Preparing for Heavy Weather Sailing @ 40° South [Ep. 100]

[@davidhakes3884]

You are doing it and in Great form Cautious but no worries. Thanks for posting this goodness. (smiling)

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Big smiles back at you David!

[@FernandoOliveira-oy4gy]

Y’all made the best decision to go that route and there is no reason to regret it. Y’all’re the best, and have the best sailing KZbin channel. Thanks for sharing the pre weather conditions, the full moon, the hard work during the days and nights. Glad to hear about all back-up equipments. This gives the much needed peace of mind while sailing through. Please stay safe and well.

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Thanks so much Fernando!

[@steveodeal1921]

Freedom! So awesome.

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Yessss!!!!! Right on Steve'o!

[@ArtHelm]

Unlike many other KZbin channels; You are real sailers. And your teamwork is amazing. There is no channel like yours.

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Thank you so much for the very nice words Art. You are too kind! Cheers & see you next week!

[@lukehayvaz9194]

Thank you for true sailing content. Actually showing sheet adjustments and putting a reef in the sail!

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Sure thing Luke! We want to show more of this stuff, but lots of times we have already completed a maneuver before a camera can turn on :-)

[@hansjensen7823]

How suspenseful! And I didn’t know that a fourth reef was even a thing!

[@SailingSweetRuca]

The 4th reef is an excellent alternative to a storm trysail.

[@robertscranton8293]

Love these sailing passages

[@AirstripBum]

Me too!

[@stubby2822]

Me also.

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Us also!

[@njbaskipper]

Hi, Ms. Kate and Mr. Curtis, Week of rains in the Southern Cone, squalls from the Western Pacific are approaching, cyclone season in Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia, until May the weather can be a riddle. But in Puerto Mont Chile you will have a good time, you eat well and it is cheap. Good winds and blessings, a little bone to Roxy. 🌧🌀🌈⚓

[@SailingSweetRuca]

We hope you are having a great week Norberto! We are keeping a close eye on the weather and love the details! Cheers!

[@FalconBusa]

I’m from Chile living in the USA, Cape Horn belong to Chile and only real sailors cross it. I subscribed to your channel and wish nothing but the best for you guys. Fair winds and following Seas!!!!

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Hi Alberto! Viva Chile. It is a wonderful place and we can't wait to share our adventures there with you.

[@nealchristensen1793]

Talk about on the edge of you seat exciting adventure ! Thank you !

[@SailingSweetRuca]

You're welcome Neal! :-) Thank you for the good words!

[@jonunya3128]

looking forward to the next video!

[@SailingSweetRuca]

More to come!

[@kylejazwiecki714]

Epic as always! Love how you guys keep the boat going well and have backups for everything!

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Thanks Kyle!

[@colinedwards7367]

Here we have some real adventure sailors who are prepared to give it ago in the Southern Oceans and not just hang out (fair weather sailors) between the tropics of Capricorn and Cancer.

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Cheers Colin! All routes certainly have their challenges, and we won't judge people that prefer to relax in the sun, but for some reason we are drawn to the harder paths.

[@jameswesthart5873]

Great sailing team! Compliments to each other.

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Cheers James!

[@stubby2822]

The food looked delicious. Love the thought process of going into bad weather. You both have confidence in the boat and yourself. Great video overall. Keep having fun and stay safe. Bill

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Hi Bill! We hope you are having a great week! Haha! Glad you like our offshore food :-)

[@MrBobVick]

Great sailing & at least you are not in English Channel Fog, not a lot of traffic around the horn. Guess that is the good news.

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Right on Bob! It is so nice to sail without any traffic to avoid. Bliss!

[@DYoung-vt8pq]

Thank you for the cues, "tension tacking" and "retensioning halyard." I have to look up the terms, but at least I'm learning something. Thanks so much! Safe travels ❤️

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Glad you are enjoying :-) We have a "reef tack line" which pulls the front of the mainsail down (saving from someone having to go forward to the mast to reef). Some boats use "horns" or "strops" in place of this to secure the "tack" down to the "gooseneck". Don't worry, we learn something new every day!

