fantastique Dick Newik

à lire en anglais sur "letters" de latitude38 d'aout, la superbe leçon de newik, avec un ami sur un de ses tris de 50 pieds de 40 ans, démâtage à mi chemin Hawaï san Francisco,

gréement de fortune et retour sur 600 milles, ont accepté un ravitaillement en fuel tout près de l'arrivée,

à noter newik a 86 ans, son ami 76 ans ...

www.latitude38.com[...]08.html

OLD SAILORS RULE!

The rig on Andy Bartholomew's 50-ft trimaran Traveller, which I designed many years ago, came down with him and me aboard last month. We were 500 miles north of Hawaii bound for San Francisco at the time, sailing in 15 to 20 knots of wind, with 9-ft seas. We were carrying a working jib and a double-reefed main. Our boat speed was over nine knots.

The cause of the dismasting was a chainplate toggle that didn't match the turnbuckle.

It took a day for us — Andy is 76 and I'm 86 — to get the deck squared away, spars secured, and sails stowed. The carbon fiber wing mast was damaged at the leading edge below the hounds. The damage occurred in a place where it couldn't have hit the deck, so perhaps it happened when it hit the water.

We got underway with a 185-sq ft staysail. We hoisted the foot on the radar mast, which was well aft, and secured the head as far forward as possible to windward. With 15 to 20 knots of wind, which we had all the way to Oahu, we were able to make 1.5 knots. It would have helped if we could have raised the boom for a 'mast', but it was too heavy. Unfortunately, the boat didn't have a light spinnaker pole.

When we used the engine — which was more than half the time — we ran it at just 2,000 rpm to conserve fuel. That brought our speed up to four knots. We had 50 gallons of fuel, and that got us within 130 miles of Oahu, at which point we called the Coast Guard and asked for suggestions. They had the 200-ft University of Hawaii SWATH catamaran research vessel Kilo Moana divert to provide the 35 gallons of fuel we needed to get the rest of the way to Honolulu. The fuel transfer was done efficiently, using their 16-ft hard-bottom inflatable and 5-gallon jerry cans tied to a trailing line.

Repairs to Traveller are underway at the University of Hawaii nautical training facility on Sand Island, Oahu.

Andy Bartholomew is a fine seaman and shipmate, which minimized his elderly guest's shortcomings. We were pleased to have been able to make it back to Honolulu with no more assistance needed. Thanks to those who helped at sea and with electronic communications!

Dick Newick
Sebastopol . . . I think.

www.wingo.com[...]newick/