It’s Never Too Late By Roger Fitzgerald, Skipper of the good ship Ella Trout III

Jesters gathering for the start

It’s Never Too Late

By Roger Fitzgerald, Skipper of the good ship Ella Trout III .

Iwas on holiday with my wife in August 2006 when I picked up a sailing magazine left behind by a previous visitor. It reported on the first Jester Challenge which requires participants to sail single-handed across the Atlantic from Plymouth UK to Newport, Rhode Island in a yacht of 30 feet or less. That is sailing 3000 miles against the Gulf Stream and the prevailing wind. I said to my wife “you know, I always wanted to sail to the Azores, I’m sure I could do this”. She replied “Well do it then”. I was 69 at the time. A hair brained scheme by somebody who should know better you might think? Well you may be right but I did have some experience to call upon.

I’m a practical chap, having started work aged 15 and spent 50 years engineering. I can do most things practical and understand most things technical. I felt more than capable of making and installing all the equipment necessary for such a trip. Also, in my youth I raced dinghies for 10 years followed by another 10 years racing offshore in my Half Ton Cup yacht Ella Trout II. While it was 22 years ago when I had to sell Ella Trout II caused by the industrial decline in the UK and my sailing skills would be rusty I still felt confident I could do it.

Hair brained scheme or not I went ahead. With my racing background I knew I would not be happy with a ponderous long keeled boat befitting my age, she had to be a big dinghy, fin keeled, like Ella Trout II. My researches, such as they were, found reports by delivery crews in particular, suggested of the modern small yachts popular at the time that Dehler were the strongest and more solidly built. And

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Leaving my mark.

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so, it was; not having sailed for 22 years, by the end of September 2006 I bought Ella Trout III a Dehler 29. She was a bare boat, more or less how Dehler had supplied her to the first owner, just wind and depth instruments, a Raymarine 2000 tiller pilot, a few warps and fenders and that was it.

The next Jester Challenge was 2010, which gave me 4 years, plenty of time to make and fit everything needed myself! My complacency was short lived soon after the Jester Azores Challenge was announced. An introductory 1200-mile Challenge from Plymouth, UK to Terceira, Azores, starting May 2008. The race was on. A vast amount of work to be done, a limited budget and now less than 2 years to do it. Apart from sailing her home from the place of purchase and some single-handed sea trials in 2007 the rest of the time up to the start of the Jester Azores Challenge was spent fitting her out. The fitting out is a story for another time, suffice to say it was long cold hours through two winters in the boat yard. I append a list of the principle items to give you some idea.

The Jester Azores Challenge start was on the 31st May 2008 and a five-day sail away from my home port. In the April I was still struggling to get the last bits finished. We launched on May 2nd, anything not done I would have to manage without, I still had to sort out where to store everything, how much food and stores to take, what spares I might need, the list was endless. With the help of friends and family I finally set off for Plymouth on 22nd and quickly began to wonder why I was doing this. Beating south down the Irish Sea against the south westerly was rough and uncomfortable especially when the tide turned against

Navigation station before (below) and after (above).

the wind, it made me very sea sick. My long absence from the sea was taking its toll. The nights were particularly difficult with little sleep, just biscuits or what food I could dash below to get and constantly on the lookout for ships. Things got worse after I rounded Lands End, the wind dropped briefly then returned with a bang, force 7 from the east. I fought my way to windward into Falmouth in the dark and picked up the first buoy I could find and hoped nobody would come and make me move. Nobody came!

I was sick, well beaten up, feeling my age and asking myself “Why the hell are you doing this?” Despite these

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Doubleheader Genoa with working jib

feelings I knew inside I wouldn’t give up.

The gale blew for the next two days and being harbour bound allowed me to assess the damage. The leech of my small jib was shredded/ruined and I had a serious leak

somewhere. I reached Plymouth 4 days before the start which was just enough time to find the leak and take stock. I only had a roller furling genoa and a storm jib, they would have to do. The fore peak was so full of water it was pushing the bow down, I found the fore hatch was separating from the deck. The hatch had to be removed and resealed. It took me most of one day leaving just two working days to finalize everything else.

At the dinner the night before the start there was lots of excitement and hopeful anticipation. By the following morning this had turned into nervous apprehension. Almost everybody taking part were like me, although a lot younger, doing it for the first time. It was a pleasant day with light winds and as far as I know when the starting gun fired all 42 entrants set off.

