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Larry's LogContinuing on, we started the watch schedule. Since we had 6 crew, including me, I had arranged the schedule so people would have a good amount of time off watch, but could maintain a 2 person watch at night, between 1700 and 0800. I felt this was important with an inexperienced crew. That was the theory. Of course, that presumed that we would have a full crew who wouldn't be seasick. What's the phrase about the best laid plans? As we started downwind, with seas on the quarter, first my wife and then Barry got mal-de-mer. I shouldn't have been surprised, but she had taken Sturgeron, which a friend had brought back from Bermuda a few weeks prior our trip. Oh well. She was OK when horizontal below, but couldn't sit up much less take a watch. Barry soon followed, but not before trying to eat a dinner of hearty beef stew (that didn't last too long). That left Tony, Brad, Peter and myself. Wisely, Tony didn't eat, and I didn't either, but mostly because of listening to the weather and making sure we were on course and getting regular fixes. Tony didn't eat much the entire trip, although he did enjoy some Fig Newtons and Saltines eventually. Peter ate that first night, but he didn't last too much longer than Barry. Brad was ravenous and (fortunately) never got sick, although he later admitted to some "wierdness". With the first emergency solved quickly, I felt we were doing OK. After all, I had worked all year on the boat, had it checked by a good mechanic and rigger, had the sails checked and resewn where needed and then checked the rig myself before leaving. I felt as prepared as we could be. I had installed new batteries, a new electrical monitor that did all but talk to you, a 2Kw inverter/charger, a wind generator, solar panels, GPS chartplotter, SSB, etc., etc. The boat was well equipped. The first night was relatively uneventful. We made about 8-9 knots and felt good, at least the crew who weren't sick. Poor Diane and Barry were truly "out for the count." The next day saw pretty much the same conditions except now that we were truly offshore, the waves and swell had built. The wind was still from the north to north-west but the seas had built to about 8-12 feet. Not unmanageable, but the autopilot couldn't really handle the corkscrewing motion, so we hand steered. Tony, Brad and Peter did most of the steering, as I was occupied with navigation and other tasks like getting weather updates and keeping the log. Eventually, Barry tried steering. This was a mistake, whether it was from lack of experience or still feeling sick, he gybed accidentally several times. This was to happen, at other times, later in the passage by almost everyone, as well. This was the second day. After relieving Barry at the helm, and while Tony was steering, I listened to Herb. Herb is a weather guru that broadcasts at 2000 UTC every day on 12359khz. This was a critical time, since we were to get into the Gulfstream that night and I wanted to know what to expect. Herb, the SSB weather god, predicted 25-30 knots, from the north to northwest, going into the Stream. The Gulfstream, running from southwest to northeast, is a powerful current within the Atlantic, with currents running up to 4 or 5 knots in places. Naturally, this meant that we would encounter winds going against the current, creating large, lumpy seas and confused swells. But still, 25-30 knots wasn't too bad, right? I put it to the crew. We could go further south first before crossing the Stream, and risk hitting a possible Low predicted to come off the Carolinas later in the week, or go through the Stream as planned and hopefully make Bermuda before the front could hit us. I said I thought we could handle the Stream as planned, as long as we put in a second reef and were careful. They agreed. As I steered, we put in a second reef and put a second safety line through the second cringle at the clew. The wind was still from the North and the seas, as if in preparation, had started to build again to about 12 feet. |