Of Storms and Calms--Virginia to Virgin Islands, Part 3

[@bullhippo9023]

I had become bored with sailing videos, I have watched so many over the years . Yours have revived me!

[@Aonghus53]

That bell always gives me goosebumps. Love the way Kevin uses the plural pronoun 'we' for the boat and himself and his description of lumpy seas as just another day in the neighbourhood.

[@peternairn4474]

Well done, managing and mastering, while the way gets wild and all its betweens, well done and thankyou, great insight

[@solosailorsv8065]

Great job filming in the heavy weather and capturing some of the wrath of those waves (like so few channels do) !! Same thing happened so my same bilge pump. Its thread-locked now ;)

[@mynextketchfrontier6351]

I hope you still doing this as of now... You have.inspired me ...giving me the courage to do my child dream .. those boats are a tank ..I'm working on a Tahiti ketch 30.hope things goes progressive to finally be able to sail ..thank you ssssssao Much..love your experiance ,the well done of the videos ..I'm hooked..

[@liasxtube]

Oh Oh! I think i'm becoming addicted to your channel. Great content, Great presentation. Just getting ready get back on the water in a Bristol 26; on the hard now waiting for warmth at the mouth of the Potomac. Keep up the good work Kevin. I am tired of the rum swilling guys with young nubile women as the main attraction.

[@fakiirification]

nothing wrong with a young nubile woman ever so often ;)

[@robertorzech2466]

You have great video while sailing through the tough stuff. Keep it coming.

[@romanogreminger2875]

Just seen this Vid of yours :) Always great watching that kinda stuff from my comfy warm patio lounge ... LOL . Love your vids Sailor!!!!! It's inspiring and I will get out there and do a bit more heavy weather sailing myself on the south west coast of Australia ;)

[@bob75819]

love the videos mr Boothby, very informative

[@2507471]

Hi Kevin: Just discovered your channel. Enjoying very much. Had a mirage 26 , 1978 vintage It too was much more responsive and reliable to balanced sail trim and canvas carried. Look forward to your further adventures. Best to you. Niel.

[@lawRN23]

Trying to sell my hubby on the idea of being a liveaboard. He retires in a year, and I could work as a consultant, from anywhere. Love your videos!

[@Guy-ky9mc]

Nice... good work. Solid boat

[@jeffvaughn8951]

Hi Kevin I’m just tuning into your channel, seems you’re doing exactly what a lot of people would like to be doing with their boats, congratulations!!! I assume when you say “We” on your boat it is you, and your boat and there are no scantily clad bikinied others. Really like your, double ender with a tiller reminds me of my own first sailboat when I was only 22 in 1974, a 1948 27’ Feather sloop. Keep up your wonderful adventure and fair winds to you!

[@weinerdog137]

Waves must have been pretty big.

[@paulmorris7603]

Frustrating! Another cool video Kevin. Thanks.

[@Dave-SailsAway]

Older guy here, new to sailing. Soaking up your vids. Your vids: no bikinis, but very informative. Learning a lot. Plan to spend time on short 3-day voyages as I learn on my Quickstep 24 this summer in Maine. Longing to make that passage from US to VI.

[@howtosailoceans1423]

Thanks and fair winds, mate!

[@MiQBohlin]

Wishing you favourable winds!

[@charlescain7962]

Know what 'they' say, no pump is more reliable, than a scared man with a bucket.

[@howtosailoceans1423]

Indeed ...

[@edwardfinn4141]

Just not true

[@sailinghaldis]

I’m watching this one again. Probably the third time. When the weather gets so heavy and you need to reduce sail, how do you do this safely? in this particular video, lowering the main halyard or even scandalizing the main involves going to the pinrails on the low side of the boat . Meanwhile the bronco is trying to buck your off your feet. This is the main aspect of open ocean work, single-handed (or sailing with my wife) that really freaks me out. Appreciate your advice on this.

[@howtosailoceans1423]

"A hand for the ship" is what sailors used to say, but practically means that you need to be mindful of what you are doing when working on deck in rough conditions, and try to always brace yourself or have a handhold on something secure.

