The Brendan Voyage (44 page)

b. Leeway had to be judged by eye, taking the angle between the wake and the trailing safety line. Against a headwind
Brendan
would point about 50° to 60° off the wind, but leeway of 30° meant that she made an effective 90° to the wind. At F 6 and above, it became dangerous in most sea states to continue to reach across the wind, and it was safer to run downwind. The use of leeboards may have been anachronistic, as there is no evidence for or against the use of leeboards in the early Middle Ages. But we did not use leeboards above F 5 to 6 because they tended to scoop too much water into the boat, and at lesser wind strengths they were not as effective as lee-side rowing would have been with a larger crew. Several leeboard positions were tried, and a position 16 feet from the bow was found to be most effective. The addition of a second leeboard, aft by the helmsman, was found to be detrimental as it actually increased leeway. In sum, the use of a leeboard reduced leeway by up to 10° when sailing, but did not enable
Brendan
to point higher. Lee-side rowing by a larger crew would have been more effective.

3.
Sea keeping.
The most impressive aspect of
Brendan
’s performance was her sea-keeping ability even in severe weather. She successfully negotiated prolonged periods of heavy seas and strong winds. The normal tactic was to reduce sail by one reef in the mainsail at F 5–6, and at F 6+ to lower and stow the mainsail, and then turn downwind under headsail alone, which was later reefed. It was the designer’s
opinion that
Brendan
was undercanvased, but this was a deliberate safety factor. In heavy seas both main warps were streamed in loops from the stern and played a vital part in keeping the boat straight to the sea. oil was also spread from a half-gallon canvas bag and was a help. However it was necessary, and often difficult, to stay directly downwind of the oil slick. Extra oil bags on a spreader bar would have made this easier. Fish oil is considered to be better than mineral oil for this task, and whale oil, which we used, the best. A sea anchor was streamed from the bow and proved effective in moderate seas, but it was considered too dangerous to try using the sea anchor in very heavy seas. It was feared that the boat would be held up into the force of the waves, and the protective tarpaulins would be split by the weight of water.

Brendan
’s stability was a vital factor in her success. This stability was due in large part to Colin Mudie’s design, and enhanced by ballasting with 1,600 pounds of fresh drinking water, over half of it stowed beneath the floorboards. Without doubt, the chief danger was capsize at sea. Deliberate capsize during sea trials proved to be extraordinarily difficult, even when the boat was unballasted. After being capsized with a shoreline to the mast,
Brendan
could be turned right way up by a 5-man crew and it took 12 minutes bailing with buckets to empty her. In the event of total swamp, buoyancy blocks of polyurethane foam were placed at bow and stern, and under three thwarts.

In view of the hazardous nature of her voyage, close attention was paid to the crew’s safety.
Brendan
was equipped with an 8-man life raft specially prepared by Beaufort (Airsea) Equipment Ltd., and through the kind permission of the Commanding Officer,
Brendan’s
crew attended a short course at the Royal Naval Safety Equipment and Survival School at Seafield Park. There we were instructed in the use of life raft and flares and in general survival procedures. In the waters
Brendan
sailed, the danger from cold if a man went overboard was much more real than the risk of drowning. So each member of the crew wore, and used, a clip-on lifeline supplied as an integral part of his Helly Hansen sailing suit. In very foul weather this same lifeline was transferred to the Beaufort immersion suits (helicopter passenger suits; general purpose
coveralls), which were provided to
Brendan
’s crew through the generosity of the Irish Leather Federation, and made a great difference in the worst spells of weather. The use of lifelines was encouraged by the knowledge that if a man fell overboard while
Brendan
was under way, it would have been impossible to turn round to pick him up.

To report our daily position a crystal-controlled SSB Raytheon 1209C transceiver was used, operating on the 2-, 4-, and 8-megacycle bands. The aerial was a 15-foot whip, and gave a range of between 150 and 250 miles depending on latitude and radio traffic density. The Raytheon gave sterling service, and its power was successfully supplied by two Lucas solar panels lashed to the shelter roof (with thongs) which trickle-charged a pair of Lucas Pacemaker car batteries. Despite initial fears, the Lucas solar panels provided enough power for 5 minutes’ transmission daily, and their great advantage was that they required no maintenance.
Brendan,
of course, carried no form of engine, either to pump her out or to charge batteries. VHF links, wherever possible, were achieved ship-to-ship with a Seavoice portable transceiver in its waterproof Portaphone mode; and ship-to-air communication was with a transceiver, loaned by Park Air Electronics. The success of
Brendan
’s radio communications depended to a large degree on the patience and skill of the radio operators concerned at the shore stations of Valentia, Malin Head, Stornoway, Torshaven, Vestmanna, Reykjavik, Prins Christianssund, Cartwright, St. Anthony, and St. John’s, Newfoundland. Special thanks are also due to the radio operators aboard the Icelandic Fishery Research Vessel,
Arni Fridriksson,
and to the air crews of many trans-Atlantic airlines—especially Loftleidir/Icelandic Airways, who listened out for
Brendan
’s often weak signals as she crept across the Atlantic. Burndept Electronics of Erith, Kent, were kind enough to loan a BE 369 Flotation Beacon in case a search-and-rescue operation had to be mounted. During the 1976 season when
Brendan
was close to land, weather forecasts as well as radio direction bearings were obtained with a Brookes and Gatehouse Homer/Heron which survived even the drenching of heavy weather off Greenland, which was also when
Brendan
’s bilge pumps by Munster Simms were put to vital use, and again when the vessel was holed by ice. The medieval monks, of course, would have used wooden bailing scoops or buckets of wood or leather.

T
HE
M
ODERN
L
IBRARY
E
DITORIAL
B
OARD

Maya Angelou
•
Daniel J. Boorstin
•
A. S. Byatt
•
Caleb Carr
•
Christopher Cerf
•
Ron Chernow
•
Shelby Foote
•
Stephen Jay Gould
•
Vartan Gregorian
•
Charles Johnson
•
Jon Krakauer
•
Edmund Morris
•
Elaine Pagels
•
John Richardson
•
Salman Rushdie
•
Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.
•
Carolyn See
•
William Styron
•
Gore Vidal