January 21, 2013

The winds generally blow out of the east-northeast in the Bahamas at 10 to 20 knots. That makes for lovely sailing on the western side of the islands and a wild ride on the eastern, lee shore. On the western side you have the wind to fill your sails but little wave action to be uncomfortable. Weather systems move in from the north, and usually arrive decisively. 20 to 30 knot winds are common during a frontal system. Generally there is a day or 2 of north winds before the wind starts clocking around the compass to east, east south east, quickly through south, west and north before settling back to the usual easterlies. Boaters plan for those events and congregate in areas of protection. Few anchorages have protection from all directions so we concentrate on safe places from the north and east winds since winds are rarely strong and are often short lived from the south and west. Also, travel is naturally more difficult when traveling upwind. Which is why we've jumped on this opportunity of benign weather and motored our way east.