Would you have wanted to be on this boat?
I mentioned yesterday about the rough passage that we had from Guadeloupe to Les Saintes. Here is a quick video put together from some clips that Rebecca took while we were underway. Note how quiet it is behind the boat’s dodger and how loud the wind is when out from behind it.
We did make it though, as evidenced by this photo showing the beautiful anchorage at La Bourg. If you’d like to download a much larger version of the image, you can do so here.
If you guys are looking for crew to do a crossing or any sort of sailing I would love to join you, I have been working on boats for 8 years now, I was apart of the Ondeck crew, I sailed to St maarten and back before, my contact are 12687828247 E-mAil- bjornhibbert@live.com
Hi Bjorn. Thanks for the offer and we’ll keep that in mind. We have no extended passages requiring extra crew planned for the immediate future but you never know. 🙂
Nice sailing guys! You could be here we had 3″ of fresh snow and ice this morning, man I cant wait to get to some warmer climates…
Yeah, I don’t miss snow, unless there’s enough to go boarding on.
While I must admit that I’d probably be nervous in those big waves (especially on our mono-hull) … YES, I still wanna be there! Much better than this office .. LOL! Great video, and the anchorage waiting for ya’ll is a nice reward.
When we first started sailing we would have been scared to death in those conditions. Now it’s just par for the course. You’ll be the same, guaranteed.
Have you EVER had a wave actually strike the tender, more than just a white cap or spray? I have not, not even close. Just curious. We often read the advise that they should be removed for off-shore work, but really, that leaves only the tramp, where it would be in the way and is even more likely, I think, to go underwater. Moreover, if the tramp start going under off the wind during a worst-case storm, I worry about pitchpoling. On the davits, worst case, she can be cut loose (though I can’t imagine it coming to that). The davits are not very high on the PDQ 32, but they seem far enough forward to keep it out of the water. I try to keep mine hight, touching the davits.
I think it’s mono-hull advise. For us, I think the safety factor of having her ready to go is far greater than the postulated risk.
We have had waves approaching from the stern quarter touch the tender, but not strike it hard. We have not had any following seas hit the dinghy. When the engine is left on though, the lower unit gets hit all the time which is why we remove it for any real passage. I agree that I do not think it would be wise to store it on the tramp.
It seems to me that three things stand out from Rebecca’s nice video.
1. That you cat handles blowy conditions very easily. You seemed to have force 5 with much higher gusts, in deep water, and you were rolling along very nicely. I bet your friends on Earthling found it rather worse!
2. I was surprised that you had not protected your Honda genset. Mine gets rusty all too easily in conditions less bad than those.
3. You demonstrate exactly why any CRUISING cat should ALWAYS have a dodger fitted. OK race mad people may like to stand in the open for the short duration of a race. If however you live on board and go longer distances, sitting on watch for long periods, a decent and effective dodger is a must. Or so I think! 🙂
Well done. Nice video thanks.
Mike
1. Hard to say what our friends on Earthling were feeling. I am sure it would have been quite a different ride.
2. We were running the generator for a portion of the trip and when we weren’t running it, I didn’t want to cover it because it was still warm. Normally we have it covered though.
3. MUST have a dodger. There are some very expensive cats that I would not want to own because of their unprotected helm stations.
YES!
🙂
Must be nice to sail in such a protected boat sitting facing forward, I get your glad your not on a monohull…..thanks for the video….
The PDQ 32 does have a super protected cockpit. We feel very safe there.
Once, in April (still 45-50 degree F water on the Chesapeake) my daughter decided to prove a point by sitting on the front bench (right at the back edge of the tramp) on a day like that. Yes, she was wearing a harness and tether. Yes, she got knocked sideways a few times. She had friends with her; the root cause of this behavior.
I laughed myself silly, watching nature pour 5-gallon buckets of cold water on her head!
That doesn’t sound too comfortable! 🙂
YES! I’d want to be on that boat!!
Sorry we didn’t invite you then. 😉
Here is a video of our Baja passage that was downwind.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aErGHBFnI7g&feature=channel
The breaking waves never broke on the dinghy but we were doing over 12 knots boat speed. That got our blood flowing.
Wow. I wish there was a way for photos or video to REALLY capture how big the waves are. They never do it justice. How much sail did you have up there?
Mike,
We had a double reef with 25-28 knots of wind. It was a 1000 mile trip around the outside of Baja. The PDQ was surfing the waves nicely but when you are in the bottom of a trough and don’t see the horizon it is intimidating. Regina thought the boat was going to break apart when when caught a wave sideways. Joe, our salty crew member, had to assure us all was well.
They sure are pretty strong boats!
I am sorry to say “yes”…..I would love to be on the boat cruising in those seas……..When the boat is a rocking…(oh wait that is something else)….You guys know I love the videos….That was fun
One day you’ll have to come visit us, John!
I would have been there!
Love the video. Was planning on sailing this weekend, but they cancelled due to 35 mph winds. I would have gone!
The harbor picture is my new desktop background.
Thanks for all the posts, can’t get enough.
Yeah, sailing in 35 MPH (30 knots) isn’t what we typically choose to do either.
Thanks for following along! 🙂
I’m a little late in commenting. I’m still a year behind in reading about your adventures although I do read from both ends of your blog. Despite being late, yes I would have loved to be out sailing rather than sitting inside looking at mountains of snow in Ontario. Even rough days sailing are better than good days working. Unfortunately the water on Lake Huron is still a little on the solid side.
“Even rough days sailing are better than good days working.”
Well, that depends on just how rough it is! 🙂