Caribbean 1500 Rally

Gyatso at the start of the Caribbean 1500
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Pre-Departure Preparations

We participated in the Caribbean 1500, a cruising rally, along with about 75 other boats that sailed from the Chesapeake Bay to the British Virgin Islands in November 2006.

We departed Annapolis for Hampton, VA to join the rally on Monday, October 30, 2006.  It took us only three days to get to the southern end of the Chesapeake Bay, a blistering pace for us which involved a lot of motoring into headwinds.  We spent four months in Annapolis on the latest round of refit projects and worked day and night for weeks before departing to finish preparations for the offshore trip (See Logbook of preparations for Caribbean 1500).

Our mast was not re-stepped until October 20 and the last rigging expert was on the boat up until the day we departed.  The solar panels could not be installed until the mast and boom were back in place, but amazingly, the panels were in and working only one day later than planned, on Saturday October 28.  This was the day we had originally planned to depart, but with strong winds and storm conditions on the Bay, we decided to wait until Monday so that we could finish a few more last minute projects.  As it turned out, we were out working in the dark with headlamps on as others from Port Annapolis Marina wandered by while participating in a progressive Halloween party.  Everyone provided encouraging words as we installed the last few bolts on the Monitor windvane Sunday evening.

Remarkably, we made it to Hampton on Wednesday afternoon and in time for the start of the Caribbean 1500's pre-rally events and briefings.  Since this was our first rally, we wanted to attend all of these informative sessions as well as to meet others in the fleet before departure.  Our inspection took place the day after we arrived, and we were very pleased to be among the boats that passed in the first round.  We signed on a 20-year old volunteer crew member, Roger, from the roster provided by the Rally organizers, and managed to squeeze in tasks such as provisioning and a few last minute repairs.  The Caribbean 1500 staff and volunteers were extremely helpful in making suggestions and providing technical information during the various briefings that took place on Thursday through Saturday.

Eight smaller boats in the rally, including us, were scheduled to depart Hampton a day before the rest of the fleet on Sunday, November 5.  We had what looked like a good weather report the evening before, but by the next morning, the organizers decided to postpone our early departure.  The entire fleet of 75 boats, ranging in size from 62 feet (Hallberg-Rassy) to 27 feet (Bristol Channel Cutter), was asked to hold for several more days until a low pressure system passed offshore and a more favorable weather window opened up.  Having waited weeks to find weather windows for other offshore trips, a few more days was nothing for us.

And They're Off...

The official start took place at noon on Wednesday, November 8.   The fleet proceeded through dense fog to the green mark near the Thimble Shoal Light.  The fog lifted just enough that the committee boat could see the mark from their position just to the south.  We crossed within a few minutes of hearing the countdown on VHF radio and motor sailed along with the rest of the fleet to the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay before turning south along the coast as suggested for the first night.

On Day 2, we entered the Gulf Stream and experienced the highest wind and wave conditions of the entire trip.  The waves were classic "marching elephants" which lift their trunks every now and then and spray whoever is at the helm.  We took on only one large, rogue wave which covered the boat and filled the cockpit with water, but Gyatso shed it off quickly.  Two days later we reached lovely trade winds that gave us 12-20 knots for more than three days...glorious sailing!

Besides the great sailing, another highlight was catching a small Mahi Mahi on Day 9.  We had almost given up fishing after catching lots of Sargasso weed and no fish.  We finally rigged up a lure that David bought in St. Augustine called "Dr. Jekyll" and sure enough it did the trick.  We wasted no time before making it into a yummy lunch with a side of stir-fried snow peas and Mediterranean couscous.

Our worst moment came when Lisa heard a thunk and felt the engine lose power northwest of Bermuda.  We were afraid that something had gotten tangled in the prop, so we drifted and sailed in light winds until we could inspect it more thoroughly in daylight, which took about seven hours.  After all other possibilities had been exhausted inside the boat, Lisa put on her wetsuit, mask and snorkel, and went over the side (in 15,000 feet of water!) to look at the prop.  Everything looked okay, and so it is still a mystery what caused the thunk and loss of engine power the night before.

Our careful preparations seem to have paid off.  Although about a dozen other boats experienced fairly serious equipment or crew problems and had to turn back, divert to Bermuda or jury rig a fix, we made it through okay with only a few minor problems, including our furling system on the staysail.

We did have a lot of problems transmitting our positions via our old ICOM M600 SSB radio, but other boats were extremely helpful in relaying our positions every day.  Upon arrival here in Tortola, a technician quickly helped us to discover the problem: wires that had been jiggled loose on the antenna tuner.  This probably happened during the chainplate replacement project over the summer.  One step forward, two steps back.  It seems to be working fine now.

