Attitude Adjustment in Abaco 2001, Part Two

Attitude Adjustment in Abaco 2001, Part Two
Dr.Ralph <rbundy@cfl.rr.com> -- on Tuesday 7/24/01 @ 7:51 p.m. EST

Monday, July 9

The alarm goes off at 6 AM, but we are both already awake. We have been listening to light rain spatter against the overhead hatch cover since about 5. Today we plan to run to Walker's Cay, about 110 nm. The first sixty miles are in open ocean, including about 20 nm of Gulf Stream, and the remaining 50 nm is over the shallow water of the NW Little Bahama Bank.

The Gulf Stream is a river of warm, deep blue water that passes northward through the Straits of Florida. Depending on the location and conditions, it may flow at as much as five knots. A wind from the N or NE that exceeds about ten knots produces the equivalent of a huge wide tide rip, with the resulting swells being steep and tightly packed. In '93 on a westward crossing from West End to Lake Worth, we ran thirty miles in 1-2 foot seas in front of a 15-knot NE wind, and within a mile of entering the Stream we had eight-footers trying to broach us. It's not fun.

Bunny cooks our breakfast while I go topside and prepare Attitude for her run. WX01 on our VHF brings us the marine forecast from the National Weather Service: during the night the weather gods have concocted a trough of low pressure that is centered just north of us. Our winds will be 10-15 knots from the SW, seas 2-3 feet, with scattered to numerous thunderstorms. The SW wind is good news: the seas will be on our starboard quarter, Attitude will skip over them at 25 knots. It's the note about thunderstorms that makes me uneasy.

Squalls are the gray demons of the sea. They are unpredictable and dangerous; they can throw wind, rain, electricity, and waterspouts at us. They can move rapidly or just sit, and they can spread laterally like fire on dry grass. We can see them with our eyes and with Attitude's radar, so we think we can cope.

We throw our lines off at 7:25, and by 7:50 we are through Ft. Pierce Inlet into the Atlantic. The wind has yet to rise, and under hazy overcast we run ESE at 27 knots. Wind from the southern quadrants tame the Stream, and it's almost flat as we fly across its purple surface. After dallying for a few minutes to rest and take some photographs, we arrive at the Bank at 10:45. To the east the sky has become gray and solid, and Attitude's 24-nm radar displays a line of heavy rain directly ahead, eight miles wide and two miles deep. As we approach, we ponder our three choices. We can: a) anchor up and wait for it to dissipate, b) detour to the north, or c) detour to the south. I don't like a); the squall can sit there for a few hours, or even decide to drift over us. A detour to the north will bring us close to the shallow waters of Matanilla Reef, and I don't want to try that in poor visibility. That leaves a detour around the south end as our best option, and we elect to pursue it.

As we near the squall the SW wind picks up, then suddenly dies. There is no air movement, and it is eerily silent. This is the proverbial calm before the storm, a ring of heavy air that surrounds the cell. Two miles out the wind shifts to ESE, right on our nose, and head seas begin to build. A second cell forms to the south of the first, leaving a gap directly ahead. I steer for it, but within minutes the gap closes, the wind builds to fifty knots, and we are being pelted with heavy rain. I throttle back, the seas are four feet, now six, and then we climb an eight-footer. Before Attitude can rise, another giant wave breaks over her bow, and her hull shudders. The wind roars like a great freight train. We have entered the maw of the monster; the decisions we make in the next few moments will determine whether it will let us out.

My first tactic is to make slight headway 45 degrees off the wind and seas. Attitude rolls violently and crashes down into the trough. I am aware of movement in Bunny's direction, but I am too consumed to notice other than she seems OK. I decide I can't hold Attitude into the wind, so between swells I turn the wheel hard to port, goose her throttles, and spin her down sea, putting the swells on her starboard quarter. The trick here is to maintain her stern 45 off the sea, using the throttles to stay ahead of the watery giants that want to broach us. This point is more stable, but it takes constant effort.

