The "Longest Sunfish Race in the World" is a roughly 25-mile race around Shelter Island, and per the article below, they finished in about 5 hours.
Campbell Conard, age 15, completes Longest Sunfish Race in the World
That would be through multiple points of sail - I would assume for yours, you would hopefully plan it with the weather patterns to minimize tacking and/or changing your point of sail.
Can you pre-plan for various stopping points shorter than the full 58 miles, and then you'd have options if weather/fatigue/etc prevent you from getting the full distance in?
Here are a bunch of random ideas. As long as the boat and equipment is sound and you are on a broad reach most of the way, here is no reason
why you could not make this trip. After all, a guy back in the '70 sailed a Sunfish from Miami, FL to Boston, MA and wrote a book about it, titled, I recall (?) This Book is Drunk. Read it if you have not already done so. In addition to foul weather gear, plenty of food and water, I would also have a good cell phone and a hand held VHF radio to hail commercial craft of your position and the Coast Guard if you needed big help. Flares would also be good to have if you broke down and needed to guide a rescue boat to your location.
Here is think about. Try half of the trip and see how it goes, This would be a good trial run to gauge fatigue, speed etc.
Alan Glos
Cazenovia, NY
... additionally to my previous post (it was very early this morning)...
'Crossings' here are one-way trips across Lake IJsselmeer or trips from the mainland to one of the Northern Islands ('Wadden'). Especially these trips from the mainland are notorious for the strong currents.
Dutch Waterway Police (inland waters) and Coastguard (sea) are not too difficult most at the time. Going out at sea with 20+ knots (gusts 32+) with support from 2 RIBs is allowed. Not going out in these conditions without support.
About 8 -10 yrs ago, my son was sailing an optimist and on a very stormy Sunday, he and another sailor went out on a big lake. Three fathers + myself on two RIBs were out as well. All went well and the boys had an experience that will last forever.
A week later, during much better weather, a large Waterway Police vessel came up to us and ordered us to stop... That turned into an interesting conversation...
First, our licenses were checked, our personal equipment was checked and the boat's equipment was checked. That's standard procedure. Then the officer said: " Gentlemen, we were called last week; concerned civilians called us when they spotted you and the boys go out in that stormy weather! We got the message from the dispatcher but decided not to go and have a look. We know you guys and we know that you're a capable crew and that the sailors are capable as well!"
Just some questions:
How will you make the return trip?
As I've been a victim of a broken mast, would it make sense to carry (to windward) a three-pound emergency mast sleeve?
If one-third through this trip, and you're not "making miles" would you try a different day?
To reduce fatigue, will you be securing stores to windward?
If similar voyages are in your future, would you consider borrowing an EPIRB?
Well Hopefully they are well! I intend to video as much as possible of the trip & do my best to edit it into something entertaining. I will Definitely share it with everyone, and report back. As of right now, Weather & family permitting I'm going to attempt the trip Friday 11/23.It's been at least five years since a member was to attempt a similar voyage--maybe longer? We haven't heard back!
I would love to have an EPIRB on board, I know they are an expensive and potentially life saving piece of equipment.
Wow, I had no Idea and relatively inexpensive at that. Great info, it seems like for my application a PLB maybe a good choice as it is manually activated. Thanks for the info!One can rent an EPIRB from BoatUS Foundation
Equipment Rentals
Has your mast been exposed to salt water? I would flip it around just move the caps. The mast usually snaps where it is on contact with the goose neck, turning it over fixes that.
It has, I’ll swap the caps this weekend. Great suggestion, I have never thought about that.Has your mast been exposed to salt water? I would flip it around just move the caps. The mast usually snaps where it is on contact with the goose neck, turning it over fixes that.
Maybe re-aquaint your girlfriend with the notion that the presence of an empty trailer is easy to forget.L&VW, Thank you for the response. My pop's has a place in Waveland (not far from the final destination) I'm planning on spending the weekend there, and my girlfriend will meet me with the sunfish trailer so it would be a one way trip. I would try a different day if not making sufficient headway, but I would have to make the decision based on location, wind, nearest beach/marina.
While casting-about Amazon, I see this book is available as a paperback for $331.99Here are a bunch of random ideas. As long as the boat and equipment is sound and you are on a broad reach most of the way, here is no reason why you could not make this trip. After all, a guy back in the '70 sailed a Sunfish from Miami, FL to Boston, MA and wrote a book about it, titled, I recall (?) This Book is Drunk. Read it if you have not already done so. In addition to foul weather gear, plenty of food and water, I would also have a good cell phone and a hand held VHF radio to hail commercial craft of your position and the Coast Guard if you needed big help. Alan Glos Cazenovia, NY
...And, even before dark, there are these:I'd watch the weather and always be flexible on your plan. Consider a handleld VHF with GPS to back up your cell phone (in a waterproof bag). Carry a flashlight and signal mirror. I would plan to be ashore before dark, wherever that happens to be. Plenty of places to pop ashore along that route. There is a group that does a Mississippi 110 raid in October and another that does the Florida 120 around the Pensacola area in May, when water and air temps are higher. Check facebook for their pages. Your route is extremely doable, you just want to be aware of the wind, tide and water temps.
Over here in The Netherlands, we do 'crossings' like this every year. But 60 miles is a very, very long distance. I'm surprised that you're not mentioning back-up like a yacht that says with you along the coast. I'm not familiar with the local situation (Never been to AL and MS, but I've been to TX and FL) so I suppose that you want to sail this on one of the longer days of the year. Fatigue, heat, salt, possible problems with the gear. You need to consider that as well.
On another spot of this forum, I've read that the US Coastguard has a lot to say about vests and PFDs. I would be surprised to hear that they allow a trip like this without back-up and/or support.