Sailing Cambio

Tag: Cambio

  • Winter Is All About Planning And Logistics

    Winter Is All About Planning And Logistics

    We are past fixing up the boat. It is cold and blustery, even under the cover, and the list of things to do in April is growing. It is basically a list of Before Launch & After Launch and both lists are long. Only most of the items are critical.

    The featured item in the picture above is the switch that has so far confounded me. It will be April before I get a warm day to spend a good amount of time figuring it out. It should be simple, but it isn’t.

    Before launch items include:

    Replace spreader lights
    Test all mast bulbs
    Install spreader boots or baggywrinkles
    Change zincs / get spare zincs
    Put up flag halyards
    Replace sewage drainpipes
    Check leak in head sink
    Replace plotter
    Fix pelican latch on boarding entry
    Fix toilet seat
    Varnish toerail
    Varnish rubrail
    Pay Insurance
    Remove boat cover

    It’s probably a few day’s work, but finding a toilet seat might be a problem. I hope April is a nice, dry, calm month.

    On the social media side, there are lots of plans to start posting YouTube video in March but that has to be shot in January and then there’s a learning curve to develop my editing skills, which are sadly lacking. The fact that I shot no video last year, particularly during the storm, means a lot of talking heads video. But the folks I’m shooting are lively and interesting and I’m looking forward to it.

  • Planning the Cambio dream

    Planning the Cambio dream

    This is the first version of the Cambio Dream, from Lake Ontario to Batumi Georgia with stops along the way. Google measurements say it is 17,700 kilometers long, which is 9600 nautical miles. Cambio can do perhaps an average of 100 nautical miles per day, so this is, in total, 96 days, or just over 3 months of straight sailing. Geez i hope my math is right. I expect to take 2 years to get to Batumi, and while I’m sure that the course will change over time, this means there’s about 20 months of sightseeing, lazing around, maintenance, sitting on the anchor and enjoying the scenery. I think that’s a great ratio of sailing versus tourism, and I think tourism may not be the right all inclusive word.

    If you are reading this and have suggestions, please leave comments. This is a high level view of the voyage and it ends 9900 nautical miles from home, so clearly this is only part one.

    So lets start:

    Lake Ontario to New York. Because we have to get to the ocean and sailing seasons are short. I want to get south before it gets too cold, and may have to dodge storms if we leave on Sept. 1.

    Norfolk A great starting off point to test offshore. Also a great naval history (yes, I know I skipped Lunenburg and Chesapeake with their great naval lore)

    Bahamas What a great place to stop for December and drag the keel around interesting islands.

    Turks and Caicos They look like a great place to take a break.

    Monserrat and St. Martin Probably as far south as we can go, but I’d like to see them both. If we arrive in Bahamas in December we have 6 months to mess around the northern part of the Antilles before heading to Bermuda.

    USVI and Puerto Rico Just looks like great cruising. Maybe head to BVI as well but the whole area looks good.

    Bermuda Get out of Dodge before hurricane season starts. There’s no point in trying To Reason With Hurricane Season. This would be sometime in May 2023

    Azores Horta looks like such a cool place to visit. It is the first big crossing and hopefully we’ve learned important white water lessions on the 5-7 day trip from Puerto Rico to Bermuda.

    Morocco I’ve never been to Africa so Casablanca has to be on the list. Hopefully we can take the Marakesh Express ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TYq9RjdYYU ) and visit Tangiers and Gibraltar as we head for the Mediterranean.

    Malaga, Cartagena, Valencia seems like nice places to go and they named an orange after Valencia. How cool is that?

    Barcelona It’s on the list because of the architecture in Barcelona, and a friend I’d like to take to dinner.

    Corsica and Sardinia They are on the way to Rome and I bet I can find some older guys to play backgammon with on either side of the straight that separates theml.

    Rome I’ve never been there, despite a classical education, so it seems like a great place to start the trip down the western coast of Italy, stopping at interesting places.

    Calabria Here in Canada I’ve met a lot of Canadians of Italian descent and most of them seem to have come from Calabria. My barber, my tailor, my other barber, and a host of others have all been decent people, who are proud of their heritage so this is an opportunity to see the land that birthed such honorable people.

    Messina Messina splits Sicily from the Italian toe and it’s a great way to take the shortcut to Malta.

    Malta was the gateway to the East during the Crusades and an undefeated country during World War II. I’m looking forward to seeing ancient buildings and meeting an island full of indomitable spirit.

    Thera I hear the South of Turkey is a wonderful place to spend the winter, if time on the Med must end for winter. But how can we miss the island that houses Santorini? So it is on the list.

