36Hour Day

5.23.11

We left Grand Cay yesterday morning at 0600 and took 12 hours to sail across Little Bahama Bank. The wind was nonexistent, so we motored the whole way. But even worse than motoring was the sweltering heat that we had starting as early as 0800 that day! And of course we were traveling West, so the sun was heating up the cockpit for the majority of the day - or rather, would have, if I hadn't come to the rescue. I rigged a sheet to hang down across the stern of the boat, effectively covering the helm and cockpit in glorious shade. Thankfully that made the day much more pleasant and we had made it to the edge of the bank before we knew it.
We had decided we were going to anchor there for a few hours, get some sleep and weigh anchor around midnight to start our crossing. But, I guess Mother Nature wasn't through with us just yet...
After a full day of no wind whatsoever, as soon as we dropped the anchor, the wind piped up to a gusty 15-20knots. In the middle of open water, there is no protection and so we bounced - roughly - for the following 6hours. We debated turning tail back to the lee of land, but decided we had come too far to head back. We waited it out, but the planned hours of sleep were never achieved. There is only so much relaxing that can occur while the boat is bouncing around so much - sleep was definitely not going to come easily. Although we lazed around for that time, neither of us was able to get much shut eye.
Finally, the wind shifted around 0100 and we hauled up the anchor and, on no sleep, started across the Stream. I took the first shift and, armed with Soda, snacks and a 5hour energy drink, managed to keep us going for the first 5hours. By then, the wind had shifted and I woke Brad up to help adjust the sails and take over the helm.
We alternated steering throughout the day, following our path on the GPS towards Ft. Pierce. We had hoped to sail the whole way, but as is normal in warmer weather, as the sun comes up, the wind goes down. By around 0800, we turned on the motor and had to motor sail the remainder of the trip.
It was a long and rolly day; waves hit our stern and our sides alternately, tossing us around like a toy boat. Luckily, the waves were smaller (only 3-4feet) and although the rolling was annoying, it could have been much worse.
We finally limped into Ft. Pierce Inlet around 1700 this evening, beyond exhausted and ready to drop anchor ASAP. Although we both made it home safely, with no sleep and little to eat, our alter egos were beginning to make appearances and the yelling and cursing had increased as the trip had progressed.
We dropped anchor, had a dinner that I don't even remember tasting and crawled into bed for the first sleep either of us had seen in the last 36 hours.