Reef Runner Yacht Sales

Happy New Year!!

How about a Happy Holiday greeting to everyone at the start of the week!

Boat Parade Of Lights Captain Application — Destination Panama City Destination Panama City is thrilled to announce the return of the much-anticipated Boat Parade of Lights! Teaming up with the St. Andrews Bay Yacht Club, St.

We're excited to launch a new Youtube channel for Reef Runner Yacht Sales. This will give us a chance to give you a first hand video tour of our boat listings. Here's a sample of what we plan to do. We started simple with a really nice example of a classic Pearson design that'd make for a great budget cruiser or a good first boat for new sailors.
https://youtu.be/y5lh4JzZTqQ

Happy New Year to all of our followers and clients! Thanks for an awesome 2022 and an even bigger 2023! The attached pic is of Capt. Jeremy and Capt. Erica, of Reef Runner Sailing, our sister company. Living proof that we know what we are doing on both sides of the house, as they celebrate their crossing from the US to Ireland in 2022!

To all of our friends in Central/South FL, fingers crossed for you all, we in the Panhandle have been through this and you'll make it too!

53 16.074n 9 02.485w
The End
Fri Sep 16 2022

We’ve come to the end of our journey for 2022.
We are sad it’s over but we’re excited to get back home.

We spent yesterday scrubbing the boat down, packing the interior, removing sails, and stowing everything down below for safe winter storage. We drained water from where we could and I decided to make a quick scuff sand of the flaking varnish with the intention of getting a quick coat on to protect the wood and more damage in the morning.

This is about the time Erica showed up with 3 bus and flight options. The only way out without a bunch of extra spending for hotels was…yep…in the morning.

So I got up early (for me) and rushed to the boat. I schlepped a coat of varnish on and stowed a few more odds and ends and…thats it. Sparrow is stowed for winter.

Right as I was finishing up Erica arrived with coffee and scones. We made it back to the hotel where Erica managed to squeeze all of our stuff in 1 suitcase, 2 duffels, and 2 backpacks.

She also managed to line up a taxi, get us to the bus station where she had already pre purchased tickets for a bus ride to Dublin, where we have a flight out this afternoon. We will be back in the states by the end of the day. That’s weird to say.

So, with that, thanks to everyone who has followed along. Thanks to Capt Pete, and our parents for sharing our updates and whereabouts. We turned out to have a surprise following from the Cape Dory fans page. It’s been motivating and exciting to know we had an audience.

I’ll leave you all with two things. A blooper reel if you will. And our “Noteworthy Notes”!
-Blunders and near trip enders. [Moms, y’all may want to skip these.] We didn’t talk much about these as we didn’t want to worry anyone.