    Limnos and Lesbos Two Islands that have some interesting things going on. Limnos produces a wonderful dessert wine that I’ve tried once and loved. It is also known for its natural ingredients,  almonds, figs, melons, watermelons, tomatoes, pumpkins and olives. The main crops are wheat, barley, sesame, honey, and oregano. And I want to try their cheeses. They also say jokingly that the tallest tree on Limnos is oregano.
    Lesbos, despite the jokes (“You aren’t a lesbian unless you were born on Lesbos” – The Mayor of Lesbos), has a million olive trees and so is quite different from Limnos, although it is only a few miles away. Both islands are on the way somewhat to Istanbul.

    Istanbul I was last in Istanbul in 2011. I met some fantastic people, like Simsek and Orhan and Levant in the Grand Bazaar and Deniz, the security guard out by the airport. I had a fabulous time in Istanbul and would love to dock in the shadow of the Galata tower, if they’ll have me.

    Black Sea From Istanbul, the Black Sea opens up. We would want to stay south, away from conflict and explore the more conservative southern shoreline of Turkey until we get to Georgia. I’d like to visit an old friend, Timur, and see the modern architecture of Batumi and Tbilisi, and the ancient Kakheti wine regions. I think it might be nice to winter over in Batumi.
    It is too bad that I’ll likely have to miss the Northern Black Sea like Hungary, Odessa, and Crimea. Whatever time of year we are in the Black Sea I’ve been warned to be off the Black Sea by September 1 due to storm season.

  • Plumbing the Electrical System

    Plumbing the Electrical System

    November 25, 2022, Saint Catharines

    It’s late November and having the boat on the hard is depressing.

    And there are a number of problem with her, mostly that the power is not working. The solar panel should be charging the batteries, allowing the fan to circulate the air inside. The solar panel is not working. The shore power is also not charging the batteries.

    So there’s something wrong with all the batteries at once, or something wrong with the fuses between the charging unit and the sources of power, or the charger itself. There may be multiple chargers.

    Tomorrow should be 10 degrees and sunny so I’m spending the morning tracing current and checking fuses. Matt, who rode the dragon with me in that July 20 storm will be there to help.

    Another thing that may be related is that the disco lights that light up the engine compartment are not working. They weren’t working before the batteries died, so that may be a clue. Stay tuned.

  • He discovered that the forestay core wire was broken

    He discovered that the forestay core wire was broken

    I’ve got lots to enter in this log and not so much time to do it.  But I stole 30 minutes to update and will go back and fill in the smaller adventures we’ve had since leaving Kingston. 

    Yesterday Keven Piper of Bay Sails installed a new furler.  It looks beautiful in pieces and hopefully today I’ll get down to the marina and check it out.  

    As he was taking the forestay off he discovered that the forestay core wire was broken.  At some point the forestay was twisted and broke the core.  Before he took it apart a visual inspection would have said, “This is Perfect”.  Not so!!  Good catch Keven.

    Remember that the genoa looked like this for 24 hours In very heavy wind so it is no surprise that the forestay was going to be highly stressed.   Part of a new furler is a new forestay, which is a very good thing.

  • I don’t think this is right

    I don’t think this is right

    Friday, September 3, 2022

    I don’t think this is right.  I thought we sailed home from Toronto on Thursday, but somewhere in this log I may have lost a day.  If you are reading this, I didn’t go back to find it, and please just go with it.

    We motored on a smooth sunny lake for about 5 hours and pulled into Port Dalhousie.

    After doing a technically challenging docking at the National superbly, I got to my dock in Port Dalhousie and almost rammed the dock.  I went around and got it the second time but I shouldn’t have lost that skill after 6 weeks away.

    I went home, had a shower, and came back to Cambio to do some putaway and such. Instead, I fell asleep on the settee for 3 hours. 

  • Well I’ve been here before

    Well I’ve been here before

    Thursday September 2, 2022 Whitby to Toronto

    We were up early, with the dinghy stowed and the boat prepared for a bumpy and slanty ride. 

    Leaving Whitby was an adventure.  I followed the red buoys to the left to get out and then turned left to head for the marina.  There is a lot of mud on either side of the channels and I had been warned to follow the buoys carefully.   So I kept to the right, where the red buoys were, and promptly grounded in muck. 

    It took a call to the marina where Brian and Bob came out and pulled us out into the clear and we were pulled over the tow line which got caught under the boat. 

    Well I’ve been here before.

    They took us to the gas dock and I refueled and did a pump out while mentally preparing to dive under the boat in very murky waters.   I didn’t like the idea of diving to clear the propeller again when the water was very, very brown.   Brian came back and had an idea.  He took the stern line that was caught and worked it around the stern, pulling it along the way.   He had this idea that it wasn’t hooked on the propellor but it was stuck in the gap between the rudder and the hull.  

    The line came loose and it turned out Brian was right.   I was relieved from having to dive in dirty, murky, skuzzy water to clear the rope!!  

    We left Whitby very carefully using the centre of the channel and got on our way to Port Dalhousie.

    We got perhaps 2 hours out, and we were rocking a lot and sometimes burying the bow into oncoming waves.   I wasn’t worried about Cambio. She handles this stuff well, but both Pierre and my stomachs became a bit queasy and neither one of us wanted to go through another 10 hours of this to get to Port Dalhousie when Friday’s weather was supposed to be calm and sunny.  

