m & k
01/24/2009

January 24th, 2009 Clarence Town, Long Island, Bahamas

My day started a 12:20 am with a "thump". The boat shuddered and I was wide awake. In about 10 seconds there was another "thump." Our keel was bouncing off the bottom. I turned on the GPS to find that low tide was about 30 minutes away.we were still going down. A few minutes later our stern came to rest on the bottom while the forward portion of the keel continued to bump the bottom with each swell. I didn't think that it was a dangerous situation, but it was uncomfortable. As we approached dead low tide, I raised the mizzen and swung the boom to starboard to use the wind to push us as soon as possible. On schedule the tide began to come in, we floated off and the wind pushed us about 20 degrees to the port into some marginally deeper water. At about 2:30 the danger was over and I went back to bed.

I was up again at 6:30 for the weather which called for winds of 10 to 12 knots from the NE. Looking at our anemometer which stood at 15, and knowing that yesterdays forecast was off on the low side by about 8 knots, I was a little skeptical. Barry spoke with Chris Parker to get a personal forecast and things sounded ok for the trip across the Crooked Island Passage. The next few days however would be quite windy. Since our plan was to hang out in the Bight of Acklins with no protection for a few days, the six of us discussed the situation over the vhf and we decided to stay put for a few days until the winds over there subsided a bit.

There were two other boats in the anchorage "Nakita" and "Freeatlast." They are two young families whom we have met a few times along the way. Hamish and Dave are fisherman. On our way in yesterday, we heard "Nikita" on the radio asking anyone in the area to be on the lookout for their dinghy that was lost at sea.

"Freeatlast" had torn its main so they both were not in the best of spirits. Hamish stopped by to chat and I mentioned that although we were had little experience in sail repair, we did have the sewing machine for the job if he wanted to take a chance.

Dave and Hamish got the sail down and Steve and I looked at the damage. There was an "L" shaped tear of about 4 feet on each side, some damage to the bolt rope area and an almost missing batten sleeve.

We spent about two hours taping each side with 3 inch sail tape and then I went back to pick up Kathy to oversee the sewing. With three of us manhandling the sail, Kathy running the speed control and me guiding the sail through the machine, we did a reasonably good job. The stitching wasn't all that straight, but should hold. The repair took about 4 hours, but it was time well spent.

After a shower we were off to town and caught up with our friends having a late lunch at the Marina Restaurant. We wandered around for a while but Steve had called for a beach party at 5 so we cut our exploration short get some pickle wraps together.

We had a great time with all six boats in the anchorage represented. Steve seared some of Barry's tuna and served it with some wasabi dip that was the hit of the party. We had a fire on the beach and listened to Hamish play guitar.

January 23rd, 2009 Cabalash Bay to Clarence Town Long Island

The anchorage at Cabalash Bay is known as an uncomfortable place to stay and we are now able to testify to the fact. At about 1:00 am "Sapphire" began to roll . side to side. It was impossible to sleep so I was up and spent some time on the computer. It did settle down around 4 am and we were able to get a little nap before our departure at daylight.

We headed north around the tip of Long Island and then southwest along its eastern side. We were basically on a beam reach in 20+ knots all day. We were in the Atlantic with a fetch all the way over to Africa. We had swells of 6 to 8 feet with about a 10 second period and then wind chop of about 4 feet on top of that. Needless to say we spent the day heeled between 15 and 20 degrees with our starboard rail in the water much of the time. It was a great sail but our angle made it difficult to move around much. It was one of those days when things that that never fall out of their place. did.

"Night Hawk" was fishing along the 200 foot line and caught more tuna during the day than they could stow..darn. We were skunked for the day landing only 2 small barracuda. We lost one fish that was small and another that got our adrenalin going. At some in the afternoon our new reel started to scream. I grabbed the rod out of the holder while Kathy brought us into the wind. The reel was still screaming so I clamped down on the drag. By now half of the 40 lb test on the reel was gone so I added more drag. What ever was on the other end was pulling so hard that I was a little worried about not being able to hold the rod. Unfortunately, the reel was still screaming. I couldn't do anything-the seas were too rough to attempt to turn and my line was almost gone..so I tightened the drag some more knowing that we could never land a fish this big in today's seas. I was just hoping that the line would break somewhere down near the leader so we could still use the new rod. (We had no extra line)

Finally it was gone. the line went slack and I reeled it in, arms aching.

