Voyage Details
Date Length Distance From To
October 31st, 2003 5 days   Newport, RI, USA Royal Bermudian Yacht Club, Bermuda
Crew Onboard Abbott Gilbane, Abbott Sprague, Elizabeth Sprague, Eric Sprague,
Joanna Sprague, Phin Sprague, Jr., Seth Sprague, Susanna Sprague
Notes and Remarks

Phin Sprague, Jr.: Greetings! All is well on board Lions Whelp on it's first sea voyage. We have been powering pretty much steadily for the last 32 hours. I knew there was a reason to have sufficient fuel capacity to power all the way to Bermuda! The tank fill lights are questionable in the starboard aft tank but we seem to be using around 1.76 GPH at 1500 Rpm and 6.25 knots. I am interested in the actual reading and consumption as we could have to power all the rest of the way into Bermuda. A test of the fuel capacity criteria. We do not have an exact handle on the useable fuel capacity, There is an old swell from dead ahead that makes powering a bobbing experience. Besides that it is T-shirt weather. We caught a small mahi-mahi yesterday and had it for dinner. Sperm whales to starboard too!
   We have a litany of small problems: None of them seem insurmountable.
   The autopilot has decided that rather than talking a 2-3 hour watch now it won't work at all.... Blows a circuit breaker immediately when we push "auto". At least we can now have a definite problem to chase down.
   The IS15 compass turns off and on while the autohelm compass display is steady. If the auto pilot is off we loose the azimuth compass in the IS15 and the chart plotter. There has got to be a better way to wire it.
   The Inmarsat- C GPS is not working, but I can read weather alert e-mails.
   The Nobletec GPs connection is stuck on 3.9 knots SOG. I rebooted all devices and it seems to have corrected itself.
   The single side band is a great receiver but does not seem to be transmitting.
   The wind speed/direction indicator is out.
   I don't trust the fuel gauges. By the time we get to Antigua I should have the fuel consumption figured out. Besides that every one is having a lovely transit.
   In Bermuda I am going to get this stuff fixed. I think that there is a new masthead windspeed/direction unit on it's way to Bermuda direct from Simrad. I am sure that there are services to figure out the rest.

Joanna Sprague: Abbott G. & Eliz retire from Bermuda, so we are looking for crew. We should leave Bermuda after 2-4 days there. We have great 2 hr watches and 6 hr off. Freezer is excellent and Laura sent along great meals for us. First night out was cold and wet decks. By Nov 2 am we all had shorts on. Dolphin come to greet us just for a minute or two. Got tunes on deck BUT the speakers are tinny sounding after one night. We have hatches open as it is warm this am. Muffins every am- microwave popcorn at sunset. Eric is keeping like his grandfather, as the fisherman. Abbott G. too, likes to fish. Susanna's cheery face on watch is a treat. Today will be shower day on deck. We had 7 hours at the dock with the last "Lions Whelp" in Newport. We traded tees, got tours, and thought back. It just got off the ways, cleaned up, and onto to NYC for charter then to Miami for winter. Kids do homework regularly on deck with flashlights, but keeping watches is new and tiresome for growing bodies. Grandpa called on sat phone Sat am. The ringer is hard to hear. Seth Gilban's pumpkin has been tied to the stern and still with us. Gulfstream was bumpy but water was extremely warm. Caught the dolphin fish (Mahi-Mahi) in it. We've seen 2 sailboats at a distance so far. Cheers

Joanna Sprague: Arrived Nov 5 at 7am in St Georges. We later moved to Hamilton to RBYC. Abbott Gilbane left immediately and Eliz the next day. Bill Reed has joined us. We have elect repairs, and weather to wait for. Had a wonderful cocktail party on board for RBYC members last night, and met so many great friends. Went to see rebuilding of Fife like design 50 ft sloop. Beautiful details. It was near the Maritime Museum, and a ferry ride home. Lots of Tabor people, cruising club people and just plain interesting Bermudians. Merle Hallet dropped in, with Dodge Morgan on their way south. Perhaps we can be on our way on Monday. Phin has not done well with digital photos as he is very busy with electrical work.
   Bermuda was hit hard with hurrican Fabian in Sept. Just now it is getting green. Roads and bridges were washed out and since there are only 3 roads, it stopped everything. There was a 13ft higher tide PLUS 6ft wave action. The whole airport was under. Most lost boats. No electricity for 11 days. Water was contaminated. One hotel was condemned, but decided to gut and rebuild as it is a Bermudian Icon (Princess). It is beginning winter now and all stores have jackets in them BUT it is 80 Deg and our AC is on. Most boats are crewed and moving south. Big 70-90 ft machines. The 3 brothers are getting lots of attention and the boat is a knock out. It is expensive to buy food and items as everything needs to come in and get taxed. Most locals go to states and buy enough to fit in a 20 ft container and ship home. Most families send kids to boarding school at 13-15 and off to college. Many to England and college in Canada. The reinsurance business has jobs for everyone and tourism has taken back seat. Locals feel the congestion and complain. One Tabor grad is a farmer (one of top 6) and fights off the cement trucks. Locals rent out their homes with pools to executives and make a bundle. But I think that business has felt the effects of 9-11 and Bermuda in turn feels it. And then the hurincane--- The island is only 22 miles long- 60,000 people. All houses must build roofs to collect water. Allowed one car per household. No surf but windsurfing is great. Eric has his board in foc'sle.Will keep in touch.

