1982 (5) – Passage to Bermuda

Bermuda - out in the middle of nowhere!

To go to the beginning of this book, Tropic Moon: Memories, click HERE.

We sailed from the Virgin Islands in mid-May, heading to Bermuda, 960 miles due north.  I was miserably seasick, subsisting on the chocolate/oatmeal cookies I always made before a trip. 

Almost from the first, we had problems with Ulysses, our self-steering wind vane.  Ulysses was throwing off screws from his rudder section.  Ed made repairs on the top part of the rudder by donning life jacket and safety harness, climbing down off the stern, and seating himself on the lower part of the steel framework that encased the self-steering.  The surge of the waves would carry him completely out of the water, and then dunk him up to his chest, while he tried to insert new screws into the rudder.  Ed was unable to see, or reach, the bottom part of the rudder. 

You can see the metal structure Ed was sitting on.  Scary...

After 220 miles, and two days and nights of sailing, part of the small rudder broke off, and we lost our self-steering.  Faced with returning south, or hand steering over 700 more miles to the north, each of us on the wheel a total of twelve hours a day, we decided to head back to the Virgin Islands.  On our return, we anchored at St. John.  Ed improved the design, and rebuilt Ulysses' rudder assembly.  Despite strong misgivings on my part, we headed north again on June 1st.  (I suggested we put Tropic Moon back on land at the Nanny Cay boatyard, and fly home for the season.) 

Land Ho!  Bermuda in the distance.

For the most part, we had good weather on the passage.  We were hove to one night for storms.  We reached Bermuda in eight days.  During that time we stood watches, 24 hours/day, four hours on, and four hours off. Combine that with a constantly moving boat, seasickness, and little sleep - I was more than a little crabby by the time we reached Bermuda. 

Yep, I looked pretty tired!

1980 (26) - Ulysses

The metal structure to hold Ulysses

To go to the beginning of this book, Tropic Moon: Memories, click HERE.

During the summer months, Ed had put his time to good use designing and building a self-steering system for the boat.  He had priced the type he was interested in at $3000, and that's when he decided to make his own.  He got together with Mike Masters, the machinist who had made our new propeller shaft.  They built and welded together the steel framework that bolted on to the stern.  Mike cut the gears Ed had designed, and Ed made a wind vane from blue sailcloth, for the top of the apparatus, as well as building a small rudder that hung down into the water behind our main rudder.  I christened the contraption Ulysses, named after the Greek fellow who had lived the Odyssey in Homer's epic work.  My dictionary defined odyssey as:  "a long wandering usually marked by many changes of fortune."  I thought that sounded rather appropriate.... 

Ulysses, our wind vane, hard at work.  The other contraption was
our Seagull dinghy engine.  You can just see a dolphin in the water.

Ulysses turned out to be a gem when we were beating to windward, and something of a help when we were on a reach, or sailing downwind.  To use the self-steering, we'd adjust Tropic Moon's sails, tie off the wheel, then tighten a nut on Ulysses, and he'd take over.  His small "sail" pointed into the wind, and moved with each wind change, changing the angle of the small rudder.  That was enough to change Tropic Moon's course; the sails would refill when they started to luff.  Ulysses was better than a third crew member.  We didn't have to feed him, and he made very little noise (just a little squeaking now and then).

We were tied to a dock (Newport, RI).  Ulysses was pointed off to the side, into the wind.

With the end of Hurricane Season, we started thinking about doing some more-active cruising, and decided to spend the month of November traveling down island.  We were in the mood for a change of scene, and longer sails than you could find in the Virgins Islands.  Plus, we wanted to give Ulysses a good sea trial. 

My last shot featuring Ulysses.  Taken in Gibraltar, many years later.