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Eating - a favourite past time
We
arose early on the morning of our adventure after our first night all onboard together. Well at least the others arose early. I set the pattern for
the days ahead by staying snuggled within my lee-cloth for as long as humanly
possible - or at least as long as decorum allowed. Jeannie and Bud were the real
early birds and reported that their reward had been to see a crane on Hampton Harbor -
apparently a good portent.
After
breakfast and our last proper showers for some time, we milled around waiting to
be told the official start time. One or two folks had gone off in search of dry
ice which delayed things a little. This gave us time to take the obligatory crew
shot in our official team shirts, and for Roy to do some last minute tinkering.
We left the dock at 0930 in order to "fill 'er up" prior to the 1100 rally start. We motored around into Sunset Creek, our last land fall before we hit the ocean blue. All hands were keen and eager to begin bonding as a crew, with Bud jumping onto the dock in superhero fashion and Robin handling the other lines as directed by skipper Roy. Jeannie got into the act by bravely rescuing our first object overboard, the cap from one of the fuel containers. And I? Well I took pictures ;-)
We headed out of the creek and Hampton Harbor to the tune of "Gilligan's Island", then loitered around the starting boat, waiting for the rest of the fleet. At 1100 we were off - well the rally started although we seemed to be going backwards initially. She's a great boat but takes awhile to get up a head of steam. We soon made up the ground in a good stiff breeze - or so we thought, until we realised that we perhaps not quite heading where we wanted to be. Hampton Roads is one confusing waterway!
We
passed many ships and even a USN sub on our way towards the open sea and
eventually we made our way through the gap in the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel,
shortly after 1300. All was not completely smooth sailing however as a tacking
attempt embarrassingly went awry and resulted in us doing a 360 for the benefit
of the other competitors and the spectators on the roadway. Oh well - we have
plenty of time to practice our drills between now and Bermuda. Meanwhile Robin,
heavily under the influence of Dramamine, slept like a baby and missed all the
fun! It was a pattern to be repeated on many a day ;-)
Now it was time to kick back and relax, and as the Cape Henry lighthouses went by to starboard, Skipper Roy was able to eat his lunch and crack his first beer. I assumed a horizontal position below decks and had a refreshing 2 hour nap. When I awoke, the boat was heeling and rocking quite a deal. It was also quite warm below and so by the time I had gone to the head, changed into something more comfortable and rummaged around in my bags some, I was feeling a might poorly. I quickly scampered up for some fresh air and the feeling soon passed thankfully.
By 1805 we had lost sight of land and it would be another 5 days
before we would see it again. Roy and Bud radioed in for our first chat at 1830
and then it was time for dinner. Bud and Jeannie cooked up most delicious Shrimp
Fajitas which we all enjoyed. I discovered a funny thing about myself in the
process. While most of the others were not particularly hungry due perhaps to
them acclimatising to the boat's motion, I was ravenous and helped 
myself to
seconds. I just couldn't seem to fill my gnawing stomach. What a pig!
The sunset was beautiful of course. Robin and I were taking the 0200 - 0600 shift and so Bud and Jeannie went for a nap after dinner. I stayed up on deck for awhile but was so fidgety that Robin and Roy told me to go to bed and give them some peace ;-) Which I did, continuing my book "The Perfect Storm".
I was awakened at 0200 by Robin for our first night watch. Bumbling around the cabin with sleep inertia I put on my borrowed harness and tethered myself to the boat - not really a bad idea at the best of times. It was beautiful night - clear skies, not much wind and not another boat in sight. I was most excited to see the luminescence for the first time, stirred up by the motion of the boat. The moon was but a orange crescent in the early morning sky and by about 0430 it's glow and that of the "Morning Star", Venus, was surpassed by the coming of dawn.
Roy joined us up on deck just as the sun appeared over the horizon at about 0530. Bud and Jeannie made an appearance shortly after and we feasted on fresh fruit for breakfast while waiting to make our early morning "ops normal" call to the rest of the fleet. We were a fair bit south of the others however Roy thought that once we hit the Gulf Stream we would be pushed somewhat north and be right on course. Come 0700 I was ready for bed and managed to find the Stateroom vacant.
