SV_Seaya

Clayton Mills, a fellow sailor who owns a Tartan 42 wanted to move his boat down to St John ,USVI where he has a beautiful house up overlooking Coral Bay. Leland (Le), Clayton’s brother would be accompanying us on the trip. Our trip starts from Cobb Island, Md which is on the Potomac River, off of Chesapeake Bay on Oct 20, 2011. My name is Jim Seamans and own a Hunter 356 and is slipped just a few slips from Seaya. Clayton and I have been friends for about nine years and sailing around each other that long.

We had provision the boat from a list that our wives had made up from several sources. It included just about everything. Food, electronics, safety equipment - on and on and on..

The trip will take us down the Potomac River, to the Chesapeake Bay on to Norfolk, where we pick up the Intercoastal Waterway (ICW) to Morehead City / Beaufort, NC. As we left the slip the winds were picking up, would you believe 20-25kts and as we progressed down the Potomac, up to 30kts from the SSW. Now this was great since this put us on a beam reach, which made Seaya fly at 7kts. When we got to the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Potomac the wind had shifted to the south some. The waves had grown and the wind was blowing. We passed Smith Point Light and the waves were growing up to 5-7ft. This required a sail change so in came the big genoa foresail. Clayton and Le, went up on the foredeck and put up the storm jib. These two guys are fearless for in their younger days were arborist and were used to climbing and hanging. Before anyone wonders, jacklines had been run from bow to stern, no one was allowed on deck without life preservers, harnesses & tethers. We were going to go overnight to Norfolk which would have taken about 24hrs of cruising. Slugging south on the Chesapeake was becoming a problem as we came abeam to Reedville, VA. We agreed that turning right and slipping into Reedville would be much better that getting our brains beat in. So into Reedville for a night on anchor, lucky for us the wind was blowing the fish processing plant away from us.

Next morning we were up and moving south with the sunrise. Winds were good until we got down below New Point Comfort. Had to turn on the motor and motor our way into Willoughby Bay. Willoughby Bay is an interesting place with the Navy base on the south side where they helicopters running around practicing landing and takeoffs. Lots of noise...

From here on until we get to Beaufort,NC, you turn your sailboat into motor yacht. No sailing just motoring along in the ICW or better know as the “Ditch”.

We got into Beaufort on Tuesday October 25^th and anchored down in Taylor Creek.

We sat in Beaufort until Nov 2. Everyday we dingy-ed into shore and the coffee shop for coffee and WIFI. Between Clayton and I we checked about 5 different weather sites at least every 4 hours. This became a real pain having to drink coffee and check weather. We visited the museum several times during the week and walked all over the place. Friends of Clayton's lived about 20 miles away and came over and provided us with some wheels. Fill up the diesel cans, Off to West Marine, over to the grocery store to fill up on last minute items. Hit a couple of bars....
The current flowing back and forth in Taylor Creek is something. Almost everyday the winds were blowing from the SW at 10 kts with the current flowing one way or the other. Current won over wind every time. Boats were swinging, some of them playing bumper boats. One boat "5 Naked Ladies" (not sure if it was ladies or women) got hit more than once. Cool thing about this owner was that he is a bartender and stops by to tell anyone close that he gets back to the boat around 1:30am and turns on the music - LOUD.

Finally, on Nov 1 we realize our weather window has arrived. A front is moving through and we will have NW 10-15 kt winds for about 24-36 hours offshore and then a High pressure will move in over us and the winds will die down for around 12hrs.
Final preparations started, everything was lashed down, jack lines were run, below - everything was put in its place. Just three guys with their elbows flying and asses up in the air.

On Nov 2 about 2:00pm with the tide going out - so did we. The trip has begun. Once we cleared Point Lookout we started getting the North Atlantic swells which were very gentle.

Coast is back there - see the buildings?

Nov 2-3

Our first night out, the winds picked up to 15kts which kicked up the seas very quickly. During the night as we entered the Gulf Stream, the waves rose up to the 10-15 ft level and was beaming us. Made for an uncomfortable first night. BTW, even with sea sickness patches, Le and I started barfing - such a wonderful way to spend watching the stars - BARF, BARF. Around noon on the 3rd things settled down with long 7-10 ft swells going by us. The water was taking a beautiful deep blue color and the water temperature was 78F/25C. Our course was about 120-140 deg depending on what the winds was doing.