[@stubby2822]

What a great video. Calm before the storm I guess but that was entertaining. Curtis explaining things, Kate smiling as always, and I had a great cup of coffee in my new Sweet Ruca mug watching it all. Thanks for the effort you all put into these videos. Keep having fun and stay safe. Bill

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Yesss! So happy to hear the mig arrived and you could enjoy a video with it! Cheers Bill :-D Huge smiles aboard tonight!

[@Jcozz]

If conditions get stronger than we anticipated “ we just have to deal with it” awesome, preparation, explanation, and execution! And I’m saying that six minutes in to the episode, knowing how good you two are at what you do.

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Thanks so much Jon!

[@DD-xx8wh]

pretty far south you two(3)...talk about adventure !! nothing like serious weather, fog and big sea's so high fives all around Sweet Rucan's !!!

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Haha, the Rucan's, loving it! See you next week D D :-D

[@KevCampbell]

We’ve switched to induction cooking for our flat in Scotland, and I’m a convert! Some wonderful footage, humbling as it captures just how small and trivial a sailboat can be surrounded by endlessly big seas. There’s a sense of anticipation, but perhaps also trepidation, in this episode and the nighttime sequences are especially effective. Looking forward to rewatching it with coffee tomorrow morning 😊

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Hi Kevin! Good call on the switch, we have heard lots of good things. Someday we hope to ditch the gas and go all electric on the boat. We need some more power generation capabilities though first.

[@allmomomosthomebus3895]

Sailing awesomeness! What an adventure. Starting that passage round the horn had to give you butterflies of excited anticipation.

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Yes! So good to hear from our favorite Bus! :-) Lots of butterflies on this trip, a lot of hard work leading up to this part!

[@allmomomosthomebus3895]

@@SailingSweetRuca really looking forward to seeing the rest of the epic journey!

[@michaelvanwinkle7919]

Sounds like you two and Sweet Ruca are ready for the Cape Navigation. Best Wishes.

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Many thanks Michael! Long time coming!

[@rickkwitkoski1976]

Sailing! Wonderful! Thank you.

[@SailingSweetRuca]

You're welcome Rick!

[@SaltySailor5050]

Good call going past the second reef and right to the third! Your experience is evident!

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Thanks Kevin!

[@fawqman2764]

Another great video from the best sailing channel on KZbin!

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Thanks so much!

[@tregenna]

As a Mariner of 40 years plus, it has always been my opinion that a complete circumnavigation does not include cutting the Americas in half. Good on you.

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Love to hear this William! Thanks! Stay well!

[@ArtHelm]

I am rooting for you two so much, I can't fully express my hopefulness .I love the way you use that boat and a good sail plan makes it look easy. But I know it's not ready! Much love.

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Thanks Art!!

[@davidncw4613]

Indeed I 'like that stuff', the day-to-day hands-on chores. A huge Thank You!!

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Hi David, we are glad you enjoyed! Thanks for dropping us a nice comment! Have a wonderful week!

[@gloriamorales-pacheco604]

Hola I look every day, looking for news of you both. I’m new sailor, learning of you, a lot. Hope you are great.

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Thanks for the kind message!

[@rainfinger]

Great video, showing how to prepare in advance instead of saying we should have reefed.

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Thanks Rauf! Haha! How's the weather where you are? We are slowly making that transition from racer to cruiser :-) This is an area of the ocean where despite our need for speed, the risks are far to great to sail in any way other than conservatively.

[@rainfinger]

@@SailingSweetRuca We are anchored in westerly on the west side of Cat Island, Bahamas, predicted to die down by tonight, sailing conservatively is what we do too. Life is more comfortable onboard, especially for our dog.