We arrived at the finish line in the British Virgin Islands ten and a half days plus 11 minutes after we started, having successfully completed our longest offshore passage to date.  We motored for 103 hours and ended with a corrected time that put us 29th in the fleet of 49 boats entered in the rally class.  Five boats in the rally class did not start or finish which placed us 29 out of the 44 boats that completed the rally.  Considering that we had the highest handicap, we were very pleased with our Tayana's performance.  On straight elapsed time, we also finished before about half of the boats in the cruising class, some of which were much bigger than us.

Overall, the rally was a great experience for us.  We have definitely caught the blue water sailing bug.  After the rally ended, we spent a month in the Virgin Islands, including two weeks in Road Harbour to catch-up on rest and do some minor repairs, before heading on to St. Maarten (see Sailing Log for Caribbean Leeward Islands).

Map of Gyatso's Daily Positions (6:00 AM AST)

Click on the thumbnail to see an enlargement.

Details About the Offshore Passage

*The start took place at noon in Hampton, VA (1:00 AST).

Logbook Entries

Day 1 (Wed)--The fleet departed in dense fog which lifted by the time we reached the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.  The winds dropped off and all that remained of the front that passed the night before were the large swells in the otherwise glass calm water.  We motor-sailed south that evening just behind Spirit.  Lisa snapped a photo of them as their sail reflected off the water at sunset.  This turned out to be the calm before the storm.  By 10:00 PM the first squall hit, and we were sailing with a single reef in the main and the staysail.  By midnight, we had SW winds at 15-18 knots which dropped off to 12-15 through the night and then increased rapidly between 5:00 to 7:00 AM

Day 2 (Thur)--By 7:00 AM, we had steady NW winds at 20-25 knots gusting to 30.  Luckily, we jibed early as the wind began to switch to the NW around 5:45 AM, and this set us up for a comfortable southeast heading of 120° as we entered the Gulf Stream.  With the strengthening winds and building waves, David and Roger took dramamine which made them very drousy, and Lisa chewed ginger gum and used motioneze behind her ear.  We did not eat any regular meals for the next two days, just granola bars, crackers and other snacks.  Everyone did well hydrating with water and juice until the seas subsided again.

We took on one large wave during the second night out.  David was at the helm, Lisa was off-watch down below and Roger was sleeping in the main cabin when all of the sudden the companionway door flew open and water poured in.  Lisa looked out into the cockpit to see David up to his knees in water.  The wave had also forced open the main lazarette and worked its way under the canvas cover on the butterfly hatch on the top of the cabin.  Roger scurried up into the cockpit to help David while Lisa cleaned up the sea water which had made its way down below.  Between the cockpit scuppers and the bilge pumps, everything was back under control in a matter of minutes.  David later remarked, "It was like a giant snuck up behind me with a big bucket of water and dumped it over the top of us." 

Since we had been taking the seas fine up until this point, we had not gotten to the point of installing the storm boards in the companionway or in locking down the lazarette.  As it turned out, it was the only rogue wave or breaking sea we experienced, other than the occasional "marching elephant" that lifted its trunk and doused whoever was at the helm.

Several logbook entries show that our speed-over-the-ground (SOG) was 7.5 to 8.5 knots.  Lisa saw the GPS hit 8.9 knots more than once and commented, "I didn't know that my 24,000 pound boat could surf down waves so well!"

Day 3 (Fri)--The winds diminished from 15-18 knots at 6:00 AM to 10-12 knots under sunny skies by 4:30 PM.  With the calmer conditions, we tacked just after noon to a more southerly heading of 173°.  AT 5:15 PM, the GPS indicated that we had less than 1,000 miles to go and that we were directly on course for Tortola.  The sun set that evening as a bright orange ball over the horizon.  We ate chicken pasta alfredo for dinner and took the sails down for lack of wind at 10:00 PM.  The Yankee sheet was fowled in the process of roller furling the sail in.  David had to make a scary, nighttime trip to the bow pulpit with Lisa helping from the foredeck to cut away the sheets, take the sail down and lash it to the deck until morning.  Roger commented that he was relieved that his first Gulf Stream crossing was behind him, "From what everyone said before the trip, I thought it was going to be a warm, smooth ride."