A little later Kathy went below to find standing water on the sole at the base of the settee. She mopped it up with some towels but it returned immediately. I went down a little later and soaked it up again and checked the bilge which was fine. Before I went back up I tasted it to find that it was fresh. With that piece of information the puzzle was solved. Heeled at 20 degrees our water tank is higher that the starboard side of the sole. With a full tank, it was leaking through its two inspection ports and settling at the base of the settee. It had also gotten into some storage compartments where we keep food and extra bedding, so everything had to come out. Most of it was okay-the bedding is in plastic bags. Some things had to be hung out to dry. And all the fresh water we lost, that had been carried to the boat in jerry jugs in George Town was wasted.

We arrived in Clarence Town a little before 4 pm and found a place to anchor. It was a little shallow but we were tired and didn't take the time to re-anchor. Our plan was to take off in the morning for another jump of about 50 miles across the ocean.

I made some stroganoff for dinner. It had been a long day.

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Mike
01/22/2009

January 22, 2009 Georgetown, Exmas to Calabash Bay Long Island

After the weather Barry and I dinghied down to "Fine Lion" to discuss the weather for the next few days and make a final decision about our destination. Things looked quite good so we decided to leave for the northern tip of Long Island today. The run is only about 25 miles and its all deep water so fishing is in order.

We left promptly at 9:00am and in 5 miles or so were in the Sound. During a routine engine check, while still in the protection of Elizabeth harbor, I found quite a bit of water in catch basin beneath the engine. My fix must not have worked.

I pumped the water out and as soon as we cleared the rocks and got the head sail furled, we took off on a slow tack to the northwest. "Fine Lion" and "Night Hawk' followed along even though it was not the direction to our destination.

In about an hour of lying on top of a hot engine, trying to avoid the manifold, I had the new solution in place. We fired up the engine and checked after 10 minutes to find no water. As Kathy altered course back to the correct heading, I put out our three fishing lines.

It was a nice day with 12 to 15 knots of wind and about a 6 foot swell. However, with a 10 second period the swells were hardly noticeable..just a gentle ocean roll.

After a few hours, with Long Island in sight we still hadn't had a bite. I saw a floating mat of seaweed a few hundred yards away and steered for it. We were just skirting the edge when one of our hand lines popped off its clothes pin. We slowed, turned into the wind, and I hauled in a nice 3 foot Mahi.

We fished our way in but didn't have another bite.

Our anchorage, Calabash Bay at the northern tip of Long Island (I don't know how to add the Lat and Lon when we post remotely) has the reputation of being a very surgy or rolly anchorage. Ocean swell curves around the point and hits us broad side. It's two am and I've been up for an hour unable to sleep so I've been trying to catch up with our Blog. We thought that in Georgetown we'd be able to get online from the boat but it wasn't to be. Either our antenna isn't working properly or there were just too many people for the infrastructure. Anyway it didn't happen. Much of the time it was too windy to take the computers to shore.

We'll leave at daylight and should have a good sail down the windward side of Long Island to Clarence Town.

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Mike & Kathy
01/21/2009

January 21st. Georgetown, Exumas

The wind calmed down last night about dinner time but picked up with a vengeance around midnight. Our anchor was fine but I got up the check the swing. We were way too close to another boat. In the morning we had breakfast even though the pans were sliding around the stove.

I got on the harbor net and asked about where to find the fittings I needed to repair our water leak. There was one response that wasn't too helpful and then Craig on "Tilt" called to say that he had a part that may work. Unfortunately they were at Monument Beach across the harbor. I decided to make the two mile trip anyway and took off in the dinghy. After about 200 yards I turned around . the dinghy was about half full by that time. Retreating to the boat to bail and make a call to "Tilt" saying that I changed my mind, I was moved on to plan B.

After bailing and loading up with trash and empty water containers, I was off again. and I got wet again but in about 100 yards I was in calmer water. I dropped off the trash and went under the bridge to Lake Victoria and the dinghy dock. There was no one at the water spigot so I filled up the containers that I had and then moved down the dock a little and tied up.

