Waiting for Earl

There was no wind; the calm was eerie.  All craft were nosing south expectantly.  To our front, the largest sailboat in the anchorage had both masts up-lit and looked like some medieval warhorse.  A dense New England fog settled into the small harbour just on dusk and a few boat owners fidgeted with last-minute mooring or anchor line adjustments.  It seemed like, and was indeed, the calm before battle.  An advance party of strong winds, gusting 45 to 60kts was expected at midnight. We were waiting for Earl... 

Somes Harbor

We had been following, as best we could, reports on Earl as he whirled his way up the east coast.  The Cap’n had pinpointed the destructive eye on our charts and had spent almost two days preparing for the worst.  Earl was forecast to hit Cape Cod and then move down east (NE) to the Maine coast.  That’s exactly where we were.  Isn’t it odd that we’ve been dodging hurricanes for 2 seasons in the Caribbean now and finally, when we pop out of that acknowledged hurricane box*, one comes to find us.  Aagggghh!

We had arrived in Southwest Harbour, Mt Desert Island in Maine and the news of Earl’s progress stunned us.  Our friendly Harbourmaster advised us to seek better shelter, in Northeast Harbor if we could.  But all moorings were taken. (It was Labor Day weekend after all.)  Kindly, Dickie Beal (of Beal’s Lobsters) recommended, when we re-fuelled and re-watered at his lobster dock, staging ourselves up Somes Sound in better protected (& muddy bottomed) Somes Harbor.  Off we went, then and there.  Lucky because we were in and set (on two tandem anchors and 200 feet of chain) before stragglers and late-comers tried to snuggle into this tiny protected harbor. 

Same view (as above) with fog as Earl approached

The Cap’n went off to get a few supplies and an internet connection.  Bad luck, Somesville is little more than a few pretty cottages.  He then set about taking down sails and clearing the decks, taking the motor off Bruce and other measures to “hurricane-proof” as best we could.  At worst, Earl’s eye was currently reading 90kts, gusting 110kts (say that slowly) and at best, we could look forward to 60kt gusts.  Thank goodness for Skymate.  We were able to download regular (12hr) NOAA weather reports for this specific area and data on Earl’s progress.  To add to the drama, GS had twisted her ankle at the fuel dock and was now incapacitated.  Surely her bad temper was enough to scare Earl away?  The Cap’n wanted to leave home too – except he’d probably either starve or face a diet of 2 minute noodles & canned corned beef.  Facing Earl seemed a far brighter proposition…

Cold Water Swim

Our after-dinner weather update brought us better news – well, sort of.  Earl was slowly running out of puff and our Tropical Storm Warning, though still in effect, had forecast winds 40 – 45kts.  Thankfully too, our hurricane hole proved perfect.  Around midnight, winds tore over us; we could hear roaring as the wind rushed through high pine forests, sounding for all the world like a giant steam train.  Those marvellous mountains of Mt Desert Island directed the flow of winds over and above us.  Rain beat in but we stayed quite dry, only a couple of hatches leaked.  Bruce filled to the gunnels with fresh water – and our house-proud Cap’n is now using it to swab the decks, making WJ3 and Bruce shine.  We’re grateful Earl amounted to little more than a storm in our locale but both agreed preparations were well worth the effort.

* The hurricane box is reputed, for insurance purposes, to be below Grenada (since Ivan 2004) at 12N and above 35N (Cape Hatteras & Cape Lookout, NC).   Deltaville VA where we stored WJ3 is at 37N.  Maine (where we are now) is 44N.  Since 1851, only 15 major hurricanes (about one every ten years) have leapt outside this box to damage areas above the North Carolina/Virginia border.  The last one was Alex in 2004.  It seems that record high temperatures and unseasonably warm waters beckoned storms further north this year.

From: Southwest Harbor, ME  Lat/Long: 44 16N  68 18W  Date/Time: 2/9/10: 1100

To: Somes Harbor, ME  Lat/Long: 44 21N  68 19W  Date/Time: 2/9/10: 1220

Time Taken: 6nm (1.5hrs)  Distance (this year): 818nm (155.5hrs)

Distance Total (since 2008): 4458nm  (854.5hrs)   Fastest Speed: See Note**

Weather: Winds SE 5-10kts; Seas 3ft; seas followed by a quick tropical storm to drench us

(** Motored up Somes Sound on a mission!)