[@SailingSweetRuca]

@@rainfinger Excellent! We wanted to stop there but skipped it, let us know what we missed:-) It sounded like a cool place.

[@geoffsanders6466]

Your respect for Mother nature is exemplary!!

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Thanks geoff. She deserves it!

[@HopeOfJoe]

Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiice to watch a good team do great work ‼️ Sooooooo many memories popped into my head the moment Curtis shook out the luff wrinkles on the 4th reef. Just looked sooooooo sharp. Best wishes and see you next time.✨ 🌊 💨 💨 ⛵️ 🏝 👙 🌞 ✨

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Hi Richard! We hope you are having a wonderful weekend! Big smiles to you, we always love hearing your wonderful and kind thoughts :-) Best wishes to you as well :-) See you later!

[@michelefrost4338]

What I love about what you do is that you explain why you are taking on these kinds of seas. The Annapolis book of seamanship says that you’re never safe at sea. You can only mitigate the risks as much as possible. God speed 💙🌏🌊

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Spot on Michelle! Everyone has a different level of risk, that's for sure!

[@Toad434]

Congrats on 100 ep. : )

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Thank you! We never would have thought we would make 100 videos when we started out. We have come a long way :-) Thanks to everyone for sailing along with us and inspiring us to keep filming and editing!

[@SaltySailor5050]

You guys are the best sailors on youtube. To gimbal your hotplate place it on the stovetop! I’m sure you know that. J boats are the best!

[@SailingSweetRuca]

We would surely put it onto the gimballed stove, but the cord is too short :-)

[@harrysheffield624]

Best video yet . . . keep safe.

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Thanks so much Harry. Stay well, see you next week! :-)

[@noelsharpe5970]

Have you ever thought about placing your electric hot plate on your oven? if its out of balance you can put a cooking pot with water in the oven to balance it.

[@SailingSweetRuca]

good idea!

[@noelsharpe5970]

hope it makes life a little easier. i came across your channel and do like when I find people with sailing experience running their channel. there are so many novice sailor doing You Tube now. Cheers from a Aussie guy living in Norway. I have been in Rhode Island and loved it. Sailed from Newport down to Antigua and had a few months in the Caribbean.Awesome time. keep up the good work. JUST BE YOURSELVES.

[@nancygladieux7598]

Wow it's hard to believe 100 episodes. I hope people go back and watch the old episodes and see your journey. I love the music in this one. I can't wait to see the next one

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Yay for 100! A big milestone, who would have thought?

[@sauerjoseph]

100th episode! Stay safe!

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Thanks Joe! Cheers!

[@davidmink1574]

Awesome sailing.

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Whoo hoo! :-)

[@steveking6204]

Great episode.

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Hi Steve! Thanks! All the best to you.

[@ericbergdahl6971]

Be careful on your journey. Be on the alert for racers that are in the GGR race and the ocean racer's. The GGR are heading up towards the equator along Brazil and Africa going north. There are some still heading south to go around cape horn. The winds and sea state that daily update on the race is showing some high winds in some areas. Be safe.

[@SailingSweetRuca]

We will have to look to see if any GGRers are rounding soon? We know the leaders are long gone by now though.

[@pontoonrob7948]

Could you strap the hotplate to the top of the gimbaled stove, rig up a pot.keeper as well?

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Great idea, but the cord was too short :-) We love your screen name, makes us think of summer pontoon cruising on an inland lake, ahh, so relaxing and fun!

