We finally got a weather forecast which looked promising for making the hop to Key West. The winds had been quite strong for the preceding week but were forecast to settle down on Sunday. Once the winds died the seas would settle as well. I would get my smooth passage which, given the past couple of awful trips, I wanted (needed?). We might have to power most of it, but at least it wouldn't be so rough. We were all set to leave Sunday morning at first light in the company of at least 7 other boats.

First light came around and the winds were still blowing hard. The seas were probably running around 6-8 feet which really didn't appeal. We decided to wait a bit to see if the winds would settle down - us and all the other boats in Isla Mujeres. We thought maybe we could leave in the afternoon. We were still hemming and hawing mid-afternoon. The winds finally did die down, but the seas were probably still running high. I was willing to head out knowing that although things would be bad at first, things would just get smoother and smoother as we went. Ultimately, though, we opted to wait until the next morning to leave (the same decision all the other boats came to as well).

Monday morning came around and by 5:50 am the anchor was up and we were on our way. At that time we saw 4 other boats weighing anchor so we knew we'd have company. In the end I believe there were at least 8 of us traveling that day. Crossing a couple of the shallow bars north of Isla Mujeres was bumpy, but other than that the seas were much lower than the last big passages we had made. Phew! It wasn't going to be as bad as our other trips!

There was a bit of wind so we raised the sails, but it wasn't really enough to get us going so we opted to motor sail. We would live with the sound of the engine for the duration of the trip. Well, almost all of the trip - but that comes later.

We had a couple of options of route to take. One would be the rhumb line - a direct line between Isla Mujeres and Key West. Another would be to follow some waypoints provided by our weather forecaster which theoretically would optimize the currents. This later one didn't exactly follow the rhumb line, but was pretty close. A third option would be to head more north first, then cut back to the east-northeast.

I had listened in on conversations among some of the other boats heading north, and as with all things boating, listen to four different people and you'll get four different opinions. I distinctly remember at least one person saying that they try to follow the rhumb line and don't bother seeking out currents, that in the end it works out fine. Turns out that boater didn't do that, headed more north, and got in hours before us. But that also comes later....

We headed off on a course that would be close to the rhumb line and would put us pretty near the 'currents' waypoints we had. Unfortunately that course put us heading very close to the wind (meaning the wind was very close to dead ahead) which caused the genoa to flap too much. We bore off a little in order to keep wind in the sail with the thought that faster forward progress in the long run was better, and that we could make up the north-ing portion later on since the wind was forecast to switch over more to the NW which would allow us to point up more towards Key West.

I think that was our first mistake.

A 1pm that first day I sent an email to our families which included this note:

"Seas are fine... every now and then we hit a patch which has waves coming from multiple awkward directions, probably due to currents. When we catch a favorable current we are zinging along. Otherwise we're just plodding along.

Only another 43 hours to go..."

That remained the case for the rest of that first day. We were still heading more east than north, but we were making progress toward Key West. We were watching carefully to make sure we didn't get too close to Cuba - not for political reasons, but because there is a countercurrent that runs from east to west which would push us back.

The exact timing of the rest of the trip is, by now, a bit of a blur, but at some point we realized that trying to keep the jib full of wind was not letting us get as much north as we needed to go. We decided to pull in the jib and use the staysail instead (good thing I sewed it up back in Isla Mujeres, huh!). The staysail is much smaller and it is possible to pull it in tight enough that it wouldn't flop around, but it would still give us lift and help us go a little faster than just engine alone.

The next morning we checked in via SSB to the Northwest Caribbean Cruisers net to report our position. As I listened to the other boats making the trip, all of them were much further north (and therefore relatively closer to Key West) than we were. They were reporting NW (favorable) winds. Meanwhile we were slogging along with more north/northeasterly (unfavorable) winds. I don't think we were in the countercurrent, but we were only making about 5 kts. We tried to cut up to get more north, but our speed slowed to 3.5 kts. We'd never get there at that rate. Again, we opted to continue making forward progress, even if it wasn't as north as we'd like.

During the day we felt like we must be sailing through peanut butter. We were going slower and slower (at point Andrew rhetorically asked, "What we dragging - a whale?"). Around 4pm or so I looked at the estimated arrival time - 48 hours!!!! And that was 24 hours after I had reported to my family that we had about 43 hours to go. That was the low point for me. I got a little teary (didn't cry - but I was on the verge!). Not only did it look like we would be out there for days, the weather forecast for Thursday was decidedly not great. The forecast for Wednesday (day 3) was for the winds to switch to the NE and for the seas to start to build. By Thursday (potentially day 4 of a trip that we estimated would take 2 ½ days) the NE winds were forecast to be up to 20+ kts and seas in the Gulf Stream would be building to 6-8 feet. We would be heading directly into that mess.

For whatever reason right after that things started getting a little better. The wind switched in such a way that we were able to get more north, and we FINALLY must have picked up some kind of current, because we started making 6+ kts instead of 4.5 to 5.

The next morning (start of day 3) I once again checked into the NW Caribbean net. Since we had picked up speed and were on a better heading, at that point we had an ETA of about 9 o'clock that evening (Wed.).What was unfortunate was hearing one of the boats that left when we did was an hour out of Key West. I then heard other boats from the pack all reporting estimated arrivals of mid-day or thereabouts. We were significantly behind everyone else.

