Bahamas – Wind?!? What?!?
February 16, 2022
Wind, a requirement for sailing, correct? The more than obvious desirable propulsion method to get a ‘sailboat’ from Point A to Point B. Previous posts have dealt w/the subjects of wind forecasting, too much wind, too little wind and too directionally challenging wind. But really what is wind? According to the National Geographic Society it is “the movement of air caused by the uneven heating of the Earth by the sun.” Added by Science News for Students: “Changes in air pressure are what lead to wind. Wind, IE the flow of air, is Mother Nature’s way of equalizing differences in air pressure. Air pressure describes the weight of air over a given site. It is determined by that parcel of air’s temperature, volume and density.” Expanding air produces regions of high pressure, contracting air creates areas of low pressure. Wind happens when air moves from regions of high to low pressure; the bigger the difference between the pressures the faster the air will move. Then you can get into the complicated topic of different types of wind or atmospheric flow. I’ll refrain from that.
Why this diatribe on wind? For the last 8 months to the date D&I have dealt w/wind, in various shapes, strengths, directions etc. It pretty much has dictated our day to day existence as it were. It factors into just about every decision we make; well, maybe not the type of sundowner to make, unless maybe it’s a ‘Dark & Stormy’. It impacts where, when, how we go places. It also has a more subliminal impact on our moods at the moment. From Tesh.com “Changes in the barometric pressure connected to strong winds can cause headaches, joint pain, fatigue and irritability.” Possibly due to the way our joints and blood vessels shrink/swell as the pressure changes. DING DING DING-we have a winner-irritability-K, runner up-fatigue-D. Add a bit of stress anxiety to the mix and it can get interesting.
I bring this up because for the last 48 hours the wind has been blowing like stink (25-35kn) here at our anchorage in Elizabeth Harbor, Georgetown, Exumas, BS. We got our guests, Jodi & Dan, on board just before the blow ramped up Monday am. They needed to take a water taxi the 2.5m to Rory because the wind/waves would have swamped our poor undersized dinghy Bo and drenched Jodi & Dan. We’ve all been doing quite well in regards to our moods probably because we’ve been catching up on each of our lives adventures. Every once & while K will state that she is so sick of the wind and warns others of an impending case of the crabbies. We’ve been taking naps to fend off fatigue and generally taking life’s pace down a couple of notches. We’ve also have had creative cocktails, great meals, and almost vicious games of Dominos and Cribbage. Not to rub it in but K beginner lucked in Dominos and the ‘girls’ kicked the ‘boys’ butt in Cribbage. Rematch later today.
Getting to Georgetown, missed that part. We left inspirational Jack’s Bay Cove to anchor 5.5nm south by Oven Rock on Great Guana Cay. Rory looks good in paradise doesn’t she? Had some strong winds a couple days and took one day to hike the island and find the ‘cave’. Cool; we also continued down the path to an idyllic looking cove beach on the Exuma Sound side of the island. The end of the path along w/the beach was covered in garbage, mostly plastic; and I mean covered. You hear about it, read about it but until you actually see it in reality it becomes real. I was quite depressed, angry, and saddened about it. D had steeled himself up for it and had less of a reaction, however equally angry about it. This was just one cove, just how much garbage exists everywhere blows the mind. We as a planet HAVE to do something about it. Picture does NOT portray how much junk is on the beach. More on that to come.
Arrival in Georgetown. Went thru our first ‘cut’, comparable in difficulty to inlets on the Eastern US coast, in the Exuma Island chain Galliot; having an easy time of it. Sailed gloriously for 7nm then motored the rest of the 48 nm. We anchored next to our friends Mark & Cheryl M near Elizabeth Island; this being our 5th meetup w/them. It seems surreal to me that we were slipmates in Manitowoc Marina for 3yrs and now we are in the Bahamas w/them. We had a wonderful time together. They are now working their way south to the Ragged Islands, BS.
8 months into it; 3,241NM, 387 engine hours, 161 of 239 days on the hook, lovin’ it; mostly 😉
