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Diane's DiaryHi everyone, many apologies for not writing sooner but things have been VERY hectic for us with trying to leave to sail the boat from NY to Bermuda. We are back in New York now until the end of the year. "Destiny" IS ON A MOORING IN BERMUDA ANXIOUSLY AWAITING OUR RETURN. We had very crazy weather in October. We waited out Hurricane Michael, Tropical Storm Nadine and a huge low pressure system that had us seeing snow here in New York. We were in contact with our weather service, Locus weather (By the way, they did an excellent job and we highly recommend them) on a daily basis looking for a good weather window. One of our crew had even flown in from Vancouver and was staying at our house also. Finally, we got the go ahead to leave on November 1 while the huge low that was giving us high winds and snow in New York was slowly moving northeast. We left with Northwest winds about 20-25 knots with small craft warnings up for Long Island Sound. We motor sailed to get through the tide at Hell Gate and to get through New York harbor. After passing the Verrazano Narrows, we hoisted the sails and shut off the engine. The wind was on our stern and made for a very uncomfortable ride. Although I have been sailing with Larry for almost 20 years, I got terribly seasick from the uncomfortable motion. Most of the crew were not feeling great either. Our weather service routed us through the Gulfstream where it was only 30 miles wide. We knew it would be a rough crossing however, a new low was on the way so we decided to go for it and get through the Gulfstream at the shortest path. A wild ride it was - 30-35 knots sustained wind with gusts up to 45 knots and seas about 18- 20 ft (they went up to our first set of spreaders)!!! I was as sick as a dog - as was another crew member. I could not even stand my watches. Only 3 people- Larry being one- were well enough to steer. We encountered several huge waves - or rather they encountered us! Several caused the boat to go under the waves broadsides. One bent the stanchions on our starboard side and several more waves knocked it down. We think the weight of the solar panel contributed to the bent stanchions. We will take them down for our next passage. Anyway, we only had these extreme conditions for about 5 hrs after which we were through the Gulfstream and the wind abated. The rest of the trip was a piece of cake. The wind was still blowing about 25 -30 but the seas calmed down and we were on a broad reach to a run so everyone started feeling better. We even motor sailed the last 20 hrs to get into Bermuda before the next low hit us. We had a friend in Bermuda (if anyone wants his name let me know)- he helped us a great deal and is watching our boat while we are gone. He helped us with getting the boat onto the dock (we didn't know we landed at the cruise ship dock!), got the boat into a slip at his Yacht Club and did countless other things for us. We are grateful for his help! Well, we flew back to New York November 8 (yes, we voted by absentee ballot!). It was very strange being out of the US during a presidential election. All the Americans in Bermuda wanted to know who won. Bermuda was great- the people are extremely friendly. One lady at the Yacht Club even offered to take me food shopping with her! |