Thursday, April 30, 2009
30 April - Day 58. We jack hammer the anchor out of its concrete set and head towards the 'Whale'. Winds are 15-20kts from the ESE. Approaching the 'Whale' the seas build. Nothing outrageous but enough to keep the windshield wipers in continuous operation. We beat into 3-4' seas as we watch breakers pound the shoreline. It's a quick rounding and relief comes when we enter the lee of Great Guana Cay. A little over 20nm away is our first stop of the day Marsh Harbour. After almost two months underway it's time to reprovision. Two hours later we weigh anchor and wander SE towards Elbow Cay. On the way we come across our 1992 'crash site'. In November of 1992 we rented a bareboat from Sunsail and spent a week gunkholing here in the Sea of Abaco. Late in the afternoon on Friday, 20 November, we anchored on the SW side of Sugar Loaf Cay. There was a gale blowing from the ENE. During the night the anchor drug and we drifted, peacefully over 1nm to leeward. Then the keel went aground on sand and startled the crew awake. Our stern was 10' from the stone breakwater at Albury's Ferry dock on Great Abaco. The wind and each wave pushed us closer to the rocks while the starboard rail went deeper under water. We couldn't power off and the same light Danforth that we'd just drug across the bay wasn't up to kedging us off. Our call for help was answered by Will, an old sea-salt and tough as nails Brit. Now imagine this, in the midst of a gale, on a boat listing badly, and with rocks ready to chew-up her stern, Will jumps to the mainsail halyard and rapidly raises the main (in normal conditions it took two of us and winch to do this). Our 45 degree list quickly turns into 70 degrees as all aboard try to keep from falling overboard. Like a race horse at the gate our sloop flies off the bar and into deeper water. Now our only problem is that we're at sea, in a gale, at night. But that's another story. On a well-set anchor in Elbow Cay, just north of Hope Town, Babahams. 32nm today: 1361nm. DBH
