Finally, after kicking around the Abacos since December 10,
it was time to go! We put our engine
woes behind us and patiently waited (well, not so much with the patience) as
one cold front after another pounded the Abacos with squalls and very strong
winds. Fortunately, our good friends, Ed
and Karin on s/v Passages arrived on Jan. 16, so we had good company to whine
about the weather with as we sat in the Marsh Harbor anchorage for 9 straight days (yes, we did other things as
well, but the whining was the most fun!).
s/v Passages. 40ft Island Packet
That's us ... Bayfield 40, Ketch
First, we moved down to Lynyard Cay – the southernmost
anchorage in the Abacos -- to get ready for the crossing to Eleuthera on
Sunday. This is the 3rd time
we’d been in Lynyard Cay with plans to cross over to Eleuthera, only to have
engine problems force us back to Marsh Harbor for parts and mechanics. Not that
we regretted that since we were able to get things repaired that we wouldn’t
have any place else … but still, enough already!
February 3
When given the choice of sailing on Sunday or motoring on
Monday, we opted for Sunday. We are a sailboat after all. And it’s a 56 mile crossing, which takes
anywhere from 10-12 hours, so sailing would be a lot more fun!
We left at first light with s/v Passages and 3 other
like-minded sailboats. Beautiful start to
the day with 15 knots of wind, 4 feet seas, coming from the N/NE which is not
ideal because the sails have a harder time keeping their shape with the wind
coming from behind us (vs. the side), but no one was complaining! Engine was
off, all 4 sails up, and the only drawback was that the swells where hitting us
so quickly off the stern that the autopilot couldn’t keep us on course so we
had to hand steer. I know, I know….we’re
sailors but still, that 3rd crew member is one of our favorites!
By noon, the wind was up to 20 knots and the seas were up to
6 feet, and hand steering in those conditions gives you quite a workout. At 12:30, we altered course so that we could
take a break for lunch and use the autopilot.
That was such a relief so we decided to throw out two fishing lines
since we were in the deep, deep ocean (>6000 feet) where big fish can be
found. You never know if the investment
of time and money into fishing gear is worth it, but it’s fun to have something
to do in the middle of a 10-hr passage.
As Dan was reeling in one line b/c it was snagged in seaweed, he
realized that there was a fish on the line.
No soon that that whooping had subsided than the other pole started to
zing out line, with a 2nd fish on, within 20 minutes of having cast
both lines in the water.
30in MahiMahi
Nothing beats catching a mahi mahi. Forget that they are our favorite fish, it’s their color that blows you away. Always neon … sometimes, blue or green or yellow. Both of 30in catches were such a bright yellow that you could easily see them in the water, while they were still 30 feet from the boat. Simply amazing what Nature creates.
Talk about chaos on board s/v Maja! Forget sailing, slow down the boat and get
ready to bring in two fish! We weren’t quite ready for that surprise so
suddenly, so while Dan reeled in lines, Nancy scrambled around for the gaff
hook, camera, liquor (alcohol poisoning is our choice as a humane way to kill
fish), large plastic bin (to store the fish until we can clean them), ice, remove
all cushions from the cockpit (b/c you never know where that fish blood will
end up), oh yes, and don’t forget to steer the boat in the 20 knots of wind and
5 foot seas!!
8 large fillets in the refrig!
Whew … while we rested from that excitement and toasted our
good fortune, we started to notice that the wind was increasing as were the
seas … only now they were a lot more confused, hitting us from behind as well
as the side, so the ride was a LOT more uncomfortable and it took considerable
work to hand steer our route. The swells
topped 6 feet and winds reached 25 knots, when the last shoe dropped.
Our mainsail ripped.
13 feet along the lower edge of the sail opened up like it was a zipper
– from the outer edge all the way to the mast.
Oh shit. Now we have to hastily
drop the mainsail in the mist of all this wind and high seas. Quite the trick to time turning the boat dead
into the wind so that the strain comes off the sail enough for Dan to drop the
lines and gather the mess of sail parts and tie them onto the boom. Meanwhile, Nancy is at the helm, trying to
keep the boat as steady as possible so that the swells don’t bump Dan into the
pretty blue ocean (yes, he’s connected to a jack line, but that is little relief
when you think about trying to retrieve someone who’s gone overboard in these
conditions). When his work was done, the
next tricky part was timing our turn back onto our course. As swells build and
pass under the boat, you want to make the turn after the swell has dropped but
before the next one builds. And since
our big, heavy home does nothing fast …. Aiyeeeeee, never a dull moment!
Mishap #4 this season ....:(
Febraury 4
We awoke to a calm, clear day, with a short 26-mile run ahead of us to Rainbow Cay, about half-way to our destination, Rock Sound. The wind was so light, it didn't even matter that we didn't have a main sail to raise!
In the Bahamas, you move from one large body of water to the shallower, settled banks via cuts in the island chain. Transiting these cuts is it's own form of excitement because the current really likes to rip thru the narrow channel between land masses. Today's excitement was all about transiting Current Cut, moving from the NE Providence Channel to the Eleuthera Sound. This was a first for us due to all the horror stories we had heard about it. But we had s/v Passages ahead of us, and they assured us it was all in the timing ... pass through the cut just after slack tide (when the tide is changing) but make sure you are passing thru on a rising tide. And they were so right! It was an passage, especailly exciting when we moving along at 8.5 knots with just a small bit of head sail up.
I wasn't kidding ... it's a narrow cut.
Just stay in the light patch of deep water.
Once in the cut, the tide basically carries you thru to the other side. Just stay off the reefs!
And of course, on the other side, the sun is always shining!
Yes, this is the cruising life. The highs of good sailing, catching fish,
good friends on the nearby boat, beautiful water and beaches … and the lows of long, uncomfortable slogs at
5 knots, things breaking just when you don’t want them to break, waiting for weather windows. Having not had a run of bad luck like this
before, we had begun to think this season was jinxed. But then we decided that actually we’ve been
very lucky this season. Sure, things
have broken and we’ve changed plans so many times that we seldom can even
predict what one day will bring, but for every mishap, we’ve been able to find
a solution in a matter of days. We were
lucky that James was coming for Christmas and could bring us a new water pump;
we were lucky the outboard motor broke down in Marsh Harbor where the needed
part was available at the hardware store; and when our spare starter wasn’t
working correctly, we were able to find a mechanic who was able to fix the
starter drive to the original starter; and now we’ve learned that there is a
person in Rock Sound, Eleuthera, who does sail repair. And we’ll be there tomorrow. Ah, yes, this is the cruising life.
February 5 . HAPPY BIRTHDAY RENEE DEVEREAUX. WE MISS YOU.
36 miles today on calm water to our destination of Rock Sound, Eleuthera. We originally "planned" to arrive here by Dec. 20 ... another indication of the season this is turning out to be!
We stripped off the main sail and took it into town where Soloman at Gibson Upholstery says he can sew a patch on the sail. Unfortunately, he's really not a sail repair shop so has no repair material, just the machines. And, as luck would have it, we left our spare sail in Brunswich GA in the storage unit we rented for the Prius .... so all we have on board are two sail bags that we can cut up and 15ft of sail repair tape ... and we need at least 30ft. And, as luck would have it, s/v Passages gave us some spare sail material and s/v Mon Amie brought over 25ft of sail repair tape. God Bless Cruisers!
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