Bunny hollers, "Watch that trap float!" We are just about to go over a styrofoam float and its heavy line; I put the wheel hard over and we just miss. If the rope fouls our props we will be dead in the water, and I would face the grim task of donning dive gear and cutting the line away from the props of a boat that is rising and falling several feet with each wave. I look over at Bunny; she is wearing a life jacket, she has our EPIRB, handheld VHF and GPS units, a gallon of water, and she has tied a rope around her waist and placed the end across my feet.

Three years ago Bunny sat for the USCG Captain's license exam. She passed three of the four sections, retook the fourth and missed by two questions, two silly math errors. A sudden illness and subsequent death in her family diverted her efforts, and she has never returned to finish the exam. Point is, the girl knows her stuff. I tell her, "Honey, I'm going to get us out of this, we're going to be fine." She smiles stoically; it's the same smile cancer patients wear when I've told them their chemotherapy is going to succeed. I feel terrible for her, this is neither her nor my idea of an idyllic island vacation. We are now making minimal headway NE, away from Walker's, the strategy being to simply survive until the storm passes.

We hear voices on the VHF. A group of boats is travelling together and is entering the storm. Someone named Brian is checking each boat, reassuring them, giving instructions, calming his captains. During a pause I call him and he answers promptly. I describe our predicament and we exchange positions; they are a few miles north of us and the weather is not as severe. I give Attitude a little throttle and begin to describe a wide arc from NE to due N. In a few minutes the chaos begins to recede, and we take a deep breath. More conversation reveals Brian to be the manager of the Vero Beach Grady White dealership, and he is leading fourteen boats belonging to the Grady owner's group to Walker's. More northward progress results in less rain and wind, and soon I'm able to begin to come around to the east. We can make ten, then fifteen, and then twenty knots, the seas now down to 3-4 feet on our starboard beam. It's a wet, rough ride, but we're out of danger. The radar and our eyes tell us the squall is breaking up, and we leave its remnants behind.

At 2:45 PM, Q flag flying, we pass the breakwater that guards Walker's Cay Marina and back into slip S7. It has taken us 4 hours to make 40 nm. Bunny starts to clean up the mess around Attitude's helm while I check in at the marina office. The Customs/Immigration agent is impatient; he is expecting twenty more boats. He shoves five forms in front of me and exhorts me to "hurry up." My hands are still shaking, he inquires as to the trip, I give him shaky details as I write. He takes three forms back and completes them for me. A shake of the hand and $100 gets me out of the office and back to the boat. We drop the Q and hoist the multi-colored Bahamas courtesy flag. I look astern to see a grinning face behind salt-spattered Wayfarers; it's Brian from the Grady group. We shake hands and laugh about the storm, I thank him for his information and encouragement, then he is off to tend to his fleet. Bunny and I embrace briefly, then we collapse into deck chairs in Attitude's cockpit. We are safe in port, we are in the Bahamas, and we are tied up at Walker's Cay, northern gateway to Abaco.

Re: Attitude Adjustment in Abaco 2001, Part Two
Lisa S - Bottom Line <SpoonerCPA@aol.com> -- on Tuesday 7/24/01 @ 10:14 p.m. EST

Now I remember why we didn't ever make it!!!!! What a wild "ride".

Re: Attitude Adjustment in Abaco 2001, Part Two
carolina charlie -- on Tuesday 7/24/01 @ 10:36 p.m. EST

Whew! Had a similar experience on a thirty foot sedan bridge on the carolina coast. Your post got my hands to shaking again. fair winds and following seas...

My friend Brian......
Gary M <Uboats737@aol.com> -- on Wednesday 7/25/01 @ 8:16 a.m. EST

Cunningham is the Sales Manager for Vero Marine Center in Vero Beach, Florida. He sold Jen Jen & I the "Chilly Bin" four years ago and has remained a friend of ours ever since. What a nice & knowledgable gentleman! He's now on the lookout for our next Grady-White and I look forward to doing business with him again. How ironic that he became friends with our other good friends, Ralph & Bunny while experiencing the same nasty storm!!

