Road Rage on the High Seas

I am not usually the road rage type.  I pretty much assume that 'they' are in a bigger hurry than I and that's why 'they' find it necessary to cut me off.  I reserve my horn honking for real emergency's and not the typical road rage event.  Boy do I wish I had a big huge honker the morning that we nearly got run over by a mega yacht called "Big City".  Yep, that's the name of the jerk, oops, I mean the name of the boat, that caused me to jump up and down and wave my arms furiously in an effort to prove he was a big fat jerk.  Oh trust me, I had a potty mouth that day and everyone on our boat heard it.  There was no shielding my children from my foul sailors mouth.  Come on, really!  Our kids have heard it all, especially after this trip.  Ha!

It all started right after I came up on watch just before we were going to cross the Gulf Stream.  Craig had gone to bed and remember, Maggie and I caught the barracuda and let it go ourselves.  Yippee.  We were sailing along minding our own business.  I was keeping an eye on things and noticed a boat out on the horizon.  I checked the AIS and sure enough he was headed right towards us.  How did I know this, you ask?  The AIS said so.  I just simply touched the icon on the chart plotter screen and it told me the name of the vessel, the length, draft, speed over ground, GPS location, heading and if and when we might collide.  Pretty cool.  Yes, it is very helpful when I can't always tell which way a boat or tanker is headed.  But I digress......So I checked the AIS and knew we were on a collision course.  I knew his name was Big City.  Who names thier boat Big City??  Perhaps someone with a big head.  Oh, sorry, did I just say that out loud?  It was clearly day light about 8 or 9 am and my large white 60 foot sail was high in the sky.

I watched as Big City approached closer and closer.  Somehow it always makes me feel better to talk to myself out loud.  So I began talking out loud "is this guy going to alter course?  Doesn't this guy see me?"  It was ridiculous.  I was feeling a little anxious knowing that he should be altering his course to avoid a boat under sail.  I hailed him on the radio and announced myself as the sailboat in his direct path.  No answer.  I hailed him a second time AND a third time!  No answer.  I waited and waited, watching with a pounding heart as he raced closer.  It was ridiculous to think this guy was not going to answer my radio call nor yield.

It felt like a game of chicken for sure and it was not fun nor was I in the mood to risk my life and that of my family to prove a point that he shouldn't run me over.  Allow me to point out that a boat under sail has the right of way over a boat under motor power.  Those are them rules on the water.  He, of course, wasn't worth it.  So I quickly cranked the helm so that we would not be in harms way of this butt head (I realize this is a family friendly site, so insert whatever suits you).  As I turned, Big City zoomed by about 100 feet away going approximately15 knots creating a massive wake!  I could see at least 2 people on the bridge (the place where the captain drives a mega yacht).  Ohhhhh, I was soooo mad, I was fuming and as I mentioned before, I was spitting out obscenities that can not be repeated here.  The really comical part was that I was in my pajamas.  So I want you to picture an irrate lunatic, stomping around with flailing arms, flipping the bird at the captain(s) in my PJ's!  I'm quite certain that they got the last laugh!!  Oh well.  It felt good and I didn't care.  Unfortunately, I woke Craig up in the mean time and as I re-enacted the scene for him, I got even more furious.  I would have called the coast guard if I thought it would have ended with a ticket for Mr. Big City.  As it turned out, he went on his way and I turned back on course and went on mine.  I can assure you that the owner of Big City would probably not approve of the way his captain was treating other boaters.  Or at least I like to think that anyway.

The culprit:  Big City

USA here we come

It was time to go.  The wind was going to continue to die over the next several days, so we needed to get out of dodge so we didn't have to motor across the Gulf Stream.  We swam for the very last time, prepared our meals, battened down the hatches and made a run for it at two in the afternoon.  As we got under way, the wind was light, lighter than we would have liked.  In fact, we had to motor sail until we reached the top of the Berry Islands.  When we turned west, the engines were turned off and it was quiet once again as we sailed for the last time in the Bahamas.

 Watching a movie as we get underway

 Reeling 'em in

Wouldn't you know it, just as the sun was making it's last appearance and we were ready to bring in our gear for the night, we heard that sweet sound of Zzzzzzzzzzz and then again, Zzzzzzzzzz and then the hand line pulled tight (sorry it doesn't make that Zzzzzzzz sound)!!  Holy tuna batman, we just went through a school of fish.  Craig was already reeling his in, I started reeling in the other pole and we left the hand line alone for the moment.  It was utter chaos with kids running around doing their 'jobs', not knowing if they should help mom or dad.  Craig pulled his in - it was a tuna!  Woo Hoo.  Then I pulled mine in, another tuna!  Oops, mine got away.  I think I pulled him in too close and too fast.  He shook the hook.  Darn it!  The hand line was next, we landed another tuna.  Three fish on the hook and two in the bucket.  Not too shabby.  

Yummy sushi tonight!

Night night

Moon on the rise

We had a nice sail that first night.  I took the first part of the watch until 1am.  During my watch I witnessed a growing number of ships as I approached the intersection near Freeport, Grand Bahama and the main channel.  At first, I could make out a few lights and confirmed their position and intended direction using our trusty AIS.  Then slowly but surely, the number began to grow.  I remember at each marked hour when I wrote in the log book, the number was steadily increasing.  I counted a maximum of 15 ships (cargo and cruise) at one time in my immediate vicinity.  I was on the southern edge of the water way, close to the shallow banks of the Berry Islands while the ships while passing to the north.  But they were not all on the move, that was the puzzling part.  A growing number of them, I surmise at least half, were not moving at all.  They were just sitting there like birds bobbing in the water.  I don't know what they were waiting for.  Perhaps they were waiting for the sun to come up before entering Freeport.  However you want to explain it, it was a little freaky and definitely kept me alert all night.

As soon as the sun came up, the wind died down.  The engines were woken up from their slumber and we motored down towards Bimini, our jumping off point to the US.  With no wind to speak of, the sea state of the Gulf was pleasant, so I guess we can't complain too much.  However, It would have been better, and more fun, to sail.

The next morning as I came up on watch to relieve Maggie while Craig was fast asleep, I felt no need to change out of the pj's.  I was excited to do some last minute fishing, so I dropped in a line.  A little while later the girls and I heard music to our ears....Zzzzzzzz.  I quickly reeled it in but it ended up being a dumb ole barracuda.  I swear they are going to haunt me for the rest of my life.  I didn't want to wake Craig for a stupid barracuda, so Maggie and I managed to get the hook out of it's mouth and set it free.

 One last effort to send a message in a bottle in the gulf stream

Helllooooo Miami