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New-Providence and Exuma Islands

May 2nd - 12th 2009

Vessel: Lagoon 440, owners Version, 2x 55HP

Equipment: Generator, VHF, AutoPilot Raymarine, Watermaker, Icemaker, AC, Diving-Compressor

Provider: 360yachting

Journey: approx. 160nm, 9 days

Setting:

Jan just finished his Coastal-Skipper and VHF Certificate in January 2009 and it was clear that we didnt want to spend a holiday with other people in a packed boat. Albeit the rest of the Crew (Mirja, Britta and Georg) didnt have little to no sailing experience we wanted to take the challange and to enjoy the fun. While Jan being made redundant and sitting at home he spend quite some time in identifying the right sailing area (moderate winds, little waves and swell, little tide and current). We found the Bahamas. Jan sturdied the area in great detail i.e. where to go, read tons of reports about sailing there, whatched clips on youtube about the vessle, anchoring etc. in order to be certain about all and any circumstances which might occure. Given that the rest of the crew had no clue how to handle a vessel and do the knots, an intro-presentation was prepared.

Yes: there were a lot of warning from super-skippers beforehand. They were all proven to be wrong. A good preperation and low-risk-area spiced up with a good insurance (which we didnt needed) and we kicked off.

Incidents:

Got lost in a very shallow area at Shoud Cays

Hoisting the main sail while the battens were messed up by the lazy jacks ropes

Lost the clevis at the head of the mainsail without having any spare (took the one from the anchore-pressure-mitigating-rope)

Leakage alarm went on and not off anymore (the floater of the bilge pump was a bit dirty at night)

Dinghi motor didn't stop (annoying)

The vessel:

The Lagoon 440 is very luckery cat. With the given specs the crew is totally independent of fresh water. Once stocked up, a cruise lasting 2 weeks or more is easily possible without visiting any harbour. It seems big and it is. The showers are working perfectly - hot and cold sweetwater came with decent pressure. With the watermaker on board and a capacity of 60l ph it is as good as being in a hotel (minus the service, well one cld train the crew...).

It runs very easy, the furling head-sail is unfurled while putting the rope on the rear electric whinch. Shifting it is as easy as with any other sail-boat as the head-sail is not a very big one. The main sail is brought up with the starboard (electric-) whinch. One has to be a bit careful that all ropes are running smoothly and that the battens are not cought by the lazy-jacks-ropes. Trimming the sail is a matter of using the traveller intensively. Its advisable to install a lazy guy while sailing with winds from the back and waves coming in from the same end. The main sale is massive.

Crossing against the wind is a bit tricky, I would say that one is loosing 30° on either side min. With all other winds the boat runs nicely and it doesnt show you the wind pressure as it doesnt bend over into lee side. So one has to watch the wind-indicator. The first reef should come around 18knots and the second around 23knots as an indication - if you want to treat it well. I would keep the sails up a bit longer if the wind comes in a bit more from behind.

As an indication the vessel makes 8+knotes with apparant wind around 14knots and true wind 90°/270°.

Using the engine is pretty simple. One can save fuel (it takes very little anyway) if using only one engine at a time if one is motoring a bit longer and is not in a hurry at the same time. It doenst cost a lot of speed. Manovering is very simple. I compare it with a tank. One engine ahead, the other back or neutral... it dosent require much space to undertake a 360° turn nor much action. Easy. Given the superstructure and the big hull above the surface stronger winds impact the monovering quite a bit.

One big plus is the litlle drought of 4.3 feet.

Cruising Area:

The Inner-Bahamas are shallow as hell. Whether it is sandbanks or coral-blocks - navigating in 6 feet water is a bit stressful. There are hardly any markers and sandbanks doo shift. Charts are not necessarily right eventhough they are fresh out of the press. So a sharp lookout is at times mandatory. Cruising at night stupid. If the sun is coming from 0° in the afternoon while looking for a anchore place it will drive u nuts. One can't see anything of the bottom anymore which is usually very important and key. However the bahamas have a tide of not more than 3 feet which is very convinient and the current is in open areas not much. The inner Bahamas are well protrected against waves, swell and storms - this is a true plus for the beginners. Plus it has beaches to die for. The wind is stable from NE-SE while mainly coming from the E. Good holding for the anchhore.

Charter company:

360yachting is a one-man-shop which has however the best charter boats to offer plus prices are decent. The guy Phil is difficult to reach as he is quite often sailing and delivering vessels from a to b. As the majority of the boats they are owned by privat individuals. They leave their stuff on board and spares were not easy to find if at all. The grill was dirty as hell and the rest of the vessel was not really tidied up (but clean). When we arrived the boat was under maintance until 4pm that day as one of the 2 Raymerines didnt work (and was taken of the ship later). The dinghi motor was a big mess. Very difficult to start, choke was stuck and very difficult to shut down at times. And we got promised to get diving tanks and weights. The latter one werent there which did cost us half a day. The impression we got that the shop is not really professional but the boat was ok and ignoring the poor communication in the booking and afterbooking process we had good fun.

The Route:

New Providence