Tip Sea in Trini Dad

Dis Pain: 19 Apr 09

View of a hurricane from above

Not wishing to invoke foul weather conditions, I found this little local rhyme in one of our guide books (Les Weatheritt – and yes, that’s his real name!).   The % given is the long range hurricane frequency.  Officially, the season starts 1^st June and ends 30^th November each year.

 

June (5%) too soon;

July (9%) stand by;

August (29%) come she must;

September (36%) remember

October (19%) all over

This rhyme leaves out late season hurricanes; November (3%) and occasionally December. That said, these were the months we sailed down island last year. The biggest threat (a close call) came from Hurricane Omar, which came through our sailing area just after we had left Trinidad in October. On our trip down island, we usually had great weather, although generally the south-easterlies had kicked in, giving us “nose” conditions for a lot of our passages south. We have our fingers crossed for the same conditions this year, to have the wind behind us and trust we time our cruise up the ICW to be well north (35N is the limit) before needing to stand by.

As time ticks away in the boatyard here in Trinidad, so too is the time we have to make the Bahamas. We are not too concerned yet however, as May is given as the best time for making north as seasonal winds start to come around to the east/south east giving us a comfortable passage.

I just wonder who I am trying to convince...

Yes, it's truth on my T-shirt

Hurricane Omar

I was just reading the recent news of Hurricane Omar: 16th Oct 08, swinging through only ten days after we left for home!



Sad to say that Hurricane Omar has left a trail of devastation in our recent playground. This hurricane is unusual in that it has come from the west and flicked north. We hope everyone we met is safe and that their boats withstood the wild winds, waves and rain.

This map came from Jeff Master's site. 

(Ed. 2022  Sadly, this informative sited closed some years ago) 

Throw out the GPS & get a pig

Across Neptune’s Hell: 10-11 Jul 08

Anegada Passage

Our advice had been to wait for calm seas and light winds, then motor…. The Anegada Passage was to be a challenging sail. Some relief unexpectedly came in the form of Big Bertha, a named cyclone twirling about in the Atlantic to our north…. Now what was that I just said?

With a forecast promising “reasonable winds” the Motleys set off from Anegada late afternoon for an overnight sail directly into seas “that can get quite rough in fresh trade winds”. Needless to say, it didn’t take too long before a bucket came out.

The boys rallied as GS clutched her bucket below and we made a reasonable fist of it under sail, despite getting a little sideswiped by a strong current. This meant we did have to motor for a little while to get back on course and added extra hours to our journey of 20 hours 20 minutes (it seemed sooo much longer!). Obviously I’m still alive; it must have been the scent of fresh baguettes wafting from across Marigot Bay that roused GS.

Galley Slave hard at work

This brings to mind a story we read about a local Caribbean navigation technique involving a very long line and a very hungry pig (both items which must be on board of course!). Traders from St Vincent sailing to Barbados would throw this pig overboard (only when they thought they were close, silly), and spurred on by the smell of sweet molasses, the pig would swim toward the island. The rope ensured the boat followed piggy. Clearly this method was used in a time before the movie Jaws. I wonder did they carry “back-up” pigs on board?

We trailed a lure expecting something decent to attach itself – especially given such quality of burley… All we managed was some hapless seagull who saw a hearty dinner in our lurid pink plastic squid. The Cap’n managed to unhook him and provide first aid. He’d swallowed rather a lot of sea water as you would expect. Happily, he now has something of an adventure to tell his grandchildren. 

From:  Anegada, BVI             Lat/Long:18 44N  64 23W Date/Time: 10/7/08: 1200

To:  Marigot Bay, St Martin  Lat/Long:18 04N  63 05W Date/Time: 11/7/08: 1100
Time Taken: 115nm (20.5hrs) Distance (this year): 192nm (44hrs)
Distance Total (since 2008): 192nm (44hrs)   Fastest Speed:
Weather: Fresh Trade Winds ENE 12-15kts; 4-5 ft swell; 0.5kt W current