We've made a big deal about crossing the gulf stream from Florida to Bahamas but it is a big deal.......

So when we last posted we were in Peck Lake, a wonderful, quiet anchorage just north of Palm Beach. Well, the next day was anything but wonderful and quiet..... We were headed to West Palm Beach, more specifically, Lake Worth Inlet which is entitled as a Class A inlet to the ocean. In summary this means clear, all weather access to the Atlantic Ocean from an inland waterway. This is the inlet that we choose to begin or crossing.

So, if you've any recollection of Palm Beach, with the garish and ostentatious homes you'll know what we saw as we worked our way from Peck Lake; huge homes, each with its own dock and boat. Now some of these boats docked in front of their house were more than 100 feet long so you can imagine what the houses were like. What we weren't prepared for was the crush of boat traffic. We should have realized that the last Saturday of the Christmas holiday season would be busy, but it was absolute chaos. Motor boats of al sizes and shapes were zooming at breakneck speeds everywhere, seemingly oblivious to our 7 knot sailboat. The wakes were incredible and the criss-crossing of boats was downright dangerous. To make matters worse, it was evident that many were drinking. Anyway we worked our way successfully through this mad scene to the anchorage where would spend the night (well part of the night).

Along with our "buddy boat", Breeze Hunter, we decided to leave at 3:00 to make the crossing to West End in the Bahamas. We had a lot of things to do to ready the boat for the crossing including bringing the dinghy on deck, securing all stuff, checking the engine, etc. So, with very little sleep we're up shortly after 2:00 and underway by 3:00. The inlet was very rolly but we'd been warned that while it is a Class A, it is also rolly. However, even after exiting the inlet, the waves were lumpy, and we still weren't in the Gulf Stream yet. Suffice it to say that it was a very long and uncomfortable day. To make matters worse, the wind, while not strong (10 to 15 knots) was directly from the east, the direction we were heading so the sails were of no use and we could not use them to stabilize the pitching.

Recall from previous posts that the Gulf Stream is a 45 mile wide river of warm water which flows from the tropics, along Florida and north ultimately across to the British Isles. I've been told that there are places in Scotland where there are palm trees which survive because of the localized temperate climate resulting from the close proximity of the GS. It flows north at around 3 knots, which if you recall is about half of our boat speed. So fighting it's incessant clutches is futile exercise. But what's the most significant thing from a small boater's perspective is that any wind blowing against the stream sets up dangerously steep waves, often called "elephants". We saw some baby elephants today!

There are many ways and places to cross the gulf stream and veteran boaters all have their own preferred routes and stand by their favourites like the rabid fans of hockey teams. They all have one thing in common; get across to where you want to go as quickly and comfortably. Sounds easy? Not! There are many factors to consider. To make a long story short, we chose our route for a number of reasons including a recommendation from Bahamas veteran Mike Macdonald, our not wanting to go any further south on the ICW, wanting to avoid overnighters (even if we did start well into the night) and various other considerations.

One more short lecture. Picture the geometry; we move at about 6.5 knots and need to go about 55 miles almost due east to our destination at West End, Grand Bahama Island. There is the good ole Gulf Stream trying to push us back north to Canada at about 3 knots for most of this passage. Ultimately you end up crabbing your way across the Florida Straits. There are basically four ways of dealing with this:
1) Let it happen: head on your compass course and realize at some point that you are way, way off from your destination, then you have to head back south. Not recommended!
2) Leave from a point more southerly than your destination. This would have meant for us a couple more days on the ICW to get to Miami. With this method, you essentially ride the GS north as you travel east across the Strait
3)Set a course which takes into consideration the effects of the stream. To make a long story short, you can pre-calculate how much more south you have to aim so that, with the effect of the GS you end up at your destination. This one means you cover more distance because the effect is not a straight line but more like a sine curve but it reduces the slow-down effect of the GS
4)Steer a constant course "over-the-ground". With the aid of your GPS, you steer your boat so that it makes a straight line across but at any point in time, your bow is probably aiming 30 or more degrees more south than if it was pointing at your destination. This one is slow because you are bucking the current but in some regards the easiest 'cause you can let the electronics take over and it is not as mentally disconcerting as approach 3 where you deliberately aim for where you don't want to go!

Anyway, enough of the lecture, we chose a combination of 3 and 4. We did aim about 10 or so degrees below our target but did end up being slowed down considerably by the GS. A good part of the day we were only making 4 knots (and certainly less when a big wave would attempt to stop up our progress).

We did fine. Chopin barely budged all day but did not complain. Judy was alert (a challenge for her because she took a Gravol and normally would sleep all day) and Sea Sharp ploughed through wave after wave like a champ. Our boat buddies also did great.

Almost 12 hours after our start, we approached West End and our next post will describe this little bit of heaven. Suffice it to say that we were tired but elated and proud. Refer back to the title o this blog "Retirement to Bahamas"; well, we're here!