Dauntless Crosses the Atlantic Again

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
How about back to Dauntless as suggested in post #197 please.

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Relax, it's just gap filler between the brief "all is well reports".

Our friend Richard is half way to destination. Looks like he will respect the planned timeline.

Lou_tribal said:

Our friend Richard is half way to destination. Looks like he will respect the planned timeline.

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You say that as if he is the one in total control of that.

Lou- you challenged us on guessing his 7day fuel burn. Do you know what the real number is?

Ski in NC said:

Lou- you challenged us on guessing his 7day fuel burn. Do you know what the real number is?

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The better question is does Richard know....

Some fresh news from Richard:

Today, has become one of the worst days in terms of rolling.
Winds were very strong out of the NE all night, but have now gone easterly.
That leaves us with 10-12' waves predominantly, many 15' every min and the occasional 20'.
Because the winds have been SE thru NE last 7 days, we have similar seas. So most waves are behind, a good portion are 30° off stern, causing 20° rolls.

2016 Atlantic Passage Day 09
Distance 137nm
24h average speed 5.72kts
Wx Sct Cu 7+ 1022 78° 59° 80° 08024g33

Rpms cont at 1500

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Ski regarding the real fuel burn for the 7 first days, no clue yet, stay tuned!

Here you go.

gaston said:

Could a Fisher 42' be the ideal long distance boat ? I think so

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You are absolutely right. I owned during 12 years this kind of motorsailer built for me in 1990 by Northshore Yachts Yard in South of England ( the first one with a white hull). Fantastic boat, hand made, high quality built. I had a Ford Lehman Sabre and furling sails, long keel, very comfortable. From Cape Verde to Barbados, 13 days ( and night), rough sea...Of course, in light winds and beam seas, she is rolling as a pig... ( a gentle pig!). I miss this yacht still afloat in Spain.I think the company is closed now. I saw one of these Fishers in British Colombia. An older version had a small aft cabin instead of the cockpit. As well, a 46' model has been produced.I think this is the only yacht in GRP which doesn't make me afraid about OFNIS, the hull is very thick.

About the Richard's passage, chapeau bas! I remember when I did it, it was in march ( too late in the season) with the same kind of waves and winds.But I was younger...

Especially for Ski who cannot wait knowing if he was right about fuel, here are some news from Richard about his fuel burn:

Would need to check after 14 days for better accuracy.
Yesterday, end Day 9 I've used 140 to 0 150 gal BUT I'm reading a sight tube that is occulted with roll.
About sight tubes. Go from feed to about 5" below top of tank Therefore I don't know what's in tank until it gets down to 280 gal of the 350 max.
Thus, my first fuel usage came after 9 days. 70 gal below full in each tank. So that's 140g/9days= 15.6 gal /day.
Tanks are diff shapes, thus* sight tube on starboard tank is 2" longer. So this trip I've changed tanks every 24hr. So I compute use for each tank. The fact that use came within* 0.01g/hr confirms it. While much lower than expected, (I'd expected 1.3/g, hoped for 1.1 or 1.2) It's also confirmed be on 2014 crossing,* sight tubes became useful after the 5th day and by the end of the 9th day, I'd used 400 gal! Vice 150

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Looks like a win for CPS.

CPS guessed 130 gal at day 7.

I guessed 150 at day 7.

Richard is estimating 140-150 at day nine.

Sounds like he has some good margin in fuel load.

Ski in NC said:

Looks like a win for CPS.

CPS guessed 130 gal at day 7.

I guessed 150 at day 7.

Richard is estimating 140-150 at day nine.

Sounds like he has some good margin in fuel load.

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Do you mean I am looser?

You guessed 210. Hooonnnnk!

Ski in NC said:

You guessed 210. Hooonnnnk!

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Nooo sorry wrong wording, it was my wine brun rate!!!!

Lou_tribal said:

Nooo sorry wrong wording, it was my wine brun rate!!!!

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You better go have a few more then. Don't want any more mix-ups.

kmacdonald said:

You better go have a few more then. Don't want any more mix-ups.

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Sorry, my sincere apologizes, iI will now retire in an unexplored himalayan mountain out of civilization so my family honour will not pay the price of my infamy.

Guys, from our last exchange I feel Richard starts to feel tired. It would be nice from you to send him some encouragement, I am sure he would appreciate it.
Go to his onReach and message him your support, pretty sure he will like it.

