A weekend in Bermuda

View of St George's from of the St George Boatyard.

In the previous newsletter, the article talked about how David and I did a 650 mile round trip from Bermuda and back to Bermuda as a result of Hurricane Arthur’s arrival. The following details the weekend David and I spent on Bermuda following our return.

Returning to Bermuda on a Friday while disappointing and disruptive to our non-boating lives provided an opportunity to experience Bermuda through a different lens. Everything they say about Bermuda is true. The people were universally friendly, polite and went out of their way to help. The place is clean, and the public transit system puts most transit systems in the US to shame. This cuteness comes at a price. The economy is highly regulated and there is a political undercurrent that drives many aspects of day to day life. Being an island these undercurrents have a force of their own within the social fabric of the island. During our weekend moored on the St George’s wharf, we interacted with the locals at a level not possible  as tourists with families in tow.

David and I cleared customs at 4:30 and by 5:30 the boat was moored, and we were ready to visit the White Horse for a beer – remember the boat had not had ice for about four days – we were ready! While clearing customs, we were told that we needed to get a few things in order to leave the boat in Bermuda: a sponsor to handle issues with the boat if we had to leave it in Bermuda; the boat had to be on a registered mooring; and letters were required  indicating proof of flights home (recall we had no flights as this was not part of the plan). This was rather worrying as it sounded like it all may take time, and we were anxious to get home. Our concern was driven by the fact that if the boat did not make it back to the States before hurricane season truly set in, it  may well need to remain in Bermuda for a year!

Moored across from us was a pretty sloop about 33 feet long, and in the same style as an Alberg. The teak was well attended to, and the owner was planted in the stern with a drink watching the Friday night foot traffic in St George. I figured anyone that had a pretty boat like this could not be a bad person to get advice from, and walked around to introduce myself.

On introducing myself I learned something that I was not aware of – everyone in Bermuda has a nickname. If they do not have a nickname their name is shortened. This is fairly amusing. For the most part the name is something that the person is aware of and will often introduce themselves with their nickname. However, sometimes the name is more descriptive and not used by the person to whom the name refers but rather by everyone else. These names can be more descriptive and amusing.

It turns out that the owner of the boat across from us was “Uptown”, and was amongst other things the local swizzle guy – swizzle is the local punch. If you wanted someone to make swizzle for your wedding party, you called Uptown. I was immediately invited aboard, and after being given a cool glass of swizzle, and explaining our predicament, Uptown informed me that he had the solution. His friend Eddie had a brand new mooring (registered and tagged with official looking stickers), and he was working at the St George’s boatyard. If a storm came up Craig at the Boatyard could pull the boat out. Calm down have another swizzle! By this time David had joined us, and we were getting Uptown’s life history.

Shortly after that, Eddie joined us from the St George’s Boatyard. Eddie was a character on a number of levels. From what we could tell, he had once owned a boatyard on the southern end of the island where he produced fiberglass boats, and was one of the top fiberglass people on the island. At some point a few years ago, he had built himself a gorgeous looking 50+ foot motorsailer, and sold the yard – presumably with enough left over to set himself up nicely for retirement. He was spending his retirement cruising between Bermuda and Venezuela; often by himself. He had recently been written up in the local Caribbean newspapers for fending off pirates with his 12 gauge on his way back from Venezuela.

Now while Uptown was arguably a bit too focused on chatting up the young ladies – actually any lady – on the wharf; Eddie was clearly a big fan of the professional ladies – rumor was the younger the better. Now before you think that Eddie was some young man with money burning a hole in his pocket; not so. He was well into his seventies. His stories were decidedly off color, but one had to question his ability to actually perform at the level he talked. Regardless, it was amusing talk, and we had a mooring, and a boatyard lined up, so we were ready for dinner.

