[alberg30] Re: sailing to Maine

[Robert E Johns]

From: Robert E Johns <bobjns at nais.com>

Marjorie & Bill

I sent part of this prematurally. Ignore the partial. This is part 1 of 2.

Glad to hear about your planned Maine trip. Barbara and I have sailed Wind
Call (#397) to Maine from Long Island, NY 15 or 16 times, between 1977 and
1994. During the early trips we used dead reckoning backed up with an RDF.
We added loran about 1983 and have had radar since 1990.

Eleven  of the trips were overnights between Provincetown and either
Monhegan Island or Matinicus Rock. This is about a thirty hour sail and 120
nm (add 20 or so miles and 4 or 5 hours to get to the mainland). Most of
the trips were sailed with just the two of us. We consider an auto pilot
indispensable on the overnight if there are only two people on board. (Most
of the time you are fifty miles offshore with no land and often no other
boats in sight and hand steering by staring at the compass is exceedingly
tiring.) The auto pilot also increases the accuracy of dead reckoning,
which is not so important as long as the loran or GPS works. Our fuel tank
was replaced once, but is the same size as the original (16 gallons). We
carry a 5 gallon can on the transom for the main engine and a 2 1/2 gallon
can for the dinghy engine. Theoretically, we should just about be able to
power all the way on this fuel. (We normally power at about 5 kts and use
0.7 gallons/hour in a calm.) On only one of the trips did we have
exceedingly light winds for the whole trip. We also have had only one other
crossing where we had way too much wind. Normally we can use main and
furling jib on a broad port reach for the whole crossing.

Navigating in Maine is different from the Chesapeake or Bahamas in several
ways. If you hit something it will be a rock, not mud or sand. The bottom
can be deep in a lot of places right up to the shore, so don't assume that
the depth sounder by itself will keep you from going aground. Fog is not as
bad a problem as most people think, but it can close in in a few minutes
and you must be prepared for it. The important thing is to know where the
boat is at all times when you are inshore and keep plotting the position on
the chart. Don't assume that the GPS or loran will let you update the chart
quick enough to stay out of trouble. You need to see what possible hazards
are near you before they become hazards.

We like loran for its repeatability. We store and write down loran readings
for use on the return trip. GPS may often be better in absolute accuracy,
but our loran readings repeat to about 60 feet. If we are going to a buoy
that we don't have in the loran, and it's only 4 or 5 nm from our present
location, we store that location in the loran and leave the loran on that
waypoint while reading the reciprocal of our actual course. This gets us to
within 100 feet of the next buoy. Then we store that bouy's location and
repeat the process.

We enjoy having the radar, but as you can see from the first paragraph,
most of our cruises to Maine were made without it. Loran/GPS will often
tell you where you are more accurately than radar. For example, the first
time we got lost in the fog with the radar, we were looking for a buoy
located near two small islands with about 5 other radar reflector-equipped
boats nearby. There were so  many targets on the radar that I couldn't
identify the buoy. We backsighted on the last buoy we had stored in the
loran (and logged)and went straight to the buoy. On the other hand, the
radar is great when entering isolated harbors and coves and to spot other
boats when sailing buoy to buoy in poor visibility. It is useful to spot
buoys if there are not a lot of other boats around. It also identifies tugs
towing barges very well. I don't think radar is indispensable for a cruise
to Maine. The important thing is to use everything available to help
navigate. This includes eyes, ears, compass, depth sounder, knot meter and
log, and loran/GPS and even RDF. I consider the radar a luxury that we
enjoy having, but I wouldn't avoid Maine because we didn't have one. It is
much more important to have a good radar reflector, which you say you have,
and use it. (Ours is the large Davis hung in the "raincatcher" position;
not the little foil job hung with one plate horizontal.) One problem with
cruising in an area where many boats have radar, and most boats show
reflectors, is that a boat *not* showing a reflector may not be seen on
radar. Most boat owners who have radar are not very good at optimizing the
radar's performance. If they see other boats they think the radar is
working, but good reflectors give such a big signal compared to a boat with
no reflector that a 37 foot sailboat may be invisible while a 30 footer
with reflector stands out on the radar screen. Even if the radar operator
is knowledgeable, sea conditions determine how small a target can be
detected. For example, in glassy water I have seen a two foot length of
bamboo pole at about 300 yards on the radar. In three foot seas a 30 foot
sailboat may be invisible in the sea clutter. It is important to show your
radar reflector in times of poor visibility, but especially so in areas
where radar is used frequently and reflectors are in common use (i.e.
Maine) and it is also important when seas are producing clutter.

Cape Cod Canal can produce tidal currents of 4 kts so be sure to time the
tide. It seems to be best to try to hit the canal near slack with the
current just becoming favorable. If you go through with a favorable tide,
it can be hairy as you leave the canal. The east end of the canal is fairly
narrow and exiting into Cape Cod Bay can be wild if the wind opposes the
tide. Going west, the southwesterlies in Buzzards Bay guarantee that the
wind and tide will be opposing. We normally stop in Onset on the way home
and then start down Buzzards Bay in the morning before the southwesterly
builds the seas for that day.

To be continued.

Bob and Barbara



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