Fire! We had a teensy weeny little galley fire our very first night. Our stove cooks on non pressurized alcohol. We were heeled over nicely and our tanks were full. Alcohol spilled out while Erica was cooking and started a fire beneath the cooktop. A quick bit a water put it out. However, it was a near trip ender (delayer at least) in that it melted our control k***s leaving one burner unusable for the remainder of the trip.
Batteries. We talked about the melted battery, but we were aware our engine wasn’t charging batteries very well from day 4. We considered a stop in Halifax, but instead stayed wishful for sunny days. This led to way more hand steering (I’ll put together a pie chart someday soon) than we hoped or usually do on long passages.
Voices. I haven’t even told Erica this one! And I’m thankful I wasn’t solo sailing or I would’ve been convinced I’d gone crazy. The first instance was at night and I was hand steering and very clearly I hear my name “Jeremy” in a raspy voice in my right ear. Instantly every hair stood on end and goosebumps broke out over my whole body. I slowly turned around, I told myself, no one is there but my heart raced as I slowly turned toward the stern as if I was going to see something or someone. Obviously there was nothing. A few moments later the hood of my Jacket brushed against the solar panel and it was a similar noise. A few other instances were always as I turned in after a long night watch. The pitch of the motor started sounding like a radio talk show that was just quiet enough that I couldn’t hear what they were saying [Erica experienced the same thing]. And sometimes the seas were so rough that there was so much clanking and creaking going on down below I was convinced someone was on the boat talking and I’d keep asking Erica “what’d you say?”
The Bilge…it seemed to consistently stay full of water. Sometimes the bilge pump would kick on every hour or two for 7seconds. As long as that bilge pump turned on I wasn’t worried about sinking. However where the water was coming from was constantly on my mind. Our prop shaft uses a drip of water every 20-30 second to keep to it lubricated and cool. That’s in perfect conditions only when the engine is running. Last year if we used the motor hard it would drip steadily for a few days. I asked Johansen’s Boat Works to repack the packing gland this winter. I’m guessing they didn’t. Because it dripped steadily across the Atlantic. Note to self: just do it yourself. I always knew we had a manual bilge pump should the new electric one fail, and I also knew if I had to I could empty the cockpit locker, crawl inside, and tighten the gland nut.
Continuing with the bilge :slight_smile: we left the boat in Rossaveal for a couple days. We always drain the bilge when we leave. When we returned we had 3 inches of standing water over the floorboards. Whoopsy, we forgot to put the bilge pump back into auto mode. We pumped it out and no harm done. The sole (floors) needed a good cleaning anyhow. It reminds me of a story when my friend Capt Jon called me slightly panicked, “hey dude I think your boats sinking!!” “Ha yeah they’re always in a state of sinking in one way or another….” I said probably a little too casually. “No! Like she is under her water line!” “Alright I’ll swing by west marine and grab a new bilge pump, be there in 30minutes.” He managed to get the back up bilge pump working and had most of the water drained before I got there. Bad float switch that time!
Contact Lenses. I wear contacts and I’m a bad contacts wearer. My left eye started bothering me. A usual telltale sign it’s time to change my contacts. Instead I just pulled out the left eye contact. This was a bad idea. It screws with your depth perception, makes you feel sea sick, and I could hardly read. I went on this way for about 7 days before I finally put in a new contact. Yes, Erica harassed me to put it in, I blamed the sea state.
White bird. On two occasions, I looked up and saw a white bird. The first time it was directly above the mast and I swear it was staring right at me. It seemed as inquisitive as I was. It didn’t look like any of the other birds we’d been sailing with. The second time it was the same white bird and flying in front of the jib sail. It suddenly disappeared. I looked for it to come out from behind the jib, it wasn’t. It didn’t land on the water, it didn’t fly away, it just disappeared. I spent a few minutes looking all around…gone! It reminds me of what my intern, Seth, from a few years ago taught me…”Birds aren’t real, they’re spy drones for the government!” Go ahead, Google it! It’s worth it!
Carbon Monoxide - Once we were North of the 48th degree of latitude we kept the boat pretty well sealed up. This was the first time our Carbon monoxide detector went off. We quickly learned to ventilate the boat when cooking! It didn’t take much!
Time Zones - this one’s a fun one! We stayed in Eastern Time the entire trip! Seemed like a good idea until it was getting dark at 3:45pm and the sun started rising at 1:30am!!! We kept it though because we did noon positional fixes. Mostly though was so Erica’s 2am to 8am watch was nearly always daylight for the last 10 days or so! Once we made landfall we learned Ireland is 5hr ahead of Maine.
“Noteworthy Notes” - We came up with this list before we left. We thought it would be helpful, interesting, and some just down right fun. [These are just for the crossing itself]
Days at Sea: 28days 8hrs 16mins
Nautical Miles travelled: 3047
Books Read:
Erica: 4
Jeremy: 4
Games of scrabble played (app on my phone): 49 (it’s the best night watch game ever!!)
Whale Sighting: 3 (we believe we saw two Right whales off Nova Scotia and one Fin whale about 200nm out from Ireland. We also saw numerous Pilot whales not counted in this total).
Other ships spotted: 29 (70% container, 30% fishing)
of Gales: 0
of no wind days: 1.5
Showers taken: 4 each
1 full fresh water shower
2 salt water baths
1 mix :wink:
Beers Drank:
Jeremy: 50 (hey it was 28 days!!!)
Erica: 7
Weight lost during passage (don’t worry we gained it back in Galway!):
Erica: 10lbs
Jeremy: 10lbs
Days of extra exercise:
Jeremy: 2
Erica: 0 (she said she got a workout hand steering :wink: )
Things we lost overboard:
Life ring throwable
Bucket (recovered)
Fishing rod
Pillow
Lantern (recovered but KIA)
Beer Can
Chimney Exhaust Cap (Erica dropped it overboard on our final day at anchor as we packed up the boat, and I’m utterly heart broken at my loss. She said it sank straight to the bottom)
Thanks again everyone! We had a blast! And we loved sharing it with you all! We aren’t done cruising and we aren’t done writing. We both have a few specific articles in mind about the boat itself, how we prepped, things we’d do different, and another about Ireland (maybe when we finish the coast). Erica is a librarian (non practicing) so her writing will be slower but much better written. :wink:

