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Shelduck - Shelduck's Adventure!



SHELDUCK TO AMERICA

Neil Hegarty

We both enjoy significant birthdays this year, Anne being five years the younger. In order to celebrate in a memorable way I invited her to sail across the north Atlantic to America. Our families were not happy for us to do so on our own so I joined ARC Atlantic 2013.  Gabby (Perry) & Brendan McGarvey accepted the invitation to crew for the Atlantic crossing.

Shelduck was laid up ashore at Descobre Ventos at Doca Belem Lisbon in November 2012 to be prepared for our adventure.

The first job was to replace all standing and running rigging which, like everything else, was ten years old. Shelduck is a Dufour 34 built in La Rochelle in 2003 fitted with a standard, not the tall racing rig and a deep racing, fully lead keel so she is quite stiff to sail. While the mast was down fold away steps were fitted to it. An active radar reflector and a roller reefing unit to the detachable inner forestay with anti twist high tension rope were also added. A small adaptation to existing sails was required also. This will allow us to roll up or reef sails on the inner forestay from the cockpit and still be able to move the forestay out of the way if we want to tack the full genoa upwind. Finally on the rigging side I added a third reef to the main and put the headsail spinlock cleats on the mast to free up space at the cockpit for extra spinlocks for a second spinnaker pole. A second genoa was acquired which will be set with the existing one together on the twin foil. I hope to do most of the downwind sailing with the two genoa's set with two poles and no mainsail. We also have a spinnaker if it is required, possibly, in light wind.

The next issue to face was the provision of energy and I considered a diesel generator, the engine, a wind generator, solar panels and a fuel cell. I decided that the most suitable solution for a boat of Shelduck's size was the fuel cell and so fitted an Efoy Comfort 140 which weighs 7.5 kg. It will keep the batteries topped up without noise, which is a considerable advantage when crew are resting. Watermakers can be troublesome and expensive so I decided to add a 100 litre flexible tank to the existing system and carry 100 litres on deck. Shelduck was not factory fitted with a holding tank so one was installed. All safety equipment was checked and serviced and a discharge plate fitted in case of a lightning strike. Among the final items were charts, courtesy flags and a satellite phone.

Our plan is to leave Lisbon for Grand Canaria in October after Anne's birthday. Having done the ARC we would like to head south and spend Christmas in the Grenadines and visit Grenada, then north cruising the Caribbean to be at Porta de Vita on the northeast coast of Cuba by the 7th of March. For a sailing break, we have booked a two week holiday with a travel agent which will allow us see all the major sites in Cuba while having Shelduck located to easily sail into the Bahamas. We plan then to enter the Intra Coastal Waterway at Fort Pierce Florida,visiting nearby historic cities and sites, and leave Shelduck under cover at a hurricane free location on a canal near Norfolk Virginia late in May hoping to return in April 2015.


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