SV Dawn

Sailing Adventures

  • Dawn Update

    Dawn Update

    Wednesday June 14

    Marina Coral, Ensenada Mexico

    Hello Friends and Family;

    I am about to embark on a voyage that I have dreamt of taking since I was 16. I will have the benefit of satellite weather, communications and tracking of my progress. I invite you to follow along utilizing the link below to see my progress, location and the weather I am encountering.

    If you wish to communicate with me while I am on the voyage I can easily receive emails, texts and in an emergency even phone calls.

    I will send out an update on my adventure from time to time, I hope you enjoy them.

    A little about the passage, it is approximately 3000 Nautical miles (3450 statute miles). My goal is to sail about 125 NM in a 24 hour period however that will vary depending on weather. I will be sailing 24 hours a day and there will be no stops along the way. There is only ocean between Ensenada and the Marquess Islands in French Polynesia my first landfall.

    I am exceptionally well equipped with a complete electronics suite and have conveniences such as a water maker and refrigeration. So if the weather is not too bad it should be a great voyage. I am doing it alone, and the solitude of a month at sea without company is not a problem for me.

    I look forward to hearing from you if you wish.
    My tracking page link, allow a little time for the weather to load:
    https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/SV_DAWN/

    Email address while on passage:
    americanrancher@myiridium.net


    My Phone number while on passage, this number should be used
    in Emergencies only:
    881652416959

    I look forward to hearing from you if you wish.

    Take care, Ben

    Ben Lindner S/V DAWN

  • DAWN Update Tuesday June 16

    Thursday June 16

    Position N 28 42.755 W 119 01.661

    Hello Friends and Family,

    Today finds me in good sailing conditions winds NNW at 9-12 KN. Sea state is easy swell and modest wave height. The sky is overcast and it is hazy. The weather forecast is indicating similar conditions for almost a week. After that there looks to be a lighter winds period. My point of sail is a beam reach and comfortable. I will be transitioning to a broad reach in a few days as the wind backs somewhat.

    If I were to sail a rhumb line course to the Marquess I would be steering 201 deg Mag however the winds are slightly better N of the rhumb line and I am being set South by an approximately 1 KN current. As a result I am steering about 20 deg North of the direct course line.

    The last few days have been somewhat challenging with unfavorable and light winds for the first day and half. That began to change about 30 miles NE of Isla Guadalupe late last nigh. I passed N of the Island at about 2:00 AM but experienced a local calm at that point. A few hours later the winds returned and have been pretty consistent since.

    People wonder why boats are so much work, it is because stuff breaks out here all of the time! Since I left Ensenada a shackle on my traveler has come apart, my BBQ grill mounts have become loose and I have blown a fuse! (The fuse was my error) All easily fixed but you need to have the tools and parts to deal with these minor issues.

    The AIS has been a wonderful asset, the ability to identify traffic 36 miles away with all of their information is great. The addition of transmitting this same information about me to that traffic is a big help to a solo sailer. Also having onboard weather while involving a learning curve is another big plus. It is possible to sail without this equipment and some feel it is best not to rely on it but I for one am glad I can.

    Ben Lindner, S/V DAWN

  • Saturday June 18 DAWN Update Saturday June 18

    Saturday June 18

    Position N 26 08.156 W 121 22.475 450 NM from Ensenada.

    Hello Friends and Family,

    Just after writing to you on Thursday afternoon the winds piped up. I made several sail reductions finally setting a storm jib alone as night approached. I took a conservative approach because I wanted to avoid foredeck work at night in heavy weather. The seas also built and by reducing sail I reduced speed and made for a more comfortable ride. Winds rose to mid to high 20’s and stayed that way until this morning. Anxious to get my speed back up as things moderated I added sail and had a comfortable ride at 6 plus Kn after spending 36 hours at 3.5.

    I am now in winds in the high teens and making decent speed. Skies have cleared and it is beautiful in the Pacific! I have had no traffic in at least 24 hours so I am on my own and out of the shipping lanes. It is hard to imagine what is going on near the coast, I passed dozens of ships including 2 large container ships sitting dead in the water only 6 miles apart 100 miles out to sea. I also passed all manner of ships bound for Asia, South America, Panama Canal traffic and of course lots of ships heading to LA. I contacted the container ship Ever Lissom that crossed 3.5 miles behind me, I wanted to be sure they saw me and of course the officer said he had me on AIS. He was surprised I asked, doesn’t everyone have AIS? This ship is of the same class as the one that blocked the Suez Canal and was also stuck in the Chesapeake for a month. They are enormous, think of the Empire State Building on its side and easily 30 stories tall! It is amazing that they can be accommodated in any port.

    I attempted to make a hot meal late last night, I spilled the soup 3 times before getting it to the stove then once on the stove. My stove is gimbaled and swinging to the stops. That is cooking on a small boat in rough weather! What I didn’t spill was a joy.

    The weather routing computers are telling me to steer further North to stay in moderate winds. They are anticipating the winds will be lighter closer to the rhumb line. In my case I am not sure it is worth adding a significant amount of mileage for the added speed? On the other hand going slow is a bummer and I anticipate that I will have plenty of that crossing the convergence zone.

    Unfortunately I am restricted to using the programs that are provided by Iridum with my satellite communications system. They are terrible and don’t even allow me to send email to BCC addresses. If you are annoyed by this I understand just let me know and I will delete your address from my email list. Because of the very slow transmission speed it is not practical for me to send individual emails.

    Last if you have any questions about my boat or gear for those that get a kick out of that let me know. I could wax poetically about self steering gear!

