Positioning to Head South
Beginning of Squall
We determined that we have a weather window to sail to Eleuthera, the next major island south of Abaco. It shouldn’t be that difficult, though we have to cross the open Atlantic for about 50 miles. After getting our preparations done in Marsh Harbor, our plan was to move to a place called Little Harbor, where we could anchor and get going at the crack of dawn the next day.
Unfortunately, as with many sailing plans, that didn’t work out as we had a couple of issues. First, we couldn’t really lift the dinghy safely before weighing anchor in Marsh Harbor due to some significant rolling waves caused by an approaching cold front. So we decided to drag it behind us until we got around to the east side of the island in the lee of the wind and waves.
On the way around, we found the wind to be a steady 25 knots, pretty high given the calm conditions over the last couple of days and higher than predicted. We anchored in Boat Harbor intending only to lift the dinghy on to the davits. This is the same place we anchored about 3 weeks ago to check in through customs. As we set the anchor, a squall line approached and the wind picked up. We had to fiddle with the anchor snubbing more than normal and by time we had it set the rain started.
At first the rain was not bad, but soon it poured down like a waterfall. At the same time the wind kicked up to over 30 knots, it was quite the maelstrom for a while. The anchor held like a hero. It took a couple of hours for the storm to pass and by that time it was getting too late to arrive at Little Harbor in the daylight.
So our plan now is to leave before dawn tomorrow to sail down to Eleuthera. We aren’t in the perfect position for it but not bad. We might arrive in the dark like when we crossed the gulf stream, but that shouldn’t be bad. If we don’t go tomorrow we’ll probably have to wait another week, which is ok but hey, why wait?
Posted in Sailing by Mark with comments disabled.