STRESS RELIEF Stress Relief's Shakedown Cruise! The ones who already know, say everybody who plans an Atlantic crossing in their boat, should have a shakedown cruise, to find out where the weak spots are on their boat. Little did we know, that was exactly what we would be going through on our trip to Bermuda in the summer of 1997. Dan, our friend Dennis Rossi and I had been planning our Bermuda trip for some time, but even so we didn't feel quite ready when the departure date arrived. The Friday before we left, Dennis had had a "bad" day, and Dan and I were hurrying to get every little detail taken care of, so we wouldn't leave our son with a mess. Consequently, none of us had any time to really sit down and study the weather maps and forecasts. When Saturday, May 24, 1997 arrived, we were determined to head out towards Bermuda. Our departure was planned for 1000, but of course we weren't ready. Not until four that afternoon, after a heavy meal at Pop's, did we finally wave good-bye to our friends and headed out of East Greenwich Bay, in high spirits and exitement. The sun was shining and the wind had picked up, from being totally calm early in the morning. Of course the wind was out of the south where we wanted to sail! By the time we sailed by Beaver Tail light it was already 1900 and it was time to establish watches. We agreed that Dan would take the first watch from 2100 till midnight, Dennis from midnight till 0300, and I from 0300 till 0600 or until whenever Dan or Dennis woke up. The boys didn't seem to have any problem sleeping, when they were not on duty, but I sure did. I heard the water whooshing by under the boat, the antisipation of the boat slamming down from riding the waves made me stiff and tense, and about once every hour I had to get up and see for myself if everything was ok! That was before any trouble started! The trouble started on Dennis watch. The television antenna and tricolor light had blown off the top of the mast. They had fallen down on top of the boat, in front of the windows, where they stayed for awhile. During a particular high wave that washed over the boat, they went with the water into the sea. It had been too rough for any one of us to venture out and collect them in the dark. Almost as soon as we had left land behind, the sea got bigger and choppier, and the wind changed to northeast. None of us had our sea legs yet, and that soon became evident, even though we had taken seasick pills, and Dan had special bands around his wrists. Sunday came with Dan getting seasick first, then Dennis and towards evening even I. That was the very first time I had been seasick and it was awful! By evening my two strong men had no more strength left to sail the boat, so we decided to throw over the sea anchor. Thank goodness we had bought it, for it saved us more than once! We hung and drifted with the sea anchor Sunday evening, all day and night on Monday and most of Tuesday. During that time we all slept, got up once in a while and hurried to the bathroom, where we tried to get rid of whatever was left in our stomachs. Finally on Tuesday afternoon we all started to feel somewhat better, so we decided to pull in the sea anchor and continue our journey towards Bermuda.The wind was still coming out of the northeast, and the sea was high and choppy. Once the sea anchor was pulled in and secured, we thought, we sailed along with Dan at the helm. I was keeping him company, and Dennis had gone in to lay down. About 2200 Dennis woke up and saw water gushing from underneath the bed. It was coming over the bulkhead onto the salon floor, where it had risen about six inches already. PANIC! Dan rushed out in front of the boat to throw over the sea anchor, but all Dennis and I heard was yelling and screaming. We didn't know what was going on, and my thought was that Dan had dropped the sea anchor into the heaving sea! When Dan had calmed down, we found out, that the sea anchor somehow had broken loose from the anchor and barley hung on with a thin rope. The sea anchor had come out of its bag and was dangling in front under our boat, all twisted. We could not throw it overboard, until we had straightened out the straps that went from the chute to the swivel hook, otherwise it would not have opened and been totally useless. In the meantime I had been down in each hull and pumped the bilge pumps, but there was no water. I knew that we had an extra electric pump in our gear, and we got that hooked up and started pumping the water out into the kitchen sink and out into the cockpit. During all this confusion my thoughts were: "Oh my God, we are sinking! Thank goodness we rented a life raft for this journey, and it looks like we are going to have to use it now! We can't loose our boat after all the work and money we have spent on it!" When the water seemed to be under control and nothing more was coming in, and we hung secured to the sea anchor again, all we could do was to go to sleep till daylight arrived. That was the first time we had water inside the boat from somewhere below the gunnel. Almost as soon as we got out into the open sea, the waves kept breaking over the