 

 

Date Length Distance From To
November 14th, 2003 8 days   RBYC, Bermuda Antigua
Crew Onboard Bill Reed, Abbott Sprague, Eric Sprague, Joanna Sprague, Phin Sprague Jr.,
Seth Sprague, Susanna Sprague
Notes and Remarks

Wednesday, November 19th -- Joanna Sprague:
    Greetings all, Lions Whelp is 21 56 N , 60 35 W, 300 mi from Antiqua. Our first night out was a broad reach and we even put up the reacher but woke up to white caps breaking over the caprail, even filled cockpit once. No fishes or boats. We easily did 9-10 kts with working sails up close reach. The low presure system that we were watching started to move and intensified. We have had 20-25 kts steady and rough 9-15 ft seas. We caught up to front this morning, squally and we are now on the other side, 5 kts dead astern. Bright & Sunny, bath day for all. I threw over 3 flying fish that landed during the night. They stink. The lee cloths are a must but the rock side to side is miserable. One game yesterday was "dunking the Lion"- that is getting the main boom END into the water during one of those rock and rolls. I wore rain gear until this morning - just because Stan thru buckets at the helmsman on a regular basis. Auto pilot worked for 4 hours, now know as URI, (unreliable instrument) so the 2 hs on and 5 hrs off is the program. All wear life harnesses, we have a zip line up both sides of boat. Meals can be hazardous. Lots of pasta helps. Whenever we have the generator on, we put on the AC as it gets stuffy. We had all hatches covered and closed but cockpit.
    I am reading Davinci' Code, Phin- new John Adams book, Abbott- The real Mutiny on the Bounty, Seth- Ben Franklin, Bill- the Measure of All things , Eric reads the tags on harnesses and Susanna the labels on cans of peaches and pears. Prof Bill keeps us all informed and educated. Abbott's 3am cigars don't go over so well. It's musical bunks as some are more comfortable than others. It makes for a treasure hunt to find next person on watch. All Port side in focsle is in Eic's bunk. We had black water pump apart, and consequently we are limited to the head usage. Boys to the rail. Refer works great, Micorwave too, just take out the rotating plate. We had scramble eggs and toast this am- a DELIGHT! We have talked to Herb the weather man for crusiers on SSB. We finally got it to transmit. We are in a routine where at dark we all pretty much go to bed, lights out. Sleep is hard, but today is promising with the iron jenny going, we are wasting no time. We should be in on Friday, and Joanna, Seth, SUsanna and Eric have flights home on Sunday and Abbott does too, but Phin will stay on for bit. We are sorry to miss the NYC fundraiser for MNGRR and Eliz play. I am heartbroken. I want a tape of the music! We miss you all and dream of Pina Coladas at English Harbr. PS water 80 Degrees!!!! Love Joanna

Wednesday, November 19th -- Phin Sprague, Jr.:
MY turn:
    The boat is remarkable. Very stiff. Allows one to carry too much sail as she really doesn't put her rail down. We had some periods of 25-30 Knots and we were close reaching at 9.9 knots with the four lowers. We dropped the main staysail and still were doing 9.9 so there was no point in the strain on the rig. Seth did get her up to the 11 knot range surfing.
     Since this is really a shake down there are a number of things that we will be changing in antigua. Remember we manage by exception and so this list is remarkable for it's brevity.

