We’ve had a busy 2 days, without a report, so this post will cover days 6
and 7 (May 29 and 30). Thursday the 29th found us closing in on Bermuda,
motoring with a light breeze. Jake was closely monitoring our fuel,
switching tanks every 4 hours or so to keep them even. About 30 miles from
Bermuda we refueled using the 10 gallons of diesel from our 2 jerry cans.
And it’s a good thing we had that extra because when we filled our tanks we
had only 2 gallons left in one tank and 18 in the other.
It had been our hope and plan to refuel in Bermuda and head directly back to
sea. In order to be as efficient as possible in our effort to get back to
sea, we each had assignments to complete as soon as we cleared customs:
Jake, Leo and Peter V fueled the boat and listened to Herb. I headed
quickly to the grocery store to replenish our most popular items: tomatoes,
fruit and yogurt. The 2 rookies (Jeff and Peter L) took the semi-annual
case of Heineken to Bermuda Radio. (We have done this every trip as thanks
for their help with a problem we had on our very first trip south.) Two
years ago another rookie, Michael Coddington, carried the beer up the hill
to BR and set the record: 7 minutes 34.87 seconds. Peter L took that as a
personal challenge, certain he could shatter the record. He talked of
hydrating himself ahead of time. He warmed up with stretches on the dock
before heading out. He and Jeff were given directions to the liquor store
and general directions to BR. (How hard can it be? It’s on the highest
point of land. You can see it from the entire harbor.) They took a wrong
turn up some steps and into a private yard. They retraced their path and
cut across another yard. They found stairs that led to a dead end and had
to go back. Finally, while Pete was retracing his path, Jeff found the
right way and arrived first, saying “I’m from avalanche, but the rookie with
the beer is lost. He’ll be here soon.” Their time: 13+++ minutes.
Needless to say, the rookie is getting a good-natured razzing. For their
effort they got a full tour of the facility with all the radar, GPS, radio
and monitoring equipment. Jeff, an electronics pro, was like a kid in a
candy store. The view is pretty spectacular, too.
We all got back to the boat to learn that Herb’s weather report was holding
us overnight. So we went out to anchor, launched the dinghy and pulled the
engine out of the sail locker. With 6 people it was just a minor project.
Peter V went ashore to buy renowned Bermuda fish chowder and red wine to go
with his dinner of lasagna, as well as some cold beer and ice. I had a
shower and holed up with my Clive Cussler novel after dinner while the guys
all told stories.
After a good night’s sleep we woke up to a gray drizzly day. We had a huge
breakfast and then all but Jake and I went ashore to do some exploring and
shopping. The guys hiked across the island to a really pretty little beach
where Jeff swam. Then they returned to town for a successful shopping trip.
Jake checked out with customs, we hauled the dinghy and had lunch. We
radioed BR for permission to leave, pulled the anchor and departed. The
heavy overcast was thinning and the drizzle had stopped. Within an hour we
had glimpses of blue sky and by sunset the bad weather had cleared out.
We had 2 fish on our lines not far out of Bermuda, one right after the
other. Pete L a.k.a. Rookie, grabbed the first rod and began reeling it in,
but lost the fish. As the 2nd fish struck he quickly grabbed that rod and
began reeling, losing that fish as well. To quote the 1800 log entry:
“Rookie farms 2 fish.” It’s a given that the rookie has a lot to learn and
will make mistakes, but when it comes to the fish that we all want to eat
and that count in the contest, it’s really hard to overlook those errors.
So.Rookie is taking a double dose of razzing: for getting lost trying to
find BR and then losing 2 precious fish.
Fishing contest score: Jake 0, Peter 1, Fish 6.
We learned about a couple of tragic incidents while we were in Bermuda.
Apparently in the week or 2 weeks before we arrived Bermuda had some awful
weather: high winds for days as storm after storm blew through the area.
During that time 2 sailboats were dismasted, one 30′, the other 35′. Each
boat was abandoned during the bad weather and is currently drifting, a
hazard to navigation, one 130 miles NNE of Bermuda, the other about 100
miles SW of Bermuda. The boat to the north had 5 crew aboard, who
desperately wanted to abandon ship. The Coast Guard strongly recommended
that they stay aboard for 24 hours at which point the storm would pass ,the
waters would be calm and a rescue would be easy and safe. Instead the crew
insisted that they get off the boat. A passing cargo ship threw a climbing
net over the side of their ship for the crew to climb up. Only 3 crew
members made it. The other 2 perished. I repeat this story because it has
made us appreciate our efforts to keep the crew and boat safe, our rule
about only abandoning ship if it is sinking out from under us, and our
opportunity to avoid sailing in stormy weather, thanks to Herb.
All the best from the crew of avalanche, who will be frantically fishing all
day tomorrow.
Thursday May 29, 2008 Latitude 32 22.4 N Longitude 64 40.8W (170 miles)
Friday May 30, 2008 Latitude 32 36.365 N Longitude 64 49.71W (19 miles)
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