Strong Winds and Bilge Alarm
Barbados
We are heading for Barbados so how about some information as to where we are going.
Barbados lies some 80nm to the east of the chain of Antilles Caribbean Islands and Columbus missed it on his voyages. It has an area of some 431 sq. km and has a population of about 300,000. The capital is Bridgetown which is where we are heading and we have to check in with customs and we will anchor in the bay called Carlisle Bay. There are lots of English names here.
Barbados was first discovered in 1536 by the Portuguese who were impressed by the bearded fig trees so named it Isla de los Barbados – the Island of beards. The first English arrived in 1627 and due to its position it was untouched by the Anglo/French wars and so British influence remained for 3 centuries. The effects of this remain today and it is marked by British Traditions and is sometimes called “Little England”. In the 18th century it became the biggest colonial sugar producer and it is still one of the biggest sugar cane producers in the world. It became independent in 1966 and international flights land here.
Today
The strong wind continued and we were well reefed down for the night using the Staysail sometimes with 3-4 rolls in it and other times it being fully unrolled. In terms of the boom we have 4 reef markings as well as an S marking for storm. Often we had 2/3 reefs and sometimes 4 and in very heavy gusts we went to the S mark.
Robbie and I came on at 11.00pm and we were well reefed down and it was odd as at times the wind was between 17-20 kts which is very manageable and other times we had gusts up to 27/28 which is what was forecast and then it would drop to about 11-14 for a while. We put some extra sail out when it was lighter and reefed in again when it was stronger. There were also some rain showers from the towering clouds and the sea state was quite high namely 3-5 metres which we coped well with until one or two catch you on the side and we then roll until it calms down.
Robbie and I were managing but suddenly I saw gusts of 35.2, 36.7, 37.1 and then 38.9 being the highest we have seen on this trip. Beaufort Scale force 8 is 32 kts and 38.9 is a severe gale and luckily it did not last long. Robbie and I quickly reefed further and whilst Stormbird seemed a bit pressed for a few seconds she coped well and we never felt unsafe. At about the same time I was standing at the helm (steering position behind the wheel) and Stormbird was hit by a growler (as we call them), which is a breaking wave which hits the side of the boat. During the day you can see them coming but at night all you hear is the roar of the water. On this occasion it was a big growler which hit me on my right side and splashing the plotter and instruments. It was a bit of a shock and although Robbie was nearby he was lucky to escape. I had to go and change and there was the odd swear word when it happened !! Other watches had similar conditions and gusts in the 35’s. It is a shame we did not have some of this wind earlier.
Sailing in conditions like this is challenging as you have to judge the amount of sail required for the conditions and also because you want to keep up a reasonable speed. You are also trying to look after the boat so you do not break anything. It is also challenging because with wind comes increased wave height which increases roll and movement of the boat so cooking, sleeping, moving about is more disturbed and potentially more dangerous for example if you fell and hit your head in a roll. If we cannot sleep we get tired and this can affect decision taking and it makes it more challenging to keep awake when on watch. However it is surprising how people do fall asleep anywhere when tired.
We got through the night and I got up early and sat with Keith and Peter from whom Robbie and I were taking over at 8.00am. It was a grey day with lots of cloud and some dark rain bearing clouds. They had had rain and the windows around the doghouse were wet. The waves looked menacing and they would roll up behind or on the side of the boat so you could not see the horizon and then they would sweep under Stormbird and occasionally hit her on the side splashing the deck and sometimes the rear of the cockpit.
I was ready to take over just before 8.00am when an alarm sounded and at first we thought it may be from the plotter but it was not. We listened around and realised that it was coming from the bilge (area under the floorboards) and the immediate thought was oh dear are we taking on water. It was not the emergency bilge pump. In order to access the bilge you have to take the companion steps (the stairs from the interior of the boat into the cockpit) away and the lift up the floor planks. This reveals the bilge and you can see the sides of the fuel tanks (each 805 lts) and the cut off valves and then below some 6-8 foot down is the bottom of the bilge and you can see the keel bolts which hold the keel (large lead weight which helps keep the boat upright) and they are about 1-1.5 inches thick. There are also at 3 bilge pumps. The first is an automatic pump which operates when water gets to a certain level. The second is an emergency pump which we switch on at the binnacle manually and when you turn it on an alarm sounds and a manual bilge pump with the handle tied under the navigation seat and which you insert into a hole in the floor and pump. There was no more than the usual water in the bilge from when I last looked and therefore I had no idea why the alarm was going off. It is possible that the automatic pump went off and this set an alarm. I know an electrician did look at this before we left Hamble. We checked there was no water ingress and having satisfied ourselves that all was well, we were not sure how to turn the alarm off. I did see a label on one wire which said alarm so I pulled it off a contact and the alarm stopped. We checked everything again and put the wire back and the alarm did not sound. We will just have to keep an eye on this and I could not see or hear any pump going. Luckily we did not have a leak it seems.
We completed our watch during which we did the boat checks and internal cleaning. I put on the generator to charge the batteries and it ran well so hopefully the impeller change has resolved the issue. At the beginning of the watch and after the alarm incident I checked the weather and these conditions were due to continue and we debated when we would go on the port tack and head for Barbados as on our current tack the best we could do was to head for St Lucia of Dominica. After some calculations and discussion we thought we would go now and so when gybed on to the port tack and were heading right at Barbados or a waypoint I had put off the reefs on the east side which was good but as the morning went on the wind changed as little and we were 10-5 degrees but we hoped it will change back again. As we were now heading more in the right direction there were a few Hey we are heading for Barbados chants!! At 12.00noon we checked our 24 hour run which I guessed at 177 and I was right and this is the longest 24 hour run to date.
The afternoon was great. This is such a magical place and it is difficult to describe how lucky I feel to be in this environment It is man and nature and through Stormbird we have access to this vast blue beautiful ocean as we sail mile after mile on a bit of a roller coaster and enjoying the quiet, the music we play and the company as we share this experience. I am not sure how to put this into words and I hope you understand what I am trying to portray. If you have not done this then you should at some point as long as you do not get seasick. Mark describes it as awesome and you really do get a feel for the power of the sea. There are only a few days like this and we should treasure them.
We have about 160 nm to the waypoint off the eastern Barbados coast which means that we may arrive after dark but we can find the anchorage in the dark. We are now really looking forward to it and today is our 17th day. We watched the sun go down and prepared for the night which should be similar weather to last without the 38.9 kt gust I hope. Mark cooked a delicious pasta with a tomato and courgette sauce.
This will be our last night of night watches we hope. It will be good to get there but we have a day to go and a few miles yet.
Distance last 24 hours 177 nm
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