We also have several gigs of video to sort through. It’ll take us a few months but we will share it when it’s done. Our sailing school Reef Runner Sailing has a YouTube so stay tuned to it as we will add to that channel.

Farewell for now! And fair winds to you all,

Capt Jeremy and Erica aboard a bus to Dublin to fly home. (We already miss our little s/v Sparrow)

52 25.742n 10 14.264w
We’re on the move!
Tue Sep 06 2022

We caught a break in the weather and decided to make the best of it.

We topped off diesel, loaded up on groceries (just some fresh stuff as we still have our original stores for this leg too), some ice, and topped up water.

We paid our marina tab and shoved off at 5pm. We have a loose plan on where we are going.
It’s still weather dependent but we’re making progress in the right direction.

Our goal is Inishmore island before the winds shifts to the North tomorrow evening. 80nm from Di**le Marina.

We either push through the night or anchor in Brandon Bay until daybreak and then try to get in before dark.

The big moment of truth though was getting between Blasket Island and Dunmore Head (more specifically Stromboli Rock).

Don’t let Di**le Bay fool you! She’s a beast and we earned our grit by keeping our lunches down!

As we turned the corner north we finally had the chop, the wind, and the current behind us. We plowed through the 1/4Mile wide gap at 7kts promptly as a rain squall hit us.

There were many “are we ok?” And “is this smart?” And “you’re sure about this?” And “are we gonna make it?” type of questions.
But we steeled our nerves and didn’t back down!
I didn’t dare let go of the tiller to check my watch but I’m certain my heart rate was well over a hundred (my Dad would call it the pucker factor) and by the look on Erica’s face she was too.

The nervous laughter and the huge sighs of relief when we were clear felt great.
“This is why we do what we do!” I chanted in my head to myself.

We chose not to think about night setting around us as we entered a new and even larger bay - Galway Bay.

It’s breathtaking to see the jagged scars the Atlantic Ocean has carved into the side of these black cliffs and mountains. How many millennia have they stood and been battered by the to be so jagged and rough. It was settling to sail AWAY from them

Back in the saddle,

From Sv Sparrow, Sept. 3 2022

Land, Land, Land, oh sweet land!
Fri Sep 02 2022

We’ve been on land at this point for a couple days. We spent the day 2 days ago hiking to what we call “the castle”. It looks like the ruins of a castle tower. We then continued on to a lighthouse that we spotted on our sail into Di**le Harbour.

All in all we trekked about 6 or 7 miles.

Yesterday, our legs were shot!

We walk everywhere we go and sometimes we lug stuff back to the boat.
The weather has been wonderful! Sunny, Warm, and delightful.
We found a perfect little cove to tuck into and swim along the cliff faces.
Our legs were too sore to make the trek back today lol

I’ve got a few parts for the boat being delivered from Cork, Ire later today.

I noticed about 3-4 sailboat leaving the marina this morning. I guess I’m not the only one nervous about weather.

There are two nasty lows dancing around each other from the 4th to the 7th.

I don’t want to be holed up in Di**le for another week as I’m already getting stir crazy.

We set sail first thing in the morning (after my delivery) for an anchorage halfway to Kilrush.
I then have a slip set up in Kilrush to ride out the blow.

We should start seeing traditional Irish weather; cold wet, and misty!

—-

Well our delivery was late, so we missed our departure window. I promised Erica we’d play it super safe and avoid all chance of heavy weather on the last part of our sail to Scotland.

I’m not entirely disappointed. It was a rainy day and would’ve made for a long day of motoring to an anchorage.
Instead we slept in. Had some pastries on the boat and made plans.

We booked a hotel for 2 nights in Killarney to explore the National Park for a couple days. Or use the heated indoor pool to excess.

