Sailing Log - Blue Suede Shoes

New River in Ft. Lauderdale

The taxi from Ft.Lauderdale Airport knew the address we had given him, but as we started down dark side streets in a rundown industrial area of Ft.Lauderdale, I wondered how much life insurance I had. But there, on a corner, just where they were to be, were Robert and Joanne, waving down the taxi, and directing us to the shipyard which backed on the New River, and where the boat was.

This was to be our first real cruising experience. After many years of windsurfing, sailing lasers and Hobie cats, it was our chance to sail off into the Caribbean for 2 weeks on our friend's 37' catamaran. Robert had been solo-sailing his Louisiane, Blue Suede Shoes, for the last 2 years in the Caribbean, mostly based out of Turk & Caicos, and had returned to Ft.Lauderdale for some maintenance. Isabelle, Joanne and myself, would join him from Ft.Lauderdale back to the Bahamas, with our objective being Nassau in 2 weeks (this could easily be 3 days of day sails, so plenty of time to explore).

Rough itinerary was :

• Ft. Lauderdale to Bimini, across the Gulf Stream, with some time in the Biminis
• Bimini to Berry's, crossing the Bahama Bank, with some time to explore the Berry's
• Berry's to Nassau, crossing the NorthWest Providence channel

At the time, neither Isabelle or myself, had been bitten by the cruising bug, and had not spent alot of time reading about it, so we did not know how challenging such a trip could be, trusting that our captain would take care of all that. Then, I viewed this as another sail on a bigger lake than usual. Had I known then what I know today, the preparation would have been alot different !

The boat was a 1986 Louisiane FP 37', very light with a real shallow draft (less than 2 feet). The main cabin included the galley, but did not extend over the hulls, so that the crew quarters had their own separate entrances down into each hull. Each hull had a double berth and a head. The cockpit extended all the way across both hulls, with the best sailing position being sitting on the back corners of the cockpit with a clear, unobstructed view to the front (something you don't get anymore in the cruising cats). Steering was with a bar connected to twin kick-up safrans and a tiller that extended about 6'. This allowed the helmsman to be in the cockpit corners for great visibility forward. A small, center-mounted 9.9 HP outboard powered the boat at up to 5 knots. In most island anchorages, this was very adequate, with Robert having perfected the solo feat of anchoring. And in these ideallic anchorages, you usually had lots of manoeuvering room. But down the New River with a fair current and drawbridges taking their sweet time to open, it is another totally different story. Later, it's that experience that has always convinced me that I would have twin engines on a cat.

Of course, the neophytes were in a hurry to leave the shipyard. This was not our idea of a Caribbean cruise ! But the captain new that crossing the Gulf Stream when a cold front was coming through with 25 knots of north winds (going against the Gulf current), was not a good idea. So the first 2 nights were spent there. The 3rd night, we moved to Lake Sylvia closer to the 17th Street Causeway as the weather called for lighter ESE winds the next few days, perfect for crossing the Gulf Stream, and we wanted an early start the next day. On the fourth day, early at dawn, we were off !!

Across the Gulf Stream to Bimini

We crossed the 17th Street drawbridge, turned left, and headed east out into the open ocean. Within a few hours, we lost sight of the Florida coast. A 37' cat which was so big at the dock, now felt real small for the neophytes ! Fortunately, the breeze was light ( 5 to 10 knots), actually a little too light. As we got in the middle of the Gulf Stream, the long waves grew to about 6', and the current had us drifting northward too much so we started to motorsail with that powerfull 9.9 HP engine to keep us on course towards North Bimini.

There are times in a life when you know something is right. I have spent alot of time on the water (lakes), and have always found that the world looks different from the water, our place in the overall scheme of things is back in perspective, and those material pre-occupations of landlubber's life start melting away. (That's probably why I could spend 4-6 hours at a time on my windsurf and not get bored.) I knew right there and then, in the middle of the Gulf Stream, that this was for me ; that the cruising life was going to be for me sooner or later.

By 5:00 PM, we had Bimini in our sights, though still about 2 hours away. All you see from the low islands was the top of the trees. This called for a celebration, and we had our first "cocktail" a little early that day to celebrate an easy crossing. By 7:00, we were anchored in North Bimini Harbour.

Swimming with sharks

After spending a day at Bimini, we sailed down to Gun Cay, and anchored at the north-west tip for the night. The next day, was spent snorkeling and beachcombing in clear blue waters, and along white sand beaches, on these "sand spits" they call cays !! The snorkeling was excellent, beautifull and varied fish, some barracuda for excitement, and some sleeping nurse sharks in about 20' of water. It was a little later when the rest had gone for a walk on the beach, and I decided to go snorkeling a little longer. I was just swimming in about 10' of water along the beach when I came head to head with a REAL shark. This was not a nurse shark. I figure about 8' long, looking like a tiger shark. It was between me and the beach ! As I started to back away, and took a quick look towards the beach, it decided to swim on, and I sprinted (or maybe ran on the water) for the beach. Wish I had relaxed instead, but this was my first shark encounter !

Crossing the Bahamas Bank at full throttle

It was 5:00 AM, and I was already up and anticipating our early departure to cross the Bank. We expected it to take about 10 hours and wanted to arrive at Chub Cay in the Berry's in daylight with some time to spare. To ensure a quick start, we had moved the night before to the anchorage on the south-east tip of Gun Cay . From there, it was a straigth rumbline to the NorthWest Channel beacon on the eastern side of the Bank. Three other monohulls were also there for an early morning start.

