Beaufort to Bermuda | Day 5 Land Ho!
Sunrise this morning coming into Bermuda
Whew! The anchor is down in Bermuda. This was the longest passage the two of us have done on our own, and for the most part, it was quite pleasant. But living on a boat for the last four years has taught me that a passage can go from flawless to chaos in a split second. Thankfully, we managed to avoid total chaos, though the trip did save all its hijinks for the final stretch.
We were trying to make it into Bermuda before a front moved in. We knew it would bring stronger winds, but nothing looked too concerning at first. The forecast called for around 17–18 knots. As expected, the winds filled in nicely, and we were absolutely hooning along. At one point, I saw us hit more than 9 knots. Around 8 p.m., we reefed the mainsail. Reefing means reducing sail area to depower the boat in stronger winds. By then, we were consistently seeing 20–22 knots, and by my next watch, we had switched from the headsail to the staysail—a smaller sail better suited for heavier conditions.
The sea swell stayed mostly around 4–5 feet. It was a wet ride, with waves breaking over the bow and making their way all the way back to the cockpit. Thankfully, I had closed up the starboard side of the cockpit earlier in the evening and narrowly avoided taking a decent-sized wave straight into the cockpit. Still, it was a bumpy, noisy ride, and neither of us managed to get any sleep during our off watches.
This morning, as dawn broke, Ken relieved me of my watch, and I put some coffee on for us. Boat stoves are gimbaled, meaning they swing with the boat's motion to stay mostly level. They also have rails that lock pots in place so they do not slide around. Well, I thought I had the coffee pot secured properly. But the moment I came back to check on it, we took a wave, the stove pitched hard, and the coffee pot toppled over, spilling its gloriously piping-hot contents all over the galley floor. After the kind of night we had, that was a serious party foul.
Cleaning up after the coffee debacle
About an hour later, I was using the bathroom at the front of the boat when we were hit by a massive wave over the bow. Ken had left the hatch cracked open because the dinghy stowed on deck covered it, allowing airflow through. Unfortunately for me, that proved not to be true. While using the bathroom, a large wave broke over the bow and dumped a bucket of seawater straight down onto my head. Between the coffee disaster and getting drenched while trying to use the bathroom, my morning was not exactly off to a great start. But at that point, all I could do was laugh.
Emerging from the bathroom after a bucket of seatwater dumped onto my head
After about two hours of bashing into the wind and waves, we finally set our anchor in the Bermudan waters. While down below cleaning up all of the water that we took on underway today, Ken noticed that we had a decent amount of water in our bilge (the bottom-most part of the boat). All boats have water in them. The bilge pump helps get water out of the boat, and ours isn't working. We manually pumped all the water out and will tackle the bilge repair tomorrow, first thing. This needs to be addressed before we depart for the Azores (hopefully sometime next week).
After tidying up a bit below, we went to shore to check in with immigration and customs officials, then had a bite to eat and some ice cream.
We are now back aboard and praying for a nice rainstorm to wash away all the saltwater deposits from our lumpy bumpy passage.
Our crew for the next leg to the Azores arrives tomorrow. So hopefully, this bilge issue won’t cause us any significant delays.
For now, we aim for a shower and a good night's rest.
All is well.
Day Five Stats
Nautical Miles Sailed In The Last 24 Hours 140 miles
Average Boat Speed 6.5 kts
Max Boat Speed 9.2 kts
GPS Coordinates 32 22.774N 64 40.344W
Miles to go NONE!
Ken declared this the best sushi roll he’s ever had. I concur. It was delicious.
After passage food, I just wanted this Grilled Halloumi and Beetroot Salad.
A man and his ice cream.