America to Tom Lohre means sailing
through the night in rough seas, close hauled, trying to make Liberty
Island. The wind is blowing him into the island. The painting shows the
boat barely making the southeastern point of the island on his way to
Manhattan in the early morning.
The Cincinnati Art Museum invited artists to perform, ”What America
means to Me” on a small stage in the “See America” print
collection in the Schiff Gallery. Some played music, others read poetry,
Tom screened the video from his across the North Atlantic with two sailors
in a 36’ Pearson from May 28 to June 28, 2010; painted on his “Liberty
Arrives in Manhattan” and played sea shanties. Visitors to the gallery
were encouraged to, “DRAW: What America Means to Me.” Their
drawings were immediately projected on a wall.
Click
image to see larger image.
Green Ray, oil on
board, 16" x 12", May 2010
Liberty, oil on board,
16" x 12", May 2010
Art Sail
The tide was red, before I went to sea
Beaten down, round after round, with clammy sweating hands
Anxiety abound, losing 25 pounds
Then off to sea for 3000 miles in 21 days
Round the clock 4 on 8 off, steering, weather, cooking
"What made it better?” asked he.
She said, "Once you left, I felt alright."Art
Sail
by Tom Lohre
Monday March 29 to Saturday April 10, 2010
Clifton Performance Theater , 404 Ludlow Ave, Clifton Gaslight, Cincinnati
OH 45220 across the street from CVS drugstore
While Clifton Performance Theater is on spring break, the space became“Art
for Sail Shop”
For sale Art, video and journal by Tom Lohre about his sailing the North
Atlantic from East Hampton to Baltimore Ireland in a 36’ Pearson
with two other sailors in June of 2009 http://tomlohre.com/sailing.htm
Also for sale 100 framed oil paintings and drawings
Scrimshaw and sea paintings done during the show
Once back on dry land in Cincinnati Tom
became hell bent on getting a sailboat. FreeCycle, an Internet group,
offers things for free. He joined and posted a message wanting a sailboat.
Low and behold, a post came back about a neighbor who had a trimaran he
wanted to get rid of. Now he has a 9’ long, 5’ beam, 1971, plastic Triumph
trimaran with a lateen sail rig. Once he gets the splits in the plastic
hull fiberglassed, the interior Styrofoam dried out, replace the interior
wood cross braces, re-screw the top and bottom plastic together, mount
a rudder and oar locks he will be sailing/rowing in Cincinnati Harbor
on the Ohio River.
I am an old river rat whose first job was
on a converted Ohio River towboat into a restaurant with a boss whose
parents were slaves. I went on to become a rigger on a river salvage operation.
My father introduced the family to houseboats and we navigated up and
down the Ohio at least three times. I later helped him sailed his Morgan
36' from Miami to Lake Erie. Years later while living for twenty years
in NYC I sailed out of East Hampton culminating with helping the captain
I sailed with sail his refurbished 1980 Pearson 36' to Baltimore Ireland.
Now I must always have a boat but being a portrait painter find monies
slim. I was able to get a free 1968 Triumph trimaran by Snark and am now
getting it ready to sail on the Ohio River in Cincinnati Harbor. I think
I will be able to turn it into a rowboat/sailboat and put a long tail
prop on it powered by a 3hp B&S.
I’m watching Jaws 2 looking to see if there is a Snark in it.
The Ride
Working on his
art show about the sailing trip across the North Atlantic Tom felt he needed
something to illustrate the occasional beating you take not only figuratively
but also in reality. When the boat is beating up wind, you are slammed into
the gunnels often. Broken ribs are not that uncommon. Broken relationships
are not that uncommon either. The loved ones left onshore get beaten up
emotionally. At first he thought he could make a “Mechanical Sailboat”
like the “Mechanical Bull” you find in Texas Road Houses. His
love of mobiles and thoughts of the movement you needed to simulate a sailboat
lead him directly to a huge mobile suspended from a tree made of tree limbs.
