Impressions of the Mona Passage and beyond … Sunday 22nd – Tuesday 24th April

Impressions of the Mona Passage and beyond   …   Sunday 22^nd – Tuesday 24^th April

This blog entry will be a little different. We’re both tired from the passage and not feeling highly motivated to write a full story and the Scopolamine patches that we have both been using tend to create havoc with your mental acuity and memory. So what we are going to do is simply catch some of thoughts and impressions from the last 48 hours.

First Gloria …

Pre-made meals (sandwiches for lunch and casserole for dinner) are great thinking.

First day of sailing was quite pleasant.  Initially broad reach but winds went a bit north of east, which helped a lot.

There is a lot of traffic in the Mona Passage.  Around noon on Sunday we had two vessels near us.  One was a tanker and we wound up heading more northerly to avoid him.  Later that afternoon when Gloria had the helm, there were five vessels in our vicinity. AIS is such a help. It lets you know the name of the vessel, gives the speed, course and sometimes the distance at closest approach (hopefully not 0.2nM). 

Major change of direction means a different angle to the swells.  Over time you can grow accustomed to the way the swells are moving the boat.  When you have a drastic course change (to avoid a collision!) this new motion is pretty unsettling. 

The nights are quite hard.  Number of reasons—can’t anticipate the larger swells, can’t see the sails to do much trimming, can’t see squalls approaching.  Getting enough sleep/rest is difficult.

It was smart to put a reef in the main before dark.  (Could maybe have done this a little earlier to make it easier to see).  When anchored near islands the wind drops down overnight but not while out at sea.

Watch schedule worked out pretty well.  Tried to run this through the day as well.  Helpful with getting a nap or resting when you are not on watch.

When morning arrives, you are tired but the light gives you a mental lift.  The approach of evening of the second day is difficult.  More sleep deprivation on it’s way!

Our second day of sailing with lighter winds on a very broad reach was very trying.  Mike deployed every sail plan we have (not the storm sails) to try to keep us moving along at greater than 5 kts.  We had a poled out genoa on the same side as the main, also tried that with the genoa on the other side.  The storm gennaker came out.  Eventually we did some motoring.  Then the wind piped up and we sailed again. Finally overnight, we went back to motoring.

Seas were coming from the side making for quite uncomfortable conditions in the cockpit and below.

Shallow banks to our north kept us from sailing closer to the wind for better speed and easier angle to the swells.

Mike hardly got any sleep.  He was kind enough to stay in the cockpit with me while I was on watch.  The cockpit isn’t the easiest place to get sleep.  Although between about 1:30 and 3:00 am on the second night, Gloria slept in the cockpit.

The timing of the passages is difficult.  We estimated based on six knots of speed, expecting to arrive in the morning.  During the light wind phases, I started to think that we might be so slow that we would arrive after dark on the third day.  In contrast, when we were zooming along at greater than seven knots, I worried that we’d be “early” compared to our estimate and arrive before daybreak on Tuesday. Probably the message is “there’s plenty of things to worry about!”

Now Mike …

I can’t believe we just crossed the Mona Passage and made it all the way up to Turks and Caicos. For literally years I have been thinking and reading about this passage, although it was mostly anticipating an easterly crossing, which is much harder against the trade winds. A couple of years ago I kept a weather log for several months using an excel spreadsheet, in an effort to get a sense of what conditions to expect and how they change. We were fortunate to have good weather with no imminent threat of storms.

We covered 283 nM (as the crow flies) in 47 hours. It’s the longest passage we have done as just the two of us.

Gloria was awesome. I know she gets nervous about the sailing and particularly long and remote passages, but she was a real champ.

It would be great to be able to describe what it’s actually like both during the day and at night. Most of the time it’s not particularly exciting and we are just hanging out in the cockpit. The autopilot does 95% of the steering and sail changes and trimming are not that frequent. It’s hot in the cockpit, but at least we have started using the zip-on sunshade that came with the boat. It tends to limit visibility from directly behind the wheel, but you can see around it just fine and there not so much to watch directly in front of you when you are offshore. We chat to each other a bit, but to be honest a lot of the time we are just lost in our own thoughts, in a semi-comatose state! The scopolamine patches are interesting; we find them very effective for seasickness but they make it hard to think clearly, your eyesight is impacted and your memory is quite clearly compromised. Night-time sailing is a completely different experience from the day. If there’s a lot of moon then it can be quite bright and you can still see and anticipate the seas. If it’s cloudy or little moon it can be really dark and the motion seems greatly exaggerated. It’s also noisy on the boat with the wind in the rigging and waves slapping the hull or breaking nearby. This was particularly true last night when there were several waves that broke near our stern quarter and we expected to get soaked only to have the foam wash under the transom. Sometimes the boat will get into a “grove” and there’s a tremendous sense of the boat being at one with the waves. In fairness Cotinga is a terrific boat in the ocean, handling all sorts of seas in a comfortable way. We always eat good food on the boat and as Gloria mentioned it pays dividends to be well prepared with pre-cooked or easy to cook meals and lots of snacks.

There have been a number of occasions in the last few days when the sailing felt fantastic, the boat was moving along really fast and everything felt very comfortable and secure.

We have a couple of foam pads for the cockpit seats but they aren’t that great. We have baulked at the price of buying cockpit cushions but I think we either need to make some ourselves or dig deep and have some professionally made. I have to tell you that my butt is sore from sitting the cockpit. We do have a couple of camping chairs at the back, which are surprisingly comfortable, but the fabric covering them is starting to fall apart.

We find the longer passages very demanding. Having reached Sandy Cay we have spent the day just hanging out and recuperating which has been great. But it begs the question – what would it take to feel that relaxed on the boat whilst making a passage. I think the main difference is the motion. Even if you manage to control motion sickness it can still be hard work doing anything because the boat is moving all over the place. I personally find listening to music on my ipod really helps me relax.

Photography on board is tough. I’d love to get more night shots or action shots when things are a bit rough, but in the latter case I’m usually busy and there is a lot of salt water spraying around which is terrible for camera gear. I do have a tripod on the boat and do use it. When in harbor at anchor it works OK but when you are sailing it isn’t really enough to keep the camera steady. If any one has any smart ideas let me know.

One highlight of this passage was the appearance of a school of small dolphins just before we reached Sandy Cay. At first I thought they were predatory fish, then they started showing off with jumps and back-flips. Sadly Gloria missed it as she was down below catching up on some sleep.

A broad reach - sailing north west in the Mona Passage

Gloria at Sunset - the Mona Passage

Gloria at Sunset - the Mona Passage

In the cockpit at night

In the cockpit at night with red light on in the galley below

In the cockpit at night with instruments set to "night mode" illumination

Sailing into the sunset north of the Dominican Republic

The cockpit at night

 A view up the side deck at night - everything seemed to be coated in salt!

Sails illuminated by the half moon - night two, north of the Dominican Republic