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% - . , . . x' . : - . fi . t ;A.' gyjdge atKpapp's NarroW s # .:..2.. .@.4(z'.q.. *'.! j j) .. ,... M arvland - Tvpicalo t e . œ . èJd'. '. . .. 4. . 'CJ.iJ,s'.:>-Jt#vx zj. .. .zt.k ,; . . . . ,. .y. .!:;Etiï7 : 1.',;. - m ore than 1OO bndges that ' ' . %j%.'.-.E . ...uy- .h ' us -7kgg ;ls sa . . .,y.u .t. )ji$ rx. y had ttpope;lforus ()f7 ..:a) the trip south. . l. -:) . '3; ? . ': .1.* .: . ' ' ;' . ' . . . $ . I. . yg: ' u (;A , cjuying jtje w arOf . . '. s. ' independence. The supply base fof . . tjje area is the dusty straggling tow n - - OfM arsh Harbourand ifyou anchor here Iong enough you w ilm eet alm ostany yacht cruising the Baham as. AtM an O'W arCay w e caughtup w ith David and Neila w ho had left Toronto a yeaçahead ofus in their - 'x. NARAI''W indchim e'';we w ere to sail ' - ' in com pany form uch ofthe next - . y.w month.AtLittle Harbourwe both a - beached outboats on the crescentof .- - . - sand beach to scrub and paintthe . N- bottom s in the Baham as the spring yearstooka sw ipeatus.W e had crossing)and any wind westofsouth tides have arange ofjustoverthree greenwaterovertheportsinthehuls isusual ï theprecursorofawinter feet. w hile tled to a dock,butsuffeced no ''norther , w hich m ay reach gale W dam age. force. t e sailed south from Little Harbour o Spanish W e ls in nor'th Eleuthera South ofCharleston w e sailed into W e leftFort Lagderdale foran 50 m iles across the North East the ''Low Country 'ofSouth Carolina Overnightpassage in com pany w ith Providence Channeḷ Atone pointthe and Georgia,lhreading through salt fourmonohullyachtsand with the chartindicatesadepth of2288 m arshes thatoften extend as faras w ind from the SSS atabout 15 knots. fathom s , butw e w efe soon back in the eye can see,The occasional By the tim e w e reached the other ourm ore usualeightto ten feeț shrim p boatfollow lng a distant Side itwas blow ing hard from the channelseem s to be navlgating wes!and pretty rough . Som e ofthe Spanish W els is a bu stIing Iittle through fields ofgrass . Itis hard to crew w ere not fee Iing too w ellatail. tOW n Offarm ers and fisberm en ' a belkeve that you are stilin the s eeing ourfirstflying fish atöaw n com D plete contrastto ournextstop populous easterrnseaboard ofthe de u n m ore Tow n on H a rbour1s1a nd - m ; up fora Iotthough ' and tied up atthe otherend U.S.A.as you trave,this tfansitional io tlne crystalclearwarm w aters of ofan intricate 11 zone between land and sea . Human westEnd harboursurrounded by m ile reef passage around the northern habltalions(and fuelsupplieshare alm s and casuarinas even Ginny tip ofEleuthera.This 1 sleepy resort very few and farbetw een. becam 13 e convinced thatIife w as w orth was once the colonia cap italofthe Baham as and is one ofourfavourite W ewere hitby the coldest living afteral.(The fourmonohuls tow nsin th weatherofthe entire trip as w e Sailed in som e two hours afterus.) fo e islands;recom mended ranyone Iooking fora relaxed crossed rnto northern Florida w ith w e crossed the Little Baham a Bank holiday w ithoutthe hustle and nighṯ overnightlow tem peratures dipping to to the Abaco Cays outofsightof Iife of Nassau . From the harbourit is ..-2 OC.At Titusville,w ithin sightof land m uch ofthe tim e ? butw ith the a shortw alk across the island , past th e space shuttle Iaunch pads at bottom clearly visible eightto ten feet the oId governor's m ansion atthe Cape Canaveral,w e stocked up w ith dow n . And the blue ofthe w ater highestpoin! to the perfectpink sand supplies forfourm onths in the It's indescribable . beach orlthe' ocean side. Baham as and Oborea sank another Sailing the Baham as is quite a Nassau does nothave a particularly three loches lnto the w ater. s culture shock afterthe U.S.There are d tation w ith yachtsm en outh ofCape Canaverails tthe vlrtualy no goo repu , navigationalaids, but and we had to go there to pick up m ail laod ofthe rich and the tourlstand m ostofthe lights indicated on the and m oney,and besides we w anted those ourfo tha!serve and profit by them . charts do notw ork. Navigation is by to see tj)e capitalofthe Baham as urty footboatbecam e sm alas eyebajl.W e quite quickly learned to 'rjle . grea!floatlng places surged up and read the depth overa sandy bottom jnarbourhas id poorholding and dow n the w aterw ay