Escape Velocity, Finola and Harry .. had a Happy Hour on Mangoes for their
relatives from Ireland, Fiona and Gerry … here Joe joins in the festivities …
we knew we where to get some rain, and only 25 - 30 knots of wind, so we had our water collection buckets out and ready
well that did not happen … read blog posting …
here we are back at Mangoes, with the mud and clay still clinging to the anchor
our foresail finally wrapped with the 2 spare halyards, after the blow
still too windy to fix the problem
winds still blowing 30 knots in the late morning
it rained 8 inches in 12 hours .. here Joe is emptying the 1/2 full dinghy
a day later the wind is calmer, Harry and Gerry helping sort out the furling
all is well so far .. we need to test drive it on the open waters
March 28-30, 2016
Monday morning, there was little wind so we listened to the Cruiser's Net, and by the time it was over in 3/4 hour the wind pipped up.
We decided to head south to Buckaroon Bay, which is into the wind.
Anchor up and sailed for only 2 miles in the lee of land and dropped the hook again. We waited for a few hours and started out again heading south. Once out of the lee, we could only make 2 knots, so we turned around again and headed to Marsh Harbour. Easter Monday and everything was closed.
It was very hot, humid and muggy. It was a quiet day and night out at
anchor with no wind.
Tuesday, we went to shore and bought a gallon of Diesel Motor Oil, the cheapest we could find was $33. We will change the oil before leaving the boat for the summer.
I went to BTC to renew my one month contract for wifi $33.
Then to the Scotia Bank and got extra money from the bank machine, and this money all comes in Bahamian currency. So Joe went into the bank to change $300 of it into US currency. They wouldn't do it with out our Passport and Plane Ticket. I went to RBC and the same thing happened.
I headed to the coffee shop (Bliss), to post part of the blog. Joe headed back to the bank with the needed material. After one hour the sky got black and thunder rumbled, so we hurried back to Modaki.
It rained a bit, but the sun came out and still no wind.
Now we know this was the calm before the storm.
Our friends on Escape Velocity had family from Ireland visiting so, Finola and Harry organized a pot luck at Mangoe's for 5pm. It was hugely attended, and we all had a great time.
At 7pm it started to rain and some thunder, but no dark clouds.
By 8pm Joe and I headed out to Modaki. At 9pm, in the dark, all
Hell Broke Loose, a squall hit Marsh Harbour. No one was expecting this.
It was forecasted to gust to 30 knots.
We had constant winds, thunder and lightening and horizontal rain at 50 plus knots
(70-75 mph) for two hours, this is 1/2 hurricane force winds. Then by 11pm it settled to 30 knots.
Our foresail unfurled, or let go in the middle, not top or bottom, but the middle. We tried to tighten it but with the force of the wind the furling sail kept backing off and flapping.
And at 50 knots it is not even safe to leave the cock pit.
Engine on, life jackets on, foul weather gear on, deck lights on, instruments on, vhf radio on.
I asked on the VHF if all anchored boats would put on their deck lights, just in case one of us dragged, so we could see each other. I also mentioned about our flapping foresail, which is not good, cause it could easily fill with wind and drag our anchor. So all the boats around us had their deck lights on.
At 11pm I laid down and Joe work me at 2am, to work again on the flapping sail and the furling unit which was swinging still attached in a circle. We unsuccessfully fixed the problem and both of us where
completely soaked again.
The pile of wet clothes is mounting. Also our bimini cover was parting and we had to take it down.
Joe slept and I stood watch from 2-4am. The winds settled after this time and we both got some sleep.
By 6:30 am the winds picked up again to 30 knots with rain. We managed to get ahold of Mangoe's Marina by 8:15, so we hauled anchor, with a lot of trouble. The anchor was so buried, when we powered forward to break it free, the bow dipped towards the water. It took us 3 tries to free the
anchor.
When we got to the dock, we took our 2 spare halyards and wrapped around the foresail. Harry from Escape Velocity came to help us.
And another set of clothes got soaked. The rain, wind, thunder and lightening continued until about noon.
Flights of arriving planes, ready to land at the Marsh Airport where
aborted and headed back to USA.
It was too windy to unfurl and see if any damage occurred. I started to wash all of our wet clothes and get the boat back in order.
We found out that during the storm the boats at the dock where
listing 30 degrees.
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