Passage Between Men of War

[Kyle]Our decent weather window for the push north from Man O' War Bay on Great Inagua was actually a day of strong-ish headwinds, giving us an expected time of around 42 hours. Our other choices were tailwinds that were so light it would take us twice that long, or light headwinds that would make us feel lucky to get twenty miles per day.

Headwinds are definitely not my favorite, but They were off to one side, the islands kept the swell down and it was nice to have a breeze in the heat. The problem was that we also ended up bucking a current the whole way as well. That slowed us down enough that the nice downwind run we were looking forward to after rounding Long Island for the Exumas never happened. By the time we got there, we had building headwinds. I thought of giving up, but all of the nearby anchorages were terribly exposed to the next big blow that was on its way and waiting longer would only mean more headwind, so we pushed on.

It was very stressful stuff. Our velocity made good (VMG) towards our destination was just barely enough to maybe make it in before dark. If we couldn't, we would have no alternative but to heave-to at sea until morning. Since we were already twelve hours later than we had expected, that idea didn't really appeal.

In case we did end up at sea for another night, we kept to our watch schedule and each spent the whole time willing the miles to pass faster. I spent my whole watch on the edge of my seat, staring at our VMG and constantly tweaking everything to get it as high as possible. Begonia's small engines could be of no help because they can't push her into wind and seas faster than she can by sailing, even though it is at an angle to the course. I spent my whole watch trying to take advantage of every little gust or wind shift and dreading having to wake Maryanne for her night watch by admitting that it didn't work.

Luckily, I didn't have to. I woke her up right after my last tack and we were now screaming directly at the pass entrance with an ETA an hour and a half before sunset. We would then have just enough light left to pick our way to the first available anchorage at Man O' War Cay (recall we departed from Man O' War bay in Great Inagua, you would not want to confuse them). It was a bit swelly, there but beautiful, and it was nice to know we could both get a full night's sleep after all of the tossing and turning of the last days.

Two nights at sea - Man O' War Bay (Great Inagua) to Man O' War Cay (Exumas), safely anchored before sunset on day 3.