Nov 4
We were having a great sail, single reef in the main with the genoa out just pushing us out to warmer weather. Around noon, I started noticing clouds building and racing toward us. I could see lightening - cloud to cloud and occasional cloud to water. WHAT THE HELL IS COMING!!! All I could think of is a localized weather over the Gulf Stream, and it was coming at us from the west.
At about 5-7 miles from us we started rolling in the genoa as winds were starting to pickup along with the waves. I could see the tail-tail sign of the leading edge roll cloud that signals you are about to get hit. Clayton and Le went forward and was putting up the storm sail on the inner staysail when thing started to really get wild. Winds now at 30kts with the waves increasing. Time to get the mainsail down. These two guys are fearless up on deck getting the sails changed, sometimes crawling around on hands and knees to accomplish the task. Got the main down and tied. NOW what the hell do we do... The waves were getting huge but the crest were only coming every 10-12 seconds not breaking. As the waves started hitting 30ft range (we were measuring this by being in the trough of the wave and looking at the crest against the mast which is 55ft high) we realized we needed to slow the boat down as you surfed down the wave. Fun thing was while you were at the top of the wave you see a distance, but then when in the trough - you were in a hole. UP & DOWN, UP & DOWN, etc. etc. Time to HEAVE TO!!!
Now this is easier said than done. Waves are now bigger, wind is now up to 40-45kt range. I was on the helm, while you are in the bottom of the wave there is almost no wind and hard to get the boat to steer. So as you crest the wave you had wind and tried to turn the boat to get the storm sail back winded. The wind was blowing so hard against the hull the boat would come up but just get blown off and back now the wave. It took five tries before we finally got the boat turned up and were finally HOVE TO.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaving_to

At this point we were satisfied with the balance of the boat, waves and wind. We were still moving by the GPS readout but only 1.5-2.5kts. We were riding the waves very well. Clayton and I decided it would be better if we went below, Le wanted to stay topside to watch. In a few minutes, Le came below when he saw the winds hitting 55kts and the waves almost to the top of the mast. Guess he had seen enough.....HAHA

Holding On

Not taken during the actual washing machine but you will get the idea. When Le came below he saw Clayton and I laying like this, it was the only way we could stay out of trouble. By now the boat was pitching side to side about a 90 deg arc, 45 to port and 45 to starboard. So here we were, BUTT - HEAD, BUTT - HEAD, BUTT - HEAD, BUTT - HEAD -- HEY didn't they make a movie with this name. Plus it was easier to crawl to the head and spill your guts.. By now everything in the vberth that was on the port side was on the starboard and in a few minutes was back on the port and just kept re-arranging our bedding and clothing that was up there.
We stayed like this for about 24-36 hrs just getting tossed. As the time moved on we started getting some breaking waves over the boat. Would sound like a truck hit the boat and then watch the water pour over the hatches over your head. Sleep was difficult and eating was not something you wanted to do. Drink beer was another matter..... By now we were discovering water leaks all over the place. Clayton would curse and said "I chalked that and that and than".. Everything was WET..

After about 24 hrs, I started making calls on the VHF radio for anyone that was out there trying to get weather information. Our SSB radio died and we could not communicate with anyone. Finally, what I assume was a french freighter answered us, at least he had a french accent. He told us we were in the middle of a gale that had developed off the coast and was stalled over us. OH SWEET just what we needed. So we started working our way south trying to get below 31N which was the southern limit of the gale. In the middle of all this, genoa started unfurling and we had to go topside and try to get it rolled up. Not real successful since it tore apart anyway. The bimini tore and the solar panels structure broke in a couple of places. Clayton was topside tying the supports for the solar panels to keep them from sailing away. A five gallon jug of diesel broke loose and the top was popped open and diesel spilled into the ocean. Meanwhile we were moving about 3 kts south.

Genoa has a problem

map

Above is a static image of our trip. Below is a Google interactive map that was made from our spot reports by Dwight with comments from Dwight.

