Departure Date Sunday, 7 May 06 from Halifax to Bermuda. Approximately five container ships departed and one entered in our time frame. First time sighting a boat was at midnight, large fishing boat in the horizon. Within the next couple of days, the main was reefed and furling shortened. Two hundred miles out and we had dolphins swimming at our bow. Didn’t think our boat would go fast enough to have their company. It’s said dolphins at your bow is good luck. If nothing else they will keep the whales away.Thursday we have entered the Gulf Stream, our bearings are 39°N 39” and 64°W 25” water temperature at 70.5 degrees and approximately 85 degrees in the cockpit, t-shirt and shorts. We spent the morning squall dodging and sailing around one only to find another behind it. Instant, twenty-five knots or more, and heavy rainfall. Ted while one his watch, said hello to a group of sperm whales and took some pictures. Unfortunately the pictures just look like a bunch of waves in the water.
By late afternoon, the wind dies but the current is strong. The speed through the water is 6.2 knots and the stream is in the wrong direction, causing us to loose 3 to 5 knots. After talking to Herb on the single side band, he informed us of a nasty front coming straight for us. Ideally Herb suggested that we get to 38 degrees and we had eight hours to get into safe waters. Knowing we had engine problems, he indicated that if we can’t make that time frame than our best bet was to head north and go back to Nova Scotia. Prior to this day we have tackled 29 to 38 knot winds and 5 meter swells. Hated to see what this front was going to bring our little twenty-seven foot boat. Ted worked on the engine for about three hours and no go, can’t make the other side in the next 10 hours. For the past few days, there has been no traffic on the water or in the air, not necessary a comfortable feeling. We are well over 400 miles off shore, to be more exact we are directly inline with Philadelphia. Therefore, we followed Herbs advice and pointed the boat north to Nova Scotia. I don’t believe one wish to test our skills on the Gulf Stream to its limits.
The sea conditions remained inconsistent, uncomfortable and beating us to a pulp. Time to rig the Sea Anchor (Parachute), 42°N 31” and 64°W 11” putting our a couple of securitee to all shipping (no response). By this point in time the aft spars for the wind generator and radar rivets pulled out. Ted secured them with any and all extra rope we had on board. We learnt you can never have enough. We read and slept while sitting out the rough weather for the next day and a half. Topaz, was so scared at this point we couldn’t hold her tight enough. In fact, we wouldn’t be surprised if given the chance if
she’d jump ship at that point.
At this point in time, our batteries are very low so all instruments are turned off to conserve energy. However, we did turn the single side band on to contact Halifax Coast Guard Radio, just to let them know our bearings and that we on sitting on our sea anchor. At this time they asked if we required assistance. “Negative”, we were fine and riding it out. Within half an hour, it’s 12:30 p.m. and the rode parted, we were heading home ready or not. Wondering how long before the parachute sinks to the bottom?
Monday, 15 May our power finally gives up the ghost and no longer is there auto-helm. Steering in hand and by 4 p.m. the wind becalms Xcelsior, we are just about fifteen miles from the mouth of Liverpool and all the fishing boats are returning home from checking there lobster traps. In threat of a rocky shore, Ted lowers the Narwhal (inflatable boat) and fires up the outboard and pushes the boat toward Port Mouton, NS while I steer. Eight miles later we arrive at Carter Island, dodging millions of lobster traps we finally dropped the anchor an hour before sunset. A quaint place!!
The next morning between rain and fog, we flashed up the Narwhal and headed into Port Mouton. Dodging lobster traps we found the channel that leads us to the local fish plant. We asked if anyone could recommend a diesel mechanic, and we were given Walter MacDonald’s number. Walter had suggested two fishing vessels that may or may not tow us into the channel to the government wharf. There was no ATM or Bank Machine available in this area; we decided that Brooklyn Boat Club would be a better location. Showers, dock, phone plus a shorter distance to Liverpool for banking and groceries. Next morning conditions were favorable, so hauled up the anchor and sailed to Brooklyn, again dodging more lobster traps and fishing boats. Three hours later, we docked, just in time before a major wind increase.
Soon we had the docks lined up with interior cushions drying out along with bedding hanging from the sheets. During the last ten days, the wind, sea and weather had tested every seam of the boat. We found many small leaks that never before developed until going through the Gulf Stream and back have tested this old boat. She handled well and gave us more faith in her abilities. The railings were under water 90% of the time, water coming in by the buckets through the bow. Windows leaking, deck fittings from the installation of dodger and other deck equipment such as the anchor windlass and chain haws pipe (the hole the chain passes through the upper deck). The rain and sea soaked us and everything else. Each locker had about six inches of water in the bottom soaking the can goods. A local member, Louie was kind enough to lend us a heater to assist in the drying out.
