The wind was blowing 25 knots from the starboard beam. We were sailing along at about 9 knots in rough seas on day 5 after departing from the Dominican Republic. The sun was out and although it was windy, it felt warm. It was difficult to move around the boat because of the boat’s erratic movements. There was a swell coming out of the northeast and the wind was blowing from the southeast making the seas confused. Every once in awhile, a huge wave would come crashing into the boat and we would heel over, but never enough to be particularly alarmed; until it happened. The boat suddenly rolled, as wave came crashing into the side, causing a jarring effect. I watched with alarm as the life raft that was on the deck of the boat began to slide towards the raging sea. It was like everything happened in slow motion. It slid on the top of the deck and then seemed to stop for a few seconds before the motion of the boat completed the process of dumping our life raft into the ocean. Within seconds, it was lost to our view in the huge waves.
The life raft is in a plastic canister and was lashed to the top of the deck with straps. The life raft’s purpose is to inflate once it is launched into the water so that we can float in the protection of an inflated, covered raft if our sailboat sank until we are rescued. We have ditch bag containing flares, water, VHF handheld radio, handheld GPS, and EPIRB. The EPIRB when activated sends a signal to a satellite identifying our exact location indicating that we are in trouble. They would know our postion so as to increase our chances of rescue.
The last we saw of the life raft after it slid off the boat. It appeared to be sinking……….
Steve and Neil immediately jumped into action. Steve positioned himself to be the spotter, Neil grabbed the boat hook while I spun the boat to return to where the life raft fell in the water. We were heading north when the incident occured, so it was easy to spin 180 degrees to head south. After a minute, Steve spotted the life raft. Ben took over the job as a spotter as we approached the partially floating life raft. We were able to hook it with the boat hooks and brought it around to the stern of the boat. However, at this point, it was sinking and full of water making it impossible to pull it up. The straps that we had hooked broke. Now we had no way of retrieving the life raft. We all agreed it was too dangerous to lower the swim platform given the size of the waves that were knocking the boat around. We watched as the sinking life raft disappear among the waves as we resumed our course northbound.
We knew there was a cold front coming through. Our PredictWind app suggested we would barrel through this sometime in the evening. We had been sailing to point further east in anticipation of this where the winds were felt to be lighter and the height of the waves 8 feet as opposed to 10 feet further west. Our weather router, Chris Parker had given us this advice to help with transiting the gulf stream which can be tricky in a northeast wind.
The winds slowly clocked to the northeast, causing us to heel over on a close reach shortly after midnight. We changed direction to head northwest for our crossing of the gulf stream which we anticipated in 24 hours. The winds built up to 22 knots and every 3rd wave would come crashing into the cockpit. It was pitch black with no stars or moon while we rolled around in the building seas. The only light was from the reflection of the instruments. As the winds increased, we placed a 3rd reef in the main, We were heeling over to the point where sometimes our galley window was underwater. The boat would go up a wave, and then slam down with such jarring that the entire boat would vibrate. The noise this made was alarming. In the forward cabin where I was trying to sleep, I could feel I was airborn…..
When the wind picked up to 33 knots in the raging seas, the jib was made smaller by patially rolling it up with the furler. None of us got much rest that night, 18 year old Ben, with his sea sickness having passed a few days earlier, appeared to be enjoying himself. I was sitting behind the wheel at the stern to observe whether the autohelm could manage to steer us through the erratic waves. I was getting hit with a wall of sea water every third wave, but wanted to be in a postion to react quickly if the autohelm failed. I could hear the roar of Ben’s laughter over the howling wind everytime I got a soaking from a wave. For Ben, seeing an old salty dawg taking a bath seemed hilarious. For me, it was worth hearing Ben’s laugh as I caught myself wrapped up in his infectious spirit and began laughing myself. Exactly what was so funny, sailing in a small boat, 700 miles from the closest shore in a storm that was only to get worse defies a rational explanation…… but we were both genuinly having a good time. Nobody has ever said that sailors fell within a “normal” category.
Sailing in calmer seas in the morning after passing through the cold front
By morning, the wind shifted more from stern. This caused the terrible slamming to stop, as we were sailing with the waves. we sailed much faster than before and were making 9 knots. We had to use up our food supply before entering the US, so I made omlets for everyone as the galley was now laying flatter. To cook at sea, a gimbled stove that moves side to side with the waves is essential. The gimbled stove does not work so well when the boat is moving up and down in big waves. When the boat is careening up mountainous waves, and the crashing down the other side, well, the food flies everywhere. Best not to think to much about food……except if you are 18 years old. Sometimes that was all Ben could talk about. When he was 12 years old, his father took him to a Brazilian restaurant in Manhattan. He described in delicious detail the process of how the tender steak would be sliced off skewers and placed on the dinner plate. Then they would do the same thing for the lamb, chicken, and sausage. They continue to bring you meat until you asked them to stop when you were completely full. Ben would get a glazed look in his eyes every time he thought about it.
We entered the Gulf stream the following evening. The Gulf stream moves at 5 knots from the south to the north. The wind was blowing at 15 knots at right angles to the current, so we crossed this in comfortable seas. The wind remained constant from the east and the seas became flat. In the morning, drinking my coffee on deck with the others, I let out a huge scream. The crew immediately thought the worse calamity had gripped the boat…… until they saw the pod of dolphins the were flying out of the ocean next to our boat.
Entering New York City in the pouring rain was exhilarating. After 8 days at sea, from beginning with 3 days of gentle trade wind sailing, through a wicked cold front, sailing 13 knots in the Gulf Stream and now arriving to the center of the modern world, New York City.
That night, we lived up to Ben’s dreams and gorged ourself at the Brazilian steak house in Manhattan that had filled Ben’s dreams for the past 8 days. The experience lived up to Ben’s description, it was a great way to end the adventure.
Ben, Neil (meat eaters) and Steve (having vegetarian…)