I spent the rest of the evening replacing the furling line, installing our new depth display, adding a few dock lines and lashing everything down tight for the blow.

At this moment, it’s 10pm, I have a fire going in the Newport Heater, lamb chops on the cast iron skillet and baby potatoes simmering. I may or may not be sipping a nice glass of Irish whiskey too :wink: with some music playing and packing a few clothes for our venture inland.

Life is Good. [Erica is curled up in a sleeping bag asleep :slight_smile: her happy place too]

Capt Jeremy and Erica aboard the s/v Sparrow

sv Sparrow
52 08.267n 10 16.642w
First Day on Land
Wed Aug 31 2022

We met a wonderful Harbour master in Di**le that helped us into a slip and arranged customs to meet us on the boat.
We finally cleared in, had Sparrow tucked in, and decided it was time for food!

My first few attempts to walk on land went well but left me dizzy. Erica didn’t seem to have the same effect. My second attempt left me scrambling back to the boat with my head swimming…sea sickness but on land…great!

Erica dishes out Bonine which like a stubborn guy I refused, “I want to feel what it’s like.”
After walking a mile to rush to the bank to exchange currency (USD to Euros) and finding a restaurant to sit down at and drinking three glasses of water, and eating half of the most amazing appetizer, buffalo hake bites, did I start to stop feeling dizzy and “swimmy”.

After a big meal of fish and chips (Erica dined on a salad and most of my chips) we were ready for a nap.
Nap translated to me starting on boat projects:
*Solar panel was acting up-another easy fix with a lose wire when I crammed a fuel container back in the locker.
*Depth Sounder-All the wiring looks fine. I think the B&G display couldn’t withstand the constant sea spray. This sucks because we hate to coastal cruise without a depth sounder.
*Dinghy leak—I finally patched the hole our dinghy got in Friendship Harbor

To Do list:

Ignition Switch - This is our starting issue from our final approach.
Replace furling line.
Depth Sounder
Oh Clearing Customs!!! Erica’s anxiety has been on high for the last few days (money exchange, navigating a dredged channel into a marina, figuring out an unfamiliar city to name a few of the things on her mind). Oddly something not on her radar that was giving me sleepless nights…customs. It’s always best to try to enter a foreign country through an official port of entry. This got consulted in research and was hard to distinguish between sea, air, commercial, private, etc. The best we could discern…Di**le was not. Another concern was we needed to rest. We pulled into Ventry Harbor at 1am local time! It’s a bad idea to make landfall without clearing customs…we didn’t plan to touch land…just our anchor…30ft underwater. I didn’t know exactly how the Irish authorities would feel about this.
At midnight last night…I didn’t care!

So, today…we just got in the slip. I got the beautiful sail cover Lorna made onto the sails and opened a beer to relax. I see two figures in navy blue and instantly knew they were customs.
“Erica, set this down below, customs is here!”
They arrive, show their credentials (trainee with trainer…), I invite them aboard (like inviting a vampire inside “permission to come aboard?”), and they begin the questioning.
Two questions caught us by surprise:

Where have you travelled in the past 12 months?
Has anyone approached you to bring anything into Ireland…like drugs?
Their line of questioning had us sweating!
The trainer asks, “is this your first stop since coming to Ireland?”
Erica answers, “Yep, this is the first landfall!”
I quickly add, “We did anchor in Ventry Harbour last night. We got in about midnight and needed some shelter from the wind.”
Trainer, “Aye, I saw you there this morning.”
Erica and I side eye and hold our breath.
“Welcome to Ireland, where will you be going next?”
That was fun and I was like an exuberant child lowering our Q flag to hoist our Irish courtesy flag.

I was disappointed they didn’t stamp our passports, but they did tell us where to go to get stamped. We will be heading there tomorrow!

And in even greater news….I have finally got to have a fire onboard! It’s been amazing!

Capt Jeremy and Erica aboard the s/c Sparrow

The Final Approach
Tue Aug 30 2022

The last 100 miles of the trip seemed to last forever, throw everything at us, and had the most gear failures.

