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Crew Wanted 5+ days MD to Cape Cod Aug 2nd

4K views 16 replies 9 participants last post by  Don Novello 
#1 · (Edited)
Looking for 1 crew member [maybe 2] [making a total of 3-4 people] for a sail from Annapolis MD to Falmouth Mass on Cape Cod, leaving August 2nd.

Trip will take aprox 5++ days [hopefully]. Boat is a very good condition Pearson 365 ketch [separate shower!]. Will be sailing as much as possible, but motoring when needed. Crew is responsible for their own food expenses, transportation at both ends [though a ride to public transportation or airport is possible on reaching Cape Cod]. Crew is not responsible for fuel or other expenses. May be traveling most of day and night [if it's safe to]. Will not be stopping to sightsee on this trip [but later trips will include RR time, if crew want to come back [Cape Cod and Maine, later in the year whole East Coast].

Two experienced crew onboard [one with several Atlantic crossing under his belt] Both crew are men, former wooden boatbuilders, responsible, relaxed, like to laugh and have a good time. Open to male or female crew, or a couple. Experience not necessary, but would be nice. Please CALL me if you are interested [I will have very limited or no time to get online between now and then].

Please call John at 802 999 thirteen ninety-eight. Leave a message if I dont pick up.

Happy sailing!
 
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#5 ·
I just got back from this trip.
It was great. We left last Thur. at about 8PM and got to Osterville, MA this afternoon about 12PM.
We had a great crew.
John was a very careful captain and had the boat in very good condition. He has an amazing talent of being able to solicit ideas from everyone then making a sound decision decisively.

Ean was very knowledgeable and volunteered to do any and every job and was good at them all.

Our own sail-netter Brian was the go to guy for navigation, chart reading, rigging and all things nautical as he is just about ready to take his boat south to the islands and is all up on the latest.

I lounged around the cockpit and tried to stay out of the way.

We had just about every kind of weather from storms to calms.
 
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#7 · (Edited)
We got hit pretty good coming down the Delaware about 10 miles from the Atlantic Fri PM.

Since the bay is so shallow there it was very uncomfortable.
It was amazing how on a modified full keel ketch of good size could bounce around so much.
I'm pretty sure we were all a little green.
We got hit again Monday night Tues morning off the coast of MA.

The wind was not too bad maxing out at about 32 and steady at 25. The seas were by my estimate about 6-10 foot long rollers but not breaking. We had only about 4 feet of jib out.
While on a broad reach we were doing 7+ knots the waves hitting the boat at the stern at an angle.
We then turned left toward the preferred England and slowed down to 3 knots max. The waves coming from the port side forward of the beam threatened to wash over the boat but other than infrequent spray never did.

I've been in lots worse as we never had green water coming over the boat. What surprised me was how hard it was to steer and how hard it was to stay behind the wheel.
The boat motion was violent. Severe rolling from side to side.
Major wheel work to both sides to control the course.
On other trips I had been able to anticipate the waves and give it rudder to keep the boat straight then let the rudder center then repeat.
That trick would only work about half the time on this trip.
You would fight to keep it from rounding up for a few cycles then fight to keep it from falling off for a few cycles. Then for a few cycles you had to fight both sides in sequence.
The motion was so violent it took significant energy to not be physically flung around the cockpit and stay behind the wheel. In past trips you had to brace in one direction. In this trip the snap could be in any direction and and any amplitude. A port starboard snap could be PPPPPS or SSSSP or SPSPSPS or any combination.
That was new to me.
 
#8 · (Edited)
Just a quick comment or two.
Delaware bay was rough. Wind and current were on our nose the whole time. Motored the whole damn bay. Waves were 2-3' but the frequency was quick making the boat hobby horse. Especially in the afternoon.

The last night off Marthas Vineyard island was rough since we were headed in but didn't want to arrive in the dark. Waves were confused making it very hard to steer. I slept through the first part of the storm. 1:30 when I came on it had calmed down some but the motion was rough. I'm much more conservative than David on wave height :) but, six feet is not far off the mark. Steep but not breaking which is why it was 'dry'. Also we were beam, stern quarter on to the waves which made the motion worse but, again we were trying to keep from arriving before daylight.

Amazingly we ended up exactly where we wanted to when the sun came up.

Most important thing that David left out was that Ian did a great job making dinners. Very important for morale....
 
#9 ·
Sounds as though you chaps had a rather fun delivery trip.

I've been on a boat with David before. I was impressed with his willingness to go down below for a lie down when the wind, weather and waves were at their worst. His nonchalance was actually reassuring. He inspired me to go below and not lie down when we were motoring into nearly 50 knot gusts on the LI Sound. I found that I did not get seasick sitting in the cabin of a pitching, yawing boat.

I hope you guys were inspired by having David along as much as I was.
 
#12 · (Edited)
I've been on a boat with David before. I was impressed with his willingness to go down below for a lie down when the wind, weather and waves were at their worst. His nonchalance was actually reassuring. He inspired me to go below and not lie down when we were motoring into nearly 50 knot gusts on the LI Sound. I found that I did not get seasick sitting in the cabin of a pitching, yawing boat.
The way I figure it is like this:
You start on a multi-day trip with a bunch of guys everyone is excited and
lets face it since we are guys their is at least the potential for a little competitiveness.

It's like when you were little no-one wants to go to bed and miss any of the fun.