Day 4 (Sat)--We motored through the night until Lisa heard a "thunk" and a loss of power just as she was getting ready to go off-watch at 4:00 AM.  We shut down the engine and drifted and sailed in very light winds until daylight.  David and Lisa took much needed rest before trying to sort out what might have happened.  After a thorough inspection of the engine room led to no visible problems, Lisa dove on the propeller and found nothing wrapped around it.  Perhaps the line cutters on the prop shaft had done their job or whatever it was had worked itself off while drifting in the early morning hours.  We resumed motoring at 11:30 AM in light winds from the south.  The crew feasted on beef stroganoff which Lisa made with juicy beef tenderloin, mushrooms and sour cream over pasta.  A wee bit of Sherry and egg noodles would have been nice, but we were all out.  Lisa had still not regained her appetite but did manage to eat a small plateful.

Day 5 (Sun)--Before dawn, David lowered the main sail, giving up on motor sailing in light winds from the SSE.  Last night was the first night that we settled into a watch schedule that would take us through the rest of the trip.  During the day, we would rotate two hour watches with one person at the helm.  David stood watch from 6:00 to 8:00 AM letting Lisa sleep until about 6:45 AM when she woke up to do the 7:00 AM check-in by SSB radio and prepared breakfast.  Lisa stood watch from 8:00 to 10:00 AM or 10:00 to noon, depending on how long we lingered over breakfast or whether Roger needed rest.  We then rotated two hour watches through the afternoon until 6:00 PM and then eat dinner together, usually in the cockpit before Lisa would do the evening check-in by SSB radio at 7:00 PM.  At night, we rotated three-hour watches.  Roger as on first from 7:00 to 10:00 PM, followed by Lisa from 10:00 PM to 1:00 AM; David from 1:00 to 4:00 and Roger again from 4:00 to 6:00 AM.  This gave everyone the chance to get a six hour stretch of sleep per night.

We should mention that our autopilot, known affectionately as "Otto the magnificant" never took a break.  We rarely hand-steered during the entire passage.  Otto never missed a beat.

At 2:00 PM a freighter passed behind us and the winds picked-up to 10 knots out of the south.  We rigged up the fishing line, but caught only sargaso weed.  We motor-sailed until 8:30 PM and then sailed through the night in 12-15 knot winds. 

Day 6 (Mon)--The morning sun reflected off the sails of two other boats from the fleet within view!  From the 6:00 AM positions reported, we figured that it must be Gypsy Blues and Quest, but neither answered our calls on VHF.  At 2:00 PM, one of the boats crossed our bow in the distance heading east.  The south wind was putting us on a more easterly course than we wanted, and so we alternated between sailing and motor sailing during the day making 5.5 to 6.5 knots at a heading of 125° to 150°.  Based on the weather forecast, Lisa assured David that "getting some easting in" was okay because the tradewinds were going to settle in first for the boats in the fleet to the south and east.  For dinner we had pasta with meat sauce and mozerella cheese.  When Lisa went on watch at 10:00 PM, she recorded in the log, "I have never seen so many stars in my life!"

Day 7 (Tue)--By noon, lovely tradewinds had settled in at 8-10 knots from the east, and we were making 5.5 knots at a heading of 180° to185° all afternoon and evening.  We had chicken with spanish rice for dinner.  Lisa made cheesecake (thanks to the Jello instant mixes) with coconut topping which as a big hit.

For the next three days, we decided to shorten sails at night just to be safe even though it meant slowing the boat down.  Just before midnight while Lisa was on watch, a squall hit, but it did not pack too much punch.  When David came on watch at 1:00 AM the next morning, he recorded that the winds had increased to 11-15 knots with numerous squally patches. With no moon, it was a very dark night, making the squalls look very black and scary.

Day 8 (Wed)--Another day of splendid tradewind sailing with winds out of the ESE at 12-15 knots.  At 10:30 AM the GPS indicated that we had less than 500 miles to go.  We made 5.5-6.0 knots at a heading of 182° all day.  We turned the engine on for an hour to charge the batteries in the evening.  By 6:00 PM, most of the clouds were to the west of us and the skies were clearing.  Lisa was exhausted from a somewhat sleepless night with squalls the night before, and the boat was heeled over too much to do anything about dinner.  Everyone fended for themselves with left-overs and plentiful snacks.

Day 9 (Thur)--The boat continues to be heeled over on port tack for the third day in a row.  We were making 6.5 to 7 knots all day, after having slowed the boat down about a knot at night by taking in the Yankee.  The tradewinds made us appreciate the high quality of the new sails Scott Allen designed and made for us at the UK loft in Annapolis.  We especially like the Yankee for giving us added speed.  The stay sail is a real work horse, and we keep it up most of the time.  Both sails perform far better than the worn-out ones they replaced.

