Catching Fish

Let's face it, sailors and fishermen are two different breeds of people; but we both wish we could be each other. Fishermen get places quickly while catching many fish along the way while the wish they could get further out to sea. Sailors wish they could get places quicker and wish they could catch many fish while far out to sea.

Catching fish is a great way to add fresh meat to your diet while on a long voyage. The problem is, if you are not good at fishing, it is not safe to count on caught fish as food source. We voyaged over a thousand miles, trolling the fishing line for most of the journey before we caught this little fish. I have no idea what kind of fish it was, but it was delicious!  

This did make for a very fresh meal, as it was caught, filleted, and on the grill in under an hour! This fish was rather odd as it looks like a reef fish, but we caught it in water that was 15,000 feet deep (3 miles deep). It had no teeth, and was rather small. 

When we sailed from Bermuda to the Azores, we caught this exact same type of fish again, this time in water that was 16,000 feet deep! This was the only fish we caught in a 2,200 nautical mile voyage while our friends were catching large mahi mahi every other day.  

Your skill as a fisherman will pay off when out in the ocean as you will have plenty of time to troll a line behind your yacht. Fishing will also give you a way to pass the time as you wait and see what is biting from deep down in the sea. 

Atmospheric Pressure and Wind Speed

Weather routing relies on one key factor, the accuracy of the forecast. Forecasts have improved greatly, but they are not always perfect. This is why it is important that you learn how to interpret the weather maps yourself and furthermore, know how to apply this knowledge to the real world to choose a safe route that will avoid deleterious weather.

These two maps are of the same region and the same time. They also show some important concepts that will play into your interpretation of the maps.

First, in the Northern Hemisphere, wind rotates clockwise around a high pressure system and anti-clockwise around a low pressure system. Second, the closer the pressure gradient (isobars) are to each other, the more powerful the winds will be. 

A simple way to think about it all is to imagine the earth as a sandbox where an evil kid is tormenting the landscape. The kid has two tools of destruction at his disposal: a vacuum and a fan. The vacuum pulls air up, and the fan pushes air down. He can't use both in the same place, so he is forced to use them next to each other. Air from the fan smashes down onto the sand while the vacuum draws air up from the sandy floor.  You are an unlucky ant who is trying to get across this epic sandbox of doom, all while avoiding the menacing child.

The fan is a high pressure system and the vacuum is low pressure, if you are close to either, the conditions are brutal, but if you keep a safe distance from either, you find that you can survive the torture. 

Just as the ant can see the fan and vacuum from the surface of the sandbox, you too can see the fan and vacuum from the surface of the sea, as they are told to you in the form of clouds. Reading clouds is a very valuable skill to have and one that will be discussed in much greater detail.

A barometer can let you know what your current air pressure is, which then would give you an idea about where you are in relation to the fan and vacuum and understanding how the pressures work will let you stay at a safe and comfortable distance from either centers. 

Knowing that winds blow clockwise around the center of a high pressure, if you are going downwind you can then easily tailor your position on the ocean for the most comfort by simply turning to starboard (towards the high pressure) for less wind or to port (towards the low pressure) for more wind. Riding the pressure gradients over the ocean will get you there safely and calmly without the need for fancy weather routing software. 

Now, why not use the fancy and expensive electronic gizmos that will tell you exactly where to go? Because they don't always work as well as touted.  

Routing software depends on an accurate forecast, and that is the weak point in this story. The software will tell you how to sail the best in the world they are presented with, the sad thing is this is rarely the same world you live in. By looking at the sky you can see what the weather is right where you are and looking at the barometer tells you what the atmospheric pressure is in your column of air.  

Weather forecasts are great for deciding when to go out to sea, but once you are out there, their utility quickly diminishes as they are no match for the accuracy of the visible sky around you. 

How To Cross an Ocean: "Nice to Have's"

Crossing an ocean is supposed to be a life goal that will be remembered with fondness, not a horrible torture test of existence. No one wants to hand steer their way across an ocean subsisting only on water and with no sleep! This is where "Nice to Have's" come into play.

Some basic things that are nice to have are electronic charts, a refrigerator, and self steering. This lets you sit back, enjoy fresh food that has been in cold storage while you quickly glance at your phone or tablet and sit back while the self steering holds you on course. 

Pretty much, everything that you think you "Need to Have" actually falls onto this list, while the true "Need to Have's" are only five items. With "Nice to Have's" you can head out to sea with them missing or not functioning, because they make your voyage nicer while not being actually critical to the success of the journey.

Ocean crossing is very relaxing. You can look to the sky to figure out your weather and plan your course accordingly, then you can sit back and enjoy a good book! Fishing is another fun pass time on an ocean voyage, as well as baking and cooking. Be sure to surround yourself with people you want to be with, as you will be with them for the entire trip and there is no chance of escape. 

Plan your voyage as an extended "stay-cation" on the boat. Everyday will feel like you haven't moved because the world around you will always look the same (clouds and waves in all directions) until weeks pass by and you suddenly see land again. Be happy and comfortable on your yacht, for this will be your floating world until you make it to the next port. 

