Rough Writings - The Trip So Far

SAILING - DAY ONE

We survived! It’s been twenty-four hours exactly since we left Norfolk bound for Bermuda. We started with good winds and sunshine and sailed with out any problems past Cape Hatterus. The weather began to turn before lunch and we encountered squall after squall with consistent winds of 20-24 knots. It was too rough for lunch and we were heeling at a pretty good angle. Rod who has never been air sick or sea sick can no longer make that claim. Don who has never been airsick or seasick can no longer make that claim. I don’t know about Ken’s claim, but either way he joined the Chum Crew and paid the most to be a member. He may be still paying this morning, but he’s not up yet for assessment. John is the only one of us that weathered the storm. We had lots of lightning around us in the distance but nothing too close. We heard warnings on the radio for tornados and waterspouts, but the main trouble spot seem to be north of us. A huge ship was doing zigzag maneuvers in front of us. Don thought that looked interesting and was wondering how we were going to avoid them. It turned out to be Navy warship and they hailed us warning of an approaching thunderstorm and asked if we needed assistance. We thanked them and sailed on. At one point it rained so hard you could only see a boat length in front of us. We hit the Gulf Stream around midnight and the water temperature jumped from around 65 to 81. On my watch from 8-12 we saw one boat closing on us fairly quickly and Don and I started to heave-to to make sure of their direction. They passed us port side to portside and we resumed course. A half-hour later we spotted three more ships but they stay way off to our port side. At my 4 am shift I got my first look at the phosphorescent “things” in the water splashes along the side of the boat. It was quite a sight to see, like a splash of the Milky Way with bigger stars.

At dawn things calmed down but the skies were still cloudy. It’ 9:30 am now and the rain is falling and the winds have kicked in. We missed dinner last night due to weather (and who felt like eating anyway) and today we had some coffee, cookies, and fruit, but not much to speak of. The boat is heeling pretty good again, so it’s time to stop for now. We figured we have sailed 140 miles in our first 24 hours – not bad.

The following days are recounted from memory once we made it to Bermuda.

Day Two – Another day of heeling and feeling bad! Ken and Don were sick again and John had a scare of it as well. I felt just totally wore out and listless. The rain squalls continued and it was not a pleasant day. The only good part was the strong consistent winds helped push us at a good rate. We ate no meals again today, no one felt like eating. The sticky humidity is everywhere and makes things miserable. Don commented that dehydration and starvation would probably kill us all – it felt like it!

Day Three – We all seemed to turn the corner and began feeling partially human again. The weather improved, the sun came out and hope was renewed! It was just what we needed. Unfortunately John slipped in the galley and took a bad fall backwards crashing into the table with his back. He hit right on his spine and has a nasty bruise but seems to be handling it very well. Everything is still sticky, wet and the boat continues to heel, but a little less today. We grilled steaks tonight and enjoyed a good meal. Rod spent a little too much time below and by suppertime wasn’t quite feeling the best, so took it a little easy at dinner. Still, today was our first day to eat and feel better.

Day Four – The sun continues to shine and despite the constant heeling of 15-25 and even 30 degrees, the sail is much more enjoyable. I did not sleep well at all, the wet, damp cabin is just too much for me and I sleep best in the cockpit when I can grab a spot on the bench for an hour or so. I feel more rundown today than yesterday as a result. No one feels sick anymore, but we careful not too stay below too long. The head is a constant problem with the backing up of fluids, spitting when we try to flush it and of course the smell. It’s been a problem the entire trip. We are making such good time that we expect to bee in Bermuda Friday night, which we did not anticipate happening at the start of this trip.

BERMUDA! We reached Bermuda before dark on Friday. The winds were strong and consistent so we made remarkable time. Most of the time it was close reach sailing and we were heeling quite a bit, but not as much as the previous days. As we skirted the shoals on the north side of Bermuda twilight set in and we concentrated on spotting the buoys by location and their flashing light patterns to make sure we were on the right course. As we neared the final turn to begin our sail into “the cut” leading into the harbor at St. George the full moon came out and lit up the sky and water. We made a cautious approach to the narrow passage and finally cruised into the customs docks. Our first steps on the dock were a little awkward, but not bad at all. Standing at customs I could feel a little sway a few times and then it was fine. I was very surprised how little the effect was and how quickly it passed. The custom gal was very friendly and everything went smoothly. We motored off to the northeast side of the harbor and dropped anchor for the night. We had a late supper, sort of a celebration of our arrival and then went to bed. It would be our first night since leaving Norfolk that we could open the portholes for ventilation and sleep with a level boat and no watches. There was a great breeze and we were all so glad to have reached Bermuda.

