Winds grew stronger through the night and were in the 20’s by morning, with some stronger gusts. We were well protected for waves but we were swinging on our anchor. All the boats were swinging but we know our girl really likes to dance. We marked our swing with landmarks on the shore line and then put up our anchor riding sail.
The sail was a new purchase that Austin brought down. There are two kinds. One, is a delta that you put across the stern. This one seems to work really well but they do not make them anymore and we could not find one. It may be possible to have one made at some point. The other type is just a sail that you attach to the back stay and raise with the main halyard. It is a small triangle. You then attach a sheet to the genoa block and sheet it in on one side of the boat. The idea is that the pressure on the stern from the wind on that sail, keeps the boat from swinging so wildly. We measured our swing landmarks again and the sail lessened the arc and frequency of our swing. We were very happy with it.
Many sailors were going on about their business despite the windy conditions. A boat next to us launched their dinghy from the deck. They had a little trouble with it catching the wind but eventually landed it right side up in the water. We decided to give it a go. We launched Fat Tuesday and she handled it well. We went to shore for a walk and a stop at the bakery.
We loved Olive’s bakery last time we came so we walked there again. Olive was there this time. I was trying to compliment her by saying that there were so many good things, it was difficult to decide. “Well, you better get to deciding,” she said. All business.
We opted for a cinnamon bread, some Bahamian biscuits, a small piece of the pineapple upside down cake and a jar of mango jam. She had a notebook with a page for each day with the date at the top and the various items written on one side with hash marks next each item for the number she had sold. “Is that your computer?” David asked. She loved that and laughed hard, nodding.
We walked down and had some ice cream at one of the fish fry restaurants. It was starting to sprinkle so we headed back to the boat. We spent the afternoon looking at the weather for the next few days and trying to make sure our plan was good. We are worried about west winds on Thursday as the winds will be clocking around with a front. Tomorrow they will veer from east to southeast to south. They will then pick up slightly from the southwest in the night and morning and then head west for several hours, then northwest and then north. It is difficult to find an anchorage that is protected from all of these options.
West winds are the most difficult to deal with because there are few anchorages that offer this protection. the west side of most islands is exposed to the sound side where there are more waves and ocean swell. The pure west winds Thursday are predicted to be in the teens gusting 20 so we should be safe even with little west protection. They are also are predicted to occur during the day for only a few hours, so if it gets uncomfortable, we can move or go sailing. We can also pick an anchorage with lots of swing room and rock and roll there for a few hours. Neither of us want to return to George Town even though there is protection there from all directions. We will not always have the option to retreat there so it is a good chance to learn to manage.
We decided to go back to shore to finish our walk and to check out a possible rake and scrape band. The idea was to stay for about an hour and then head back to the boat at sunset. We headed to shore but the rake and scrape was not happening. Another bar was offering free hot dogs so we went there. They had grilled hot dogs wrapped in home made tortillas with lots of toppings. The restaurant was a beautiful facility with some neat artwork painted by friends of the owner. My favorite was a painting of a giant queen conch on the beach with sailboats in the background. He also had some Junkanoo masks on display. We bought a drink and enjoyed the food. Our friends Cathy and Perry came to join us. We ended up staying until it was dark but were back to the boat by 8.
Planning for an early start in the morning to some point north.