Reflections on my first passage

First passage was considerably harder than I had anticipated.   Preparation was intense, weather differed from that which was predicted and sometimes I had difficulty communicating with my crew. It was a considerable challenge to purchase, refit and bring her south all within the span of one summer. In some ways I had my ass kicked. By the end I was exhausted.  But I feel I risen to the next level,  that of someone who's done and I'm sure passage on his own boat. I have a considerable number of thoughts regarding how to make future passages better.

The first section, from Northeast Harbor to Cape Cod, was supposed to take 36 hours and it took 54. And they were 54 hard hours. The wind, which was predicted to be opposing us but light, was opposing us but heavy. We could only make 2 to 3 kn motoring into the wind so we sailed, considerably increasing our distance.  On the second night of this, alarm started to go off. First the propane monitor sounded but we could find no trace of propane. Then the bilge alarm went off. If the propane alarm is like a bedside alarm clock, the bilge alarm is like a fire truck in your bedroom. Sure enough, the bilge was full of water. I grabbed the bilge handle to start pumping. My crew member, in a shining moment, found a loose wire behind the bilge pump switch, reconnected it, and suddenly the bilge was empty.

The alarm issue stems from preparation.  There was a fury a recent activities in the three weeks before departure and things were wrapped up only the day before. I had the unrealistic expectation that I could show up at the boat Thursday night and leave Friday morning (which is bad luck anyway).  My crew found the fuel gauge was not working which Morris did fix for us.  I still had a list of stuff to do, but my crew pressured me to leave and reassured me that we could get the last few things done underway and I caved in even though I knew better.

It seems that the bilge was full of water because we did not get the hole sealed up where the anchor chain enters the boat.  That had been on my list. The  bilge alarm wire was probably knocked off when the mechanic was trying to get the fuel gauge working again. The propane alarm probably went off because of the humidity caused by the water in the bilge.

As we were approaching Cape Cod the weather router called and apologized for the missed forecast. I guess that stuff just happens.

I also made a rookie mistake of not securing the halyard after dropping the main sail.  The slack in the line wrapped around the radar reflector on the forward side of the mast between the first and second spreader.  After devising a plan for nearly an hour in my head, we tried to retrieve it. I thought  I needed a rope draped over the first spreader. I could then attach the end of the halyard to the middle of this rope, bring it over the spreader and forward of the mast, pull the halyard down to me, then swing it to free it from the reflector.  I could then us the rope over the spreader to pull the halyard over the spreader and aft of the mast again. We used the accessory jib halyard to hoist a coil of rope but the coil did not have enough weight to fall back down against the resistance of the halyard and just got stuck up there. The Justine has an accessory main halyard so we were able to keep sailing.

We pulled into Sandwich, the town at the east end of the Cape Cod canal, at night, feeling a little like a Charlie Brown Christmas tree with our halyard and coil of rope twisted around our mast. I took my first-ever trip up the mast, though I only went halfway. The "24 hr fuel dock" was not open so we pressed on because the tidal current was going our way and you cannot go through the canal against the tide.  We didn't want to wait 12 more hours for the next favorable tide.  The weather router also told us that we were set up for following winds from Montauk to Cape May and we were eager for that opportunity.

We passed in the dark from the canal into Buzzards Bay. The outgoing tide and the opposing winds created some significant chop, but the books had warned me of that.  My crew was not as comfortable with the chop. Several tense minutes later we hit a rock because after taking the helm from him I did not get a bearing of where we were and became confused.  I also did not realize the the navigational canal continues long past the point at which we thought we exited the canal.  It is a dredged canal marked by buoys and I steered the boat outside them.

We spent the night in Onset then regrouped for a day.  During that time I dove to look at the keel, we figured things out and I regathered my resolve to complete the passage.  It was then a pleasant trip, albeit motor-sailing to make up some time, through Long Island Sound and down the East River past Manhattan.  We took the river with the tide and had none of the issues going past Hells Gate that forum discussions fret about.  We hit it at sunset followed by the lights of the city.  Continued straight out, past the Statue of Liberty and out into the Atlantic.  We could sail much of our only offshore stretch and entered Delaware Bay on a flood tide well south of Cape May.  The flood tide and perfect wind made it seem like we were flying up that channel.  Huge boats going past silently as long as I stayed on my side of the road.

I hit ground in the C & D canal because I guy said a bridge was closing and I stepped away to look at the map.  I looked up and saw the shore just off the starboard side, lunged for the Autopilot "off" button and yanked the wheel just as we scraped.  More lead gone, but I think my boat is tough enough for that.  I will have her pulled in Norfolk for cleaning and that will give me a chance to make double sure and to have my lead divots filled.

Chesapeake Harbour Marina

I cannot emphasize enough how difficult the crew situation was.  At times I was simply flabergasted, at others I had a pit in my stomach with anxiety when I was letting him have his way, and at times I feared that if we deviated from his way he would explode (which he did not do).  I allowed the situation by capitulating even when I knew better.  There is often two ways to do something on a boat, but if I have thought through the situation, read about it online and in books, and I have made a plan I need to stick with it.  I give in because I need crew and want to accommodate people, but I think I cannot do that.