“John, if I were you, I’d try to get somewhere to wait it out or ‘heave to’. I would not enter the Gulf Stream ‘til it is safe.”
The sage advice from the president of the Salty Dawg Sailing Ass., arrived by e-mail at 4 AM. Tuesday morning. Currently, S/V Ileana is 700 miles from the closest shore, so it is unlikely I will find “somewhere to wait”. “Heaving to” while the storm passes is the other option suggested. This involves heading into the wind with the jib backwinded on one side of the boat and the mainsail on the other. This provides a gentle motion on the boat in rough weather and prevents the boat from moving. Once the rough weather passes, we position the sails on the same side of the boat, and the sailing can start.
I was starting my 4 AM shift on watch. The 3 of us on board rotate a watch system every 3 hours, so there is always someone on deck looking for passing vessels and changes in the weather. The other 2 sleep when they are not on watch. I turned on the generator to make coffee, which also powered up the Starlink. The inverter, which would normally convert 12 V to 110 V to provide power to the Starlink, packed it in a few days ago so I am relying on the generator now. I thanked Bob by email for his advice and then turned my attention to the email sent to me by my weather router, Chris Parker.
Our weather router, Chris Parker, delivered a long-winded email which began by saying, “if you do not like my weather forecast, you should slow down and avoid entering the Gulf Stream until Friday.” I had to read through the email at least 5 times. I decided that I liked his forecast and would plow through the rotten weather and the Gulf Stream aiming for my destination, New York City. There is a cold front coming through, and he says if we can get far enough east, we will cross the cold front on Wednesday evening. This cold front will generate a brisk NE wind and we can use it to plow through the Gulf stream on a beam reach, which is our most favourable tack. New York City lies about 250 miles north of the gulf stream.
The alternative of ‘slowing down’ and waiting until Friday to cross the Gulf Stream does not seem like the best plan. “On Friday, May 19, the stationary frontal TROF to the south of you begins lifting North as a warm front, with an IMPULSE of energy,” Chris writes. I have no idea what an IMPULSE of energy means for S/V Ileana. But that is something I do not want to experience being so far away from the closest fire station and paramedic services……
Currently, we are sailing in blue skies with a gentle, warm, easterly wind. Life is pleasant and the seas are kind. Birds have come over 600 miles to visit us.
A tiny bird visited us as well. The poor guy had flown off course by hundreds of miles and rested on our deck before taking off on his journey. I hope he makes it home….
I suggested that Neil and Ben hold off booking their return flight to Toronto from NYC until we are certain of the weather timing. We have to pass through the first cold front, traverse a rough gulf stream and battle yet another cold front. This will probably come through on Saturday as we approach NYC. It’s all about the weather……..and balancing the risks of plowing through rough weather, or ‘heaving to’ waiting for the bad weather to pass……
