Salt Pond, Long Island 3/5/22

Nico and I are spending a few days anchored in a wide, but protected, bay with good holding for a few days to wait out a high-pressure system that is generating winds of 20 to 30 knots. (A knot is 1.1 MPH.) I thought this would be a perfect time to discuss wind on our trip. Wind rules just about everything we do. We are not alone in this bay. There are approximately 50 other sailors huddled here with us. For about a week in advance, we have all been checking the National Weather Service, Windy.com., Barometer Bob, Chris Parker (a fee-based weather forecaster and voyage router), the Bahamian Meteorological Service, and talking amongst ourselves. We planned our run from Exuma to here to make sure we got to this protected area before the strong winds and to get a good anchoring spot. Initially, we tried anchoring in another spot but three times we dropped the anchor, and Nico dove down with a snorkel to check it and three times we moved because there was a layer of coral limestone under six inches of sand and it would not hold properly in a blow. Now the anchor is dug deep in good sand and holding nicely.

We really should be here in the summer. In the summer winds are calm and one does not need to worry about protection from the winds as much. However, there is also the chance of hurricanes, and who wants to leave Maine at that time of year? In the winter cold fronts come through regularly. When that happens the normal easterly wind clocks around so it can blow hard out of the north and west. Unfortunately, the islands lie in a north to south direction so there are not many protected harbors for a frontal passage. There are many stories of a blow coming through and a dozen boats dragging. We saw one high and dry on the beach at Lyford Cay, that went ashore in a blow just the week before, with a young family on board. 

Then there is the question of making a plan to go to different islands. Since the wind is usually from the east (which can mean northeast, east, or southeast) it is easy to go south and north and hard to go east. Just today Nico and I scrapped plans to go to the Crooked Islands because the wind wasn't cooperating. We are going to go to Cat Island - if the forecast holds. When we first crossed the Gulf Stream we waited in the Bimini area for five days until breezes were favorable and then took off for points east, pressing hard "to make our easting", as the square-riggers used to say. 

Thompson's Bay: where we are anchored now, tucked up in the corner. The bluff of the island gives us good protection from the east/northeast wind.

I check the wind speed indicator when a gust hits, just to see how strong it is. I remember the last trip when it hit 75 knots during Hurricane Michael!

Nico jokes that this photo shows Ellen wind: 10-15 knots, preferable at enough of an angle so we are reaching along nicely. I like it when the wind fills the sails nicely, we aren't heeling way over, and moving around the boat isn't hard, resulting in multiple black and blue marks.

A perfect example!

When the winds are moderate we can catch fish and be able to drop the jib, slow down and land the fish without too much trauma.

I also like it when we anchor and the wind dies down and it is just perfect on deck for cocktail hour. One can look overboard and see things on the bottom like this wreck, or the anchor or sea life. It can be pretty mesmerizing! Calm weather is great for snorkeling too but not if we want to travel long distances. Fuel is not cheap down here (over $5.00/gallon for diesel).

This is Windy.com, a weather app we use daily. (https://www.windy.com/?33.748,-84.387,5) Check it out.

The graphics show the wind direction and the color indicates intensity. The above screenshot is what I like to see - about 10-15 knots. Blue is calm and red or purple is a real gale.

This is what we have now - 25-30 knots and the pink color means over 30 knots. 

We are in the area of the trade winds, which blow from Africa to the Caribbean, steady and strong. They vary by season, and in winter blow the strongest. Just what you need to sail a ship from Africa to the new world, but not so great for going east. Sailors heading across the Atlantic head up to Newfoundland to get the right wind to travel across to Europe.