This week, we’ve spent most of our time looking at weather files. Luckily, the forecasted storm didn’t turn out as bad as expected, and the dangerous-looking red spots on the weather map went north of Bahamas, but the weather has still been unstable, and one low pressure after another is passing Bahamas.

The wind is constantly turning 360 degrees, and it seems like we’re not doing much else but move from one side of an island to another in search of a safe anchorage without a lee shore.

In the last couple of weeks, we’ve mainly been anchoring using our Fortress, which we normally only use as a stern anchor. The Fortress is easier for Henrik to lift it up by hand, and we’ve been quite impressed with it, even though its 3,7 kg and 6 meter chain barely can be compared to our usual 25 kg Rocna with 50 meter of 8 mm chain. Twice this week, though, the Fortress has lost its grip, and one morning it did in in 30 knots of wind, and the boat turned sideways to the wind direction. We ran out on the deck, first trying to get the anchor to set again and to prevent our blow-up kayak from turning into a kite. The anchor wouldn’t set, though, so we got it up and sailed away before we got too close to the rocks (still no engine).

We were really happy that day that we had anchored with lots of space around us!

Because of all the wind this week, our wind generators has worked well, but when a cruiser-friend wrote to us to kindly offer us the loan of his portable generator, we accepted right away! He is in Canada, but his boat is moored in the Bahamas, and he came to the rescue as he had read about our electrical problems. We sailed to the marina in about 15 knots of wind and
anchored outside. The wind wasn’t favourable for anchoring there, but we would only be there 15 minutes to collect the generator anyway. Henrik just managed to put his feet in the dingy before the rain came – and then the wind! For two hours we were anchored in 30-40 knots of wind with lots of rain, thunder, and lightening, and we had no protection from the wind and nowhere to go if the anchor would release. (Luckily we were anchored with the Rocna this time). In the end we decided that we had to move before it got dark, but it took us 30 minutes just to get the anchor up, since we had to work our way forward under sail alone.

Then we tacked against the same wind for three hours to find the closest anchorage with a lee coast, and all in all the trip took us 7 hours – and we still didn’t have the generator!

Since then, the weather hasn’t been much better, and it doesn’t look like will be either. We’ve started looking for a possible weather window to cross the Gulf-stream back to Florida, but it doesn’t look promising. Our best change is next weekend, where there is very little to no wind, but without an engine we won’t get far. We’ve tried pushing the boat with the dinghy one day when we wanted to change anchorage in a very light wind, but it’s not a likely way of crossing the Gulfstream!

In principle, it might sound good being back to the roots without an engine and being entirely depended on wind and solar energy – but actually, it’s very inconvenient!

Singe Storr: Freelance journalist and friend of Boatshed