Advice to Newbie Passagemakers

[skylark]

Lets say you meet someone with a burning desire to cross an ocean on a small boat, but who does not have a lot of sailing experience.  What advice would you give them?

I'll start with this advice:

Put your boat in the water about 500 miles from your jumping off point for the passage.  Daysail from harbor to harbor to the jumping off point, anchoring out every night.  The reason is that you need to learn how to sail your boat, how to live aboard, and you need to give things on your boat a chance to break while you are near shore and can get them repaired. Try to sail in heavy winds however remember that bad weather conditions can be more dangerous for a sailboat on the coast, because the weather can drive you against hard things like rocks and seawalls, or put you hard aground.  I would say 20 good daysail coastal passages should give you the experience you need.

[Lynx]

Very good although You might want more than 2 months, 6 months to a year may be better.

Get every winterizing ,sea trial, commissioning and survey checklist that you can find. Learn how to use them, make a list of your own and do it.

I also suggest - Get a manual for everthing. Take everything apart that you can and learn what a bad/failing part looks like. This would not include special things like engines, fridge, stove. radio's. But the normal wear and tear items you should know how to do. If you don't know how to do this, by an old car or an old riding lawn mower and fix it yourself.

Make a departure checklist and a maintains log.

Work out how everything. It is not the same as reading a book. One slip or bad move and delay or destroy your voyage quickly. Way to many examples of this. In this regards, small boats are better, things are closer and not as heavy.

Take the view point that voyaging/cruising is an EXTREME sport. It does make a lot of difference if you do something RIGHT and quickly the first time versus not knowing that something is wrong or doing it slowly/wrong the first time.

[AdriftAtSea]

Get to know every system on your boat as much as possible.  Re-build systems and learn how to do the regular maintenance on them all.  When you're 300 miles out, there isn't an electrician, a composite repair person, a carpenter, a plumber, a mechanic or a rigger—there is only you, and if you're planning on going on long voyages in a smaller boat, you really need to learn a bit about every system on the boat.

Make sure you have the basic spares and maintenance parts:

Spare fuses of the sizes and types you need.  Remember, some gear uses ATC, ATM, AGC, SFE, or some other type.  To help with this, I've modified most of the gear on my boat so that all the gear is using ATC-type blade fuses, except the really large fuses for the DC panel, which are Maxi-Blade fuses. I did this by eliminating most of the in-line fuse holders, and using fuse blocks and fused switch panels instead.

Impellers for the various engine water pumps, as well as the various bilge and fresh water pumps.

Oil/fuel filters and spark plugs for various engines.

Spare light bulbs for each type of fixture you have: halogen, incandescent, fluorescent, LED.

Trace, diagram and label the electrical wiring and plumbing (fuel, waste, propane and water)on the boat. In an emergency, having clearly labeled wiring and plumbing can make a huge difference in fixing things quickly.

Carry the basic tools you need to do basic maintenance and repairs on your boat.  A piece of extra rigging wire with mechanical swageless fittings long enough to replace the longest, heaviest piece of rigging on your boat is not a bad idea. 

Know what your boat is supposed to sound like.  What does the engine under power or at idle sound like?  Often a change in sound can be an early clue to trouble, so knowing how your boat is supposed to sound can be a lifesaver.

Practice reefing your sails, until you can do it quickly and without thinking about it... and reef whenever you first think it might be necessary.  Being over-canvassed is generally worse than having up too little sail.

Practice anchoring and retrieving your anchor.  Getting your anchor set is an important part of cruising that most people won't mention.  If you spend a lot of time on the hook, you'll generally save money, but being able to set the anchor and retrieve it easily make doing so a lot simpler.

[Captain Smollett]

Lets say you meet someone with a burning desire to cross an ocean on a small boat, but who does not have a lot of sailing experience.  What advice would you give them?

First piece of advice I'd give: Don't subscribe to SAIL or any of the other big rags.  Cancel immediately if already subscribed.

Second piece of advice: Get a boat and go sailing.  Barring that, get on someone else's boat and go sailing with them.

Time on the water... each second DOING = about 2 years of reading about it.

(Note to self - take this advice: SAIL MORE)

Being over-canvassed is generally worse than having up too little sail.

I disagree with this as a "general rule."  Or at least I should say I disagree with how this is often extrapolated.  In high winds and rough seas, being under-canvassed has severe detrimental effects on boat handling/comfort of ride.  Many great authors have commented on this, and it's been my experience (at least as far as big wind goes).

It's a common misconception - folks fear the wind, so they pull down the sails.  The boat is designed to sail - many of our SailFar boats should sail well with proper sails in 40-ish kts of wind, if not higher.  The Pardey's do it "routinely," and there is some GREAT footage of Gelinas sailing Jean Du Sud in Force 8-9 in his movie.

My "advice" therefore would be to sail in rough conditions (whatever is rough to you - go beyond your comfort zone) to see what the boat likes in those circumstances.  You're going to eventually get hit by some rough stuff at-sea, so better to not avoid those conditions during the practice phase.

[maxiSwede]

You both have a valid point there IMHO.

That said, I see lots of people with way to much canvas up in around 20-25 knots of wind. On the other hand, I don´t see many boats out there at all in anyting above 25 knots  ::)

Could this be because, in the Baltic we are soooo spoiled with the archipelago and the shelter it provides...????

