From Wednesday late night until about Saturday morning we went into a period in 3-4m seas, high winds > 30 knots sustained and had a 1-3 knot current against us. This was in the area approaching and around Bermuda.
The waves were kicking up and started knocking the boat around mid-day on Thursday.
It was an absolute chore to move around in the cabin without injuring yourself. I don’t know how the crew made meals, but I can tell you even washing the dishes was exhausting. Thursday brought us rain along with the winds and waves.
Most of the time was spent in the cockpit managing the sails, trimming them and adjusting heading. The captain has a very sound sail plan for each wind condition. The staysail was our workhorse and stabilizer.
I was not feeling too well, and I don’t think I was alone. But this Oyster 625 kept us safe and sound. After 3 days of that pounding, we deserved a break. Forecasts indicated our best course of action was to turn South to get out of the wind waves and swell. We turned just short of Bermuda by maybe 100 nm.
This set us up for the chance of a port tack at some point in the near future but in reality we were running away from that sea state and zone approaching Bermuda. I think storm Tammy really kicked up the sea prior to our arrival.
As we turned, the current did an excellent job staying right on our nose and/or beam forward. Night sail changes were challenging and usually required a couple of people to manage the engine RPMs. the mainsail, lights and then the working sail to be adjusted.
By Saturday morning we worked our way down to 1 m swell with relatively long periods in between. We saw several squalls and dodged most of them.
The temperature inside the cockpit tent remained decent during the whole trip. Wearing foulies was overkill, but I am glad to have packed it. By the time we reached Saturday, the boat temperature inside was a bit humid…we might even say “campy”. But I took to cleaning the entire kitchen despite the humidity.
The rest of Saturday included long periods of excellent sailing without the engine. A couple of times we were treated with the passing of container and cargo ships, and we also ended the day with a spectacular sunset. We all felt like we deserved these blessings after the past couple of days. It was hilarious to take pictures of the crew taking pictures of the sunset; it was a competition that I apparently lost.
We have been motor sailing on and off throughout the trip. It has been more motoring than I anticipated. The Captain ran the generator and made water which we all enjoyed the ability to take warm showers. Although it takes talent to take a shower while heeling over 15+ degrees in swells much above 1 meter.
The best meal so far has been Johnsonville brats. That alongside a remarkable say of sailing with an amazing sunset really got us all nourished physically and emotionally and provided some contentment for once.
Just under 1000 nm completed in this journey. More to come!
The Loxodograph 