We started our morning with 5 hours of motoring. I couldn’t stand to do more. This close to land and rocks I like to save the engine for emergencies.
Fortunately the wind filled in and we started sailing.
Then it died.
Then it filled in from the wrong direction.
Then it died.
Then we are just about to clear large Foze rock and it shifts just enough to aim us right at the rock.
Having had enough tacking we fire up the motor. Clear Foze rock and then Fichish rock. Now wide open Di**le Bay for 10 miles.
Let’s sail it and save fuel.
The wind died.
Then it filled in!
Then it died.
We got a spectacular sunset but now the cold and dark have set in.
We have 5 miles to our anchorage.

I holler down to Erica, let’s heave to, drop the main, add some fuel, and then I’ll furl the Genoa. Remember no furling line so I have to furl it like a barbarian from the bow.

Everything is going swimmingly, until I snap the pour spout off the diesel jerry can and lose 1/2 gallon of diesel on myself and the side of the boat (the Americans are here and we’re spilling our fuel into your pristine Bay—I thought moodily to myself) but very little made it into the water…
Problem remedied.
I always teach my students on Day 1 of sailing lessons - “always have your motor running before you take your last sail down”
So, “I’m going to start the engine, hon.”
Click
Click
Clickclickclick.

The engine won’t start.

Oh god no not now. I glance around at the rocks looming all around us.
“Think Jeremy! Think damnit”
“No no no they can’t be dead! Grab my multimeter!”
“House bank 12.4! Start 12.6 wtf the batteries are full!”
Click
Hit the selector switch.
Click
Click
Erica starts to steer us by just the Genoa back out to the middle of the bay and eventually out to sea. We gain back almost a mile towards sea while I think.
“I just got to think. Oh Atlas just did this, start simple Jeremy…negative battery cables.”
Damn they’re all tight.
Click
Clickclickclick click (a little more frantically).
Then I jump down below in the dark and sling off the engine compartment door.
Another thing I teach in sailing lessons:
“Sailing is like playing chess…always think a few moves ahead and plan for worst case scenario. When I’m in a dangerous situation I have a plan A, plan B, plan c, plan D, plan E, and a last ditch effort.”
Plan A-engine starts like normal and we motor the rest of the way
Plan B- Switching to the start battery functions like normal and we motor the rest of the way
Plan C- a simple cable tightening works and…you got it we motor the rest of the way
Plan D- jump the starter
Plan E- hot wire the ignition
Plan F- hand crank
Last ditch effort-We sail into the anchorage or back out to sea on the outgoing tide.

Well after slinging open the engine compartment like a wild man armed with a flash light and a screwdriver I finagle my arm on top and find the starter. Just precariously enough to not lose any body parts if it starts, but still holding my breath.
“There’s usually a hearty spark so be ready,” I told myself.
Tap
Nothing
Tap
Crank crank vroom vroom baby she’s running!

Erica, wild eyed in the cockpit jaw slightly gaping at me in wonder and amazement (I might be making this part up) says, “Wow, nice job love.”

“I got a few more tricks up my sleeve baby! Ease those sheets I’m going to go furl the Genoa. We good on the charts?”

“Yep, we’re clear of the rocks!”

I enjoyed a beer for the last 1.5hr motor to our midnight anchorage approach.

In the Elwell way, we only make landfall in the middle of the night. We don’t try to plan it that way…it’s just the way it is.

Oh and our depth gauge isn’t working. We anchor in the pitch dark, guessing at our distance from land by shore lights and charts, and gauging our scope by line angle. And the anchor is dropped for the first time in 28 days 8 eight hours and 16 minutes. Over 3000 miles sailed.

The sleepy travelers,
Capt Jeremy and Erica aboard the s/v Sparrow

Anchor Down!
Mon Aug 29 2022

We’re tucked into a quiet little cove called Ventry Harbour!

It’s eerie how still and quiet the boat is! I may throw an open drink on the floor and maybe toss everything around the boat so it feels like old times!!

But…we FREAKIN MADE IT!!
Rockland Maine to Di**le Ireland in a 42 yr old 28ft Cape Dory just my wife Capt Erica and I!!!

Finally tally:

3046.8 nm!!
28 days 8 hrs and 16minutes

We averaged 107.7nm per day

Fuel used: 10ga!

—-

Don’t tune out just because we made it!

We have 3 more weeks of sailing left! We are going to coastal hop the west coast of Ireland (the Wild Atlantic Way) and make way to Oban, Scotland to haul Sparrow for the winter.