I
didn't stir until about 1030 at which time I heard somewhat of a commotion up on
deck. I stuck my head up in time to hear Robin say - "Yep we're in the Gulf
Stream. Feel that warm breeze?" which I in fact did. There were several
hints that we were there in addition to the warmth of the air. A line of clouds
marked the corridor of fast moving warm water, the water was a much stronger
blue in colour and many more clumps of sea grass were visible.
I undertook my morning "ablute" and made it up on deck in time to celebrate our first 24 hours at sea. In this time we had travelled 135 miles at an average of 5.4 knots. Not a bad start.
It was a pretty lazy day today - I'm beginning to see a pattern here. I read for many hours, finishing "The Perfect Storm" by the end of the day. I rode the waves at the bow for awhile and I ate - lovely chicken rolls for lunch. Late in the afternoon we started to slow down a little, perhaps due to the effects of some large eddies in the area. Our speed was over 5 knots however we were only going 4.2 according to the GPS. Roy is now calculating we will make Bermuda by Saturday afternoon at the earliest. Looks like I won't have long there.
We saw little all day apart from some accompanying Terns who enjoyed chasing our lure when we hauled in another "catch" of seaweed. Although we were in radio comms with the other boats we didn't see so much as a sail on the horizon. Just us 5 people in the whole world.
Dinner was wonderful again - Meatball subs and Caesar Salad accompanied by a California red. Again I gorged myself. After dinner we all watched the sunset, then tried to watch on of the DVDs I brought - "Castaway". It wasn't very successful as we had to move it below decks due to audio problems. Off to bed at about 2230 and I had the luxury of sleeping right through as Roy decided to do my night watch.
A nice sleep in this morning to 0600 (groan). I actually got to wash my hair today which was a real bonus after two days of continuous "hat hair". Up on deck feeling clean and refreshed we actually caught sight of a sail which may have been "one of ours", perhaps "White Silence".
We actually managed to sail a little this morning but the winds were less than favourable so we motored for the rest of the day. We were fighting a 1 knot current most of the morning but later obviously caught the edge of an eddy as our speed increased from 4.5 to 7 knots in a very rapid fashion.
We had much better luck in the fishing stakes today with Roy
hauling in a lovely ~ 5lb, 27 inch dolphin fish aka mahi mahi. It was 
a
beauty and subsequently won the biggest fish contest for the whole fleet. Later,
while sitting aft, reading in the sun and enjoying a scrummy BLT, I noticed that
the line was again spooling silently out into the water. Roy was nowhere in
sight so I ceased my chance and managed to land another. This one was a little
smaller (~3lb) but I nevertheless the proud fisherwoman. Of course catching the
thing is the glamorous part - gutting it and mopping up the blood sprayed around
on deck is something else again but it was well worth it given our later
feast.
The thrill of my catch went to my head as I spent most of the afternoon gazing intently at the line to ensnare my next victim. And sure enough I got another nibble. It sure fought hard against me and it was quite an effort to bring it on board - a thick piece of rope encrusted with seaweed!
As evening approached I avidly watched fish chef extraordinaire Robin prepare our catch. Here is her secret recipe:
Olive oil
Lemon pepper with dill
Chicken and Fish seasoning
Onion seasoning
Tommy Slasher's Cajun Spices
Lemon juice
Once coated in this tantalising mixture and placed in "The utensil", it was over to Roy to grill up our spoils on the deck. And the result? Served with a chilled chardonnay it was as near as possible to ambrosia as one can find on earth.
Another perfect day.
I headed the notes for this date "A most eventful day". I think that's a relative term but there were plenty of distractions to keep us all occupied. Well all of us except Jeannie who was beginning to reach saturation point of the nautical life.
