The Great Wander

Keeping up with the weather is critical in the sailing world.  I know that sounds obvious, but it’s really true.  As we all know, things with the weather change, sometimes very rapidly and you have to have a plan for when things change.

In late June I joined a boat, we were supposed to go from Miami to Guatemala.  It’s a boat, so there’s bound to be delays.  About a week and half after the initial planned departure, we pulled away from the dock. For sailing the Gulf of Mexico everything looked perfectly clear.  Maybe a little disturbance by Grenada, but nothing that seemed too troubling.  In many ways things looked good because we were going to be getting some better wind later in the week as we approached Mexico.

After navigating some very tight spots on our way out to the Atlantic, we hoisted the sails and turned south toward the Straits of Florida.  Things were a little rocky because the wind and the current were going in opposite directions, but it wasn’t too bad. 

When we left, we decided to not stop until we hit Key West.  That meant that we would be sailing overnight and doing shifts right away.  Overnight there were four hour shifts and then in the day we did six hour shifts.  My second shift ended at 6 AM. As the sun was coming up, I stayed up and watched the sunrise from the cockpit. The colors over the ocean were amazing.  Reds, blues, purples, all blending together.  It really was amazing. 

After a bit, I checked my phone.  I noticed a text from Sandy.  “Hey, what are you guys thinking about the hurricane?”

“Hurricane?  What Hurricane?”  I open up PredictWind and check to see what she’s talking about. Sure enough, Hurricane Beryl has formed just east of Grenada.  Every model shows us on a collision course. 

“Uh, honey, let me get back to you on that, we really weren’t aware of the hurricane.  It wasn’t there when we left.” 

My shift partner had gone to sleep, he’d done passages like this before and knew to crash as soon as he could.  I followed suit and headed to my cabin.  I slept off and on for a few hours, woke up and checked the weather again. I saw that things were picking up.

We talked about several options, all of which ended with us waiting in Key West for a few days to let the storm pass and then heading on.  There weren’t really any other realistic options.  We could have turned around and sailed to the east end of Cuba and come up behind the storm.  The reality is, that was going to be just as time consuming as waiting it out.

Beryl was a unique storm.  It was the earliest category 5 hurricane.  Also the manner in which it spun up was quite remarkable.  When we left there wasn’t much in the way of cyclonic activity.  Overnight it spun up and went straight to hurricane status.  I know we would have checked before we went past Key West, Sandy just beat us to the punch.   It highlighted the importance of regularly checking the weather and making sure that your window is holding or seeing if you need to make course adjustments.

The delays meant I needed to leave the group at Key West.  I was really disappointed about that, because crossing the Gulf of Mexico would have been an incredible experience. 

 When we rounded into the Strait of Florida, with the wind and the current coming from the stern, the sailing was smooth and much of the time, effortless.  The experience was everything I knew I wanted my family to have.  The gentle up and down of the waves lifting and lowering the boat, gliding through the water, even having a couple of dolphins join us for a little bit.  In some respects, it was the realization of YouTube sailing.  It was what I hoped for for us.

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