Also we’ve officially switched ourselves over to local time. We’re 5 hours ahead of US Eastern time.

For now, we eat, sleep!!!, and relax.

No night watch!!! Wahoo!!!

Capt Jeremy and Erica aboard the s/v Sparrow

52 02.233n 10 34.442w
Di**le Bay
Mon Aug 29 2022

We’re officially in Di**le Bay!!

Only about 5.5nm to our anchorage!

The landscape is incredible! The islands are jagged and wild, beyond our expectation and we haven’t even started exploring yet!

It’s been slow progress these last hundred miles, but we had a picturesque day of sailing (and a few hours motoring).

I also had fun reattaching the anchor to the bow and anchor chain while underway! The video footage should be interesting!!

The first sailboat spotted was a tiny gaff rigger with tan bark sails. If we were in Maine I’d swear it was a Herreshoff.

Still Sailing,
Capt Erica and Jeremy aboard the s/v Sparrow

52 03.328n 10 57.246w
Land Ho
Mon Aug 29 2022

Land Ho!

Well technically we’ve seen land for about 6hrs we are just struggling to get there! Lol

Capt Pete put it best, “Ireland is teasing you, or perhaps Poseidon has enjoyed your company?”

Currently, becalmed 8 miles from land, 24 from our Harbour.

We have our Yellow “Q”uarantine flag flying in our starboard spreader and the US flag off our stern. We officially crossed the 12mi line into Irish waters.

We will be in after dark but I’m confident I can navigate to a safe anchorage. If not, we head back out to sea and heave to to wait for daylight and clear through customs in the morning.

Erica said she is getting a very intermittent cell signal!!

On a sour note, we have flying bugs visiting the boat. One of the greatest things about being at sea is no insects!!

We’re so close we can taste the fish and chips!
Capt Erica and Jeremy aboard the s/v Sparrow

Update
Cravings
Mon Aug 29 2022

Surprisingly, we start our 29th day at sea today at Noon, and we aren’t craving anything too crazy.

As for food, we ate the same food we would at home. I probably eat a bit more Popeyes chicken on a monthly basis.
Erica desperately wants fresh greens, veggies and a hardy breakfast!
Some ice would be nice!
Ooh the Buffalo chicken bites at our favorite location pizzeria, Red’s!!!

I think we miss the internet the most! I spend a shockingly large amount of time searching boats on Yachtworld and I miss it! Lol
I actually have a list of ‘Things to Google’.

Erica wants to google craft ideas and houses for sale (I think she misses land).

Every third word out of Erica’s mouth is “bed”.
“I want a bed.”
“I miss my bed.”
“Can we rent a room with a real bed.”
“If we buy a house we’re getting a king size bed.”
“I just want a bed that doesn’t move.”
“I’m not leaving my bed.”
“I can’t wait for a bed we both fit in.”
“I can’t wait for a bed not shaped like a triangle.”
“A bed that’s dry!”

——

On that note, winds kicked up last night which brought 6ft seas again. Close reaching we hammered into them into the wee hours of morning. The SE wind just kept us tacking and tacking so we changed landfall ideas and are now heading to Di**le Bay. Crookhaven would mean another night of tacking our way SE.

Just as we did watch change over last night…2am…more carnage.
I had just peeled off every wet layer, put on a dry pair of shorts and crawled into the sleeping bag and ka-boom we pound down the back side of the wave and I hear Erica yell, “the Genoa came all the way out!!!”
I grab my life jacket and run to the bow and sure enough the furling line parted. I was able to furl the sail to about 30% and tie it off to a bow cleat to keep sailing.
Not before I watch the bowsprit go under a wave and I get completely obliterated, head to toe, with icy North Atlantic water.
I may have cussed a little.
Ran back to the cabin to beat hypothermia (still just wearing only a pair of shorts) and try dry out and warm up.

Meanwhile, Erica back on the helm just in time to deftly dodge the largest fishing vessel I’ve ever seen.

Check the charts 52nm to go.

Around 6am Eeastern winds tapered and died so on came the motor. Old Cape Dorys motor slower than they sail! Erica made about 2.5kts of speed. At least they were in the right direction finally.

32nm to go!