My day began at 0200 with my turn on watch. Robin and I used the Tim Tam and coffee method to wake up and get us motivated. It was another beautiful night and very mild - I was in shorts. Unfortunately there was still no wind but the good old "iron spinnaker" was propelling us along at a reasonable pace. We saw lightening away to the south east but not close enough to bother us. Robin became a bit dozy and so I let her take a cat nap. Being awake alone at that time of the morning is really no hardship at all. A great feeling of peace comes from that kind of solitude and really the time just flies by. I was quite mesmerised by the water and the luminescence and in fact when Robin did wake up and went below decks to use the head, I sat out on the edge of the cockpit to get a better look. She returned to find an seemingly empty cockpit which did cause her heart to skip a beat or two ;-)
Sunrise was especially lovely today - pink tipped clouds strewn casually across the canvas of the eastern sky. I saw it between heavy lids as it was my time to be dozy. In fact Robin had to wake me at 0600 to go to bed! I slept restlessly in my berth and listened to the morning chat with the other boats. I also noted a trace of concern in Roy and Robin's conversations and phrases such as "might run out of fuel" and "got to get Tracy to the plane". Guess we aren't making as good a time as we had hoped but I was quite frankly too relaxed to care.
I eventually arose at 1030 feeling quite sticky and hot and so decided to indulge in the luxury of a shower. Ooh that felt good. I managed to struggle up on deck in time for lunch (peanut butter and jelly sandwich) and discovered that we were actually sailing which was very good (if short lived) news. Our tally to this point was 360 miles in 72 hours. Unfortunately the wind died soon after lunch and the might Atlantic became like a mill pond - it was almost eerie, or maybe that's just because I am reading a book on the Bermuda Triangle. We had a minor drama too - the engine wouldn't start which caused some consternation but was found to be due to a dead battery. We had plenty in back up thanks to Roy, "Mr. Redundancy" Taylor.
We had a few other events to liven things up during the course of the afternoon. Roy thought he saw and whale and I caught a glimpse of something dark in the water so I guess we can kind of tick that box. Then during the engine drama I noticed that the fishing reel had started spinning and jumped up to man the pole. The reel had obviously been spooling for awhile because the little blighter was a long way out and really tough to reel in. Eventually I got him to the boat and discovered we had caught a puffer fish. Worried that it might be poisonous, Bud performed some surgery to remove the hook from its cheek and we set it free. Later Roy hooked a real big'un but it surged against him and took the lure and all.
By late afternoon, most of the crew had drifted below for a snooze. Roy and I were alone on deck when he spotted some dolphins. A pod of about 10, mostly adolescents, had come to pay us a visit. The swam to the boat and cavorted and danced for about 5 to 10 minutes off the bow before heading north. I looked like they were having a grand old time.
Eventually
the others rejoined us on deck and we spent a pleasant early evening eating a
delicious teriyaki stir fry and watching the sunset. Robin and I sat up front
for awhile but as we watched some "weather" rolled in and it was time
to batten down the hatches for the first time since leaving port. Robin made a
phone call home later in the evening - aint technology a wonderful thing? As I
said - a most eventful day!
At 1800 hrs this evening we had ~ 240 miles to go which by Roy's calculations would see us arriving at ~ 1800 Saturday night. We'll see ;-)
By contrast, today was a pretty slow day but I didn't mind - I got to read the first Harry Potter book from cover to cover. The good news was that we got to sail most of the day and with some small squalls we managed to make as much as 8.3 knots at times. We were also really heaving to which is a great feeling but makes moving around below decks pretty difficult. The bruises are multiplying!
But we saw no sails, no dolphins and caught no fish. In fact the highlight of the day was our afternoon snack and chat session complete with beer and a cheese board. We had a most delicious cheese and Robin managed to emerge just as I scoffed the last of it. Ah timing. Jeannie was in fine form - I think she senses land is not too far away.
We
did have one significant sighting today and that was the elusive green flash
that occurs just as the sun sets. Roy and I had been looking for it all week and
tonight we both spotted it as a slow green pulse just to the right of the where
the sun had disappeared. We were quite excited.
