Mobius crossed the Atlantic!

[ChristineKling]

We're currently anchored off St. Anne in Martinique in the Caribbean. We've covered more than 5,000 miles since we left Greece around Nov. 1, so it feels good to just take it easy and enjoy the lovely Caribbean weather. And as on board cook, I'm also enjoying the Brie and baguette lifestyle.

The crossing from the Canary Islands on our 78-foot aluminum boat with no active stabilizers, only paravanes, was rolly, but not not that much worse than it would have been going downwind in the trades on a sailboat. Wayne and I did almost all of our watches at the skybridge helm, which probably did make the roll a bit worse, but the views were best up there. Amazingly one night, I had a flying fish land next to my helm chair on the fly bridge. He was quite the high flyer.

We did our engine room checks about every 2 hours, and the Gardner performed flawlessly. The only breakage we had was a stainless shackle at the top of the port paravane pole. We didn't loose the fish because we had the second retrieval line, but we did have 11 meters of Dyneema trailing aft for a bit and it wasn't until we had brought it aboard that I thought about it getting into the prop. Fortunately, the pole held it outboard and Dyneema floats. Wayne was able to tie a bowline loop in the line and with the help of the boathook, he got it looped over the top of the A-frame boom and we were back to two paravanes in the water. Our worst problem was the Sargasso weed snagging and fouling the lines.

Here are the stats from the trip:

Total Passage Distance, Las Palmas Gran Canarias to St. Anne Martinique: 2718 nm / 3128 miles / 5034 km
Total Elapsed Crossing Time: 13 days 23 hours
Average wind speed & direction: 19kts @ 160 degrees to boat (almost behind)
Average seas: 0.8M surface waves + 3M Swell @ 165 degrees to boat
Overall Average boat SoG Speed over Ground: 8.1 kts/hr / 9.3 MPH / 15 Km/Hr
Average NM per 24 hour day: 195 nm
Total Diesel Fuel consumed: 5072 L / 1340 USG / 1116 Imp. Gals
Fuel Consumption @ 8.1 kts: 1.87 L/NM 0.49 USG/NM 2.03 NM/USG
Gardner engine average RPM on passage: 1448 RPM
Average Exhaust Gas Temperature EGT: 335 C / 635 F

If you would like to know more and see some photos and videos, here's a link to the blog post.
https://mobius.world/taxing-mbius-update-jan-1-15-2023/

 

[ScottC]

Wow! Amazing voyage! Congrats on the successful journey!

 

[long-cours.62]

May be for a motor boat it was not the best season to cross ?
I think remember somewhere around May will less windy ( if my memory is correct , I have some doubts )
But need to stay higher in latitude .
The consumption is good only 39% higher than our former LC62 who was lighter (ok also shorter and a lot less than our actual - 26%. It means 1700lt saved on the passage

Thank for the data

 

[Fletcher500]

Congrats! Thanks for the blog posts, it was fun reading about your adventures. Safe travels.

 

[ChristineKling]

Wow! Amazing voyage! Congrats on the successful journey!

Thanks for the congrats, Scott. We started on this journey all the way back in 2016 when we started designing the boat, so it was a pretty awesome thing to see something that we dreamed up be able to do so well at sea.

 

[bowball]

Brilliant!

 

[ChristineKling]

May be for a motor boat it was not the best season to cross ?
I think remember somewhere around May will less windy ( if my memory is correct , I have some doubts )

The weather isn't as reliable as it once was. Actually, there was a Nordhvn 72 that crossed in November with the ARC, and he had very mild weather. The boats out there now are having mild weather. We wanted to get across in time to spend some of the winter months in the Caribbean. If you cross in May, you need to get out of the hurricane belt in June. We did fine - it was just strong trades, and as sailors who have crossed the Pacific, we're used to that.

 

[Simi 60]

Well done.

Of interest to me in the pics of stabi arms it seems you have no dyneema running from pole end fwd to take the load?

 

[mvweebles]

What an amazing milestone! I watched the walk through of the Gardner engine on your YouTube channel which was really interesting.

Thanks so much for sharing with us! I look forward to future installments

Peter

 

[slowgoesit]

Glad to see the Mr. Gee-2 is working for you! We ran 2900 miles from Seattle to Glacier Bay and back last Summer. Nary a hickup with the engine itself (we won't talk about the hyd pump pto coupling that ate itself though).
Averaged about 7.0 kts. Boat weighed 87k lbs with full fuel. 1200 rpm average, fuel burn was on the main engine was just under 3 gph, or 2.5 nm/usg. You gotta love a Gardner!

 

[klee wyck]

Thanks for this update. Must feel good to put that much water under her keel and confirm the concepts you chose.

Can you comment on what leads to an average speed on this trip of 8.1 kn? Mobius is comfortable a bit above this? This is her sweet spot?

Really awesome numbers for a ship of this size.

Congratulations on this early mark.

 

[twistedtree]

Fantastic that you are off and underway! Let the adventures roll...

 

[ChristineKling]

Well done.

Of interest to me in the pics of stabi arms it seems you have no dyneema running from pole end fwd to take the load?

