It’s All About The Weather

It is said that the pessimist complains about the wind, an optimist hopes it’ll change, and a sailor adjusts the sails. It’s actually a little more complicated than that as you might expect for the sailor. It is the weather that is the most important factor when sailing south. Several months ago I subscribed to Chris Parker’s daily forecast on weather in the Bahamas and southern United States. My plan was to have a better understanding of what to expect while sailing my boat Ileana to the Bahamas. I also subscribed to the predict wind app which gives up-to-date predictions on what the weather is likely to do over the next five days. This app actually tells you when the best day to leave the port and arrive at a destination. It tells you how much time you might be motoring and how much time you might be sailing and the strength and direction of the wind. It uses the up-to-date meteorological technology and analyses billions of data to come up with a plan suited just for you. As a forecast might change over those five days of predictions, by using satellite phone technology, it’s possible to get up-to-date weather forecasting as the weather predictions are changing during your journey south. With all this redundancy and expertise, what could possibly go wrong?

On October 28, 2021, I stopped and got a rapid COVID 19 antigen test on the way to work. My flight was leaving at around noon to Baltimore and the test is necessary to gain entrance United States. Additionally, the Bahamas customs and immigration would accept a test that was done five days ahead of arrival to the Bahamas, but would not include the days spent at sea as part of the five days. I expected it would probably take six days to sail to the Bahamas from Annapolis. The Salty Dawg rally was planning on leaving Hampton on November 1, 2021 which would mean the test would be four days old and I would easily fall within the window of five days upon my arrival to the Bahamas. I met Doug Roarke at the airport. He was one of the two other sailors that was coming to the Bahamas with me. Michael Sandwell was planning on meeting us in Hampton, Virginia where the rally would depart. The plan was for Doug and myself to take the boat from Annapolis to Hampton which was a journey of about 120 miles or so. The predicted wind app suggested there would be strong winds out at sea, up to 30 kn but in the Chesapeake Bay, the winds would be 15 kn on a beam reach which would be absolutely perfect for achieving our maximum speed down to Hampton.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I arrived at the boatyard. Although I had communicated with the riggers and the boat launchers ahead of time, I half expected the boat to be in bits and pieces with the mast still laying on the tarmac waiting to be installed. We arrived at the boat around 7 PM and to my great relief the boat was completely rigged including the outboard engines for the dinghies strapped to the side of the sternrails of the boat, the Bimini and dodger were all installed, and the boat was ready to head out to sea. After provisioning and getting a great night sleep, we decided to head out at around noon which would bring us into Hampton in daylight according to our predict wind app. There were a few clues that should have alerted us that things were not developing as I had predicted. There was a nice sailor on the adjacent dock offered to help cast us off our dock. He asked us if we knew about the weather? We explained that now we have satellite phone, we have predict wind app, and we have Chris Parker giving us regular weather updates updates. He kind of shrugged his shoulders and smiled and said well good luck then.

Another clue that things were not as they seemed was that the dock that he was coming from was completely submerged in water. There appeared to be a wall of water being pushed up into the harbour. The wind indicator from our boat suggested that the winds were only about 15 kn which is what we were expecting, but in retrospect this was because it was quite sheltered in the harbour. As we headed out into the Chesapeake Bay, we passed a small yacht club where the docks were getting bounced around in steep waves and many of the boats were laying on their side on the shore. As we turned south to go down the Chesapeake Bay, we started to battle waves the size of elephants. They were short and steep waves because the Chesapeake Bay is only about 30 feet deep in much of the bay. The winds here were 35 kn with gusts up to 40 kn. At this point, we knew there was no option of turning around to go back into the harbour and decided to battle the strong winds and the merciless waves. Fortunately, the strong winds were coming from the beam but what this meant was that the rain was coming horizontally and pelting any exposed skin with painful bullet sized droplets. We were hanging on for dear life.