Yes!, very good idea.
I send him a message.
* This system Delorme in reach sounds to work well. Here we do not use it in Europe..Better than SSB with sailmail?

About the trip, the worth is when you are in the middle of the way. Day afer day with nothing to see than sea, waves, sun...if the conditions are not relax, it is not comfortable.

One more thing, may be: engine noise even loud. When tired, you can be anxious and hear "strange noises"..

Lou_tribal said:

Especially for Ski who cannot wait knowing if he was right about fuel, here are some news from Richard about his fuel burn:

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Doing the math from post 219, isn't the fuel burn per hour a little low? Even according to Richards statements of previous crossing?

15.6 gal per day comes out to be 0.65 gal per hr.

While beating the standard power curve chart for the 135 Lehman at 1.3 gal per hr at 1500 rpm down to 1.1 or even 1.0 might be possible....anyone really think it is down to 0.65 gal/hr?

Most people have always posted that the charts are pretty accurate....

^^^^^^I agree. Too good to be true.

psneeld said:

Doing the math from post 219, isn't the fuel burn per hour a little low? Even according to Richards statements of previous crossing?

15.6 gal per day comes out to be 0.65 gal per hr.

While beating the standard power curve chart for the 135 Lehman at 1.3 gal per hr at 1500 rpm down to 1.1 or even 1.0 might be possible....anyone really think it is down to 0.65 gal/hr?

Most people have always posted that the charts are pretty accurate....

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I couldn't correlate this sentence, "It's also confirmed be on 2014 crossing,* sight tubes became useful after the 5th day and by the end of the 9th day, I'd used 400 gal! Vice 150" with what he's saying. Obviously he doesn't have floscan as someone thought he did earlier. I wish he had a means of accurately measuring his use. I'd like to hear how many nm he's covered and how many gallons he thinks he's used, but if he's doing 5.72 knots at 0.65 gal/hr then that's 8.8 nmpg and that just doesn't sound logical. If he's gone 9 days at 1.1 gal/hr that would be 5.2 nmpg which is still amazing. But if that were true, then at the end of 9 days he would have used 237 gallons, not 140. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Two things helping with the low burn rate: one is his low speed. Averaging around 5.5kts is well below hull speed, a speed none of us would run in the ditch. Too slow. Second is surfing. He's had fairly consistent following seas, combined with the slow speed means a good part of the time the engine is not needing to push very hard.

So I think the burn rate is in the realm of the possible.

Also hard to read sight tubes accurately with pitch and roll.

Some fresh news from Richard:

2016 Atlantic Passage Day 10
Almost exactly as yesterday
24:00 137nm 5.71kts 21°05.538n 41°18.003w Avg P+1.8°/-2.2 R+15°/-10
Worst Roll +22°/-20°

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I told Richard about our discussion concerning putting sails on his paravane rig. He said he had thought about it but the mast was not designed to take a forward load.

I believe Richard said on his west bound trip he averaged 3.6 NMPG and 1.6 GPH.
If he has gone 1350 miles (Hierro to ~where he is, straight line) @ 3.6 NMPG = 375 gallons. At 4 NMPG he would have used 337 gallons. Using the 1.6 GPH, after nine days he would have used 346 gallons. He has what, 1200 miles to go?

And some more:

Updated fuel 440 to 460 gal remain. Note, it's very difficult to get better read of sight tubes with boat movement and the engine running.
Atp, I'm sure I have at least 440, likely 460, possibly 480.
1.0 gal/hr seems v reasonable to me.
As soon as we have smooth water, I'll give more precise figure.

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We wont know an accurate fuel burn until he fills up. Of course that's just my opinion.

HopCar said:

I told Richard about our discussion concerning putting sails on his paravane rig. He said he had thought about it but the mast was not designed to take a forward load.

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That's an easy fix.

The update Lou Tribal just posted took his fuel usage from 140 or 150 gallons to 240 or 260 gallons used. A big change and far closer to reasonable.

How many miles does he have remaining?

As straight line, it looks to be about 11-1200 miles.

I used 21deg042'N, 41deg38'W, came up with 1570nm to Barbados. I must have goofed somewhere.

Edit- My goof. It is 1570nm from my position!!

NM left in trip comes up around 1130nm straight line, not great circle.