Seadog Rhapsody

Seadog Rhapsody


The restrained movements of the boat on anchor and the first light of dawn beginning to filter through the forward hatch are combining to gently nudge consciousness into existence after a sound night’s sleep. There is something about sleeping on a boat that is securely anchored in a snug harbor, it promotes a restful sleep that can’t be had in a landlocked bed held firmly in place by gravity. Some have speculated that the gentle rocking of the boat at anchor mimics the gentle movements we experienced while warm and secure in our sweet mother’s womb and this is why sleeping on a boat is so restful. Some may find it hard to believe that a rough and ready sailor sleeping on an anchored boat could earn a lovely metaphor like being all warm and secure in your mother’s womb, but stranger things have happened, you know, like really smart people giving Bernie Madoff all of their money. Slowly your eyes begin to adjust to the brightening environment, and now fully awake, it’s time for the rituals of awaking to begin, you know, rubbing the sleep from your eyes, sloughing your tongue around a foul mouth that still has the telltale remains of last’s night feasting and drinking, stretching muscles back into shape, the pure pleasure of reaching down and scratching your, well, you know what I’m talking about here. It’s time to swing the legs out of the rack and onto the deck and test the old trusty lower limbs to see if they can still answer the call to walk about fully upright like a proper bipedal. Speaking of answering the call, you hurry to the head and find sweet relief after a full night of not once getting up to satisfy a more urgent than sweet relief. You slide open the main deck hatch and expose the morning sky and the fresh sea air. Sweet Jesus, that smells good. You stick your head up and look around to survey your surrounding and the sounds of seabirds begin to fill the air, especially the gulls. The gulls are laughing like a madman mocking the sane people. Off to the galley, fill the on- stove coffee percolator with water and coffee grounds, you know, the one that still has a small glass bulb on top so that you can watch the coffee get darker and darker until its “just right.” One of the last pure pleasures in life is smelling coffee brewing in an honest to God on-stove percolator that has really hot coffee bubbling up into that little glass bulb so that you can watch it, and watch it, and build up the anticipation of sipping your first cup of really hot steaming coffee. It is absolute nirvana to smell hot percolating coffee and fresh sea air all mixed in together. With the treasured hot cup of coffee clutched firmly in your hands, you enjoy the beginning of a new day while sitting in the cockpit of the boat and contently watching the world come alive after a hard day’s night. Well enough of the finer things in life, it’s time to ready the boat for some serious sailing east so that the Bahamas banks can be made at “Memory Rock” before the brand new day can turn into night again. Go below, secure everything that can become loose in high seas, secure the hatches, set the battery switch to “battery 1”, turn on all navigational instruments including the GPS, turn on VHF radio and set to the international hailing and emergency channel 16. Hurry back up topside, don life vest, place engine control to neutral, fire up the Yanmar diesel, check the exhaust to make sure the engine water pump is pumping cooling water out the exhaust port, check the charts for tides, verify a waxing tide by reading the current going by the boat, go forward and haul the “delta” and “danforth” anchors and be quick about it before the boat follows the current into some other boats at anchor. Hurry to the helm, engage the engine and head for the channel while avoiding boats at anchor and constantly reading depth because there are many places where you can run aground while navigating the harbor to the channel. Locate the green channel buoy and make way while keeping the green buoy to starboard and the red marker buoy to port. Now, very carefully make your way against the strong current out to sea between the red/green channel buoys and finally into blue water and good seas. It’s always very comforting to watch the water depth go from 6 to 7 feet and start dropping off to 10, then 50, and eventually to over 100 feet. The seas don’t become orderly until you can get into at least a 100-foot of water depth. Adjust the GPS to the proper chart and visit the NOAA weather channel on the VHF radio one last time to verify favorable weather, wind and wave. Confirm that a 10-15 knot wind is making headway from the southwest and set an initial compass course to 120° magnetic. Carefully observe the wind vane on top of the main mast and determine that you have a starboard wind that will allow a starboard reach. A beam