The VHF is working again! We heard our first Irish Coast Guard announcement at 8:05pm!
That was a thrilling moment of excitement and anticipation.

We’re currently 30nm away and motoring to get some Easting progress. There is still a slight chance we make it before dark. But pretty slight.

But that’s where we are what we do
Time for us to start landfall lookouts!

Capt Jeremy and Erica aboard the s/v Sparrow

Almost there! 40 nm from coast, 55 from Di**le, 90 from destination Crookhaven. From the crew:
Full Sail Ahead!
Sun Aug 28 2022

The old saying for sailors is, “The wind is always coming from where you want to go!”

With 125nm to go we’re expecting an Easterly wind shift.
After 29 days at sea we get an east wind for the first time…and we need to go east.

We will tack our way in, still planning for Crookhaven, but it may put us at sea for another day.

At least the seas have laid down and the sun it poking through!

I’m fishing again. I dragged an old hand line out of a locker. So far just a bunch of curious birds.

Another miraculous feat, we’re not hand steering (knock on wood).
Even though we have literally thousands of dollars worth of autohelms on this boat, we have been on course for the last 24hrs with a $4 piece of line.
Much like I imagine Joshua Slocum did (first guy to single hand around the world in 1898) we trimmed our sails to balance the helm, and lashed the tiller.
I’ve gone from triple reefed main and 60% Genoa and tiller lashed 15 degrees to windward, to full main and Genoa this morning and 2 degrees to windward on the tiller.

Seas are the mildest of the trip this morning too, a gentle rolling 2ft. That means the boats drying out!!!
The constant battering of sea spray didn’t let up until every port light and hatch leaked…lol…add it to the project list, hon!!

Another fun sailor’s adage is, “Sailing is just doing boat maintenance in exotic ports!”

For most of the last few days, a wave (every 10 minutes or so) would crash over the starboard side, the starboard port lights would leak, but the boat would lurch and heel so far that the water would land on us in the port bunk.

Now that’s sailing! :slight_smile:

Potatoes, sweet potatoes, and (the last) onion are still fairing well. Fried potatoes and sausage for breakfast!

The Top Deck Capt and the Below Deck Capt are both fairing well and in good spirits.
[Erica lovingly says the Below Deck Capt is “resigned to her fate!”]

Debates of using the motor to aid our final windward approach are underway.

Living our Dreams,
Capt Erica and Jeremy aboard the s/v Sparrow

Almost there! Another day or so, approx. 110 NM miles from Ireland!
From sv Sparrow:
51 15.974n 14 56.831w
Sea Serpents, Carnage, and a Whale!
Sat Aug 27 2022

The last week has seemed like a bit of a blur and getting posts organized and uploaded has slipped to the back burner. This post is a combination of days to catch up.

Right now, It’s the morning of 8/24 I’m lying on the floor bunk and Erica on the lee settee. It’s blowing about 16kts and the seas are a steady 4-6ft still hanging on after the blow last night. We’re on a broad reach with about 90% jib out sailing under electric auto. I may sneak up and add a double reefed main in a bit and see if auto (electric self steering) can keep up.
Not having the main up eliminates most of the dreaded weather helm which our self steering devices hate (and our boat has a ton of). It also lets us sail deeper downwind with the main not blanketing the jib and less risk of an accidental jibe if a wave decides to come from the wrong direction, which plenty do.

For now, I’m content to drink my coffee and fill in some blanks from the last few days or so. [I’ve also added through 8/26 so it gets a bit long]

Sea Serpents!

It freaks Erica out when I call the 30 foot long green snake like tendrils swimming next to the boat in the middle night “Sea Serpents”. However, out here it feels totally plausible!
What they actually are is dolphins!
They’re swimming in a phosphorescent phytoplankton that I always just call bioluminescence. (You should probably fact check me on google!) They’re swimming so fast they leave a trail of green light behind them for 30 feet before they do a loop and swim off. The trail looks just like a sea serpent and it’s amazing! No wonder stories of old talk about sea monsters!
The other neat thing, it’s Green! Back home in the Gulf of Mexico it’s a white/blue!