[@sailinghaldis]

@@howtosailoceans1423 I got it. You just do it…and hang on. That’s basically what I needed to hear. Appreciate your videos very much. Tom

[@Hoganoutdoors]

Excellent sailing once again. Looks like you were beam reaching in the nasty stuff though - taking those big waves on the beam can't be fun in that small boat. Did you consider sailing a more zig-zag course, heading up a bit to close reach then falling off for a while to broad reach? You'd cover more ground, and it might take a little longer, but it would be less risky, and you and your boat might take less of a beating. Take those big seas on your quarters! Your course would average out to whatever bearing you were following. Of course I wasn't out there, so what do I know? ;-) Nice to your main properly reefed, with a nice 45 deg. lead on the clew line. Your sail looked nice and flat, something I rarely see on KZbin. Love the tanbark sails too. very easy on the eyes in the tropics - My last boat was a Pacific Seacraft Flicka, with tanbarks. I miss everything about her except her small size - well, actually, that had certain advantages too. I'm on a Catalina 30 now, which lacks the romance and sea keeping ability of a traditional boat like yours. ...and she'd look ridiculous with tanbarks! Fair winds brother!

[@howtosailoceans1423]

Thanks William. Yes most of it was on the beam except when it veered SE, then I was close reaching, which is really close hauled in those conditions. I like tanbark sails too, easier on the eyes and in my experience they last longer--I think the dye helps to shield the cloth from the UV (at least on the inside).

[@Hoganoutdoors]

Brutal - especially over several days with a broken bilge pump, all alone out there. My hat is off to you - I hope you find fair winds and calm seas in the Virgin Islands - good company too. Difficult passages like this make such landfalls all the more sweeter.... ;-)

[@ronsummers4090]

I would have thought a back up bilge pump would have been normal, but hay Ho I’m sitting under a tree.

[@anthonyunsworth1288]

Great Vid again Kevin. Glad to see Patrick follows you too, both of you being two of the best on here. I did mention passage planning last time, are you marking progress on a chart? I'm betting you are so perhaps a look see? The section on fixing the bilge pump made me laugh out loud, on a par with Stan Laurel. Looking forward to the astro nav vid too. Keep them coming, and you too Patrick.

[@howtosailoceans1423]

Thanks Anthony! Well this is the tenth time I have done the passage from US East Coast to Caribbean, so I must confess I never looked at a chart once offshore--there's nothing to hit out there except Bermuda, and I never got close enough for concern. I do this one by the numbers. I of course do carry a big paper passage chart (as well as charts of Bermuda in case I have to put in for repairs).

[@patricklaine6958]

Thanks Anthony. Kevin has much more experience than me........and the thought of arriving at ports without an engine is fascinating (but a bit terrifying). His vids are great.

[@anthonyunsworth1288]

Patrick Laine I get that Patrick, I have sailed all my life, from the wooden boat my father built to finally owning one similar to yours, but Kevin is making me want to go back old school. I’ve checked out a couple of old classics but I think I’ll wait till he posts a few more vids, when I finally make my decision I will def call in to La Rochelle to see you. I was there last summer but on my Triumph Bonneville and hadn’t seen you on YT. please keep posting the both of you. Happy New Year.

[@junk_rig_81]

Hello Kevin, congratulations for another lively video! Been watching it many times already. I am quite impressed though, at about 5:50 in the video your boat looks like it's heeling a fair bit. Of course, maybe these are just usual conditions for you! If my little boat was heeling that much, I would start embarking a lot of water in the cockpit (it's a central cockpit, so does not empty very easily). Were you reefed to the maximum at this part of the video, or did you still have ways to "calm things down"? But Anyway, Please give us more videos, they're all very informative and they are a a great pleasure to watch. Feels like I know you for a long time, you're face and voice are now so familar!:) Keep well and safe, Patrick

[@howtosailoceans1423]

Hi Patrick, those were rougher than usual conditions which I try to avoid, but that is not always possible on long passages, you have to take what comes ... thanks for watching.

[@mrtbrocks5664]

Love it.