Along the way, stuff will break and you will have to fix it or not use it anymore until you make landfall. Carrying the materials to carry out the repairs is imperative as you will not be able to visit a hardware store to buy parts to fix the broken item.  

Cruising is a lifestyle and ocean crossing is a dream. It's time to live your dreams and enjoy your memories instead of imagining your future! 

How To Cross an Ocean: Time

Ok, you have your yacht, you have sails and rigging, steering, navigational equipment, and plenty of fresh water; what more could you possibly need to make it across an ocean? Time

Time is by far the most important item to have in order to make the crossing possible. Many sailors have all the required items to make the journey, but lack the time and therefore can never leave their mooring. 

Sailing is slow and the ocean is big, having time lets you wait for the right weather, and lets you relax as you slowly make your way through the waves. If you have a short schedule and just enough time to make it from Point A to Point B, then you won't have enough time to make the crossing. Something will happen that will exhaust your limited allotment of time and you will run out of it while at sea. Too much wind will force you to change course or slow down, too little wind will force you to a slow crawl. The 100 mile per day goal is just an illusive figure that is never achieved. Not once in our passage did we ever do 100 nautical miles in a day. Some days we did less, others we did more, but we never managed to get 100 on the nose. Yes, our average at the end of a long voyage was around 100 per day, but what if you don't have that many days available to you and you only get to experience the 80 mile days?  

Time away from work, away from friends and family, time away from your life. These are all components of our world that cost time and if you can't remove yourself from these expenses, you will never be able to afford to cross an ocean.  

On the other hand, if you simply take the time to do it and allow no time to be squandered on shore, you will then spend all of your time crossing the ocean and getting to the other side. Your expenses will shift and you will find that crossing and ocean is easy, all you need to do is find the time to do so. 

How To Cross an Ocean: Fresh Water

Food is a "Nice to Have", but you don't need it to survive for a short period of time. Fresh water is mandatory!  On average, the human body can survive about three weeks without food, but only a few days without water!

Fresh water in your possession is mandatory, hypothetical and potential fresh water is not a replacement. Water in your tanks that you have on board is what counts, not water that your watermaker could produce or water that your rain collector could collect.  

Think about it this way, would you go on a hike through the dessert with a bottle of water, or a rain collecting system with a straw on one end? What if it doesn't rain? Water that you could have is water that you could also not have. 

A good rule of thumb for calculating water needs is to plan on 2L per person per day. If you are a crew of two, it would then be 4L of water per day. If you prefer gallons, 3.8L is roughly one gallon, so you can just plan 0.5 gallons per person per day, or for a crew of 2, 1 gallon per day.

But how many days will you be at sea? A good rule of thumb is to plan on sailing 100 miles per day, so the distance you want to cover should be divided by 100 to tell you roughly how many days to plan for. If you are sailing 1000 miles, it would be 10 days, 1800 miles would be 18 days, and so on. 

Now it's time for reality to show its face. You won't always sail 100 miles per day, and you won't always sail the shortest and most direct route. When we sailed from Bermuda to the Azores, our route was 1800 miles, which should take 18 days. We ended up sailing 2,200 miles and it took 24 days.  

It is always good to carry enough water for the journey and half as much again. This means that the number of days you calculate should be multiplied by 1.5 to give you a safer option. 

in our example of 1800 miles taking 18 days, 18 x 1.5 = 27 days. As you can see, we came in under that mark, but still close to it. It is wise to not carry the minimum water you need, but rather make sure that the water you carry is enough for the journey and more. 

What I mean is, say you can hold 100 gallons of water, don't fill them up only to 18 or 27 gallons for the journey. Instead, fill them full and know you will be arriving at your destination with plenty of water to spare.  

Water is the most valuable item you carry on your boat, and should be treated as such. It should never be wasted, and it should never be lost. The condition of the tanks needs to be monitored and the use of this resource needs to be closely observed.  

You might be thinking "Why not just carry an infinite amount of water?" The answer is water is heavy. Water weighs about 8 pounds per gallon, so every 100 gallons of water you add to your boat adds 800 pounds to it as well. The more water you carry, the heavier your weight penalty will be. 

On Wisdom, we carry 200 gallons of water which tallies up to be 1,600 pounds or 727 kilograms. This is quite the weight penalty, and this is only the water in the tanks. We then carry another 40 days supply of water in plastic bottles, adding another 42 gallons of water and 336 pounds to the boat. This brings our total water weight up to 1,936 pounds when full!  

Why carry so much extra weight? Why not just have a watermaker or a rain collector? The answer is simple, rain doesn't always come and watermakers break. When we sailed from the Bahamas to the Azores, we were unable to collect any water. In the first three weeks from the Bahamas to Bermuda, we had no wind and the 700 mile journey took 20 days. When it rained, the waves would pick up as well and the deck remained salty. Opening up the rain collector to let in rain water would also let in sea water. When we left Bermuda for the Azores, we had no rain for the entire 24 day journey.  

Rain collectors are convenient when you are anchored in a remote location and protected from the seas brought up by the storm.  In these conditions, we were able to stay away from civilization for longer, but not as a reliable enough method to depend on it to survive an ocean crossing.