Beaten Up

Sunday, 22 January, Warderick Wells
N 25 degrees 23.68 minutes
W 076 degrees 38.10 minutes

We left this morning expecting a fairly quick sail. 14
nautical miles should take 3 hours or so. Winds were
brisk, but we thought we'd be OK on the Exuma Banks,
because we would only be in 25 feet or so of water,
and we'd be fairly sheltered from the ESE winds as we
sailed down the lee of the island chain. Ahhh, that
was a misconception.

The waves were only 5 feet high or so, but they were
choppy and confused, with a very short period in
between waves. A LOT of waves came up over Delilah's
bow, and a few made it all the way back to us and over
our dodger (the canvas and plastic windscreen for the
cockpit). Our starboard anchor was shaken off the bow
roller. Twice. That meant I had to go forward to the
bow, which was digging into these waves, and get
submerged while I fixed it. Then the pole holding the
wind generator came out of its base.

I have salt crystals on my face.

Our bed got drenched via a small leak in the forward
hatch. 3 pillows, our mattress, our sheets, our
comforter, and half a dozen books are wet.

We reckon we had 30 knots of wind at times, close
hauled.

Our neighbors from Hawksbill Cay (S/V Eira), who made
the trip as well, came over to commiserate. Jill said,
"It's time for rum!" and who am I to argue?

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com