We’re going to Bermuda

       We spent 2 days in Village Cay Marina in Tortola so that we could prepare the boat for the start of our journey home. Having said this we have another 3,000 miles before tying alongside at Troon Yacht Haven.

Whilst in the marina we paid yet more visits to the grocery supermarket and topped up with drinking water. I was able to get various jobs done via email as well as catch up with the family back home. We filed our pre arrival details with the Bermudan authorities which should make things easier when we arrive there. We did a bit of local sightseeing on foot and took the opportunity to buy some souvenirs’.

We met up with Stevie and Nic off ‘Crazy Diamond’ who had sailed up from St Martin and who are also going on to Bermuda and the Azores, before heading over to Spain. They plan to leave the day after us and possibly even after the weekend. They are succumbing to the delights of the BVI’s.

We left Tortola around 11am on Thursday morning 16^th May, with a forecast of easterly wind at varying strengths which would supposedly develop into a south easterly as we get nearer to Bermuda. We thought we would have a couple of light wind days meaning a longish trip to complete the 830 odd miles almost due north. Our course, taking into account leeway and magnetic variation started off as 025m and we left close hauled on starboard tack with one reef in the main and no. 1 jib size genoa.

We wrote our log every 3 hours or if anything significant happened, with the off going person completing it overnight. During the day either of us would do it. We try to make it interesting so that it is a good momento of our trip.

4 hours after leaving Cane Garden Bay we had the pleasure of being accompanied by 2 Atlantic Spotted Dolphins; one adult and one young. They danced at the front of the bow for several minutes before continuing on their journey. Sorry, no pictures, we decided to enjoy the experience instead of photographing it.

  Our first 2 days were good sailing mostly with full main and genoa up. I was a little queasy for the first 24 hours but I soon settled. On Saturday, at 8am with the wind easing we decided to roll away the genoa and fly the cruising chute instead. It was hoisted without incident. However, as the chute filled, the webbing attaching it to the halyard snapped and it started to collapse. Fortunately the snap shackle attaching the clew to the sheet parted, and we were able to drag the sail on to the foredeck, with only the ends trailing into the water. It was a hot 29.3⁰C. By 10:30 Steve had replaced the webbing and we were ready to try again. Success. However, by 13:00 the wind had died away to an E1; the chute came down and the engine started. At 16:30 Steve announced we had now officially left the tropics! Does that mean it goes cold?? Overnight we sailed into a NNE4/5 and had a reef in the main. We were hard on the wind, going like a train, but not actually making Bermuda!

This up and down of the wind continued throughout the trip. On Sunday we had the fishing line out all day. We fancied fresh fish for tea. We had blackcurrant crumble and custard for lunch: I had been wanting this since we left. Oh, it was yummy. The fishing was successful, in a way. We caught 3 fish. The first one got a reprieve because it was too small for a decent meal.

The second one was a beautiful Dorado, that I had cooked and eaten whilst it was still on the line. Unfortunately for us the fish had other ideas and before we could get the gaff into play, it had twisted away and was gone, snapping the lure as it went. The frustration was palpable. The third fish that remained unseen, bit off the lure and wire strop. Glad we didn’t bring that one in. So, it was pasta for tea!

 We had a beautiful evening sail, watching the fabulous sunset as we ghosted along doing 3.5 knots. By 21:00 the wind had veered and increased to an E3/4. We were back on course for Bermuda. It might have been a beautiful night but it was starting to get a bit chilly. It was time to dig out the fleece, long trousers and socks!

I used to think about the Bermuda triangle a lot when I was younger. I hadn’t thought about it for years until this trip. I havn’t looked into the latitude and longitude of it. I just knew it was to the somewhere west of Bermuda. We had a couple of strange experiences whist we were out. The first was that during our first 2 days out, no matter what course we steered or what wind direction we sailed we were taken East and our x track error increased continually to the right. The sea was lumpy and confused. Monday was our wedding anniversary and I had promised I would bake a cake to celebrate. However I could barely stand up in the galley so I reneged on my promise and we had a glass of shandy and a chocolate mousse instead. Temperatures today were 5⁰C less than the same times yesterday.

At 19:00, as Steve was going off watch for a doze, I went into the saloon to sit and have a chat for a minute or so. All was safe on deck. We were heeled over starboard tack. I was in bare feet and got them wet. Oh no, not again I thought. We pulled back the carpet and sure enough. Wet water pooled under the carpet. The taste test confirmed salt water. On with the bilge pump. Out with the bucket and sponge. Detective work showed dry bilges forward and aft. Seacocks secure. Stopping to think and remembering the sheer volume of water that had surged over the decks over the last few days usually running down the port side, we hoped it was the broken stanchion base that was letting the water in. For now all we could do was mop up and keep an eye on the bilges. Fortunately the sea was much quieter now and the decks were staying relatively dry.

