Fort Lauderdale towards Beaufort NC End of Day 3

These Blog entries are edited versions of the messages we sent back as we completed the passage.  They were sent by radio using a laptop that controls a modem and the HF/SSB radio, using the SailMail system.  We sent the messages daily to my daughter Charlotte and she then forwarded them on to a list of family members.

2359hrs (EDT, GMT -4) 22 May 2020

Dear All,

Nicky had another difficult night watch dodging thunderstorms overnight Thursday 22 to Friday 23 May.  We had been warned by Chris Parker's evening HF/SSB weather briefing that there would be some thunderstorms coming off the Florida coastline during the evening which would track northeast.  In fact, his description of the mass of thunderstorms building over Florida was "it's like a bomb's gone off".  Sure enough, whilst enjoying sundowners we could see a particularly large dark cloud brewing a hundred miles out to our west.  By the time I went off watch we could see the lightning, not just sheet lightning but lightning bolts striking the sea (happily, still a long way off).  By this stage we had already come well off heading for a couple of hours (about 30 degrees right of our desired heading) to try to avoid being hit by the storm.  Whilst I slept blissfully below, Nicky brought us even more off heading so that we were tracking 90 degrees right of our desired course and quite a long way south of east; not good for making progress towards Beaufort NC or, indeed, to intercept the Gulf Stream. 

Avoiding the thunderstorm.  The stars and suns are plots Nicky made of parts of the thunder cell when the storm was close enough to be picked up by our radar (it only got to within 20-24nm of us and that felt quite close enough, thank you!).  Friends of ours who were a little closer inshore that evening, near to Cape Canaveral, later told us that they were hit by multiple squall of around 40knots and one sustained squall of 54knots – and they have photographic evidence of the latter to prove it!  Very nasty.  We think that they were caught by the storm we managed to avoid, so we’re even more pleased that our avoiding action was successful

When I came back on watch 4 hours later, I found the sails reduced to just a triple-reefed mainsail, Nicky in full oilskins (admittedly in tropical weather format with the oilskins trousers rolled up to her knees; I should have got a photo) and the chartplotter showing that we had been on a 30 mile diversion; but in doing so we had managed to stay away from the lightning and heavy rain.  With the thunderstorm now ahead of us and moving away, my job was to get us sailing roughly towards Beaufort NC and to get some more sail up to help increase our motorsailing speed.  The diversion means that we are unlikely to intercept and benefit as much as we hoped to from the Gulf Stream, so the passage will be a bit longer but better that we think than risking being hit by lightning.

And in the morning, all was beautiful again

All morning the engine chugged and the sails slatted.  For brief periods we got some extra help from the sails but then the light and variable wind would veer, back or died off to nothing, so foresails were furled again and the mainsail was back to slatting.  But we were making progress directly towards Beaufort NC.  The big change was just before midday when we had enough of a northeasterly wind to sail and the engine was finally switched off; peace and quiet which was a lovely change even if we couldn't quite sail directly towards our destination.  We had a good bit of help from the edge of the Gulf Stream though.

A nice boost from the Gulf Stream (28.2 degrees sea temp) giving us a speed over the ground of 9.4 knots

And so, onto the question of our destination.  The forecast at the moment does not show a good window for setting off from Beaufort transatlantic for 7-10 days, assuming we stay a few days.  On the limited information that we have, however, if we turned east now we might be able to get across to a favourable wind pattern. Turning now, however, would mean setting off transatlantic a bit light on fuel for comfort. So, we appear to have the choice of diverting for fuel and setting off, continuing on to Beaufort NC to get fuel and immediately set off transatlantic, or waiting in Beaufort for a better weather window.  To make the best choice from those 3 options we really need to see a bit more forecast detail than we currently have so we have fired the question to Chris Parker to see what he, as a professional weather forecaster, recommends.

Gentle progression goose-winged.  What a difference from the previous evening

Early evening saw us sailing again and we are now gently progressing towards Beaufort with the genoa poled out to starboard.

And a pretty sunset too

It was a bit of a disappointing fishing day today.  This afternoon I hooked up a 6ft Wahoo which, somewhat disgruntled, promptly tore off at great speed.  It then leapt out of the water and managed to shake the hook free before I had set it properly; so, sadly, another tale of 'a big one that got away'.  However, it was a very good day in the galley because I didn't set fire to any teabags.  Yesterday evening I dropped a teabag onto the cooker and it promptly caught fire.  In my rush to grab the teabag and put out the flames I managed to scatter tea leaves into every nook and cranny on the cooker and seemingly across most of the galley too.  It was a monster of a clean-up job.  So in comparison, today was a very good day in the galley.

Love to all,

Reg and Nicky

Passage statistics:

Position at midday 22 May: N31 51 W78 27

Position at midnight 22 May: N33 02 W77 31

Midday to midday distance: 164.4 nautical miles (average 6.85 knots)

Midnight to midnight distance: 159 nautical miles (average 6.6 knots)

Total miles covered: 403 nautical miles

Approximate distance to go (GPS route to Beaufort NC): 112 nautical miles

End of Day 3 Fort Lauderdale towards Beaufort North Carolina, USA