Saturday, the first day in Bermuda started with a nice sunrise and a good breeze. We got up and ate pancakes for breakfast. We were busy for the first few hours hanging out clothes to dry, cleaning the boat, wiping the salt off the plastic curtains and basically getting our gear and boat squared away. John stepped through a porthole and fell down to his crotch. He had a bad gash on his heel that bled quite a bit, but he was otherwise ok. We did a bit of clean up from this and John treated himself. As I did dishes, the others put the dingy together. We pulled it out through the V-berth and assembled the parts. John manned the foot pump while Don and Ken assembled the boat. Once all was ready and the dingy in the water, we motored backed over to the shore near the custom docks and tied up the dingy to explore the area a bit. We located a grocery store, a Laundromat and a cycle rental shop. We bought a few needed items and two big bags of ice – at $10.00 a bag. Don took these items back to the boat while the rest of us did a bit more exploring. John found a place to stay and after a little bartering got a nice place overlooking the harbor at a reasonable price for this area. After Don came back we all met and did some looking around, checking out some other stores. Don rented a scooter for the week while John was getting his accommodations. Ken and Rod just walked around. We all met Don again on shore and then decided to head back to the boat for lunch. The dingy ride was a real wet one, with Ken taking the brunt of the water as the point man in the boat. We dried off and had a good lunch on board. After lunch we moved the boat and started looking for a new place to anchor the boat closer to shore. After getting yelled at by one fellow that 100’ of anchor line out (in 15’ of water) we finally called Captain Smokes and headed down to his little area to anchor the boat. The anchorage is European style, with the stern at the wall and the bow hooked to line anchored out in front. It was a very challenging event and we finally got situated after some good help and patience from two other boaters there. They have boardwalks that go off the wall to the boat, so no more wet dingy trips! It sure makes it so much quicker and easier to go to shore and get things done.

After we have everything secured, Ken and Rod took the clothes into town so we could wash them. Don took the scooter to go find the place he and Deb will be staying and also checked out he airport so he could go get Deb tonight at 9:30. As I write this, we have finished a supper of grilled venison burgers and fell pretty content with things now. Don has left to meet Deb and head over to their place about five miles from here. Ken and John are talking in the galley. We have power and water here along with one shower and bathroom. Things are good!

Sunday – Deb arrived last night with some interesting tales of travel from the airport to her room. She may want to fill everyone in on the trials and tribulations of traveling by taxi in Bermuda. Eventually they found their new digs and Don eventually found his way back on the scooter.

Ken, John and I stayed overnight on the boat. There was a fair breeze coming in the cabin and despite come clanging halyards, we seemed to sleep pretty good. John was up first and reading a book in the cockpit. Ken and I slept in a bit later and rose to a warm day of stiff winds and sunshine.

The closest boat to us was leaving this morning. I went over and talked to him a little while. He is from England and was a home builder that was sailing as a hobby. He delivered a few boats for people and just through word of mouth sound found he was so busy that he quit his building three years ago and has been doing this ever since. He was delivering a boat for someone that had sailed it in the ARC race last year. They had to make a 300 mile diversion to Bermuda because their auto pilot wasn’t working. By chance his son, who he hadn’t seen in a year, was bringing in a boat to Bermuda next week, but he couldn’t stay here long enough to see him. His next stop was the Azures, 1800 miles away and nothing in-between! He said they only carried enough fuel for about 300 miles, so they had a lot of sailing ahead of them. The wind direction was perfect for them to just cast off and sail right out into the harbor. I wished them well and off they went.

I also talked to the other boat owner who is from Boston. I think he said he had some kind of a computer data management company that he had recently sold and was not sure what his next business was going to be, so he was sailing for now. He commented that his clients ranged from General Motors to Joe’s Pizza. I told Joe’s Pizza was probably bigger than GM at this point. He laughed and said the sale certainly went through at the right time. David is his name and Don thought his boat was about 45 long. It seems quite wide and it has a huge wheel that nearly extends across the entire cockpit. It is interesting to see that there are gauges above the entrance to the cabin and a large set of LCD gauges on the mast itself. There’s a huge US flag low on the stern.

