And the Crossing

Day 31: Thursday, March 26, 2015

As planned, we awoke around 11:30 last night and got ready to get underway for the Crossing.  Our friends, Francois and Nathalie, began stirring about at midnight and by 12:30, we cast off our mooring lines, backed out of the slip and headed into the great dark ocean. 

Francois and I discussed our game plan and it was decided that I would lead and use our course that I had logged into our chartplotter as our guide.  Their boat had a bigger engine and the potential to travel faster than ours but they agreed that since our boat was a bit structurally compromised, they would stay with us. So, as we left the harbor at Old Bahama Bay Resort and Marina, I pushed the throttle to wide open and we headed into a light rolling sea.  The wind and waves were coming from the south southwest to south so the boat would wallow from side to side as the waves rolled under us.  As we moved further from land, the size of the rollers increased to probably 3 to 4 feet but there was little chop so the ride was rolly but not rough. 

As we traveled, our boat was making really good time at about 6.4 knots and, to our surprise, we were pulling away from our friends on Athena.  I called them on the radio to check and they replied that all things were going well.  Throughout the night, although we never lost sight of their lights, they would fall far behind and then catch up with us.  It wasn’t until daylight that we could actually see them and realized that they had raised their sails and had sailed all the way across.

The temperature was mild and the ride was not uncomfortable.  We snacked throughout the night on granola bars and coffee.  Neither of us slept in the boat but at times one or the other of us would cat nap sitting up.  All night passages are long and I for one checked my watch continuously hoping to move it along.  However, compared to the first Crossing, this one was really easy. Our time on this trip a bit over 9 ½ hours.  And when compared to our original 14 hour trip, this one was really easy.

As we were pulling into the Lake Worth Inlet, my phone rang and our son, Trevor, called to see if by chance we were within phone range.  It was good to be able to tell him that we had arrived and were heading for an anchorage and some rest.  He told me that he was surprised that we had made the move considering the weather forecast for the Palm Beach area.  I told him that I had checked the mid Gulf Stream weather but not the weather in the coastal regions and he informed me that they were predicting thunderstorms and some rough weather.  At the time of our conversation, the skies were cloudy but not particularly threatening.

Once in Lake Worth, we slowed down and waited for Athena with the intention of dropping anchor in the same vicinity but they planned to travel on north on the Intercostal Waterway so we said our thanks and goodbyes and found a place to drop our anchor not far from Riviera Beach where we would have to clear customs. 

In celebration of our arrival in the US I broke out a can of SPAM and joyously enjoyed a SPAM and mayo on Bahamian coconut bread sandwich.  It was wonderful.

We both crawled into bed and slept for about an hour before we were awakened by howling winds and a swinging rocking boat.  The predicted thunderstorms came through with vengeance.  The refreshing rain that accompanied the storm did a fine job of washing the accumulated salt from the boat. The wind continued to blow quite hard throughout the rest of the afternoon so we decided that we would put off our customs visit until tomorrow.

I was in charge of the evening meal so I prepared a gourmet cheesy fettuccini alfredo with SPAM dinner. (At this point I will asked Janine to be a guest contributor to the blog) It was sailboat gourmet! Janine

AND NOW!  We come to the end of the “Name the Dink” contest.   To monitor the final stages of the contest we have hired the chief legal council, Hugh Louis Dewey of the law firm of “Dewey, Cheethum and Howe,” who for so many years kept Click and Clack on the straight and narrow, to closely watch the voting and tabulation to preclude any of you from trying to stuff the ballot box.  The list on names submitted is fairly lengthy and it is the hope of the judged that you will vote one time. 

And Here They Are: in no particular order

Damn Dink II

Another Damn Dink

Breaking Wind

No Wind

Food Launch

C-wolf

Thyriod

SPAM

Depends  (she keeps you safe and dry)

Booney Yacht

Hillbilly Yacht

Lola

Dinghy Gale

Squirt

 

You may submit you vote to our unbiased judges at steve_holekamp@yahoo.com. The voting deadline is Easter.