Good Days and Bad Days

When cruising in paradise, you will have wonderful days with clear blue skies and perfect wind that will carry you quickly to your next destination. At the same time, you will have days where ominous clouds roll in and winds will gust over the waters surface, kicking up some serious seas.

If you are in the flats of the Bahamas, where the water is shallow, these heavy winds will be just that. The water is so shallow that the waves will break when they are only a few feet tall. This means that you will have a very wet dinghy ride to shore, and snorkeling will be challenging, but your sailboat will handle it just fine. Conversely, if you are in the deep ocean waters between island chains, the seas will grow to their full potential in the water that is thousands of feet deep! If you know that heavy weather is on your horizon, it may be best to seek protection in the lee of an island and get into shallower waters.

Our Gulf Stream Crossing

Sailing across the Gulf Stream can be a stressful time for new cruisers who view the waterway as a mysterious path through unknown waters. With enough study and research, the veil can be lifted and logic brought to the situation.

We crossed the Gulf Stream when two factors were predicted to be at hand: less current, and a west wind.

Less current means that you will experience less northward push as you sail across the stream. It also means that weather will have less of an effect on the sea state.

West wind gives us a nice push that will carry us on a downwind course across the stream, allowing us to fight the current and make it towards our destination with ease.

Aside from these conditions, we also looked for conditions that would make the Gulf Stream much calmer for us. First, we wanted to have the days before we left to have a South Wind, that way the wind and current are flowing in the same direction. This will subdue the seas and make the passage much easier on the crew. The second thing we looked for is for light conditions before we set out. If the winds are from the south at 5 knots, they will produce little wave action, but if they are blowing 25 knots, it will be like climbing into a washing machine!

We had our calm current, our calm days preceding our voyage, and the predicted west wind. Everything looked like it was going to be in our favor! So we set out at 11pm, and left Lake Worth Inlet with the outgoing tide.

As soon as we made it out to sea, we found that the predictions did not match the actual conditions. The winds were from the North West, and the current was much stronger than estimated. Our bow was pointed at 150 degrees, while our heading was 90 degrees. In other words, we were sailing South-South-East but moving due East! We managed to use the Northerly wind to fight the current and keep us from drifting north, but it did generate some seas in the process. Thankfully, with our bow pointed South, the seas were following and we were able to comfortably ride up and over all the waves without any breaking over the stern.

This worked out well, and we were all comfortable, but it was a very slow journey. We were using all of our speed to fight the current, and only moving East at 1.8 knots. When you have a 60 mile journey, this quickly becomes a long trip!

When the winds were starting to lighten up, we went full sail and pointed our bow due east, allowing the current to drift us north with it. We picked up speed and made it out of the Gulf Stream before the winds got too light to sail in, which would have forced us much further north! We arrived in the wee hours of the morning near Memory Rock and anchored in a deep section to avoid colliding with a coral head in the dark. The next morning, when the winds returned, we finished our sail south to West End where we checked in with Customs.

The entire journey took almost two days to complete, but we did manage to make it there under sail with our little electric motor.

Clearing in with Customs

When you arrive in a new country, you need to clear in with the local customs office to get your cruising permit and visas for the time you are going to be there. The process is much simpler than if you were on an airplane and flying into a new city. There are no lines to wait in, or prodding questions about what you are carrying in your luggage. Just a simple form and conversation with the local customs agent set at a relaxed pace.

When you arrive in a new country, you will fly the Q flag (yellow flag) on your starboard spreader. This flag indicates that you have not cleared in yet and are in "Quarantine". You simply go to shore and head over to the customs office to fill out some forms and pay your entry visa fee.

Some important points about the process are: Only the captain can go to shore at this point, and he must take all pertinent information along with him or her. This includes the Documentation or Registration papers of the boat, and the passports of all those onboard the boat.

The captain will also need to know the address of each person on board, as well as their birth dates.

