After breakfast, I checked my position. I was 980 feet from the waypoint I had set before departing Virginia. Luck… I know… but still amazing! Maybe luck will be on my side now.
That waypoint was out of the Gulf Stream According to satellite imagery. I should be on the western edge of an east-going current. With a little more luck, I will reach the south-going current by the end of the day!
I checked the lashings on the bimini and solar panel frames. They were good and solid. I would leave them as they are for now.
It was calm enough. The waves settled as fast as they built up. Distant Horizon was sailing well in 1-meter waves. I was out of the Gulf Stream. The air was noticeably warmer. The air was humid with an overcast but not threatening sky.
Since my Pactor modem was not synching with my laptop, I could not access my sailmail. That is an email service that I access using the modem and my HF radio. For the past few days, my friend Dan Haft had been forwarding weather information to me; from my sailmail account and his own weather evaluations.
I decided to hook up my StarLink. It was stowed safely below. This would be a good time to get current weather information directly onboard to help with the next few days. I had no idea whether the StarLink would work this far offshore. After turning it on it took about 5 minutes to sync up. I had great broadband halfway between the US and Bermuda! It took no time to download new weather files.
A quick look at the weather did not brighten my day. Continuing my course to Antigua, I was heading into a developing subtropical system. It was currently southeast of Bermuda!
After some deliberation, I decided to divert to Bermuda. I was still three days of good sailing away from there. Once I arrive, I can make repairs while I wait for the storm system to pass, and also get some needed rest.
The rope-n-bungee wheel lock was holding well. I still needed to fix the Hydrovane. So, that was my next task. I took a look at it. It had come apart, but nothing I could do would get it to go together.
A bit of brain fog persisted. Studying the drive mechanism, I felt like I was looking at it cross-eyed.
Another nap was required. No ships, no boats anywhere in my vicinity. My AIS would clearly show them within a 30-mile radius. That’s a little more than an hour away. However, I also have “Kathy with a ‘K’”. This is a woman who worked at Cobb’s Marina. She was using the Marine Traffic website and the GPS position from my Garmin inReach messages to track me. She would alert me to shipping traffic long before I could see them, or even before my AIS could see them.
I slept soundly until about 3:30 pm. When I woke, I felt groggy and dull, but my stomach was definitely settled. I had my first good meal in two days. A simple pasta salad for energy. I also had a couple of tuna sandwiches. That may not sound like a meal to most of you, but after several days of dry cereal and ginger tea… it was a feast… and everything was easy on the stomach!
Then I took another look at the Hydrovane. I fiddled with it for a while; making no progress. Looking down and off the back of the boat was not a good feeling! I decided to hold off and continue hand-steering. I could not afford to drop the bolt into the water.
It was about 5:30 pm. The winds veered north-northwest. They were light; 10-15 kts. I decided to drop the mainsail completely. Then unfurl the entire jib and sail downwind. This would move Distant Horizon directly towards the place where I hoped to meet a fast south-moving current.
We moved slowly as I slept. I would not meet up with the faster current today; hopefully tomorrow morning. So much for luck being on my side.
After a short nap, I checked our position. In these winds, Distant Horizon could do better… Putting the mainsail up would increase my workload and not help enough. Instead, I changed the storm jib to the heavy weather staysail. The jib is the farthest forward of all sails. Then between that and the mast is the staysail where I had the storm jib. The heavy weather staysail is about 60% larger.
I set the boat to sail wing-on-wing with two sails ahead of the mast. One sail on the starboard side, the other on the port side.
Now we were moving at a reasonable pace. It takes more concentration to keep both sails full. I think I needed that to help clear my head.
The waves are still just 1 meter or so and generally moving east-southeast; the same direction as I was. It had been overcast all day, but warm… warm enough so you could smell the humidity in the air.
Sailing to Bermuda on an overcast day with 1-meter waves
Now, the sun is setting… no pretty sunset… too many clouds. The air was still warm, but with the breeze and humidity, there was an underlying sense of a chill. The weather forecast was for more of the same most of the night. Then, in the morning the winds would build… maybe reaching 15 kts… maybe Distant Horizon would sail with all her sails. That would be a rare occurrence on this voyage. So, I won’t get my hopes too high. Anyway, I have to get the Hydrovane working again for all that to come together.
I decided, for now, to keep the current sail configuration. When I got too tired, I furled the jib, and hove-to with the heavy weather staysail. I’d have to lock the wheel with the rope-n-bungee. We were sailing slowly downwind, allowing the current to help as I rested.
I fell into a deep sleep. Nothing unusual woke me up. I awoke fully rested. It was 2 am! I quickly checked my surroundings. Nothing on the horizon, and no AIS targets on the chartplotter. It was dark, very dark… no stars. The waves seemed small, but I couldn’t see them. I could barely hear them against the hull.
The funny thing about the wind… when sailing downwind in a light breeze, there is no perception of the wind at all because you are moving at the same speed as the wind. That was how it felt tonight. We were sailing at 2.5 kts, but the air seemed still. With the humidity, it almost seemed stagnant.
I quickly unfurled the jib and got Distant Horizon sailing over 4kts. Still wing-on-wing; sailing downwind. The waves are 4-5’. Relatively speaking that is small, but when the boat is sailing slowly, they cause the boat to roll from side to side. Hand steering helped a lot. I am able to go directly with the waves and surf them… No, Distant Horizon won’t surf on a 4 or 5’ wave… However, the rolling stops when I can go directly with the wave… and they are big enough to feel them pick up the back of the boat as they pass by.
The sun did rise but did little to lift the spirits other than lightening the sky and my general surroundings. I’m still waiting for a nice picturesque sunrise…
Around 6:30 am, I left the wheel to grab the Honey Bunches of Oats cereal. I wasn’t seasick anymore. I just liked eating it as dry cereal. It saved me from going below and cooking oatmeal or eggs for breakfast.
A half-hour later, I was working on the Hydrovane. It was a relatively simple mechanism. I removed a nut, but the bold didn’t come out. The bolt backed out as I kept turning it. It was threaded into the housing… It was a clamp! The nut was just a locking mechanism. So I backed the bolt way out and then opened the frame (clamp) and the vane mechanism dropped right into place!
This was only the second time I had been seasick. I am amazed at how crippling it can be!
Now, What kind of clearance does it need? I played with it for a while and when I was happy I tightened the whole thing down. I made a note to call the manufacturer about a torque spec for this. If not, then how tight should it be?
Right now that didn’t matter. It seemed to be working and steering the boat again!
It was 9:30 am. The rope-n-bungee setup holding the wheel was modified so I could release it quickly and hand steer if necessary. I wasn’t sure if I needed to do this, because the wheel lock was working again. When I got pooped, water must have traveled along the steering shaft to where the brakes are… like driving through a deep puddle with your car, the brakes won’t work when wet.
Still, I had trust issues and rigged the great rope-n-bungee setup anyway.
Distant Horizon was sailing as well as she could. There was 2.6 kts of wind… Distant Horizon was sailing at 3.1 kts! I had to laugh when I logged that! Distant Horizon was sailing faster than the wind! Heavy displacement boats like Distant Horizon just can’t do that.. unless you have help from a current. I was doing my best to keep the wind in my sails, but that wasn’t going well.
I found the southeast current and it is probably responsible for the lion’s share of the boat’s speed.
The morning dragged on… Thanks to help from the current, Distant Horizon was able to stay above 3 kts. I was hoping for more, but the wind was below 8 kts the whole time; usually around 3-4 kts.
The Hydrovane was doing the steering. So, I was able to relax and enjoy the calm weather… okay, that’s a lie… I wanted more wind!