I walked down the dinghy dock out to the street next to the Exuma Market. There were cars parked everywhere so I squeezed between a couple out to the street. I walked behind the bed of a pickup filled with PVC pipe and boxes of fittings. The driver was at the wheel so I retraced my steps and ask him, if by chance, he was a plumber. He was.

I explained what I needed and asked if I could find such a thing on his island. He thought for a minutes and asked if it would be all right to build it out of three separate parts. it was. So he said that the hardware department of the Lumber Yard had the components that I needed. Since he wasn't really doing anything at the time he offered to drive me if I gave him some gas money. We were off in a flash.

It was about a three mile trip and as we drove along on the wrong side of the road he ask me if I had been able to see the inaugural address of our new President. I told him that I had seen part of it at the Laundry, but not the whole speech. I asked him what he thought and after a pause of about 15 seconds replied that he thought that there was so much "hope and kind feelings" for our new president beyond the boarders of the US, that he was sure that things would be better.

We stopped at the Lumber Yard and Hattie followed me in and led the way to the correct isle. In about 5 minutes we sifted through the misc. parts and found what we needed. They cost $2.87. He dropped me off at the dinghy dock and I made my way slowly back to the boa in some rather large seas.

"Night Hawk" was leaving as I returned and "Fine Lion" was long gone so we got organized to weigh anchor to cross back over to the Stocking Island side of the harbor. In 26 knots getting the anchor up in a really congested anchorage is tougher that it should be.Kathy pulled us ahead to take the strain off the windlass and we got the rode in and anchor up in a few minutes. When I got back to the cockpit Kathy told me that the engine had stalled twice. which never happens. She recovered both times in the wind and seas and we were on our way.

At some point during this procedure, Pam on "Deharlo" called .. Kathy told her that we couldn't talk at the moment so when we got anchored off Volleyball Beach, I returned the call and made a bridge date for 1:30. I played well and won the on points. I met Kathy, Steve, Kim and a bunch of Canadians at the Chat and Chill. We sat around for an hour our so and then went back to "Sapphire" to listen to the Spartans lose to Northwestern.. Kathy was not happy

We watched an episode of "Cold Case" and I went to bed. Kathy .. still not happy, watched a Bridget Jones movie before calling it a day.

I, Kathy, just want to say that I am glad that we did not have company this last week. We have had about 3 nice days, but lots of wind and clouds. Hope for better weather for guests.

January, 20th. Georgetown, Exumas

Another windy day, but having crossed the harbor yesterday we're well protected. We wasted some time this morning as usual. I worked to attempt to get online from the boat and had to uninstall and then reinstall some software, but never did get ourselves online. Steve came over and helped for a while but the fault seems to be in the signal not our receiver.

We had an early lunch and then hiked to the Laundromat with a couple of loads. President O'Bama was on TV with his inaugural address and I listen for awhile and then took off to haul a load of water. Kathy got to watch all of it while doing laundry. It's kind of refreshing to have a new president.and clean clothes.

When I was finished I returned to help Kathy carry clean clothes. While she went to the store to purchase some frozen meat, I loaded up another 25 gallons of water which should more that top off our tank and we returned to the boat. If our plans work out with the weather, we will be heading to some remote areas for a few weeks. No phone, no internet (except through the SSB radio), no place to get water (except we are traveling with "Fine Lion" who has a water maker and said they would be happy to share), no grocery stores,etc. Looks like we may have to go hunting and eat lobster and fish!

I took the dinghy over to "Perseverance II" to help Tom rig up a hand line for fishing and hung out there for a while. After finishing up there, I came back to check out our water leak. I removed the hose clamps and then the hose barb that screws into the back side of our heat exchanger. It was pitted and corroded enough that there were 3 small holes. I took some dimensions and then painted on a layer of JB Weld before replacing everything. My repair will probably be fine for months, but my job for tomorrow will be to attempt to find a new one.

We marinated a pork loin which we had with a baked sweet potato, broccoli, and a salad, listened to Illinois beat Ohio State and called it a day.

January, 20th. Georgetown, Exumas

Another windy day, but having crossed the harbor yesterday we're well protected. We wasted some time this morning as usual. I worked to attempt to get online from the boat and had to uninstall and then reinstall some software, but never did get ourselves online. Steve came over and helped for a while but the fault seems to be in the signal not our receiver.