As the sailor-rider gets moved up and down and around by the grounds persons
pulling ropes attached to the far ends of the limbs they are passed hot
cups of coffee that gets spilled and occasionally a bucket of water is thrown
on them. All the while they watch the video shot during the trip on a big
sheet from a LCD projector. It should prove to be a fantastic event. Of
course you will have to pay big bucks to ride but you will get the log book
and DVD from the trip and maybe a piece of scrimshaw or oil painting of
the sail.
Crossing the North Atlantic
16" x 12", oil on board,
July 17 2009
Painted from the imagination
after returning home, Tom let the paint wander round the canvas until it
started to come together. The boat modeled in “Virtual Sailor”
to help the reality of the scene. The light halo sun placed for compositional
reasons, but when finished, Tom realized that it was Fastnet Light. They
sailed past Fastnet in the early morning fog later making landing at Hare
Island.
Thurs May 28 Left East Hampton; Noon: 41.023100, -72.182400; arrive in
Newport 11 pm
Fri May 29 Newport RI; Pick up life raft, noon: 41.485000, -71.319300;
go to art opening;
Thurs May 30 Leave Newport for Province Town; Noon: Just out of Buzzards
Bay Canal, MA 41.788400, -70.467000
Pierre Beauregard, master harmonica player, cousin and friend to the
captain plays a little ditty on Skylark the day before they set off for
Nova Scotia, Canada and later to Ireland over 2,500 miles away. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVS6TSRln_k
Sun May 31: 10
am arrive in Provincetown, Massachusetts; Noon 42.0366,-70.1549 ; dinner
at Lobster Pot
Mon June 1: 9 am Rick leaves, Pierre Beaureguard pays a visit, 10 am leave
Provincetown under full genoa; noon 42.7578,-67.6993, 1 pm, cloudy, 2
pm raise main, main traveler hits George’s leg, waves 3-4’, winds 25 kts;
3 pm reef main, 8 pm low front moves over
Weather: SW winds 20 kts, 3-6 ft waves, Isolated showers and thunder storms
Tues June 2: 1 am wind
gusting to 35 kts, take down main breaking 10 main sail guides; 8 am,
waves 5-6 ft, wind 27 kts, light rain; 9 am loose life raft after being
pooped; retrieve life raft; Noon 43.817700, -64.760300 , sunny, waves
6-9 ft, fetch 75 ft, 8 pm arrive in Lunenberg, Nova Scotia; get Canadian
Customs arrival number via telephone and post in window
Wed June 3: 7 am leave Lunenberg; Noon 44.466900, -63.503900 , 3 pm motoring;
discover oil low; 3 pm arrive in Halifax; dock at Dartmouth Yacht Club;
meet with Raymarine technician, take cab ride to “The Binnacle” looking
for sail guides; dinner at local restaurant
Weather forecast: SW Winds 10 kts, Rain possible,
Thurs June 4; Dartmouth Yacht Club, Andy leaves boat, stitched sail guides
Fri June 5; 7 am leave Halifax; Noon just east of Halifax 44.582800, -62.980600
Notes: They say it gets 20 degrees colder when you get to St. Johns. We’ll
be four men in a ice hut. You’re a sailor you’ll get the job done. You’re
a sailor you can fix anything. Getting rough? Let out the traveler. We
worked for three weeks on the boat before setting sail. All systems are
on trial. Sailing skills are rusty. Getting to stitch on the sails bred
familiarity. Saw whales off P-town. Saw twenty seals at various times
off Nova Scotia. May have seen a puffin amongst many seabirds. Everyone
asks when we are leaving. I tell them when we are ready. We are a week
behind schedule. We will arrive when we get there. Learned there is no
fog this time of year. We are really on a cruising sailboat where you
motor if there is no wind. With the engine running at 2,400 rpm we use
about 1/2 gallon an hour, 5 miles a gallon. To Do List: Install four pad
eyes, Install flag halyard, Install topping lift, Stitch sail guides,
Install man overboard throw line, Hack saw forward hand rail pins, Add
bead of caulk around rub rail, fix table leg
Sat June 6: 5:46 am raised
main sail; winds SE 5.6 kts; heading 80; bar 1019, temp 81.3 F; noon docked
at Cansco Nova Scotia 45.338500, -60.996200; George went ashore looking
for cigarettes and fuel came back with coco, paper towels and roll your
