the boat was so
> underpowered we sat still w/ the engine at full throttle. We couldn't run
it
> at that speed for very long w/o overheating, so had to motor sail back
into
> the wind. Every so often, we'd tack back across the channel, losing
ground,
> and, as closely hauled as possible, claw our way a bit further up. It was
> actually pretty much fun, although it did take us a bit longer to get back
> than planned.
> >
> > As soon as we got back, our offshore instructor grabbed us up and hauled
> us out to the Publix supermarket to provision the 44' CSY center cockpit
> cutter we'd be taking for our offshore trip. We got back to the dorm at
> around 9:00pm w/ just enough time to shower and get to bed in preparation
> for a planned 8:00 am departure - the boat drew 6' and if we delayed much
> past 8:00am, we wouldn't be able to get out until the tide came back in.
The
> fourth member of our crew arrived right at 8:00 am and we rushed him
aboard
> and headed out. As it was, we bumped 3 or 4 times on our way out.
> >
> > We motored south on the Intracoastal Waterway to Lake Worth / Palm Beach
> and took a berth for the night at the Sailfish Marina. We left at about
> midnight and began our sail across the Gulf stream against a 3.5 knot
> current. The night watches were made even more interesting by all the
> commercial traffic (cruise ships, freighters, etc) that ply the shipping
> lanes between FL and the Bahamas. Those things are huge! We got to put our
> radio and running light identification skills to the test. Tom, the fourth
> member of our crew, was taking 105 (coastal navigation) and 106 (advanced
> coastal cruising) and the instructor had him plot a course that "crab
> walked" us across the stream (Julie and I also picked up a lot from
> listening in during his "class time"). The wind was pretty light, so we
had
> to motor sail or we would have been carried way north of our planned
course.
> We did duty shifts of 6 hours on, six hours off and got to Port Lucaya on
> Grand Bahama Island and cleared in at around 3 in the afternoon.
> >
> > We spent three nights at the Port Lucaya Marina, going out during the
day
> to practice docking, MOB drills, anchoring, towing a dinghy, etc. All the
> stuff we thought we had pretty well down until we tried it w/ a 44' boat.
> Then all bets were off. Maneuvering that boat was a challenge! I had
> particular trouble backing into a berth. The tide was running abeam of us
> and the effect of the current on the keel was maddening. Great experience,
> though, and I finally nailed it using the current and wind to advantage -
> great feeling of accomplishment.
> >
> > As part of our final practical, Julie and I got to plot the course back
> home, including planning and navigating into the Lake Worth inlet
("piloting
> into an unfamiliar harbor"). The instructor took himself off duty for the
> trip back, leaving the 3 students to find our way back. We did duty shifts
> of 8 hours on and 4 hours off w/ the instructor on call only as necessary.
> To our credit, we never needed him and managed to get ourselves (and the
> boat) back w/o mishap. Unfortunately, there was nearly no wind the entire
> trip back, necessitating motor sailing again. The sea was actually glassy
> until we hit the gulf stream. There was a tiny breeze from the north, and
we
> were really surprised at the  size of the waves such a small breeze kicked
> up as we turned north to ride the current. We were all pretty well worn
out
> by the time we dropped anchor in Lake Worth. We had a 3:00 pm appointment
> for customs and immigration, so we napped and relaxed until it was time to
> clear in.
> >
> > We decided that, since we hadn't done as much sailing as we would have
> liked, we'd get up early (at 4:30 am), head back out, catch the morning
> breeze, and sail up to the St. Lucie inlet. Once again, no wind. We did
have
> a beautiful motor (we would have had to motor if we'd gone up the ICW,
> anyway) and saw loggerhead turtles mating, porpoises, and flying fish.
> >
> > All in all, it was a great experience, and we really learned a lot. I
wish
> we'd had more wind so we could have gotten away w/ less motor sailing,
but,
> nonetheless, we both got quite a lot out of it and are glad we did it. Now
> we just need to find some vacation time and enough spare change so we can
go
> do a bare boat charter in the BVI next winter <g>.
> >
> > Mark Kaynor
> > __________________________________________________
> > Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> __________________________________________________
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