Bending More!

Our little touch with the pier caused more damage than we expected. When I talked to Monitor, they said that very rarely does the shaft inside get bent. To be on the safe side, I bought one of those two.

I set them side by side on a flat piece of wood, base to base, and you can see how they go different directions. This is because the flange at the bottom of the old one got bent about a millimeter! I tried to reuse the old one but it would bind and I notice the slight gap on one side of the flange.

They look identical at first glance, but when closely inspected, the damage becomes apparent.

That little bump with the pier turned out to be really expensive!

We pulled in stern to for the express reason of hiding the Monitor from the fairway traffic. I worried that someone might bump it while trying to dock so we pulled in Monitor first to keep it safe and protected.

Looking back, I wonder what would have been better? Risk a collision by keeping it in the fairway or placing it so close to a pier that with the simplest stretch of the lines, it would bump into a pier?

Damage to our Windvane

I awoke one morning to the worse thought. We had a rather dolly night in the marina and I was worried that our windvane might be contacting the pier behind the boat.

My fear was confirmed when I looked outside to find that the dock lines had stretched a few feet and the pendulum of the windvane was lightly but steadily contacting the pier.

This small touch made some big problems. The pendulum was being pushed by 18 tons and that force easily bent the pendulum. I overlaid the old and replacement pendulums so you can better see the damage. See how the bracket bent?

If I align the brackets, you can see how fiercely the strut is bent.

The discrepancy at the bottom is most alarming. This is thick stainless steel and it bent so much!

Thankfully, all the damage was contained to the pendulum and I was able to order replacement parts from Scanmar to get our Monitor Windvane back up and running!

Transatlantic: Day 5 [Day 26]

Our speed is back and we continue to clock along at 100+ nautical miles per day! The weather is great and consistent, and we have not had to adjust anything on the boat since we left Bermuda.

Once we were clear of the last buoy of Bermuda, we set our Monitor Windvane, balanced the sails, and let the boat do the rest! The winds were steady and consistent, and we never had to touch a thing since! Yes, our course might wander a little north or a little less north, but we are generally going in the right direction, and that is all that really matters.

On the boat, this is the closest thing to a digital chart of our travels that we can see. It is small and basic, and you can see all the messages we send back and forth with family and friends back on shore.

The funny thing is, when we first traveled down the coast of the United States, there were times when we thought we were “very far out to sea” because we couldn’t see land. When you look at this big map of our travels so far, you can see that we never did leave land, but yet we were planning to cross an ocean.

We were young and green, and now, a year later, we are approaching the middle of the Atlantic. At that point, our closest point of land will be ahead of us because we truly are “out to sea”.

The best part of this voyage is how little we need to do. With the sails balanced, the windsteering keeps us going in a general straight line. The winds are steady and powerful, allowing us to move along at a nice speed constantly. Life seems normal when heeled to port, as we have been on starboard tack since we left Bermuda.

Two Important Items for Ocean Cruising

If you are outfitting a sailboat for blue water cruising, the two most important items that you can add, in my opinion, are:

1. A drifter
2. A Monitor Windvane

A drifter is a light air sail cut like a genoa but made out of spinnaker material. This sail will keep you ghosting along on windless days. It even managed to pull us through the doldrums! When choosing your yachts sail wardrobe, be sure to include a drifter (and forget about a spinnaker).

The second important item is the Monitor Windvane. This unit will steer you to a set angle to the wind in all conditions. If the wind shifts, it will change your course to keep your sails trimmed perfectly and prevent them from luffing. While the prospect of changing course might seem bad, when you are offshore it's not a big deal. Your destination is hundreds or thousands of miles away, veering a little to port or starboard for a few hours will not make a difference.

Now, be sure to get a Monitor and not one of the other brands like Hydrovane or Cape Horn. Hydrovane will quickly be overpowered and overwhelmed as the wind builds. Cape Horn works just like a Monitor, but all of the control lines are hidden away making it hard to frequently inspect for chafe.

Now, I can't say which of these two items is more valuable than the other for ocean cruising. Honestly, both items should be carried that way you can move on light days and relax as your yacht sails itself across the ocean with you onboard.