own tobacco. Stayed until 3 pm and sailed into our second low. We were
in the northwest quadrant so winds were 20-25 from the ENE, waves 5-8
ft
Sun
June 7: 3 am RADAR mast forward support pole came undone. Triple lashed
it to the railing and boat. Temp 47 F, Boat took a lot of pounding. Maybe
we heard more noise from the boat since the motor was off. In the morning
variable winds from the north, motoring for St. Pierre; Noon 45.204600,
-58.917400; Saw porpoises for the first time; 4:12 pm 1/4” above 15 gal
mark in diesel tank; took nap earlier
8 June 2009, 46.500000, -56.540800
9 June 2009 St. Pierre, 46.776600,
-56.174800
Tom Lohre talks about
setting off across the North Atlantic. Tom with the captain and a sail
master sailed 2000 miles from Saint Pierre, France to Baltimore Ireland
in 15 days. Saint Pierre is a French colony in Newfoundland. The island
is about two miles by one mile with an excellent harbor. During prohibition
5000 people lived on boats in the harbor and large warehouses, still on
shore, held booze from Europe. The fishing industry is marginal now and
now most people live on government jobs. Students go to Paris to attend
college. Everyday young childrens would attend sailing school, suiting
up in wet suits and launching small sail craft with the teacher running
around in a rubber power boat. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InvnV77oDCo
10 June 2009, 46.776700, -56.174800
11 June 2009, 46.783800, -56.164000
Ben sets the preventer
on the main and uses the spinaker pole on the genoa to allow both sails
full access to the wind. Just before we left Saint Pierre, Ben restored
the spinaker pole by cutting two inches of the end to access the frozen
parts. He reattached it and nows works as good as new. We never would
have crossed in 15 days without the spinnaker pole. It allowed us to make
10 knots! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8RGd6AeWg
After reconditioning
the spinnaker pole, Skylark makes good use of it making 10 knots in light
winds for two days. Ben taught us by showing how to do it. Whatever you
do keep the sail downwind of the foreward stay, or line that runs from
the bow to the mast. You do not want to wrap the sail around the forestay.
Sometimes you have to cut it off. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxeMunB6hq4
D 17 June 2009 50.3551,-38.0892
E 19 June 2009 51.8002,-31.2866
C 20 June 2009 52.1477,-26.5361
F 21 June 2009 52.1265,-22.1928
G 22 June 2009 52.0931,-15.8134
B 26 June 2009 51.483000, -9.375700 Ireland
During the whole sail
across the North Atlantic we only saw one ship, a empty fuel tanker going
west about five miles north of us.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITsEgf1_wM8
Ben talks about just sailing without electronics. George describes getting
lost at sea while sailing to Block Island from East Hampton. He solicits
nearby boats on the radio to help him get his bearings. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzxW6DZ0OOk
Skylark passes Fastnet Light off
Baltimore, Ireland, 4" x 6", pencil on paper
We sailed right up to Ben's family cottage on Hare Island. Ben's mother
made us a fine Irish breakfast. Later we all rode Skylark into Baltimore.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYzdTcPmCpc
Baltimore Harbor, 16" x 12",
oil on canvas, June 26, 2009, painted from life after the 15 day crossing
of the Atlantic.
Painted the day after
landing from crossing the North Atlantic, Tom brought his paints and ivory
plastic to make scrimshaw but found that there was little time to create
art. His duties of watch taking, cook, communications and weather kept him
busy and the tendency to sleep a lot also got in the way. Tom was ready
to leave as soon as he arrived in Ireland for he had been gone for six weeks,
three weeks working on the boat in the yard and three weeks at sea. The
view is the main launch ramp with the sailing clubhouse building to the
right. The man who owns the warehouse directly behind this view owns the
boat in the foreground. During the day a school of J 20’s raced out
in Baltimore Bay and in the foreground small board sailors worked their
circuit.
