Weather
is a topic of fascination to sailors. At home, we pretty much know
our weather by looking West. If there's a storm blowing in, carry
an umbrella. There are some minor variations (such as the Santa
Ana's in the fall) but most of the time, look west. You can probably
sustain very high accuracy by saying tomorrow will be pretty much
like today.
The tropical sailor has a number of other concerns. The dominant
effect is the Trade Winds which come from the East and dominate
the weather here. A big storm in Africa will deposit red dust
over every thing here. At this time of year, change in weather
comes from the North. Old worn out fronts travel down from Florida
and may (or may not) loose their punch by the time they get down
here and may or may not bring clouds. A rising barometer, such
as brought by a high forming to the North will bring big winds
as the pressure gradient (differences) cause the famed Christmas
winds. This makes for a rollicking sail but sleeping can be difficult
with every piece
of string on the boat howling. A low coming through, on the other
hand, can mitigate and slow the trades and make for much easier
passages to the windward (i.e., easterly). The sailor doesn't
really worry to much about rain - it's a free fresh water rinse.
A little
squall coming your direction often gets you to run for soap because
at 12 cents a gallon (and limited storage capacity) fresh water
is not something you dump on the decks. Its warm, its free; no
problem. Waves however can be another issue. A big storm in the
North Atlantic will generate waves crashing on the beaches and
make landing the dinghy a wet and wild experience. Sleeping (depending
on how the boat is moored) can be like sleeping in a running
washing machine. More importantly, it can make for enormous seas
on the Atlantic side of the Caribbean in the passages. The chain
of islands you see on the map mark the edge of one of the big
tectonic plates. The deeps of the Atlantic give way very suddenly
to the (relative) shallows of the Islands. The same volume of
water moving up and down in miles deep ocean trenches, instantly
gets faster and steeper in the shallows between Islands and make
passage between them treacherous. So, listening to and discussing
the weather is becoming a major occupation ranking right up there
with working on the boat and in many cases, both activities can
be combined. Fortunately, we have |
connected with a whole group
of Hams, most of whom are long term sailors in the Caribbean
and all of whom
seem friendly, courteous and kind. Roberta and
Larry on Dionis are the first we met. Listening to the weather
net, we heard people talking about Larry coming back down from
Maine and then exchanged greetings with a likely looking couple
in a restaurant.
Turned out to be THE Larry. We have visited their Hans Christian
for sundown and seen how 17 years of cruising improves a boat.
What we are trying to do now is learn how to cram 17 years of local
weather knowledge into the period between now and the time
we are ready for passages. On the boat repair front: waiting
for our own version of Godot: a working refrigerator. The part
secured at Coral Bay proves not to be quite the right size and
took an enormous amount of Island engineering to get installed.
I am listening to the steady hum of the vacuum pump as we test
to see if we caused any new leaks getting the expansion valve
in. We will leave it on a vacuum overnight and, god willing,
put in freon and move from an icebox to a refrigerator. The transom
shower is now reinstalled after coming apart when the shower
hose got caught in the steering chain. We manufactured a bag
from scraps donated by a canvas maker and rebuilt the shower
with a rube goldberg collection of brass adaptors. It looks like
the bag will confine the hose and keep it from mischief and we
will no longer have to run dripping the length of the boat for
a fresh water rinse after sea baths. On the sailing front: we
are getting quite good at anchoring. It is a tricky dance requiring
at least two people in clear communication via hand signals.
We have been tearing around Drake's Channel between the US and
the British Islands and have avoided all the hard parts. We now
have a permit to hang on short term moorings at the fine dive
spots and can name quite a few more fish, coral and sponges.
The winds are good enough that we can generally hit hull speed
in everything below a beam reach. Our repairs on running rigging
are beginning to show improvement in line handling so tacking
and gibing is getting smoother. I have learned to interpret panicky
yelps as "Ease the main" and Susie has become quite
clear on the difference between head up and fall off. Boat dings
are beginning to heal faster than they form and we believe we
are fixing more than we are breaking. To us, this is progress.
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