Dinner was great again - chicken rolls with veggies and a spot of wine. And really we were in pretty good spirits all round, as Bermuda finally looked "doable". When I went to bed we had only 120 miles to go. Of course it all depends on the flukey winds from here. And of course whether I make the plane is another story.
I awoke at 0300 this morning to some bad news - a head wind. We were motoring but making very little progress however the morning was peaceful and the sunrise glorious. When our shift ended I went back to bed as usual but was able to listen into the morning chat before the Sandman stole me away. It seems that all of the boats still out were struggling to head towards Bermuda due to the prevailing conditions.
We were making only 2-3 knots motoring and so sometime during my sleep Roy made the decision to hoist the mainsail and use the wind to drive us home. This worked pretty well - we made some good speed however due to the wind direction we were actually still only making 2-3 knots towards the direction we wanted to go. Still it saved precious fuel and was much more fun! We even got to practice our tacking teamwork which was getting a bit rusty due to lack of use since leaving Hampton Roads.
It was a slightly more eventful day today - we even saw our first container ship for 5 days - and the crew seemed to sleep less than usual. I think its because no-one wanted to miss anything - especially the cheese board ;-) I managed to find enough downtime to start and finish the second Harry Potter book as well as eat a delicious lunch of Caesar salad and home baked bread (Jeannie and Bud are wonders in the galley in case you hadn't already guessed).
The moment that had been brewing for two or three days occurred during our afternoon snack session - Jeannie finally decompensated. She really let fly, in a hilarious way, with exactly what she thought about being at sea for a week, and especially all the false alarms we were being given. For instance, first she was told it would take 4 days (which by her reckoning was yesterday) and then 5, then maybe 7 or perhaps 6; that we would get there Saturday morning, no Sunday, no Saturday night or maybe even Monday. She was a hoot. She was really looking forward to stepping onto land again whereas I think the rest of us could have sailed on until the beer ran out ;-) Of course it was inevitable now that I would miss my plane however much to everyone's surprise I still didn't care. However we did radio ahead to Steve Black, the rally coordinator, and asked him to try and change it.
After a dinner of sweet and sour meatballs we had a minor drama when we tried to motor for awhile to recharge the batteries and charge up the fridge - we ran out of fuel and stalled the engine! However some quick work by Roy and Bud has us re-fuelled from the spare containers on deck and the lines cleared in pretty quick time and we continued on our merry way.
Bud and Jeannie were looking pretty tired by this time and so Robin packed them all off to bed and said we would take the early shift for once. As the lights faded from our last sunset at sea, the lights of Bermuda were clearly visible off to starboard and we were just a little excited. Roy also went below for a snooze. By now it was time to turn of the engine and start sailing again. Us two girls tried to get the boat set up by ourselves, knowing full well that Roy was fully awake below decks waiting to come and help us if we asked. Robin was determined that we could do it even though this was a. the first time we'd done it with just the two of us and b. it was pitch black! After a couple of go rounds she tried "just one more time" but then much to her disgust had to call Roy. He jumped straight up to help and then, funny old thing, he too had problems setting the sails. I think this made Robin feel much better ;-)
It was a grand night for sailing. The wind picked up and was now shifting to the southeast as we dodged in and out of squalls. As it did so, we were able to "titrate" (my non-nautical term) the boat's direction to point closer to the actual direction we wanted to be travelling in, just by pressing a button on the autopilot. Robin found it very amusing that when doing this I always corrected from 86 to 88 (or vice versa), skipping as putting it on the "devils number" (87) in the Devil's Triangle was just asking for trouble. It was so much fun, especially when the wind picked up to between 15 and 20 knots. We were really heaving to and making up to 7 knots.
At about 0145 the wind seemed to be dropping off a little and so Robin went to use the head. I guess it must have been just as she made contact with the faux porcelain that we started feeling the effects of another squall, with winds back over the 20 knot mark. At 25 knots we decided that we might have to reef the mainsail or something terribly nautical and so we hollered for Roy and we took down the jib. We soon passed through the squall and Robin and I passed the watch to Bud and Roy who were now both wide awake and raring to have some fun.
