December 2018

In which we leave the States and head to warmer climes for the winter.

The start of December saw us on passage from North Carolina to Bermuda. To say that were ‘ship shape and Bristol fashion’ would be stretching things. Our radar wasn’t working; our dingy wasn’t holding air, so might need replacing – probably easier in the States than Caribbean; on the second day out, we discovered that our main VHF radio was again not receiving but worst was the lack of recency of the crew. We had had only one day of sailing, in fairly benign conditions in the last six months. Elsie frankly admitted to terror; I hid mine. On the plus side, we knew the boat well and had done longer passages in the past; we were full of fuel water and food; we had confidence in our ability to get weather updates and the forecast showed light winds, all from behind the beam. We would have been happier waiting a few more days and getting a bit more recency in but winter was pressing in and the longer term forecast didn’t give any other weather window for weeks. We had had a little trepidation over crossing the Gulf Stream, it being an axiom that you don’t do so with any significant North in the wind. As it was, we hit it at a quiet patch and although, at times, we could see a 2-3 northerly drift, you wouldn’t know it from the surface. What was amazing was the change in temperature. Only 150 miles from the coast, where night temperatures had been below freezing, it was now warm enough to put away several of the layers of clothing we had worn the first night out.

On departure, our 4 different weather models had given us widely different ETAs. By the morning of the first December, they started to agree that we would arrive around sunset on the 3^rd. The weather overnight 3^rd / 4^th looked a little lively and the entrance to St George is a bit technical for an after dark first attempt so we needed to keep our speed up. On cue, the wind dropped and swung directly behind us so we started the engine to give us some assistance. It’s not something that we like to do for long periods but flexibility is good. The wind picked up again late in the evening and came round to just behind the beam, giving us a nice reach in smoothish seas and 8 knots through the water – heaven. It went up and down a bit over the next couple of days, giving us some nice reefing practice but we managed to keep ahead of our predicted speed and arrived off the coast of Bermuda at lunchtime on the 3^rd with an hour to spare to enter in daylight. Our hope was to go to anchor and clear in with customs etc. the following morning but, just as we got to the entrance, we were instructed to go straight to the customs dock, which meant bringing in the spinnaker pole, tidying away lots of ropes (preventers, guys, spare sheets etc.) and getting out fenders and mooring ropes. Twenty minutes of frantic activity had us prepared and all went smoothly with very friendly officials making handing over $70 seem almost a pleasure. Half a mile motoring across the bay and another half hour of tidying away and we were able to take much needed showers, break out a drink and toast another successful passage. We had motor-assisted for nearly 24 hours but got back into the groove and could relax until the weather gave us a window for the next leg.

Customs House, St Georges.

Tuesday was, as forecast, wet and windy so we had a day of doing very little, just a bit of cleaning, tidying and trying to sort our radio problem. Our fuel gauge also seemed to be hugely optimistic but that would have to wait as I could not find access to the sender. A new calibration might be required. Wednesday was better so we got out the dinghy. It now seemed to be holding air in (maybe grit in a valve on first inflation) though still letting a little water in. Our new, heavier, outboard was installed without problem and we went ashore for a look round the local town. Very scenic and touristy, with a hammed-up reconstruction of 18^th century punishments as lunchtime entertainment. The local 

supermarket was also better than (and not as outrageously expensive as) we expected.

Back to Ruby for another easy afternoon catching up on a few jobs, including finding an easy fix to our radar problem (loose connection at the display unit). Unfortunately no such joy with the radio. We managed for most of last winter with poor range caused by a damaged antenna. We would just have to put up with our hand-held back up, with the knowledge that the main was transmitting if we needed to send out an alert.

Thursday was again windy, so we elected to stay on board again.

On Friday, we took the bus to the capital, Hamilton and on yo the other end if the island group, the Naval Dockyard. This is where the cruise ships tie up and is a real tourist trap, with plenty of craft shops to augment the usual. We had omitted to pack a lunch and ended up paying over $30 for sandwiches and tea. Stopping off in Hamilton on the way back gave us some comfort, as we discovered that we could buy spirits duty free, to be delivered to customs for us to collect on departure. 2 very nice litre bottles of rum for $36. I wonder if we regret not buying more. Saturday, we took another local walk round St Georges, seeing the unfinished church and, at the northern point of the island, a new luxury resort under construction. Sunday got progressively wetter and windier with severe S’ly gales overnight. We were well prepared with everything battened down and even the wind generator curbed in case it over speeded. We unleashed it on Monday and, at times it was giving us over 100 watts so soon caught up the backlog.