Also, by Monday evening our sailing had completely changed. No matter what we did, steered or sailed, our x track error was now 22 miles West. We checked our compass, leeway and for currents. Nothing could explain the boats direction and it became quite frustrating, not to mention we were going west. Bermuda triangle came to mind. Steve says I have too much imagination. I know what I think! Our ENE5 wind became a 6 by 19:00 and we dropped the second reef in the main before it went dark. We had 6 hours of strong wind, with Chewsy pounding through the waves, occasionally mimicking a submarine, at other times dropping like a stone and slamming the hull into the water beneath. Needless to say, I didn’t sleep much off watch.

By 01:00 on Tuesday morning 21st May the wind had eased down and Steve went up on deck and shook out the 2^nd reef and we continued the rest of the night with 1 reef in the main and the genoa furled to a No. 1 size jib. When Steve came on watch at 7am we put up full sail. The wind remained a steady ENE3 and we finally got some speed up doing 5-6 knots.

Breakfast is always a challenge on passage. Trying to ring the changes with limited stores is interesting. Tuesday morning I made a bacon and onion omelette which went down a treat with both of us and was certainly better than the cardboard Frosties™ that Steve offered me. Not only that but the calorific value of the cooked breakfast made sense after our active nights sailing. By 17:00, after a day of good sailing on either a fine reach or a beam reach, we were less than 200 miles from our Bermuda waypoint and had been hearing occasional transmissions from Bermuda harbour radio for the last couple of hours.

At 04:00 Wednesday I climbed out of my warm cozy bed and got ready to go on watch. It wasn’t fair to turn over. Steve was ready for a sleep. Bermuda Harbour Radio chattered away quietly in the background, but I tuned it out. We were still 138 miles away to the south west. On went the hat and socks. They make such a difference. Up on deck we had full sail; Steve had trimmed them so well I had nothing to do for the whole watch apart from watch the sunrise.

On Wednesday lunchtime we were startled to hear a radio transmission from Crazy Diamond trying to hail another boat. With their supposed sailing time frame we had not thought to be in radio contact at all. I called them on the radio and was dismayed to hear about their catalogue of problems, They had lost their engine, the topping lift had snapped, and the fridge had packed in. They were making reasonable time at present doing 3-4 knots, about 17 miles to our SW. They had power issues; fine during the day with the solar panels, poor after sunset. We agreed to chat again at 21:00 with the offer to stand by as support.

We had a quiet afternoon, sailing gently under the cruising chute, with a flat sea, and doing 4-5 knots in an ESE 2-3. We ruminated about Crazy Diamond off and on and Steve had several ideas.

At 18:00, we were in touch again; They were 15 miles SW of our position with light winds. At 22:00 we had trouble hearing them on the radio. We finally got their position. We had been making a gentle intercept course, but Steve decided to actively search for them. Once their radio failed completely we would never find them. We turned west. Steve put the power sucking radar on for a quick look, and found traffic which could be them. After only 5 minutes or so of motoring west we saw a solitary white light on the horizon in front of us. We had previously established that this was the only light Crazy Diamond was showing. We were able to contact Bermuda Harbour Radio to appraise them of the situation and would keep in loose contact with them.

By 01:00 we were standing by off Crazy Diamond with a SSE2 blowing and a rolly sea. We communicated via hand held radio. Steve offered a full tow into St. Georges but at this time Stevie wanted to try to sail in with his genoa poled out; first he needed to rig a temporary topping lift to get the mainsail down. Having us standing by gave him extra confidence to get on and do these things. The plan was that they would sail in front and we would bring up the rear sailing with just our main with the preventer rigged. We had rigged a bridle twice in case a tow was needed to pull them into the wind, we also put our main sail up and down twice as plans changed or evolved. Finally we started moving in the general direction of Bermuda – just. Our main sail slapped and banged and was generally very uncomfortable. Steve went downstairs for a rest, but I know he didn’t sleep. At 03:10 Stevie called me on the hand held and accepted the tow we had offered several hours earlier. Thank goodness. Steve was out of his bunk before I put the radio down.

 The moon shining down on us gave us the light we needed, the tow set up went smoothly, with crew Graham, on Crazy Diamond helping Steve on deck and Nic at the helm. With the lines secure and the prospect of an 8 hour tow in front of us I went to bed for a couple of hours.

At 05:30 Steve called Bermuda harbour radio to give them an update and an ETA of early afternoon. The sun came up and the wind freshened. The forecast was for good wind and we could have dropped the tow and both sailed by 10am. However, with an increasing wind it would have been more difficult to re-establish the tow by Bermuda Harbour. So we put the genoa up which gave us an extra knot of speed.

Bermuda Radio informed us we were on our own getting the boats onto the custom dock. Gee, thanks a lot. We were not allowed to anchor and go in by dinghy. Ok, so once we entered the harbour, we changed the long tow for an alongside one and was immediately aware of the queuing system for customs. There were several boats waiting to clear in. We could be stooging about for hours. Not acceptable. Nic got on the radio and had a moan about safety etc and hey presto, we were next in. After a textbook berthing manoeuvre by Steve we were in. Whew, we had arrived.

Steve with Nic and Stevie and crew Mandy and Graham