Going south

A sailor’s dream is to sail south to Paradise. Images of swinging in a hammock in a gentle breeze while watching the sunset from the front of the sailboat gently bobbing at anchor in a secluded harbour surrounded by palm trees is what appears near the surface of my mind. This is how any journey starts, with imagery of contentment, happiness, and fulfilment. Getting there, of course is the story. Getting a 51 foot sailboat there from Toronto during the tail end of hurricane season having never done it before is where the story starts.

Going south

There are several ways of getting south from Toronto. In good times, one option would be to sail across the lake to Oswega, New York. The plan is to go down the Erie Canal to the Hudson River and then sail to New York City. From New York City, you could sail to Bermuda and then from Bermuda go south to the Caribbean. From New York, there is also the intercoastal waterway where you can motor all the way down to Florida.

If the option to sail across the lake to Oswega is taken, the mast would need to come off and put on top of the sailboat. There are 13 locks that need to be navigated and it takes about six days to get to New York City. The mast would need be rigged once on the Hudson River. There may be a couple of logistical problems such as constructing a stand for the mast on the boat given the mast weighs about a thousand pounds. It is also 72 feet from the water line and to get down the intercoastal waterway, the maximum height must be less than 64 feet so as to clear the bridges. There is also the concern that the mast hangs over the boat and could easily be damaged in the turbulence of the lock system. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic the Canadian/US border is closed and entry by private boat is not permitted so this really is not an option in 2021.

Options

However, this did not stop me from suggesting this option to my group of general surgeons when I took them sailing on a warm August evening. The wind was 10 knots out of the southwest, it was a spectacular night. The 11 of us were hanging out on the deck, telling stories, drinking beer and thinking about how great life is. I told them it could be like this every day for the rest of our lives. We could sail across to Oswega, through the Erie Canal, head into the Atlantic ocean at New York City and then down to Paradise. It could be sunny and warm for the rest of our lives. We can leave all the stresses that come with being a surgeon behind us forever.

I think that a few of my less sensible colleagues were actually considering this as a viable option but then, the wind died. We were also getting hungry. So sadly we pushed the sultry images into the back of our minds and took the sails down, turned on the engine, and headed back to Port Credit Yacht Club for dinner.

Another option is to have the boat put on a truck and delivered to the East Coast. To do this, the mast needs to come off, the pulpit from the front of the boat and stanchions need to be removed as does the Bimini and dodger. The entire height of the boat must be less than 13’4” to clear the bridges that lay over top of the highway. The next step is to find a marina on the East Coast that will accept the boat, rig the mast, and reassemble the pulpit, stanchions, Bimini, and dodger.

Hurricane season

Determining when is the best time of year to go down south can be challenging. Hurricane season is typically from mid June until mid November. If the boat is taken south in the summer or early fall, the sailor will very likely run into a hurricane. Hurricanes and sailboats have a long history which never ends favourably for the sailor. If a sailor waits until December the winter storms arrive on the East Coast. My previous experience would suggest December may not be the best time to go……

Surfing on the Internet landed me on the Salty Dawg Sailor page. https://www.saltydawgsailing.org/ This is a group of sailors on the East Coast that take their boats south every winter and bring them back in the spring. They have a rally going to the Bahamas which leaves on November 1. They offer advice for weather routing, safety equipment, and of course unlimited partying before leaving and upon arrival in the Bahamas. They didn’t seem particularly fussed that technically November is still in the hurricane season. Having met some of the salty dawgs on Zoom and phone calls, they seem like a good group of sailors. That is not to say that any of them would fit into a “normal” category by any stretch of the imagination, but they are all bound by their love of sailing and the adventure and subsequent stories that follow.

I signed up to join the Salty Dawg Sailing Association. After filling in all the information and hitting the enter button, it must’ve taken all of 30 seconds before I received a phone call from one of the salty dawg organizers. It was almost as if he was waiting by his computer and was somewhat shocked that someone would actually want to join this crazy bunch of sailors. I got the sense that he wanted to make sure it wasn’t a mistake or possibly some kind of computer error/ransomware attack gone awry. It turns out he was quite knowledgeable and suggested that I go south with at least two people that have open ocean sailing experience. He also suggested that there be two forms of communication while at sea and suggested I get a satellite phone, and possibly Garmin in reach. There were a few other great recommendations such as getting predictwind installed on the boat.

Finding crew

My original plan was to enlist two of my most trusted friends that I went to school with 50 years ago in South Wales, UK. We had spent a great deal of time kayaking as teenagers in the inhospitable Bristol Channel of South Wales through all kinds of hostile marine conditions. They are both accomplished sailors and it would be great to reconnect after all these years. Unfortunately, Covid 19 prevented Arnaud from leaving Australia, and the United States would not permit entry to Auke for nonessential trips. Sailing, for some is defined as nonessential…

Pat Sturgeon from Pat Sturgeon Yachts continues to be a great source of advice. He recommended 2 sailors, Michael Sandwell and Doug Rourke that have had ocean water experience. One of them, Michael Sandwell was telling me that his first crossing from Halifax to Bermuda was before the days of GPS. The sailing was done by dead reckoning and by using the sextant to plot where you were on the ocean. Bermuda unfortunately is surrounded by reefs and there are no shortages of wrecks where navigation issues have arisen. It is very tricky getting into the safe harbours of Bermuda. You need to know exactly where you are at all times. To put things in perspective, GPS tracking would put you within a few inches of where you actually are located, whereas if you were good with sextant, you might get within 6 miles…. Michael explained to me that they arrived where they felt they were close to Bermuda but it was pitch black in the middle of the night. He couldn’t tell with certainty where they were so they stayed out on the ocean until daylight. Michael and the crew were confident they were close because they could smell the land. From my understanding of navigation, I think it was lucky for them that the wind was blowing in the right direction…… I welcome Michael as a trusted crewmember but nonetheless, being unwilling to rest my fate in his lifesaving olfactory prowess, I got a backup GPS.

Final touches

There were other modifications to the boat that were made such as installing a generator, water maker, iridium go satellite antenna for the satellite phone. I had to find an insurance company that would be willing to cover me given my past history…… Andrew’s trucking is booked for October 12, 2021 to take the boat to Deltaville Virginia. Zimmerman’s Marine has agreed to put the boat back together. Michael, Doug, and myself have booked flights down to Virginia in late October. The plan will be to sail the 40 miles to Hampton Virginia a few days ahead of November 1, 2021. My lovely wife has agreed to meet me at the Abaco beach resort sometime during the first week or two of November. The best is yet to come.