Over the next few days we got to know the local scene from the perspective of the city wharf. Did you know that you can walk the length of the St George town, and stay connected to the internet by connecting to the free wifi at the restaurants? I still have them on my phone. While the White horse is good for a pint of Boddingtons looking out over the water, the fish tacos are much much better at Wahoos a few houses into the harbor. During the day, we checked out one of the marinas that David had stayed at on his last trip to Bermuda while on the way to Europe. It was deserted. In fact, the whole town was pretty devoid of tourists and yachts. It turns out that the island had created a cruise ship terminal at the Dockyards on the south end of the island, and this had the effect of making St George a place for locals and a place where yachts stopped for a quiet anchorage. If you wanted a more cosmopolitan scene, you took the boat through the sound to Hamilton harbor. During the day a Dutch built 40 metre warship on a delivery trip for the Bahamian Defense Force came in on her way to the Bahamas from Holland. The Dutch crew jumped ashore for a beer at the White Horse while the World Cup - Holland versus Costa Rico came on – It was a close match with Holland winning making the White Horse full of very happy and boisterous Dutchmen.

Our evening on Saturday, included a beer with Uptown, and some good conversations with Phoopah and his friends. I had met Phoopah on the first day in Bermuda when we were trying to find the rental house. He runs the tourist office on the wharf, and could not have been more helpful helping the taxi driver find the house. We hung out by the boat and talked with Phoopah and some of the local bums – a pretty presentable lot as far as bums go. The following morning, we squared away the boat storage plans with Eddie and made plans to organize things with Craig at the St George boatyard on Monday morning. It sounded all very manageable; $100 per month for the mooring and whatever the yard needed to charge if she was hauled out for a storm (She would have been next to Brian Walters old Alberg). Lynne had sent the email to the Customs House with my Monday travel tickets, so we had all we needed. We made plans to travel with Uptown to his mooring, and drop him off at his dock, before driving the graciously loaned dinghy to the wharf and picking up Cookin for a trip to the mooring. We had worked on getting the boat ready to leave, and by the time we showed up at the mooring, we had a dinner of whatever was left over, and were ready to hit the sack. We felt pretty good and organized going into Monday morning.

I had mentioned that everyone in Bermuda has a nickname. Over the weekend a number of people had asked whether or not we had met “Dingbat”, the senior officer at Customs House who had left when we arrived on Friday afternoon. We had not met him, but we had heard of him. Other cruising boats on the dock had mentioned that there was a rude and cranky customs man that would come out and publicly shout at cruisers and let them know that they could be arrested as they had not followed the rules – in this case anchoring and coming in to clear rather than docking at the wharf and clearing. Well it turns out the Dingbat was the man we had to visit on Monday morning!

We were up early, and ran the dinghy ashore. We had all our bags packed, the trash ready to come off, and whatever we could offload to Uptown we did. We arrived at opening time, but had to wait an hour as although the rest of the customs crew was at work on time, island time was in effect for Dingbat. We spent this time in what in the UK would have been a greasy spoon joint with bacon, eggs and the classic English breakfast. It is up by the laundrymat for those that have been there. The only problem was that there were huge cockroaches flying around – I was so glad Lynne was not there. We rushed through breakfast before something flew into it and headed down to see Dingbat.

We were ushered in, and provided seats. Immediately I knew we were in trouble. The chairs were situated in such a way that one knew Dingbat was in charge. He had read the book on how to set up your desk to intimidate. We let him know our situation and that we had complied with the request to find a mooring and a sponsor; additionally he let us know that he had received Lynne’s email with my flight plans. On hearing that Edie was our sponsor, Dingbat let us know that he knew Eddie and had problems with him; he would need to open up an investigation and that could take a couple of weeks during which David would need to stay on Bermuda (oh oh). When we asked what would be acceptable, Dingbat rattled off three names; one of which was Craig at the St Georges Boatyard. Maybe this could be saved – if St Georges Boatyard was an approved sponsor, then we just transfer the sponsorship from Eddie to Craig – no problem. Well, not so simple it seems. Dingbat let us know that now he knew Craig was talking with Eddie, he would still need to open an investigation, and that would take a couple of weeks, with an unknown outcome. It was out of his hands as his bosses in Hamilton would then have to make a decision. Really – could this get any more like a bad movie script for an officious bureaucrat? Ok Dingbat, who do you suggest? He mentioned two other operations. One was the Bermuda Yacht Service who ran the marina at the city wharf – incidentally the same operation that had just installed the Eddie’s mooring . Fair enough – off we went to check on the “approved vendors”.

