Go Meggie Go! (Mike's sail log, with excerpts from Kylie)

Last we left you we were waiting to make the big jump from Curacao northward to Jamaica, just shy of 600 nautical miles. Well, we were certainly glad we gave the first favourable weather window a pass, as Hurricane Paloma thrashed its way out to sea, beginning to form just west of us in SW Carib. Paloma hammered Little Cayman and Cayman Brac as a strong Cat 4 hurricane just skirting Jamaica then hammering Cuba with a 25 foot storm surge. Finally she weakened over Cuba with her remnants dispersing through the Bahamas. Before we get into our run north, I should mention that we endured some exciting weather events in the ABC islands. Not only did we get a trade wind reversal at 2am while in Bonaire on a mooring ball (which isn’t protected AT ALL from any westerly winds)and only 1 boats length away from the shore where the waves curled before hitting the beach and climbed up onto the street in some spots. The best part was that I had taken the starter motor apart to clean up a bearing and then repaint the motor which seemed like a good idea at the time.
”Not“. Meggie was thrashing to the seas that raced in from a thousand foot depth to a mere 16 ft shelf in front of us. Kylie and I discussed whether to hoist reefed main and stay sail to claw our way off the now lee shore and out to open water but we had no room to lose…if we screwed up, we would lose Meggie. So at 4am, in the pitching surf I half climbed into the engine compartment and reinstalled the starter. Fortunately (well sort of) the paint was still tacky and stuck to my fingers, which made it easy to hang onto. Shortly after I finished, the wind eased off for a bit only to regain strength at first light still out of the southwest. The marina was full for the Regatta but luckily Kylie’s smooth talk`n got us a spot squeezed between two other boats. Perfect. We realized after we had docked that the force from the thrashing, broke Meggie’s snatch block (that wasn’t in use…just broke from the force of the mooring lines) we use on the end of the bowsprit for our anchor rode. Another boat that managed to find a spot in the marina, had a souvenir attached to their bow…both mooring balls and both lines sat on the deck of their bow. The force of their thrashing actually ripped the mooring lines, balls and everything! It was quite the event! Numerous other damages were reported, but nothing compared to the damages that Hurricane Omar inflicted only a week later.
By the time Omar came through, we had sailed to Spanish waters, Curacao where we weathered the winds from Hurricane Omar that passed 60 miles north of us. The anchorage is packed with boats from all over the place, and with designated areas to anchor, the anchorages resembled somewhat of a sardine can. We saw the wind reach 40-45 knots and not knowing what to expect from Omar as he still hadn’t veered north, we upped anchor (which was tricky: with no windless and 35 knots sustained winds, with a 64’boat about 20’ off our bow). Along with our good friends on Tyee and 2 other boats, we moved to a better anchorage (non designated anchorage…any port in a storm!!). We dropped our storm ground tackle, and were very relieved to be anchored on our own, away from the herd of all the other boats. So once happy with the holding we were able to get some sleep (I did at least…Mike here) as the wind screamed through the rigging for 2 days from the west. Yearly hurricane patterns would suggest that there is almost no chance of the ABC islands being hit. Aruba has gone 100 years without a hurricane, but guess what….times are changing.
On a lighter note, we spent one last day wake boarding and then sailing with the Tyee gang before they hauled her to fly home to Revelstoke B.C. The next day I had a great windward run with Harke who is from Holland on his custom 44 aluminium boat, Serendipity. We spent many evenings sharing many dinners and many drinks with new and old friends (funny eh, we have old friends out here now). We were so happy to see our “young cruiser” friends Kim and Scott on Anthyllide again. It was great catching up with them and fun to compare stories. We also met our old friends from our days back in Ol'St. David's, Grenada...Pete and Rosie on Green Coral. Pegasus (Maria and Mike from Amsterdam) whom we had met briefly in the Eastern Caribbean had a new crew with them this time we met….their daughter, Madelief was born just 7 weeks before we arrived in Curacao.
We were fortunate enough to cross paths with many new and interesting cruisers from all over. Our favourites: Cooee 2, Spanish Stroll, Mermaid of Carriacou and Tinto. Unfortunately we all point the bow off in different directions, but we hope we all cross wakes once again some day. So until then, we wish you fair winds and following seas.
Mon Nov 10th 11:20, we got under way.
Meggie’s Log. This is a log (summary) of our passage north. We thought you might find it interesting to see what it’s like underway.

Monday, Nov. 10th, 2008:
Noon: coarse to steer 310M, favourable current, S/E wind 14Knots, barometer 1010mb, conditions light, clear sky, sail set, all white canvas. 2hr of spinnaker.
Remarks: (from Mike)
Perfect conditions, quartering seas and wind, great to be underway, and on a new adventure.