This 5 and a half hour period from 2030 to 0200 was the best sailing we had done the whole trip and Robin and I were quite justifiably proud of "us girls" doing it alone.
When I snuggled into my lee-clothed bunk at 0200 this morning we were on a starboard tack (I think) and so this rolled me toward the wall which was very cozy-comfy. Unfortunately my comfort was not to last as about an hour later we tacked which rolled me towards the middle of the cabin, now virtually using the lee cloth as a hammock! This was rather a difficult position to sleep in as I was unsure of the tonnage limits on the cloth and whether or not it could support a Two Ton Tessie like myself. I decided that it was not something I wanted to find out and so decided to get up for awhile. This was easier said than done as with the boat heeling as much as it was, and with all my weight in the cloth I just could not undo the straps holding it in place. This meant that I had to devise a way to crawl out of the contraption by somehow sticking first one leg and then the other out of the top and onto the floor - not a pretty sight I assure you! Add to all of this the fact that the boat was really pitching up and down as we crested the waves - I swear at one time we got airborne.
It was 0340 by this time and I tried to find another place to sleep but it all became too difficult so I decided the best place to be was up on deck. By this time Jeannie had joined Roy and Bud and so quite a social time was had by all of us as we watched the sky lightened and the coastline of Bermuda begin to loom out of the dark. Just before dawn I tethered myself onto one of the lines running the length of the ship and made my way to the bow. We were ploughing steadily through 5-6 foot seas which mean that the boat was moving through about 10 to 12 feet from peak to trough. It was tremendous fun standing at the bow in the pre-dawn light and roller coasting up and down with the wave motion. This was one of the sublime moments of the trip for me.
The
rest of the morning passed quickly as we tacked our way around to the north of
the island and headed for St George's harbour. The wind kept up and we were able
to sail to just outside the channel markers. We took the line at 11.23 and 58
secs EDT (12.23 local) and made our way into the gorgeous port. As the sea
became shallower closer to land the water became the most brilliant blue. Pretty
soon we were able to pick out features we recognised from the Lonely Planet
Guidebook, such as Fort St Catherine, and then the white and pastel coloured
dwellings characteristic of this beautiful old town came into view. We were all
"wow"ing as we took in the sights for the first time. It really is a
magnificent island entrance and second only to Santorini in my limited
experience of arrivals by sea.
We
soon spotted the Dinghy Club which was to be the Contessa's home for the next
week and then the Customs House where we had to pass through Immigration. Steve
Black greeted us as we pulled up to the dock there and helped us tie up. It was
a shock for all of us to be on solid land again and it took me until the next
morning to get my land legs. However it was Jeannie who was freaked out the most
by it. All of a sudden she decided that being on board was not such a bad place
to be! Aided by a very friendly Customs guy we were soon cleared in to the
country and were able to head over to the Club. On the way we saw the famous
Dinghy races on the other side of the harbour. These are tiny, inherently
unstable boats with huge sails and too many people on board. Apparently its a
national pastime!
Now this is where the fun really began. Roy had never tied up the boat stern to wharf before and of course we had quite a peanut gallery trying to help and give him advice on how to do it. It was not easy and full credit to him for not losing it completely...and to Robin for not quite saying "I told you so" when what she had been suggesting turned out to be correct. Of most help was good old Steve who guided Roy in using a handheld radio.
And
at last we had arrived! It was well after 1300 by this time and so I was very
unlikely to have made my flight which Steve had managed to change to the Monday.
After getting ourselves sorted it was straight up to the clubhouse for those
eagerly sort after Rum Swizzlers, national cocktail of Bermuda or so the LP
said. After a couple of those the land was REALLY rocking but we didn't care. We
had done it - our epic journey was at and end *sigh*
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Copyright © Warriordoc, Joe Shearer, Roy and Robin
Taylor, Bud and Jeannie Starr, 2001, 2002.
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