But at least we were going to get in before the winds built on Thursday so I could take that worry off my list.

We were merrily (albeit tiredly) chugging along with about 53 miles to go when, around 12:30pm when engine rpm dropped a bit.

Huh?

We kept going and - oh dear - the engine rpm dropped again. Then again. Then died.

Uh oh...what now?!?

Andrew headed below while I sorted out what I could do with course and sails to keep us going in some semblance of a beneficial direction. I pulled in the staysail, pulled out the jib, and headed north. Again, this wasn't the optimal course, but I figured in a worst case scenario we could at least get close to the islands west of Key West. From there we'd see what the winds were doing; at least we could get ourselves out of the Gulf Stream before the winds picked up on Thursday.

Thinking that perhaps the problem was a clogged fuel filter, Andrew braved the hot engine room stinky with the smell of diesel with the heeling and rocking of a boat underway. He replaced the fuel filter and then waited to let the engine cool down a bit before crawling over the engine to bleed the lines. He checked the diesel tank and the dipstick showed we had about 20 gallons so the problem wasn't a lack of fuel.

Right about this time I emailed my mother.

Before leaving Mexico we had tried to reinstate our TowBoat US membership (the nautical equivalent of AAA or RAC) , but the credit card was declined. We think that had to do with the fact that we were doing it online from Mexico. We contacted my mother to see if she could contact Boat US and get the membership up and running.

At the time the engine stuff was going on we hadn't heard back. I didn't want to alarm my mother so I sent an email which said simply, "Any Luck?"

Back on deck, the wind was somewhat variable. At times it was blowing about 13 kts which was enough to keep us moving. Other times it was blowing around 8, which was not. At moments we were traveling at a whopping 2kts. Hey, at least it was forward progress.

Andrew bled the lines and... nothing. We tried again. Nothing. The starter motor wasn't turning over. Oh No... not that again. It wasn't even clicking. Andrew did the only thing one can at this point.

He whacked the starter motor with a hammer.

It worked.

Sort of.

The starter motor at least clicked, but the engine didn't start. Andrew started the genset to see if it worked, or if perhaps the problem was in the fuel lines instead of the fuel filter. It started fine.

Then it also died.

Sigh.

We were resigned to another long day. The way we figured it, we'd just keep trying to get as close as possible and then hail TowBoat US to tow us in to the anchorage.

We decided to check email and follow-up with my mother. Hurrah! She had gotten our membership reactivated. Just in the knick of time too! I emailed her back, thanking her and letting her know what was going on. I figured someone ought to know that we were pretty much dead in the water. I was just about to send it when Grrrummmmm. Andrew had tried the engine again and it started.

Phew!

We think because we had been heeling while powering (since we had sails up) the fuel had sloshed to one side of the tank and we sucked in air which killed the engine. We knew our fuel levels weren't great, but we did some quick calculations using our fuel consumption rate graph and played the balance between speed, time, distance and fuel levels.

I guess we calculated wrong.

We continued on the most direct course and at 11:30 Wed. night, more than 65 hours into our trip and five miles away from the red/white Key West buoy, the engine slowed, slowed again, and died.

This time we really were out of fuel. This, I believe was our second mistake. Before leaving Isla Mujeres we didn't fill the spare diesel jerry jugs. We figured we had enough fuel in the tanks based on how long we anticipated the trip to take. We never dreamed it would take us as long as it did.

Good thing we got that TowBoat US membership thing worked out, don't cha think?!

We hailed TowBoat US and they said they could be to us in 1-2 hours. At this point it was fortunate that there was no wind and no seas. We sailed/drifted generally eastward which would put us more in front of the harbor and waited for the proverbial tow truck to show up.

Andrew shaved, I took a shower, and the cats got out of their cat beds to stretch their legs.

We only had to wait about an hour for the rescue boat to show up. We felt badly about pulling these guys out so late at night. Badly and embarrassed. They reassured us that this was not the first time this has happened , and it certainly won't be the last.

We were back underway by 1:40 (now Thurs am). They hung out with us at first, just to ensure that everything was well, then they zoomed off, leaving us to cover the last miles on our own. By the time we got to the channel, up the harbor to the anchorage, and anchor set it was 4:05.

The "2 ½ day" trip took us 69h 15m.

The next day (rather later that day) we ran into some of the other boaters who had left Isla with us. They were all glad to hear we had made it. They were pulling for us (they knew how far behind we were because of the check-ins with the NW Carib. Net). In talking with them I realize that they had all given up on the jib and switched to their staysails much earlier than we did. That's what allowed them to get further north that first day/night (even the gentleman who said he always runs the rhumb line). As a result of this they ended up with better currents, better wind and overall a much better passage than we did.

Ironically as I look at our track we were pretty much on the course that should have been good for currents and which, coincidentally was pretty close to the rhumb line. Yet our trip was significantly longer.

It wasn't unpleasant or uncomfortable - just L-O-N-G. Andrew chortled and said, "See? You got your motor passage after all!"

Ah well. We are here now!
C