Continuing preparation of "Every Day" and beginning cruising, Part 21

You know how trying events in your life give new focus to the direction you have chosen. Malloy had one of those experiences on her attempted transport of Bambi from Chicago to Puerto Rico. There were many problems with the boat, with weather, and with the owner.

The boat was well built but has not been very well maintained. The sails and rigging turn out to be original (almost 25 years old) and there were many failures between here and Mac Island. Let's leave it to say, Mallory called me and said, "Our boat is in ten times better condition than Bambi, before we did anything." Mallory came to the conclusion the boat was not ready for open water.

Last comment I have about the boat. Boats with big centerboards are great because of the shallow draft but create a design which heavily depends on the board to sail in all points of sail except for dead down (even then I'd have it down). The problem Mallory was encountering was that even down wind the waves were pushing the boat 4.5 nm a beam of the desired direction which they were motor sailing to at about 9 knots (pushed along by waves). That's about a 30 degree drift with the board up. Unfortunately, the owner was not sure if the board would go down or for that matter back up. The heavy dependence on the board is major design flaw in our eyes.

The weather did not cooperate even from the outset. Sailing up to Sturgeon Bay to have some last minute repairs done at Palmer Johnson's where the boat was exciting enough is thick, thick fog. We can all think GPS for their ability to get from Chicago to Manitowoc (to fuel up) and then to Sturgeon Bay, that and Mallory's ability to read a chart. That part of the trip was Carl and Mallory only.

Then our friend, Larry (an extremely experience sailor), Carl and Mallory started the transport and the hope was that I would meet them in New York for the leg to Bermuda. Unfortunately, the amount of wind (at times over 40 knots, when predictions were not to exceed 20) and 15 foot seas made a run for shelter at Beaver Island a good choice. Tired and a bit freaked out, they docked the boat (hit the dock real hard, bent the bow pulpit, which got fixed, eventually) but they got the boat tied up and got some rest. It blew for 4 days straight and finally they decided to make the run for Detroit. It was pretty uneventful sail but after a lot of discussions amongst the crew and calls back to me, Carl and crew decided that the boat was really not ready for the ocean and decided to sail back to Sturgeon Bay.

I met them on Beaver Island, neither Mallory nor I had ever been to Beaver Island. We had a great time and the people were very inviting and friendly. It was a pleasure to visit and would make a point of going back by sail or car. The car ferry from Charlevoix was fast, inexpensive and a great way to get yourself and car, if desired to the island.

Carl, Larry and I got the boat back safely to Sturgeon Bay for the winter and repairs. Looking back on the experience, Mallory and I will definitely look more closely at the boat and ability of the owner to take a boat offshore before we do it again. That being said we are booked and will be traveling on a Kaufman 47 from Bermuda to Fort Lauderdale. Both Mallory and I are excited about exploring Bermuda prior to our transport and then to wander down to Key West after completing our transport (I have never been, Mallory lived down there).

We are so glad that we moved our boat to Manitowoc when we did. We heard that Sturgeon Bay Marina has discontinued operations and we would have been stuck with our boat in a yard that has no one to work on it. We have been putting together a list of the work that we think needs to be done and Rich Larsen, the yard manager, is putting together his own and we will put together a plan, budget and timeline. Hopefully, the timeline does not extend into next summer too much. There are some big projects left to be done. A discussion of these and trip log from our blue water adventure.

We will be in the Sargasso Sea during the Commodor's Ball. Did you know that the Sargasso is named after the weed that build up in the middle of the Atlantic named during the time of Columbus after the Portuguese word, sargassum or weed. We will be thinking of you and hope you all have a great time. We are sorry we are missing it this year.

Have fun,