Ieaving us asthe colourgraduated from a royal strong blow t es . The prevailing w inds bobbing in theirwakes.Life is afast blue through turquoise to a very pale heavy rightthrough itand there isvery paced and im personaland it is yelow atourthree footdraught m arine lraffic from the great . Itis cruise Iiners thatdock hece , tw o or everyone coast forhim selfon this Gold the dark patches thattake Iongerto th . ree a day,to inler-island freighters. Iearn and cause m ore w orry;are they fishing boats and otheryachts . As K- . We spentChristmas and New Year Weed?Some unpleasantly sharp w e 11jarge flying -boatstake offfrom in WestPalm Beach aswewereheld Coral?Orjustcloud shadows?Only the middleof1he harbourevery hour up forthree weeks waiting fora part exgefiefnce can teach. f() rM iam i lt is also the only place in . forthe engine and then anotherw eek The Abaco Cays are a string oftiny the Baham as w here itis neccessary walting forsuitable w eatherto cross islands paraleling the north and east to Iock the boat . W e spenta few days the gulfstream .This crossing is sides ofthe Iarge island ofAbaco . in Nassau visiting the touristsites trlckierthan it Iooks.ltis only about M ostare uninhabited buta few have the Straw M arket the Parliam ent sixty m iles across,butthe gulfstream picturesque Iittle settlements w ith Buildings.the casinos and tbe resort sets northw ard atabout2 !4 knots brightly painted houses and gardens beaches - and then Ieft w hich m eans that any w ind w ith fullofoleander,bourganvilea, ''W indchim e''w aiting forguests to north in it kicks up a nasty sea.The frangipaniand hibiscus.The inhabi. arrive by airand headed offacross prevailng w ind ls from the east (right tants are m ostly w hite Paham ians the Yellow Bank thirty m iles to the on !he nose foryachts m aking the decendants o/ Soqfaîists w ho fled the Exum a Cays . 1O The Sea People/sailorm an No . 8July1987.j
Im agine a necklace oftiny islands Ourreturn across the gulfstream aboard'ourelectronpc knot/log Iasted strung athwartthe trade w inds for w as a com plete contrastto ourtrip a couple ofm onths and w as replaced ninety miles in turquoise seas and you out,w e took a slantto the north w ith a m echanlcalW alkerl0g that have the Exum as.On the w indw ard w estto take advantage ofthe current w orked perfectly.The electsonic side ofthe chain the sea is deep and w ith an east w lnd of Iesslhan sounderbecam e erratic m pd way close in but rough - on the leeward five knots w e m otor-sailed m uch of through the trip and by the tim e w e side sand banks extend ou1fouror the 80 m iles to Fort Pierce. gothom e w as com pletely useless five m iles butw ith ourPolycat and as Ihave said the RDF fapled . The d raug htw e were able to thread the ThO W eatherin the late spring onIy yjaing thatw orked perfectly banks close in.M ostofthe Cays are being m uch m ore predictable than in throughoutw as oufcheap V HF uo inhabited and athough this is a the Iate autum n ofourtrip south ' we transce iver . fa m ou s cruisiog ground w e saw far took a num berof offshore hops up feweryachts than in the A bacos;w e the Coastto save tim e.Typicalof On ourIasl nightin the Allanîic had m any beaches and anchorages to these w as the 200 m ile run from St ''Oborea''suffered heronly dam age ourselves.Setttem ents are few and Augtlstine,Florida,to Charleston that ofthe trip.Selfsteerlng atdusk farbetw een and supplies w hen CtltOff a Iong curving bight of between Cape M ay and New York available,areveryexpenslve.At Coastline.InIightairsandcalms,but City,alargewavefrom astern StanielCay fresh w ateris 30è a W ith the gulf stream behind us ittook overpow ered the self.sleering kashup g aIlon - good incentive to catch your 1W O and a halfdays.The trip south and she gybed heavily , parting the ow nl over!he sam e 1eg butfo low ing the preventerand breaking the m aln m eanderings ofthe w aterw ay had boom . W e dropped 1he m asrnfofthe W e spenta w indy m onth hopping taken eleven days . rest ofthe nightand aldaw n resouth and eastthrough the cays, hoisted itloose footed . ltset spearing lobster,catching conch and ''Oborea''steers herselfreasonably rem arkably welibu!w e had to re . troling form ackerel,to George Tow n, w elundervarious sheet-to-tiler s ja eetitevery time w e cam e about . principaltown ofthe Exumasand Iast Iashups/butadjustmentistricky