North Sea Crossing 2003

Written by Jan Katgerman | 10 February 2010

A North Sea Crossing  - Jan Katgerman W5535

 

In one of my many conversations with Ralph Roberts on the topic of Wayfarer sailing, he mentioned his interest in the possibility of sailing a Wayfarer across the Atlantic to the Caribbean. We spent much time discussing the consequences of such a trip and I concluded that the venture was a viable option, which interested me.

 

We decided that one of the initial stages of the preparation for the venture would be for us to make a trip across the North Sea together, and after this experience we would look further into the possibilities of an Atlantic crossing. Ralph already had the experience of a number of North Sea trips in his Wayfarer, with crossings to Ostend, Imjuiden, Den Helder, and Esbjerg.

 

Background

I have been the owner of Wayfarer 5535 for over 25 years, and made many cruises in the Netherlands and abroad, particularly in Scandinavia. I am also keen to race my boat, both locally and abroad, and perhaps have more of an interest in the racing aspect of Wayfaring than Ralph. I am currently Chairman of the recently formed NEDWA, the Dutch National Assn. of the Wayfarer Class.

 

I have known Ralph for a number of years through our various meetings on the Wayfarer circuit. Two years ago my wife Dieuwke and I had sailed with Ralph and others in a small group along the coast of Nova Scotia, in the magnificent area of Mahone Bay. It was a very memorable trip to an area of outstanding natural beauty and wildlife.

 

Preparation

We started the planning of our North Sea trip last October, by first putting aside some possible dates for the cruise, and then planning the best routes, times, and tides. It is important to do as much of the planning and preparation as possible beforehand, since this lessens the pressure of decision making at critical times and thus the chances of making a decision that is later regretted. Our plan was to sail from Ralph’s base at Southwold in Suffolk, across to Den Helder, which is on the North West tip of the Netherlands.

 

Our first provisional date for the trip was June 2003. The long-range weather forecast had initially been good, but 3 days before our departure date, a front had started to form which was forecast to cross our area of the North Sea at the start of our trip, bringing lightning and strong winds. This obviously made the trip inadvisable; so we made the decision to postpone our trip. By next morning, the front had changed direction, and the weather would have been absolutely ideal for the trip, but by then it was too late to reverse our decision. However, it is always better seamanship to make the decision not to sail, than to risk setting off and endure bad weather.

 

The next possible date was in mid August. A forecast of Westerly winds up to F.6 a few days prior to our projected departure was expected to decrease and veer to an unhelpful North-easterly by the time we were due to set off. We therefore brought forward our departure by 24 hrs, after checking from a number of different sources that the wind was scheduled to decrease to a F.4.

 

I caught the 16.00 ferry from the Hook, with all my personal gear in 3 waterproof ‘drysacs’, including offshore sailing gear, extra clothing, sleeping bag and mattress, lifevest, and lifeline. Ralph picked me up at Harwich and drove me to his home, where we hitched up his Wayfarer, which he had made ready for the trip. It was after midnight by the time we arrived at Southwold to put the boat in the water and stow all our gear securely in the boat.  

 

The Crossing

We set off down the river Blythe just before 02.00, towards the sea. With little wind, and an incoming tide, we needed the outboard to help make our way to the harbour entrance. Once out to sea, the Northerly wind picked up, but protected by the coastline, we were able to sail under full main and genoa. Once beyond the protection of the most easterly point of Lowestoft, the sea became much rougher so we set a reef in the main and furled a good part of the genoa (see footnote). Under a clear sky and full moon, it was wonderful sailing.

 

Ralph took the first opportunity to have a sleep by sitting on the floor of the boat, and resting his head against the foredeck. It doesn’t sound very comfortable, but using cushions to absorb the hardness of the fibreglass, it is not quite as difficult to sleep as one might think, particularly when one becomes very tired! To my pleasure, I found that under a reefed down main and genoa, the boat was very stable and we sailed with a fine speed.

 

The wind was a good deal stronger than that forecast of F.3 to 4, and on a close reach, it became a very wet sail, with the sea spray giving us an unpleasant shower every time a wave hit the bow. We needed the full protection of our off-shore sailing gear and thermal under layers to keep us warm and dry. The conditions meant that we had a lot of water coming into the boat, but the self-draining capacity of the Wayfarer World caused it to be immediately drained away through the self-bailers. All our gear was kept completely dry throughout the trip in the various waterproof bags and containers we had on board.

 

Sailing the boat on a close reach meant steering at all times, with no opportunity to set the tiller on any sort of self-steering arrangement. This required constant attention on the helm’s part, but the considerable sailing experience of both Ralph and myself meant that steering became semi-automatic, without the need for any great concentration. It was only occasionally necessary to check the compass to make sure we were keeping our required course.

 

Although the sea was rough, with waves of varying heights, it was a magnificent sight sitting low in a dinghy looking at all the white horses around us. Some waves looked quite enormous, and one initially wondered how the Wayfarer was going to cope with such conditions, but the boat just rode over the top of each wave, rather like a cork bobbing about in rough water.

