Speaker for Tuesday 22nd January 2013 - Dermot Gordon

Photo: President Ross Torrens greets Bernie McKenna, with Press Officer John Dobson and Vice President Graham Kane

Talk by Dermot Gordon about sailing from Gran Canarias to St. Lucia

Our President Ross Torrens welcomed members to the meeting and then introduced our speaker for the morning, Dermot Gordon. Dermot gave an exciting talk, slide show and short video presentation about sailing from Gran Canarias to St. Lucia in an Atlantic Rally.

Dermot began his talk with a short mention of how he first got interested in sailing - his daughter thought she would like to try sailing, so Dermot went along to keep her company. She didn't take to it, but Dermot was instantly hooked. There follow quite a few years of 'messing around in boats' locally, before a friend (Ivan Campbell), who had a cruiser, heard about 'The Atlantic Rally for Cruisers'. This was meant to be a family style trip from Los Palmas to St. Lucia. It would be open to boats of 29' to 80' and limited to 240 entries (although more eventually took part), and would be around 2800 sea miles. Ivan, Dermot and four other friends thought this would be a great challenge to prepare for, so decided to give it a go and entered the rally (not a 'race' as this would give insurance problems!).

Ivan's boat, the 'Ocean Hobo', is a 46' cruiser of 15 tons. It is twin masts and fitted with a 50hp diesel engine (for docking and emergency use only in the rally). It has 3 cabins (ideal for a crew of 6) and all mod cons. However, right from the start there were problems with the generator, which would only work when the engine ran, that took fuel, so they know that they would have to stop for refuelling in the Cape Verde Islands (and thus waste time). And then they found the fridge didn't work, fresh food had to be eaten or then thrown overboard, leaving just a diet of tin food and pasta.

On the map, it looks a fairly straight line between Gran Canarias and St. Lucia, but as this was a sailing rally, the boats had to follow down the coast of West Africa, before picking up the 'trade winds' to take them across the Atlantic. This meant that the beautiful blue seas of golden sunsets, could (and did) change dramatically with the weather. Dermot explained in detail the layout of the boat and the very strict safety rules and tasks the crew had, which was essential for a safe crossing.

Initially the crew spent quite a lot of their off duty time with emails and ships 'blog' for the interest of the folks at home. However, within a week, they found that the satellite phone on which this all depended had used up most of the £400 they had pre-paid use of. Economy of use was then strictly adhered to.

The start of the rally from Los Palmas was chaotic, with 277 boats all making a run towards a marker buoy outside the harbour, but once at sea with the fleet spreading out over the 100s of miles, it was idyllic (weather permitting!). Dermot had some beautiful slides and a lovely short video of Dolphins as they swam around the bow or the boat, or jumping out of the water to the cheers of the crew - Dermot said it really looked like they were enjoying 'showing off' and having the company in the ocean.

After about three and a half weeks and some 3100 miles St. Lucia came into view. It had been a great adventure, but possibly one that Dermot wouldn't want to repeat - it was really a bit too long. In terms of the rally, the crew had done very well for their first attempt. They were the only boat from Ireland to complete to trip, they arrived 44th overall and 7th in their size class, and they also had the oldest crew member of any boat (Joe Gaston, who celebrated his 80th birthday on the voyage). It had been a fantastic trip, and Dermot was pleased to be able to tell us all about it.

The talk concluded with an all to short but highly interesting question and answer session. We wondered if Dermot had got seasick - no, but moving about the boat, especially when cooking, was a bit tricky. As was the 'sea legs' when they finally reached St. Lucia and tried walking on firm land. How did the smaller boats cope with the trip - there wasn't anything very small, but in general, they did very well, being quite manageable. Was the crew enough - yes, six was an ideal number. There were enough for the duty rota, and not too many for ease of movement in the boat. We also asked about the rations on board (if this was done again, there would be a far better ratio of different foods and far less pasta, which was given away in bulk at the end of the voyage!), and the rules of the rally and possibility of people cheating (in general it came down to trusting people to be honest, much like in golf where you wouldn't mark your card with a four if you took six strokes).

A vote of thanks was proposed by Graham Kane, who said that he very much enjoyed the talk for two reason. One, as it brought back many happy memories of his own sailing in open seas, and two, for the wealth of information and experience Dermot's fascinating account of the voyage gave to the members. The President passed on our thanks, and the members showed their appreciation.

(Secretary, Mike Turner)

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