Hi all,
I’ve been following the rather tragic tale of Ken Barnes in his solo
circumnavigation attempt aboard a 44’ Steel Ketch. www.kensolo.com -
apparently, he is on the verge of being rescued. Although the details
are spotty, he apparently was capsized, which caused him to lose his
rig, his rudder, and his engine. The tragedy, if you read his ‘blog,’
seems to be manifold, but I’ll let more experienced sailors than
myself draw their own conclusions.
According to his website, his boat was 50,000 lbs fully loaded. On
the other hand, Donna Lange went through essentially the same storm
in what appears to be a double-ended, fiberglass, 28’ sloop.
(www.donnalange.com - can’t find a description of the boat, though).
What truly makes a boat a good circumnavigator, or off-shore vessel?
I’d like to hear opinions about this.
Has anyone on this board rounded a cape in their Freedom? Or know
anyone who has? If so, what model? I’m reasonably sure Cat-Ketches
have crossed the atlantic (although I don’t know anyone who’s done it
personally). I’m interested to hear what people have to say who have
sailed their Freedoms in true off-shore conditions.
Posted by andre laviolette (andrelaviolette@…>)
Lance, Donna’s boat is a Tom Gillmer design built by C.E. Ryder about 25 years ago, about 8,500lbs empty. Modified full keel, ( " Brewer bite " ) skeg hung rudder and is a double ender. Seaworthy little boat. They also built 31 footers at that time. Andre.lance_ryley <lance_ryley@…> wrote: Hi all,I’ve been following the rather tragic tale of Ken Barnes in his solo circumnavigation attempt aboard a 44’ Steel Ketch. www.kensolo.com - apparently, he is on the verge of being rescued. Although the details are spotty, he apparently was capsized, which caused him to lose his rig, his rudder, and his engine. The tragedy, if you read his ‘blog,’ seems to be manifold, but I’ll let more experienced sailors than myself draw their own conclusions.According to his website, his boat was 50,000 lbs fully loaded. On the other hand, Donna Lange went through essentially the same storm in what appears to be a double-ended, fiberglass, 28’ sloop. (www.donnalange.com - can’t find a description of the boat, though). What truly makes a boat a good circumnavigator, or off-shore vessel? I’d like to hear opinions about this.Has anyone on this board rounded a cape in their Freedom? Or know anyone who has? If so, what model? I’m reasonably sure Cat-Ketches have crossed the atlantic (although I don’t know anyone who’s done it
personally). I’m interested to hear what people have to say who have sailed their Freedoms in true off-shore conditions.Happy New Year,Lance RyleyBright Star __________________________________________________Do You Yahoo!?Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the
best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
Posted by Herman and Gail Schiller (hschiller2@…>)
Lance,
Believe it or not, but back around 1982, some (risk-seeking)
fellow took a Freedom 25 across the Atlantic. This was part of the
sales propaganda dispersed by the then Freedom Company. Allegedly, he
added 750 lbs. of lead to the sump to enhance its stability. Herm
At 09:19 AM 1/4/2007, you wrote:
Hi all,
I’ve been following the rather tragic tale of Ken Barnes in his solo
circumnavigation attempt aboard a 44’ Steel Ketch. www.kensolo.com -
apparently, he is on the verge of being rescued. Although the details
are spotty, he apparently was capsized, which caused him to lose his
rig, his rudder, and his engine. The tragedy, if you read his ‘blog,’
seems to be manifold, but I’ll let more experienced sailors than
myself draw their own conclusions.
According to his website, his boat was 50,000 lbs fully loaded. On
the other hand, Donna Lange went through essentially the same storm
in what appears to be a double-ended, fiberglass, 28’ sloop.
(www.donnalange.com - can’t find a description of the boat, though).
What truly makes a boat a good circumnavigator, or off-shore vessel?
I’d like to hear opinions about this.
Has anyone on this board rounded a cape in their Freedom? Or know
anyone who has? If so, what model? I’m reasonably sure Cat-Ketches
have crossed the atlantic (although I don’t know anyone who’s done it
personally). I’m interested to hear what people have to say who have
sailed their Freedoms in true off-shore conditions.