The first night was difficult, no rest, still suffering a bit from sea sickness and having to keep a constant watch for ships. It was like the trip down to Plymouth living on biscuits and snacks. With succeeding days things got better, Ella Trout was coping well and looking after me and I settled into a sea going routine eating better and sleeping regularly for 80- minute spells. (My estimated circadian or sleep cycle).

The windpilot works very well with the wind before the mast but running could be quite ‘hairy’! Downwind with a quartering sea the waves easily push fin keeled Ella Trout off course. Nine days out we were heading straight downwind in a light breeze, dawn was breaking and a good time for a nap I thought. Suddenly I was wide awake!

The wind had got up and she was careering along yawing 80 or 90 degrees from side to side in a big following sea. The genoa was goose winged with spinnaker pole and the full mainsail was held out with a preventer. As I got on deck the wind got behind the mainsail and she slewed to leeward, was knocked down and laid across the sea. The full main was stuck up into the air and holding her down on her side. I quickly realize if we got a breaking wave we could be in trouble. The jambing cleat holding the preventer was on

Finishing Line in sight.

the low side and awash. I struggled to control its release, I did not want to cut the preventer and let it go with a bang and break something. I couldn’t control it and it did go with a bang, fortunately nothing broke. I shortened sail, set her going again with the wind on the quarter and went below for a nerve calming cup of tea!

I arrived in Terceira at 4 o’clock in the morning in strong winds and took shelter anchoring under the lee wall of the Harbour for the night. In the morning there were many hands to help me into the marina in the blowing conditions. I was the third to arrive and, over the next few days, as the Jesters came in every skipper had a big grin on his face. Most of us had never done anything like this before and we slowly realized that alone we had prepared our little ship and sailed her 1200 miles across the ocean and arrived safely. The sensation of achievement and comraderies was infectious; it was a very happy time.

I know now, with the benefit of hind sight, the ride to Terceira and the return to the UK with my son-in-law was relatively easy compared with what I would experience later. However, I had learned a lot and still had much to do before the Jester Challenge proper in 2010. The next winter was going to be like the last two; long cold days working in the boat yard.

One of the smaller jobs: I had made a cutlery drawer to fit in the locker under the galley. The problem was when heeled on port tack if you opened the locker the cutlery drawer flew out and if you didn’t catch it the contents were scattered over the cabin floor and if you did catch it, you couldn’t hold on, and you and the contents ended up on the floor anyway! I watched with some amusement when it happened to my son-in-law.

Suffice to sa,y much work was completed and in 2009 I needed a final test run before the main event in 2010 so I decided to sail clockwise round the island of Ireland. A link to a comprehensive narrative of this trip can be found at the bottom of the page.

It was both testing and rewarding and I was growing in confidence; I was sure I could get to America next year.

The last winter was not so much working on the boat but more about the planning, if you go it alone you have to

Ella Trout III crossing the finishing line – Castle Hill Light Newport RI

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do everything yourself. What should I plan for? If things went wrong, I could be out there for weeks. How much water, no water maker, any additions would have to come from the sky? How long would fresh food last, no refrigeration? Tinned food had liquid; dried food needed added water? I wrote a seven-day menu plan to help me decide. I worked on 35 days, which was too ambitious, and for each item I added 25 or 50% depending on its importance. Then there was insurance, a visit to the American Embassy in London to get a visa, grab bag contents, drugs and medication and first aid stores. My doctor said, “You won’t need antibiotics, there are no bugs out there”. He was wrong!

My trip to the start at Plymouth was much better this time not only in plenty of time in fine weather but with one of my nieces as crew. A spectator boat was organized for all the many families and friends to see us off, Ella Trout had 22 supporters. The weather was fine and the first few days were very pleasant but trouble was just over the horizon. I started to feel unwell, obviously one of my visitors had left me with a ‘stowaway’, a virulent flu or cold type infection. By night fall the first storm coincided with me feeling absolutely dreadful. I managed to fully reef the main and genoa then retired to my bunk and left her to it. All through the night I could hear her crashing and banging about waiting for something to break knowing I would struggle to cope if it did. We survived the night but the stowaway persisted for another fortnight. It made me very lethargic, struggling to eat, no appetite, but if I didn’t eat, I got sick. I did turn back at one point because I thought I was dangerously lethargic but shortly turned west again. We had spells of calm when I tried to sleep and some very rough weather with regular 30 knots of wind when Ella Trout had to look after us both. I understand several Jesters retired.