and supplybaseforyachtsheading farther certain coursesjustseem to be The StatueofLiberty wasgltterlng eastto the Turks & Caicos and the im possible,particularly 1n Iightw inds. io the sun afterherfef1 as we sI1pped Dom inican Republic.The Iarge Som e sortofAuto-pilo!w ould be a through New York harboura few days harbourw asdredged by the welcom e luxury forfuture voyages. before herre-dedication on July 4th . Am ericans during W orld W arIIand is John Belengerhad an Auto Helm fail w e had to race to clearthe harbour the site ofthe annualOut Sslands on his trip across the atlantic in his before the arrivalofthe greatcrush of Begatta where w ofk.boats from a1 ORO ''Pyxis''and spentseveral boatsthat were to attend lhis event . overthe Baham as salagainsteach Ietters to m e condem ning the unit.He oîher. has since instaled an Autohelm 3000 From the Hudson Riverto Toronlo and sailed from Barbados to Australia e took a shorterroute than on the forthe w e w aited a w eek atGeorge Tow n w ith itand spentan equalam ountof w ay ouț negotiating the thirty.odd w ind to shiftoutofthe south. space io p raise ofthis unit. Another Iocks ofthe Erie Canalto Osw ego on eastIong Island enough to press on to Long jaase Iw ould m ake is a new the south shore ofL and Conception lsland butit purc . Ebco although ake O ntarpo.The didn't, sextant,our , Iake Iived up to fts usualreputalion so on Aprtl8th 1986 w ith tlm e su fficiently accurate has poorplas:ic in July itw as bitterly cold and w e running Troplc shortat 23!4 O south on the optics thatm ake starsights e xtrem ely had to getout ourwoolpes thalhad ofCancerw e started to head d i fficult. Navigation offshore w as been stored forthe pastseven back M north,forty miles to Ca1Island. 1tely by dead reckoning and months and we had head ainly agricultural this island boasts com p e ijobservatpons as ourRDF w kndsfor , c e Iesta had m ostofthe 140 m iles from Oswego the 206 h fIg hestpoin tin the Baham as - packed it in by this tim e . W e did not to Toronto.W e arrlved hom e July 11th eetabove sea Ievel! have m uc ja success w ith electronics w ith 5,300 m ilesundefourkeel. Between CatIsland and Eleuthera Iies uninhabited Llttle San Salvador. Tl31s wa s o nceîhe ''u n in ha bited desertIsland''w here cruise ships dropped theirpassengers fora day, butthey no longerdo this and the rsland w ith Itstw o m ile long perfect crescentofw hite sand beach becam e ourow n personaltropicalparadise. ln south w estEleuthera w e stopped atthe abandoned Pow el - PointM arina.This was one ofthe sad things abouttbe Baham as - we saw ' . ' ' - * so m any businesses,from resorts to . . cattle ranches ' thathad gone outof ' *' businesssince independance In 1973 . , u;::. ..,....v# ' a z '* yo: New Iaw s require thatalIbusinesses -' .* . -' be m anaged by Baham ians and there .>,F . e * . are sim ply notenough natives w ith the experlence (or,Isuspect,the inclination)tokeep these places going.They flounderalong fora while and then go bely-up.Itis a sad w aste asthey could provide needed . em ploym ent. &. /' W e coasted up Eleuthera ' stopplng -''r , .. atGovernor's Harbourand Hatchet N ' . Bay,back to Spanlsh W els from whence we retraced ourpath back e'* through the Abacosto W estEnd :- -v Grand Bahama. Hawks BillCap;an oninhabited Baham a he Sea People/sailorm an No.8 July 1987 11
Page 1 and 2: * * i I l jlp ' '.7qw , -lk4t,$ .r
Page 3 and 4: * @ TheMagazineofthePolynesianCatam
Page 5 and 6: w asnotw el.W e qonsulted Reeds and
Page 7 and 8: W ithin a m atterofdays 4was on a N
Page 9: W e IeftChesapeake Bay by w ay of w
Page 13 and 14: Finalv this laconic reportof a toug
Page 15 and 16: cum bersom e to m anage w ith the b
Page 17 and 18: #. . . . . j:. .ç . . I . , k.2.,
Page 19 and 20: PhilHooperfrom S.Australiasent qF.
Page 21 and 22: Vailiand Ireturned to Puerto cartha
Page 23 and 24: Themain dangers comefrom the Severa
Page 25 and 26: pulon the forestay from a sufficien
Page 27 and 28: . '''!hkr':th)$ ṫxjgk.'. t'jsjtil
Page 29 and 30: 9 James w harram Severalyears ago,t
Page 31 and 32: Jerem v Cresswell(see his articlein
Page 33 and 34: Steve Goodm an.J.W D.'s agent keeps
Page 35 and 36: ' U.S.A. Buildingthe workshop wasIa
Page 37 and 38: The Sea People/sailorm an No.8 July
Page 39 and 40: I * e ê)t'U . r> ''Q '%'' . p. i0

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