We had an early lunch and then hiked to the Laundromat with a couple of loads. President O'Bama was on TV with his inaugural address and I listen for awhile and then took off to haul a load of water. Kathy got to watch all of it while doing laundry. It's kind of refreshing to have a new president.and clean clothes.

When I was finished I returned to help Kathy carry clean clothes. While she went to the store to purchase some frozen meat, I loaded up another 25 gallons of water which should more that top off our tank and we returned to the boat. If our plans work out with the weather, we will be heading to some remote areas for a few weeks. No phone, no internet (except through the SSB radio), no place to get water (except we are traveling with "Fine Lion" who has a water maker and said they would be happy to share), no grocery stores,etc. Looks like we may have to go hunting and eat lobster and fish!

I took the dinghy over to "Perseverance II" to help Tom rig up a hand line for fishing and hung out there for a while. After finishing up there, I came back to check out our water leak. I removed the hose clamps and then the hose barb that screws into the back side of our heat exchanger. It was pitted and corroded enough that there were 3 small holes. I took some dimensions and then painted on a layer of JB Weld before replacing everything. My repair will probably be fine for months, but my job for tomorrow will be to attempt to find a new one.

We marinated a pork loin which we had with a baked sweet potato, broccoli, and a salad, listened to Illinois beat Ohio State and called it a day.

January 19th, 200- Georgetown, Exumas

This morning I was up at 6:23 to listen to Chris Parker's weather forecast as usual.The forecast hadn't changed much since Saturday and was still calling for West winds of 25k starting tonight. We knew that a move from Stocking Island across the harbor to Kidd Cove was going to be on the agenda to avoid three miles of fetch. Before our coffee was finished we got a call from "Night Hawk" saying that we'd better get a move on . they were already there and the anchorage was filling up fast.

We weighed anchor and swung by "Fine Lion" to get them going before motoring across Elizabeth Harbor for some protection. We found a spot to anchor and finished our coffee watching many of the boats follow our move. For those of you who have never had the opportunity of being here..Stocking Island is a barrier island protecting Elizabeth Harbor and Georgetown from the dominate Easterlies that are called the Trades or Trade Winds at this latitude. In weird situations, or when strong fronts come this far south, the winds sometimes come from the West in the process of clocking. Most of the cursiers here anchor in the lea of Stocking Island off one of about three different beaches. But they are open to west and north winds. We would have been fine where we were but would have been rocking and rolling for about 48 hours with little hope of getting off the boat. It just made sense to head across the harbor and anchor with some west and northwest protection.

After getting settled and a second pot of coffee, we headed to town to run some errands. Our first stop was to purchase our regatta tee shirts and then on to the "Top to Bottom" which has a lot of stuff. hardware, fishing stuff, housewares, all crammed into a shed about the size of a one car garage. I purchased a new fishing point for my spear and then we walked to the computer café to find that there were too many people for the band width. I bought $20 worth of cell phone time and then headed back into town looking for a phone booth to call the bank in Carson City. The phone booths didn't work so we walked the half mile back to the Computer Café and eventually got on line checking our email and adding some photos to our blog.

Before we left we called bank on his, Julius', phone for fifteen cents, and got things fixed there hopefully.

Then it was back to the dinghy dock and over to the fuel dock, a trip of about 50 yards. Kathy stayed with the dinghy while I hiked up to the Shell station with two diesel cans. Then, after stowing them on the dinghy, I returned to fill two gasoline cans as well.

With the dinghy full, it was back to "Sapphire" to offload.

We had a late lunch and read during the afternoon. At 4:00, we met on "Fine Lion" to look at weather for the upcoming week as well as charts, currents, etc.

The six of us put together a plan for roughly the next month . heading from here when the weather clears either on Wednesday or Thursday and fishing our way over to the north end of Long Island. Then we hope to head out in the Ocean on the eastern side to Clarence Town or Little Harbor. From there we will set out for the Acklins Island group and hope to spend at least a week in the bight before sailing east to the Ragged Islands and then back north through the Jumentos to our point of origin here in the Exumas. We are planning on three weeks which gives us about a weeks worth of weather error.

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