SHELDUCK TO AMERICA
Neil Hegarty
We both enjoy
significant birthdays this year, Anne being five years the younger. In order to
celebrate in a memorable way I invited her to sail across the north Atlantic to
America.
Our families were not happy for us to do so on our own so I joined ARC Atlantic
2013. Gabby (Perry) & Brendan McGarvey accepted the invitation to
crew for the Atlantic crossing.
Shelduck
was laid up ashore at Descobre Ventos at Doca Belem Lisbon in November 2012 to
be prepared for our adventure.
The first job was to
replace all standing and running rigging which, like everything else, was ten
years old. Shelduck is a Dufour
34 built in La Rochelle
in 2003 fitted with a standard, not the tall racing rig and a deep racing,
fully lead keel so she is quite stiff to sail. While the mast was down fold
away steps were fitted to it. An active radar reflector and a roller reefing
unit to the detachable inner forestay with anti twist high tension rope were
also added. A small adaptation to existing sails was required also. This will
allow us to roll up or reef sails on the inner forestay from the cockpit and
still be able to move the forestay out of the way if we want to tack the full
genoa upwind. Finally on the rigging side I added a third reef to the main and
put the headsail spinlock cleats on the mast to free up space at the cockpit
for extra spinlocks for a second spinnaker pole. A second genoa was acquired
which will be set with the existing one together on the twin foil. I hope to do
most of the downwind sailing with the two genoa's set with two poles and no
mainsail. We also have a spinnaker if it is required, possibly, in light wind.
The next issue to face
was the provision of energy and I considered a diesel generator, the engine, a
wind generator, solar panels and a fuel cell. I decided that the most suitable
solution for a boat of Shelduck's
size was the fuel cell and so fitted an Efoy Comfort 140 which weighs 7.5 kg.
It will keep the batteries topped up without noise, which is a considerable
advantage when crew are resting. Watermakers can be troublesome and expensive
so I decided to add a 100 litre flexible tank to the existing system and carry
100 litres on deck. Shelduck was
not factory fitted with a holding tank so one was installed. All safety
equipment was checked and serviced and a discharge plate fitted in case of a
lightning strike. Among the final items were charts, courtesy flags and a
satellite phone.
Our plan is to leave Lisbon for Grand Canaria
in October after Anne's birthday. Having done the ARC we would like to head
south and spend Christmas in the Grenadines and visit Grenada, then north cruising the Caribbean to be
at Porta de Vita on the northeast coast of Cuba by the 7th of March. For a
sailing break, we have booked a two week holiday with a travel agent which will
allow us see all the major sites in Cuba
while having Shelduck located to
easily sail into the Bahamas.
We plan then to enter the Intra Coastal Waterway at Fort Pierce
Florida,visiting nearby historic cities and sites, and leave Shelduck under cover at a hurricane free
location on a canal near Norfolk Virginia late in May hoping to return in April
2015.