It has been a year since I committed to buy Cambio. That launched a furious rounds of planning, building spreadsheets, researching options and outsourcing advice by reading and following sailing YouTube channels.
It is interesting to compare last year’s plans with this years plans, now that I’ve been through a season with Cambio.
Last year my plan was to sail the boat all over Lake Ontario in all kinds of conditions. I needed to have both me and the boat in good enough shape to leave for the Caribbean on September 1, 2022.
This year I have the same plan, to leave for the Caribbean on September 1 2023
I’ve a long list of somber lessons from 2022, some of which are covered in other parts of this log.
Had I left on September 1 2022, I would have run into hurricanes Fiona and Ian somewhere between about New York and Norfolk. This would not be good. I’m very aware for the 2023 season that I’ve got to remember that angry weather will have to be watched and dealt with (aka avoided). Will I go out to Bermuda and turn right towards Bahamas? Will I take the ICW? (I don’t really want to spend a lot of time motoring.) Will I follow the shoreline 20-30 miles offshore while avoiding the Gulf Stream? And what will the prevailing winds force me to do? All of this is determined by the weather in close up observations so at this point being aware of future decisions is all I can do now.
The critical dates for the fall departure are August 1 (which is the go/no go decision date), September 1 (the departure date), October 15 (The New York canal system closes) and December 1 (The nominal end of hurricane season in the Caribbean)
Last year I had planned to buy some big-ticket items here in Canada. They included in somewhat priority, Dinghy & Motor, Freezer, Liferaft, Watermaker, Ais transmitter (I have a receiver), Wind self steering, Standing Rigging inspection, Solar Upgrade.
In the July 20 Storm, Matt and I had the furler and genoa destroyed in 43 knots of wind and effectively broke the boat for going upwind meant that we sailed 40 miles through the storm and then another 100 miles to Kingston on a broken boat and high wind and waves.
I had a forced 6 week maintenance period in Kingston where the engine was overhauled, the propeller was repaired, the sail was resewn, the mainsail reefing, lazy jacks, and assorted lines were ‘restrung’, and all the major systems, including the standing rigging were checked. The furler was repaired in October. Other than the dinghy and motor, which were bought before the storm, the big ticket items simply were not purchased.
However, there is a new list.
- Liferaft. My advisors tell me this is not negotiable and I tend to agree.
- More power by installing new solar panels. I think I’ll be going from almost 200 watts to 900 watts. Among other things it provides greater redundancy to power the autopilot which is a critical system. The alternator produces 85 amps when the motor is running. The batteries may need to be upgraded.
- Starlink (already purchased)
- Go Pro (already purchased)
- Drone
- Items that are no longer on this year’s budget, if ever, include Watermaker, Wind self-steering, Freezer, AIS transmitter. I either have enough redundancy planned or don’t need them this season.
So it has all been about risk management, limited resources (people and money) and building redundancy, all program management concepts that hold over from my previous career. And the same tools, budgets on Excel spreadsheets, Word documents, even the dreaded PowerPoint.
It’s January 3. I only have 120 days until launch.
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