Bermuda Yacht Services was closest, and in we went to visit “Momma”. Well I have to say Momma was remarkably efficient. She had a letter typed up in no time, and indicated that she could get us both out on the 3:00pm flight. She called around a few other mooring holders – notably not on Dingbat’s list, to see if she could find a cheaper spot than the $500 / month she was offering. However to no avail; no problem. If it turned out that the boat needed to be there long term, she could shift it to another cheaper mooring. As she and David came out of the Dock Office, she turns to David and let him know that she was the one that would be doing the talking. Off she stormed with David in tow. If she had been a sailing ship, she would have been a three decker with full sails set ploughing her way to the customs office. Well it took what seemed like a few minutes – certainly less than five minutes. We were approved. As David reported, when Momma walked in with David, Dingbat laughed and perfunctorily provided the approval. Momma provided us with instructions for getting the boat to a new mooring, and off we went. We only had a few hours before the plane left, and it was all rather rushed.

The whole experience left me with the distinct impression that we had just been rolled by Dingbat. To what end I do not know. Was Momma getting a payoff? It seems unlikely. David worked with Momma and her son Mark, in getting the boat ready for the second sail back and they were the epitome of professionalism. Was there a race thing going on? Eddie and the crowd on the pier were Africans, but so was Dingbat! Maybe Dingbat just did not like Eddie. It did not make much sense. Looking back on the experience, the locals were all entirely genuine. Yes we were tourists, and yes we were out a few beers from the whole experience, but I can be out a few beers sitting on a dock in the Chesapeake. Dingbat is a poor reflection on the Bermuda authorities, and it galled me a bit to see the HM Customs insignia  attached to such an officious and sanctimonious little man – he was a two striper and they use the same shoulder boards as the Royal Navy for which I have great respect. The others we met Uptown, Eddie, and Phoopah– the true locals – helped us out for no obvious benefit. When Uptown lent us his dinghy, there was no request to top up the fuel tank – even though gas is horribly expensive on the island – it was provided no strings attached; (we did of course top it off). As winter sets in here on the East Coast, I think back to the time we spent on the island, and am reminded that it does not cost anything to say “Good Morning”, smile and be friendly.

It was only a weekend, but it felt as if we had been there weeks. By Sunday night, they knew what we drank at the White Horse; Tony the local cowboy delivered breakfast from the café to my table by the window overlooking the boat, and we had made friends with the other cruisers that were waiting to make the leap across the Atlantic. It was a good thing we left when we did – going local was a distinct possibility.

Endnote. Bermuda has recently won the America’s Cup venue. I hope that they can pull this off. They need to diversify their tourism based activity, and must compete with other parts of the Caribbean as a destination. To do this though, they need to remember that most Americans do not deal with over regulation and bureaucracies well. Cruising sailors certainly do not. If you are on a boat, it is much less stress to sail to the Bahamas and south than it is to sail to Bermuda. Sailing to the Caribbean is almost coastal cruising with a few long hops; while getting stuck halfway between Bermuda and the United States puts you out of range of the US Coast Guard helicopters and in the middle of nowhere. Hosting the America’s Cup puts Bermuda in a position to capitalize on becoming a sailing destination for regattas. However, staffing the welcome committee with Dingbats will not allow that to happen.

David with Uptown and Eddie

View of the St George’s wharf from the inital mooring off the St George’s Boatyard. The Green building on the left is the dock master’s office where Momma hung out, and the big building on the right is the Customs House - home of Dingbat.

Cookin’s new mooring which turned out to be for only a few weeks.

The following shots were from the Portuguese Festival. This was an intensely hot and muggy day - probably something to do with Arthur. These people must have been roasting. David and i were sitting in the White Horse having a beer.  In the evening, we were treated to music - it was captured here: http://youtu.be/iP3fB0yU_98

Roundtrip to Bermuda and back.

