Hello all,
I must apologize for being so absent on the forum.. I will get to that in a bit.
We are currently in the Bahamas, and are trying to cross up to Beaufort NC in the next week-couple weeks. Everytime I look at the weather it says a minimum of 5 foot seas.. Is that normal for the East Coast? What are the typical conditions and route we should take to get up there?
Now to fill you all in: we left South Texas a few months ago and got some pretty foul weather (35kts and 8-10 footers). This blew out our well loved jib 70 miles off shore and we wound up running back to Texas (into the matagorda inlet where we had to dodge crashing/barreling waves inside of the inlet that were half the height of the mizzen-this still has me traumatized to date) where we rode out a 5 hour squall of 67kts on anchor (200ft of chain out and 55lb Rocna at a 20:1 scope.. We were dragging at a 12:1).. We proceeded up the icw to Freeport TX then set sail on a 10day crossing straight to the dry tortugas.. Then went up to key west and crossed to Freeport Bahams, where we spent a month bumming around the island. We then left and spent a few weeks cruising the Berry Islands and the spead down to Nassau where we rode out the edge of Hurricane Dorian, thank heavens we tucked in here. And now TS Huberto (on anchor-and I would not recommend..
Is this amount of bad weather normal for folks cruising or is this a bad season? (And yes we waited for weather windows of 15kts or less.. Not trying to see Neptune's wrath)
Thanks all!
It is summer in the Bahamas. Which means that its storm season. I'm sure you've had your share of squalls already.
5 feet is very common for that crossing at this time of year. It is the period that makes or breaks that. If the period is 8 secs, then no problem. If its 5 secs, then wait or be uncomfortable. And never sail the stream with any kind of northerly wind blowing. Wait for a southerly and ride the stream as long as you can.
It can be an awesome run with the stream or it can be horrible. We did from Bimini to Jacksonville FL twice and loved it both times. Zoom. (Still got hit by squalls, but batten down for an hour and they're gone) Pick your windows best you can.
Thank you very very much! I will be sure to pay vlose attention to the period, and a nice south breeze.. About what did you typically average for speed?
Thanks!