Contessa 26: Cape Horn (Page 2 of 2)

So if you really want to double C. Horn in a C 26, try this on for size. In no particular order:

Remove forepeak berths and install stowage. See Peter Hancock Kylie story somewhere in C 26 land.
Install WT bulkhead a couple of feet aft of stem
Install inside (Small jib)stay from this intersection on deck up to about 2/3 up the spar.
Install runners to oppose this stay. Use Spectra 6 or 8 mm uncovered for runners.
Remove and/or replace the keyhole hatch and/or otherwise make the access into the boat watertight, with for instance a Lewmar hatch mounted as seen on Open 60’s or Mini Transat boats. Seriously watertight as in upside down with hatch under water. Any type of slide in and fall out wooden washboards are completly inadequate for this caper.
Install hard dodger
Fabricate and install hard plastic windows over the larger ports. Off set from the cabin surface by 3/8" or so.
Fabricate, or have aboard, suitable size materials for use when both windows get blown out washing down a 30 foot wave at 15 plus kts sideways.
SMH rudder idea is good. Keep anchors close to midships once off soundings. Make sure they will stay in place upside down.
Remove furling, use hanks. When it really gets tooting the windage from a furled sail is not to be believed. When laying to a sea anchor a clean (furler free) headstay will reduce the desire of the bow to want to blow off to leeward.
Beef up mast step/partners & chainplates. There is a nice story on this in the photo section.
Install 3-4 foot bowsprit so as to get much bigger light air and down wind sails so as to keep (average) speed up in 10-18 kts. of wind speed of which there is plenty when sailing the ocean.
Along the same lines replace mast section with plus 4 feet height and double spreader rig. This will increase the shroud angle (reducing compression on spar) where it intersects the spar by a couple of degrees at cap shrouds attachment point and by several degrees at the lower spreaders & lowers. It will also give you a bigger sail plan for use in conjunction with the bowsprit and the high averages concept.
Use external spinnaker halyard (s).
Get a ATN top climber or fabricate same and practice using it when testing the Sea anchor, see below.
Carry 2 x 13 foot carbon spin pole for use in poling out headsails.
Fabricate a splint system (with dedicated cordage)that will connect the two poles so you can jury rig a spar when you get to the bottom of teh wave noted above.
Change to Dyform wire (keep same diameter-Dyform is stronger and more stretch resistant for a given size., refer to Navtec catalogue for particulars) for standing rigging except for backstay, see next.
Replace wire backstay with 6 or mm Spectra. Roughly 1/12th the weight. Make adjustable. The weight savings in this may well off set the additional weight of the spar height (maybe can use a smaller section). Need to review with spar builders.
Mount Monitor vane
Remove engine and related stuff & replace vacant space with stores
Buy Parachute sea anchor and practice using it, in anger, say 100 miles west of the Faralon’s in Feb in a real “black bowling ball low” from Alaska. BBBL so named by my SFO mates for the black spot they create on wx faxes.
Have two separate types of fuel sources for cooking. E.g. White gas/Kero camping stove as well as say a Force 5 propane gimbaled cooker.
Do not forget MRE’s. Not high cuisine but when you are cold, tired, scared and the boat is bouncing they taste just fine. I have crossed the Atlantic on a 30 footer with same.
Install good strong bookshelves and fill with favorite books. 7500 miles at 100 per day is 2.5 months....
Calculate proposed distance to sail (is it 7500 miles?)and figure on 2 lbs. of food per person per day.
Bring several 3-5 gallon water jugs and at least two funnels with some clear plastic hose. Use same to catch rain water. Do not drink the first takings from the furled mainsail: It is too salty. Let it rain for a few minutes first.
Leave fancy electronics at home.
Read list of books elsewhere in this site re ocean passages made before we all started dreaming of it. Hiscock, Smeeton, Barton, Lewis, Guzzwell, etc. Also an account by the Cape Horn Wind vane guy on the Alberg 30 site. He has done it already
Do not plan on getting rescued if the fertilizer hits you and not the fan.

200L of water is more than plenty. I carried 120L and always had atleast 1/2 left over. In the beginning I worried about water and was careful and only used 2L per day. My longest passage was 22 days. On later passages, I splurged with fresh water showers every few days (2L). Four litres per day would be luxurious. I just remembered you are planning for a few crew. Three litres per day for 25 days per person would be good. The boat will be heavy with all the supplies, so adding extra ballast should be avoided. The cockpit drains are already too low to the water line. The weight is low and I did not notice any tenderness due to added weight.

Hello Gents,

since it's been a bit quiet here lately, here's little creative assignment for you folks, just to liven things up a bit.

You get this crazy idea one day to sail from Vancouver to Halifax around the Horn. You'll sail first to San Francisco, then straight to the Marquesas, then, Tahiti, Bora-Bora, Moorea, then Easther Island, down to the Roaring 40's around the Horn, onto Falklands, Mar del Plata, Rio, Carribean and back to the east coast.

You smile at this first, then you drop it, but the incubation process started already and while you keep denying it, in your subconscious, it forms into a plan.

What would you do to prepare the boat for such a voyage?

I don't want to hear "buy a 65 foot steel cutter" or go onto a ship as a cook or any other such nonsense.
You HAVE to sail your Contessa 26, you have no choice, let's say you've been convicted to a 1 year around the Horn sailing probation.

So start using your experience, instinct, creativity and make this boat safe enough to bring you back.

There.

my contessa will be engineless.  i'm launching next week so i'll let you know how it affects displacement and stability (i'm not expecting it will be very noticable).

in regards to stiffening the boat i concluded additional stringers were not necessary for cruising.  i did plenty of research and thinking, but when you come down to it the generous layup combined relatively small panel size of 26 foot hull appears adequate.  i think a lot of the talk about adding stringers is a band-aid fix for hunters and catalinas with thin laminates.  my 1973 Jeremy Rogers boat has one longitudinal stringer at the waterline. 

my advice is buy one of the boat types you mentioned and start working-  you'll have PLENTY of time to consider what you'll actually do during the fitting out, but there is precious little time to waste before you take the plunge.

-cody

Thanks Adrian!   You make a gal feel welcome....
Happy Easter! And thanks again for a great site with great input!