The Customs agent will ask questions about what sort of cargo are you carrying, and "Provisions" is all you need to say. If you are carrying any weapons or fire arms, this is the time to declare them. We do not carry fire arms, so I do not know how that proceeding would then go.

The customs agent will want you to state where your last port of call was, and where your next port of call will be. Basically, they want to know where you have been, and make sure that you are going to leave at some point in the future.

After you fill out all the papers, you then need to pay the entry visa for the boat and crew. Then you are free to go and explore their waters! Sometimes, a Customs agent will come inspect your vessel, but usually, they will not bother with such formalities.

When you have the option to check in at a large city or sleepy small town, choose the small town. The office will be less rushed, and the agents will be more relaxed. This means that you will have a more relaxed time of your entry process as they are more patient. 

Sailing the Gulf Stream

The Gulf Stream is a current of water that is shrouded in mystery and confusion. This is all due to a lack of study of the water instead of actual lack of information available about the water.

The Gulf Stream has been studied for decades and is very well understood at this point in time. It flows from the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea, up by Florida and the East Coast of the United States, and then over towards the UK. The Gulf Stream is composed of warmer and saltier water than the ocean water it contacts, and it has its own wave pattern to it.

Now, there are a few horror stories that will commonly come out of the Gulf Stream. First, has to do with navigation; the second has to do with weather.

When you enter the Gulf Stream, you enter a body of water with on average a 3.5 knot current. There are areas that can even exceed 4.5 knots! When you are sailing East or West, you will be pushed North at this rate. The problem with this is people won't realize they are being pushed north and then get pushed off course!

If your crossing takes 10 hours, you can expect to be pushed at least 30 miles north! If you are not expecting this, you may find yourself never reaching the landfall you planned.

The second issue has to do with weather. Since the Gulf Stream has such a powerful current, any wind out of the North will kick up the seas in a horrible and fierce manner. Any north wind will produce a stereotypical "square" waves with steep faces and float tops. These waves can make the journey less than enjoyable.

The trick to avoid these waves is to only cross when the wind is blowing out of the South, East, or West.

To cross the Gulf Stream in an uneventful fashion, all you need to do is prepare to be pushed north (so start out further south than your destination) and only cross when there is no northern component to the wind.

As you cross, you will know you have entered the Gulf Stream because the water gets warmer, a new swell can be seen in the water, and the bioluminescence at night is magical!

Proper Anchoring Technique

There seems to be a lot of buzz about anchoring with shorter scope. The only reason I can imagine this has become a popular practice is because people are lazy and the more rode you let out, the more rode you will need to pull back up. 

We met a couple while anchored by the Lake Worth Bridge in Florida who were anchored with merely 40 feet of chain in 8 feet of water. Their yacht has a freeboard of 4 feet, meaning that their effective depth was 12 feet. This would produce a scope of 3.3. 

Their anchor held fine and they enjoyed being anchored very close to the pier and walkway to town. 

Then we all moved on and anchored in Lake Worth just at the southern end of West Palm Beach, and they anchored once again with on 50 feet in 11 feet of water. When you add their freeboard into the equation, they have an effective depth of 15 feet and a scope of 3.3 again. The difference is that now they are anchored with no protection from the current and they soon began to drag anchor. 

I noticed their boat drifting through the anchorage and thought that they were moving to another place, but noticed that their chain was still led into the water and no one was at the helm. I called the owner and he rushed back to his boat to re-anchor. He decided to reanchor close to us, so I informed him how much rode we had out so that we don't swing into each other on the next tide. 

I sit here anchored securely with 120 feet of chain out. This gives us a scope of 7.5 at low tide and 6.3 at high tide. He seemed shocked at how much chain we had out, yet we remain securely anchored while he had his dragging adventure through the anchorage (narrowly hitting a boat in the process). 

I do fear that when the tide comes up 3 feet, he will once again drag, as his scope will be reduced to 2.7. Hopefully, he will get lucky and no one will have to fend off as he comes dragging into them because he has insufficient chain out.