Unfinished church

We had been following the weather closely and, from about Friday onwards, Wednesday had seemed the day for departure so, on Tuesday, we had a last trip down to Hamilton then came bacxk to tidy up and prepare for our next 930 mile leg down to Antigua.

On Wednesday morning, we eves-dropped a couple of other boats discussing their plans. Chris Parker, the weather guru, was recommending a 24 hour delay as there was a large, 3 – 4 metre swell running from the previous day’s high winds. We ran our forecast again and confirmed that delaying would make us miss our weather window. It would be fine for the first couple of days but then we would be caught in a calm then, worse, be sailing into a headwind for the second half of the passage. Our reckoning was that it was worth taking early pain for later gain. Final preparations: securing below; rigging lines; a top up of fuel, then we checked out (not forgetting to collect our duty-free rum) and headed out at 1040 with 2 reefs in the main and most of the genoa in a WNW’ly F5. While in the lee of the islands, the motion was fine and we made good speed. As we sailed south, the swell increased and, rather than the even ocean swell we were expecting, it became irregular and confused, possibly by the wave train being broken up by offshore shallows. Our motion became very uncomfortable and we suffered one slide down a particularly large wave, crashing sideways into the trough. We were both shaken by this and neither of us slept much that night. The following morning we had a little respite as the wind, as forecast, decreased to F3 and veered round to the NNE. We were travelling much slower but the motion improved a little, though there was still a significant W’ly swell. I then discovered water in the bilge. Only a couple of gallons but Ruby is such a dry boat that it had us worried but it seemed to have ceased and there was nothing we could do but monitor.

We were now in trade winds which kept a fairly steady direction, between NE and E, and speed, F 4-5 for the next 2 days. We should have been enjoying this but the first 24 hours had shaken and tired us. Elsie was unwell, probably just sea-sick, but was unable to keep anything down and, unusually for her, to sleep. I was eating OK but not sleeping. On the night of the 15^th / 16^th, the wind veered further to ESE and decreased to F 3-4. This meant that we were fairly close hauled, which in turn meant well heeled to starboard. As our forward bunk is on the port side, this meant using the port quarter berth, next to the cockpit and engine. This became significant as the wind veered and decreased more on the 17^th, requiring us to motor sail for prolonged periods to stay ahead of the forecast calm. During an occasional stronger wind period, we suffered a further unpleasantness when the clew of the first reef gave way. Our ‘new’ main (we have had it for over a year, but not sailed very far in that time) had been modified by the makers, North, and a poor choice of shackle, supplied by them, had sawn through the webbing supporting the clew block. We managed a quick jury rig but, looking at the rest of the system revealed that the line had chafed badly at the tack. Being out of sorts on this passage had led me into not properly doing my twice-daily rounds and I had failed to notice that it had been poorly led. We managed to stay ahead of the calm and finally made it into Jolly Harbour at 1225 on the 19^th. What we wanted to do was just curl up and sleep but, unfortunately, you can’t do that. We dropped anchor briefly, to tidy up and have the first proper showers in a week then motored into the customs dock to spend an hour or so doing paperwork and paying our dues. They were kind enough to let us stay alongside for a further half hour or so while we had a quick shop, then back out to anchor in the bay to finally relax.

We now had quite a few maintenance projects and the festive season was rapidly approaching. Our liferaft was overdue for survey and re-pack, as we had been unable to get this done in the States; The main sail needed repairing; the radio needed repairing; we needed to replace the first reefing line and the shackles for the reef clew blocks needed replacing. Fortunately, we were in a good place for all of this. Jolly harbour has a good chandlers and all of the technical people seemed to have capacity to help. Lots of phone calls and well-loaded dinghy trips saw everything required go ashore. Now to investigate the bilge water. The initial few gallons had been filthy with fibre glass dust, presumably from repairs back in 2014. We had dried that up but now there was more and it seemed to be coming from the keel area. This was deeply disturbing and I feared that our sideways slide on the first day had loosened bolts. It was, however, trickling out from a cross beam, which had no bolts inside. Lots of investigation revealed that it was coming from the raw water cooling pump for the main engine, trickling down the heating pipes for our domestic hot water tank and emerging in the beam. It was an annoyance that the pump, which was only replaced a couple of years before, was leaking but it was so much better than the possible alternatives.

