Crossing of Anxiety

White Pepper's previous two eastbound crossings of the Gulf Stream were more a matter of guess work and hilarity. Please see previous posts for details. A good analogy would be crossing an Interstate highway at midnight blindfolded. You might make it across, but maybe not. More on this analogy later.

On this crossing I was determined to use all the available tools. I paid for a weather adviser—Chris Parker-- $80 for 2 months of of e-mail updates. I paid for Sailflow --$3/ month. Sailflow provides 8 grib models of weather as well as there own proprietary product. And of course there are literally hundreds of products available from NOAA via the internet. All of this resulted in immense uncertainty.

The great game of the Bahamas bound cruiser is to find a “window” when the weather provides gentle favorable breezes and the seas are mild. An ideal scenario would be 12 knots out of the SW with no waves. Impossible you say, but just such conditions occur before major cold fronts as the high pressure system clocks the wind from E to SE, S, SW and W prior to blasting the area with strong NW winds. There is only one iron clad rule for crossing the Gulf Stream-- no north winds. Any north winds of any strength ruffle up the Gulf Stream. Getting caught here can be catastrophic. A second rule may be to avoid strong winds and waves from any direction. Extending the previous analogy this is like crossing the Interstate highway but only when the a big truck is coming. The truck can speed up or slow down. You do not have to put the blindfold on until starting across the highway. Also the earlier truck is allowed to back up. and any slow moving trucks can send smaller trucks zipping ahead.

Late December 2013 and early January 2014 brought great difficulty in the weather. One cold front after another rumbled off the south eastern coast of America. In addition most of these backed up over the Bahamas to cause great confusion.

White Pepper arrived in Lake Worth/ Palm Beach, FL New Year's Eve from Vero Beach. We waited out a rip roaring cold front at anchor. It was moving so fast that crossing ahead of it did not seem advisable although several strong boats did go. “Bouncy” was the work we got back. The next front was due to cross late January 6 with a “window” maybe January 5 and early 6. This was the front associated with the immense polar air mass described in the papers as the largest, coldest invasion of polar air into the continental US in 20 years. Chris Parker said that there may not be another good opportunity until a week, maybe, after this one. However the front was so large that conditions in advance were uncertain. The GRIB files changed daily. What seemed an ideal window early looked very rough later. Ominous reports of 3-4 foot NE swells in addition to 5-6 foots seas were forecast.

We moved to the launch area south of Peanut Island and behind the fabulous homes of Palm Beach. When the day of decision came on Sunday January 5, I must have consulted the computer 20 times. Every hour seemed like a day. A hugh complication was that a “convergence” trough had formed just off the beach of southeastern Florida. One squall after another rolled over us all day. My fear was that the trough would regenerate when it drifted over the warm waters of the Gulf Stream. I did not want to go. However, the alternative was another week at anchor with freezing temperatures. Jan pointed out that we were running out of supplies including propane.

Every hour was an agony of worry. By 3:30 pm I had decided not to go. This was in the middle of a thunderous squall. By 4 pm it was calm and a beautiful sun set was setting up. I said “let's go” and started to raise the anchor. We cleared the jetties by 5:15 pm in perfect conditions.

The crossing was exhilarating. About 9 pm the very early S wind clocking to SW picked up. This was the very earliest part of the new system. White Pepper romped across the Gulf Stream. With reefed main and reefed Genoa on the power reach she clocked 5 knots into the teeth of the stream. She acted like the thoroughbred racer she once was, despite another 6 inches of waterline. We no longer have a paddle wheel, but I estimate speed through the water at 6.5 plus. Wind speeds were moderate at 14 to 16. Sea state was mild. We raised Freeport before dawn and cleared into Port Lucaya about 11 am. By 9 pm the gale was whistling over White Pepper --safely at dock.