PALACIOS/ FORT MYERS
GULF OF MEXICO 800 MILES
We finally left Palacios, on Monday afternoon and headed for the entrance of Matagorda channel. Anyone who is preparing a boat for an offshore passage will know, it feels like a never ending saga while the boat is firmly attached to its mooring lines. You feel stuck and you are stuck till you must get it together and admit that is the best you are going to do……….. and………………….. leave !!!.
We parted with our good friend in Palacios and the gloom of the south Texas winter. We were supposed to have a good weather window, with a breezy start and a two day calm period. We estimate the passage to be 3 to 4 days for 800 miles average speed of 200 miles a day.
Sound all great on paper, till we headed out !!. Firstly just one day out the weather report changed dramatically and Noaa predictions went from a calm to a cold front, with head wind and fresh breeze. Brrrr…We did not worry about the wind as much as the notorious “Gulf sea state” and yes …beating for 800 miles….
We pushed our way in short nasty head sea + with a gloomy, cold and very breezy condition. POUAAH !!!!
Within 48 hours of crashing and banging at 8 knot ( quite amazing we beat all the way averaging 8 knot !!! pffff !! never did that with any of our boat) we were all pretty much grumpy, and tired. Could not sleep forward, so we all fought for sean’s and Patrick bunks in the stern. We all wore hats and coat and basically spent 3 days ducking under the pilot house to avoid spray splashing in your face . Not exactly spa treatment. Bonjour the aging process… I felt like I had the exfoliating treatment for 3 days but I never got the cucumber on my eyes !!!
The Gulf has a bad reputation and this was the third time we crossed it, and again, we were at the mercy of its short/ sh…ty sea . Acharne did a beautiful job, the autopilot was rock solid ( did not steer for 800 miles) and the engine never went above 1500 rpm. ( only at the end when we pushed to a relaxing 1700 rpm.. and doing 10 knots !!!!easy peasy ….. ) All system worked, boat was great, so I guess it was the crew, let face it, we were not happy campers. We are still major chicken of the sea and we are used to complain, and we certainly did.
We did not have the stabilizers as yet hooked up, just the fins and the short stubby keel. We were curious to see how the boat would handle the seas and what a best test that the bloody Gulf of Mexico and its washing machine system!!!
Well Acharne feels like a catamaran, very stiff, does not really get a roll going and frankly is very stable . It will be interesting to see how she behave with the additional comfort of stabilizers.
We only had one great advantage that it was a full moon and we had spectacular vision at night. The moon was so bright that it filtered through the cloud cover. It was very beautiful. Every night, I waited for the moon and when it came, it cheered me up.
I guess, it all went well, we are pretty exhausted resting at anchor with a arctic blow in Florida and 30 knots of wind !!!!
Needless to say we are ready to head further south and shed our clothes.
virginie
