Tartan passage: California to Maine

Velera · **Joined:** 29 Dec 2006 09:38 **Posts:** 656

I have been sailing my Tartan 37 (hull 373, deep keel) from San Francisco to Castine Maine for the last year. If anyone is interested in the log, I have a website: caltomaine.com . Mostly, it is not about the boat, but about the trip, but there are a few pictures of the boat in exotic places.

Tortuga's Lie · **Joined:** 27 Oct 2006 10:32 **Posts:** 827

Sounds like a great trip. Are you re-locating or just up for an adventure? What is your opinion on the water storage capacity for extended trips? I was thinking of adding another thirty gallon tank in the starboard lazerette, maybe. This tank would help offset the port list when the diesel is full, but I'm not sure its worth it if the storage is enough as is.

Down2TheC · **Posted:** 23 Jan 2008 10:38

Velera wrote:

www.caltomaine.com .

if you add the www, it becomes a link. Looks like your domain expired though.

Velera · **Joined:** 29 Dec 2006 09:38 **Posts:** 656

The website is down. Trip completed. Short summary of the trip is in the commemorative book (nice job by Tom Wells of condensing it). Cannot think of a better boat to make the trip in for a singlehander.

On the extra tank starboard: I do not know how much this would help. Mine lists when it is full of fluids. I generally start using the port water tank or leave it empty when I am not cruising. I did not have a water maker and aside from a few weeks in the San Blas Islands where water was a problem, I really did not have any problems with getting water on the 7000 mile trip.

Solare · **Posted:** 08 Dec 2008 23:14

Velera,

Would love to hear more details about the trip, care to share with us here?

Velera · **Joined:** 29 Dec 2006 09:38 **Posts:** 656

Well, let me know what you are interested in knowing. Here are some categories:
Preparation?
Equipment?
Route?
Things I would do differently?
Scariest?
Nicest?
Reflections on the boat?
Refitting after the trip?

Here is the short:

Prep/equipment:
I basically took a deep keeled stock Tartan 37 that I had owned for about 15 years on the trip because I had just retired, I needed to get the boat from my place in SF to my new place in Maine and thought the $10K for moving might be spent on a good adventure. I went primarily singlehanded as my wife is not really a sailor. I had folks join me for various legs. I had an underdeck Autohelm autopilot (with a wheel backup which I eventually needed), an electric windlass, Skymate email system (no transmit SSB), an old Adler Barbour reefer (worked great all through the tropic--major problem was freezing everything), and a laptop GPS linked navigation system with backup papercharts, and radar. I had other stuff on the boat, but these were the essentials. The boat had a feathering three bladed propeller (Autostream by Martec) on the old Westerbeke with about 3500 hours on it. Good standard sails and an assymetrical chute with a carbon fiber pole (remember I am single handing), three anchors (main was a 35 lb CQR with 250' of BBB chain and the other anchors never saw the water on the whole trip).

Route:
San Francisco, Half Moon Bay, Monterey, Morro Bay, Santa Barbara, Channel Islands, San Diego, Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, Isla Isabella, Chacalla (the best), La Cruz, Puerto Vallarta, Chimela, La Navidad, Puerto Escondido, Huatulco, Barillas (El Salvador), several stops in Costa Rica, and then through the Panama Canal (3 week wait) to Bocas del Toro Panama. Left the boat there for the summer hurricane season and returned the next winter. Then to San Blas Islands (best tropical cruising for three weeks), to San Adreas Island, Providencia (both Columbian Islands in the Western Carribean) then to the Bay Islands of Honduras, then Isla Mujeres, Key West, Miami, Block Island and finally to Castine Maine (7 days from Florida to Maine). Whew! 7000 miles. Total actual time cruising was about 6 months over the two years. I waited for weather windows but kept moving more than cruising. Slower than a delivery but faster than a cruise.

Do Differently?
Not sure. Boat performed really well. I might have taken a Spanish course before I left. I like to go off the beaten track and my Spanish was poor and limited my contact with a lot of nice folks.

Scariest?
We had 28 to 34 (mostly over 30) knot winds for more than two days going down the Baja Pennisula of Mexico. Fortunately it was on our quarter, but the following sea was 17 feet. It would be OK for a few hours, but for that long and two nights, it was a bit much. I have video of this. Lightning striking the water all around me in the Western Caribbean was an experience. I had no special grounding other than the Tartan factory grounds--but was never hit. Hit a rock in Miami (actually was lifted up and thrown on top of a rock by the wake of a powerboat) Government cut which tore a chunk off my keel and then picked up a piece of poly line that ripped out my cutless bearing. But had no real problems other than that and these were easily repaired.

Nicest:
Lots of nice places. The San Blas Islands are spectacular. I found all the folks in Central America to be unbelieveably friendly--in their abject poverty. Also, Guanaja, Honduras is a fabulous stopping place. The 380 mile sail from Guanaja to Isla Mujeres was magical--doing 6.5 to 7.0 knots in 10 to 12 knots of wind.....

The Boat..
I used to deliver boats in my younger years and developed an idea that a Tartan had a lot of the things I wanted in a sea boat. After the trip, my respect for this boat is even greater. The hull design and big rudder may not be the fastest, but I could not imagine a more stable, sea-kindly boat. We had a few days of 20-24 knot headwinds with 8-10 ft. waves off the US East Coast--it was not fun, but I would rather be in this boat than any other of a similar size (best would have been a 1000 ft Carnival Ship).

Refit:
The trip was hard on the boat systems. I put about 1000 hours on the engine and have since replaced it with a Yanmar. All new standing and running rigging. New through hulls. Buffed out the hull. Boat looks new. Sailing in Maine.

If anyone has questions about the boat or the trip, let me know. It was a great adventure. Now am planning a series of trips to Nova Scotia and ???

