We Made It!

It is hard to believe, but we are here in the Bahamas. With our boat. We left Portsmouth on Saturday, a day earlier than planned. The idea was to get ahead of the unfavorable northeasterly winds that were predicted for the time we would be crossing the Gulf Stream. 

We each wore a scopolamine patch to ward off seasickness. We stayed warm and dry with the cockpit enclosure. By the time we entered the Gulf Stream on Sunday morning, the swells had built to 7-12 feet with 2-3 ft waves on top of the swells. That kept Breeze On in constant motion, moving every which way. Up, down, back and forth in a totally random pattern. Standing up and moving from here to there was difficult. Doing anything at all was a major challenge. I would pick up my foot to take a step, the boat would lurch out from under me, and I would find myself lurching several steps to maintain my balance. 

When we turned around to look behind we would see a huge wall of water, sometimes higher than the boat. It was fascinating and a little scary. About the water, it was the most beautiful shade of deep blue. I have never seen anything like it before. 

Just after dinner on Sunday the outhaul on the mainsail gave way. The outhaul keeps the mainsail attached to the boom. Without it the sail was loose and flogging all over the place. George and Ray put on their harnesses, tethered themselves to the jack lines and went up on the fore deck to try to get things under control. It was dark and the conditions were still rough. I was terrified. It was at that moment that I decided I was never going to do this again. Once and done. 

They did manage to lash the sail to the boom safely. We turned the engine on and motored the rest of the night. At 6 am we unfurled the jib and sailed with it alone. The ride was still very rough. At one point George lost his balance in the cabin and did a back flip over the salon table! I stubbed my toe and was certain that I broke it (fortunately I did not). I 

By Tuesday the conditions had improved enough to rig and temporary fix for the mainsail. We were able to sail with both the jib and main for a day. The fix chafed through and they used a reef line to keep the sail attached to the boom. 

The winds died and we had to motor for 24 hours. By that time we were beginning to worry about running out of fuel. Then, on Wednesday, the winds picked up and we were able to sail the rest of the way. 

We decided on watches of 3 hours on 6 hours off. We kept the watch schedule through the nights and the days. We all agreed that it worked quite well. I was surprised that I was able to sleep when I was off watch, even during the day. I think the scopolamine patch might have helped with that. One of the side effects is drowsiness. 

For breakfast we each ate cereal in our own. We often ate lunch together, usually wrap sandwiches. For dinner we ate casseroles that we had prepared and frozen in advance. That worked really well since there was minimal prep work while the boat was in motion. We had plenty of snacks to eat in between meals. 

Since we arrived George keeps saying, "I can't believe we are here--with our boat." It is true. I find it hard to believe myself. I suspect that I might soften on my decision to never make the passage again. We shall see.