[@rman5033]

Show how much sail is aloft with a 2 second pan

[@kcouche]

When you're at sea, I like that you begin each vid/day with a brief log entry--position, weather, course, etc. Please add sails set and trim. Yeah, like the sea state, they usually show, but I like the routine. And...do you often take a sight and how good are you at that? I'm lousy, so I'd like to hear that someone's better...

[@howtosailoceans1423]

I assume you mean a sight with the sextant. I have a vid coming on that soon ...

[@blueelectricfusion]

Ever try sheet steering lashed to tiller? Sometimes it works better in light wind when windvane doesn't like it

[@howtosailoceans1423]

I find the vane works well in light airs, so long as there is not a big swell knocking the boat around.

[@sailor-rick]

Would love to see a vid of your electric-less adventures.. no motor, no 'lectricical. Maybe you could re-enact it next season... just enough juice for the cameras.

[@dougrutherford9261]

As you know patience is a vertue. Go two steps forward one back. Such is the life of a sailor.

[@howtosailoceans1423]

Indeed, indeed.

[@tanksouth]

Good captain. Please tell us the year and model of your 31 footer ? Please sir.

[@howtosailoceans1423]

Gilmer 31, see description below the vid for details.

[@francesrestoration]

Kev - absolutely love your stuff bro, but talk about no harness. I see you carefully making your way forward - why no safety factor???

[@howtosailoceans1423]

I go back and forth on harnesses. Yes, they could save your life, but they also inhibit movement about on deck and are prone to get tangled. And I had one fairly serious accident as a result of not being able to detach the harness quickly enough to avoid a flogging jib sheet, which struck my eye and left me blinded there for a few hours.

[@patricklaine6958]

Bravo Kevin. You handled that gale super well. Very impressive. It looked like you anticipated the storm well and hanked on the storm jib early. One question: how did the wind vane handle the rough seas and gusting winds? Did you find that you constantly needed to readjust heading, or was this not really an (additional) source of stress/fatigue?

[@howtosailoceans1423]

Thanks Patrick! The windvane is a wonder so long as I don't drive the boat like a madman. Just keep her balanced under modest canvas and it will steer in anywhere from 4 to 40 knots. In a passage of 1,300 miles I will probably hand steer 20 or 30 miles. The only maintenance required is to grease the gudgeons for the trim tab every so often, which can be done with mask and snorkel, otherwise it will not steer in the light stuff. Setting it is a bit of a pain since I have to crawl aft to do so.

[@patricklaine6958]

Great, thanks. I only touch the helm rarely as well when I'm solo. I have a methanol fuel cell to recharge the battery for the electric autopilot, but am seriously considering a wind vane or hydro generator so that the fuel cell is really just an emergency back-up. Thanks for the info, and again, bravo on how you handled the gale.

[@emilybh6255]

Wow. You had to bail every two hours with a hand pump? How many gallons do you think you pumped out each time? That sounds tiring and a little scary! Do you think caulk around your vents and hatches would help keep the water out?

[@howtosailoceans1423]

Probably 3 or 4 gallons each time. Believe me, I've caulked and bedded fittings, portlights, etc. numerous times, but when the sea gets angry it is hard to keep out ...

[@emilybh6255]

I might have not stressed out about the water in bilges until it was up near the floor boards. You certainly win the blue ribbon for courageousness!

[@bfiller2365]

pumping her bilge every two hours... you have john neil on Mahina ( the natives bowed down to me like I was their god) fame. he was bailing days on end.

[@philipfreeman72]

What do you think about trimarans ?

[@howtosailoceans1423]

I cannot speak for multihulls. Cats seem to be more popular than trimarans based on what I see in the harbors I visit.

[@davejob630]

I think maybe you have the drumkit panned a bit wide....and clearly you need more mandolin....:)

[@dh5645]

Dave Job more cowbell!!

[@DavidMozingoREALTOR]

Great videos. You seem like someone who knows what you are doing.

[@howtosailoceans1423]

Nah, just looks that way ... thanks for watching!

[@MrTurtleneckbreath]

Bro, I know I'm being rude but you really got to do something about that lizard tongue flick. Love your info BTW.

[@modslot]

Film yourself for a couple of hours and you will see that you too have some weird tendency give the guy a break he is brilliant.