Down2TheC · **Posted:** 28 Dec 2008 02:00

Velera wrote:

The website is down. Trip completed. Short summary of the trip is in the commemorative book (nice job by Tom Wells of condensing it). Cannot think of a better boat to make the trip in for a singlehander.

If you still have the website saved, I'd be glad to host it here as a subdomain of your choosing. (i.e. velera.tartan37.com ) The full site might be a good reference and/or nice entertainment for the other dreamers here. That offer goes out to any others that have had websites of epic journeys. We can consolidate the T37 tales to keep them published without you folks needing to pay hosting in perpituity.

PM me for details. I'll host anything that could be of benefit/interest to the T37 community. (manuals, tutorials, pdfs, logos, anything we can legally distribute)

Music · **Joined:** 18 Nov 2014 07:58 **Posts:** 9

Cool trip

Long ago but still helpful for us dreamers.

Music · **Joined:** 18 Nov 2014 07:58 **Posts:** 9

Velera wrote:

Well, let me know what you are interested in knowing. Here are some categories:
Preparation?
Equipment?
Route?
Things I would do differently?
Scariest?
Nicest?
Reflections on the boat?
Refitting after the trip?

Here is the short:

Prep/equipment:
I basically took a deep keeled stock Tartan 37 that I had owned for about 15 years on the trip because I had just retired, I needed to get the boat from my place in SF to my new place in Maine and thought the $10K for moving might be spent on a good adventure. I went primarily singlehanded as my wife is not really a sailor. I had folks join me for various legs. I had an underdeck Autohelm autopilot (with a wheel backup which I eventually needed), an electric windlass, Skymate email system (no transmit SSB), an old Adler Barbour reefer (worked great all through the tropic--major problem was freezing everything), and a laptop GPS linked navigation system with backup papercharts, and radar. I had other stuff on the boat, but these were the essentials. The boat had a feathering three bladed propeller (Autostream by Martec) on the old Westerbeke with about 3500 hours on it. Good standard sails and an assymetrical chute with a carbon fiber pole (remember I am single handing), three anchors (main was a 35 lb CQR with 250' of BBB chain and the other anchors never saw the water on the whole trip).

Route:
San Francisco, Half Moon Bay, Monterey, Morro Bay, Santa Barbara, Channel Islands, San Diego, Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, Isla Isabella, Chacalla (the best), La Cruz, Puerto Vallarta, Chimela, La Navidad, Puerto Escondido, Huatulco, Barillas (El Salvador), several stops in Costa Rica, and then through the Panama Canal (3 week wait) to Bocas del Toro Panama. Left the boat there for the summer hurricane season and returned the next winter. Then to San Blas Islands (best tropical cruising for three weeks), to San Adreas Island, Providencia (both Columbian Islands in the Western Carribean) then to the Bay Islands of Honduras, then Isla Mujeres, Key West, Miami, Block Island and finally to Castine Maine (7 days from Florida to Maine). Whew! 7000 miles. Total actual time cruising was about 6 months over the two years. I waited for weather windows but kept moving more than cruising. Slower than a delivery but faster than a cruise.

Do Differently?
Not sure. Boat performed really well. I might have taken a Spanish course before I left. I like to go off the beaten track and my Spanish was poor and limited my contact with a lot of nice folks.

Scariest?
We had 28 to 34 (mostly over 30) knot winds for more than two days going down the Baja Pennisula of Mexico. Fortunately it was on our quarter, but the following sea was 17 feet. It would be OK for a few hours, but for that long and two nights, it was a bit much. I have video of this. Lightning striking the water all around me in the Western Caribbean was an experience. I had no special grounding other than the Tartan factory grounds--but was never hit. Hit a rock in Miami (actually was lifted up and thrown on top of a rock by the wake of a powerboat) Government cut which tore a chunk off my keel and then picked up a piece of poly line that ripped out my cutless bearing. But had no real problems other than that and these were easily repaired.

Nicest:
Lots of nice places. The San Blas Islands are spectacular. I found all the folks in Central America to be unbelieveably friendly--in their abject poverty. Also, Guanaja, Honduras is a fabulous stopping place. The 380 mile sail from Guanaja to Isla Mujeres was magical--doing 6.5 to 7.0 knots in 10 to 12 knots of wind.....

The Boat..
I used to deliver boats in my younger years and developed an idea that a Tartan had a lot of the things I wanted in a sea boat. After the trip, my respect for this boat is even greater. The hull design and big rudder may not be the fastest, but I could not imagine a more stable, sea-kindly boat. We had a few days of 20-24 knot headwinds with 8-10 ft. waves off the US East Coast--it was not fun, but I would rather be in this boat than any other of a similar size (best would have been a 1000 ft Carnival Ship).

Refit:
E

If anyone has questions about the boat or the trip, let me know. It was a great adventure. Now am planning a series of trips to Nova Scotia and ???

Would like to see the video you mentioned in "scariest" if you still have it?

Velera · **Joined:** 29 Dec 2006 09:38 **Posts:** 656

If I still have it is on a computer at my summer home in Maine, but I will not be back there until Spring. Was taken standing and the foot of the companionway ladder looking aft and you can see nothing in the frames but the rising fronts of huge ocean swells and spume behind my crew. It really was not that scary at the time, but looking at it later gave me goosebumps. Actually, the scariest part was that this wind lasted over a couple nights and seeing the phosphorescence light up like lightning at the breaking tops of the swells all night was something I will not soon forget. Fortunately. the wind and sea was off our quarter the boat rolled a bit but behaved well. Love that barn door rudder and the autopilot. I do not think I could have steered accurately at night down the front of the swells by hand at night because it was overcast. The autopilot handled it quite well.

Tartan37.com

Tartan passage: California to Maine

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