Itinerary
Sat May 16 to Fri May 22: Yard Work at Three Mile Marina
Sat May 23 to Fri May 29: George, Andy, Rick & Tom Sail to and pick
up Givens Life Boat in Newport, Rhode Island
Sat May 30 to Fri Jun 5: Sail to and Outfitting in Provincetown, Rick
leaves; Sail to Lunneberg, Nova Scotia; Sail to Hailfax, Nova Scotia,
Raymarine technician visit, Andy leaves.
Sat Jun 6 to Fri June
12: sail to St. Pierre, France, Ben Morris arrives and reconditions spinnaker
pole, outfitting completed.
Sat Jun 13 to Fri
Jun 19: Leave St. Pierre to Mid-point of North Atlantic
Date: Sat, 13 Jun 2009 15:42:35 GMT
Latitude:47=2E4696
Longitude:-50=2E8114
Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:28:46 GMT
Latitude:48=2E612
Longitude:-44=2E4461
Date: Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:55:49 GMT
Latitude:49=2E6236
Longitude:-41=2E132
Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:59:09 GMT
Latitude:50=2E3551
Longitude:-38=2E0892
Date: Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:35:04 GMT
Latitude:51=2E8002
Longitude:-31=2E2866
Sat Jun 20 to Fri Jun 26: Mid-point to Baltimore, Ireland; Ben leaves.
Date: Sat, 20 Jun 2009 15:20:40 GMT
Latitude:52.1477
Longitude:-26.5361
Date: Sun, 21 Jun 2009 14:34:02 GMT
Latitude:52.1265
Longitude:-22.1928
Date: Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:41:43 GMT
Latitude:51.9699
Longitude:-18.4527
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 2009 12:07:06 GMT
Latitude:52.0931
Longitude:-15.8134
Sat Jun 27 to Sun Jun 28: Baltimore, Tom Leaves; George takes Skylark
to Kinsale for more crew and technical work on Raymarine systems.
Skylark’s Info
Name of vessel: Skylark, 36' Pearson Sailboat
Crew
Captain and owner: George DuBose boss@george-dubose.com
Sail Master:
Ben Morris
Cook, Weather, Communications, Splicer & Whipper: Tom Lohre
Electronics: Andy Heermans
Crew out of Kinsale:
Rick, Jim
Endorsements
Margaret S. Lohre, M.D. mentions: Tom is leaving on the Feast day of St.
Brendan. Saint Brendan of Clonfert or Bréanainn of Clonfert (c.
484 – c. 577) (Irish: Naomh Breandán ) called "the Navigator",
"the Voyager", or "the Bold" is one of the early Irish
monastic saints whose legends reflect their history. He is chiefly renowned
for his legendary quest to the "Isle of the Blessed," also called
St. Brendan's Island. The Voyage of St. Brendan could be called an immram
(Irish voyage story). He was one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland.[2]
Saint Brendan's feast day is celebrated on May 16
Sheri says:
May you have clear skies,
and Starry nights...
May the wind be always at your back,
and there be smooth waters for your sail...
May the fish be plentiful for the catch,
and time plentiful to enjoy your journey...
And may St. Brendan watch over you and
guide you until your safe return home!
Tom's Story of the Trip
George
When George first mentioned the idea of crossing the North Atlantic in
his new old boat I was game. For many years while sailing in New England
I always tried to persuade the vacationers to take their two weeks at
sea and go to Bermuda, one week sailing there, one day to turn around
and one week to get back. It was rather an extended version of their daily
wants to leave one quaint harbor and sail to another quaint harbor, take
a shower, have a nice meal in a fine restaurant and then do it all over
again the next day.
My Reason
My reason for wanting to sail long distances derived from my career as
a fine artist. Never having great success monetarily selling my art but
still living the highest life possible, I developed a habit of going to
great places but eating out of grocery stores. I saw making land as a
huge expense. The vacationers shared docks fees, fuel, food, ice, beer,
etc. While I was perfecting my talent in my thirties others were perfecting
their ability to make money. My development as an artist took place in
Greenwich Village, New York City where I was the village fine artist.
I friends were excellent artists and we all steadfastly refused to compromise
our talents. Repeatedly advised not to do anything I did not want to do.
