J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum The Smack Fat City Too - 2008 Newport to Bermuda Adventure

What do you get when you put three J/30 owners in the Bermuda Triangle? Lots of Dark and Stormies and a great time! The owners of Fat City (Carl Sherter), Smiles (John McArthur) and Rhapsody (Bill Kneller) joined forces on the Swan 391 Fat City Too for the 635 mile 2008 Newport to Bermuda race. Carl co-owns Fat City Too with Glenn (Skip) Cox, Dave & Tommy Etter. Dave was unable to join the race, but we filled out the crew as follows:

Carl Sherter - J/30 Owner #1, the short guy with all the energy


John McArthur - J/30 Owner #2, John #1, master mechanic


Bill Kneller - J/30 Owner #3, guy on the helm aka MacGyver the fixit man


Tommy Etter - the big guy, consumes massive beverage quantities, has waterproof camera (incriminating pictures to come)


Johnny Etter - John #2, thin guy up for every sail change (gave his body weight to brother Tommy_.)


Skip Cox - the Chef (when we could cook_.)


Mike Chapman - Navigator extraordinaire, speaks a dialect of English we can't understand


Jonathan "Bix" Bixby - John #3, unflappable even tempered guy on the helm.


The adventure starts in Newport a couple days before the race. Everyone pitched in with final preps including rebuilding the water pump, up the mast to fix the steaming light and halyards, getting all the communications and navigation stuff working, and loading stores. Our crew briefings were unique because Carl made sure the entire crew was part of the detailed Gulf Stream and weather presentations normally attended by just the skipper and navigator. Bix's son Johnno (John #4) did the honors of diving on the bottom to clean the hull. The night before we departed, the apostles met on the deck of the Newport Navy Officer's club overlooking Narragansett Bay for "The Last Supper". Tommy has become a permanent memory of our waitress Dot_..

Our departure on Friday 20 June had perfect weather as we motored out of Newport harbor towards the starting line. Fat City Too raced in the St. David's Lighthouse Class and was in the 2nd group to start the race.

The starting area was like I-95 during rush hour. There was race traffic, spectators in all sorts of boats on the edges of the starting area, helicopters taking pictures from above, and thousands of people on the lawn at Castle Hill. The starting line was favored for a port tack, so much that we were almost unable to clear the pin on starboard. As soon as we could safely tack to clear traffic, we flipped to port to start a long journey. The plan was to stay west of the rhumb line to catch a warm eddy so we could use the current to our advantage and whip us into the Gulf Stream.


The first day on the water was uneventful. We settled into a staggered watch rotation with 4 hours on/off in daylight, and 3 hours on/off sunset to sunrise. We also staggered the rotation to help continuity so halfway through the watch, 2 people rotated. While this sounds simple, it required almost half a day for Tommy to figure out how to document the watch bill so we knew who was on watch when!

Skip prepared a great dinner of chicken parm with rolls the first night out. Little did we know that this was really our "Last Supper". The morning watch was welcomed with the aroma of fresh coffee, fried sausage patties and eggs on a bun. As the day progressed the winds and waves built. We continued to sail heeled over with the wind off our nose, bouncing through the waves. This is where is started to get interesting. We were unable to keep any pots or pans on the grill or in the oven. Skip has the honor of doing a face plant into the stove so hard that he bent the stainless bar across the front of it.

Meals for the rest of the voyage consisted of granola bars, peanut butter crackers, bananas, oranges, and PB&J sandwiches.

We found another mechanical discrepancy further out. It seems that one of the forward hatch dogs got bent preventing a complete seal. Every time water crashed over the bow and covered the deck, a small stream of sea water trickled by the hatch seal, along the head liner and dripped onto the berthing.

Over the four and a half days at sea, this resulted in soaking all the bedding. Another challenge was using the head. There was absolutely no way to guarantee that the stream made it into the bowl when the boat was riding on the rail and hobby horsing with every wave. To prevent personal injury, you had to wedge your head against the starboard bulkhead, feet against the door frame, hold the seat up with one hand, and grab what was left with the other hand. The boat was never level enough for the head drain to function and resulted in stuff sloshing out the head into the main passageway. Over the next few days we found ourselves rinsing yellow "Gatorade" off the sails stored below decks.

The aroma below was enhanced by the 90 degree plus temperatures as the seawater began to grow beasties in the bilge. There was virtually no air flow as we had to keep the hatch shut to prevent green water from crashing down the companionway.

The warm waters in the eddy and Gulf Stream brought some significant changes in weather that occurred very abruptly.

During a mid watch, we took a lightening strike close aboard that decimated our instruments. The helmsman was relegated to steering by the binnacle compass and a handheld GPS. This is where "MacGyver" came to the rescue. Fortunately, there was a full set of schematics, tools and a Fluke multi-meter onboard. Bill and Tommy disassembled the electrical panel and were able to determine that the lightening had blown out a ground wire on the mast instruments. A temporary connection was rigged so that full instrumentation was restored for the rest of the trip. We were without mast instruments for less than six hours as a result of this jury rig.

We found the winds in the Gulf Stream very variable. At one point winds were less than 5 kts, only to build quickly to 30 kts as we dropped the head sail so a squall could blow by. We discovered that a seam along a panel in the #3 jib had parted. This was a big loss as we found ourselves either underpowered with the #4 jib or overpowered with the #2 jib based on the prevailing wind conditions. We also found that the wave action resulted in significant mast pumping, causing the cable on the baby stay to part by the swaged fitting where it joined the mast.

Navigating in the open seas was easy on moonlight nights where we could anticipate the swells and keep the boat moving between 7.5 to 8.5 kts.

