MacGregorSailors.com

I plan on sailing my Mac26M to the Bahamas in June 2017, from Florida. I would prefer to sail there with other Mac. or sail boats. Safety in numbers. My wife would go then also.

Well I have sort of changed my plans to do mini lobster season upper keys last week of July however if there are several macs wanting to try bimini that week ....I've would prefer to go there ..safety in numbers ... if the weather looks good last week of July and several people are interested in going I'd make the jump across also...I've changed my mind based on thinking no one would go but if so I'm definitely up for changing it back

I'm checking periodically; more often as the season grows closer and tinkering with the M - Hopeful we can get a nice group together and not let an opportunity to pass us by......

We would be game !

Following are a couple links from about 11 years ago when the Conch Cruisers went...

First one starts here...

http://thecyberbuddy.com/sailing/bimini ... cruise.htm

A nice individual's report...

http://thecyberbuddy.com/sailing/bimini ... cruise.htm

If you search you can probably find some of the group trip reports out to the Dry Tortugas also.

I have a couple suggestions...

1. Prepare your boat and yourself as if you were making the crossing alone. If conditions get bad you could be separated and find yourself alone. Remember that if some are traveling even 1/2 knot different in speed soon they will be out of sight with one another. I know on one of their Dry Tortuga trips the wind came up and boats were soon separated from each other. You don't want to be the one that hasn't prepared your boat and the others are now held up helping you .

2. Preperation means knowing the dynamics of crossing the Gulf Stream. You don't just set a direct course for Binini if you want to make the crossing an effecient one.





Notice above even though I was on a heading far south of Bimini I was swept north and the route ended up looking like a "S".

Some notes on a stream crossing and this is from other sources and what I used. You don't want to try an maintain a heading directly to Bimini regardless of if you cross further south like I did or closer to Miami. Your course should look like a “S”. If you try and run a direct heading you will be crabbed more and more into the current and your speed will really slow down. Bear south and you will run south of the true heading for a ways until you get into the stream. Then still on the same heading it will start sweeping you north until you are above the true heading, middle of chart above. Then as you come out of the stream you will start bearing back south towards the true heading and end up in Bimini if you did it all correctly and you will have good speed all the way as you won't be fighting the stream.
Just past midway where there is an 'arrow' on the chart and I veered north to let that ship pass that moved me further north than where I wanted to be and as it became more evident to me I finally had to turn more east and slowed fighting the stream that was still working to some degree over there. You can see where I did that between the two smaller arrows. Once I figured I had moved far enough east I started back on the original heading or close to it. If I had it to do again I would of set my heading another 10 degrees further south of Bimini to start with as it would of been easier and fast to of corrected by having to run more north at the end of the run. Before you cross get on the Internet and study up on this some. How far you choose to head south of Bimini will relate also to your intended speed while crossing.



Above is my return from West End, which is way north of Bimini. The current and wind direction swept me even further north than I though they would so I should of taken a heading of about 260 probably. It is easier to correct in the direction the stream is running, vs. against it.

http://1fatgmc.com/boat/mac-1/2015%20Ba ... ge-33.html

You guys have a good trip and yes, numbers can give you some safety but preparation is the best safety you can have. Don't put your life in the hands of someone else if you don't have to because they might not be able to render the help you need. I also have some tips in the following link about going to the Bahamas, but they pertain more to some degree if you are going past Bimini ....

http://1fatgmc.com/boat/mac-1/2015%20Ba ... der-1.html

Do your homework and you will have a great trip. Bimini is nice, but if you ever can try and get past there. You won't regret it. I plan on totally bypassing Bimini on the next trip,

Sumner

============================
1300 miles to the Bahamas and back -- 2015

The MacGregor 26-S

The Endeavour 37

Trips to Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Mac-Venture Links

End of July is too late for me, I start teaching on June 19th. I would vote for late May or very early June.

My friends, please keep this in the back of your heads. "Sailing offshore and tight schedules are a dangerous mix". I would like to join you guys as well. I'll sleep on it!

geo_pr1 wrote:My friends, please keep this in the back of your heads. "Sailing offshore and tight schedules are a dangerous mix". I would like to join you guys as well. I'll sleep on it!

