This Is Cruising . . . (1/9/13)

Our group of three companion boats left The Berry Islands Club at 8:30 yesterday morning.  The winds were ESE to SSE gusting over 20 knots and we were essentially heading north after making our initial turn from the west.  We put sails up before even leaving our moorings and everyone headed down the inlet under sail and with high spirits.  Then we turned . . . into the wind . . . and the waves . . . and the current.

Chuck and Stuart aboard Long Gone have been cruising for 5 seasons and sailing for much longer.  Rick aboard Nautilus is single-handing and has sailed and lived aboard for years and years.  These guys are comfortable out there.  Rob and I are in our 2^nd season, our first outside of US waters, and can count our significant passages on two hands. 

Okay, so this wasn’t a “significant” passage, but it was blowing over 20 knots with seas 4 - 6 feet and, as Chuck says, “You just aren’t going to see worse conditions than those unless you go looking for them.”  Anyway, I’m making a short story very long (again), but it comes down to one thing – I don’t think I’m a natural born sailor.  I usually get about an hour into something like this and start expressing my utter dislike for sailing.  Poor Rob.

After hearing the other two boats report that, after the first easterly leg, they had great sail configurations and had shut off their engines and were blissfully making reasonable progress, Rob and I looked at each other (rather stupefied) and wondered why we couldn’t top 2-3 knots under sail and were getting thrown from hell to breakfast on every wave.  In a last ditch effort about an hour before our arrival, we changed our sail configuration completely, putting up much more sail than even the other two boats and ended up rocking ahead at over 7 knots, blasting us to our destination in fine fashion.

Arriving, we found our chosen anchorage to be much tighter and shallower than expected.  Both of our companions ran aground several times before we all got settled.  (note – surprisingly, we managed to escape that gyration – GO Moonshadow!)   And then, as the tides shifted, our boats started doing some kind of crazy dance over our anchors leaving Rick having to reset his anchor and all of us with no option other than taking shifts through the night to watch each others’ boats. 

The Berrys are known for being remote and they’re mightily living up to that reputation.  We did a quick survey of the rocky beach and the nearby strip of sand right off of the anchorage and had a beer at Flo’s Conch Bar, the one and only thing in sight, making the required advanced notice for having dinner there tonight..   Flo’s is quite something to behold­­­, with our hostess, Lovely, serving up a cold Kalik after our adventure.  So here we are, removed from all civilization in the Berry Islands with nothing to do but play until we head offshore again.  And that’s what’s called cruisin’!