Lessons From An Old Salt

Great Lameshur Bay, St. John, USVI.
MALAYA and her crew of 3 arrived in USVI 10 rough days and 19 hours out of Beaufort NC. Like the coastal portion of this journey from Salem to Beaufort, the passage to the Caribbean was marked by constantly changing weather systems, either with too much wind or not enough wind with a few hours of pleasant sailing as a tease in between the two.

We crossed the Gulf Stream Saturday overnight our first night out of Beaufort with no problems, then our first and worst cold front arrived forcing us to heave too for 9 hours in confused seas, making what is normally a calm tactic into a wild ride, few items below stayed where they belong!

Once the front and 30k+ winds were gone it became a game of which tack to set the sails for because once all was set to run downwind on one tack the wind would veer or back to make the set wrong again. This went on for way too long so we threw in the towel and motored for a half day till the winds were more cooperative.

Our goal was to reach 25 north 60 west before the trades filled in, didn’t happen, a large storm system to our north required we go a little further south of our rhumb line to avoid heavy air, which was ok at the time, we were still on track to make our waypoint.

Then a couple hundred miles from our waypoint the trades suddenly arrived. Literally, one minute we were sailing along on a broad reach, starboard tack with a 12k northwesterly wind, the next minute like you stepped thru a door the wind was 20k northeast pushing a 5’ northeasterly sea that clashed violently with the northwesterly sea we had been running in.

In the trades on a beam reach with a confused sea, let the rolling begin! It took close to 36 hours for the sea state to sort itself out, eventually the motion became somewhat acceptable, at least one we could cope with. With 400nm to St Martin and 6-7k boat speed we figured to be in overnite Tuesday into Wednesday morning, so roll on.

Then 260nm out the wind veered east to southeast heading us. With the sea state the thought of beating 260 miles was unacceptable so we fell off for The Virgin Islands, they being a beam reach and only 230nm away. The persistent large north swell we had for the past week continued for the next 30 hours so along with the trade wind seas we every once in a while took a vicious roll. Eventually, the seas laid down and the ride improved.

Throughout the whole passage the 6 twice daily grib charts were only somewhere around 50% right. Many a day they said we should have wind that was completely opposite in direction from what we had. But, when wrong they were all wrong!

Everyone loved the Staysail that Keely had built, as well as the cockpit enclosure curtains she also built. In strong reaching winds the staysails lower center of effort helped keep the rolling down. The cockpit enclosure kept us dry and out of the cold north winds. Thank you Good Harbor Canvas!!!

We all also agreed it was the roughest southward passage from the US to the Caribbean any of us had ever made. Here’s to a calmer winter!

Malaya depart Salem Ma for Beaufort NC - 9 November
Arrived Beaufort NC 25 November (couple days longer than usual as we had to spend a couple days anchored in route as our dock reservation in Beaufort wasn’t until the 25th.)
Total milage from Salem 760nm

Beaufort to St. John’s USVI depart 30 November
Arrive St John 11 December
Beaufort to St John 1171nm

Trip total 2091nm

It has taken a while but Malaya’s awning is finished!

Installed connectors between fore and aft awnings and all the side curtains this week.

Now much cooler on deck in the mid-day sun!

After 2 1/2 days in Shelburne in the rain and fog it was time to move on. The weather forecast for the next week was for more rain and fog so our departure criteria became 30 hours of fair wind to Halifax. Clearing Eastern Way, the entrance to Shelburne, we set a full main and Genoa for a close reach in a force 3-4 southerly giving us a pleasant and uneventful overnight sail until the weather gods shut off the wind forcing us to motor the last 30 miles into Halifax....

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