I agree, a couple of days should be added to account for weather windows.

I am also thinking about going over in June 2017 in my 05Mac26M with a 2010 Yamaha F50 outboard, just head it service at dealership and bought new red jib sail so my boat can be seen out on the ocean. Just don't really want to go alone.

I agree with having a tight window of only a week it adds to the danger...it tends to push a person to take more chances .... ultimately it would ideal if everyone was retired and had the entire summer to go with no responsibilities or things that needed tended to back home where they could wait out 2 or 3 fronts if necessary.... but most don't have that luxury and so the safety in numbers is meant to TRY and compensate partially... knowing your priorities of valuing your safety over those responsibilities is obviously paramount ...I'll give up my job and find another before I'd take on the Gulf in 12-14ft seas .... everyone must know where their limit is .... and a solid plan must be formulated with safety and contingencies in mind and everyone's input taken in and all suggestions weighed

As example if this trip were to go down I would suggest we leave from angel fish creek and motor straight out not bearing towards bimini but straight east until the gps point breaches the point where you can sail into bimini

Everyone knows these boats don't point well and the winds are generally 3 out of 4 days coming from the east and you can't sail dead into the wind.... if you can motor 10 miles out straight east from angelfish creek you could sail all the way into bimini under sail only even in wind coming from east if you had an engine failure .... (that's just an example) but a good solid plan with plans made for when something happens unexpectedly....I plan to replace all my stays soon ....I can bring my old ones in the event someone breaks one etc etc

whgoffrn wrote:..... if you can motor 10 miles out straight east from angelfish creek you could sail all the way into bimini under sail only even in wind coming from east if you had an engine failure ......

The problem is that trying to motor straight out on a 90 degree heading you are still being swept north the whole time so you don't end up being as far south as you hoped to be. Meaning you will still be trying to sail into an east wind.

Look at the picture I posted above. I had the boat on a 78 degree heading, only 12 less than 90, but was still being swept north. It would be very hard to sail to Bimini in a good time window with any east component wind. Just plan on motoring on a heading of 80 to 85 degrees for the run and everything will be fine. The stream will carry you north and deposit you right where you want to be.

If you point the boat further south than 90 degrees to actually try and get straight across so you could then sail north you will be using a lot of your boat speed to just overcome the streams current and won't be making much speed towards your destination and will spend a lot more time in the crossing.

Sumner

============================
1300 miles to the Bahamas and back -- 2015

The MacGregor 26-S

The Endeavour 37

Trips to Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Mac-Venture Links

Without knowing the exact conditions, maybe motor sailing would be a good option, all the power sailor boys have big engines that would be happy to just idle along.

I regularly motor sail as the wind has a habit of coming from the direction I want to go, so I can point a bit higher and still keep good speed, fuel use is really minimal even on my juice guzzling motor, the motor just ticks along giving that bit of extra push.

I think the point is that you dont want to be making the trip for any longer than you need to, minimal exposure time is a great safety factor

Anybody serious in this loop ?

I could be wrong but I would think anyone posting here would be..... as I see it the biggest challenge I see is getting dates down..... most like the idea of safety in numbers. I am planning a trip late in July actually lobster mini season. And why I chose that date was I wanted a back up plan in the event the weather wasn't conducive to making a crossing .... I already have vacation pre approved for that week however if I'm open to change weeks

As I see it getting several boats all on the same set of dates being the challenge and time is running out.... So I have a new proposal to try to organize the possibility of this happening

Coordinate this trip to coincide with the other bimini trips crossing but first all those who are serious must decide on a month and be specific if u can be flexible my vacation is already set for last week of July but I would change it to early June IF it looked like this trip might actually go farther than talking about it on here

3 things to get the ball rolling
1 WHO is SERIOUS
2 what month do you propose and are u able or willing to change days if majority vote is a different date
3 of the majority votes for a different date are u flexible to change your proposed date


1. I am serious
2. The date I'm proposing is lobster miniweek in july to give a back up plan in case weather is bad
3 yes i am open to changing dates

Sorry if it came out wrong , I meant no harm ........ I am extremely flexible seemed like interest was dying out ! Lol.......