There is a wrong sized (bad) wave for every sized boat - whether 30’ or 300.’ Given that a boat is well built, the real factor is that odd bad wave. The double ender in the same spot at the same time as Barnes would have been rolled as well The trick is to stay out of that stuff by proper weather watching.
Lance,
I’ve been following Ken’s situation as well.
Fortunately he was spotted by a Chilean aircraft and a fishing vessel
should be on site tomorrow sometime.
Looking at the weather he should be OK if they get to him tomorrow or
the next day. Another low is due to hit in 3 or 4 days I think.
The only Cape I’ve rounded is Pt Conception which is child’s play
compared to Cape Horn. The worst conditions I saw in our 39 the entire
time we owned it was about 35 knots and 15 foot seas off the Cali
coast. The ketch handled like she was on rails. Very surefooted
comfortable ride.
Has anyone on this board rounded a cape in their Freedom? Or know
anyone who has? If so, what model? I’m reasonably sure Cat-Ketches
have crossed the atlantic (although I don’t know anyone who’s done it
personally). I’m interested to hear what people have to say who have
sailed their Freedoms in true off-shore conditions.
Happy New Year,
Lance Ryley
Bright Star
Hello Lance,
I sailed Ketch 22 (an f39 Express) from San Francisco to Hawaii and
back in 2004. It’s roughly 5000 open ocean miles. I recently sailed
her down the coast from San Francisco to La Paz Mexico, where she is
currently residing.
The worst conditions I encountered are what I refer to as “muddled
seas”. I get uncomfortable during a “muddled sea” condition, due to
the unpredictable motion of the boat. The highest winds I encountered
was a couple hundred miles West of San Francisco where I was in winds
of 40 knots, and 20 foot seas. The F39 handles very well under those
conditions with a reefed main and mizzen. I’m not interested in a
round the world trip, but if I was interested, I wouldn’t be afraid to
take Ketch 22. The Freedoms in general are very well built.
there was a singlehanded Atlantic crossing (E->W) in an F28
catketch. The guy wrote an article about it.
there was a Dutch guy who did a singlehanded atlantic crossing (E-
W) in an F33/35 catketch. He said he did it with two fingers up his
nose, as we say here.
there was an F40 catketch that did two 360’s and a couple of 180’s
on the infamous run south from Fiji to New Zealand. The rig was
still standing after these acrobatics, I believe. There was a large
NZ coast guard investigation and a heavy report because many yacht
were hit by the storm. This report must still float around somewhere
on the net; I once read parts of it.
Hi all,
I’ve been following the rather tragic tale of Ken Barnes in his
solo
circumnavigation attempt aboard a 44’ Steel Ketch. www.kensolo.com -
apparently, he is on the verge of being rescued. Although the
details
are spotty, he apparently was capsized, which caused him to lose
his
rig, his rudder, and his engine. The tragedy, if you read
his ‘blog,’
seems to be manifold, but I’ll let more experienced sailors than
myself draw their own conclusions.
According to his website, his boat was 50,000 lbs fully loaded. On
the other hand, Donna Lange went through essentially the same
storm
in what appears to be a double-ended, fiberglass, 28’ sloop.
(www.donnalange.com - can’t find a description of the boat,
though).
What truly makes a boat a good circumnavigator, or off-shore
vessel?
I’d like to hear opinions about this.
Has anyone on this board rounded a cape in their Freedom? Or know
anyone who has? If so, what model? I’m reasonably sure Cat-Ketches
have crossed the atlantic (although I don’t know anyone who’s done
it
personally). I’m interested to hear what people have to say who
have
sailed their Freedoms in true off-shore conditions.
Never mind - found a reference to it being equivalent to “one hand tied
behind his back” – although the european equivalent appeals to the
4th grader in me
Never mind - found a reference to it being equivalent to “one hand
tied
behind his back” – although the european equivalent appeals to
the
4th grader in me
