OK – it’s official – we’re certifiably
crazy! Or else the weather forecasts here, from all three of our sources, are
lying through their teeth.
As we prepared to sail from West End to Ocean Reef Marina near Freeport, we heard, and I quote: “15-20 knots of wind
from the Southeast, 1 metre waves, cloud and sun”. “Perfect”, we thought,
“let’s go”! We had some trouble getting out of the slip, as the wind was
howling, and kept blowing the bow of the boat in the opposite direction to
where we wanted to go (might have been a hint!). But, after a bit of a twist to the bar-b-que when it hit a post, we managed to
exit the marina, and looked forward to a leisurely 4-hour sail to our next port
of call.
OMG – not!! 10-15 foot waves, on our side –
crashing over the bow and into our cockpit. We even had the rail in the water at times –
pretty scary! Winds that gusted to 40k (gale force) and torrential rain twice,
as well as thunder, for four and a half miserable hours. Below, the boat was in
total disarray, and above, we were soaked, shivering and praying that we’d make
it safely to the Ocean Reef Harbour.
But Sea Change is a very seaworthy boat,
and make it we did, finally, coasting through the shallow entry with less than
a foot of water beneath the keel. Six people came to greet us and help us tie
up the boat – curious about these crazies out on that water today. “There’s
another pair of crazies following us in,” we informed our welcoming party about
the friends we had sailed with today, and they invited us all to a free dinner
and Bahama Mama drinks in the bar. “OK”, we said, gratefully, as we shed our
very wet clothes and dashed to dinner, having not eaten since breakfast. I
sucked back that drink like I had just walked the desert J.
I think I’m done with the heroics – we’ll
wait out the weather now until the next REALLY CALM day to make our 10-hour
crossing to the Berry Islands!
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