Well... after much delay, the adventure continues. Unfortunately, due to time issues, we are going to skip ahead to the voyage home.

Our plans were to sail south towards the Abacos, stopping just short of the more inhabited islands... probably stopping and turning north into the deep for the journey home aroung Hogs Frazer or Spanish key. The one thing I was worried about (unbeknownst to Steph at the time) was the rudder assembly. During our grounding at Creepy Corner we sustained more damage than I first realized. The rudder shaft was slightly bent and was beginning to gall against the sleeve, resulting in binding. The weather was keeping us at anchor, and this gave me time to try and effect some repairs.

During our extended stay at Double Breasted Cay, we had become pretty close with the folks on Island Time, Len and Nancy. Len had quite a nice HAM radio setup on his boat. Since we have just installed an Icom 706 MK2G on our boat, I was VERY interested. (by the way, at the time of this writing, I have earned my first HAM radio license!! woohoo!) My hats off to Len for spending some time with me and helping me to understand some of the basics. We were in the time window to head back and had allowed for 4 more days before we HAD to depart... or head to the Abacos and find an airplane to get Steph home. I certainly did not want to bring Empty Pocket home without her... so we remained optimistic, monitored the weather closely, and spent the days reading, watching movies, and napping. The weather was not cooperating at all... every day brought heavy thunderstorms with all the trimmings... wind, lightning, and an occaisonal rainbow.

Next morning... (not really)

...Here is an idea that some of you might want to try. As much as we love our cushions, they needed some softening up so before we departed for this trip, we bought a thick comforter, and wrapped it in a sheet... then threw it onto the salon convertible... WOW, what a difference! We were able to watch for hours in absolute comfort!

Movie time...

With 1 day left before we had to head to look for an airplane, the system that had stalled over the Bank for the prior 6 days finally moved on. I listened to the Chris give the weather on 4045USB and it turned out that we had only 3 days to get back to the States before the next weather system moved in. (Big Hint: sailing on a schedule stinks!!) Now we were under the gun to get back not only for Stephs job, but to beat the next big weather system as well. We prepared to pull the anchor...

The weather finally breaks...

...and praying over the rudder. It was stiff, and although making a fairly good temporary repair, I was still worried. When we purchased our tillerpilot, we made sure that we bought one for a 35 foot boat. Although it draws more power during use, I always thought it was good to have just in case we needed it. It was getting ready to earn its wings by steering the equivalent of a 40 foot boat... a 25 footer with a very stiff rudder.

Underway...

We headed out across the bank, keeping pace with Lenny and Nancy on Island Time. They were headed west, straight for the Palm Beaches, and we turned north, headed for the deep water north of the bank. Our plan was to turn straight for St. Augustine once into deep water. The voyage home, if all were to go well, should take 60 hours.

Following Island Time

...as we passed an area called Lily Shoals, the shallow water reflected its brilliant green color up onto the underside of the clouds. This picture does not demonstrate the true color unfortunately... you really just have to go and see it in person. (as if you needed even more reasons to go!)

look closely...

...as we crossed off the Bank and into deep water. The wind was at our back, and the seas were picking up.

Steph takes watch...

...I know you would rather see Steph, but youll have to settle for me, in my boxers, as the wind was directly astern and I was hopping about on the deck trying to steady the sails. As the waves picked up, the sails rocked in the apparent wind and snapped the lines to and fro, again and again. I went forward to see what I could do to steady the rigging...

My turn in the spotlight...

I pulled the vang over to the toerail and tightened it into place... voila! The rigging went silent, and the sails stayed full.

thank goodness for the Boom Vang...

I wish I knew how deep the water really was on the north side of the bank... I lost our depthfinder after 1300 ft. We made the turn toward St. Augustine... with me keeping a wary eye on the rudder.

making the turn...

...little did I know that the north side of the Little Bahama Bank is a major shipping route! Man, I thought we saw alot of big ships coming across the Gulfstream during the first crossing... that night I hardly got any sleep, the traffic was constant.

First 12 hours complete...

... no moon, big ships, open ocean, what a rush!!

Our forward speed was only about 4.5 knots, so we were looking forward to getting into the Gulfstream. When we plotted our course home, and the ETA to St. Augustine, we factored in 24 hours of boosted speed in the stream, but we were very far east and it would be a while before we would feel the effects. The winds werent bad this night, but the waves became very choppy, probably due to the currents rounding the Bank.

can you see the ship?

