Off to a Choppy Start From Bonaire
Good morning! It is 2:30 PM on board Polar Seal, and we didn’t exactly have the smooth start that we were hoping for.
Within 10 minutes of our departure from Harbor Village marina, our alternator seemed to give us trouble. Turns out, it is programmed to be “off” when the batteries are topped up. So everything was good, and after an hour of rounding Bonaire on its North Side, we were offshore.
In the last few days, the weather forecast showed incredible conditions for our departure. But we didn’t know what the waves/swell would look like and how well we would be able to sail close to the wind with our old baggy jib (affectionately named “the trash bag”).
All of our friends who did the passage warned us: The sea state out of the east makes for a gnarly sail northwards.
We knew that we would be sailing upwind (which is rarely fun), but as we foresaw, it turned out that the waves were the real bugger.
We are currently sailing between 50-60 degrees to the wind with two reefs in the main, one reef in the jib, and rocking up and down the waves at an average of 5.5/6 knots. It isn’t too bad, but it makes the boat really difficult to (ahem…) “navigate” (pun intended).
Because the waves almost come straight from the bow, Polar Seal is slamming in them like we’ve never experienced before. We are taking so much spray at the bow and all the way to the cockpit that we installed our cockpit enclosure.
As I am writing this, all of us are battling various degrees of seasickness, and there may have been a short “fish feeding” episode. So we are all a bit nauseous, but at least we are dry!
For that reason, we haven’t set up a watch schedule yet. Right now, whoever feels the best is in charge of the boat, and right now, that is me! (Sophie)
Anett is with me in the cockpit, sleeping with a bag of chocolate waffles and olives, and today was the first time that I heard Ryan tell me he was seasick.
The sea state seems to have calmed down a bit in the last 30 minutes, and we hope that it stays that way so we can enjoy some fun sailing together.
In other news, we are struggling with our Iridium email inbox, so if we don’t answer it is probably because we haven’t seen your message. We will try to fix it tomorrow!
Happy Sunday!
Sophie, Ryan and Anett