[MHml] wild ride

[Jeff Van Peski]

Left Westport Massachusetts last wednesday with a not to bad  
forecast, after waiting for North winds for a week. As always,  
planned on heading as far offshore towards Melbourne Florida as  
possible. Well, the weather window slammed shut quickly leaving us in  
Cape May after only 27 hours (sailed 250 miles). The wind grew during  
that time until at last it was 25-30 gusting to 35. Luckily, Cape May  
New Jersey is a good all weather inlet, but still I was a bit  
concerned. I have brought my Shuttleworth Tek-35 in and out of many  
places in strong winds, but the coast f New Jersey has a bit of a  
reputation. We shot through the entrance in the fading light and made  
it without difficulty to an anchorage behind the Coast Guard station.

We used a day of rest to get some better raingear, (pants and a  
sou'wester hat for my crew Mark), and left again on Saturday at 3pm,  
after the wind clocked around to the west again. It was forecast to  
keep clocking and build to 20-25, perfect for a long offshore trip to  
Florida. It did build, and by the next morning we had to decide  
whether to stop sailing and head in to Norfolk and the inland  
waterway or keep sailing around Cape Hatteras.

I have had good luck around Hatteras. Every fall I run my boat south  
to Florida before it gets too cold so that I can take 3 months off  
midwinter, and every spring I bring it back, offshore. Usually I  
manage to take it offshore around Hatteras, and so far it has been  
fine. But there is always someone who says that the only ways to  
transit Hatteras are 50 miles inland or 250 offshore. I generally  
stick to 2 miles offshore, except for the shoals at the capes. My  
main concern around Hatteras is that the weather will get nasty, or  
so something drastically different from what is predicted. So I pick  
my weather, leaving some allowance for mis-forecast. I generally  
don't go around it in winds that are too light, for concern that they  
could build from another direction. And I don't like to go around it  
in winds that are too strong, for concern that they might be just  
that 25% stronger than predicted. But, 20-25 seemed fine by me.

By the time we got there, they had changed the forecast to 20-25  
gusting to 30, and by the time we were out there, he winds were  
25-30, gusting to 35 and even 40. We kept three reefs in the main  
(the second time i have needed them in the last 7 years), and kept he  
autopilot on. Yes, she steered herself around Cape Hatteras. Once we  
got around the Cape, the waves lengthened, but we kept the height and  
the wind, but everything calmed down a bit and the rest of the trip  
went, if not smoothly, a little less roughly. I cannot say enough  
about the Tek-35. By creating her light, strong, wide, and with a  
daggerboard (up the whole time) and deep rudders with fat, hard-to- 
stall chords, John drew up (and Tekatch built) a boat that certainly  
exceeds my needs for seaworthiness. When she heads downhill in a  
steep trough, and you can feel the inherent buoyancy of the bow  
volume, plus the live buoyancy of the upwards sloping chine grab the  
bows and pull the boat into a 15 second surf (clocked at up to 20.6  
on the GPSGPS), you can't help but smile and give a silent thanks to  
all the people who had a hand in her making. I was never concerned,  
was able to eat, sleep, and cook, and made a trip from Cape May to  
Fernandina Beach Florida with a 10 knot average under a triple reefed  
main. There were times when we could have gone faster by shaking out  
a reef sooner, but I never regretted leaving them in when we did, as  
inevitably the wind would shoot back up to the 30s again, and the  
boat just felt so safe and secure.

It was a good trip, and makes me feel good about future situations I  
will undoubtedly find myself in. I think that for the moment I have  
pushed my boat as far as I need to. It is good to know what it can  
do, but I think I will try not to rely on it too much in the future.  
Time to stop testing and relax and enjoy it, knowing what it can do  
when called upon.

Fair winds to all,
Cheers,
-Jeff