    Pierre hinted that we had talked about going to Toronto and I thought that was a bang up great idea, so I instructed Otto to turn right and head for the Eastern Headlands, about 3 hours away.  The wind built to 30 knots and I was looking forward to getting into the Toronto Harbour where presumably the water would be smooth. 

    I phoned the National Yacht Club, searching for a reciprocal berth for the night.  It took me 8 tries before the Officer of the Day answered the phone.  Apparently they are more reliant on VHF radio for communication.  I am more reliant on the phone because the VHF is down below in the cabin and I’m not so comfortable going below in high winds and leaving Otto alone to manage.   But the phone is in my pocket and National is on my speed dial.

    When we got into the Toronto Harbour, I did put Otto in charge under Pierre’s supervision while I went forward and stowed the main properly.  I had started to raise it when we were thinking we were going to Port Dalhousie and found that the halyard was wrapped around the lazy jacks a few times.   After the July 20 storm, Jeff and I had fixed all the lines but I must have forgotten to check the main halyard.  I was pooped after straightening it out.  Shortly after we adjusted course towards Toronto and there was no need for the mainsail anymore.   However I did have to wrap the sail tighter on the boom to reduce the windage when we went into the National Yacht Club basin.    

    NYC is a very well protected harbour,  protected by an ancient break wall that has an entrance that seems to be about 36 feet across. Cambio has a 13 foot width.   The winds were gusting to 30 knots on the beam (from the side) and the waves made it a rather interesting challenge to get through this gap.   To restate that, going through the gap required a high pucker factor.

    So we didn’t know where the dock they had assigned was.  We came into a section of the basin where the wall set in front of the clubhouse and there was space on the wall. I headed for it, with the wind behind me.  I used forward and reverse gears many times before I got the boat alongside, between another boat and the small boat crane.   We had 3 people helping us dock, thankfully.  

    Then they wanted me to move to the assigned dock.   There was no way, in my opinion, to do this given the high wind, the small space we were in, and the surrounding boats.   So I suggested moving the first boat back about 12 feet, and my boat forward about 12 feet.  This would be safer and we’d clear the crane, because it was race night and the crane had to be cleared for the Sharks and J’s to launch.  It was a negotiation but the NYC person in charge understood that it would be bad for my 41’, 25,000 pound boat to hit other boats in that kind of weather. 

    So we tied up, caught our breaths and had a passage drink. 

    Dinner at the National was a buffet, and we were ready for a great meal.  It was good, and we gorged.   Then we realized that the table beside us were the same people that we had met in Belleville.  Actually they recognized us first.  We exchanged short stories and pleasantries, and they left. 

    We went to play Rummy on the boat.   

  • It never happened

    It never happened

    Wednesday August 31, 2022, Whitby

    We stayed another day in Whitby, just to sit out a forecasted thunderstorm.   It never happened but it was a pleasant day.  

    Pierre and I invaded the clubhouse to play backgammon and met some interesting members, who looked at us curiously as if we were bringing new vices to the comfortable room.  Besides the members, the Shark sailors came in, went out into the stormy waters and came back but by then Pierre and I had returned to the boat. 

    The previous owner, Al, was around and I asked him what the process for stowing the dinghy on the davits.  He walked me through it and it was exactly what Jeff had figured out back in August and that Pierre and I had worked on.  Sadly, because I was hoping there was an easier way.   I guess the easier way is to do it a dozen times until it seems easy. 

    The weather forecast was for high winds, off the beam, all day, which would be perfect for motorsailing from Whitby to Port Dalhousie.

  • There was a prediction of thunderstorms for Monday

    There was a prediction of thunderstorms for Monday

    Monday August 29, 2022 Cobourg

    There was a prediction of thunderstorms for Monday so we stayed put at the dock the next day.  We had dinner in the old Yacht Club, which had gone out of business and had been taken over by a local tavern entrepreneur.   The clubhouse still looked like it did before the takeover, with race flags, burgees and trophies all over the place.  

    But this was a shell of a yacht club.  There was a pallor of death and I imagined that all the stories that had been told in there among bonne homme members over the years now smelled a little like musty old books, without the life that comes from camaraderie.  The food was pretty good, however.

  • It was a bumpy ride from Cobourg to Whitby.

    It was a bumpy ride from Cobourg to Whitby.

    Tuesday August 30, 2022, Cobourg to Whitby

    It was a bumpy ride from Cobourg to Whitby.  The wind was on the nose and we motored through messy sets of waves.

    About 5 hours later we arrived at the dock in Whitby, just a few docks down from where I had taken possession of Cambio in early May.  I felt badly that the topsides showed new scratches which happened while I had been learning how to dock.  Most of them will buff out but I haven’t done that yet and probably won’t until spring commissioning.