Warderick Wells, Exuma

3.9.13 We left early this morning to head to Warderick Wells, Exuma - FINALLY! The wind was strong, but it was on our stern so we barely felt it. The waves were relatively calm and were also on our stern so we were anticipating a great day! The first part of the day was just that - we enjoyed an easy sail and were making good headway towards Exuma. When the wind died down halfway through the day, we raised the mainsail to increase our speed a bit. Things started to go downhill from there. We snagged a fish on one of our poles, but by the time I made it to the pole, he was gone. We had also put a preventer line on our mainsail to prevent it from jibing and slamming across our boat to the other side. When the wind shifted, Brad went to remove the preventer line with a boat hook. It proved easy enough, but while he was untying the line, the boat hook slipped right off his lap into the water. By this time, the waves were more than we had bargained for and we were not up for turning around the retrieve it. That makes boat hook number 2, lost to the sea this trip. By now, the wind and waves had piped up considerably and we were within sight of land, about 5 miles from the cut. We were jibing in to try to make it there under sail, meaning we were crossing with the wind on our stern, which is a bit tricky, as you have to make sure that when the wind catches the sail, you don't allow it to slam across the boat, possibly tearing the sail. We had done a few controlled jibes and were steadily making our way to the cut. We did another, normal jibe but on this one, the sail protested and tore almost completely down the seam - from bow to stern. We both just started at it for a good minute, not seeming to comprehend what had happened. We had done everything correctly, controlled jibes, easy turns - but in the end, the old sails sealed our fate. We had yet another ripped sail on our hands. So, 3 miles from shore in 3-5 foot seas, we had to turn in to the wind and try to get the sail down. It was a bit bouncy and set us back about 2 miles, but we finally got it all hauled down. We were both extremely disheartened and loped in to Warderick Wells just before sunset. We got the anchor down and both collapsed. Tomorrow we will figure out the sail issue and hopefully head South towards Georgetown.