Having survived the sail through the washing machine most of the night, there was nothing but this view in every direction the next morning. The shipping channel that we crossed must have only beel within 30 miles of the Bank. In this picture, the water had calmed down a bit as we closed in on the Gulfstream.

morning...

...having seen only one other vessel at a distance today, we prepared for another night and hoped that the lack of traffic would continue... I got out my kitchen timer for the 20 minute cycles.

end of day 2 in open water...

...at 2AM, the horizon began to light up with thunderstorms. As best that we could determine at the time, we were sailing into them. I was having a hard time with my eyes as the flashes got closer. It was tough trying to keep my night-vision after the lightning flashed... This would NOT be the place to suffer a lightning strike because we were so far from land. The winds were picking up, and we got the sails reefed to the minimum.

Checking the horizon...

I put on my foulies, strapped in, and sent Steph below to ride the storm out... You can probably see by the look on my face that I wasnt having a very good time. The storm lasted about an hour, which, if you have ever been in one offshore at night, may as well be an eternity. As usual, Empty Pocket came through with flying colors, her crew rattled, but ever increasing our trust in her.

Hangin on...

...in our clothing locker! Leave it to Whisper to lighten the moment... and kudos to Steph for being able to take this shot in a turbulent sea! By the way, Whisper wasnt laying on any of your bikinis, was she?

Whisper rides out the storm...

...finally! 145 miles to port.

in the Gulf Stream...

Ya know, usually these guys show up as we get close to port, but we were still out 60 miles offshore, in the Gulf Stream, and they still found us!

Things must be really BORING close to shore...

Early reception...

...now we have had these guys follow us and play with E.P. before, but NEVER quite like this time. I guess they are getting used to seeing us out in the open. We could literally reach over the side and stroke their dorsal fin areas. They were so friendly and receptive of our gestures...

incredible...

...She seemed less than pleased about our visitors. I think she was having flashbacks to her overboard incident back in Ft. Pierce...

Whisper is not convinced, however...

These werent little dolphins... they were exceptionally large!

one more...

...Steph put on her clothes so that I could take these pictures. She sat at the bow for nearly 90 minutes as the playing continued. Occaisionally, one would slap the hull with its body and you could feel E.P. shudder from the impact.

...just an amazing experience!

This went on and on...

...we relished this one, as the next day at this time we would be pulling into port.

...last sunset over open water

LAND HO! ...the historic St Augustine lighthouse as seen at a distance through the lense as we entered the channel into home... We were elated to be home! The rudder held fine, the Autopilot never missed a beat (Thank you Simrad!!), and the cat was still on board!

pulling into port...

... the cross at sunset. We just completed nearly 80 hours of open ocean sailing in Empty Pocket! 3.5 days was a bit longer than we anticipated, but not knowing where the Gulf Stream was located from the eastern side really threw us off. We didnt get the 3 knot pickup that we anticipated until late... and then we had to turn in to get to St. Augustine shortly thereafter. Oh well... it could have been alot worse.

another landmark...

...Ok, truth be told, we both felt so gross having been at sea for 3 days and no showers... I was forbidden to take any pictures of my bride until she had a shower... We were severely rushed to get to the dock. Steph had to go back to work in the morning. The mission became one of a hurried pace, so I neglected to get any good pictures of the return to the dock. (My sincere apologies!)

The harbor...

eager to repair the damage done on the voyage, We hauled E.P. immediately to get a better picture of the damage.

immediately to the boatyard...

impact damage... note the hole on the right side (forward side)

rudder damage

...it dont remember it looking that bad underwater.

forward keel damage

ripped open...

rear keel damage

We had to remove the swim deck to straighten the shaft, so after figuring out HOW to fix it, we figured out how to PREVENT it from happening again...

time to straighten the rudder shaft...

...we reinforced the shaft to avoid the damage in the future. We sure wish we had thought of this the first time around... I guess hindsight is always 20-20!


That is all for now... and please accept our apologies for the shortened ending. I will try to get the final posting up that has some of the out-takes from our trip, more details about the equipment, methods, and other requested info up on the last one. It may be a few weeks as Steph and I are buried with work right now... and youll be hearing more about THAT in the very, VERY near future, right here on Hunterowners.com! (...kinda sounds like an advertisement, doesnt it? LOL)

reinforced!