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Nov 5, 2008, 10:34 AM
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Ocean Planet to the Caribbean
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By Dana Sibilla, Portland, Oregon
I got the email from Bruce Schwab about a crew gig on OceanPlanet, his prior generation Open 60, to sail from Newport to St. Martin as a part of the North Atlantic Rally to the Carribean (NARC) 2008. OP was going to run ahead of a bunch of Swans and a few other boats including a Corsair F-31 from Newport to Bermuda and on to St. Martin. Bruce would then continue to Antigua. Ocean Planet had the potential to be there in something like a third of the time of some of the heavier displacement boats, so there would be a lot of latitude about how the game could be played. It looked like the crew would be two or two and a half to a watch.
I deliberated on paying into the crew but I could see that this was really an opportunity. Half of the fare was actually tax deductible to OP's non-profit foundation. I did not have this laying around, but I realized that I could make it happen. After emailing with Bruce, and hearing how down-to-Earth he was about what was available, I was in. I could only swing the first leg, and then had to fly back to reality. Let's just say that this was going to be more boat than I had recently gotten my hands on. <continue>
I arrived in Newport Saturday to a really nice catered NARC Rally dinner and met the other skippers and crew. Bruce's Around Alone and Vendee celebrity, which he is modest about, gets him handshakes from a lot of cool sailors and I got them too. This was quite a treat. Local Herreschof Museum curators made the America's Cup displays available (and also served up amazing Chile Rellenos and Enchiladas) the next night. The plan was to leave Monday AM.
In the meantime, Bruce ran through Ocean Planet's systems, sailplan, rigging and tech. She's an interesting Open 60 with a 15' deep fixed keel and a narrow beam, sweet 85 foot carbon rotating mast, and huge Cuben Fiber main. She had the full complement of nav electronics that an ocean racer could have, and it was my first exposure to the Iridium phones, some of the Nobeltec and Ocens software, and rigging hardware I had only previously read about. Her tech may be a generation or two old, but hey, it was still in the upper limits. She had a brand new coat of E-Paint on the bottom and the keel had just been re-faired.
Right away, we began sitting down and huddling around GRIBs, overlaying precipitation and Gulf Stream charts, and looking at wave projections. We eagerly awaited our Zulu reports and I was pinching myself. I had to stop drinking coffee since the watch schedule was going to be tight, maybe four hours. Bruce was open to listen to input and answer questions that I simply wasn't going to get answers from anywhere other than a solo offshore sailor, and let's face it, there are not that many of them available to talk to on any given day. Some of the expected crew bailed out, and it was down to three of us, Bruce, myself, and a Sausalito sailor by the name of Julie Lucchesi.
At the weather meeting on Monday morning first light, the outlook was not that great. A depression off of Newport was going to meet a high rolling up out of the southwest, potentially the same one that had just torn Speedboat's mainsail and postponed Richard Branson's transatlantic effort. The meteo specialist Susan Gennett from Real Weather used the words "potentially dangerous", describing wave heights of up to 35 and headwinds potentially living in the 40's. She suggested that, at least for the heavier boats, the window was "leave right now" or perhaps wait as much as 4 days or more. The weather projections were showing that the heavier displacement boats would have to try to beat down along the coast and bail out to Cape May if they could not make it. This did not look like a great idea.
I got to hover at the Skipper's meeting which was a treat. Those guys were not happy, but Bruce explained afterwards that we had a lot more options even though OceanPlanet was too deep to get into Cape May and once we were out, we were committed. We didn't want to run along the coastline. Bruce favored a northerly route over the large gulfstream feature offshore and I liked the idea of the faster southerly route, punching through right below it. The wind was showing up to 45 knots that night. While three of the heavier boats readied and cast off, OP was going to wait. We continued to plot courses on the Nobeltec system, and seek out as much free Wi-Fi as possible, and hang onto the docks, which were now heaving. We had extra lines up to hold us off.
Since we had sequential reports, we could see that the way the weather was trending, we could wait until Wednesday and then deal with up to 18 hours of reaching and then gybe for Bermuda, after which it looked like a sleigh ride. 2 days after the fleet had left, one of the Amels was still pinned against the fuel dock in up to 25 knots of wind when we winched off the leward dock. We screamed out, getting up to about 16 knots under third reef as Newport fell away. It was pretty hardcore but the wave heights stayed under 20 and while they were pretty sloppy, we made a beeline out of there. Steering an Open 60 and hitting 19 knots while playing waves was already worth the trip. Bruce decided to go with the faster Southerly route. Two dolphins who sounded like torpedoes escorted us offshore.
Even though a wind gust hit 50 knots, within 12 hours the sea state became a bit more consistent and we settled in to a broad reach at 12-16 knots boat speed and no deficit of SOG with the working jib. We watched our water temp and hunted for our slot through the Gulf Stream, popping thorough at about 3 AM on my watch. The wind was about then gybed and settled in to about 12 knots, shaking out the reefs as the winds settled down, putting on us on a wide beam reach.
Bruce rotated up and down, checking headings and adding coaching about the sail adjustments, while Julie and I alternated watches. We decided that we did not need to prove anything by putting up the big gennaker. We solidly passed a Rodger Martin Class 40 who had been firmly denied entry to Key West by the 45 knot headwinds and who was heading for Bermuda instead. The Swan fleet was nowhere in sight. We heard some radio chatter about a rollover boat, a rescue and a loss of life, and learned that the Corsair trimoran had lost its rudder and was also abandoning. At about midnight on day two, the sea state laid down for a while and OP began to hiss along at 16 plus in 18 knots of wind, with the working jib. Phosphorescent plankton streamed away in the wake. It was hard for me to surrender the watch under those conditions, but it was time to find my bag and crash. After a short luff to get some kelp off our keel, we had a mellow broad reach to the reef at St George in Bermuda, arriving 2 days and 14 hours after starting, not bad for what amounted to mostly third reef sailing under a working jib.
Bruce Schwab is an excellent skipper, a patient guy with solid skills and good energy who insisted on steaming us broccoli with olive oil and salt and watching our carbs. After shaking hands with all the people he knew and answering a lot of interested questions about Ocean Planet,we went back around the island to Hamilton, had a beer, and picked sargasso weed out of our boom and planned to repair a small tear in the leech of the jib that had appeared on the way. Oh, I should mention that we were tied up right next to Virgin Money, which was an added treat. Sitting next to ex-Speedboat admittedly made Ocean Planet look a little smaller but discussing the big Juan K boat with the crew was yet another level.
Back to OceanPlanet. She'll be on her way to Antigua later this week, where she will stay for the season and maybe longer. Bruce plans to run some clinics and sail the events around the Islands with sailors who are eager to get their hands on an Open 60 and are willing to pay for the opportunity. Bruce is thinking of mixing in rigging training that he can customize to your level. I highly recommend that any of you that want a peek inside this world, or a starting point towards what is next, scrape together the few thousand dollars and go sailing with this guy while the boat is still available. There is talk of her being gobbled up for the next Velux, but you should start thinking about this now.
The Dark and Stormys are now over for me, and I am back to reality and my seven knot cruiser, but I can say, "Thanks, Bruce, excellent adventure". I will be back. When was the last time a guy like me got a chance to get hit by a flying fish offshore at 19 knots? Go to http://www.bruceschwab.com and get some details about what Bruce has planned. I highly recommend it. Viva Bruce!
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