My talent would take me through life much like a bird that did not reap
or sow. My skills as a waterman were welcomed and I stuck my neck out
creating debt while on vacation. Now I see clearly how to proceed: buy
my own boat; load it up with my own foods: homemade hard biscuit and dried
meat, rum, dried fruit, peanuts find two other sailors and set out yearly
to sail from Chicago to Mackinaw, Toledo to Buffalo or North Carolina
to the Bahamas. You could do it in a open whaleboat but a Cirrus Westerly
would be more comfortable.
What to Study
The trip was going to happen and I started studying what I thought you
would need for the journey. What I studied turned out to be secondary
to the greatest focus: the sails, lines and hardware. In five months of
studying heavy weather procedures, first aid, communications, weather
forecasting I never brushed up on my sailing terms and was completely
embarrassed those first days out at sea. I had not sailed in three years
and it showed. The boat was ten feet longer than the one I learned on
and all the parts had a lot more momentum. It was not until the end of
the trip that I started getting used to the operations. The captain was
right with it, as was the sail master, which really made me a liability
for the first few days.
Spouses
All three of us who crossed the Atlantic had spouses with anxiety. Turns
out the drive to sail and understanding the risks are the sole domain
the sailor's mind. My wife said she was much better once I had gone but
still referred to us as the three idiots.
Weather
The ideas than fill a mind not familiar with sailing sometimes make the
possibility of sailing the watery world impossible. In reality, without
two weather systems working in conjunction the wind rarely goes above
30 knots and the waves higher than 8 feet with a 100’ fetch, or the space
between the crests. The sailor and the boat have many safe options to
deal with heavy weather or winds above 35 knots and waves larger than
15’. Generally, the winds get to be much higher long before the waves
get larger. We had a lifeboat, drogue and storm jib. The major heavy weather
contingency would be to sail into the wind with as short as sail as possible
attacking the waves at an angle and heeled over to avoid pitch polling,
or having the boat completely turn around under water generally breaking
the mast. The sail master made notice of the parts of the interior of
the boat that would break off their mounts and fly about in such event.
A more severe form of this manner is to set the sails counter to each
other making the boat zig zag into the wind. If this setting of sails
did not work, we would drop the drogue off the stern to prevent the boat
from sailing too fast.
We never saw any winds higher than 35 knots or waves higher than 9 feet.
They say you should leave for the crossing after a low and we left after
a monstrous low. The system combined several smaller lows and delivered
45-knot winds off the coast of Ireland where we were to land two weeks
before we got there. Normally this time of year the weather offers benign
systems substantially less than normal North Atlantic weather. We followed
this low across the Atlantic. First, it was on top of us and then we saw
it off to the northeast horizon for a week and a half. We could also see
the clouds from the Gulf Stream in the south. Normally it was cloudy with
winds out of the northeast and southeast
Why More Do not Go
There are three reasons more people do not travel the watery world more
often. Without these three reasons, there would be thousands of boats
out in the middle of nowhere. We saw one other boat a large empty fuel
tanker about six miles to the north heading west. The first reason is
seasickness. If you get seasick then the trip is quite miserable and though
you can take medicine, it never is pleasant. Some say that after three
days, the sickness goes away and so you can be put off by the other two
reasons. The next is heavy weather where the boat is heeled over and occasionally
you are thrown about. It would not be so bad if the boat was just heeled
over 30 degrees and you feel like you are walking in the corners but the
boat slams into the water from time to time making everything that is
not tied down slam into something else. If you happen not to have yourself
wedged in for such a banging it becomes a series of bruises. Fortunately,
our slamming about for four days did not happen until the end. If it happened
in the beginning, we would have been nursing our wounds for the rest of
the trip but would have been better prepared for the next time it happened.
The last thing is the time it takes to get somewhere. Even at ten knots
crossing an ocean, take weeks.
Three Weeks Working Three Weeks Sailing
I was gone for a little over six weeks but we were only at sea for three
weeks. The rest of the time spent working on the boat. Skylark, the name
of the boat from the previous owner, was a complete refit. Wiring, major
hardware, electronics, stove, refrigerator, winches, cleats were replaced.