reach is a very favorable point of sail and you will have it this day with seas running about 3 to 5 feet and a slowly building swell out of confused seas while still in the lee of the land. You should never cross the gulf steam with a north wind blowing because the gulf stream flows northward and a wind from the north will blow against the current and generate very bad waves that will increasingly become steep and treacherous. These kind of seas are the cause of many a boat to founder while trying to make way across the gulf stream when a spirited north wind is blowing. A direct course to Memory Rock is 99° magnetic but you must calculate the amount of drift northward the gulf stream current (4-6 knots) will have on the course of the boat, depending, of course, on the speed of the boat, i.e., the slower the boat, the more time in the gulf stream current and the more northward you will be taken instead of the east heading of the boat at 99° magnetic. So you will set a heading of 120° to allow for a northward drift and carefully monitor your GPS course in route to make the necessary corrections in order to arrive at memory rock at the end of the day instead of someplace where you don’t want to be. Having steadied the boat on a 120° heading, throttle back the engine enough to make head way straight into the wind and come starboard until the wind is straight onto the bow. Engage the autohelm to maintain the boat heading into the wind and carefully make your way on top deck to the mainmast to change the main sail furling ratchet from “ratchet” to “free” which will allow the main sail to be pulled from the furling inside the mainmast once the outhaul line is unblocked from the line clutch. Set the boomvang to 2 inches for a beam reach while at the mainmast in order to set the proper sail twist for a reach, and carefully make your way back to the helm in order to avoid falling into the sea. If you are the only one on the boat and you fall into the sea, you will become another unexplained missing at sea incident. Back at the helm, unblock the mainmast furling line from the line clutches and wrap the main sail outhaul line 3 wraps clockwise around the starboard winch, insert a winch handle and grind away on the winch until the mainsail is fully extended from the mainmast. Secure the mainsail outhaul line. Unsecure both the starboard and port headsail sheet lines and unsecure the headsail furling line. Because the wind is to starboard, the headsail will fill to port so wrap the port headsail sheet line three wraps around the port aft winch and while holding the headsail furling line with just enough pressure to make a firm wrap around the headsail furling hub, insert a winch handle into the port aft winch and grind away until the headsail (jib) is fully extended. Secure the jib sheet to the port aft winch and secure the furling line. Now disengage the engine by placing the throttle into the neutral position and pressing the engine “Stop” button to turnoff the engine. Place the engine throttle into the reverse position in order to stop the propeller from turning while the boat is underway which will cause a drag that will slow the boat speed through the water. Disengage the autohelm and bring the boat heading port back into a 120° heading and engage the autohelm to maintain a heading of 120°. Slowly ease the jib port sheet line until the headsail fills, and while watching the telltales on the jib sail, adjust the headsail point of entry into the wind until most of the telltales are streaming aft. Secure the port jib sheet line to the port aft winch. Locate the mainsail sheet line and wrap 3 turns clockwise around the starboard forward winch and while holding fast to the line, unblock the mainsail sheet line from the line clutch and slowly ease the mainsail port to take the wind. While watching the mainsail leach telltales, adjust the mainsail point of entry to the wind until the telltales are streaming aft. Secure the mainsail sheet line with the clutch block and remove the line from the winch. Locate the mainsail outhaul line and wrap 3 turns clockwise around the winch and while holding fast to the outhaul line unblock the line from the clutch block. Slowly ease the outhaul line until the draft of the mainsail is about 12 to 14 inches windward from the mainsail boom and secure the outhaul line with the clutch block. Disengage the auto helm and take control of the helm by taking manual control of the rudder. Keep adjusting sails until you can obtain maximum boat speed while balancing the helm. The boat is now taking a fine 15° list to port while making 5-6 knots on a starboard beam reach with a freshening wind blowing a fine mist of salt water that tastes great when you lick your lips. The boat is making a beautiful wake and cutting into the waves nicely as you make you way on a 120°heading. Surely God must be a sailor.