    Ben Lindner, S/V DAWN

  • DAWN Update Wednesday June 22

    Wednesday June 22

    Noon Position N 21 05.647  W 127 09.189  Overcast, modest swell
    About 900 miles SW of Ensenada.

    Hello Everyone!

    Wow what fantastic sailing! Winds mid teens from the North, beam reaching and seeing 6 PLUS Kn. Sea state calmest of the trip. And it’s warmer! Winds shifted overnight by about 25 deg, as a result I have altered my point of sail to continue in the direction the routing plan is recommending. I am heading more West than the rhumb line to the Marquess, in several days I will make a significant change in course and jibe to almost South. This course will line me up to cross the convergence zone at approximately right angles and with maybe NO loss of wind. I would then continue SSW to Nuku-Hiva.

    I should probably explain briefly what the convergence zone is. This is an area where the weather systems of the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere meet. It creates an unstable area where winds do not prevail or even reliably blow. It’s size and shape can vary significantly daily and seasonally. Oddly in this part of the Pacific the zone is not at the Equator, it is North of it by 5-10 Deg of Lat but varies widely.

    If I were to cross in the wrong location I could encounter hundreds of miles of no wind. In a good location the crossing maybe hardly noticeable. The location of a good point to cross moves constantly. Another factor is currents, the zone can have Westerly currents of up to 2.5 Kn! So you could be becalmed attempting to head S yet moving West at 2.5 Kn, this could cause you to miss your destination or have to fight against the wind to make it. This happened to an experienced friend of mine and he has cautioned me to studiously avoid that type of situation. I am keeping a close eye on on this and will fine tune my approach to match the most advantageous location. The onboard satellite weather reporting system will pay off big time!

    Big boat little boat, so misunderstood by even experienced boaters. I could relate so many stories of what people have said to me regarding this. One friend related how a captain she knew wouldn’t head out to the Pacific in a boat of less than 120’. Another person thought that her 33’ boat was OK but my 27’ wasn’t.

    First off my boat is a “Blue Water boat” meaning that it was designed to do what I am doing, a number of the same model have circumnavigated and my exact boat has been back and forth to Hawaii several times. My feelings are that a smaller boat such as mine well prepared is not inherently more dangerous than a larger boat.

    The primary differences are in speed, stability, and load carrying capacity. Larger boats are exponentially more expensive to own and much more physically demanding to operate. For instance sails become too large for one person to move on a larger boat, if you need to repair or replace a sail it could take several people to do it.

    Likewise when sailing a larger boat the physical effort needed to trim and hoist sails sometimes becomes too much for an owner and requires the addition electric winches. Not so on smaller boats, the entire equation of loads is more manageable on a smaller boat. In my case my boat meets most of my needs, is not overly physically taxing and is modest in cost and labor to maintain. I do desire more stability and thus ride comfort and of course a microwave the rest not so much!

    If you would prefer not to receive these updates please let me know.

    Ben
    S/V DAWN

  • DAWN Update Saturday June 25

    Saturday June 25

    N 17 36.051 W 129 02.599 1200 NM miles from Ensenada

    Hello Friends and Family,

    Yesterday I learned that I had made an error in setting up my Iridium email account. This caused replies to emails I sent out to go to my Gmail account. Unfortunately I can’t receive Gmail messages on my voyage.

    Yesterday was an epic day!

    After reviewing several cruising guides I became increasingly concerned that the navigation recommendations that I was receiving from my weather routing folks were flawed. I altered course to due South at about 9:00 AM, and shortly after that the winds became very light and variable. This was the price I would have to pay to avoid a potentially much more difficult situation S of the Equator.

    Below the Equator the winds are strong and predominantly from the SSE. If I were trying to approach Nuku-Hiva from the North as the routers would have me do I would be unable to make it directly because I would be heading almost into the wind. You need to be at least 45deg off the wind to sail and more angle is better. This can be overcome with tacking however it will add countless miles to a passage and you will be sailing on an undesirable and uncomfortable point of sail for all of it.

    At 11:00 AM I received a new weather report and guess what, they came to their senses and agreed that heading further West was a bad idea!

    The winds remained light that morning and I experimented with a number of different sail combinations. None gave acceptable performance or ride quality, only one option left the Spinnaker! It takes quite an effort to set up a spinnaker single handed, it is usually done with a crew of 3-4 people. Also flying a spinnaker takes skill and attention, if not handled well a big and expensive mess can result!

    The Chute as spinnakers are called has been up for 48 hours straight and doing brilliantly. I have even seen over 6 kn in 15 kn of breeze. However the winds have been more in the range of 7-10 kn. With a pretty wide range of directions changing from time to time 45 deg. I am not flying any other sails as the main would partially blanket the spinnaker. Hopefully everyone is familiar with spinnakers the large roundish sail way out in front of a sailboat? In more modern sailing times these designs have been improved with sub sets of sails for a variety of wind directions and strengths. Mine is conservatively sized and works best in a beam reach to a broad reach. Buying this sail was sort of an iffy call for me, did I really need it? I have learned absolutely yes, a voyager is many times more likely to encounter light winds than heavy. Having efficient sails to use in those situations is really important. I am currently sailing about 100 miles a day, if I didn’t have the right sail it could be half that.

    Solar, I have a very robust system and some may think overkill. My boat came with 160 watts of panels, I rebuilt the system and currently have 560 watts. In the past my electricity production has been more than adequate for my needs, however on this trip it has been cloudy for almost the entire time. As a result I am getting half of the power I would at this time of year and this Lat.

    This together with increased loads is making my solar system look not so extravagant. I may even have to run my engine to make some more power.

    Another time I will get into Watermakers.

    Ben Lindner, S/V DAWN