Carnage

We had a bad day! The day we wrote the Hove To post we were in some pretty good seas!
There was at least one that I stared at, with my mouth gaping open, that was probably a good 12 feet. Windomere was steering flawlessly all day and we were hiding down below. In fact Windomere had been steering for days! We were so thankful because it’s been blowing like mad!
I heard a clang bang and realized we jibed. It happens…self steering isn’t perfect. Normally it’ll correct. It’s loud and it shakes the rigging like a bomb went off but it normally corrects. This time it didn’t.
I suited up, jumped on the helm and started steering.
Every breaking wave that passed under the stern gave a new strange vibration and I could not get the self steering to even remotely hold a course. My mind was racing towards worst case scenario, rudder?, rudder post?, tiller head? Something wasn’t right and I could feel it vibrating through the tiller. To add to the problem, I couldn’t take my eyes off the horizon because of the winds and seas to give a thorough investigation. Winds were easily 25kts with angry 8-10ft waves.
Finally, I glanced back at the right time and noticed a slight wobble in the wind vane. The transom bracket was working it’s way lose. We learned this on our East Coast run and I thought I fixed it permanently. For fear of causing more damage I immediately called down to Erica that I was going to heave to.
Things on the steering device were too lose all over. I grabbed some tools and started working to tighten the mount and then to pull the push rod that communicates the wind paddle to the rudder paddle out (another problem I’d already fixed). Ahh a bolt completely sheered off, right at the base of the pushrod. A custom one-off bolt specifically made for this unit had sheered off. Even if I could extract the old bolt I’d need a machine shop to modify the attachment point.

Windomere is done for the trip.

Now we have to hand steer because the electric just can’t handle winds and seas this big. (Edit: it probably could, but we don’t trust it nor do we want to risk breaking it. We also don’t have enough battery power to let it steer 24/7).

So while we’re hand steering I realize something else is missing from the stern of the boat. My fishing rod and reel (insert angry face). Not just missing but the rod holder is completely sheered off. The bracket is still there, but the rest gone.

Conclusion, it takes a lot to of energy and force to break these bits! We must’ve been slammed with quite a wave just right to crumple bolts the way it did.

Note to self: heavy weather prep-stow rod and reel!

Whale:

“If I’m out here hand steering I sure as hell better see some cool stuff!” I thought to myself about an hour before I yell, “WHALE, WHALE, WHALE!!!”
No 3 words makes us fly out of a bunk from a deep slumber faster.
About two boat lengths abeam of our port side was a single whale meandering along. We got a couple nice surfaces and blowhole exhales before we passed. Consulting our EarthSkyWater whale index, we think it might have been a Fin Whale, but who knows! Ireland is known for Fin Whale sightings, even though we are still a good 400nm or more from the coast.
We’ve since been seeing an increase in Pilot Whale sightings!

Early the next day (8/25) we were quite excited to see a forecast of light to no winds! It’s been at least a week of consistent winds in the 20’s.
It’s been cloudy too so I was up for a good long motor to top up our charge.
So we added a jerry can of fuel to fill the tank, our first fuel addition of the trip, and fired up the ole Volvo. We chugged along for about 4hrs, electric auto steered and we relaxed. I checked battery charge and realized they’re at 12.3volts. Almost half discharged. They should read 13V or higher with the motor running. Sigh…we’re systematically wiping out our ability to have self steering.
I dug into the starboard side cockpit locker that houses our batteries and can’t find an issue.
I added an isolator this year that is designed to save the start battery from draining. It’s designed to charge the start battery first and then the house bank. Well it’s not letting the house bank get any juice.
I gave up, shut down all unnecessary systems and we started hand steering.
Erica and I steer all day and night and until the next morning, trading off every 2 hours.
Once the sun is up I checked charge and realized one of the solar panels, which we’ve named Bompi (see last post and Erica’s inspiration book The Wanderer) isn’t receiving solar.
We heave to…
Erica busied herself with our below deck routines and I got to work on the electrical system. I found a positive wire from the solar panel to battery corroded and it’s a quick fix. Yay!

Surprisingly, the start battery is full! I suspected it to be my culprit. I fired up the engine and even more surprisingly the isolator is functioning like normal.

I have a few theories, but I don’t think the problem is resolved.

For a 42 year old boat she’s holding up like a champ!

All in all, minor problems that we planned redundancy’s in place for. It keeps us on our toes and fresh on the helm (