 

Seasickness

The constant motion of the boat caused me to become seasick by the following morning. Ralph also started to feel queasy, but took some seasick pills in time to prevent his condition worsening. Ralph was later able to continue eating from the high energy and calorie rich snack box he had prepared, whilst I needed to continue the trip on an empty stomach. However, sitting quietly on the aft floor, I was able to do my share of helming the boat throughout the trip.

 

Throughout the next day, we each did a watch of about 2 hours, though we generally changed over when the helm felt in need of a break, rather than operating a strict time schedule. We found the most comfortable position was for both to sit side by side on the cockpit floor, just behind the thwart. From this position we could both operate the tiller, without having to change places.

 

Navigation

We had set our course directly from Southwold to the entrance at Den Helder. We calculated that the tidal flow taking us north and then south every 6 hours would virtually cancel themselves out, and any correction needed could be made as we approached the Dutch coast.

 

Ralph noted our position from the GPS every 2 hours, roughly checking it against our track line on the chart in its waterproof cover, and also recording time and position in a waterproof notebook. In the wet conditions we were sailing, this worked extremely well. It was the first time I had seen such a notebook that could be written on with an ordinary pencil even when the page had been made completely wet from the spray. When the recorded GPS positions were plotted on the chart later, we found that the slightly wavy line through our projected course could be traced as primarily due to the tidal flow.

 

Shipping

We saw many ships during both the night and the day on our trip, but whilst the track of each ship was carefully noted, only once did we need to hove to in order to allow the ship (a DFDS ferry) to pass before us. We had an all-round white 12V light at the masthead, together with 2 radar reflectors - one of which fell down after 24 hours due to the pin of a shackle being shaken loose by the constant jarring as each wave hit the bow.

 

I think it unlikely that a big ship can see a dinghy of less than 5 metres at sea, and for our own safety, we considered it was up to us to keep a constant lookout in order to keep clear of them. With the number of ships that passed by during our trip, I considered we were lucky that only one of them was on a collision course with us.

 

Arrival at Den Helder

On a previous trip to Den Helder, Ralph had sailed over the shallow waters of the Zuiderhaaks sandbank at the entrance to Den Helder. In order to ensure he didn’t repeat the experience, we sailed rather more south than was necessary. The wind died just at the very time it would have been most useful to us, making the error in navigation more onerous, and caused us to take an additional 2 to 3 hours to beat the last few miles into Den Helder.

 

Ralph had notified the UK coastguard of our proposed trip, and they had asked us to report in to the Dutch Coastguard on our arrival. My sailing friend Hans Vandersuiissen had also warned his contacts in the Coastguard Station at Den Helder to watch out for us, and they notified him of our arrival even before we had even reached the marina. Hans had arranged a place in the marina for us, and after mooring up, we erected the boat tent, and collapsed into our sleeping bags for a well-earned rest.

 

Fast Crossing

We had left Southwold around 02.00 on the Friday morning, and arrived at the marina in Den Helder a little after 07.00 the next day. For the first 24 hours we had sailed at average speed of around 5kts, which was a good speed for a small dinghy with a reefed main and furled genoa. A more northerly course would have reduced the overall time for the crossing by at least a couple of hours. But even with this error, we still made good time overall, improving on Ralph’s previous trip to Den Helder by 3 hours.

 

Conclusion

After we had fully rested from the trip we made an evaluation of the crossing. For Ralph it was the wettest and most uncomfortable open sea cruise he had experienced. For me too, it was a very wet and rough experience. Sleeping in full sailing gear to withstand the constant spray was not at all comfortable, and neither was sitting on the cockpit floor by the mast and resting your head against the foredeck when sleeping off-watch. Though this can be tolerated for a 30 hour crossing of the North Sea, it would not be practical for a 3 to 4 week crossing of the Atlantic.

 

The problem of needing some sort of shelter and comfort for a proper sleep would need to be resolved before an Atlantic crossing could be made, otherwise one would become so tired after a period of time that it could become dangerous. However this is not a major problem for a shorter open sea crossing. A trip across the North Sea in a Wayfarer is a perfectly safe and viable option provided the crew are very experienced long distance, open sea sailors.

 

Jan Katgerman  W5535

 

Footnote:

In normal conditions, furling the genoa to reduce the area of foresail will not work because there is nothing to stop the swivel at the top of the sail unwinding when pulling in the jib sheet. This totally distorts the shape of the sail, which then becomes useless. It was effective in our particular situation because more than 50% of the sail was furled, and with the material being completely wet, there was sufficient grip in the furled sailcloth to prevent it slipping and unravelling – though this certainly doesn’t do the sailcloth any good! I was carrying a small jib, which I could have changed down to, but in the rough, night time conditions, furling the genoa seemed the safer and more seamanlike option.

 

Crossing the Atlantic in a Wayfarer had been an ambition of mine since undertaking the trip in 35 foot yacht and experiencing some gale force conditions which I felt were well within the capability of a Wayfarer. Reading Ellen MacArthur’s book further inspired me, though at no time did I have the intention of making it a ‘do or die’ project. It has now been put on the ‘back-burner’ once more. As Jan has observed, it is the conditions (and provisions) for the crew which are the major problem with the project. There is no doubt in my mind that a specially fitted out Wayfarer would be more than seaworthy enough to make a successful crossing.

 

Ralph Roberts  W9885