Hello Simi - The design of the paravane booms is that there is one upright pole and another aluminum pole that is angled forward and attached to the hull to take that forward load. You can see that in this photo, I think. It seems to work well.

 

[ChristineKling]

Thanks for this update. Must feel good to put that much water under her keel and confirm the concepts you chose.

Can you comment on what leads to an average speed on this trip of 8.1 kn? Mobius is comfortable a bit above this? This is her sweet spot?

Really awesome numbers for a ship of this size.

Congratulations on this early mark.

Yes, Mobius is capable of going faster, but we are always looking for the sweet spot with RPM and CPP pitch that will give us the best speed at the best fuel economy. We have been experimenting on the longer passages like the 600 mile passage down the Algerian coast and the 700+ mile passage from Tangiers to the Canary Islands. Both of those we were able to find flatter water with the shorter weather windows, and we averaged slightly higher speeds. With the 10-12-ft. following seas in the Atlantic, our speed would slow a bit in the troughs before the stern lifted on the next wave. Also, the last 5 days we were slowing down to 3 knots 4-5 times a day to pop the paravanes out of the water and try to shake all the Sargasso weed off. Sometimes we even had to go in reverse in those seas to try to get the weed off the rudder. That's my best guess, anyway.

 

[Judy at JWY]

I will be in Martinique for a survey on Wednesday, Feb. 8th. Any chance we can connect? Would love to see you boat!

 

[long-cours.62]

Did you check

Hello Simi - The design of the paravane b

your top speed when full loaded in calm water ?

If look at your website the weight full load will be 50.655kgs

The curve say around 10.8 kts for 180hp
but in the real world is it how much ?
Just by curiosity
But if like us with our actual boat , the former and all before : we never push the throttle to the max and never know our top speed :lol:

 

[Hippocampus]

Love St Anne/Le Marin. Go to lender price for groceries. Less expensive place in that part of the world and they have interesting food.

 

[Simi 60]

Hello Simi - The design of the paravane booms is that there is one upright pole and another aluminum pole that is angled forward and attached to the hull to take that forward load. You can see that in this photo, I think. It seems to work well.

Hi, yes I saw that similar to our h frame.
I guess the strength difference comes from your welding brackets into hull vs our epoxy set bolts into timber rub rail.

 

[ChristineKling]

I will be in Martinique for a survey on Wednesday, Feb. 8th. Any chance we can connect? Would love to see you boat!

Hi Judy,

Yes, it looks like we'll still be here. Made the mistake of having mail forwarded to us via USPS and it seems to have gone walkabout.

I sent you a PM with our contact info.

 

[ChristineKling]

Love St Anne/Le Marin. Go to lender price for groceries. Less expensive place in that part of the world and they have interesting food.

I agree, LeaderPrice is the best place for groceries here. However, all the French food is dangerous for our waistlines.

Today, I will need to get in the water and check out how our silicone bottom paint is doing just to burn off some of the French cheese I've been enjoying!

 

[Hippocampus]

Every time we went food shopping we’d pick one or two items we had no idea what it was. Even when we could translate the packaging with our poor French what was inside not infrequently was a surprise. It wasn’t so much the French food there and in st martin that killed our waists but the bread. The smell of baguettes and brioche baking in the early morning is a killer we couldn’t resist. Worst than a real boiled and baked bagel.

 

[cafesport]

Did that trip sailing in ‘84. Flew a chute the whole way. No auto pilot, no gps, and ridiculous stars at night.

 

[Jeff F]

Did that trip sailing in ‘84. Flew a chute the whole way. No auto pilot, no gps, and ridiculous stars at night.

Sail west until you find land

Edit to add: it's a bit of an inside joke. I met a crazy Frenchman around that time who had done the trip solo with a satnav and no sextant. That was his line.

 

[Jeff F]

Christine and Wayne glad to hear of the successful crossing.

I've caught dyneema in my prop. When it happens the effect is immediate. But in my limited experience it's far easier to clear than nylon or polypropylene. It doesn't jam and tangle.

May the adventure continue!

 

[Hippocampus]

Are you going west east across the pond in the future?

 

[ChristineKling]

Are you going west east across the pond in the future?

We don't plan very far into the future, but I doubt we will head back across the Atlantic. We've been on that side for 5 years. At this point we are heading north up the island chain. We'll probably keep heading north come hurricane season - maybe the Chesapeake, maybe Maine, maybe Nova Scotia, but as I said, all plans are subject to change.

Then come next winter maybe Panama and the west coast. Wayne is from BC and we have lots of friends there. All these trawler Instagramers in the PNW sure do make it look pretty up there.

 

[rslifkin]

Out of curiosity, how tall is Mobius?

 

[South of Heaven]

Well done captains!

 

[ChristineKling]

Out of curiosity, how tall is Mobius?

The air draft is 6.4m / 21’ (top of Arch, not including antennae or davit). Our davit probably adds another meter to that.

You can see all the stats on the boat on our website under the header The Boat: https://mobius.world/mobius-stats/

There is also a gallery of photos there.