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October 26h, 2009 – At Sea, 26 02N, 079 31W
by Herb McCormick
Several years ago, I set out from South Florida bound for Jamaica aboard a powerful racing boat called Serengeti on the annual Miami-Montego Bay Race. The wind was blowing hard out of the north and we tore through the Gulf Stream heading for the Bahamas like a scalded cat, bumping and bouncing all the way. It was a very sporty ride. Forty miles north of Nassau, in the dead of night, our rudder disappeared, and we spent the better part of the next day coaxing our wounded boat into the safe harbor. It was an, ahem, educational experience, and one I’m not hoping to repeat.
Today, the crew of Ocean Watch is negotiating those very same waters, and I’m extremely happy to report, things couldn’t be more different.
On Monday afternoon, after another Supermarket Sweep through the aisles of a Costco (our first since leaving Seattle), the 64-foot cutter Ocean Watch departed Miami after a most memorable visit, and set sail for San Juan, Puerto Rico. Now nearly five months removed from Seattle, and with just over 10,000 nautical miles behind us, we’ve left the East Coast following an eventful run from Massachusetts to Florida. As the skyscrapers and condos along the Miami beachfront faded into the distance, the second act of our voyage Around the Americas officially began.
Unlike that fateful day aboard Serengeti, the weather couldn’t have been more ideal. With light east-southeasterly winds, gentle seas, and both the air and sea temperatures in the mid-80s, Ocean Watch set sail in near-perfect conditions. As the sun set behind us, with a boost from a mellow Gulf Stream, OW was holding a course north of Bimini and making good progress towards the Northeast Providence Channel and beyond. There was only one thing wrong with the picture: Once again, keeping to our rather hectic schedule, we were roaring past yet another world-class cruising ground. But in shorts and t-shirts, and under a saucer of stars, we had no reason to complain.
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| David Rockefeller (far left) and Mark Schrader (far right) present Dale Chihuly seaforms to Lacey Hoover, Chairman of the Herbert W. Hoover Foundation and Dr. Roni Avissar, Dean of the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. |
The 900-odd mile voyage to Puerto Rico is often conducted upwind in fresh easterly trade winds. Sailors often say the best way to get to the Caribbean from the U.S. East Coast is to sail due east “until the butter melts” at around 065W latitude and then turn hard to starboard, thus ensuring the best slant on the wind. In Miami, we ran into old friend John Kretschmer, a professional sailor and author who’s made the trip countless times, and he advised us to sail the rhumb line – the straight, shortest-distance-between-two-points shot – after exiting the Bahamas and gaining the open Atlantic. We’ll see. Of course, the other option would’ve been to head directly south, towards Cuba, but in the latest edition of his personal log, skipper Mark Schrader explained why that course was less attractive (and other related matters) this time around. Here’s Mark:
“Ocean Watch and crew departed Miami at 1330 hours. We were escorted for several miles by the Shake-A-Leg RIB with Harry Horgan at the helm along with several others from his organization. They met us with a boatload of greeters and friends, including John Osberg from Seattle, when we arrived a week ago and very kindly wished us safe sailing today as they waved us off outside the Miami jetty.
“For those of you following our track on the website you may be slightly puzzled as to our northeasterly course out of Miami. We’re now headed almost directly for the middle of Grand Bahama Island rather than south toward Andros Island and Cuba. The Old Bahama Channel that runs very close (less than 6 miles) to Cuba looks to be a more direct course – and probably is. However, Ocean Watch is equipped with some fairly sophisticated camera, water and atmosphere sampling equipment that may or may not cause curious Cuban authorities some concern. ‘Concern’ could mean potential delays for us – so I’ve reluctantly decided not take the chance and am staying away from the Cuban coastline we would all like to see.
“The Gulf Stream will help push us north for an eventual course over the top of Eleuthera Island as we then point toward San Juan and sail just north of Turks and Caicos Islands and the Dominican Republic. This course is the favored one for vessels with drafts of ten feet or more and will probably give us the best slant on the prevailing easterly winds. Unless a strong weather system makes its way offshore we’ll be motorsailing into a light to moderate easterly most of the way to Puerto Rico.
“Ocean Watch is looking better than she has for some time due to lots of work in Miami. Dave Logan hired some help to deal with some rust and paint issues while the rest of us cleaned, organized and either discarded or shipped home everything from Arctic charts to our heavy cold-weather gear. The mainsail was removed for inspection and we added a few yards of chafe tape over some of the sewn seams to protect the stitching from shroud abrasion. With help from others on the ground, scientist Michael Reynolds and I managed to remove and reinstall the masthead met package (installed by crane at the Seaview Boatyard before leaving Seattle) without the use of a crane – with no damage to ourselves or the instruments. The package was in remarkably good condition given the violent weather and movement it has experienced at the top of the mast – including being sat upon by a very large Eagle in Dutch Harbor!
“It’s now change-of-watch time so I’ll end this and pick up more of the Miami story tomorrow. We’re once again six on board. Tom Hoymer is sailing with us to Puerto Rico; Herb, David Thoreson, Dave Logan and Michael Reynolds round out the crew. We’re all okay, and very happy to be on the water again.”
So, in the immortal words of Willie Nelson, we’re on the road again. If all goes according to plan, we’ll arrive in San Juan on the first of November. For now, it’s time to get our sea legs back beneath us. Hopefully, the rudder will follow suit.
- Herb McCormick and Mark Schrader with photographs by David Thoreson
This crew log submitted by Iridium OpenPort and Stratos
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