As has been mentioned in this newsletter before, Cookin took off for Bermuda this June. The trip out was a honeymoon cruise; although that metaphor is marred somewhat by the fact that David Cooper (Cookin’s owner) and Kendall Fitrell (Danelly) were the crew. The Coopers, the Fitrells and the Adams’ (Laughing Gull) families all spent a great week on the island. On Saturday David and Jonathan Adams started the trip back to the States – which is where this story really starts.

David and I left on a Saturday afternoon after having a beer or two at the local pub – the White Horse. We checked out of customs, and off we went. We probably got sailing around 1:30, and by dinner time we were out of sight of land. The log shows that at 4:20 the wind vane was set for the first time, and we cracked a beer. We were rolling along on a broad reach with a #1 jib, and two reefs in the main. This sail configuration kept the steering vane happy.

I had gone down to sleep, and was wallowing in the luxury that is the Cookin sleeping arrangement. The Coopers have simply said, in order to be comfortable you need lots of small cushions – maybe 10 of them. Since there were only two of us, the cushions and the sleeper were always on the lee side of the boat. One simply piled the cushions and fell backwards into them – instant sleep. I was awoken around 1:00 with the crack of canvas, the surging of the boat and David’s shout “Jonathan! I was afraid this was happening”. The wind had piped up to somewhere north of 20 knots, and it was time to get that #1 down. David took that task, and it was the last sail change we did under duress for the whole trip. In the middle of the ocean it takes time to change headsails – especially when there are no stars or moon. The boat is bouncing around, and even though you have a harness on, every time the bow takes a plunge into the inky water you make sure that at least one hand is on the boat. We ended up double reefed with a working jib with the wind forward of the beam, but not uncomfortably so. I am not sure what the wind was, but it was in that howlie range where the wind is making that spookie noise in the rigging – somewhere north of 25 knots. The boat was happy as a pig in mud. I was tucked in behind the dodger and I was having fun. It was pitch black. The clouds that came with the weather blocked out all the natural light, which normally at sea is bright. All of this is interesting. However, what is really interesting was that the weather we were experiencing was hurricane Arthur heading south!

By 4:45am, the front had blown itself out, and the boat was flopping around and going nowhere – dead in the water, and pitch black – very eerie. We started the motor and headed West. This was the beginning of a week of gorgeous weather. Monday brought winds in the 10 – 15 range from the beam or aft. We flew the 170 with or without the main. When we had the main down, we spent much of that time with the genoa poled out by the main boom. The boat kept up her five knot average with this configuration. The day started with a whale sighting – right next to the boat! It was a small whale – about as long as the boat, but it had the big square head, and as we went by it rolled on its side, and waved at me. I was sitting on the lazerette hatch having a cup of coffee and was speechless which resulted in odd grunts to try and let David know that he needed to see this. I think because we were making no noise we had snuck up on the whale, and it had made a turn to see us. The rolling on its side was to get an eyeball on us.

By Monday evening, we were aware of the fact that Arthur was shaping up to be a tropical depression and heading north. However, while the report showed that Arthur was going to be at the Bay on Friday night, forecast winds were for 35 knots with the storm 110 miles south of the Bay by Thursday night. Very manageable - At five knots we were on target to be there by Thursday night, and we had almost 300 miles of diesel in the tanks – no worries.

On Tuesday at 11:00, Arthur was still in the Bahamas with maximum sustained winds of 35 knots and heading NW at 2 knots – surely this thing would do what all sensible hurricanes do and give the Florida Everglades a dousing! However, by 2:00pm, our conversations with our support crew Lynne Adams and Kendall  indicated that it was coming north, and all indications were that Arthur would pick up steam - damn! We ran the numbers and came to the conclusion that moving at 5 knots, we would have to be about 300 miles off the US to run if the hurricane deviated from its course and headed for Bermuda – even though Arthur was still off Florida. The forecast was for it to move quickly up the coast – we move at 5 – Arthur moves at 20 (ish). We decided to heave to and wait for the evening forecast and confirmation of Arthur’s severity. Up to this point, forecasts were calling for a tropical depression and wind – but had not actually called it a hurricane (Fox News was but then…). Kendall’s comment was head south west for a few hundred miles and then hook in behind it; perhaps putting in at Charleston or some point south. We had plenty of water, and the food would have all been canned, but we could do that. At 2:00 we decided to stop and hove to with a working jib and a storm trysail. The GPS shows a large figure of eight carved in the water – we barely moved. The weather was perfect and flatter than the Bay – although with swells. We stayed hove to from 2:00 to 11:00 that night, and read or slept. It was rather strange to be in the middle of nowhere reading a book – just as if we were at anchor!

