A Whirlwind cruise to Maine

Like all of the PHRF fleet I got Dave's E-mail begging for crew to help deliver his vessel to Tenants Harbor, unlike most I took him up on it. One never knows when agreeing to such an offer. Depending on what the weather holds you may be doing the owner a favor or he may be doing you one.

We left Friday July 5, 2002 aboard Whirlwind a Pearson 33 to Tenants Harbor Maine. We left at 7 AM and sailed straight through the night (140 Miles in 24 hours) with a northwest wind on the beam, following seas and wave heights of 2-4 feet (OK an occasional six footer). These near perfect conditions allowed us to make 6-7 knots most of the way. We never had to tack. What a chance to observe nature, pilot whales a plenty along Jeffery's ledge, and two humpbacks came close along side at one point (very close). These great creatures were ten feet longer than our boat and at 40 tons, nearly seven times our mass. I think they were curious as they came quite close, but there is no real risk when near an obviously awake humpback whale. They are very good at sensing the presence of a vessel, move in three dimensions, and are much faster than 7 knots (Finbacks are good to 35 knots). One sounded and went under the boat, I must confess at that point I did wonder just how long that keel was.

Six hours out we lost sight of land. It was pure blue-water sailing with nothing to break the line of the great circling horizon. I just love that line where the sea meets the sky. It's harder to sail a true course without a horizon reference than most who haven't tried it can imagine, sailing the telltales lets you go fast but just doesn't get you their on a long sail. Most who try tend to drift to the left and then wake up when they check the compass. Steering the compass is best but insanity generally follows after a few hours, aiming for a part of a convenient cloud helps, but they move, so the assistance is fleeting. A great sunset turned into near total darkness with only starlight to guide one, but what a star field! By an odd chance the Milky Way pointed very nearly to our course and looking back it seemed to mirror our wake. We counted six artificial satellites, and too many meteorites to keep track of.

Cassiopeia lay at our base course of 050 so steering was easy through the night. "First star on the left and on till morning." The moon didn't rise till about three AM, but it was a help as we approached land. The GPS and radar are great tools, but there is no substitute for actually seeing where you are going. I am afraid I missed the dawn, as it was my turn in the bunk, but what a trip. On this trip Dave did all who came a favor by letting us tag along, something to keep in mind next time the call goes out for crew.

Sean E Gallagher