  1. The steering gear locks up when there is a strain on the ruder. It is about all I can do to steer. The auto pilot can not possibly work against the binding. Thus it doesn't. It signals it's displeasure by blowing the fuse. WE are maintaining an even Karma since dificulty steering indicates poor sail trim or heavy sea conditions. This problem has to be worked out, I suspect it is an alignment issue with the aft bearing. I say this because I can approximate the problem by over tightening the autopilot chain.
  2. The KA KA system is not user friendly. The forward head is missing a key part that holds water in the bowel and sewer gases from returning up the pipe. There is no way to by pass the aft holding tank and pump the fwd head holding tank over board. SO if the aft holding tank pump doesn't pump this can be a problem. I doesn't PUMP! I would like to congratulate the genius who failed to check whether or not the pump could be removed from the tank. Or made the hoses long enough to connect the fwd discharge line to the aft discharge line. I am not going to go into details of what I spent 8 hours attempting in 12 foot seas with no joy at the end.
  3. The fwd gray water pump doesn'r work and so the bilge is filled with the gray water and other stuff from the adventure described briefly above.
  4. There is no water pressure in the fresh water system. IF I am correct it is using two of the the same pumps as the Salt water system which has plenty of volume. What gives? Has something to do with the mixers.
  5. The 12 volt charging system for the Nav/starting batteries is not sufficient to keep the starting battery charged when the main engine is running for extended periods. The result is a dead starting battery. This is excitement I don't need. The 230 to 12 volt charger never gets past absorption even if the generator runs for 8 hours. The volt meter in the panel has two lights in series with it and reads way low. I would like Mike and Do Austin to get their heads together and figure out hoe to rewire the DC/vol and AMP circuit in the panel by the nav station to read net amps +/- (charge - draw) at the respective batteries.
  6. The automatic bilge pump is constantly digesting wood chips and crapping out.
  7. The galley stove swings and hits the hull when it is rough. It is also being held on by two self tapping screws. I thought this was designed to clear? What is going on here?
  8. Propane tank connection leaks.
  9. Deck leaks. Port upper bunk, Window on fwd hatch. tool box area
  10. Snap shackles on handy billies are too small, stresses bent them all to hell.
  11. Need 6 more 5/8 ABI belaying pins.
  12. Nav Panel screws lost grip over time crashed open and broke. I glued it back not pretty.
  13. Wiring inside nav panel an embarrassment and the cause of all of the problems.
  14. Documentation of systems. Hoses labled.
  15. Lots of tools. spare hoses, hose connectors, manual pump, wet and dry vacuum. Belts. Way to tighten main engine belt.
  16. Storage lockers in Laz.
  17. Bolts thru bottom of masts. The lower aft shrouds are loose think we got a little more rake added during a period of weightlessness.
  18. Varnish on cap rails has taken a beating.
  19. Improve oil change system.
  20. Ship Awings if they have not already been sent. Make sure that they are shipped correctly or we have to pay duty on them! IN Bermuda they should have been sent to Yacht in Transit Lions Whelp C/o Customs St Georges. Who would ever have guessed. No One I was even given bad information.

    When you think about all the things that are going right this is a very small list. Everyone is to be congratulated that the boat is a real success.
    My plan is to set the boat up in Antigua at the Catamran Marina get it plugged in and the covers up and generally squared away. It would be great if Mike could get on a plane with Janna and have some quite time struggling with these details in sunny Antigua. My thought is asap before she has to go back to work.
    Other people should look into their own schedule as he boat is vulnerable and lonely with out someone on board.

Cheers! Phin

Thursday, November 20th -- Joanna Sprague:
At Catamaran Marinas there is a hotelish place. It is HOT, and we can sleep on deck. All you need are bathing suits and tees, flipflops and I will give instructions on food and items needed! Eric, Susanna, Seth and I return Sunday on American Airlines arr boston 9:22 pm and Laura will pick us up. We leave at 3:55pm. We have stop in Puerto Rico. Tickets purchased 3 day ahead at 540.00. Hope Xmas will be less $$. We have Jimmie Buffet blaring, iron jenny going, brownies in the oven via Eric and Susanna, it is FAC, 79 miles to go, have washed down boat but still very salty. I have lots of projects for you all. Mak, need 8-10" diameter flat macrame protection to put over deck eyes (2" hole) for protecting blocks to deck. Need at least 4 made. More ratlins to do. Varnish, Looking for an inflatable, 12v fans for cabins. BOOKS,reading for anyone books, fish book, bird book, had a LARGE crane TRY 2x to land 100 miles out, couldn't get 6' wing span in between spreader tangs so left, to land on ocean to rest and become shark bait. A diving sea bird glides around for flying fish- we were afraid he was after our lure. Love mom

We were alongside at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club with dinghy off deck for the cocktail party we had. Photo of Seth Gilbane's pumpkin on the stern. He gave it to us on Halloween night as we left and it made it all the way from Newport.
Phuzzy Photo Susanna doing homework Port Tack to Antigua!
Crew photo down below in Bermuda waiting for weather to clear. Work work work Laz photo- Stowing away gear.
Abbott at the wheel These photos come from Gabriel Trajtenberg, who was from Uraguay on board a 40' that came over to look. "Mubuhay" was the name of their boat. Eric is in rigging .
Group meal in the cockpit Three brothers Elizabeth and Susana
Eric in the Rig Abbott steering once again Seth at Sunset