We are not Gentle Folk
16 May 2017 | West Bay New Providence Bahamas
Sally blowing like stink
We slept so well not bouncing around it felt grand. Two of the boats in the harbor look like they may be locals who live on board. While we were up having coffee, the trawler that was here left and the two local boats pulled into the inner harbor and tied to a dock. Things that make you go hmmmm. The three sea scout boats didn't seem to be pulling up stakes. I had missed Chris Parker this morning, had something changed in the weather forecast?
Scott was up on deck when the guy on the boat behind us called out to him. He made some remark about docking next to us to get to know us. Huh? After a bit of confusion he tells us he is just joking. Turns out he feels we are anchored to close to him (we are not). He makes some crack about there having been lots of deep water *behind* his boat. Well yes there may have been but it's also totally exposed to the East where the winds are scheduled to build from and it's not technically in the anchorage. He wasn't on his boat when we set the anchor and he didn't come over and say anything to us yesterday. Sheesh. Then he starts going on about the holding being poor. Scott is miffed and tells the yahoo that we'll move. He comes back with don't bother we're leaving. WTF??? So what exactly is your problem? They are heading down to South Andros.
Of course all of this has me confused. Was he telling us that the holding was poor and there was a blow coming that would make the anchorage untenable? I'm getting concerned so I run down to check passage maker. Mmmm looks to me like we could be getting some strong northeasterly winds. Not good for staying at Morgan's Bluff. Scott thinks we should stay put, I'm not so sure. After a fairly tense conversation we decide to pull up stakes and move back to West Bay where we know there is good easterly protection and some protection from the north and south. It's a little more bouncy than we would like but not nearly as bad as Byrd.
We got the dingy on the bow and things secured and headed out shortly before noon. We knew the wind was going to be close but we were able to sail which was good because the seas were up and it helped to stabilize the ride. The first couple of hours weren't too bad but we were not making great time because we were heading into the seas. The winds continues to build as the day progressed along with the seas and we were close hauled. The waves were breaking over the bow and a large squall band was chasing us. We had to fall off our rhumb line to be able to sail which let us take some of the bang out of the ride. That required us to tack which only added time to the trip. The distance to travel was a total of 28 nm. Things were banging and rolling including the crew. At one point we had spray up and over the Bimini as the waves increased in height and became closer in period. The prop was coming out of the water when we rammed through the waves and the rail was buried. Water rushed down the decks. The sail regularly lost the wind as we came through a wave and then would refill showering us with salt. These were some of the worst conditions we had ever experienced. Scott manned the helm with the aid of the autopilot while I tucked myself up by the companion way and held on tighter than a barnacle to our bottom. We were having a tough time keeping the speed up to 4 knots. They say a gentleman never sails to weather but that seems to be the only angle of sail we ever do sail. Guess we are not gentle folks. Light Reach took care of us though and handled it very well. Crealock may not have been much for creature comforts but he did know how to build a boat to take heavy weather.
When the red striped towers of Clifton Point came into view we were hopeful but still 2 hours out and now we had to go straight into the wind to get to the anchorage. We headed up to pull in the jib, Scott pulled her in while I manned the sheets. Just as he was getting the sail in we heeled up a good amount and things went flying. I managed to secure the furling line while Scott got the boat back on course and then secure the sheets. There must have been some serious adrenalin flying because Scott had put 14 wraps around the furled head sail! LOL I had barely enough line left in the sheets to get them secured so they wouldn't end up fouling the prop.
Now we were heading straight into the waves and we pounded. Slam the bow rode up, wallow and swing the stern slammed down. We could see New Providence clearly now, shouldn't we be getting a wee bit of protection from the island? Not until we were about a 1/2 mile out did we feel the effects of being in the lee of the island. There were 4 other boats in the anchorage, plenty of room for us. We found a sandy spot and set the hook. Seven plus hours of torture.
We assessed the damage below, the life raft which weighs in excess of 70 pound was in the middle of the salon floor having fallen off the port side settee. My IPad was laying on the galley floor where it had landed after falling off the rear berth. Miraculously it was still working. The Bad Elf GPS that had been attached to it was still attached to the 12 V socket. Instrument covers, pencils and a variety of debris lay strewn about. We set about getting the boat put back together and squared.
I apologized profusely to the Captain for letting myself get syked out by some moron. He generously forgave me.
Neither one of us was particularly hungry so we had cold pizza and an adult beverage and crawled into bed..... where my side was soaking wet!
The picture was taken on a previous entry into the bay. Today was not a photo opportunity kind of day. We sure were glad to see those towers.