Part III of the Bahamian Adventure

Weather Is Not Cooperating

It is Tuesday afternoon June 3, and I am writing this little ditty from my bed in the port side hull (aft) of S/V Wahoo. We joined our friends midday on Sunday with ominous weather predictions in the air, and they have been confirmed. We were originally planning to leave Monday midday, but postponed based on terrible squalls and thunderstorms (in progress and predicted). We figured we'd wake up today and re-evaluate, and the sun rose during a massive thunderstorm that made the decision for us. We have another crew member joining us, and because of the travel logistics, it appears we'll meet him here Thursday (two days) and then make a pretty straight transit up to the Chesapeake, rather than the little meander we were planning this week to get our sea legs before meeting up with our addition.

I haven't a clue what is in store for me. I have ridden in sailboats quite a bit since hiring on with Catherine, but pretty much always within the sight of land and never overnight. Three others aboard have considerable experience with these conditions, and Catherine is a competent hand. Me? I don't have a clue. I suspect that with a bit of motion sickness preventive, I'll be OK, but there is no guarantee that I won't be puking ballast for the whole trip north.

What I do know is that the excellent diet and exercise rhythm I established from September to April has been utterly destroyed by two months of a lot of travel and very little routine. I will spend the rest of the summer righting the ship, but I had a feeling this would happen back when I looked at the two months from mid April to mid June, and I was right.

We are a compatible foursome and have had a rolicking good time together, and in the interstitial moments, I have been consuming the boat's technical manuals. This thing is an engineering marvel, with a power generation and distribution system that would make anyone who has stood watch in a Navy ship nod in admiration. We've been on shore power while here, comfortable in our airconditioned Star-linked (thanks Elon!) environment. When shore power is lost, as it has been many times in the past few days, the boat's estimable bank of batteries kick in without so much as a dimming of lights, and when shore power returns, the batteries go back to receiving power. There is no separate generator on this boat, as it has a massive amount of solar installed, and if bateries ran low in cloudy weather or at night, you can run a diesel proplusion engine to create power.

Underway…Soon

Or at least, we are getting underway today, today being June 5th. As I write, I am perched in the after salon of the boat in a comfy spot enjoying the sunrise and a cup of coffee. Our final crew member arrives in a few hours and we are shooting for a 1300 hrs underway. The weather has robbed us of our Northbound meander through the Bahamas, and so as soon as we get underway, we will be sailing with meaning toward Fishing Bay, VA.

As I write, a group of noisy gulls are convening on the dock, but I am too lazy to see why or to shoo them off. These winged rats will almost certainly befoul the decks and hull of this gleaming catamaram upon which I swabbed like Jack Tar yesterday, and while such an aerial attack does offend my pride of appearance, spending these few moments here seems a better use of my time.

My Captain on this voyage, Catherine's friend of 35 years, is a gregarious fellow well-suited to the dockside environment. His name is David, and he and the embarked Admiral (his wife Alison) are simply put, the finest hosts/social entertainers I have ever been in company with. Both are accomplished cooks, world travelers, and brilliant conversationalists. David would have made a great diplomat or an even better spy, as he strikes up conversations easily with everyone he meets here, and most of the time comes away with a bit of useful information about dining, sailing, logistics, or myriad other subjects.

We've been working the pre-underway checklist for a few days now, and we're down to the short-hairs. We'll need to take a round turn on stowage for sea, especially in the main salon, and I need to put away the mass of manuals I've dilated upon during our weather delay. Although I still know little about actually SAILING, I have accumulated a good deal of knowledge about the various systems onboard, and I am confident I can be a contributing crew member in winds light enough to demand diesel engine propulsion.

Underway

The photo above is from sunset last night (Thursday 5 June), our first evening of the voyage and my first underway at night since sometime in 2006. Fearing onset of sea-sickness, I took a couple of litte chewable pills that seemed to do the trick, as now nearly 24 hours into the journey, I haven't felt the least queasy. Seas like above have been the norm, although the first few hours were a little more unsettled. I think I'll do OK wih this journey.

We were joined by our fifth, Mike, a UVA grad and former naval officer, which automatically sets him apart as most men go. He's been a delightful companion and conversationalist.

The four experienced sailors are standing watch 3 on, 9 off, and I am under instruction on a “whenever I am about” watch rotation. Yesterday I was on 1630-1930 to get the benefit of two different watch partners, and then again from 0300-0800 this morning. I'm planning on the 00-06 watch for the next three days and a couple of mid afternoon hours each day, as my conversations with fellow sailing mates indicate that the night watches are where they'd most like me. No problem. John McCain hung in irons for years, I can have a few midwatches.

We look to have about a day more of entirely unmolested sailing (or motoring, as the case is when we are becalmed, like right now) until the next bit of unsettled weather rolls across from the mainland. We had a terrible scare this morning when it seemed we'd lost Starlink (heaven forfend), but it turned out the owner's subscription did not include open ocean sailing. Fixed in a jiffy which allows this communication to be transmitted to a waiting world.

If you'd like to follow along with our progress, here's a link: https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/SV_Wahoo_1/

The news of the day seems dominated by the contretemps twixt The Orange Duce and his youthful ward Elmo. I am enthused to see these two at each other's throats, both out of spectacle (“good television") and out of a sense that the spat raises real issues with the President's (lack of) priorities, the debt impacts of this bill, and the ridiculous manner in which it has proceeded.

I am particularly delighting in schadenfreude for the Trumpenproletariat who now must (once again) be forced to perform Orwellian acts of “othering" in order to maintain the illusion of wisdom and coherence from Dear Leader. I've had conversations of late with Trumphumpers who talked of Elon as if he were The Black Prince, and now he is persona non grata. Everything Trump Touches Dies.