Overdue Updates: Third Installment
14 April 2009 | Isla Mujeres, Mexico
Carolyn
Another Rough One
Eventually we decided that we should start looking for a good weather window to make the jump to Mexico. We had several options of destinations based on conditions and timing. After several days of zero wind in Belize, we heard a forecast that seemed reasonable. Saturday was supposed to be ok; the forecast for the seas wasn't great (4'-8'), but manageable. We heard the waves could be worse on Sunday (6'-10'), but would settle down a lot on Monday. However, we needed to be in to some place secure, preferably Isla Mujeres, by Monday evening in advance of a cold front.
We hoped that since the winds had been so calm, perhaps the seas wouldn't be as bad as forecast...
We headed out Saturday morning for the 250+ nm trip. Depending upon our speed, we figured we could pull into Bahia Espiritu Santo (Bay of the Holy Spirit - sounded auspicious) on Sunday, wait out the really bad seas, then head out Sunday night to arrive in Isla Mujeres on Monday before the 'Norther' came in.
For the first 20 miles we were in the lee of Lighthouse Reef and the seas were, indeed, calm. Unfortunately that wasn't to last.
Let me put it this way When we arrived in Isla Mujeres we joined up with 4 other boats who had headed out from mainland Belize the same day we did. Every single one of them said it was one of the worst, most unpleasant, roughest passages they had ever made. That group included two monohulls, one catamaran, and one trawler.
The seas were the forecasted 4'-8' ft with some higher. The problem was the wave period (the time between the waves). They were very short seas with waves hitting every couple seconds. We were catching the waves on the beam and as a result once again we were rolling side to side. At least this time we had packed all the lockers well enough that we didn't have the crashing and clanking of the previous passage, but it was just as uncomfortable. At least we were under sail so we didn't have the engine noise to put up with.
I managed lunch ok (we had been in the lee of the reef so it hadn't been too bad yet), but it didn't stick with me. By dinner time I lost lunch and I decided to try one of the scolpamine patches to see if that would help. Unfortunately a couple of hours later I felt behind my ear and it was gone. I hadn't washed my neck, so between sunscreen and sweat, it didn't stick. At that point I didn't feel like dealing with another one which was probably a mistake.
Late afternoon Andrew was down resting when suddenly the jib began flopping wildly. We were still on course, so it wasn't the autopilot acting up. Andrew poked his head up and it looked as if we had blown out the headsail. We discovered that the cringle of the jib had given way. For non-sailors, the cringle is the ring at the end of the forward sail to which the lines (called sheets) are tied. The jib sheets were now laying on the deck, still attached to the ring, but the sail was flapping out of control.
Great.
We rolled it in as best we could and put up the staysail - a smaller forward sail. This slowed us down meaning we'd be out in this mess even longer.
Great.
Given the state of the seas we were not inclined to try to pull down the sail. And do what with it?! Andrew put on a harness and tethered himself to the boat. He went forward to tie off the drum so the furling system wouldn't turn. We hoped that would be enough to keep the jib from unrolling and kept our fingers crossed.
That night Andrew and I took turns on watch, and I did go below to rest when I was off watch.
Around 3 in the morning I tried a couple of crackers and a couple of sips of water. By 6 the next morning (Sunday) the crackers and water went too. I was hanging over the edge of the cockpit (not the edge of the boat, only the cockpit - I'm not stupid!) heaving. At that point Andrew came up with a wet cloth and said, "Here wash your neck and put this on." We restickered me.
At this point we had pretty much decided to pull into Bahia Espiritu Santo, deal with the headsail, and rest for about 6 hours or so, then head back out to Isla Mujeres. Timing-wise that would put us pulling into Isla Monday during the day which was good. I was looking forward to a bit of a reprieve. By about 10 we were off of the bay. I was looking at the seas coming at us and realized that as we pulled into the bay we would be running with the seas - virtually surfing into the bay. Not undoable, but nerve wracking. It then occurred to me, however, that if the seas did pick up during the day on Sunday we'd have to come out into those seas later that afternoon. The idea of surfing the waves might have been nerve wracking. The idea of crashing straight into them was horrifying. As much as I hated to say it, I asked Andrew if instead we shouldn't just continue on to Cozumel, anchor there over night, and then continue the next day (Monday). Based on distances, we could get into Cozumel before sunset. It would mean continuing with a forecast of truly icky seas, but I began to feel, "How worse could it be?"
In one of my typical stories, those would be famous last words. Fortunately the bigger seas forecasted didn't materialize, and the rest of Sunday was pretty much the same as what we had already done.
Unfortunately we still had to deal with the headsail. During the night a portion of it had come unrolled and it was flogging around. We knew that if we didn't want to ruin the sail permanently we had to get it down. At least it was daylight. We turned the boat to run downwind, we put on life jackets and harnesses, attached ourselves to the jacklines and headed forward to deal. Andrew was on the bow pulling the sail down; I was at the mast letting out the halyard. Once it started coming down I helped pull the sail down the edge of the deck and we lashed it down with the now available jib sheet. We could see that the blue UV fabric trim had started to pull off and was fraying. We couldn't really asses what other damage had been done, but we could see where the webbing that held in the cringle was basically frayed gone.
We continued on our way, still not making great time, but on schedule to get into Cozumel before nightfall.
I kept thinking I should look around for the missing patch - I didn't want it getting stuck to a cat. I'm sure that would not be particularly good for them. Around mid afternoon Andrew did figure out where it had ended up on the back of my left arm. How it got from behind my right ear to my left tricep we'll never know, but it makes me wonder if I was getting a double dose. Probably not since it sure didn't stop me from getting sick that morning.
We pulled into Cozumel and got the anchor set just as the sun was going down. It was a relief to be stopped and the anchorage was pretty settled.
On Monday the seas were indeed down and we had a not unpleasant trip the remaining 50 miles to Isla Mujeres. Granted we had to power virtually the whole way, but by that point I DIDN'T CARE!!!!!
I should perhaps mention that while I had my sickest passage to date, the cats did great. Jigger hid in the cat bed the whole time, and Spinnaker would pop out from time to time, do a pass around the cockpit, then retreat to her cat bed. I can't believe she was even eating underway. I couldn't hold down a cracker and sips of water, and she was eating. Go figure. Jigger did poke his head out from time to time. I could tell because at one point they were in the opposite cat beds from where they started.
We got in around 3 o'clock and after some futzing around with where to anchor, got ourselves settled. Good thing too - by 6:30 the wind had turned to the north and the cold front was upon us.
So, that gets us caught up to date with our recent travels.
Coming soon: Life in Isla Mujeres.