Could anything else go wrong in the first two weeks? Well yes.

Day 3, nearly run down by fisherman who was closing at 18 knots, missed us by 50 yards

Day 10 Batteries flattened by electronic fault. Resolved but the problem would persist

Day 11 Water tank empty because at the celebrations at the start. The water tank wasn’t topped up. It was a major decision to carry on and rely on water bottle reserves and the rain.

Day 12 lost winch handle overboard, two left. Day 13 The genoa tumbled onto the deck. The jib halyard had chaffed through. With everything I thought I needed using the spinnaker halyard and a climbing harness it took me an hour and half to climb the mast. Conditions were calm but at 14 metres above the ocean the movement was enormous. I was bashed and beaten all the way up. Finally, at the top I attempted to pass the line over the sheave and down inside the mast. No matter how I tried my fingers were too thick to get the line far enough over for the weight to drop. After half an hour I gave up viewing the climb down with apprehension. An hour later I was back on deck badly bruised, exhausted and very low.

Newport City Medal

Ella Trout III returning on a ship

The next fortnight was typical Atlantic weather with depressions passing through. They brought strong head winds if they were close but pleasant freeing winds in between. My stock of water was going down but heavy rain allowed me to collect 6 litres as I passed by Titanic. On 15th June we had gale force winds with gusts up to 50 knots. That evening I had urgent calls asking me to try and contact Amadeus. The following day, Day 25, I learnt Amadeus had been lost but thank goodness Andy had been rescued. On the same day I noticed that two strands of my port lower shroud had parted and one on the starboard side. The weather had been worse than I realized, a low of 980 millibars, I learnt afterwards. I tightened up the shrouds but after the next bout of heavy weather more strands had gone. I set up a jury rig to support the mast.

The chart plotter had been spontaneously rebooting throughout the trip turning the radar on and my alarm off which meant if I was asleep the alarm wouldn’t wake me and the batteries would be run flat. Also, it was not showing the AIS signals when ships approached, it was a constant worry. As I tacked westward along the coast towards Narragansett Bay in thick fog the plotter suddenly stopped recording my position, the boat track just stopped. I was close in shore hoping the big vessels, whose engines I could hear, would pass to seaward. I had to find a port hand buoy at the entrance to Narragansett Bay and turn north to Newport passing the next port hand buoy only half a mile away guarding Bretton Reef. I found the first buoy and turned north. Unbeknown to me the wind and tide was pushing me east, instead of passing the next buoy to starboard it went by unseen to port. Suddenly there was an almighty bang, I was thrown forward smashing my face on the instrument panel and breaking my glasses. The jib tumbled onto the deck and Ella Trout banged about on the rock. Recovering myself I started the engine, pulled the mainsail in tight and threw the helm hard over and drove her off the rock. The chart plotter now showed my position; on the rock!! By happy coincidence Billy Black, local photographer, who had been looking for me appeared out of the fog and guided me to a fantastic and generous welcome at Newport Yacht Club. Ella Trout was badly hurt but she and I were destined to go on to have many more adventures. Fortunately, she was

Cruising & Sailing Florida, The Southeast & The Bahamas already booked to go home on a ship due to the generosity of other members of my family where she would be repaired and made stronger. Life was definitely made easier by the wonderful support from all my family.

Having come so far, I knew we had unfinished business. We would be back for the next Jester Challenge sailing both ways.

And so, it was Ella Trout and I sailed both ways in the 2014 Jester Challenge having completed the 2012 Azores Challenge in between. Our final Jester Challenge was to the Azores 2016 when I was 79. We had ten magnificent years and sailed 25,000 miles together. We now spend each summer racing with my grandsons, quite successfully, in the local Sailing Club Regatta.

So “It’s never too late”, if you have worked all your life with no opportunity, when you retire look upon it as your ‘Gap Year’ and follow your dream.

Ella Trout’s daily blog at http://blog.mailasail.com/ellatrout3

Some days you will only find a position if I was busy or having problems, otherwise they record all the action! To read the narrative of my sail round Ireland scroll down to 2009, click Beat round Ireland, then Pwllheli to Pwllheli.

NOTE: You can also find video and web page links our web page: https://southwindsmagazine.com/ then menu item Jester Challenge.

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