Late Coffee…Early Cocktails

Capt Claw did not want to squander a good weather window by delaying our passage from Nassau to Florida simply due to the lingering doubts of the crew.  I get just a bit spooked when hapless events line up in trend-like formations and look for a clear end before embarking on anything new. The Captain was correct however, the 15-20 knot winds forecast for Yoohoo’s stern would provide a quick sail from Nassau, across the banks and onto Florida.  So we set out without clearly establishing whether the fates were with us.

All went so well that we didn’t even think to complain that the wind had not filled in and we motor-sailed through the NW Channel and across the banks toward Mackie Shoals and Great Isaac.   The sun set and the moon rose full as we chugged along with few worries other than the stream of large motor vessels heading the other way. I had completed the first watch just as we approached the rocks at Great Isaac.  Though the channel between the rocks is relatively wide, we both stayed on deck to navigate through this area.  A good choice as we met a freighter going the other way at the narrowest part of the cut making us wonder why they take shortcuts across the shallow banks in the dark.  We thought that option was just for us!

Greg took over the watch at 2:30 am and I tucked myself into a lee-cloth lined bunk below, attempting to sleep. As soon as we got to deep water the current picked up, the winds picked up and Yoohoo started rolling with the stern action.  We laughed at the instructions on the sea-sickness patches — “make sure you use at least 4 hours before feeling motion sickness”.  Now that we were in deep water Greg started tracking the usual assortment of ships visually and on radar.   He was startled by a large catamaran that sailed right across our bow, never having appeared on radar, and dim lights making it appear that the vessel was a larger vessel in the distance. Yikes, is that how poorly we appear to other vessels at night?

Soon he was tracking lights from 2 cruise ships, 1 commercial ship,  and a barge & tow, all appearing on radar only intermittently due to the big waves that were building.    Since radar was inconsistent he  concentrated on the various ships lights to ensure that none changed course onto a collision heading with us.   Suddenly he noticed a blip on the radar one mile dead ahead of us!  He scanned the horizon but could not see lights.  The blip persisted and the tension mounted. Within a few moments the full moon illuminated a cutter-shaped vessel crossing our bow, running without lights.  Capt Claw could not tell if it was a Navy cutter or Coast Guard cutter but was assured that either way they had plenty of bullets on board.

If running around the ocean in big seas sneaking up on little sailboats in the dark isn’t enough, the cutter’s next move was to shine a Hollywood-sized spotlight on Yoohoo, rendering the last of Greg’s strained vision useless.  I woke below not recalling when I’ve ever seen a full moon so bright that it lit the interior of boat like it was day.  In an instant I realized it was a spotlight angle down on us from a high point and pitched into the cockpit sure that Greg had fallen overboard and a freighter was bearing down on us.  Luckily I was fully clothed or more than my terror would have been displayed by that light.

The cutter was holding station about 50 yards behind Yoohoo allowing Greg to keep his back to them and  regain his vision.  He’d lost his course during the blinding and the wind on the stern wrapped the jib around the forestay.  The cutter now contacted Greg via VHF, identified themselves as US Coast Guard and started the interrogation but Greg maintained his cool, telling them to standby until he corrected the wrap and was safely sailing again.  Questions included last port of call, destination, vessel name, documentation number, make, length, breadth and depth.  How many persons on board.  Is that rusty dog we see harboring any illegal cats on board?  OK, maybe not that one.

It was clear that the Coasties were checking our answers against a database and we passed the test.  They thanked us for our time, and as we wished each other well they disappeared into the night.  We wondered what the next step would have been if we hadn’t passed the test.  With 6-8′ seas and 15-20 knot winds we would not have let them board the boat.  We think the only other choice is to follow them to a port but can’t imagine they’d want to tool along at speeds of 6-8 knots.

Capt Claw completed the rest of his 2 - 6 am watch without additional incident.  By dawn the waves were quite healthy on our stern and we were ripping along at 10-12 knots in the Gulf Stream.  This provides an exhilarating ride if you can ignore the boat rolling 30 degrees one way and 30 degrees the next.  We were quite surprised to find no other sailboats headed north.   We tinkered with sail changes to try to dampen the roll with some success.  During one change, with all sail down, we must have been a site to see as a large motor yacht bound for the West End hailed us and asked us if we were in distress.  Thanks, for asking, but nope, we live for this kind of stuff!

Unfortunately, a front was scheduled to arrive soon forcing us to abandon our giddy ride north and head for Ft Pierce inlet.  Even though this is a Class A inlet we still looked at the tides to ensure we would not be entering with a full ebb tide hitting the large incoming waves and the GPS indicated we’d arrive at just after  slack water with a flowing tide.  As we reached the first sea buoy and entered the channel it became quite clear by the 12 feet waves on our beam and a boat speed of 3.5 knots with the full main pulling and 2400 engine RPMs that the tide was still ebbing.  Apparently the strong winds were still blowing the water out the inlet.  We made it in but it took a few tools to pry our grips off the boat!

You’d think that personal welcome by the Coast Guard would mean we could skip the troublesome check-in procedures that private boats face upon return to the U.S.  Not so.   First step is to phone the Customs Border Patrol (CBP) offices.  We didn’t have a working phone so we needed to find an anchorage with a free WiFi signal so we could use Skype.  Luckily the rumors that the CBP never answers the designated phone numbers were untrue and we completed Step 1 within 5 minutes.  Step 2 — appear in person at the nearest CBP office within 24 hours.  The dinghy was stowed on deck and we thought they’d frown on our appearance if we swam ashore so the only alternative is to take the boat to a marina. This took a lot of calling as the marinas were full.  We finally got a break, and $80 later had Yoohoo parked.  Next step, grabbed the $24 taxi required to get to the CBP office located 5 miles from the water.   We appeared in person for 30 seconds, were proclaimed checked in without any questions being asked, passports being stamped or being given any other proof that we appeared in person.  Other than the stealth visit by the USCG, no one ever came within 5 miles of checking the boat for any illegalities.

Not to worry, the taxi dropped us off at the local grocery and we stood agog marveling at all the choices.  Welcome to the U.S.A.!  The adventure was great, we enjoyed all of it, but it’s good to be back.