Laurie And Dawn asked me to write a guest blog for their site, so here are a few thoughts. To be asked to help sail Cat Tales to Bermuda was pretty exciting for me, for those who don't know me, I've sailed extensively along the coasts of NB, NS, ME etc, but no major blue water excursions, and for the last 3 1/2 years I've been pretty much land bound, I work in Ft Mac, and have a long commute home to NB, doesn't leave much time for sailing, only being home aprx 12 weeks per year. So when I was contacted
and it looked like our schedules might mesh I was looking forward to a new experience.
When the time came, I was driven to Rhode Island by John Fallon, and John Sinclair, thanks to John and John for the drive and entertainment along the way. I met Cat Tales in East Greenwich where we waited a few days, looking to "Herb" and the internet, looking for an appropriate weather window. It finally looked like we might get it on Monday, so we sailed down to Newport to wait for our schedule with Herb on HF radio. At the appointed time we had our talk with Herb, and he confirmed that this might
be the only window to get to Bermuda for awhile. He told us to expect 20 knots gusting 25 for the first 2 days, followed by 10-15 knots NE wind, almost perfect for sailing to Bermuda, however the first couple of days might be a little lumpy...... we left Newport immediately to take advantage of the remaining daylight to get out past the many inshore fish pots before darkness fell. Winds were light and we actually had to motor to maintain our optimal speed.
After darkness fell, I retired to my berth, mine was to be one of the later watches in the night. When I got up to do my 2 hr watch the sea conditions had increased somewhat, with a fairly heavy swell, and the winds were stronger, about 15 knots from astern during my watch. Although I had applied a "patch" (transderm Scop - motion sickness meds) I started to feel the Mal de Mer symptoms.... over the next day, first myself, then Brian Jeffrey (the other hired gun, and Dawn's brother in law) felt
the effects of sea sickness, as the conditions got rougher. After the second day we were expecting news from Herb that conditions would get a little better, however conditions were changing and he reported that it was about to get worse, at this point Laurie fell victim to sea sickness. I suspect that this was a combination of the very rough conditions we were experiencing (approx 20-25 knots of wind, and swells were growing, as well as breaking waves that were traveling on top of the swells, often
in a different direction as the wind direction changed.) and nerves, as we know the skipper has the added responsibility of being responsible for the ship's crew as well as the safety of the ship. The only one not affected to any great degree by the motion was Dawn who kept up our spirits with offerings of food,(often refused) meds, and words of encouragement, Thanks Dawn!
By the third night we were in approx 30 foot seas, this consisted of maybe 20 foot swells and approx 10' wind driven waves riding over top. His estimate of wave height varies depending who you are talking to, but other boats that were in the same conditions reported 40' waves, I don't think we saw any quite that big, Thank God.... during the third night we had to fall off 20-30 degrees and run down wind as Cat Tales was starting to slide sideways at the bottom of the waves after surfing down them
at up to 13 knots, this is a dangerous situation and holds the possibility of "broaching" (getting rolled when a wave hits the boat on the beam) The Skipper wisely decided to take action, and helped smooth the motion as well. Sea and wind conditions stayed pretty much the same during the fourth day as we were approaching Bermuda except that now we were running through almost a constant succession of squalls with winds pushing 30 knots and gusting higher. After the second day the sea sickness had
progressed from the initial messy stage to the stage were you are very tired, and other than doing my watches all I wanted to do was sleep, a side effect of taking several different meds.
During the night of the fourth day we made the approach to Bermuda, its lights and flashing Lighthouse beacons were certainly a welcome site when they appeared during my night watch. Laurie and Dawn navigated us into St George Harbor through the Town Cut about midnight, by 1 am we had the anchor down, and Dawn prepared a feast, for sailors who had not eaten much for several days, it was a welcome meal. Funny part is that sometime during the approach to Bermuda the Sea Sickness had disappeared, and
my appetite was back with a vengeance. After a sound sleep we cleared into Bermuda the next morning. I had only one day to tour Bermuda as I had to get back to Fredericton so I could fly back to work in Ft Mac (I'm actually writing this in Toronto between flights) We did a little site seeing, had a few good meals, a few liquid refreshments at the Whitehorse, a local watering hole, and that evening entertained a British couple who had arrived in Bermuda a few hours before us on a Hylas 44 that they
had just purchased in USA, also on their way to BVI's. Hi to Tim and Sam if they read this. The next morning Laurie delivered me to the dock, and I caught a Taxi to the Airport.
On an interesting side note, Richard Branson arrived in St George a few hours before us on his 30m maxi sled, they had been trying to set a new trans Atlantic record, one would have to assume they were in much the same conditions we were in, although they departed from New York, south of our departure point. On the Virgin website he states that they had their spinnaker blown out, and were boarded by a 40' wave that blew out the mainsail, and tore a 10 man liferaft off the deck so they abandoned their
challenge and put into St George.
Thanks goes out to those who helped us along the way, Herb Hilgenburg, with timely weather info, John Fallon with transportation for me to the boat and home from the airport in Saint John as well for daily communications and advice, many Hams who helped out with contacts on the Missisauga Maritime Net, the skipper and "Admiral" for getting us there safely, Brian for sharing the trip and being a good watchmate, and Lastly Cat Tales for getting us there in one piece. Would I do it again? Surely, although
next time I might look for a little better weather window, but that is not an exact science as we all know, and we had done our homework the conditions just changed and maybe need to try a different remedy for sea sickness...
Best of luck on the next leg, I'll be following your adventures from the great Frozen North...
Fair Winds, Kent Ross
