Memories of Chesapeake Bay…

It was getting dark and a sliver of the moon was reflecting on the calm waters of Chesapeake Bay. We had just left Annapolis and were heading south to Hampton Virginia to wait for a safe weather window before heading on our final step of sailing to Antigua. There were to be about 100 sailing boats waiting for the same weather window when we were to arrive at Bluewater Marina. Our predict wind weather app suggested that the winds would be between 10-15 knots directly from the stern. This was not enough wind to allow us to sail and we expect it to motor most of the way. the conditions were markedly different from last year’s trip in Chesapeake Bay. Last year, 15 knots of wind were predicted, but we encountered 35 knots of wind with gusts up to 40. It was a miserable trip….. with the horizontal rain stinging our faces making it difficult to see the front of the boat. As sailors we were ready for anything. My crew of Paul and Neil are both experienced sailors and I was confident on having a safe passage. I predicted it would take about 18 hours to sail the 116 nautical miles to Hampton. We hoisted the mainsail which helps the boat from rocking back and forth and we were making our way south at a comfortable eight knots in the dark. The autohelm was engaged to steer the boat and a course set. This had all the makings of a boring 18 hours……I headed off to bed while Neil and Paul kept watch.

I woke up around midnight because the boat was rolling back and forth making it difficult to sleep. I went up on deck and found that the wind had picked up to about 18 knots. We shut off the engine and were still making 8 knots with just the mainsail powering us along. Neil and Paul informed me that the autohelm had shut down with no warning on two occasions and had to be re-booted. It seemed to be working fine at that moment, but this was a little disappointing because I had installed a new more powerful autohelm a few months ago costing a small fortune. The factory installed autohelm was not designed to handle rough waters. It had broken down on the last years trip to the Bahamas in Chesapeake Bay at this very spot. I had a moment of panic when I envisioned having to head south yet again with no autohelm. The winds picked up to 25 knots and the seas became huge. Chesapeake bay is shallow and it does not take long to develop large breaking waves.  These waves were causing the boat to rock back and forth and put a huge strain on the autohelm. Something was not right. After making a huge racket, all of a sudden it stopped working and the alarms started blaring above the howling wind. The warning on the monitor said “No autohelm computer”. It had happened again….

Paul immediately took the helm and was able to steer the boat and get things under control. The following waves were causing the boat to twist to the left and then to the right. He could not lose concentration even for a millisecond otherwise the seas would win and throw us around like a leaf in a storm. To say that I was disapointed in the boat would have understated the choice explicits that were racing through my thoughts. After all the planning, the huge expenses and only for this to fail yet again. I started thinking about how I could find someone in Hampton who could fix it, how much that would cost and what we would do if the autohelm could not get fixed. Would Paul and Neil still want to come south hand steering all the way? I started thinking about how we would always need to have two on deck even at night. I started thinking about how it was only possible to concentrate for about one hour while steering at night in pitch blackness and avoid going in circles. I started thinking about how tired we would be and how sleep deprived after only a few nights of this. I watched as Paul was steering the boat. He had a smile on his face. He genuinely seemed to be having a great time challenging the seas to bring it on. The winds were gusting up to 27 knots and surfing down the waves we were doing 10 knots. I stayed on deck in case he needed anything. We had agreed to have 3 hour shifts on deck. Paul started at midnight and I was to take over at 3 AM. When I offered to take over for my shift at 3 AM so that he could take a rest, he asked if it was OK with me if he could continue because he was having so much fun. I drifted off to sleep on the deck…..

Neil came on deck at 6AM. He took over and Paul went below deck to try and get some rest. Neil too was obviously enjoying the challenge of steering in these strong following seas. Although the winds were strong on the seas were high, the boat was under control. The wind was directly from behind us and we were getting close to one of the shores. We decided we had to jibe. Neil and I discussed our plan. I pulled in the main sheet so that the sail was in the mid ship to prevent it from hurtling over to the other side and damaging the boat. At just the right time, Neil was to turn the boat to compete the jibe and have the sail gently float to the other side. My job was to reduce the main sheet so that we would have the sail more perpendicular to the wind. I was a little bit slow on releasing the main sheet and the boat rolled over on its side over 45 degrees. When I did release the main sheet, the boat flattened. Neil and I had a short discussion about what this might have been like for Paul who was trying to sleep. We had visions of his face being squashed against the side of the cabin when we were heeled over. We thought of going down to see if he was OK but as he didn’t seem to be complaining about our nautical tactics, we thought we would just leave sleeping dogs lie….

We arrived in Hampton at around 9:00 AM after 14 hours. We had cut off 4 hours off our projected sailing time because of the strong winds, and excellent seamanship of the crew. We spent the day resting, and checking if there was any damage to the boat. The autohelm issue was a fuse which I was able to replace and the auto helm works perfectly well. I contacted Peter, who installed the autohelm and he gave me some advice how to prevent the fuse from blowing in the future. Everything seems to be in order as we wait for a weather window before we head South. So far, it looks like it might be Sunday or Monday…..