Friday 2nd May at Bermuda
Spellbinder
Fri 2 May 2008 10:17
Monday was a lovely sunny day, but the wind remained in the north east, and with up to a knot of current against us nothing seemed to match the expectation of favourable wind and current which should predominate for this leg, and we plodded on at only about 4 knots over the ground. By noon we still had 300 miles to go. Over the following night the wind became light and variable, and by Tuesday morning it was beginning to settle into the south west, initially very light, but by lunch time we were motor sailing, and by 3pm the engine was off and we had the genneker set. Not for long! By 7pm the genneker was stowed and we were motor sailing again. Continued motor sailing through the night, with a steadily increasing south west wind, which gave us 6 knots or so.
Attention was now on the forecast of strong northerly winds on Thursday, which would make life difficult for the final approach into Bermuda. Wednesday's forecast was for continuing south westers, so we decided to make a motor sailing dash to arrive some time Wednesday evening. A lighter moment occurred at the 4am watch change, when another flying fish arrived onboard, and landed with much flapping behind Henry's back in the cockpit. Successfully re-launched on this occasion. During the next 4 hours we passed through a rainy patch, with the wind working round more into the west. By mid day Wednesday we only had 30 miles to go, having covered 150 miles in the previous 24 hours with the help of both sails and engine, but still no help from the current. However the promised south wester had shifted into the west, and by early afternoon had veered into the north west, and eventually round to due north, right on the nose again. With about 15 miles to go, the diesel gauge suddenly plummeted, leading to rapid shut down of the engine to conserve sufficient fuel for the entry to Bermuda.The next three hours we were back to beating to windward, although with the shelter of the island the sea was flat, and we enjoyed a good sail in a lovely sunny evening, finally reaching the fairway buoy just as the sun was setting at 7pm. Made our way in through the Cut, a narrows reminiscent of the entrance to Portsmouth harbour, and alongside the customs jetty at St George. Welcomed by Bernie, of Captain Smokes marina, who took our lines and, after we had done the necessary formalities with customs, sorted us out with a nearby alongside berth for the night. General relief all round. Bernie took the ladies off in his car to the marina for a shower, and then said he would return in the morning to help with moving the boat to the marina berth.
Sure enough, at 7.30 the next morning Bernie was back, offering to drive us all to a cafe for an English breakfast. With all abed, offer declined. By 9am we were ready for the move, with first stop at the fuelling berth for diesel. 50 litres took the guage from nearly zero to 3/4 full, raising doubts about the guage since the tank capacity is 200 litres. On to the marina, a short length of concrete wall with space for 5 yachts to secure either bow or stern in to the wall. Considered ourselves most fortunate to have secured a space, as there is a steady procession of boats passing through Bermuda at this time of year, making their way back from the Caribbean towards the Azores and Europe. Good clean through the boat and all settled in by lunchtime, allowing E, J and R to do some initial sight seeing around St George's in the afternoon before supper on board and another fairly early night.
Today E, J and R have to complete their Bermuda sight seeing, before flying out tomorrow lunchtime to the USA and on to Glasgow. Martin departs tomorrow evening direct to Gatwick for two weeks in England, leaving Henry to enjoy the delights of Bermuda.