It had a new engine with 100 hours on it but that was about the extent
of anything else being new with the old 1981 boat. Work started with the
boat out of the water and all the through holes, the five holes that go
through the hull and have valves on them to open and close, being rebuilt.
Everyday a crew of four would saw, drill, measure, fit, sand, bolt, screw
things from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The captain and electronics expert spent
three years working on the boat and the closer the take off date came
the more action in the boat yard became. Endless trips to the hardware
store augmented with constant reading of installation manuals and authorization
by the captain concerning what you were doing. I installed handrails,
the oven, stitched damaged parts of the genoa sail, spliced ropes, caulked
while the rest of the crew had endless tasks. Slowly the long list of
things to do and buy got shorter but we left East Hampton on May 28 with
still a long list. I had called Three Mile Marina my home in East Hampton
for thirty years and was probably not coming back. We picked up the plastic
duffel bag lifeboat in Newport, Rhode Island and continued on to Provincetown,
Massachusetts. We continued to outfit the boat in P-town and set off for
Nova Scotia on Monday July 1. First landing in Lunenburg, we continued
on to Halifax where an electronics expert tried to get the autopilot to
perform properly. Andy our fearless electronics expert left the boat after
being seasick for several days and not comfortable with the high seas.
His wiring was flawless and all inconsistencies traced back to the equipment.
George and I continue on to Saint Pierre, a French colony in Newfoundland.
Taking 6 hours watches we made in it three days. We continued to outfit
the boat in Saint Pierre. Ben Morris arrived from England and immediately
set out to get the spinnaker pole working. George went up the mast for
one last time. We set off for Ireland June 12 around noon.
Watches
Foul Weather Gear
Spot
Leaving Saint Pierre was uneventful until I saw a large 4 prop high wing
gray cargo plane flying about 4,000 feet above us and then later a navy
blue with gold yellow trim King air buzzing us. We turned on the VHF radio
and discovered that they were trying to contact us. I had pushed the “Help”
button on the SPOT device in accordance with procedure. There are three
buttons on the SPOT. One is labeled “Okay, another “Help” and the last
“911. The “Help” and “Okay,” buttons can be set up to send a 150-letter
message to ten people. The same people received both messages and the
“Okay” button was to let everyone know that we were fine and would have
the satellite phone set up if they wanted to try to reach or send an e-mail
that would be replied to that day. The “Help” button was to let everyone
know that the weather was too rough to connect the satellite phone and
no e-mail would be sent that day. As it turned out the- SPOT device did
not send a message every time I pushed the button and when I pushed the
“Help” button the first time, it sent seven messages. This confused Chuck
and Irene and they decided to call the Canadian Coast Guard. The Coast
Guard decided to send try contacting us via our VHF radio and when that
did not work sent two planes looking for us. I was very distraught at
this chain of events and Ben got on the VHF radio and assured the pilot
of the King Air that we were all right and would not be pushing the “Help”
button anymore.
Communications
We had state of the art electronic charts
Tobacco
Ships Seen
Sea Life
Mid Ocean
How to Reef the Main
How to take down the spinnaker
Fresh Corn
Things in your pockets
Paper Towel Cleaning
The hell with the boat I’m off watch
First aid
Click on image for large version suitable for printing.
Tom's Ditty Bag
This is Tom's first ditty bag. He made the circumference
34" instead of 6" radius called for in the instructions so he
could use it for general toting. The 17" height is the same.
Tom's sailing adventures started with his father getting a 26' Morgan
and then a 38' Morgan. He sailed in Lake Erie and then along the East
coast of Florida and Georgia in 1970-74. He did not get back on the water
until 1979 when he helped take a sailboat from Chesapeake to East Hampton.
Coincidentally he returned to that same marina in East Hampton to sail
on his friend George DuBose's 26' Pearson.
Get Started on your own Ditty Bag
Thanks to:
Colin Grundy, Editor - Knotting Matters, John Burke of the International
Guild of Knot Tyers - North American Branch and Barry Brown the maker
of the below bag.
