Category Archives: Sabre Sailboats

Fort Lauderdale Made!

Drivin' South 2016, Sabre 42

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By Rich

After two years of dreaming our moment has arrived! On November 29 Le Saberage pulled into Fort Lauderdale and tied up!

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We’ll continue to post articles with highlights for each leg of the trip, but we thought it only appropriate to post a quick note celebrating our arrival and outlining some of the more fun trip superlatives. Here they are:

Voyage Calendar Period: October 21, 2016 to November 29, 2016.

Voyage Duration: 40 days, less 8 day break for a trip home = 32 days

Passage Days: 24

Lay Days in Port: 8

Miles Covered: ~1,140

Average Miles / Day: 47.5

Days in Intracoastal Waterway: 15

Days in Open Ocean Or Bays: 9

Engine Hours Logged: ~163

Days Traveling Via: Motoring Only- 11; Sailing or Motorsailing – 13

Nights Spent On: Slip – 20; Anchor – 10; Mooring- 2

Miles Single Handed: 767 (including all ocean and open bay passages; ~2/3 of total)

Days Single Handed: 16 (2/3)

Miles Double Handed: 373

Days Double Handed: 8

Groundings: 0

Grounding Scares: HELL YES

Mechanical Problems Causing Passage Delays: 0

Mechanical / Technical Problems Needing Work Arounds: 3 or 4

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Drivin’ South: Tangier Island To Hampton, Virginia Single Handed

Drivin' South 2016, Sabre 42, Single Handing

By Rich

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The evening of Sunday, October 23 found me feeling a bit anxious about Monday’s forecast. As I sipped my evening scotch I listened to the weather over the VHF and looked online at Sailflow. The very same 20-25 knot westerly winds that I could hear whistling unrestrained through my Sabre’s rig were forecast to persist the next day – at least until 11am or so. At that point the forecast called for the winds to clock to the right and to moderate. If I left at dawn – which was necessary if I was to ensure a pre-dusk arrival in Hampton, Virginia – I would be leaving the tight Tangier inlet in a brutal chop and would need to beat straight into that same steep chop for 4-5 hours before the wind moderated and I could reach under more civilized conditions. Continue reading Drivin’ South: Tangier Island To Hampton, Virginia Single Handed →

Drivin’ South: Solomons To Tangier Island Single Handed

Drivin' South 2016, Sabre 42, Single Handing

By Rich

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On Sunday, October 23 I had a wild beam reach from Solomons Island to Tangier Island. I set a full main and jib shortly after sunrise and briefly worried that there may not be enough wind to make it to Tangier before dusk under sail alone. Boy was I wrong. Continue reading Drivin’ South: Solomons To Tangier Island Single Handed →

Drivin’ South: Annapolis To Solomons Island Single Handed

Drivin' South 2016, Sabre 42, Single Handing

By Rich

With a gale forecast to fill in during the evening, I was in a bit of a rush to make Solomons Island well before dusk. I caught a wonderful sunrise after leaving Lake Ogelton and TURNING RIGHT (south) instead of left (to haul out) for the first time since we’ve owned the boat. SO EXCITED.

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Annapolis To Fort Lauderdale!

Drivin' South 2016, Sabre 42

By Rich

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It’s that time of year – when a train of sailboats packs up and head south for the winter. For the first time after two years of dreaming about it, WE’RE GOING WITH THEM! More exciting still, I’m doing most of the trip south SINGLE HANDED!

In fact, the trip is already under way. I’m home for a quick break while Le Saberage catches a brief rest in Charleston, South Carolina. I fly back tomorrow to resume the trip. Today, however, I am have some time between loads of laundry to work the keyboard and get some blog posts out! The articles will be significantly time delayed since I haven’t had any time at all during the voyage to blog.

I’m going to headline the series of articles Drivin’ South and will endeavor to make each as media heavy and commentary light as possible. I’ll also focus as much of my content as possible on “lessons learned” about the passages and destinations to benefit others who plan to head south.

Enjoy!

All Of The Hard Work Was Worth It!

2016 Cruising, Sabre 42

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By Rich

After nine months of dedicating literally every available evening and weekend to fixing up the Sabre, we finally launched her three weeks ago on August 16th. Our laundry list of projects ended with flair, in the form of the most stressful and technically difficult mechanical project I can ever remember taking on: replacement of the centerboard conduit couplers.

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Polishing A “Turd”

Sabre 42, Winter 2015-2016 Projects

By Rich

While trying to defend his lousy workmanship on our cabin sole, our former contractor declared the floor and write off and said he “didn’t mean to insult us” but that he “couldn’t polish a turd.” The floor was so old and trashed, he said, that it wasn’t worth putting much effort into. Here’s how the floor looked after his half-assed attempt at varnishing it, complete with huge brush marks (yes, the varnish is dry here).

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Here’s how the “turd” came out after we fired him and did it ourselves. I’ll let our esteemed readers be the judge of how the ‘turd’ came out.

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Adventures In Varnishing: The Cabin Sole

Sabre 42, Tips & Tricks, Winter 2015-2016 Projects

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By Rich

Between age and the wear and tear we inflicted upon it after two winters of intense restoration work in the interior, our cabin sole was in need of a new coat of varnish this spring. We tried hiring a contractor to the work, but as we detailed in this post, that turned out to be a disaster. So we took the project on ourselves. Here is what we learned about the process. Continue reading Adventures In Varnishing: The Cabin Sole →