boat, and we had water coming in through the vents and from almost every window. While sailing on Narragansett Bay we wouldn't take water over the boat, so naturally it never entered our minds that the windows could be leaking or to cover up the vents. Dennis cabin got the most water from "above", and he ended up sleeping on one seat in the salon, holding on to either the table or the back of the seat so as not to roll off. After the water damage was done, we fixed the leaky windows and vents with duct tape and that definitely helped for the rest of the trip. On Wednesday morning, May 28, we woke up to the sea building and the wind was still coming out of the northeast. Dan went out front to check where the water could possibly have come in, and he found the drain holes in our two front lockers plugged. The lockers had gotten filled with seawater, and from there the water had found its way into the cabin through holes that weren't plugged. At least we didn't have holes or cracks in the hull! About 0900 we pulled in the sea anchor and continued. During the day the wind and sea continued their slaughter of us, but we moved ahead and sailed all through the day and into the night. I was too tense to sleep during the night by then, so I stayed awake with both Dan and Dennis on their watches. When it became my turn, I woke Dan up, and he sat up with me until daybreak, when he fell asleep again. How I envied the men for being able to sleep so easily, but I just couldn't relax enough to go to sleep while it was dark. During the day I was able to catch a few hours of sleep, but by the time we reached Bermuda, I was exhausted from nervous tension and lack of sleep. The wind finally changed to the east by Thursday afternoon, and we estimated the waves to reach 30 feet or higher and being very confused with lots of chop. That day we also noticed lots of water coming in through the front of both starboard and port front cabins, and the nose of the boat was very heavy and going down under the waves. PANIC again! This time the bilges were full of water, and I pumped for my life. The salt water flooded both of our fresh water tanks and contaminated them. The locker in front of the freezer had filled up with salt water and flooded over into our freezer. All the food had thawed out and had to be thrown overboard. The locker in front of the freezer wouldn't drain by itself, so after I had dragged out the water soaked mattresses, I had to sit in that water and physically bale it out into the bilge, where Dennis was pumping it overboard. The electrical bilge pumps couldn't keep up! I didn't want to be down there in the front cabin, becuase how would I have gotten out if the boat went down? Those thoughts went through my mind, but you do what you have to in these kinds of situations. It wouldn't do me any good to panic, rant and rave, but oh how I wanted to do just that! Once all the water was bailed out, the nose of our boat came up again, and we were able to go on.We still had plenty of dried food and can goods, so we wouldn't starve, and a five gallon emergency container of water sure came in handy. By the time we finally reached Bermuda even that was gone, and I never knew how much you can crave fresh water, when you don't have any! After that last scare we decided to start the motor and power the last 160 miles to Bermuda, so we could go in a more direct line. The winds were still blowing hard, but the direction had changed more to the southeast. The waves were still high, but had subsided somewhat. I had prayed for calm weather, but nobody heard me! We didn't have any problems during that day and powered on into the night. All of a sudden, when it got dark, we heard this awful banging noise and couldn't figure out from where it was coming at first. With the help of our search light we finally noticed that the radar had broken loose from the mast and was hanging on its wire only, banging around the stays and into the mast. The sea anchor was deployed once more. We tried to catch the radar with some halyards to hold it up against the mast during the night, so it wouldn't bang and break anything more. The following morning it was decided that Dan had to go up in the bosun chair and either tie the radar to the mast or cut it down. It was not easy for Dan to be hoisted up into the air, as the boat would not stay still and level, but he made it up and back safely. The radar was cut down! Dan also noticed that the hailer horn, strobe light, steaming and deck lights were smashed and broken off, as was a chunk out of the main sail track. That meant that the main sail couldn't be used anymore, because it kept coming out of the track and just flapping in the wind. Ever since the first mishap happened, we kept saying that it can't get any worse than this, but it sure could. After the radar was cut down, Dennis dared to say that the worst thing that could happen now was for the engine to break! That was exactly what happened next. When we were ready to pull up the sea anchor and continue, the engine made this awful noise, and Dan hurried to shut it down. After Dan examined the engine, he found that the coupling