So far we’ve done a fair bit of blogging about the weather. It governs everything decision we make and living on a boat you just get used to being truly “in” the weather. Recently we were catching up with friends on Big Run (a beautiful Katy Krogen 42) and were anchored in Little Bay (Great Guana Cay in the Exumas). We anchored there on Monday and had 4 calm sunny days filled with snorkeling, beach combing, happy hours (i.e. perfect Bahama Days). But we all know there is no free lunch. The weather forecast predicted a big front to move through the entire Bahamas over the weekend. Usually these storms come down the East Coast of the US (when you get snow and rain, it comes to the Bahamas as wind and waves as the front blows through). However, the weather gurus indicate the tropical jet stream is unusually active this year sending big storms through Florida towards the Bahamas and the rest of the Carribean. This front was powered by the tropical jet stream (originated in the Gulf of Mexico) and was huge.
All the anchorages on Great Guana are open to the Great Bahama Banks and as such many have beautiful beaches on the west (the lee side) of the island. During this time of year, the easterly trade winds are dominant and the anchorages are perfect for that. During the front, the winds were predicted to clock around going from E to SE clockwise to NE over a 24-48 hour period with winds predicted to peak around 25 kts. A few squalls were predicted with winds to 30 but most of those were predicted to be far north of us. Big Run and Short Walk both strategized to snuggle in as close to the land as possible and ride out the storm. There are very few perfect hidey holes in this area when the winds are predicted to clock around so quickly.
Exactly as predicted, the winds increased to 15-18 kts and moved from the E to S to SW on Friday. Not so bad but we all checked our anchors frequently. We had 100 feet of chain out in 8-10 feet of water. Luckily, there were only about ½ dozen boats in the harbor so there was plenty of swing room. The fun really began on Saturday as the wind moved SW-W-NW and peaked at 24.4 kts. The problem was that the anchorage is open to the west and the wind driven waves coming in off the Great Bahama Banks were 3-5’ in the anchorage for approximately 12-18 hours. We’ve actually had Gulf Stream crossings that were easier and calmer than that. This boat will usually ride 3-5’ waves easily (depending on where the wind and current are) but when you drop anchor and try to hold the boat still in those waves, she behaves like a hobby horse. For the majority of the time, the boat was facing right into the waves and the bow was riding up and down. The dinghy was tied behind the boat (two ropes for security) and standing below in the safety of the boat, we could see the dinghy ride the waves ABOVE the stern of the boat. We had the cockpit enclosure zipped up except for the back panel (in case we needed to adjust the dinghy lines quickly) and the waves actually splashed into the cockpit providing a nice crusty salt coating to everything. If you have any inclination towards sea sickness, this would be a nightmare. I did start to feel a little dizzy and took a preventative Bonnine but neither of us was sick. However, there was not much cooking or eating going on during that time either. We had to stow everything below like we typically do to make an ocean passage because the boat just rocked and rocked (picture a sugared up 5 year old on that hobby horse). Basically, we had to lie down most of the day and read books or try to sleep. Our berth is in the front of the boat so we abandoned that (the bow moves the most in that steep of a sea) and huddled in the middle and back of the boat. Sleep only came in fits and starts as the swim platform on the back of the boat makes a phenomenal amount of noise as it slams into the water and goes underwater. The brake that holds the rudder in a fixed position was loose to begin with and Joe had to lash the wheel down with ropes to keep the rudder from slamming from side to side. Sunday morning, the wind finally moved to N and to NE. Initially, the boats stopped the hobby horse action and began to rock side to side as the waves hit us broadside but eventually, the wind dropped back down below 20 kts and moved N-NE enough to give us some protection from the land again. During the storm, Big Run said they could see our rudder and hull (and we were admiring their bottom paint job) as our stern lifted out of the water on waves. They tried to take pictures but as you can imagine the action on their boat made the photography challenging. The picture below is well before the waves peaked. With the front came cooler temperatures (cloudy and a daytime high of 72) so snorkeling is canceled until the sunny 80 degree days return. Just in case you’re sick of hearing about all the fun we have, the long-range predictions are for another strong front to come through this weekend. Oh goodie!
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| Short Walk just beginning to act like a hobby horse |
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