FBYC Historic Epic Voyage Series...

Preface: In the October Log, your historian spotlighted member Bob Kate's recent painting entitled "FBYC Epic Voyages" that will hang in the clubhouse to honor intrepid sailing odysseys by club members such as depicted in the painting, the 2012 double transatlantic passage of Wes Jones in his aptly named Fast 40 Valiant. I listed there possible candidates for this commemoration and invited submissions. Based on information kindly received from one of these candidates, I am pleased to present the following epic story from some 27 years ago.

The Voyage of Blow Up

By Jere Dennison

Way back in 1984, before transatlantic voyages became relative commonplace, three FBYC members decided that the monetary exchange rate between U.S. and European currencies favored the purchase of well-found yacht overseas with a subsequent crossing of the 'pond' to its future homeport at FBYC. All three with offshore experience were up to the challenge of a transatlantic, although none had ever done a crossing.

Bill Gieg, Charles McDowell, and Bill Strickland found a bluewater-equipped boat in France that met their requirements. According to Bill Strickland, "The boat was located in the South of France and owned by a French doctor. His wife did not sail, but his girl friend did. The wife insisted he sell the boat." Given the personal predicament of the owner, one can only imagine that the terms of purchase were, let's say, expedient.

During the early summer of 1984, the Swan 44 Blow Up meandered through various quaint and scenic Mediterranean ports crewed in shifts by FBYC members and friends. (The boat's name referred to, not a marriage rift as would be suggested by its history, but rather the owner's admiration of a 1966 Cannes award-winning film by that title.)

In June, Blow Up sailed from Gibraltar to the Canary Islands with the intention of proceeding to the West Indies. However, after various delays and a week in Gibraltar due to foul weather yielding 90 mph winds, it became evident that a crossing could not avoid the potential unpleasantries of the hurricane season. Discretion demanded that Blow Up be stored in Gran Canaria for the remainder of the year.

The delivery crew returned to the Canary Islands the next year in June of 1985 to complete their transatlantic crossing, an uncustomary time for spanning the Atlantic so proximate to the upcoming hurricane season. But there were other factors at work as well: Charlie McDowell, Bill Gieg, and Bill Strickland all had sons with sailing experience who wanted to participate but could not do so during the school year.

While there was a moderate risk of encountering tropical storm conditions without the benefit of all the weather routing services and electronic communications that proliferate today, Bill Strickland relates, "Coincidentally, I had done legal work for a Dr. Simpson, whose name is well known in the 'Saffir-Simpson' hurricane scale. He was a sailor and became our volunteer weather advisor."

It was a noneventful crossing on a downwind sleigh ride to the West Indies propelled by the ceaseless trades. Blow Up cavorted under a main and spinnaker for the first eight days and then only a poled out #4 genoa thereafter as the increasing velocity of the wind called for a reduction in canvas. Thanks to Bill Gieg's precise sextant readings and a set of H.O. 229 sight reduction tables, our FBYC adventurers landed at English Harbor, Antigua 20 days after casting off from the Canaries at an average speed of 6.5 knots. A tropical wave did form a distance back in their wake but caused them no trouble except for some slightly elevated levels of anxiety.

Bill Gieg recalls that "since Bill and Charlie were interested in learning celestial navigation, we turned off all navigation electronics when we left the Canaries and didn't turn them back on until the DR/sextant sights put us within several miles of Antigua."

Interestingly, the Jamestown replica Godspeed left the Canaries about the same time but was only half way across the pond when Blow Up arrived in Antigua. Blow Up chatted daily with the Godspeed on single side-band radios and occasionally communicated to shore through a ham operator with a huge antenna farm in Powhatan County.

The awesome picture of Blow Up under sail above was taken after the boat's arrival in Antigua. Charlie McDowell reminisced "that I made the photograph from the rubber dinghy in big waves off English Harbor, Antigua while Gieg and Strickland plus wives and 'local' crew sailed for her portrait. Thank goodness the dinghy had a sea anchor or I would have been blown to Honduras."

The other picture nearby of the eager crew posing in the cockpit prior to their departure shows (L to R) Alan McDowell (age 19), Charlie McDowell, David Gieg (age 12), Jay Strickland (age 16), Bill Strickland, and Bill Gieg.

Blow Up remained in the Caribbean for the balance of that year, returning to FBYC in the spring of 1986. With its heavy-weather rig, it competed in a number of FBYC racing events that year in the normal Chesapeake light air, while she was accustomed to sailing in 35+ knots. For her performance on the racecourse, Blow Up earned its three owners the coveted Piankatank Trophy in 1986.

Two years later, Blow Up was sold to a Californian who trucked it to a new home port in San Diego.

A fascinating DVD documenting the 1984 - 1985 Mediterranean voyages and subsequent transatlantic crossing of the Blow Up was provided to the Club and will be available in the library for viewing.

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