[@ESHANABROOK]

Wow, your main reefs really tiny, your two are prepared! Salem MA

[@SailingSweetRuca]

That is our 4th reef. We can tell you that we are glad we have it down here. It doesn't get used much, but..... :-)

[@Cptstokes]

Actually you guys are lucky. As a long range delivery captain I have the fantastic honor sailing upwind against the swell, squalls and just plain pia weather that pointing all the time gives you. As in 33 days from F.P. to Oahu. Wind from the north, my direction of travel. Thank God for squalls where I can have rail down for a day or 3! But the back to back n forth bs

[@allynonderdonk7577]

Wow your main sure can swing wide. I guess the rigging can take it if you have rod rigging. That stuff is usually pretty stout!! Also four reef points, my little Cat 30 only has two, but hey the sail is only slightly bigger than the sail on my kid's toy bathtub sailboat! Its already underpowered! I was on the edge of my seat about the storm coming, but then realized it wasn't going to be all that bad. I have digital doppler radar on my boat, and it is small but works to help me figure stuff out sometimes. If only to dodge the CHia Knees fish factory ships!!! JK!!!

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Haha! Doppler radar us awesome! We never let the boom touch the rod, that could be, well, no bueno :-) Two reefs is fine for most sailing we think. The 4th reef doesn't get much use. In fact, our next sail will have less reefs ;-)

[@KevCampbell]

Thinking back to the ‘70s and ‘80s, when it seemed not uncommon for sailboats to be demasted in big weather. I have to think that the advent of satellite linked weather maps has got to be one of the biggest factors in this seeming to be less common now?

[@SailingSweetRuca]

I think you are correct. But don't forget about the changes in boat design and materials though. Also the engineering methods now are so much more complex, being able to focus strength or flex into certain areas. Lastly, autopilot tech changes the game a lot as well. Imagine having a professional driver on the helm 24/7 rather than a tired extra crewmember picked up at the local pub a few days before for his cooking skills. Surely though, avoiding huge storms, is something that can be done now, and before it was only a roll of the dice.

[@cestmoi1262]

Reassuring to hear that you have the best equipment and backup for your voyage around the Cape. Yet, with all our modern information it is still a challenge. I wonder what your take is on J. Slocum's voyage around the world in the early 1900's. Can today's generation compare to the skills of "ancient" mariners? Have we lost something with all our modern gadgets? Could you possibly dedicate a video of your opinion on this?

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Love this line of thinking! We have had exactly the same thoughts, and have been thinking of how to encapsulate this in a video. We have also thought of going sans engine and electronics just for challenge. Lots to think about.

[@cestmoi1262]

@@SailingSweetRuca Would be interesting to see a comparison of "Slocum" navigation versus modern navigation. Also, the one person versus 2-person crew makes a difference. We know that Slocum made it so the bottom line is the safety of the modern crew.

[@jonstivers]

Is is just me, or is your main halyard a bit slack as shown at 9:48? Did you do that on purpose? Cheers

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Hi jon :-) Good eye! It surely was, but at zero dark 30 at that wind angle it didn't matter too much and we didn't mind being powered up with lots of draft, so just left it to conserve energy, as there would likely be another gear shift in a few hours anyway.

[@thomasthornton5737]

😀👍👍👍❤

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Thank you Thomas! Back at you :-)

[@SV-Flying-Tigress]

Curious what radar you have...just put that on CF as well. I just go the new H20+ but am a newbie to that.

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Hi Stephen, ours is the B&G 4G, one gen behind the Halo. You will like it I am sure.

[@2299jsimon]

Good job... making 10kts under bare poles? Fun, but a little scary.

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Thanks John!

[@roffe7249]

Hello, hope everything is okay on board the boat! a question regarding your decision to continue thought there might be rough weather how do you think your amazing dog will take it if there is rough weather with high seas she seems like a tough girl? etc. Rolf

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Hi Rolf, Roxy the dog has foul weather gear, a life jacket, and harness also, just like her human friends. Also like the humans, she does not like loud slamming of waves on the boat, but she settles in and goes with it.

[@roffe7249]

I really wish you the best of luck and take care of you and Roxy on the continued sailing around the Horn⛵️🐕👍Following you with excitement👍😊Rolf

[@mooorecowbell4222]

I was curious how ROXI handles the heavy rolley rolley sea conditions with four legs? 🐕‍🦺🐶🐶

[@SailingSweetRuca]

She does well if she as something to grip. We are using yoga mats to help her along 😀🐕

[@mooorecowbell4222]

@@SailingSweetRuca that's sweet that Roxi practices yoga

[@invention-city]

Why are you using a reefed main instead of a shortened jib?

