Gulf Crossing Day 6 – Wednesday, Nov 12th

Position @ 08:00: 24 deg 26.06 min North, 85 deg 30.88 min West

The day we proved our mettle.

The waves finally aligned with the east wind. for the previous day or so, the waves had been out of the northeast, so our east-southeast course allowed us to take the waves on the beam. On day 6, the wind again got up to about 20, and the seas were on the nose. And of course, we were beating. Waves were occasionally broke over the bow of the boat. The solar vent on the forward head compartment allowed sea water down below. Everything was wet. I got nauseous. We abandoned the hot meals. We ate granola bars and drank water.

Then, around 22:00 (that’s 10:00 PM for you non-military time people) the motor dropped to idle speed, then resumed, then dropped to idle. I checked the vacuum pressure guage behind the primary fuel filter – 10 psi. In the red. Not good. After a hurried consulatation, we killed the motor and Dana and I began changing both fuel filters. In the dark. On a pitching, rolling boat. All while feeling slightly queasy.

I channeled my inner diesel mechanic. Dana found the right tools and ekpt the area clean. Walter got a jerry jug of diesel off the rail so we could fill the primary filter prior to installation. We filled the secondary filter with fuel using the manual lever on the lift pump. I didn’t now it at the time, but Nigel Clader’s book recommends this procedure so that the secondary filter is not filled with unfiltered diesel.

We muddled through the filter changes (I’ve never done it before. First time.) Yea, I know. Probably should have practiced this one time on the dock. Bleed the motor. Try for start. Cough, sputter, die. Bleed the motor again. Cough sputter die. Remember the bleed pump on the top of the Racor (thanks Pete.) Bleed the secondary again. Try for start. Sputter, sputter, run for 5 seconds, sputter die.

After the third attempt at a resart, I shut off all the electrics except the nav lights. It was beginning to look like we would have to sail the rest of the way to Key West with no way to recharge our batteries. Beverly was driving. I turned towards her, “Beverly, do you have faith in us?” “Yep.” She replied. “You’ll get it.” Back down to the motor. After soem consultation with Walter, we decided that we needed to change the filters again. The vacuum pressure guage was still showing 10 psi. Too high. Maybe something was clogging the fuel line? I tried the bleed procedure one more time before going for the spares. Cough, cough, sputter, vroom! We have engine start.

We monitored the vacuum pressure for ten minutes and ran the engine at various rpms. Success! We’d had our first major test of the crossing, and we passed. High fives and big grins all around.

Gulf Crossing Day 5 – Tuesday, Nov 11th

Position @ 06:10: 25 deg 48.87 min North, 86 deg 56.01 min West

We tried starboard tack for a few hours on Day 5. Starboard tack confirmed our suspicions that we were getting a significant (1 – 2 knots) southbound push from the Loop Current. the Loop Current is a clockwise current in the Gulf of Mexico that runs north up the middle of the Gulf, turns east, then south down the Florida coast and eventually merging with the Gulf Stream. Day 5 began a two day perios where we were faced with southbound current and winds from the east. The southbound current would push us closer and closer to Cuba, while the east wind impeded our progress towards Key West.

The forecast had the wind turning southeast by Thursday, which would allow us to sail east and make good speed towards Key West. But to take advantage, of the righty, we were going to have to go course right and sail at Cuba for a day or two. Neither Walter nor I could remember what the laws were for sailing close to Cuba. I think they are entitled to 12 miles off their coast, but nobody wanted to get that close. We also had a large explosive dump site on the chart that we wanted to avoid. So we motorsailed a bit to make easting and to set up for the righty.

A word about motor sailing: I am just as much a sailing snob as exists on the planet. I’ve raced my own boats for the last 6 years, and crewed aboard quite a few good programs. I do not like to motor. I consider it cheating. Motoring is noisy. It smells bad. It consumes precious diesel. Worst of all, it harshes my mellow. On my previous cruising boat, a Beneteau, we filled up the tank once in 2 years of ownership. We even sailed it in and out of the slip a few times.

But when you’ve been at sea for 5 days, the batteries need charging, your cook needs a flat boat, and morale is low because you’re not making any VMG towards your destination, motoring is tempting. All you have to do is twist a key, and the 50 HP Yanmar diesel starts doing its thing. Almost everyone who does a west to east Gulf crossing motors a bit because the predominant breeze is southeast.

Gulf Crossing Day 4 – Monday, Nov 10th

Position @ 08:20: 26 deg 44.35 min North, 88 deg 53.00 min West

The wind came up in the morning to 20+ and puffy. We found the reefed main in combination with the jib, or occasionally with jib and staysail, to be the best combination. The helm balanced better wih a reefed main (too much weather helm with the full main,) and if we cracked off a few degrees, we were getting sustained rides at 7.5 to 8 knots. At this point in the trip, we were VMGing straight at Key West.

We turned on the motor for a couple hours to charge the batteries and to flatten the boat so that Dana could cook us up a nice meal of pre-prepped Beef Stroganoff. Cooking was tough duty on this trip. It takes a strong stomach to stay down below and babysit the stove. And you must babysit the stove. It is gimballed, so theoretically, it should not throw a boiling pot of water all over the cabin, but some of the waves were testing the gimballed stove to the limit. So Dana stood down below with one hand on the pot handle, sweating from the heat, and stomach churning from the wave motion. The product of Dana’s determination (a hot meal at sea) was a blessing. We all had trouble keeping calories down. And the hot meals granted much needed energy.

I’ve heard people say that after a few days at sea, you fall into a rythym. That the watch schedule becomes second nature and you no longer feel sleepy. Well it never happened to me. I was cranky and lethargic virtually the entire trip. If I wasn’t sailing the boat, I was navigating or checking weather. In my off watch time I was sleeping or fixing stuff or discussing our next move with Walter. Beverly said it best when she declared, “Everyone should lay down for two hours immediately after getting off watch.” If you stayed up socializing or troubleshooting or listening to music, you were setting yourself up for crash later in the day.