Charlie wrote this for possible inclusion in the Catalina newsletter
After six wonderful years of cruising, including one winter in the Bahamas and five winters in the Eastern Caribbean, we decided to try something a little more adventurous: to sail our Catalina 470, Lady, to New Zealand. We could write volumes about the countries we visited and the people we met, but this article is about how we prepared Lady for her journey and how she performed.
Of course, we started our preparations by reading everything we could about our planned voyage. We purchased numerous cruising guides and read on-line articles like noonsite.com, SSCA reports and other sailing blogs. We also purchased land guides, like Lonely Planet, for the places we thought we might visit on the way. This story is focused on the nine months between our transit of the Panama Canal and our arrival in New Zealand.
Fresh water of unknown quality is sometimes available from shore, but in the Pacific docks to take on water are few and far between: we observed three in the Society Islands of French Polynesia and one in Tonga. Not many for a nine-month passage. Our second winter of cruising in the Bahamas had taught us that hauling water in jerry cans gets old in a hurry. So, while in Saint Lucia, prior to laying up for the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season, we installed a Spectra Cape Horn Extreme RO water maker. We mounted the unit in the forward cabin, starboard side behind the second louvered door in a vertical position. It provided us with plenty of fresh clean water. We never had a problem with it. We tried to run it during the middle of the day when our solar panels were at maximum output.
Like water, diesel fuel is available on many islands. But again, like water, fuel docks are not readily available. We chose to carry 40 gallons of fuel in jerry cans on deck and it proved to be a wise decision. In nine months, we were able to take on fuel from a dock twice, both times in the Society Islands of French Polynesia. The rest of the time, we took our jerry cans ashore for fuel and hired a taxi to take us to the local filling station.
Ground tackle is extremely important. We equipped Lady with a new 80 pound Manson Supreme and 300 feet of new 5/16 high test chain while outfitting in Curacao. We moved the old standby, our 66 pound claw, to second position. Again, in nine months, we were docked for eight nights (awaiting family in Tahiti). The remaining nights we were at anchor, on a mooring or underway. Sometimes, like in Bora Bora, with charter boats occupying most of the moorings, we were forced to anchor in 100 feet of water with a hard sand bottom and limited swing room, maybe three to one scope.
Many anchorages in the South Pacific are full of coral heads. As the boat swings with the wind and the current, the anchor chain becomes wrapped around the heads. Fortunately, the water is so clear that we were often able to maneuver the boat around the head and un-tangle the chain from the surface. Occasionally, this turned out to be impossible. Having scuba gear and knowing how to use it was essential: three times we had to dive to free our anchor chain.
By the 2013 Annapolis boat show, planning our trip to New Zealand was part of our focus. Although our seven-year-old Lifeline AGM batteries showed no sign of weakness, the boat show special prices were too good to pass up. At numerous Pacific stops we met fellow cruisers who were forced to buy batteries locally. They soon found the only batteries available were not the type they would have preferred; the batteries were not the right dimensions to fit their space; they were very expensive.
The biggest mistake we made was not replacing our Fischer Panda generator before we left the Caribbean. It failed for the last time shortly after departing Panama. We crossed the Pacific with 540 watts of solar panels and the original equipment alternator on our trusted Yanmar engine. During the longest passage to French Polynesia, the winter sun was low in the sky and only up 12 hours per day. We ran our Yanmar in the morning for 2 hours and then let the solar panels do their thing the rest of the day. Eventually, the days grew longer and the solar panels carried the load.
We carried a one-year-old Mack Sails vertical batten main, a two-year-old Mack Sails 135 genoa and a Kerr Sails 110 genoa. We experienced no problems with any of these sails. Although we sailed for 30 years on previous boats running spinnakers, now there were just the two of us for much of the sailing, sometimes a third, and the longest passage was 24 hours per day for 19 days. A couple cruising is in effect two people taking turns single handing. So we don’t carry a spinnaker. What we did for the long downwind passages was to hoist both jibs on the same halyard, one in each groove in the jib furler. We set a spinnaker pole on one side, the boom on the other to act as another pole, stabilized the boom and the pole with fore and aft preventers, and flew both jibs wing and wing, with or without the mainsail. If necessary, one person can let both jib sheets go and furl the jib within minutes. If the wind shifts, we can fly both jibs on the same side (not the pole side) without leaving the cockpit. With two sheets on each fore-sail, preventers on pole and boom, there was quite a cat’s cradle of lines out.