I wanted to walk over to Mullet Park and Ken decided to join me. John was going to take some of his gear to his rented room so we offered to detour that way and give him a hand, plus it gave us a chance to check out his accommodations. I called my parents to wish my mother a happy Mother’s Day. Their furnace was out and it was only 40 degrees at home. Her dinner plans for company had fizzled from 13 to 3, so it wasn’t looking to be quite the day she had planned. John’s room was very nice and located on the second floor of a bed and breakfast. There is a nice view of the harbor from the veranda, some shade and some wind, so it was a very nice place to sit. His room is actually two rooms, one a sort of sitting room with a fireplace and then the bedroom with a rattan like canopy and a bathroom off that. He got the “sailor discount” and the price was $170 a night. There is a nice front yard with some trees and bushes and it is located just up the hill a few blocks off the main street. After a brief tour and rest John decided to go with us on our walk.

We had to take some side streets and alleys and we hit a few dead ends, but eventually made our way over and up to the golf course. The view on top was really beautiful. We wandered toward the park (we hoped) and eventually found the road we wanted, Suffering Lane. We found the old railroad walking trail and continued our walk. The cliff side to our right dropped off a hundred feet or more and in places it was almost a sheer drop. Ken joked that John was like a guy walking two puppies. Ken and I would run off and climb out or down the cliff to the water below to check things out. We saw three fishermen at the bottom of one cliff but no one else on the rest of that trail. The views were spectacular and the bright cerulean blue of the ocean is incredible. I found several places that I would like to set up at and paint. They are quite remote and I don’t know if that is good or bad as Deb said there has been a rash of assaults on tourist lately. We found someone had carved in the rocks “Love you Mom” so we took some pictures of Ken and I pointing at it. Quite appropriate for the day! If I had been thinking I would have taken a photo with my cell phone and emailed it to Mom. We finally hit the dead end of the trail, turned around and backtracked a little and then headed down toward the main street. We stopped along the way for some much need fluids and Ken and I each got a burger (five dollars each.) The trip back to the boat was much quicker. My blisters were definitely worse at the end even though I had bandaged them and wore socks. After a break at the boat, John left for his room on the hill and Ken and I stayed on the boat. Don and Deb had stopped at the boat and left us a note about coming back for dinner. Our plan was that Ken was going to relax at the boat and I wanted to go somewhere else and explore a bit more. First I decided to look at the port navigation light as Don had dropped off a new unit that Deb brought. I found out the bulb was good but one wire had corroded off the spade attachment. Don has lots of supplies so I found a new spade end, stripped the wire and reattached it. It worked fine and I put the cover from the new unit on it. In the meantime Ken was fixing straps on the cockpit top and made a new one for the main halyard to secure it to the mast. We had just got the boat ready to spray down when Ben and Jerry (actually Bernie and his cousin who maybe Captain Smokes) came down to tell us we had to move the boat. Our neighbor from England had left and there was a gap between us and the only other boat. The wind was blowing so hard from the other side, they wanted us to move over to the empty spot and leave a space on the downwind side for a boat that was approaching from 30 miles out. At that point Deb and Don showed up. Don and Deb had plans and didn’t have the time, nor want to fool with things, so he left it up to Ken and I as to if we wanted to try it. They left and with the help and instructions from the two cousins we moved the boat and secured it. We then washed the entire boat down to get the saltwater off it while the brothers drove off. By now we were feeling pretty grubby and sweaty, so I called John to tell him about dinner plans and we hit the showers. The inbound boat arrived coming in from the harbor just after Bernie and his cousin arrived. After several failed attempts to back in, we yelled to them to come in head first and swing by us as we had to do. I took the mooring line out at the end of our boat and extended it on a boat hook. The first pass they made was too far away but they were able to grab it on the second pass. The entire docking was a little confusing and there were a few mistakes, but it all worked out and they are now right tight to us. They are a Canadian family that has been sailing for the past 13 months. Originally it looked like a husband, wife and young teenage girl as the crew but after they docked two more children, a girl and boy appeared. The man said they had been to Europe and were supposed to be finished in twelve months. The deal with his partner was that he would sail for twelve months and then his partner would get to sail for twelve months. With a smile he said now he will have to let his partner go on a thirteen month sail. I believe he said they had some kind of a small publishing or printing company. They appear to be on a 36 foot boat as well that is rig with a small wind generator and small solar panel.