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Because we are going downwind. The sail area up front on the bow doesn't hurt. At these angles, a reefed main and large genoa actually performs very well. As a plus, the genoa can be quickly rolled downwind, much faster than we can place another reef in.

[@invention-city]

@@SailingSweetRuca Ahh. I thought you had the jenny all rolled up. So... if it really blows, you drop the main entirely and go with just a bit of jib, right?

[@SailingSweetRuca]

@@invention-city maybe. It is all conditionally dependent, wind and wave angle, crew energy, running room, safety, etc. We rarely ever go without any mainsail at all, only once actually because we damaged the leech cord. Many times we will sail bare headed with a deeply reefed main secured by the preventer.

[@invention-city]

@@SailingSweetRuca I have a 25' O'Day centerboard (inboard) and sail it around Nantucket Sound extensively in winds up to 25kts (was out in 30kts once... never, ever again in that boat). I sail with jib only more than half the time: the boat does hull speed and is very happy. Just wondered if it made sense on a larger boat. LOVE what you're doing. Rounding Cape Horn/Straits is at the top my bucket list (1 or 2)... gonna need a bigger boat!

[@SailingSweetRuca]

@@invention-city Great boat! What fun! In the sound sailing jib only makes a lot of sense. Raising the mainsail offshore with a heavy swinging boom in big ocean waves can be dangerous, so we find it best to put it up and keep it up (reefed as needed).

[@army69to72]

I realize this is far into your wonderful journey together, but one thing that is a concern for me and possibly you is how at night when your on autopilot do you ensure you aren’t hit by another boat or container ship for example? Do you have an alarm on one of your electronics that once it identifies a vessel within say 10 miles, it alarms? Thank you for your time and may you have safe travels and following seas.

[@jpdj2715]

As nobody answered - if you still follow the channel you may have built a notion of an answer - the simple variant of the answer is that the boat is full of modern systems. And these provide warnings too. They must have multiple computers with all sort of sensors. Their radar has a warning system and they also have an AIS system integrated with that radar system. When boats/ships register in AIS they will become recognisable as, say, 60ft commercial fishing boat or 1000 ft ocean cruiser with thousands of people on board. They have a radio band open to initiate communication or for other boats to contact them. After the handshake they will move to another band, so as to keep this free. The nice thing with AIS is that you know whom you will be talking with. In one of their videos, they contacted a huge passenger cruiser in the 1,000 ft ballpark to ask if that ship agreed with their course, or else they would go out of their way. The acting captain of that ship decided to change his course. Middle of night, pitch black. And a huge lighthouse on water sailing to them. No problems. These systems make extrapolations based on a vessel's speed and course of a potential collision point. All the electronics have to keep working flawlessly, though. Curtis and Kate have had issues with their autopilot, sending the boat into a gibe at the wrong moment. Just a glitch in wind direction and speed - unexplained - as read by the computer that tells the auto-rudder how to navigate. They replaced wind speed and wind direction sensors on the top of the mast and some cabling too. I believe this was not the end of the story though. On a boat this size, I might have chosen another autopilot option called Hydrovane (brand). These are not cheap but can be had for acceptable second hand prices. These contraptions add a rudder connected to a windvane and keep you perfect relative to wind direction.

[@pedrojacobpaulin2114]

Hi hi..hi Kate big big kisss

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Cheers pedro!

[@jonstivers]

Where is that weather?

[@SailingSweetRuca]

It's on the way, we are "preparing" ;-)

[@ericshayer]

Why are you going to cross cape horn against the wind and the current? Most sailors that choose to circumnavigate without going through Panama canal would go the other way around.

[@SailingSweetRuca]

Because we like a challenge ;-)

[@ericshayer]

Good luck!