He organizes the 10-11 day trip each July for VMC Grady customers. We did the trip three years ago and it was quite an experience! From Walker's they went on to GTC, Boat Harbour in MH, Freeport (via the Lucayan Waterway), then home. The day that we went out with Ralph & Bunny to try to go fishing I was able to speak with him briefly on Ralph's VHF. Very fun to say Hi to a Stateside friend while boating in Abaco!!

Gary M

Here's the "Chilly Bin" tied up in front of our room at Treasure Cay!!

51574

Re: Attitude Adjustment in Abaco 2001, Part Two
Jan/kev <janine_knight@sportsauthority.com> -- on Wednesday 7/25/01 @ 8:15 a.m. EST

I have goose bumps. Scared me to death. Glad you made it safely.

Dr. Ralph, I'm tellin' ya..................
CabanaMon <cabanaman_9949@msn.com> -- on Wednesday 7/25/01 @ 8:25 a.m. EST

you sure know how to tell a good boating story. I could feel the the terror, anxiety, fear, concern, etc. etc. you related in the saga of your crossing. Not to mention the sea spray in my face, the boat pitching and broaching, etc. etc. Having been in similar situations before, I can relate to your experience even more. It sure must have been great to have a crew (Bunny) who trusts her captain to the extent she does. Can't wait for the next episode of your adventure. Why don't you give some thought to submitting this trip report to a boating mag? If you're not already published I'm confident you will be. BTW Was this the "Perfect Storm"?

C-Mon

Re: Attitude Adjustment in Abaco 2001, Part Two
Charlotte Couple <sailr@excite.com> -- on Wednesday 7/25/01 @ 8:37 a.m. EST

Doc, you should write a book. Great description of a thrilling experience!

Re: Attitude Adjustment in Abaco 2001, Part Two
Bigfoot <rickh@sprintnw.com> -- on Wednesday 7/25/01 @ 12:14 p.m. EST

I strongly second the book idea. Sign me up, I'll buy the first ten.

Re: Attitude Adjustment in Abaco 2001, Part Two
Noontide -- on Wednesday 7/25/01 @ 9:04 a.m. EST

Dr. great description of a typical nasty squal and how to handle it. Sometimes I wonder if they are worse on the bank than in the stream. Rather avoid them either way! It would be great if those going to cross for the first time read this report so they get an idea of what could happen. Most out there have never experienced the fury of the stream or the bank in this particular case.

Maybe your report will save my kid brother...
yellowpages -- on Wednesday 7/25/01 @ 10:57 a.m. EST

...who has never boated before in his life and now in his first year has acquired his SECOND new boat (the bug has bit)...a 38' Sea Ray with all the goodies...attended classes, hired an "instructor" and at this very moment is on the high seas...just he and his wife...having called me ship to shore as he passed the Statue of Liberty...is on his way to Block Island...having missed his connection with the buddy boats he was to travel with...AND...intends to go down the IWW to Fla. this winter and cross to visit me in Ozaco. No experience needed??????
I have copied your report and will forward to him in hopes that his eyes will be opened and realize that it ain't no piece of cake...you knew what you were doing and it was scary. Imagine that "newbie" in the same situation. Oh my!!!

Re: Attitude Adjustment in Abaco 2001, Part Two
Donna S/V PELICAN <jimdonna@cfl.rr.com> -- on Wednesday 7/25/01 @ 12:30 p.m. EST

We are really enjoying your adventure. Thanks for sharing it with all of us. We are anxiously awaiting the next chapter.

Re: Attitude Adjustment in Abaco 2001, Part Two
Dr.Ralph <rbundy@cfl.rr.com> -- on Wednesday 7/25/01 @ 8:32 p.m. EST

Thanks to everyone for the great comments and encouragement!