We were able to accelerate off the peaks of the waves into the crests by aggressively helming. This also kept the water from breaking over the bow to keep us dryer. On dark evenings, we just crashed through the waves. This made it difficult to sleep below decks with the boat pounding and kept everyone topside wet. It also kept the boat a full knot slower.

Marine life showed up in various forms during the trip. On numerous occasions we had dolphins swimming close aboard jumping the waves and keeping us company. We also had a tern fly with us for some time while we were 200 miles from the nearest land. We spotted a pod of whales one afternoon. During the darkness near the Gulf Stream, we came across a blast of air that smelled like a sardine cannery. We could hear a whale exhaling off the starboard side, but was too dark to see anything. We saw numerous flying fish and managed to get two trapped on deck. One of these became a movie star as he had his picture taken with each of the crew members.




Excitement built amongst the crew for the last day. The watch rotation was abandoned as everyone remained topside in the sun. We could see other competitors over the horizon as boats started to converge on Bermuda. As darkness came on at the end of the day, our final leg proved to be quite a challenge. We anticipated having to tack in order to clear the finish line. This evolution would be complicated since we would be arriving around midnight with people tethered topside and significant traffic anticipated. The final maneuvering watch was set with Mike located on the chart plotter below, Carl in the companionway calling the commands, Bill on the helm, and the rest of the crew serving as lookouts and ready to tack on a moments notice. Navigation lights were plentiful and confusing! Many lights appeared a few degrees from each other with similar flashing characteristics. It was true teamwork by all in navigating to the finish line. We crossed the line at 11:30pm East Coast time Tuesday 24 June, and then dropped the sails so we could motor to the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club (RBYC).

Piloting at night around Bermuda to Hamilton required about 4 hours with some of the most confusing navigation aids available. More than once we had to stop and figure out where we really were due to the ambiguity provided by so many similar flashing lights. Once we reached RBYC, we spent an additional hour making donuts in the water as we awaited our time to tie up_one boat at a time.

By 6:00 am we were made fast to the pier where the Dark & Stormies started to flow.



We started to bring equipment topside so we could air out the boat. A quick jaunt to the hotel with hot showers, breakfast and a 4 hour nap provided enough recharging for us to get back to the boat and start to clean it. Virtually everything was removed so we could take the spray nozzle below with bleach to clean the toxic waste dump.

The boat reeked, as did many others having gone through similar situations. Topside looked like a yard sale with foul weather gear hanging off every line.

The RBYC dock looked like a yard sale. All the boats brought everything topside to dry. This sea of color was augmented by the flags that many boats flew as they "dressed ship".


While in Bermuda, we had some time to relax and enjoy the great party atmosphere. Mike Chapman's wife Margaret, daughter Olivia and her friend Emily flew down along with Bix's daughter Kimberly.

This group also had the honors of delivering Fat City Too back to her homeport of Milford, CT. We stayed at the Grape Bay Hotel and had a beautiful view overlooking the ocean.

The first night in Bermuda we had a group dinner out by the pool sharing our sea stories. The weather while in Bermuda was bright and sunny but the friendly atmosphere was "Dark & Stormy"! We had a continuous party at the boat, on the docks, at the RBYC, and at the hotel.

We all attended the Swan Owner's reception and dinner.



Although Fat City Too was the smallest Swan competing at 39 feet, our group was definitely the most lively. Carl proved that bigger isn't always better. We were the second Swan to cross the finish line out of more than twenty competing. Tommy made special friends with the RBYC Commodore who was very interested in obtaining one of the custom Newport-Bermuda 2008 shirts that the Fat City Too crew wore to the reception. If you look at the picture of Tommy in the introduction, you'll see his official mug shot in anticipation of being booked for possession of these shirts.

This was an experience we'll all remember. The crew gelled really well. Everyone had unique strengths that helped contribute to the success of this team. Overall we placed 5th in class, 23rd boat to cross the line, and the second Swan to finish the race. A very impressive set of results for this predominately J/30 crew!

The End!
[img]http://www.j30.us/images/NPT-BDA-2008/A-Working-Head.jpg[/img]


[This message has been edited by Rhapsody #348 (edited 07-03-2008).]

Nice Work!!

You guys were not the only J30 sailors out there. I was on II Bodacious (Sabre 402). Yes the smell down below was toxic, but I miss it already.

We had a great race. Our group consisted of 6 solo sailors from the Great Lakes Single-handed Society (GLSS). Two of us are J30 guys. I remember seeing Fat City Too on the docks. I wish I swung by.

Next time maybe we should have a J30 start? On second thought we may still be out there.

Congratulations.

John
Madcap
358

There were a number of J/30 sailors on Abigail also. It was very hot and wet - but worth the trip! I tried to see everyone on Fat City but the boat looked like such a mess I figured they were too busy for a drink.

Was Bodacious a charter boat in Maine last year?

David
#397

David,

The boat was such a mess because we WERE drinking! Glad we could catch you on the dock at RBYC. John McArthur ran into Charlie Hurd there too.

Bill

ps - you still using a bucket for the head???

No - since it was a reach back the heads worked fine since we could make water.

The heads are fresh water - auto flushers - and we needed to be on port tack to make water. Well it was a 630 mile beat on starboard tack so we had to ration the water usage.

David
#397

What's with the 185 heading - the rhumb line was 164? You must have been quite out west - maybe riding the cold eddy after the stream?

DB
#397

Exactly right!

David:

Bodacious is a Chicago boat that the owner shipped out to Newport last fall for this race. His plan was to do the race then sell the boat in Newport. He is having a new boat built. It was a nice ride for a long upwind race.

John
358

Thank goodness for the pictures of Margaret, Olivia, Emily, and Kimberly... otherwise this thread would have been a total waste of time.

Cheers