At 10:30 that evening Lynne called. It was now a full blown category 1 hurricane with forecasts for category 2. Lynne had been speaking with our neighbor, Sam a Commander in the Coast Guard, and he had worked through various web sites – turn back was his recommendation. Prior to going Sam had recommended a satellite phone. If you have a phone and an EPIRB and are less than 300 miles from the coast we can get you he said. His comment now, was even if you dodge and head southwest for 100 to 200 miles, that still puts you four days out and these waters will not calm down immediately. You will be making landfall after 10 days at sea in a small boat. “People make mistakes when they are tired – we pick them up all the time!” So when Lynne called she was very worried and stressed – which stressed me out. By this time the updated track forecast had been published and was provided by Lynne. We had the passage chart that included the whole area from the Bahamas to about the latitude of about New York City, and plotted the latest positions out; not good. Just a small shift by Arthur to the east, and we would be closer than we wanted. That was it. Dave’s comment was that if we get caught in a real hurricane we are dead was perhaps a bit of a stretch (I hope! It certainly would have been very uncomfortable.) but if that is your starting point the decision is simple. We turned back for Bermuda. From 11:00pm to 12:00 we got the boat heading East – it takes longer at sea for some reason to do things. I have to say, once we had made a decision, it was a relief. A huge disappointment, but a relief; I had really been looking forward to coming into the Bay from the Sea.

From Wednesday to Friday we sailed and motored. We had plenty of fuel, and had been logging all the engine hours to keep track of our consumption. The only incident of note was our attempt to communicate with a passing vessel. It was 4:00am (ish), and Dave had just come on watch. As I was settling into my cushions, Dave poked his head down the companionway, and asked whether or not I had seen the ship some distance off the port bow – heading north? I poked my head up and sure enough there was a red light of what would be a ship heading north or northwest. It was that time in the morning when dawn is trying to infuse the darkness with light and there was a slight mistiness on the horizon. The red light looked dim enough to be far away, but was certainly up on the horizon – so closer that one would have thought it could get before we saw it. Dave picked up the VHF, and called the vessel. We were always hopeful that a ship would respond and provide a weather forecast. We tried a number of times with no response. Over the course of this exercise, the sky brightened a little more. Something was wrong. The light was too high to be on a ship that we could not see. It slowly dawned on us that we were attempting to contact a star for a weather forecast! Good thing there was no response! I had seen the same star on the way out, and at first thought it was a plane, and then, because it was not moving, a helicopter as we were still theoretically close enough to Bermuda. I cannot recall if I ever reached the conclusion that it was a star. Regardless we had a good chuckle, and I headed down to my pile of cushions.

We made landfall at 12:15 on Friday, and motored all the way around the reef into St George to clear customs before they closed for the weekend. We made it by about 4:00 with 2 – 3 gallons of fuel left. We had seen a whale, a large pod of dolphin with the tiniest newborn I have ever seen, and we actually saw a green flash as the sun went down! Well, maybe not a flash, but definitely a green sizzle, and after years of seeking out the flash, that was the first time for me.

We got a mooring about 200 feet from the White Horse, with its large screen TV and World Cup Soccer and beer, and right next to the café about 30 feet off the starboard quarter. Coffee and beer in close proximity; Friday night in St George; no family! What were two guys to do? That is in the next installment. The weekend and our exit from Bermuda actually provide a more interesting read than the above. However, this sets the stage for the next article: Phoopah, Eddie and Dingbat, Oh my!

