Sunday, 6/14 - The Day After The Stream

I awoke at 0730 after a great night's sleep with no land in sight. I looked to the West behind the boat and could clearly see the change in water color where the The Bank drops into the deep. I was indeed "hanging on the edge" of The Bank. It was slightly disconcerting to know how close I was to the edge, but I was extremely glad that I had planned for this scenario with some serious ground anchoring tackle. 

There's no way my little Fortress anchor with 10 feet of 1/4" chain and 50' of 1/2" rode would have held given the bucking that would of ensued on such a short 3 to 1 scope in the seas last night. The picture above is not even close to indicating the sea state last night. There were 2 to 4 foot white capped waves coming directly from the East straight off The Bank and into the Stream.

Knowing that I was on the edge but secure, I was in no hurry to get underway after the long day yesterday, and I needed to clean things up and make some repairs. (Note - I found out later that hanging out on The Bank all morning was cause for concern back home. "Why isn't he moving?"). The first order of business was to come up with a way to keep the USB charging cables for iPhone and iPad dry. I needed something that could be attached to the forward cockpit bulkhead to cover the USB outlet as well as the VHF antenna connection right above the USB outlet. As I sat back to come up with a creative solution, I remembered that I had an empty Tupperware container that earlier was filled with vegetables. I didn't need it for anything else, it was translucent which would allow me to see the outlet / wires underneath making it easier to plug / unplug, and it would be easily modified with a filet knife - perfect! It soon came under the knife  to make a cutout on one side for the wires to pass through.

In the picture above you can see the cutout as well as the edge covered with generous amounts of clear silicone caulk. It was time to mount. The picture below shows the solution in place. I thought I would need to screw it in place, but the inside of the top edge hung like a picture frame on the top of the VHF antenna connection point, and the silicone caulk was "the glue" that sealed the deal.

Before mounting the cover, I opened the radio compartment to discover that the radio had gotten wet / destroyed. The general problem of water in the cockpit was a result of the forward edge of the dodger only being snap fastened to the deck. As a result, when waves would board the fore deck, the water would easily penetrate under the dodger and roll right over the forward cockpit combing into cockpit. Some water at that point would have enough momentum to continue going aft while the remainder would roll over the edge and "stick" to the underside of the combing thereby going forward towards the radio and the charging outlets. Just lovely! I thought a solution might be to velcro the forward edge of the dodger to the deck, but I didn't have any to try out my theory. It would have to wait for another day and the incursion of water into the cockpit would continue on.

After the USB outlet water proofing was licked, I turned towards Shifty to see if I could resuscitate her. I unscrewed the clam shell casing and discovered quite a bit of water inside, I dumped it out, dried out the inside as best I could, and screwed it back together hoping for the best. As this operation was underway, I looked up and saw that a sport fishing boat was headed my way to see what this little sail boat was up to so far out on The Bank. They came within about 100 yards, and I waived to let them know that everything was alright. They waived back and continued on their way. As they headed off, I plugged in Shifty, crossed my fingers, and flipped the breaker on - NOTHING! Shifty was officially dead. Then a thought flashed through my head - "Bill is headed this way tomorrow. What if I could contact him and have him bring me a new autopilot?" Most big sport fishing boats have ship to shore communications. So, I grabbed the VHF mic and tried to hail the sport fisher that came by to check me out. I could still see them maybe a mile off to the west. No reply. I tried again. No reply. Oh well, it was still a good thought.

As I was tiding up things to get underway, I had a thought to write down Bill's contact info in case I was able to make contact with another sport fishing boat. It would be easier for me to read from a piece of paper than fiddling with my phone while steering to get his number out.

Yesterday for lack of any other waypoint to target, I chose to head towards the West Sand Ridge waypoint that is on all of the charts of this area. It is a clear passage on and off The Bank from The Stream as there are shallower banks to both the North and the South. As a result, the West Sand Ridge waypoint is a heavily trafficked area with boats heading East and West, on and off The Bank. I could see sport fishing boats on the horizon in several directions. So, I tried a general hail on the VHF. No response. It was kind of amazing to me how difficult it was raise anyone on VHF. I guess they were too busy fishing, but I also thought that maybe my VHF wasn't working.

As I was preparing to weigh anchor, I saw another sport fishing boat approaching from the East to check me out. Since, no one seemed to be listening on VHF, I decided to stand on deck and indicate that I wanted to communicate by giving the generally  recognized hand signal for "need help" - waving hands over head then out to sides repeatedly. That worked! As the boat slowed, I pointed at the handheld VHF radio in my hand and hailed them on it. They answered:

SP3: This is Safe Passage III
P: Are you headed to Florida?
SP3: No.
P: OK. I lost my autopilot and would like to get a message to a friend that is headed this way to bring me a new one.
SP3: Do you have a name and number? We can call them for you.
P: That would be awesome! Thank you. Are you ready to copy?
SP3: Standby.

The first mate headed below to get pen and paper as the captain stood by.

SP3: OK, go ahead.

I read them Bill's name and number, the needed autopilot information (Raymarine ST1000+ tiller pilot), and told them I was headed to Walker Cay if he could meet me there.

SP3: OK, hold on while I call your friend.
P: OK, thank you.

Several minutes go by.

SP3: OK I reached your friend, and he said he will get you the part and meet you at Walker Cay.
P: Thank you Safe Passage. You made my day!
SP3: Travel safely to Walker Cay.
P: Thanks again.

Given the condition of the wind still blowing out of the East, I wasn't sure I could make it to Walker Cay today since it was almost noon at this point. However, as soon as my conversation with Safe Passage III was over, I weighed anchor and got underway heading out on a starboard tack to the North East.

Around 1600, I reached the far North West corner of The Bank, and it was time to tack over onto port. Once tacked, I thought it might be good to get some lines in the water and go fishing. Almost as soon as I had a line in the water, I had a Barracuda on the line. I had never caught a Barracuda before, and those guys put up a fight! I've heard mixed reviews on whether or not to eat Barracuda, and in the end I decided to release him. Not long after, I caught some type of white fish that I had no idea what it was. So, I released him as well. Again, not long after, I caught another Barracuda and threw him back as well. Given that I was releasing everything, I decided to call it a day on fishng and start thinking about what I was going to do tonight.

Given that I was still very tired from yesterday, I decided to get anchored on The Bank again near Lily Banks, but this time before the sun went down. So, just before sunset I slowed the boat down and got the anchor in the water again. The conditions were a little calmer than last night. So, I decided to deploy the anchor from the stern because it was a lot easier since I had the anchor, chain, and rode in the cockpit under floor storage.

As the sun faded, I retrieved my sleeping gear and discovered that my air mattress and 12V inflator pump had gotten wet during the sail today. I shook the water out of the pump, dried it out the best I could, and crossed my fingers as I flipped the switch - it worked!

I spent the next couple of hours catching up on my journal notes. It was a bit surreal to be hanging on the hook in the middle of The Bank and typing notes on my iPhone as I laid back looking up at the stars. I rolled over and looked South towards Grand Bahama Island and could see lighting in the distance. I thought it was far enough out that it wouldn't be an issue. I was asleep by 2300 to end another great day!

Total Distance = 30 nm

Elapsed Time = 8 hrs

Average Speed = 3.8 knts