Walter came on board and we bleed the fuel system. Then we fired up the engine, it ran flawlessly for about six hours charging the dead batteries. It seemed, the procedure I was using for bleeding the engine fuel system, was incorrect. I learned a new trick, to decompress the engine and turn it till the hp fuel pump was able to be moved manually and bleed the air from the fuel system. It was all to simple for us to return 400 miles to find out that was all there was to this job and we would be on our way. Frustrating!!
After almost two days of dry sunny weather the cushions and boat were reasonably dry. The weather forecast seemed favorable (Southerly 10-15 knots increasing to 20 late in the evening). It was time to head seventy-five miles to Dartmouth Yacht Club. So far, all was going well, this should only take 12-14 hours. So we fired up the diesel and untied the lines and headed out from Brooklyn. Forty five minutes later in the mouth of Liverpool Harbor the engine coughs and spits then quits. Yet once again she dies and there we bounce about in light winds, so light that you couldn’t sail in any one direction. Adrift again!!! After two hours of drifting and dodging lobster pots and fishing boats, the wind started to fill in from the south and we were making 1-2 knots. We started to make some speed, however, still to slow to make Halifax by dark.
Tried the engine one more time, and it started. This is becoming a haunting experience, as it only runs when it wants to. Is it possessed by demons or what? After motoring one half hour through the maze of lobster pots, the inevitable happened and one of the pot lines got wrapped around the prop, shut down the engine right away. Approximately forty-five minutes, of hanging over the stern of the boat with the boat hook, the rope was finally cleared. No trap was attached to the end of the line. But some fisherman will be looking for this trap for along time. We tired the engine again and it would not go. The wind however started to increase and soon we where going six knots towards home. It is now 2 p.m. and the wind is decreasing, so it looks like it will be a longer run to Halifax.
An hour later the wind started to increase again as the forecast predicted 20 knots from the south and we are now flying towards home once again. The sea has picked up to about 3 – 4 meters and the wind is backing to the south east, this is making this small trip a hard ole passage. With the wind on the nose and having to reef the main, shorten the jib. The wind now has increased to 25 and gusting to 33 knots. Now we were only making four knots or less and being pushed into Sambro ledges and some very unfriendly water. In normal conditions we would sail through here and not give it another thought. But in these conditions if we had some break down of our rigging, we would be in serious trouble as a million rocks the size of apartment buildings. Three to four meter’s of seas and a very unfriendly rocky shore. We tacked out to sea to go around Sambro. The wind changed direction and came right on our nose again and we were not making any head way in the direction that we needed to go. We stayed on this course for an hour hoping to be able to tack back towards Halifax Charlie (the buoy we were headed for to enter the harbour. After heading to sea for an hour the wind seemed to change to a more easterly direction and increase to 30 knots gusting to 38 and 40. We tack back towards the harbour mouth and can almost hold the course we need to make the mark to turn down wind for the entry. HAVE WE MENTIONED THAT BY NOW IT IS PAST MIDNIGHT and it is so dark all we can see is the Sambro Lighthouse, we can not see the mark we are headed for and it is less than two miles away. There is so much cloud cover we can’t see the lights of Halifax which we can normally see 20 miles or more in fact it is so dark we can’t tell were the ocean stops and sky begins. It seemed like hours before we finally got a visual on the mark and the wind was pushing us down below it, I had to make a decision head out to sea again or chance the entry by going inside by a hundred yards. At this time we’ve been on our feet for 18 hours. We head in anyway and yes we are cutting the buoy short (We’re here to write this story so we must have made it without hitting anything.)
We are cold, wet, tired and hungry at this point. There was one container schedule to depart within the next half hour, which should give us lots of time to get out of the traffic lane. We are cold, wet, tired and hungry at this point. Its well after midnight, Pat radio’s Halifax Traffic to be advised of any Harbour traffic. There was one container schedule to depart within the next half hour, which should give us lots of time to get out of the traffic lane. About forty-five minutes later we are on the radio telling Atlantic Express we will be crossing her stern. Just shortly after the harbour was so dark that at one point we littery didn’t know where we were. Finally, Major’s Beach Lighthouse, and we closed our sailing plan with Halifax Coast Guard Radio.
Six a.m. we finally approached Dartmouth Yacht Club, grabbed a mooring ball and called it a night. By noon Saturday, we were towed into the marina and along side to complete repairs.
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