March 8, 2023 Eleuthera to Berrys

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Well, shoot. That's not supposed to happen. 

After some great days in Eleuthera we were ready to move to the Berrys. We love the Berrys, especially the remote eastern cays. But the Berrys will also be the staging for the end of our time in the Bahamas. We are not yet sure how all this plays out, but step one is the approximate seventy mile jump from Gaulding Bay in Eleuthera to Hoffmans Cay in the Berrys.  Then we'll plan according to whatever weather comes. 

For now the forecast is a perfect over the shoulder breeze, and we are underway with tea and coffee in hand. It is 15 miles to clear the Current Cut peninsula, where we will navigate a shallow passage that transitions us from the Eleuthera Bank into the deep of New Providence Channel (like seriously deep: 15000 feet deep), then turn north west to the Berrys.  

Once we're in New Providence Channel it is clear the steady 15 knot breeze in the forecast will not materialize. The wind is struggling to give us even 7 knots of breeze and the air oozes with uncertainty, signaling weather changes are afoot. Reluctantly we fire up engines to motor sail. We have many miles to go and no good options but to press on.  

By early afternoon the wind had diminished to 3-5 kts and the sky was full of dark clouds on the horizon moving in our direction. We knew  that probably meant a squall was coming, and with it high gusty winds, and we were mentally prepared. When it hit we were very suddenly in 19 kt winds, nothing we hadn't seen before, and we took a reef. Then we heard a loud pop and the foot of our mainsail was out of the sailbag flopping in the wind.

We were able to sail safely on reef #1, and when the winds died again to low single digits, they didn't come back so we furled sails and motored the last 20 miles.

It's been a long day.

Comments

Jane said…
Oh no!! That was not what I was expecting 😔
March 18, 2023 at 9:58 AM
Lynn and Ed said…
Oh no! Hate it when that happens. We were happily sailing along from Eleuthera to the Abacos stretching the limits of our screacher when halfway across we apparently exceeded that limit. The head popped leaving us with a mess of sail in the water. Luckily we found a guy at Man-O-War Cay who could do the repair. Hope you are as lucky.
March 22, 2023 at 8:54 AM
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