Day 292, Thursday April 10th- Journey to USA begins

Day 292, Thursday April 10^th 

Enjoying the "puffer"

We head to Great Sale Cay in preparation for our Atlantic crossing and the Gulf Stream.  The autohelm does not seem to be responding as well as normal, however winds are high and there is a lot of weather helm as we did not reef the main.  It is best for this boat to reef the main before the jib and we have done the opposite so there is more pressure on the helm.  Eventually our point of sail improves from close hauled to a beam reach so the autohelm is happier.  We sail for 10 hours uneventfully.  For the last 4 hours the wind calms a bit so we launch the asymmetrical sail.  We love sailing with the “puffer”.  It is just so pretty and powerful, really makes you feel like a sailor.

Dawson smiling on the helm

Boat we pass along the way on the rocks

We decide to anchor along the southwest shore which adds about an extra 45 minutes to the trip, but we want a calm night to ensure a solid sleep before our big sail to northern Florida.  The anchorage to the west is a bit more exposed than the natural harbour at the south end.  During dinner we are happy we went the extra distance as there are some big black clouds looming.  Sure enough the sky starts to rinse the boat off and the winds pick up.  We are sheltered from the waves, but the island here is only a couple of feet high so we get the full brunt of the wind.  It is not too windy, but windier than we like for sleeping.  We can hear the brakes come on the wind generator.

We have a few jobs to get done before nightfall, so we buzz about raising our radar reflector, diving our hull for inspection, routing the trip, dropping the Bahamian flag, and switching out our National flag.  Both flags are looking very tired and the Canadian flag suffered extensively during the squalls a couple of nights ago.  Very embarrassing having such ragged flags.   Luckily we have an extra Canadian flag aboard.  Anyone going cruising we would recommend have an extra flag, because after about 4 months they get pretty haggard looking.

With jobs all done, we head to bed at 9:00 in anticipation of an early morning.

Cheers

Julie and Dawson