'Twas a Dark and Stormy...Day?

Yesterday was gorgeous, blue skies, light winds, and those beautiful blue Bahamas waters. The Boater Collies got a good run on the beach! Then the weather turned...

We moved to our original Plan A anchorage at the southwest side of Whale Cay. ("Cay" is pronounced "key".) The sea state that had built up with the strong winds on Monday had shifted out of the west and then to the north, and so did the swell. Not only was it from a more favorable direction, it was much more gentle.

Look at that water. It's hard to capture the stunning color and clarity on camera. Crystal clear down 40 feet and beyond.

We had a lazy morning, waiting for the winds to commit to the change in direction, and used the camera at the top of our mast to verify that the seas looked reasonable. We hadn't unpacked much over night, so it was easy to get things stowed for travel, raise anchor, and get under way.

The anchorage was exactly as we remembered it from last year, empty of boats, with an amazing sandy bottom with great holding. Setting the anchor was trivial. We knew that some weather would be rolling through on Wednesday, so we put out a bit of extra scope (the amount of chain for the anchor) to give us more holding power. This is because of something known as the catenary curve...which is beyond the scope of this blog post. The tldr version is that more scope generally means more holding power against wind and swell.

Launching the dinghy was a bit of a task, as there was still some swell, and it was hitting us on the beam (the side of the boat). But we got everyone on the water safely and to shore, where a long walk and ball chasing ensued.

Returning to the mothership, we began the process of decontaminating the pups. It's a process. We should video it some time. It involves lots of spraying down with salt water and then fresh water to remove sand and salt from them, the deck, and the dinghy, then drying the pups. They are mostly good sports about it.

Relaxing in the aft cockpit with the pups, we noticed the air getting cooler, and started to hear the rumblings of thunder in the distance. It was time to prepare for a storm.

We could see a wall of rain off in the distance. The cool wind is an indication of strong down-drafts, so we know the winds will pick up significantly. Thunder, of course, implies lightning.

We got the pups more thoroughly dried and inside, closed all the hatches, put most of our electronics into faraday bags (bags lined with copper mesh to protect them from a possible lightning strike), and started the engines (just in case the anchor started dragging and we needed to use the motors to help keep us in place).

We had plenty of time to prepare, and it was intense. The winds built quickly from 8 knots up to 40+ knots, with heavy rain beating down. The anchor held beautifully, and thankfully the lightning strikes were far away. We know of one boat a long way southeast of here that wasn't so lucky - they had a direct strike to the mast and lost all of their instruments.

After the storm passed, the winds settled into the 12-17 knot range, and the air stayed nice and cool. We set up multiple anchor alarms, as well as a wind speed alarm, so that we would wake up if more storms cropped up over night, but all was calm and stable.

They say that sailing is long hours of boredom interrupted by 15 minutes of terror. While I wouldn't classify our feelings as one of "terror", it certainly was in the realm of "moderate concern".

On the plus side, we now have conclusive evidence that we are well prepared for the winds that will blow through tomorrow.