The Passage back

We left Powell Cay on Friday morning at 11 a.m. with Dharma, Cookie Monster, and Makana, headed for Great Sale for a quick rest and dinner before the overnight. The sail to Great Sale was uneventful, long, but nothing compared to what was coming. We arrived in GS about 6:30, and made a couple of pizzas that we could snack on thru the night. We pulled out again with our friends at 7:30, and sailed into the sunset. The first leg of the trip was over the Little Bahama Bank, which is still a pretty protected area, the plan being to save the more challenging part of the trip, the Gulf Stream, for the daytime. The wind was out of the east, about 15-20, and seas relatively flat, about 2-3. I took the first watch with Liza, 9-12, and had a wonderful sail under auto-pilot. The sky was clear and we studied the stars, and talked to the other boats on the radio. Although John was supposed to be sleeping, he couldn't fall asleep, so at 11:30, came up to relieve me. I slept from 12 -1:30, and was wakened by the roll of the boat, as we left the protection of the Bank. I took the wheel for about an hour while John rested, and then handed the wheel off again. Although I gave John a couple of short breaks, he drove for the majority of the early morning hour and the next day. The waves were up to 4-6, with an occasional 8. The wind stayed east for the entire night, which was not forecast. Its very challenging driving directly downwind and keeping the sails full, and I found it very difficult to keep the boat relatively straight and not continually over-correcting. We have a great auto-pilot, but have found it is not calibrated correctly and could not hold our course in the waves. John hand-steered the boat almost continuously during the early morning and day, and did an incredible job keeping the boat fairly flat and comfortable. I felt very luckily to have such a capable captain. Even after fifteen hours of driving, with only short naps, he was heard on the radio saying "The only thing I am missing in life is a trust fund!". Amazing that he was is content after such a long night and day, and wasn't wishing for a huge boat and crew! (maybe that would come with the trust fund though)
Anyhow, it was a nice sentiment for me on Mother's Day. We entered the ICW at Fort Pierce Inlet at 2 p.m. on the 13th, and picked up a mooring in Vero Beach.


Kids "on watch"

Following Dharma into the sunset

                                                          Eliza's video of the waves