So what I do is if everything is stable with no weather or navigation or boat handling issues I will either lay down in the cockpit or go below and lay-down.
I must sleep but am not aware of sleeping as it seems as though I'm aware of the boat at all times. Any slight change in wind or engine and I listen to the conversation around me for a moment and drift back off unless it seems like I should get up.

If I'm on deck I'm ready to help in an instant even if lying down.
If I am below I just have to pee, through on my Mustang and I'm ready to go.

My theory is that if the boat and crew are stable the safest thing for me to do is lie down and rest as things can always get worse.

That way if nothing unusual happens I'm fresher than I would be at work the next day.
If something does happen unusual then I'm the freshest on the boat.

Everyone has a energy wall. If you hit the wall when the boat needs you it is very dangerous. My goal on a trip is to conserve energy at every possible moment so I don't even sit in the cockpit if I can lay down. That way if the boat needs me my energy wall is a far away as possible.

Don't forget it can always get worse.
If the waves are 10' and the wind 35k it can get worse. The waves can go to 30' and the wind to 50k.
Do you have the physical reserve to keep the boat safe?

In this particular delivery I was even more conservation minded than usual because John and his best friend Ean demonstrated immediately that they were very capable, so the role I figured I should play was purely supportive. Take shifts so they could sleep, fix lunches and do as I was told. And all importantly be ready in case someone got hurt or sick or hit the wall.
They did a great job.
 
#10 ·
Actually it was I who decided it was time for a nap when the wind started to pick up.:laugher

In my defense I'd been steering most of the day in 15 knot winds and knew I needed some time off before going back on watch. Now that you say that and knowing David decided to stay up maybe I should of been more worried:eek:

Seriously though it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Just a fun ride. As we kept joking in the morning "Boating is FUN!!!!"

If I can get my camera to work (it died from water spray) I'll post a pic of the morning crew having 'fun'
 
#11 ·
In my defense I'd been steering most of the day in 15 knot winds and knew I needed some time off before going back on watch. Now that you say that and knowing David decided to stay up maybe I should of been more worried:eek:
I would like to confirm that Brian's day shift was very very long and that even though it was only 15K there was more than the usual wheel work for some reason so Brian got a significant workout.
 
#13 ·
David,

Thanks for spelling that out for me. I do know what you mean when you mention the 'energy wall'. Everyone will hit the 'wall' eventually.

I crewed on a 36' ketch from Cape May to NYC a few months ago and we were given 2 hour lie down times every 4 hours with 3 of us aboard. I had difficulty sleeping when my turn to lie down came up but rested anyway and was grateful for that down time. After 24 hours of trying to leave the buildings of Atlantic City behind and approaching NY Harbor in the wee morning hours of 4 or 5 AM off Sandy Hook I was exhausted but not useless. I wish I had slept more and my eyes played some tricks on me trying to discern the difference between some real lightning and just an ocular hallucination of a flash. I could still tell when there was real lightning but it is disconcerting to have to second guess your own senses.

Getting plenty of rest is sound advice. I need to work on that but I might have missed the small pod of dolphins we saw off AC on our way north if I had been zzzzzzzz.
 
#14 ·
A BIG THANK YOU TO THE CREW - Ian, Brian and David!!!

We had a great trip, and made it from Annapolis, MD to just off Martha's Vineyard, MA in just 3 days! To Cape Cod it took 3 1/2 days. Set sail Thursday evening with following winds, and went up the Chesapeake with a full moon. It was beautiful.

Hit the C & D canal in the morning, the Delaware Bay in the afternoon [very rough as David already said] and went offshore Friday night.

Went outside of Long Island, direct to Cape Cod. Very good passage, mild weather, sailed for 2 days on the same tack. Caught no fish, but had good pancakes, cooked by Ian.

Arrived off Martha's Vineyard around 10 PM Sunday night. Gusting to 35 knots, rough confused seas, tossing the boat all over the place. We were doing 7.5 knots [passed hull speed] with a large-beach-towel-sized bit of jib. Boat and crew handled it all well. We took turns at the helm all night long, tacking 40 miles offshore [we did not want to come into the shifting shallows, sandbars and narrow channels of the area in such dark, rough weather].

Next morning was calmer and we arrived in Cotuit, were we anchored in a protected cove off a nice beach. Where I remained for 5 days.

Thanks again to the great crew. Nice job guys! I think our skills and temperaments meshed pretty well.

PS - Last two weeks have been spent sailing out to Martha's Vineyard several times [Edgartown and Vineyard Haven], out to Cuttyhunk with 4 friends for my birthday, and up into Buzzards Bay. Have been anchoring and staying at a free mooring a friend found me in Woods Hole.

This week plan to head for Maine, with a crew [for 5 days] of my mother and father. Will then spend September cruising the beautiful islands of Maine, were I lived for several years.

Soooooo, looking for crew here and there for Maine for September, and then for the sail back to Cape Cod end of September. I will post a 'crew wanted'.

John
 
#15 ·
Glad you are back John, You had me worried dropping off the grid like that. I figured you were having so much fun you didn't have time for the computer.:)
Any time you feel the need to keep that port side cockpit bench warm just send me a note.
How is the boat holding up?
Ever figure out those charging and gauge issues?
 
#16 ·
Hi David

Duo-charger still acting up when batts arnt charged. But been sailing a lot. Still busy working working on the boat. Trying to scape the old name off today. It is STUCK! Have a hair drier {in the dingy!} but tied off to stern so it cannot go in the water. And Goo-Off. But still sticking . . . .

See my updates in CREW WANTED MAINE

Hope you are well.

Capt Jack
 
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