Ken and I were dressed in our light blue BrainWaves Bermuda shirts so we could stand at the edge of the gangplank and sauté Deb and Don as they arrived. Those plans were dashed by the arrival of the new boat and Deb and Don came in on the scooter as we finished tying off the Canadian boat. Deb cooked us a great meal of spaghetti using the venison hamburger and we ate in the cockpit of the boat. We had some laughs and enjoyed the meal and a bottle of wine they brought. After cleaning up and doing dishes, we went below and visited some more. Just before dark, Don and Deb drove off and John walked back to his B & B. Ken’s reading a book now while I write this and we each have a cup full of M&M peanuts. It was a good day. The wind is still howling and the temperature has dropped a bit. It will be a bit noisier tonight as we can hear something in the boom humming, the halyard slapping from the Boston boat and the waves splashing on the dingy which we put right behind us between the boat and the wall. I think we will sleep well anyway. I plan to rent a scooter tomorrow morning, maybe from the place up by the golf course as they had some nicer, newer bikes. It’s a longer walk, but I think I’ll go there. Tomorrow night we plan to go to Deb and Don’s and grill the rest of the venison steaks and chops.

Ken and I have a trip planned with the dingy for one day that will take us around the harbor and out to some small island in a park assessable only by boat. Right now the strong winds and the direction make that impossible. Even now at 10 pm the winds seem as strong or stronger. We also plan to rent another scooter and make some longer tours of the island.

Monday -It was a little muggy last night and not as much breeze. Today was much more calm and cloudy most of the day. I walked up to the bike shop on the hill and rented a bike for the rest of the week. While I was gone, Ken did some repair work on the door in the V berth. I got back to the boat and talked to Ken, then took off on the scooter to get used to the whole scooter and left hand lane driving experience. It’s a bit weird and your natural instincts kick in when faced with a sudden decision. I went out past Baileys Bay and then out to the end of Ferry Road. The views were not as nice as what we saw on our walk yesterday. I drove a few other roads and then headed back to the boat. John was there when I arrived and we all had lunch on the boat, using up some of the lunch meat we brought on the trip. John bought some round foam to pad the boat rails for the return trip and attached them with zip ties. We were surprised to see a huge Norwegian cruise ship coming up behind our boat in the harbor. It was huge and turned around right in front of us. I slowly went back toward the town square area and slide sideways up to the wharf. After lunch John went back to his place and Ken decided to check on a scooter for the next two days. With the cruise ship in port, he decided he needed to get the scooter now, so he did. So, we decided to hit the road and see some sights. We went north and west along North Shore Road and through the Flatts Village. Then we cut over to Middle Road and down to South Shore Road. We stopped at an interesting spot with some long reefs out in front along John Smith’s Bay. Then we cut back across on Devil’s Hole Hill and back to the boat. Little did we know that Deb and Don were on this same course and had an accident right at the turn on Devil’s Hole Hill.

Our plan was to meet up John and go to Deb & Don’s place for supper. We were having a hard time making connections with them but finally heard from them through the boat radio. Our call signs were Big Brain and Little Brain. We were going to bring all the food and cook it there and we planned on venison steaks, baked beans and fried potatoes. Just as we signed off the boat skipper next to us said he was panning a BBQ for everyone, bring you own stuff to grill. We called Little Brain back and changed plans to meet at the boat for the BBQ.

Don and Deb rode in on their scooter and Don’s lower leg was covered with an ugly bloody scrape, road rash from a bike accident! He and Deb rounded the corner at Devils’ Hole Hill and the bike went down. Several people stopped to help them and fortunately, and luckily, they were not hurt bad. Deb has a very stiff shoulder from where she put her arm out on the fall and Don has several scrapes, the worse being the entire side of one calf. He said it was the most painful when he took a shower to clean up. It will be very sore and difficult to sleep with the open scrape. He’s still knot sure just what caused the scooter to go out from under them.

After getting everything but the meat hot and ready I checked with the guy for a better time on the BBQ fire. It was already 5:30 and we were all very hungry. He told me the fire would start around 7:00 and last to maybe 8:00. So we put the food on hold, got out the wine John brought and some of us had a little snack. Right when the fire was started the rain began to fall and we scrambled to shut the hatches and keep the inside of the boat dry. It finally let up enough to cook the steaks and we had a great meal. After much laughing and talking, John went back to his place and Deb and Don got ready to leave. Ken and I decided to make a night ride and follow them back to their place so we would know where it is located. They have a really nice place that overlooks the water and the Rail Road Trail runs right below them. We stayed there for about an hour and talked some more before heading back to the boat. Captain Smokes if full now and another large boat pulled in to the side to make some repairs for most of the afternoon.

Tomorrow Don is going to check with us and we may make a scooter excursion to the end of the island, out to the Royal Navel Dockyard. John doesn’t want to ride a scooter, so he will stay back in town. There is another chance of rain tonight, so we will see what tomorrow brings in the form of moisture and decide what to do.