Interactive map

Unknown to us on the boat, a bunch of people were following our trip on facebook which my wife Joan was keeping up with our position reports. What we found later was the weather low that was suppose to go up the coast behind us came east with the front and developed in a gale - right on top of us. Clayton's wife, Brenda and mine Joan were freaking because we were not moving very much. Our sailing friends watching, calmed their fears by telling them we were 'hove to' which was the right thing to do in the case. By Nov 5th in the afternoon we started reluctantly started heading back west. To many things were going wrong - we lost our water pump(no showers), genoa gone, solar panels barely hanging on, bimini gone.
Interesting thing was a friend of ours Jorge was supposed to be a 48ft Hinckley yawl - SV Song (picture down below) - going from Newport, RI to the islands. He got called into work and wasn't able to go. Jorge realized Song was only 40nm from us. Song got knocked down 3 times and one roll. I got to talk to the owner once we got back to Beaufort, NC. They lost all their electronics, but still had a sat phone which is how the got information. Almost lost everything above deck. They had no sails up when they rolled which saved the mast and rigging. They had two feet of water inside the boat. Talking to owner they were surfing down the waves doing 17kts. Tried slowing the boat down by trailing everything they could. Even had a drogue parachute deployed that got ripped off. Now those guys have a story to tell. No one got hurt, Amazing. All the while Jorge was telling Joan about Song which was not helping.... The NARC race from Newport, RI was also out to the NE of us. Sadly, One lady was washed overboard and lost. Another boat with four guys was abandoned after one got seriously hurt. Someone said we got hit by the perfect storm. NO SHIT....

Around the 7th or 8th of Nov, I made contact with a tug who told us about a tropical storm which would becoming Hurricane Sean in a day or two to the south of us headed NORTH.. I had the tug report our position and the fact we were out here to the Coast Guard and we are heading back to the east coast. TIME TO LEAVE...

Now along this whole time the winds were blowing from the east at 25 kts and above. For hours the wind would not drop below 30 kts, and BTW the waves were running 15 to 25 ft.. We had two different swells coming at us, one from the NE and East. This made for a huge lumpy ride.. We keep getting pushed around where one wave would hit us turning us so the next wave would hit us broad side and send water all over the place. Several times we had about 6-8 inches of water in the cockpit, at least the water was warm.. By now we were getting desperate, our last hot meal was Nov 3, and was beans and hot dogs which was given up to the sea. We have not had showers, three guys in a boat - WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SMELL. As a mater of fact I think we went about 6 days without taking off our foul weather gear, we slept in them and they were wet. Imagine trying to use the head, it was a multiple point stance. Hand, shoulder, head, knees, feet spread to brace and make sure you hit the toilet.....Success was not very high. No pictures of any of this, since none of our cameras where waterproof..

Clayton was trying to figure out where we would hit the east coast. Started out with Jacksonville,Fl, thne Savanna, GA, then Charleston, SC and finally Georgetown, SC. Knowing what we know after the fact we should have turned NW and headed directly to Beaufort, NC. All the stories you hear about crossing the Gulf Stream with a NE wind is a NO-NO, we figure no big deal it was doable after what we had been through.

So anyway, into Georgetown we go on Nov 10th, we went into Harbor View Marnia and took a slip. FIRST, thing SHOWERS, laundry and then lets go find FOOD. Went to the River House and acted like pigs...

Go ahead and try to dry something

guys

We made it

Our original plan was to proceed up the ICW to Beaufort which was about 200 miles - four days of motoring. Checking the weather we found we could go back out into the Atlantic and be in Beaufort in two days. So in the morning we headed out once more...

We were 20nm offshore when these guys landed on the boat. After looking at the bird book we had 'Yellow Tail Wabblers'.

sunrise

Sunrise just north of Cape Fear

The passage from Georgetown to Beaufort was just plain fun for about 18hrs we had full sail up moving about 6-7kts on a beam reach. Around midnight off Cape Fear the wind died and we had to fire up the motor all the way to Beaufort. BTW, I lost 15lbs on this trip... Jenny Criag - eat your heart out..

WE MADE IT....

SONG

SV Song at Beaufort, NC

The End