between the motor and out-drive leg had broken apart and was all twisted, consequently throwing off the motor and breaking all four motor mounts and the brand new freezer compressor. No main sail nor motor to rely on and still 116 miles to go! By now we had been in contact with Bermuda Harbor Radio, and they new of our location, but not the extent of our problems. They promised to call the US Coast Guard in Woods Hole and let them know we were safe and heading towards Bermuda. Our families back on the mainland had started to become concerned about us, since they hadn't heard a word since that very first day we left, and someone had inquired from the Coast Guard about our safety? We now relied totally on the genoa to take us to Bermuda. All day Saturday, May 31, everything went fine and we sailed on. Towards evening the wind and sea had finally calmed down to reasonable, and we hoped we could make Bermuda in a couple of days! That was not to be! About 2200 Saturday night the sound in the genoa changed. When we put the search light on it, we saw that the top strap had broken loose from the line, and the sail was just flapping back and forth. Nothing to do but roll it in, trow over the sea anchor again and go to sleep. At the crack of dawn Sunday morning we were awake and getting a plan of attack ready. Again Dan had to be hoisted up in the bosun chair, but this time to the very top of the mast to catch the line for the genoa. I couldn't watch, as I held a line out of the way, but I heard Dennis saying: "oh my god!" Evidently Dan had lost his grip around the mast, swung way out and had come crashing back into the mast. Dennis told me later, that he had thought Dan to be dead! Thank God he ended up with just a few bangs and bruises. Once the line was down, Dan sewed on a new heavy duty strap, and soon the genoa was hoisted again and we were on our way. Still 97 miles to go! Everyday we were counting down the miles, but not until Tuesday mid morning did we finally see Bermuda through the haze! Since Sunday we hadn't had any problems to speak of, but they weren't over yet! As we were getting close to the island, Dan and Dennis pumped up the dinghy and launched it. When Dennis was about to transfer the motor from our big boat to the dinghy, he lost his balance and fell overboard. All the other problems we had encountered didn't seem like anything now when a human life was at stake. After Dan had thrown Dennis a life buoy, he tried to turn the boat around and go back for Dennis. Under sail and not having practiced that maneuver before, we ended up sailing straight over him. Dennis got banged around under our boat, but he had the presence of mind to grab hold of our swim ladder and hung on, until we could help him onboard. If all that had happened at night, I am sure, we would not have been able to find Dennis, so at least this time our luck was with us. We were now in contact with Bermuda Harbor Radio again, and had inquired if they had towing service on the island? They did not! Dan decided to try to sail our boat through the Town Cut, but as our boat doesn't point very good into the wind, we almost ended up on the reefs, before we aborted and headed back out. After that we tried to tow our boat with the dinghy and our 3 horsepower motor, but that was futile against the wind. I told Dennis, that the next boat I see, I will wave down and ask if they can help. Soon we saw a power boat heading our way, and I started waving my arms. As it turned out, it was the Harbor Police, and they came purposely to help tow us into Saint George's harbor. The Harbor Police said, they had been hearing about our dilemma for a few days and were concerned about our safety! Never in my whole life had I been so happy to see the police! We finally felt our troubles were over, after we hung on our anchor south of the Customs Building, and that night we celebrated our safe arrival in Bermuda with a big bottle of champagne. It wasn't over yet! Wednesday morning, after a wonderful sleep, we woke up to panic once more. Our anchor had broken loose, after a storm had come up during the night, and now we were drifting towards the rocks on shore. Luckily for us, a big Canadian boat lay anchored behind us, and we hollered to them to help hold the lines, until the Pilot boat had time to come out and help tow us forward. Dan reset the anchor and threw out an extra one, and we were safe again. Wednesday evening Dennis was supposed to catch a plane back home, and how I wanted to go with him. Of course I couldn't leave Dan to sail back alone, so I stayed. Dennis missed the plane that evening (we had forgotten about the hour difference in time), but Thursday he made the plane in plenty of time. From then on our luck changed. We ended up staying three and a half weeks in Bermuda to get our boat fixed enough, so we felt it seaworthy again. Our return journey went mostly without any problems, and it took only six days compared to ten going south! How wonderful it was to see Rhode Island's coastline on the fourth of July, when we arrived back home. By First Mate, Gwen. |
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