Bill Wallace has had some remarkable experiences going offshore in his J/30 (including the '79 Fastnet). I'm now on the Gulf with some opportunities for racing to Mexico, a distance of about 500-650 miles.
Have any of you taken your 30 off on extended races? What about the Newport or Marion/Bermuda?

What would you do to set up the boat for long races like this?

Tom Eskridge
Twister #469

Yes ... it's been done before! Ron Peterson and the crew of Valkyrie won the Annapolis-Bermuda race back in the late 80s in PHRF. There's an article about the race, including preparing the boat in one of the old J/Journals. I lent my copy to the Fleet Secretary, but we may be able to get it scanned and posted.

Haven't sailed the 30 offshore - just bigger boats. But a few thoughts - good first aid kit, ditch bag, life raft, check fuel tank for water/dirt, maybe tape seams on hatches to seal 'em up. All the usual safety stuff (plugs, rigging cutter, buckets, strobes, harnesses, etc.), lee clothes (I use truck-bed webbing on my 30). "Heavy flying objects" secure?(engine cover, batteries, bilge floorboard, anchor, etc). Cockpit lockers secure? Hatchboards tethered? Race sounds like a lot of fun.

We took Mondial offshore when we brought her to Newport for the 1997 NAs. I did most of the things Seth listed above. Then we took off most of the extra gear when we got to RI. It was a great trip overall. But without a doubt the worst conditions we saw were in the Delaware Bay with wind against current. It set up an immediate "square wave" chop of about 6-10 feet! Uggg...that was nasty.

I did a 630-mile singlehanded race in my J in 1985. The boat had to be prepped to ORC Category 1 standards with a few exceptions for singlehanding (e.g., high capacity electric bilge pump in place of one of the manual pumps, only one horseshoe ring and pole required, etc). Since that time I have tried to maintain the boat to new ORC requirements such as masthead VHF antenna (yes), mast butt secured to mast step (yes), and bare wire lifelines (not yet). I have also cruised the boat to Mexico several times (an 800-mile hop with 1 or no stops). If the boat is prepared to the ORC requirements I believe you or your crew will fail long before the boat does, which is the way it should be.

The most useful thing I did beyond the ORC was to have Riley Marine Products weld an additional mid-height tube around the bow pulpit making it impossible for me to fall through the large opening in the standard pulpit. It also meant that when I stood atop the pulpit the only thing shaking was me.

I would spend some time making sure that the reefing scheme is as simple and effective as possible. Because the Kenyon reefing camlocks tended to ease after awhile, I added turning blocks at the base of the mast and led the reefing lines back to the cabin top winches and cleats. I added a solid vang to support the boom while reefing so that the boom was always under control.

I replaced the stock hatches with Lewmar Ocean Series hatches. No leaks in the most miserable weather when green water was running the length of the boat.

Joe reminded me of something - I had the same snotty weather in the DE bay and the water dousing my engine panel shorted the buzzer. We had to listen to it all night long. I've noticed some boats have a plexiglass cover over the panel - a good idea for those conditions.

We did two round trip deliveries in the late '80s from the Chesapeake to NAs in Newport and LI Sound. I'd start with clean fuel, spare filters, an alternative fuel tank with a spare fuel line. There is no easy way to remove fuel bugs at sea or clear the J/30s the primary fuel line. We pumped fuel from a teakettle while navigating the East River. I'd try to figure out a way to have spare main halyard, even if it were external. The fractional rig means if you lose the primary you risk your life to reach the masthead to replace it. I'd want also want a small storm jib, (possibly rigged to an inner forestay with associated deck gear), and either a trysail or triple reef in the main.

Bob reminded me of two mods I made that have been successful so I haven't had the problem they were designed to prevent or circumvent.
I added a masthead spinnaker bail made from a 1/2-in. diameter ss u-bolt. It has a heavy-duty Lewmar roller-bearing block attached with a 1/8-in. dacron pull string running through it from chain plate to chain plate. If I have to go aloft I use a dedicated 7/16-in. dacron line that runs from the rock climbing seat harness through the masthead block down to a large snatch block at the base of one of the foredeck stanchions then back to one of the large sheet winches in the cockpit.

The other mod was to add an electric fuel pump in a sort of series-parallel arrangement with the mechanical pump and a 3-way valve in the fuel line so that fuel can be pumped from the tank, through a large aftermarket filter and water separator, through the electric pump, through the 3-way valve, and back to the fuel tank without running the engine. Using this system and bio-bor occasionally I haven't any problems with tank crud being stirred up in rough weather. I change the Yanmar filter once a year when I change the waterpump impeller just because.

The idea of adding another masthead pulley is terrific. I often wondered what I would do- other than lowering the mast - if I lost my main halyard up the mast or it broke. There are plenty of halyards for the jib but only one halyard for the main. Rigging a spare pulley with a light messenger line would be a great idea for anyone going offshore.

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Originally posted by jmruzzi:
Yes ... it's been done before! Ron Peterson and the crew of Valkyrie won the Annapolis-Bermuda race back in the late 80s in PHRF. There's an article about the race, including preparing the boat in one of the old J/Journals. I lent my copy to the Fleet Secretary, but we may be able to get it scanned and posted.
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It would be great to get that information published on the web site. In fact, would it be possible to publish *all* the old J/Journals on the website?