Prior to Lady, we had never owned a boat with a furling mainsail and we were scared of it when we first started using it. Now, we don’t know how we could have managed without one. Prior to this passage we had never had any issues reefing or un-furling, even going down-wind. This voyage we did have two problems. First, during the passage between the Galapagos and French Polynesia the sail became very difficult to furl. With a lot of help from family members and our 470 message-board friends, Colin Mack identified the problem: salt in the bearings. We flushed them with hot water and vinegar and the problem was solved. The second issue arose during the ten-day passage between Bora Bora and Tonga: the furling line chafed through. This may have been the result of our practice of leaving a turn or two on the furler to reduce the noise of the furling rod inside the mast. The end of the furling line is attached to the bottom of the screw by an allen head screw. Well, that screw was frozen in place. If we had replaced the line in preparation for the trip, we would have discovered this. We were able to jury rig the line and use about 90 % of the main, which was enough to get us to New Zealand.
Since 2009 we’ve had an ICOM 802 single side-band radio with a Pactor modem which enables us to download weather files and have simple email communications through the Sailmail network. While this worked all the way to New Zealand, Sailmail stations are much more distant in this part of the world and the connectivity was not as good as in the Caribbean. It was fun to participate in SSB radio nets and be able to talk to other boats making the passages. We found that vessels with SSB were much more likely to get assistance and weather information from other vessels and shore stations than those with a satellite phone. We purchased an In-Reach satellite communication system prior to starting this voyage and it worked as advertised. It was a comfort to know that that device could be taken aboard the life-raft if we had to abandon ship. Every day the cost of satellite communication is decreasing and the reliability is increasing. Were we to make the trip again, we would explore other new communications options.
We carried as many spare parts as possible: starter motors, alternators, pumps, auto-helm, etc. Although it is possible to have spare parts express-shipped to foreign ports, in the culture of third-world countries, concepts like rush, express, hurry simply don’t exist. Furthermore, the parts have to go through customs, and the duties can be more than the cost of the parts. It seems that the more you are in a hurry, the higher the duty. To be fair it may be the country’s only source of revenue as trying to collect income tax in impoverished countries is a non starter.
We departed Panama with the provisions lockers, freezer and refrigerator stuffed full. One cruising friend packed 1,000 cans of beer for the passage, but we could not find room for more than twelve cases – they were stored under the salon table until consumed. Provisions and alcohol are available in inhabited islands, but are more expensive than in the USA. (Beer was $.80 US in Panama and $3 US in French Polynesia.) There are North American-style grocery stores in Papeete, but other islands' grocery stores are somewhat limited in their inventory. The only bargains we found were bread baguettes (less than $1 US a stick) and fresh tuna ($10 US a kilo) in French Polynesia.
Our Catalina 470, S/V Lady, did an excellent job. Did we have maintenance issues? Absolutely, but no worse, and often much better, then similar yachts costing many times more. A well-prepared Catalina 470 is capable of taking her crew anywhere within reason in safety and comfort.
Nice article Charlie. Kate and I are on the dock in St. Martin at Simpson Bay Marina. I'll be reading your entire trip blog since it looks like I'll be following you to New Zealand early next year. Will run out this season and lay up in Antigua. Return to the boat next October or November and get her ready for the trip. My sailing buddy Terry Temperly has signed on for the voyage. Our wives may sail with us from St. Martin to Curacao, Carthegana, and help with the canal transit. Anyway, I'll be thinking about you guys a lot in the weeks ahead. Let's stay in touch.
Posted by: Kurt Flock | January 06, 2016 at 08:41 PM
well done
best regards , drop in to see us if you get the chance to be in Adelaide south Australia we can give you a berth
David " S.V. "FourSeventy"
Posted by: David Rawnsley | August 31, 2018 at 03:38 AM