New clew for hammock

Carrick mat

Turks head on re-covered wheel

The next few days were spent with minor jobs, chasing repairers and, occasionally, relaxing in the sun or strolling on the beach. It became clear that nothing was going to be returned before Christmas so we bowed to that and made the best of it. We had a few socials with Ocean Cruising Club friends and got invited to BYO beach barbecue, courtesy of the local sailing club, on Christmas day. On the 27^th, it became apparent that the radio and sail needed more active chasing so, on the 28^th, after a final shop, we upped anchor and headed down to English harbour, anchoring in time to nip ashore, drop our old water pump off for investigation and collect a repaired sail and an unrepaired radio. The latter was an annoyance as the manufacturers had diagnosed the problem

by internet and were prepared to repair it at reasonable cost. Only problem was that they were 3000 miles away. We decided to continue using our portable set (Elsie having cured a charging problem) and take the main set back for repair when we could. We re-installed this set as we knew that it was transmitting and, at the very least, was one of our several ways of sending a distress message, if required.

Coldies coming ashore for Christmas Barbie on the beach

The anchorage at English harbour is rather cramped and, with strong winds forecast, I couldn’t put out as much anchor cable as I would like so, on Friday 29^th, We motored round the corner to Falmouth and settled in. We attempted to re-install the main and managed to get the battens in but the wind blew up, so lashed it to the rail to await calmer weather. I woke the next morning to find, unforecast, light winds so dug Elsie out, with surprisingly few complaints, and 30 minutes later it was back on the boom. On Monday afternoon we were informed that our water pump was ready, so we picked that up. It was too late to check out so we spent the evening messaging friends and family as their New Year passed. At midnight there was a nice firework display and all the guests on the big yachts took their turn at blowing the fog horns. Eventually things quietened down and we went to bed to dream about 2019.

Monthly stats

Log                1620

Over ground  1372

November 2018

In which we return to Ruby after six months in the U.K. and prepare to sail off for the Winter.

We arrived back in Oriental on the 9^th November. Two months earlier, the town had taken a direct hit from hurricane Florence. We had been informed that Ruby had suffered no damage but were anxious to check for ourselves. We had an initial panic – she was not where we had left her but soon spotted her on the other side of the boatyard. A quick walk round showed no scrapes or bangs and the inside was clean and dry – phew!

Ruby in slings, ready for launching.

We had a list of jobs to be completed before departure: the mast to go back up and electronics checked; wind steering lower mounting to be reinforced; servicing of main, outboard and generator engines and several smaller items. Our first disappointment was the decision by the rigger that the mast could not be safely installed while we were on the hard. The second was rain: the work on the wind steering had to be done on land and in dry weather. This meant that we did not get launched and mast installed until Monday 19^th. By this time we had discovered other pressing matters: bilge pump not working; missing part for steering gear; outboard beyond repair etc. and I didn’t manage to connect the mast electrics until Wednesday 21^st. I then discovered that the radar was not working. Thursday was Thanksgiving (as big as Christmas in the States) so nothing could be done until Monday. We had managed a myriad of other jobs, including installing a new toilet and Elsie had battled her way through the technology of our Iridium GO satellite device so we spent the weekend tidying, cleaning and even having a trial with our new, bigger outboard. This is when we had our next disappointment: our dinghy, though old and scarred, had always kept the air in and the water out. After six months of being rolled up in the locker, it seemed to do neither. Only slow seeps but it was really time for a new one. This would take time to order and we wanted to be away so decided to cross our fingers that it would last until we could find a replacement. Monday morning brought a radar technician who could find no obvious fault so, again, we crossed our fingers ( we had barely used it in the last 2 years) and finally, at 12:10 on Monday 26^th, we let go and motored down Adams Creek back to Fort Macon and anchored for the night. On Tuesday, we went out for a day sail, to Lookout Bight and back, to check the rigging (too loose), the wind steering (working) but mostly ourselves. We had had six months off and needed to be reassured that we still knew how to do it. We came back in to Homer Smith’s marina to make final preparations. One last disappointment awaited us as we discovered that our main radio was not receiving and we resolved to fix this the following day.