Midnight: coarse to steer 330M, windward bow current, E wind 15-16Knots, steady bar, moderate conditions, clear sky, sail set, full canvas, reef main.
(Noon to Noon run 121nautical miles)
Remarks:
Fast through the night, 2 ships seen, we feel good, beam seas and wind, flying fish landing on deck, Dolphins swimming with Meggie at midnight until 2:00.

Tues. Nov. 11, 2008:
Noon: coarse to steer 340M, beam on current, N/E 16Knots, steady bar, getting rougher, patchy cloudy sky, sail set, full, reef main,
Remarks.
Caught 1 mahi mahi, Kylie seasick, she couldn’t eat the mahi dinner I made (her favourite), fast sailing, rolly and rough confused seas.

Midnight: coarse to steer 340M, beam on current, N/E 16+Knots, steady bar, 6ft seas, patchy clouds, sail set reef mizzen, reef main, stay sail
(Noon to Noon run 138 nautical miles)
Remarks.
Holding more north that west as N/E trades are forecast when we close on Jamaica, no ships seen , quiet night, more late night dolphins. And flying fish rescues, Great sailing, Kylie only sick for 6 hrs (this is Kylie...I didn't barf! Made and ate beans for dinner)

Wed. Nov. 12, 2008:
Noon: coarse to steer 315M, quartering current, N/E 16Knots, 1015mb, moderate conditions, sun/cloud, sail set main, mizzen, yankee,
Remarks:
Another small mahi, half way point, 2 ships seen, averaging 5.75-6 Knots boat speed, come BIG fish…the ice is lasting well.

Midnight: coarse to steer 315M, current strong, N/E 15Knots, steady bar, moderate conditions, clear sky, reef main, reef mizzen, stay sail.
(Noon to Noon run 140 nautical miles)
Remarks:
Nice clear night, fast sailing, spotted 1 ship, no dolphins and less flying fish?


Thurs. Nov. 13, 2008:
Noon: coarse to steer 315M, strong current, E/NE, 17Knots, larger seas, clear sky, sail set, reef mizzen, reef main, stay sail on the pole.
Remarks:
lighter wind forecast has us running fast down wind at 6-7+ Knots wing on wing with 105 square foot stay sail, reduce main and mizzen…go figure, I don’t know why but seas are inconsistent, average 6ft but some up to 8+. Oh well great fun Meggie’s running free, and steering is in the hands of Timmy the pilot who is in the groove.

Midnight: coarse to steer 315M, current not as strong, N/E, 13-14Knots, calming down, steady bar., moderate/light conditions, patchy cloud, sail set, full main, full mizzen, yankee on the pole.
(Noon to Noon run 126 nautical miles)
Remarks:
Closing on Jamaica, light wind tonight, still sailing well, encountered a strange ship with “ET” type lights on it…no radio contact, squall off the Haiti coast forced us to get the pole down quickly and reef at 4:00 in the morning

Fri. Nov. 14, 2008:
Noon: coarse to steer 305Mag, slow current astern, N/E 10 Knots, steady bar, light conditions, clear sky, sail set, spinnaker, mizzen stay sail spinnaker set in mains place, full mizzen.
Remarks:
Jamaica in sight, very light wind, calm seas, dolphins every were you look, 40miles left, landed nice mahi…smiled at us (looked like he said "hey suckers...I'm going to jump back in the water in 2 seconds"), then jumped out of the cockpit and back in the water.

Arrival: Fri. Nov.14, 2008 Location: Port Antonio, Jamaica. 21:15. Motored the last 40 miles took 9 Hrs. Oh well. Entered at night (broke golden rule…but it’s a good entrance, good lighting, full moon, light conditions, no reefs)

In the morning we were greeted with smiling faces saying “Welcome to Jamaica, mahn…Welcome to paradise!!!!”And indeed it is a paradise. We’re on the NE corner of Jamaica where tourism is less prevalent than the rest of the island, and where cruising boats are almost nil (we’re the only one, except for 2 others who have been here for 6 months). We are very happy with our run across the Caribbean Sea and are happy with our little boat’s performance…man, what a great boat! We will hang out in Port Antonio until we get a decent window to head to MoBay (Montego Bay) before sailing the 500nm passage to Guanaja, Honduras. We hope to be underway sometime next week, but unfortunately the weather is looking a bit unsettled. Merging cold fronts coming from the north will keep us tucked away in Port Antonio for another week at least (but we’ll take the cold fronts over the hurricanes any day!)
We will leave it there for now, and will write more on Jamaica soon. We hope everyone is staying warm up north…believe it or not, but it’s a little cooler here in Jamaica too (only about 84F/30C)!
Until next time…We check ya later, mahn.
Mike and Kylie