Monthly Archives: March 2014

Afrayed Knot Sailing Lk Michigan Crossing Flotilla 2014

Afrayed Knot Sailing’s first Lake Michigan Crossing flotilla is planned for June 26 Thursday!!!

We will depart from Holland, Mi, Lake Macatawa, Anchorage Marina, heading to Wisconsin for a day or two on land, and then return.  The exact port in Wisconsin has not been decided.  Although, Milwaukee is a top choice.  We plan to fit in some land event (i.e., Wisconsin brewery tour and/or a baseball game).  We plan to return to Holland on Sunday, but keeping Monday open if the weather dictates.

Plan on jokes, songs, music, and great food.  Some games are planned along the way including photograph scavenger hunt.  Winners to be awarded prizes upon return in Holland.

With the crossing being 80 miles long, it will take 12-14 hours at 7knots and a strait line.

The lead sailboat will be a 35 C&C chartered from GT Sailing out of Holland and Anchorage Marina.  If you need to charter a sailboat, contact GT Sailing http://www.gtsailing.com

Weather planning: Depending on the weather, we will need to leave late Thursday night or early Friday A.M., and could be 2A.M. or 6A.M.  We need to make port in the daylight.  Our return trip may leave late Saturday night through Monday A.M. to return to Holland safely.

Warning: Lake Michigan sailing can be dangerous.  Waves can reach 15ft, but we would attempt to limit our travels in six feet or less.  Sailboats tend to get wet on the interior in rough weather through ceiling fixtures and where the deck meets the sidewalls, therefore, careful packing is strongly encouraged.  The trip will be cancelled if lightning is imminent in our path to be traveled or gusts are forecast to exceed 25 miles per hour for an extended period of time.  Boat safety inspection begins Thursday at 6P.M.  Rain alone will not be cause for cancelling.

Contact me if you are crew looking for a boat, or a captain looking for crew, at john.weller@afrayedknotsailing.com

Short test run – 90 miles

Our first short leg from St. Maarten to BVI was a short easy get to know each other trip of 90 miles.  We lost site of land for a few hours. I learned our owner had the right safety equipment for ocean crossings. We easily passed the Atlantic Rally Club safety inspection. The club takes the crossings very seriously as the want a 100% success for all passengers and boats.

Caribbean to Bermuda Delivery Completed

The trip to Bermuda went excellent. Calm winds for two days and nice to heavy winds for three days.  Only 12ft swells and max winds of 27 knots.  BVI is nice, but so is Bermuda.  I can’t wait to return to both islands .  Finally made a movie of the recent caribbean trip. I cut it into four parts and I messed up the audio so it replays the same song in all four parts.

http://youtu.be/8BfCvav0nIw    part 1
http://youtu.be/5b8sqpAXQTg  part 2
http://youtu.be/XnSqiC–Kwg    part 3
http://youtu.be/0HHxJ4wxgYY  part 4

Cons: No battery charger for my kindle.
Auto helm did not work on first and last day.
Pros: One night we saw a whale breach three times, although in the distance.
Saw two dolphins.
One full night of shooting starts, 20+ an hour.
Covered another 1000 miles in my log book.
Met wonderful people in the WCC Atlantic Rally and that staffed the WCC Atlantic Rally.
Became a junior member of the Prairie Pirates.
Great food for not planning a detailed daily menu.
No sea sickness.
Really impressed with Bermuda and site seeing, but driving the scooters is a risky adventure.
Crazy dinner menu by me.  We needed to eat the chicken that was thawing in the freezer that was not working 100% as a freezer.  So I cooked it the pressure cooker with coke-cola and BBQ sauce for 40+ minutes.  It was delightful.
Bermuda is seasonally warm, and snorkeling in mid-May is a cold thrill.  We did see barracuda, and lots of big fish.  There are thousands of places to snorkel on Bermuda island.

BVI to Bermuda complete success

This delivery included 26 other boats all headed to Bermuda in preparation for continuing on to Azores and Portugal.  We came in second place on the 840 mile trip.  The Benneteau 47.3 First is a fast sailboat with sufficient comfort.  With the three of us, we completed the trip in nearly 5 days, only to wait for an hour outside of Bermuda while two other merchant ships were piloted into the channel.

Two days of minimal wind, and all motor depleted our fuel by 50%.  Chased on our first night by three lightning storms in all directions blinked at us throughout the first night.

 

Then three days of sailing with and without the spinakkers all down-wind, at nine plus knots. our fastest day was 206 miles.

Photos coming soon.