Day 1 & 2: We're Rockin' and Rollin'
Buoy 'N Sea
Phil and Trish Littman
Fri 23 Nov 2007 15:22
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This post was sent directly from Buoy N Sea. This
is our Day 1 and 2 posting. Hopefully we'll be able to send out more in a bit.
Hang on.
What's Happenning Now
It's 11:30AM on Monday. This is our [third] attempt to post. We had a laptop go down so we lost our original message. We're on Phil's backup. Again as was mentioned, do not rely on us being able to communicate out using this method. We have other methods including phones and safety equipment to relay information if we need to. No news is good news in this regard. We're just passing west end, in the Grand Bahamas,
just now dropping into the NW providence channel. We can't see land and we'll be
staying off it about 12-15 miles. We have 20 knot winds, we're close hauled,
heeling 30 degrees over and trying to stay south of our next waypoint without
tacking. Seas are 2-4 feet. Most of our strength is used to keep ourselves
upright. Every task takes 10 times longer whether its cooking, changing or going
to the bathroom. Steve says "hey at least we're bouncing off the walls instead
of the ceiling." Our high water alarm just went off...we're turning on the bilge
pump. Again bow water, no problem (read below). Steve is going to crawl up to
the front and plug the anchor line hole. A huge freighter just passed us on
starboard and is probably heading to Freeport.
We had breakfast around 9:30AM, which included
starbucks french roast coffee, a fat wedge of gouda cheese, hot oatmeal, and
granola bars.
overnight/morning watch rotation
justin (6PM - 9PM) phil (9PM - Midnight) alex (Midnght - 3AM) steve (3AM - 6AM) justin (6AM - 9AM) and will continue on this rotation throughout the
day.  The view from the cockpit just after sunrise at
6AM
Last Night
We left the dock at 3:30PM. We had turkey wraps and coffee for dinner
before getting to the inlet. We made it to the 1 mile buoy at the St. Lucie
Inlet with sails up at 5:30PM. We had good wind and 1-2 foot seas. An East wind
forced us to hug the coast 40 degrees off the wind, past Hobe Sound and Jupiter
before we began creeping over for the long, hard slog across the Gulf Stream.
The current kept our speed at 3 knots most of the night and seas were crashing
our bow. Despite this, most of us were able to get some sleep. We noticed water
in the bilge, which we attributed to waves crashing the bow and getting water in
the holes for the anchor line in the bow. We may send someone up to stuff some
rages in there sometime on Monday.
There was one mishap that occurred after midnight. Steve in the quarter
berth must have rolled over and switched off the power to the tri-colors and
autopilot. The boat tacked suddenly and headed into irons, making the low side
the high side and nearly sending crew airborne. Everyone responded well, got the
boat pointed correctly and discovered that the switches needed switchgards. We
may fashion some out of plastic water bottle caps.
Poor Steve, he took the quarter berth and no one remembers to pull the
cabin cover shut and he keeps getting sprayed when the waves hit.
Sometime around 4AM while on Steve's watch, there was a spectacular
display. The half moon set on our starboard horizon, creating an eerie glow,
while on our port side, the big dipper was big as hell, standing tall on the
horizon, and seemed close enough to grab by its handle.
 Phil locked in, after raising the sails outside of the St. Lucie Inlet. Alex reminds us to send our best to the ladies and friends and
family.
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