[Manannan]

And we all thought the Vikings were tough  ::)   
imagine the Baltic waters warm, sunshine 80 % of the time for 3 long months of summer, a regular 15 to 20 knots breeze so does not really matter if you carry too much sail, then you will be so spoiled everybody will want a little piece of this paradise  :D :D 

[Lynx]

You should be able to do all of these -
http://www.videos.sailingcourse.com/

[AdriftAtSea]

Having no canvas up is generally a mistake Capn Smollett.  Any general rule, taken to an extreme makes it less than applicable.  For most people, being overcanvassed is far more a danger than being undercanvassed.

[maxiSwede]

Sure is nice around here... but as you said, the season is at most 5 months. The REAL season, I e the vacation period is More like six weeks, approx. from June 25 to August 10.  The rest o the summer you don´t meet to many vessels. And BTW the wind is anything but steady in the summer. Expect 2-30 knots 85% of the time though, directions shifting every 2-3 days at least. An occasional gale, some thunderstorms lots of squalls and the water temp at sea between  13-157 C (55-63 F) in mid summer. Warmer in the nice shallow bays in the archipelago though. No tides, not many marinas overfilled, literally thousands of protected secluded anchorages are reasons many of the ever increasing fleet of Germans, Dutch, British and others that  choose to more or less permanently cruise in the Swedish and Finnish part of the Baltic Sea.

That said, at times I do think it would be nice with turquoise water and palm trees a while for a change...  ;D

Back to the Vikings, could it have been this 'to protected' feeling that made them want to go explore the outside world maybe?   ;)

[Manannan]

cannot let those Germans, British, Dutch,... French  ??? have all the fun sailing  the Baltic. Are you ready for your summer cruise ?  Because I am, and I wish everyone a good time on the water, not too many 25 + knots please !

[TJim]

My experience on how much sail to carry is that you want to carry all "your" boat can carry without being over-powered and loosing speed.  For some, that's a lot, for others, you might as well drop it all but a storm sail when you hit 30/35 knots.  When you can't trim for less that 30 degrees, it's time to drop some of your sail.  If someone disagrees with (usually happens) please tell me the why fores.  I learn by being out there playing and listening to better sailors than myself.  A little reading don't hurt  if you stay away from the aforementioned literature.  Haven't been on the board for awhile....too busy playing on SFran bay.... hehehehehehe...

[Cmdr Pete]

My advice to Newbies is to keep your fingernails trimmed

Getting your nails ripped back is rather painful






That's all I got today

[oded kishony]

>My advice to Newbies is to keep your fingernails trimmed

>Getting your nails ripped back is rather painful


Is this the voice of experience speaking?  :o

~OK

[Cmdr Pete]

Yep.....like a manicure at the Hanoi Hilton


You also don't want to step into an open hatch. Seen it happen. Ouch

[AdriftAtSea]

...You also don't want to step into an open hatch. Seen it happen. Ouch

Don't step on sails either.  They're slippery and you can damage them, but you can also fall through them if they're over an open hatch.

[Bill NH]

When you can't trim for less that 30 degrees, it's time to drop some of your sail. 

Most boats have long passed their optimum trim when heeled 30 degrees...  Quite often you can reef without losing any speed at angles of heel above 20 degrees or so.  Reefing also lowers the rig stresses dramatically since you're removing sail area AND lowering the center of effort.  Unless racing (this thread was about cruising passages, wasn't it?)  my strategy has always been don't overstress the gear as well as keep the speed up.  Kind of like a balancing act, except that rather than balancing on the racer's edge my tradeoffs start further back...  The consequences of losing the rig or even a sail offshore are way greater than that last 0.1 kt is worth to me...   ;)

[CharlieJ]

Well, maybe. Tehani is gonna sail at 20 degrees in 10 knots of wind going to weather and you're NOT gonna do anything to stop her. With a cap of wind, and the rail down, she's at between 30 and 35 degrees, and going fast.

That's because she has a wine glass shape, slack bilges and very long overhangs, DESIGNED to increase waterline ( and speed ) when well heeled.

More modern boats are certainly different, but the 60's era CCA boats LIKE to be heeled.

She's probably laid over to between 25 and 30 degrees in this picture, perhaps a bit more. And all reefing would have done would be to slow her down.

[newt]

What kind of swells would you put up with? I read somewhere that you shouldn't go out in swells greater than 40% of your LWL.  I am sure that you get over your head as that would put most of us in the 10-12 foot range.... What has been the experience of our long range cruisers out there?

[Joe Pyrat]

Interesting discussion.  The old rule of thumb with Tritons is reef at about 15 knots of wind, you are then good until you shouldn't be out there anymore.  Just in case, I've got two more reef points after that, but I hope never to have to use them (fingers crossed).



Speaking of thumbs and fingers, I need to go clip my fingernails...   ;D

[AdriftAtSea]

Going out in swells isn't a problem.  Breaking seas are the problem.  Swells generally don't pose a threat to the boat regardless of size.  A breaking wave 40% of the WL in height can capsize your boat.

What kind of swells would you put up with? I read somewhere that you shouldn't go out in swells greater than 40% of your LWL.  I am sure that you get over your head as that would put most of us in the 10-12 foot range.... What has been the experience of our long range cruisers out there?