Cookin on the wharf with the White Horse Pub ahead.

“Cowboy” Tony from South Carolina and his steed at the coffee shop window. Taken from the deck of Cookin.

Rolling downwind right around the time we saw the whale; wind about 10kts.

Large pod of dolphins. There were about 20 dolphins in this pod; including the tiniest infant dolphin I have ever seen. It was probably about three feet long.

Rainbow at dawn. with a ship off the starboard bow in the distance. We did not see many ships, and often they were going slowly. In retrospect, they  did not want to be in the Florida straits when Arthur was there. At the time this was taken, we were not aware of   Arthur’s actions.

Alberg 30 50th Anniversary Celebration at City Dock on 9 & 10 August 2014

Please join us at the Alberg 30 50th Anniversary Celebration at City Dock on 9 & 10 August 2014 The City of Annapolis and the Sailing Hall of Fame are hosting a celebration weekend for A30 Association members and their boats in recognition of its 50 year milestone. Saturday, August 9 will begin with a parade after which the boats will move to slips provided by the SHoF for an afternoon and evening of festivities. On Sunday, 10 Aug, there will be an Old Timers Race departing from the docks at 10 am and returning a few hours later to continue the celebration. Rinn Duin in the 40th Dress Parade, 2004 The public is welcome to come to Annapolis Harboar on August 9th to see the noontime dress parade, Then come see the boats at the National Sailing Hall of Fame docks.  Talk with Albergers about the boats and how they are maintained and restored. Come aboard and check out the boats!

Miles River Race and Memorial Day Cruise

Jonathan Adams reported :

"Well if the NOODs are the race you need to hustle to get ready for, the St Michaels race is the one you need to hustle to get cruise ready for. It is the first cruise (also race), and is a three night event that starts Friday night in Annapolis, and ends Monday afternoon. We raced well to St Michaels with the family as crew ,multiple spin sets, douses and jibes, and we did not wrap the thing around the forestay once!! Sunday in St Michaels was very relaxing, and then a 9 mile cruise up the Wye River - where I saw the bluest blue heron I have ever seen. We were accompanied up the Wye by Luna Blue and Jim and Sandy on Isa Lei and the Coopers on Cookin. For the race in the order they appear below, we had LinGin, Windswept, SkyBird (now known as Skybarge on the Gull) - Laughing Gull bringing up the rear. Skybird put some distance between us by the time we got into the Eastern Bay, and we were all spread out and in the same order by the time we finished.:

Brian Walter provided this picture of his cockpit full of tea-drinkers.

Afternoon Tea aboard Luna Blu - The Memorial Day Cruise Raftup

Reed Creek 7 -8 June

Rinn Duin 

will be joining the Lodges and Gendarme

7 and 8 June in beautiful Reed Creek, just north of Piney Point on the Chester River. 

I hope you can too!

Mike
Cruising Commodore

Maintenance Weekend Success!

Another great Maintenance weekend, with a lot of work getting done on Felicity. Towney is in the lazarette in the picture below, with Steve supervising.

John Maliszewski got hoisted up to work on Sikora's windex aand tacking arms, and Brian Walter went to Luna Blu's  masthead to change a light bulb.  Tern II go a new head in a very quick change-out by Mike Lehman and

 I got the tops of Rinn Duin's spreaders painted and new spreader boots put on.  In the process my main halyard jumped the sheave and got jammed, so the last work of the day was hoisting me all the way up. It was well in there, and I cursed a blue streak audible all up an down Mill Creek. I just about gave up before unjamming it.  I am definitely going to convert it to all-rope now!

This is always one of my favorite events of the year, on par with the Fall Cruise and Rankin Weekend. Thanks so much to Mike and Trish for all their work to host it.

Maintenance Weekend

Calling all Hands to Maintenance Weekend
This great Alberg 30 tradition continues and is full of benefits. Bring your boat and benefit from years of expertise and the help of willing hands.  Work on other boats so you can see what you want to do with yours. Enjoy the society of fellow A30 sailors in beautiful setting. The weather will be gorgeous and I hope a lot of you will there.