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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

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Lady Kay is back on the Chez...

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Oscar
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
2030 Posts

Initially Posted - 05/07/2005 : 22:31:44

Some of you have expressed interest in hearing of my travels...here is the latest:

http://www.woodenshoemusic.com/FLLCH05.html

Oscar
C42 #76 Lady Kay, ex C250#618
Chesapeake/SE Florida

Edited by - on

ClamBeach
Master Marine Consultant

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3072 Posts

Response Posted - 05/08/2005 : 00:16:06

Awesome ride... great account and photos.

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tmhansen
Captain

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USA
397 Posts

Response Posted - 05/09/2005 : 15:53:01

Thanks for sharing the adventure with us. Provides inspiration for my more modest plans.

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Sea Trac
Master Marine Consultant

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Vanuatu
1357 Posts

Response Posted - 05/09/2005 : 16:22:13

You're my hero, Oscar. Thanks for the report, and for the inspiration!

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Lightnup
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1016 Posts

Response Posted - 05/09/2005 : 16:51:24

Finally had a chance to look at your report. What a neat trip.

So, which do you prefer, single-handing or having crew aboard?

Steve

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Frank Hopper
Past Commodore

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Pitcairn Island
6776 Posts

Response Posted - 05/09/2005 : 17:18:12

I am so depressed.

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Lightnup
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1016 Posts

Response Posted - 05/09/2005 : 23:18:59

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existentialsailor
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1180 Posts

Response Posted - 05/10/2005 : 07:31:45

My hat is off to you Oscar. I can't even imagine becoming that confident in my sailing skills to try that kind of trip solo. Glad you made it safe and sound. I think the sleep deprivation would have done me in by day 3.

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cathluk
Admiral

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USA
513 Posts

Response Posted - 05/10/2005 : 10:27:28

Wow Oscar - that's quite an adventure! I'm with Rick - I don't think I could last that long solo.

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reuben
Navigator

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USA
202 Posts

Response Posted - 05/10/2005 : 10:57:50

Great stuff, Oscar. Does it make you want to do a crossing?

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tinob
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1883 Posts

Response Posted - 05/10/2005 : 11:59:47

Great experience Oscar, thanks for sharing...six pictures per thousand miles is about one every one hundred sixty six miles...testifies as to how sleep deprived/ busy you must have been.

Terific!!!!!!!!!!!!

Val on Calista # 3936

PS today I did three miles...no pictures...I'm bushed

Edited by - on

Oscar
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
2030 Posts

Response Posted - 05/13/2005 : 23:15:29

Thanks guys....

Solo has it's charms, so has a GOOD crew. Solo is hands down better than a mediocre or bad crew. When you're alone there is no politics, no games, no issues. Period. It's you, the ocean, the boat...what you see is what you get.

There is something really liberating about that.

Inerestingly enough, what makes a person a good crew member is not the same that makes them a good person to work with on land. I went down with a guy I knew for many, many, years...I thought. But, being stuck on a small (42 feet is small when you're away from shore for days, or more), is a diferent story. As well as I knew him, he turned out to react differently to the enviromnet than I thought he would (not bad, just different.)

A crossing? Yes, I want to sail to Europe.

Edited by - Oscar on 05/13/2005 23:17:03

jlguthri
1st Mate

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USA
93 Posts

Response Posted - 05/14/2005 : 21:32:25

You're were in my back yard for a while there. I live about 30 mins from Morehead, NC (by boat and car). I'm on Harkers Island (about 4 miles North of Cape Lookout).

Just neat to see a page of someone on this group passing thru.

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Brooke Willson
Admiral

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USA
983 Posts

Response Posted - 05/14/2005 : 22:57:50

Great story, Oscar. I see you're berthed in my family stomping grounds. South of Rock Hall there's a campground called Ellendale: my great grandfather was born in the house, now washed into the Bay, that used to be there. Just before the bridge to Eastern Neck Refuge is a very old brick house called Trumpington, visible from the bay: that's the Willson ancestral house. Distant cousins live there now (Bob and Mildred Strong), and the point just south, often misspelled on charts, is Willson Point.

Thanks for sharing your adventure.

Brooke

Edited by - Brooke Willson on 05/14/2005 22:59:39

Oscar
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
2030 Posts

Response Posted - 05/18/2005 : 16:43:06

I'll expand a little on the sleep thing. Off shore it's actually not that bad. You build a rhythm, but it's not night and day....it.s more like a four hour cycle....

Check your nav, the boat, eat, wash up, do some other maintenance chores....then you set an alarm on the radar and an alarm clock, and take a half hour nap. Wake up, take a quick peek around, check the plotter, the radar, the sails, take another nap....maybe repeat one more time.

Then you stay awake for a while, check your nav, the boat, eat, do a chore.....and so it goes around the clock, doesn't matter if it's day or night. Over a 24 hour period you will get your 5 or six hours in. It's amazing how fit one stays in this regimen.

Now, near shore is a different story. There's too much going on. Buoys, traffic, landmasses. They disrupt the routine, and you don't get enough catnaps in. That's when you hit a point where you know you have to get some sleep or else. So you find a cove or an island to drop a hook behind......

Here's a picture a buddy took of me on the Chesapeake the other day (you can see the Annapolis Bay Bridge in the background....It clearly demonstrates how the water displaced by the boat has almost gone to a single wave, which the boat cannot climb out of....the boat is moving at near hull speed...a little over 8 knots in this case, wind was 15-20.

Edited by - Oscar on 05/18/2005 16:51:18

seastream
Navigator

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USA
242 Posts

Response Posted - 05/18/2005 : 20:36:41

Oscar, you've done what most dream. You refresh my aspirations toward the day I upgrade into a Catalina 36. BTW, ever hear of a 'radar detector' for the high seas? I read an article in Sail magazine where the solo sailor employed such a passive device so he would be warned of approaching craft WITH radar. Not as good as fully active radar, but possibly cheaper.

Bob

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Oscar
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
2030 Posts

Response Posted - 05/19/2005 : 13:16:11

There is the C.A.R.D. system which does just that.....around 1/2BU, oops wrong forum, 5 BU's

....I have had ongoing discussions about using a regular fuzz buster, and got conflicting answers re. frequencies/bands....I was going to try it, but then came across a used monochrome radar for a price I couldn't resist.

Having never used radar on a boat I never thought I'd get THAT hooked on it in such a short time....it is truly a very usefull tool. In addition to the obvious benefit of defining landmasses and in use for collision avoidance, especially in reduced or NO visibility, it also helps in that GPS plotters put buoys where someone said they SHOULD be.....whereas radar puts them where they ARE....so if you have the two screens next to each other you can make sure things jive, or figure out why not if they don't. Another benefit the radar has I never thought of is that it keeps a good lookout under the Jib (the blind spot) for boats and buoys.....finally it gives you a way to get a better idea of where thunderstorms are and what they are doing.....

I know you don't see them much, if at all, on a 25 or 250 but think about it.....it doesn't matter how big the boat is, it's where you are and what you're doing. I know some of you do some challenging sailing on coastal water, big bays, and Great Lakes.....you can pick up a used monochrome radar on e-bay for under 500....the displays are small enough to put on a swing mount, and you can fit the antenna on a pole on the stern....(some home manufacturing here is very doable....) It's not as crazy as it sounds....

Oscar
Catalina 42#76 Lady Kay (ex 250WB # 618)
Roack Hall Md. summer/Fort Lauderdale winter....

Edited by - Oscar on 05/19/2005 13:19:12

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