Re-fitting the mast.

Our plan for the winter has been to head to Antigua, drift west with the trade winds through the Leeward Islands. Virgins. Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Cuba and then make a decision in the spring whether to re-cross the Atlantic to Europe. The way the weather systems work, the natural route from the east coast of the United States to Antigua takes one within about 100 miles of Bermuda so we planned to use this as a staging post, breaking the journey down to manageable sizes of about 600 and 900 miles. This sounded fine while we were sitting in the U.K. but now we were faced with the reality: these were long ocean passages and we were six months out of practice. The alternative was to coast-hop down to Florida and cross to the Bahamas, as we had last year. This would have been a lot more comfortable but we would then have been trapped by the trade winds. Sailing east in this area is known as ‘the Thorny Path’, beating hundreds of miles into the winds or taking advantage of short term conditions to make small, mostly night, hops, relying on the weather for your destiny.

Our ‘shake down’ day sail had gone well and a weather window for the leg to Bermuda had opened up for Thursday morning. We decided to take it. The radio seemed to have fixed itself, so it was a case of tuning the rigging, doing laundry, topping up on fuel, water, food and beer and checking out with customs. All this was achieved in time for us to meet up with 3 other Offshore Cruising Club members and the Port Officer for a great meal of local shrimps, snacks and drinks. All 4 of us were planning to leave the following morning, each with different plans: Blue Velvet was heading direct to Antigua; Coolchange for Charleston and Enjoy going South on the ICW. To say we slept well that night would be stretching things. Elsie admitted to terror; I did the manly thing and showed a calm exterior. Intellectually, we knew that we, and Ruby, were capable but the voyage ahead was daunting.

Flags hoisted, ready to sail.

A few minor tweaks on Thursday morning and we were off, just before 10 AM. As ever, we had to battle the tide leaving Morehead and then had light winds sailing for the first 24 hours, which gave us time to get our sea legs back. The next 24 built to a Force 5 W’ly giving us a great broad reach and a little practice in reefing. We were checking the weather every 12 hours. We can get 4 models and each gave us a slightly different ideal route and ETA. Our philosophy is ‘Hope for the best; plan for the worst’, so we weight each model, avoiding anything that looks nasty and modifying our route to try and achieve best speed while keeping the wind behind the beam when possible.

Monthly stats

Log               277

Over ground  276

Oops - late posting. Summer plans.

Elsie wrote this months ago but we didn't get round to posting.

Well that was The Bahamas and this is the south of England???

Talk about contrasts. I have spent the winter floating around paradise. The only major decisions taken were which beautiful Island or Cay next. OK, the weather was not perfect but it does add something to the journey, the uncertainty, the joy of a sailing wind, the disappointment of a force 8 instead of a force 4, the wind unpredictably backing, setting the cruising chute on the port side then realising, ten minutes later, that it should have been on the starboard. Yes, it was frustrating sometimes but the compensation for that frustration was visiting the most perfect beaches anyone could imagine or finding little homesteads of half a dozen houses and a school with five pupils. I loved it.

One of the best things about the Bahamas is everyone can find what they want or need. There is room for every type of sailor (or visitor) in this group of perfect islands. Large marinas with every facility that can be imagined, night life, bars, coffee shops, sophisticated restaurants, shops selling designer wear – they can all be found. Some of the islands are just an extension of Florida for those people who only feel comfortable in an environment that is familiar. There are sociable anchorages where people organise pot luck suppers and get together in beach bars. There will be a supermarket selling recognisable food, a laundry and hire cars available. But if you look hard enough you can still find deserted islands with no facilities, large and small cays that may or may not be shared with an occasional local fishing boat, tiny anchorages with just about enough room for one boat, long long deserted beaches who have only your own footprints in the sand. Yes, there is something for everyone in The Bahamas.

I enjoyed our time there. We used it as a winter to slow down and smell the air. To stop rushing around from place to place and enjoy the place. It was sometimes very difficult. Everything is weather dependant so when it rains there is not much to do. There are no ancient ruins to go round, or art galleries to peruse. There are very few cinemas and shopping malls usually consist of three shops in a row selling tacky souvenirs or boat bits with an occasional hairdresser thrown in. When the wind blows form the wrong direction AND it rains it is sometimes impossible to even get ashore so the entertainment has to be found on the boat. Luckily we are both avid readers and use the sailors book swaps constantly, we can loose an afternoon easily with our noses pressed in a book. In the evening radio podcasts are our entertainment, the Archers being the favourite but Lionel has also introduced me to The Navy Lark, Cabin Pressure, and Andy Hamilton’s brilliant serial about hell and the devil, just to name a few. We also have games onboard which can become very competitive. I have gone to bed not talking to Lionel because he won three out of three games in one night. I know very childish but he can be so smug about it.

