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Crossing the Pond

datswite

Ken Ferrari
Well, after a few years of full-time cruising along the US east coast, a few trips to the Bahamas and now 2 seasons in the Eastern Caribbean, the time has come for us to make the big jump across the Atlantic.

We're currently on the hook in Falmouth Harbour, Antigua, and we're finishing up our prep work to set sail for the Azores. While in Antigua we added a 3rd reef to our mainsail, and we added some chainplates for a Jordan Series Drogue. I also performed a stem to stern refit of HuskaBean just a few years ago, and the boat is as ready as she's ever been to tackle the trip.

I'm ridiculously excited to get moving. We need to provision, make water and then we're a good departure weather window away from leaving!!
 
Well, after a few years of full-time cruising along the US east coast, a few trips to the Bahamas and now 2 seasons in the Eastern Caribbean, the time has come for us to make the big jump across the Atlantic.

We're currently on the hook in Falmouth Harbour, Antigua, and we're finishing up our prep work to set sail for the Azores. While in Antigua we added a 3rd reef to our mainsail, and we added some chainplates for a Jordan Series Drogue. I also performed a stem to stern refit of HuskaBean just a few years ago, and the boat is as ready as she's ever been to tackle the trip.

I'm ridiculously excited to get moving. We need to provision, make water and then we're a good departure weather window away from leaving!!
We would like to follow your adventure.
 
Very nice, Ken! You’ve done a lot of hard work and now you get to enjoy the rewards. Like Rick, I’m looking forward to doing similar but on the other big pond (Pacific). Best of luck to you and we will be watching your Spot. Please post some photos from the “other side” and let us know how the crossing went.
 
Ken
Fair winds and best of luck on your journey. Who is in your crew for the crossing? Where is your final destination?

Jim
 
Ken
Fair winds and best of luck on your journey. Who is in your crew for the crossing? Where is your final destination?

Jim
It'll be myself, my fiancé and a buddy I met im the Bahamas a few years ago. We're planning to make landfall in Portugal after cruising the Azores for a few weeks.
 
Ken
I have friends who stopped in Lagos, Portugal, at the very bottom of the Country. They loved it. I can get some local knowledge if you like.

Jim
 
Ken
I have friends who stopped in Lagos, Portugal, at the very bottom of the Country. They loved it. I can get some local knowledge if you like.

Jim
Thank you for the offer. We're planning to land in the Lisbon area and land travel from there. The Schengen visa restrictions in the EU really make it difficult to cruise the Med in a single season, so we're gonna see Europe from land.
 
Ken
I don't know what the Schengen visa restrictions are. When our friends spent 12 years sailing in and around the EU, they had to leave the EU every 18 months or be subject to the VAT tax on the value of their boat. They ended up with some very creative adventures.

Jim
 
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Now, Americans can only spend 90 days out of 180 in the European Union. The boat can stay up to 18 before paying import duties.
 
Ken

I know that one of the VAT avoidance adventures was to stop in Morocco for a few days. That might help you if you keep the boat in Portugal.

Jim
 
Ken

I'd be interested in how and where you installed the chain plates for the Jordan drogue. After Susie Goodall's misadventure, it seems to be a critical part of the whole equation. Not that we would ever be in position to deploy a drogue, just curious.

Jim
 
Well, it looks like Ken took off on 5/29, so he’s been almost 2 weeks in the Atlantic.
From his tracker it looks like he’s at 36.96109, -39.0621.
Which is about 500 miles west of the Azores. So maybe another week or so.
Go Ken Go!!
 
Wow, he's now at 38.25719, -29.92038, which is about 60 miles west of the Azores.
I'm wondering if he's going to the Port of Horta. Should be arriving tomorrow (Sunday, June 16), I'd guess.

Looks like the wind is about 17mph from the south so he's probably on a broad reach now. It says 8ft seas from the NW with a 10 second period, so he may be getting beat up a little by that.

Very exciting, and I'm looking forward to hearing some details on the passage.
 
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We arrived into Horta on Sunday. Overall, it was a great passage. The last seven days were a bit challenging. We were overtaken by a cold front which left us hove to for about 18 hours. Then, two days later we were trapped in the compression zone of another low. Hove to again for about 8 hours, with wind gusts to 48 knots and substantial seas. Then, we had a forecasted gale chase us the last few hundred miles. 7 days of 30-40 knots of wind. We were exhausted! Overall, the boat did great. Adding a third reef in our mainsail in Antigua was a wise move, as we used it a lot. The third reef should be deeper than it is, but a batten prevented optimum placement. Still, the boat hove to very well, but slightly forereached. The first 11 days were fabulous.

We rigged the series drogue before we hit the compression zone. Had the waves started breaking, we would have deployed it. Thankfully we didn’t have to.

Our Monitor windvane steered for 2,000 miles. And, since we sailed off of the anchor in St. Martin, we could have sailed the entire trip. However, we ran the engine the last 40 hours to outrun the gale... the winds were wrong to make good enough speed to make safe harbor in time. Otherwise, zero engine time - the solar covered our energy needs.

The boat did great offshore, sailing much faster than anticipated. Our average speed for the trip was 5.6 knots, that includes a few light air days. However, hull speed was not uncommon. Max speed was 13 knots while surfing. Too fast. We hove to shortly after that.

I love this boat!!!
 
Congratulations Ken! It’s good to hear from you.
How many people and/or who did you have for crew? Sounds like sleep might have been challenging?
 
There were 3 of us. Myself, my fiancé and a buddy. We split the overnight hours into three, 3-hour, watches. Then we just sort of winged it during the day. It worked pretty well.
 
Ken & Crew

Congratulations!! Any journey that ends safely is a great journey. Imagine the sea stories you've collected. Sounds like your weather wasn't perfect. We're glad to hear that you are happy with the boats performance. Enjoy the Azores and keep us up to date on the rest of your voyage.

Jim
 
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