For lunch today, we had macaroni and cheese and polished off the rest of the cheesecake to make-up for the lack of a hot meal last night.  For dinner, we ate stir-fry chicken with veggies and rice.

Day 10 (Fri)--The winds dropped off during the night to 8-10 knots and shifted to the NE.  At 9:00 AM we had the fishing line out and cinnamon rolls in the oven (thanks to the doughboy).  At 11:15AM we had our first fish on the line and then landed the brightly colored, 2.5' long Mahi Mahi a few minutes later.  By noon, mahi fillets were in the pan.  Lisa paired them with garlic and pine nut couscous and stir-fried snow peas for a delicious mid-day treat.  After lunch, David and Lisa went below to change the fuel filter for the first time since leaving the Chesapeake Bay in preparation for lighter winds and motoring to the finish line.  Between the fish and the fuel filter change, the crew deserved another sun shower, our second of the trip.  By the evening check-in on SSB, our winds had dropped to less than five knots from the SSE and the engine was back on.  Lisa made her favorite chili (the recipe changes depending on available ingredients) topped with a dollup of sour cream and grated Vermont cheddar cheese.  This was devoured while sitting in the dark cockpit under a starry sky.

After the trip was over, we realized that this was the day we passed the Tropic of Cancer.  Good thing we had several treats during the day.

Day 11 (Sat)--We motored through the night in very light winds from the south making 6.5 knots at a heading of 185° directly to our final waypoint.  At 6:00 AM, with less than 100 miles to go, we were all ready to be there.  After a daily fuel calculation to determine what we had left, Lisa gave the "go ahead" to continue motoring when she determined that we had enough fuel in the tank to motor the rest of the way.  Rather than getting becalmed, we put the pedal to the metal and motor or motor sailed the rest of the way.  To be safe, we added 15 gallons of extra fuel that we were carrying in yellow jerry jugs lashed on deck.  We wanted to avoid having the fuel level get too low in the tank and then forming a vacuum in the fuel line. 

Around noon, we passed over the Puerto Rican Trench with water depths in excess of 24,000 feet.  At 6:35, David recorded in the log that he saw lights in the distance.  A little while later, the lights twinkling on the hillside of Tortola were in clear view.  Our depth sounder began to record bottom depths again.  First it was 565' and moments later it was 265' and then less than 100' within a few minutes.  We reached our outer waypoint north of Tortola at 9:10 PM and set a new course for some intermediate waypoints that would take us past Anegada, The Dogs and Beef Island to the finish line at 18°26' nearly 25 miles away.  After days and days of nothing but open ocean, the lights of low-lying Anegada seemed so close as we slid by.

Day 12 (Sun)--We crossed the finish line at 1:11 AM which was exactly 10.5 days and 11 minutes since we left the starting line in Hampton.  We were all exhausted but still had to make our way west through the Sir Frances Drake Channel to Road Harbour.  Roger had rested earlier in the night, and so he kept a sharp look-out while David provided moral support and Lisa steered the boat past the cruise ship dock, through a weakly lit breakwater, between a pair of private navigation buoys and into slip C11 at the Village Cay Marina in Road Town at about 3:00 AM.  Amazingly, Jeff, one of the Caribbean 1500 volunteers who inspected our boat in Hampton, was there to greet us with a bottle of one of our favorite bottles of bubbly: Chandon.  After so many days at sea, it was surprising that David and I did not feel like leaving the boat just yet.  We drank champagne in the cockpit of Gyatso, and then we all crashed out at about 4:30 AM.  We awoke late in the morning, had breakfast at the marina restaurant and spent the balance of the day getting showers, doing laundry, catching up with others in the fleet, attending a seminar by weather guru Chris Parker and drinking lots of rum at the Mount Gay party that evening.

In the various award presentations during the days that followed, we did not bring home any silver platters but that didn't matter.  We were very pleased with accomplishing our main goals of making a safe passage and having fun doing it.  We were also very pleased with the performance of our 21-year old Tayana 37.  Gyatso took very good care of her crew and treated us to some terrific sailing, especially in the tradewinds.  Unfortunately, the conditions had not been quite right for us to learn to use the new Monitor self-steering windvane during the passage, and so this will have to wait for another time.  All of the other gear, including our electronic auto pilot, performed very well, and we finished the trip with only minor equipment failures.  The Caribbean 1500 Rally was a great experience and a great adventure for us.