Battling the waves

The predict wind app was not totally wrong insofar as this nasty weather really only lasted about five hours. When things settle down, we were able to put up the sails although the waves were still very large. The other issue that came up was our auto helm was not functioning. There was a message that said the auto helm computer was not working. Although there was limited cell phone service I was able to contact Pat Sturgeon, who had me run through a series of analytics on the instrument panel which determined that the instruments were not recognizing the auto helm. What this meant was we had to hand steer the boat all night but I suspect the weather was such that we would have had to do this even if the auto helm had been working. The wind shifted south and once again peaked at around 30 kn. What this meant was we were slamming into these massive waves. The bow of the boat would come right out of the water and then would slam into the ocean. The noise of the boat slamming into these huge waves must be what it is like having your head stuck in a drum and a rock concert. Inside the boat it was like being in a blender. This went on all night but by six in the morning, the wind had subsided. By eight in the morning, the wind had died and we were motoring into Hampton at the Bluewater Marina.

Arriving in Hampton on the bright Saturday morning was like arriving in a different world. It was sunny and warm. People were walking around in shorts totally oblivious as to the maelstrom that had occurred the day and night before. We filled up our fuel tanks and then docked the boat. Michael Sandwell was there waiting for us. We had a discussion about the autohelm. It was lucky for us that Michael knew a thing or two about electronics and he took apart the autohelm computer but was unable to pinpoint the problem. We were able to find a marine electronic technician who came to the boat as well and once again took apart the autohelm computer. He too was unable to pinpoint the problem but suspected that we needed a new NAC-3…….. whatever that is. It certainly was not something that we are likely going to be able to find at the local corner store……. We had a discussion whether we should wait until the Monday and see if we could get this particular part shipped in and replaced so that we would have auto helm.

It is said that the most dangerous thing on any sailboat is a schedule. It really is all about the weather. In Hampton, we were having regular updates by Chris Parker our weather router who suggested that the best time to head out to the Bahamas would be on Saturday night. If we left at 8 PM, we would be on the outgoing tide and the prediction was that that we would be arriving in the Bahamas on Wednesday or Thursday after five days of sailing. This would put us in front of a system that was coming through on the following Friday that would result in strong winds from the south. If we had decided to delay and leave on Monday or Tuesday, we would have missed our weather window and Chris Parker suspected that it would not be until 7-10 days later when another window would open up. Feeling somewhat beaten up by our own attempt at weather routing the night before, the three of us felt that the best advice would be to leave on Saturday night at 8 PM as suggested by someone who actually knew what they were talking about. This meant that we would probably need to have two of us on deck at all times, one steering and the other one available to help out in case of a problem. The third person would be sleeping inside the boat. We would change shifts every two hours. We found it somewhat difficult to steer at night because the best thing is to use a star as a guide to keep the boat in the straight line. Most nights, there were clouds in the horizon and a few times we ended up going around in circles……

We departed Hamptom at exactly 8 PM on Saturday night and headed out towards the ocean. It was beautiful night. The winds were blowing at about 15 kn from the west which made our southern journey very pleasant. We were going at our maximum boat speed of about 8.5 kn. The plan was to head south along the coast of the eastern United States until Cape Hatteras. At Cape Hatteras the plan was to cross the Gulfstream. Crossing the Gulfstream is probably the trickiest part of the entire journey. If the wind is coming from the north and is strong it will make very sharp and dangerous waves because the Gulf Stream moves north at about 3 kn. There are frequent eddies and whirlpools to negotiate. The best advice is to cross the Gulfstream perpendicular and accept the northern drift from the current as part of the process. The weather prediction told us that the optimal time to cross in this weather window would be at around noon on Sunday. It would probably take most of the rest of the day to cross the Gulfstream because it is about 50 miles across.

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It is easy to know when you are in the gulfstream. The temperature goes up 10 degrees and off come the winter clothes. Shorts and T-shirts become the usual attire on deck. The wind is warm, and in this case the seas were gentle. There was a combination on sailing, motor sailing and when the wind shifted to the stern, we took the sails down and motored. The gentle waves and calmness were what every sailor hopes for in a crossing. In short it was paradise. In the evenings we would experience epic sunsets, and in the mornings glorious sunrises to begin yet another beautiful day. The days melted into each other.

Michael at the helm in perfect sailing conditions

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We first saw the grand Bahamas Thursday morning, 5 days after we left Hamptom after a wonderfully satisfying journey. We were all looking forward to a swim in the pool at the Grand Bahama Yacht Club, the perhaps a tasty dinner in the restaurant. Little did we know that we were to be placed in strict quarantine for over 24 hours. The customs and immigrationn officials were not impressed that our COVID 19 antigen test expired the 5 day window while we were at sea. They threatened deportation……but thats for another story…….