Bermuda bound!
Sarah Grace goes to sea
Chris Yerbury and Sophy White
Thu 10 May 2007 18:29
When to leave
is always a particularly tricky decision that doesn't seem to get
any easier and it often takes a few days until you know if the
decision was the right one. Increasingly frenzied studying of weather
charts from more and more sources(which frequently contradict) is
accompanied by much sucking on teeth and comments from others that all
point to the inevitable conclusion to procrastinate- just wait and see what
the next forecast shows, you shouldn't be in such a rush, did you see the
lunchtime news report about conditions out there? This is then topped
by "So,you are still here then"- a thinly veiled criticism, the degree of
emphasis on the "still" in direct proportion to how much of a wimp they think
you are.
When you
finally announce that you are going now, this is met with the knee
jerk "..but what about the terrible forecast/ wave conditions. Why not just
see what tomorrow brings" ? and the previous inner paralysis of indecision has
to be forceably restrained.
Yesterday I said good
bye to all that mental stress and we left Fort Lauderdale mid morning for the
900mile trip to Bermuda. Based on all those forecasts, it seemed we needed to
get as much easting in before heading north so we sailed through the northern
Bahamas rather than going around the top. "Sailed through the Bahamas" probably
conjures up images of palm tufted white sand islets in impossibly
blue seas, the reality was a leak from the diesel supply line(temporarily
sorted) and a night transit among lots of shipping taking the same short cut.
The only sign of land was one lighthouse flashing forlornly in the
blackness ( the other wasn't working). This morning it is overcast and
a thin line of grey on the horizon will soon be gone as we head out to sea.
The new forecast shows light south/ south easterlies which may or may not
be enough to keep us sailing and avoid tedious days of motoring- I'll let
you know how it goes.