Well, it wasn't to be. At 5:30, one monohull left. At 6:00, a 2nd. By 7:00, all three were gone, and the captain was still sleeping ! It turns out the ham we had last night may have been a little old, so the captain wasn't feeling all too well. By 9:00, he had enough strength to check the latest weather forecast, call for the lift of the anchor, raise the sails, set the auto-pilot to the right heading, tell me what to look for, and then went right back to sleep !!

The wind was coming from the WNW at 20-25 knots as another cold front was expected in the next 24 hours. This was going to give us a broad reach, almost downwind sail across the bank. Since the bank is very shallow, 15' on the route we were on, but much less then that if you strayed, we did not expect, and did not get, alot of waves. More like a 3'-4' chop. These were perfect conditions for this cat and we proceeded to sail at speeds between 10 to 14 knots !! The sail was level, smooth, and the auto-pilot was doing an excellent job of keeping us on track, checked every half-hour on the GPS. By 11:00, the captain was his usual self. By 2:00 PM we had passed the three monohulls which seemed to be doing about 4-6 knots, were healed over, and getting wet. I knew the cat life was for me !

Looking behind us, I noticed this ominous dark grey "rolling" mass of clouds trying to overtake us. I had never seen such a sight. A straight line clear across the horizon, you could see the "rolling" and spinning clouds of the cold front. It soon caught us and passed quickly above us, as my breathing stopped expecting this vicious gust of wind. Not to be. The front passed with the wind shifting sligthly north, but no gusts, and we just kept on "trucking". It was an impressive sight, and next time I would take a reef just in case.

By 5:00 PM, we had reached the NorthWest Channel Beacon, but it was clear we would not make it to Chub Cay by daylight. Looking at the Cruising Guide, and the map, and with the captain being familiar with the anchorage, we decided to press on towards Chub Cay which was equipped with a light range for the fishing boats that come in at any hour of the day. With the cloud cover, the night was dark, giving the neophytes a taste of overnight sailing. Unfortunately, we were making our way close to small cays and unmarked rocks, and going to attempt to enter a small harbour in the dark. The lighted range was there, and we decided not to enter the marina but anchor off the beach of the Chub Cay Club for a good rest.

In hindsight, we should have never left Gun Cay so late. The right strategy would have been to stay an extra day and to reach Chub Cay in daylight. We were fortunate the weather held steady and did not deteriorate. I didn't know it then, but it's typical of what a schedule will do to you.

Four days of paradise

We made our way east across the Berry's slowly, and eventually anchored at the southwest end of Whale Cay, in the triangle between Bird Cay, Whale Cay and Cat Cay in about 5' of turquoise water over a white sand bottom. We had the anchorage all to ourselves, snorkeling a few minutes away, water depths of 2' to 15' in the triangle, great for some windsurfing, conch and grouper fishing, cay's and white beaches to explore, and so decided to stay a few days. We still had 5 days to get across the North West Channel to Nassau, which was about a 30 mile sail east straight out of the anchorage, and the winds out there were in the 20-25 knot range from the east. Better to wait for better winds. Tough !!

This was the way I had always pictured it ! A lazy, no pressure schedule, filled with snorkeling, windsurfing, beachcombing, and interrupted daily by the cocktail hour, or the challenge of making fried conch and a conch chowder, or just tanning on the trampoline. (the conch was a success).

Cruising is not always like this, but it is those special times that make it all worth it. As I remember back across all our sailing, this is still the tops.

Attempting to cross the NorthWest Channel

By the Wednesday night, the 3rd day, it was time to assess our situation. The winds in the channel were now blowing at 35 knots, still from the east, but now the schedule was back. Our flight out of Miami was on Saturday afternoon, and we need to fly from Nassau to Miami on Friday or Saturday morning. So the decision was taken to try for a Thursday morning departure. Morning came, and the winds were still at 35 knots, but we decided to go ahead and try. Never follow a schedule !

Fifteen minutes out of the anchorage, we were battling upwind in 35-40 knots of wind, in about 10'-12' waves looking at a long day of the same conditions across the channel. The neophytes were a little concerned. The waves looked "enormous" as the cat came down the waves given us an exagerated view of the next wave. One particular wave made two of us gasp as we saw the towering white froth ready to engulf the boat. At the same time, Isabelle saw the wind speed indicator jump above 50 knots. At the same time, Robert was trying to handle the jib and it decided to rip down the middle and started flogging loudly in the wind. I distinctly heard the captain exclaim " We're going to kill ourselves in this !!".

Of course the cat just sailed over the wave no problem. But it was clear that the crew had had enough so we decided to call it quits and head back to that ideallic anchorage ! As soon as we turned the boat around, and had the wind to our backs, the boat just quieted it down (obvious but not for the neophytes !) and we sailed quickly back to Bird Cay, anchored and promptly all laid down for a 2 hour rest !

So much for that plan.

Stuck on a deserted island !

I had visions of having to contact the office somehow and explaining that I was stranded on a deserted island, in the middle of the Bahamas, and would return from my vacation a little late ! I'd always wanted to do that ! though this would cost me since our plane tickets were of the non-changeable and non-refundable kind.

Unfortunately or fortunately, our captain was observant, and had seen a small plane landing on Chub Cay a few days before. A quick call on the VHF to Chub Cay confirmed that it was a regular flight, that the next flight to Miami was on Saturday morning, and yes there were 2 seats open on the plane. Reality hit hard. We would meet our return flight on time, and this trip in paradise would come to an end.
Friday night we anchored off Chub Cay resort, and early Saturday morning, Robert and Joanne dropped us off for our flight to Miami, in time to make our flight home.

In the meantime, the wind had shifted and Robert and Joanne enjoyed a short 4 hour downwind sail all the way to Nassau !! To us neophytes, it was a very real demonstration that when cruising, if the weather is not right, wait for the right weather, and be flexible with your schedule.

CeBe WebDesign November 12, 2007