I found it very difficult being stuck in one place for a week at a time because of bad weather. Of course when the wind blows the correct anchorage has to be found for the particular wind direction so you are forever thinking three or four days ahead when you are on the move. Being a member of a Facebook forum can be a blessing but it can also be a curse. People exaggerate or pass on wrong information or information that has been interpreted into what they think the expert meant. We learnt very early on in the winter to listen but make up our own minds when weather issues were discussed. Some people won’t move a matter of a couple of miles without the weather experts say so. What they don’t realise is what they are missing (but maybe that’s a good thing because the deserted anchorages would not be so deserted if people made up their own minds). However, Facebook was a good way to keep in touch with other sailors and get recommendations about places and anchorages.

We made it further South than we anticipated this winter, all the way to Great Guanya, 50 nm from Cuba. The Island was totally different to the others as it had a definite function and was not full of tourists. Morton Salt Company seemed to run the Island. Most of the land were huge salt pans, filled with sea water that was continuously pumped into canals. The salt was harvested by huge machines and the salt was piled up in enormous white hills awaiting for a ship to deliver it to be processed to Atlanta. Most of the population worked for them, the grocery store and most of the houses were owned by them. I did ask myself the question “is this a modern way to enslave people?” but the population seemed to be prosperous and happy so the partnership worked. The Haitians sailed here in traditional sloops to trade with the islanders. Maybe trade is the wrong word. The boats were empty when they came and full with all manner of useful, and sometimes useless, things. We saw a sloop sail out of the harbour (they have no engines) with a three piece suite tied onto the deck.

Yes, The Bahamas were a contrast of differences. I personally loved them. We could find the peace and tranquillity that we sometimes crave but there were sociable anchorages with something going on most of the time if company was needed. Deserted beaches a plenty, reefs to snorkel but always a shop or eatery a days sail away to get supplies. Yes, my winter was wonderful although I wouldn’t want to do it every year as the Snow birds do.

We left early. We didn’t need to go until the middle of May but when a good weather window appears you jump. The journey back to the States was “awesome”. Passing Great Bahama we got our last weather report. It was not good. There was storms predicted for two days time but knowing how the weather changes dramatically from day to day I was not happy to continue to Charleston so I persuaded Li that we should head for St Augustine. Looking back I was wrong, we would have got into the shelter before the storm hit but I was and will always be very cautious when doing long passages. We eventually found the Gulf Stream and rode it for 22 hours. It added about 6 knots onto our speed. With regret we jumped off and headed west towards St August and Officer Dibble. Loyal readers will know about Officer Dibble from our last entry into the good old U S of A. This time he was as bad, although we did not get separate interviews and he did crack a smile…….once. The weather deteriorated quickly and that was our only trip ashore before we sailed to Charleston. Not a good passage but we got there and we found ourselves anchored beside one of our favourite cities in America. For the next week, we made our way slowly towards Oriental, Ruby's summer home, some of it offshore, some through The Ditch. We arrived, we prepared Ruby to face a whole summer alone on the hard. It was hard to leave her but I think she is in safe hands, ready to face whatever Mother Nature throws at her and lots of friendly people looking after her.

On our way home, we went via Washington (thank you Susanne) and New York. I think I have “done” New York and feel no great urgency to visit again for a very long time. Washington has so many different experiences and I still haven’t seen them all so I may return. We landed back in Scotland and immediately started our new adventure – pet sitting. The whole summer stretched out with over a dozen pet sits in so many different places. From Inverbervie near Aberdeen to Penzance Cornwall. From large Newfoundlanders to Welsh Terriers and chickens and cats thrown in. We are approaching this new adventure as we approach everything new we face, anticipation of all the lovely places we will stay, terror of looking after unknown pets, joy of meeting old and new friends along the way and the whole uplifting feeling of starting a brand new adventure. Wish us luck, we may need it.