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Larry's LogIt was dark when we finally entered the Gulf Stream. As predicted, the waves grew in size, became steeper and more confused. Perhaps not unpredictably, the wind increased. I knew that conditions in the Stream were somewhat unpredictable. The cold air from the north, hitting the warm surface water caused some severe local conditions; I just didn't know how severe. During the night, we encountered 30-35 knots of sustained wind, with gusts to 45. This was confirmed with other boats in the area (there were several who had been waiting for a "decent" weather window that week and who had left within hours of when we left.). The waves, although we couldn't see them very well, were probably to 15-18 feet. But the size wasn't the problem. They were irregular and from different angles. Several times in the night, we were hit broadside and took green water over the cockpit dodger and into the cockpit itself. The first time, I had just gone below to check our position and turned to see Tony get "mauled" by a wave. Water also came down the companionway, after which, we put in the hatch board. I came up to relieve Tony and 15 minutes later it was my turn. Water swirled around my feet while I anxiously awaited the cockpit drains to do their work. Then I turned to look at the lifelines and the solar panels that were mounted on rails I had installed in place of the upper lifelines. I was horrified to see that the stanchions had bent like a pretzel, but the solar panel still sitting on the railing. I hoped it would hold on until conditions eased so we could bring it inboard. I couldn't justify trying to save a piece of gear at the risk of someone going overboard. We had breaking waves over us 2 more times that night. We also had several more accidental gybes, even though a preventer was rigged. I realized later that the preventer needed to be rigged differently to be effective. It did its intended job occasionally, but not well enough, as I was to later find out. That was a long night for all of us. Diane kept asking (from her bunk) if we should heave to, but I felt that heaving to would only prolong the Gulfstream ride by keeping us in the Stream longer and would bring us away from our intended goal, while not really helping the situation. I felt that we should try to get out of the Stream as quickly and as safely as possible, and deal with the results afterward. I still feel that this was the right course, once we were in the midst of it. In retrospect, we probably should have gone further south before entering the Stream, but I hadn't realized just how bad local conditions were going to be. The third morning brought moderating conditions, winds 25-30 with 15 foot seas. I estimate our seas to be about 18 feet during the worst of the ride the previous night. The big difference was that these waves were manageable. You could steer into these. We still had 2 reefs in the main and were going well. The boat had weathered the ride without any structural damage, although I did not notice the twist to the boom. It seems that during a gybe, the 4 bolts that hold the boom to the gooseneck had sheared and all that was holding it was remnants of 2 of these bolts. It had also bent slightly the fitting on the hydraulic vang where it connects to the boom. But on we sailed, the boom problem unnoticed since we were still running on starboard tack. We continued under double reefed main until the afternoon of the 4th day. The wind had gone light, as predicted by Herb, and had shifted more from the West. Since I still wanted to beat the next front to Bermuda, I turned on the engine. Thirty seconds after this, I heard an alarm. I frantically looked at all the alarms I knew about - the oil pressure/water temperature was OK, as was the electrical monitor. Then I opened the top companionway step to look at the engine. The alarm was the $10 smoke detector I had installed just days before we left. It was signaling that there was smoke in the engine compartment and it was quite true. The positive cable on the alternator was arcing and the nylon lock nut was melting. |