After a calm night at anchor we left Rocky Point just before sunrise yesterday morning. Frances and Laurie from Glory Days had assured us that we could make it through Jewish Cut so we saved five miles and took that route rather than going around Duck Cays. When we were planning this trip we thought we could make it from Rocky Point to Long Island in one day instead of the two it took us last year. There are two shallow areas along the route, one at Jewfish Cut and another at Comer Channel. This year we thought we would make it to Jewfish Cut before high tide and Comer Channel around mid-tide. We made it through Jewfish Cut without any problems although it is quite narrow with a lot of current. After we came through the cut the wind was on our nose in the mid-teens and the seas were building to 3-4 feet with short periods. We were slamming into the waves and it was really unpleasant. If we had known the conditions were going to be so much worse than the day before we would have waited another day at Rocky Point. We unfurled the jib to try to make the ride a bit smoother and motor sailed with just the jib. By the time we got to Comer Channel in the early afternoon it was closer to low tide than we had hoped. In hindsight, we should have left Rocky Point at least an hour earlier. The shallowest depth we saw was 6.9 feet and the tide was dropping. Too close for comfort with our 5'8" draft. George said he was okay until he started visualizing the keel skimming over the bottom with just over a foot to spare. At that point we had a wind angle that would have allowed us to sail but we didn't want to take the time to raise the sail while the tide continued to drop. Also, we didn't have a lot of room to point the boat into the wind to raise the main sail. By the time we got through Comer Channel the wind had dropped. We raised the main sail anyway but still had to motor sail. Since the wind was so light and predicted to remain light over night we opted to anchor north of the more protected Thompson Bay\Salt Pond area. That would give us a bit of a head start to Conception Island.
The wind was indeed light last night. In fact the slight current kept the boat from pointing into the wind, leading to strange noises from the anchor chain and halyards.
We left Long Island this morning to motor, sail and motor sail to Conception Island. We were even able to use the gennaker for the first time in many months. Conception Island was one of our favorite spots two years ago. We returned last year but it was way too rolly and we left at our first opportunity. It is rolly here now but not quite as bad as last year.
Oh Vey!
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