Brent:
That same year, 1991 in early July, we took the C&C 33 II to Marblehead,
Mass. to do the biannual Marblehead to Halifax Ocean Race. The boat
performed quite well as you can guess, we were well offshore. Our only
electronics was Loran C......no radar, no GPS. the only heat came from
the propane stove when we cooked. The second night out in the Gulf of
Maine, 2:00 a.m. fog so thick you couldn't see past the bow, 3 of us on
watch in the cockpit, me on the helm, we could hear a ship blowing its
fog horn.....we couldn't see it ....we hoped it could see us....the horn
kept getting louder (closer is what I really mean).....we had our 3/4
oz. chute up at 5 knots so we were not that maneuverable....can't speak
for the other guys but I was scared, really scared!
The two vessels passed port to port.....we could hear it rumbling by but
we couldn't see it for what seemed like forever until I saw a light on
the superstructure.....the ship was a big container vessel probably two
football fields long....what a relief to see the light passing us.....it
was maybe 200 to 250 feet on our port side. That was too close for me
on a big ocean.
After it disappeared into the fog behind us, I kept thinking, what the
f--k am I doing here.....I am wet, cold, scared....at that moment, I
didn't see anything fun about this adventure.
When we arrived in Halifax, I vowed never to do anything like that
again......but I did!
Rob Abbott
AZURA
C&C 32 - 84
Halifax, N.S.
PS: We placed 8th out of 16 in our fleet. Another local C&C 33 II from
Lunenburg placed 6th....we were hoping to beat her across the line.
On 2014/01/07 10:58 PM, Brent Driedger wrote:
Rob, reading tales like that is what helps us get through the winter.
Keep them coming. Nice to hear about a 33 sailing offshore. Those have
a fairly big flat spot in the hull in front of the keel, did she
provide a comfortable ride? We have two at our club and the owner of
one told me once how one day in some very large steep waves, typical
of Lake Winnipeg, he actually had a transducer punched out of the hull
that had been mounted in the flat spot. Poor install perhaps? Too big
a hole? It left me wondering.
33-2 is one of my very favourites.
Brent Driedger
27-5
Lake Winnipeg
Sent from my iPhone
On Jan 7, 2014, at 8:13 PM, Robert Abbott <robertabb...@eastlink.ca
<mailto:robertabb...@eastlink.ca>> wrote:
Jake:
On April 3, 1991, the skipper and I sailed his newly purchased 1985
C&C 33 II from Lunenburg to Halifax, approx. 45 miles. While the new
owner was finalizing the purchased of his boat on shore, I was
removing 1/2" of ice from the deck with a rubber hammer while the
boat sat on a mooring infront of the owner's home.....I brought my
full ski gear including my clear goggles....good thing to because an
hour after we left for Halifax, we ran into a snow squall as thick as
any fog I have encountered. Main up and a 135% jib and we were
sailing....heard some fishermen on the VHF talking about us leaving
Lunenburg harbor in a 'white out', went something like who would be
crazy enough to be doing that! That would be us!
The list has been talking to Curtis about being safe on his offshore
March sail....here we were, the two of us, taking a boat we had not
been to sea on before, coming up the Nova Scotia coast in winter, no
heat other than the stove/oven (we warmed up pizza in the oven), no
GPS, a Loran C which neither had any experience with, no radar, just
paper charts and a binnacle compass.....8 long hours later we made to
the Armdale Yacht Club.
Dennis, I could tell many stories of how dumb, and lucky, I have been
over the years on the water. Does anyone want another one?
Rob Abbott
AZURA
C&C 32 - 84
Halifax, N.S.
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