[Rhodes22-list] Bahamas offshore cruising class

Tue May 20 09:15:11 EDT 2003

Mark,

My last Bahamas cruise was aboard the Lazy Bench, a 36' LOA, full keel,
center cockpit, ketch in January, 2000.  I was helping a friend move his
boat from LaBelle, FL to the Bahama Islands for the winter.  I posted a
lengthy story about this cruise on the SailNet Rhodes List soon after
returning.  However, I lost my only copy of this story in a hard disk crash
about 6 months ago & the SailNet archieves don't go back that far.  Perhaps
someone else saved a copy of the story.

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark Kaynor" <mark at kaynor.org>
To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Sunday, May 18, 2003 9:58 AM
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Bahamas offshore cruising class

> 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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