We are anchored in
front of Chris Morejohn’s place near the Hogfish Maximus having arrived
yesterday around noon. Our passage from Bermuda took 7 days and 16 hours anchor
to anchor. The last few days were completely unremarkable other than being one
beautiful day ending with a star speckled night after another. Life aboard
became routine and we did a lot of reading. Bermuda long tails were with us
most of the way and Nancy was able to capture some nice pictures of them.
6-3-14 Had a bit of a
scare last night when Nancy thought she may have caught a contagious disease
from the Bermuda hospital. Without going into all the details, she is feeling
much better this evening and looks like she has kicked whatever bug she had.
Other than that we have had a pretty boring but wonderful day at sea. As I
write this at 1930 we are under power because of no wind and are cruising along
at 4 nautical miles per hour with all sails set. (Motor sailing)
6-2-14 What a
difference 12 hours make. As I left off yesterday the weather was improving and
it continued to do so. We were blessed with a beautiful clear night with
favorable winds from the North West moving into the North. It is now 1830 and
we have been sailing under clear skies directly toward our destination all day
long at between 5.5 and 7.5kts. We were able to log 135 nautical miles noon to
noon which may not sound like much to those land lubbers reading this but 100
nautical miles in 24 hours in a mono hull cruising sailboat is pretty much
average and what we use for passage planning. The day before we did 126 so we
are quite pleased with Avelinda’s performance. I took some video this morning
from the same perspective as the one of us hard on the wind. The video doesn't look much different than the last but the comfort level is considerably better. Doesn't look like there will be much more to report today so I will close for
now.
6-1-14 What a night…
at 2020 in a night as dark as a whores heart we were caught by a gale that
lasted until after 0130 this morning, winds over 35kts and horizontally driven
rain which reduced visibility to a few yards. Avelinda was knocked down at
least twice before I could get sail reduced. Luckily, Nancy was below in the
bunk where she wasn't thrown about to suffer more injuries. After getting
things on deck secure I went below to find things which we thought were secure
all over the cabin sole. Within 30 minutes things were restored to a semblance
of order. Nancy continued to try and get some rest and I returned to the
cockpit. By 0430 when Nancy came up to relive me the winds were down to less
than 8kts and while the sky was still dreary looking and lighting could be seen
off on the horizon to port we expected the morning to be ok.
I relived Nancy a
little after 0900 and while she slept I set about bringing order to the deck
and securing things which had come adrift during the storm, a fairly easy task.
As I write this at
1430 the skies are clearing and the winds have indeed moved into the North West
giving us a better slant towards our goal. While they are light we are taking
the opportunity to run the engine to charge batteries and bring the water maker
on line for the first time in over nine years. I knew it worked before leaving
St Augustine as I had checked it using fresh water from a bucket and then
re-pickling it. The water in the mooring field has so much nutrient it would
foul the membrane. During the outbound trip we found a leaking input strainer
and couldn't use it until it was repaired which I did in St Georges. It’s
working fine now, after purging for an hour and a half, and giving us about a
gallon and a half of tasteless pure water an hour.
5-31-14 Well this has certainly been a lively day!
Around 1300 we were hit with our first squall forcing us to reef the mizzen to
the top two panels in screaming winds and driving rain. afterwards the winds settled
at 18 to 23kts and with only one reef in the main and a full mizzen Avelinda
went charging off to windward at 7 1/2kts. It was exhilarating and wet. Later
in the afternoon I was able to get some footage on the GoPro.
Nancy has been
under the weather I think in part due to her foot injury and a bumpy start to
this leg of the voyage. Hasn't had to throw up but she is quezzy and medicating
herself with Stugeron. Fortunately we were able to get a fresh supply in
Bermuda.
5-30-14 Took a trip
ashore this afternoon and when Nancy checked passage weather the conditions
looked favorable for an evening departure but first we wanted to take one last
bus tour down the south coast and return via St David’s (pictures below).
Small beach park on south shore
The following pictures are of St David's
St David's light house
Back home
Unfortunately
the tour took a little longer than expected and by the time we cleared customs
for departure it was getting late. A hurried return to Avelinda and speedy
departure prep allowed us to get the anchor up, sails up and aim for the town
cut just as it was getting dark. Still had enough light to see the channel buoys
and make a clean departure under full sail.
After leaving, a
low pressure area developed to the south of us producing south west winds, the
direction we want to go, of up to 20kts through tomorrow afternoon instead of
the westerlies we expected. We set a course due south to clear all hazards and
hauled the sails in tight for some weather work. The outlook is for the winds
to veer giving them a more westerly component moving into the northwest and
falling to around 10kts by tomorrow night.
The rumb line
course to Russell Island in the Bahamas is 258 degrees magnetic from Bermuda at
a distance of 768 nautical miles. We figure on sailing in excess of 850
nautical miles to get there so our trip should take between 7 to 10 days
depending on winds which are notoriously light in the area we will be sailing
through. If we are lucky we will pick up the southeast trades around 27 degrees
north latitude and have a nice dash the remainder of the way in, giving us a
quick passage. I’m not counting on the trades until 26 degrees north and maybe
not even then so the longer passage seems more realistic. We so enjoy being at
sea that we won’t be disappointed with a longer passage.
