Tuesday March 13, 2018 - Hatchet Bay to Spanish Wells (via Current Cut)

Today was an exciting day - a little too exciting.  We had gotten advice from multiple sources on the timing of getting through Current Cut.  Current cut is a narrow cut through rocks near the north end of Eleuthera.  You must pass through it to go from all parts of the Island to the south to all areas to the north.  Our destination for the day was the town of Spanish Wells.  I have studied this cut for at least 3 weeks.  We were going to go yesterday but it was raining and too windy.  Today looked like ideal conditions - winds from the NNW at 15 and veering to the north.  In reality, the winds started out at north which was a good thing since it meant more of a close reach than close hauled.  Our calculations were for slack (zero) current at about 1:15pm.  We left Hatchet Bay just before 9am.  We assumed a speed of 5 knots and a distance of about 16 miles.  We assumed we would get there at about noon and would go through if the current was not above 2 or 3 knots and wait (there is an area to anchor and wait about 300 yards south of the cut) for the current to drop. 

We were the first boat to leave Hatchet Bay but 3 larger boats followed us.  Two of them passed us about half way to the cut.  This allowed us to monitor their passage through the cut.  For the first hour, we averaged 6 knots and for the last hour, around 4.5 knots.  We were sailing with a single reef in the main and a reefed genoa.

The plan was to furl the genoa and start the engine about a mile before where the shoals leading up to the cut begin and motor through. 

At a mile before the cut, I went to start the engine and it didn't start - nothing - after trying, somewhat frantically, between 75 and 100 times.  We were able to watch the first boat going through on AIS so we could see his speed - it looked like about 3 knots above his "pre-cut" speed.  We were still about 1.5 miles behind him so I figured there should be a little less current by the time we got there.  Since we were still on a reach - which I figured would give us enough reliable speed to keep steerage, I decided to SAIL through.  As we entered the channel between the shoals, I realized we were too far south in the channel.  We tried heading up (right) but were unable to head up enough to clear the shoals on the south side.  We quickly tacked, crossed to the north side of the channel and then  tacked again.  Those two tacks took about a minute and put us on the north side of the 100 yard wide channel.  During this, I kept trying to start the engine.  Also, at this point, the wind had died to about 8 to 10 and backed so that we were now close hauled and just able to stay on the rhumb line through the cut.  Fortunatly, the line turns south a little to help keep the sails filled.  Just as we got the cut itself (the land comes up to an elevation of about 25' and has a few small pine trees) we had to turn a little right and the genoa began to luff a fair amount.  The (approximate) 2 knot current and our 1 to 2 knots of boat speed was carrying us through at about 3 knots.  As our bow began to clear the west side of the cut, the genoa caught a some wind that was wrapping around the west side of the island and filled the sail.   We were just a little off course (the south side of the rhumb line) but I was praying that the wind would not push us into the rocks on the south side - it didn't. 

As we sailed away from the cut, we "high fived" one another and then got back to sailing since the seas on the west side were like a washing machine.  We continued on a starboard tack for another half mile and then tacked over to the north where there was a lot less current and the seas were much calmer. 

With our destination still Spanish Wells (7 miles to the north), and the wind on the nose at about 10 to 15, we tacked a couple times, heading north and after about 30 minutes, I decided to give the engine another try.  I wasn't real surprised that it started right up!  So, we brought in the headsail and motor sailed the rest of the way up to Spanish Wells. 

On our way into the harbour, I spotted a boat I recognized - Jessica and Matt (and their cat Gorgie) from the YouTube Channel MJ Sailing.  They were just coming back to the boat in their dinghy and we pulled up and chatted for 5 or 10 minutes.

Then we continued into the harbour and headed west for Spanish Wells Yacht Haven/Resort.  It was a real nice place but a little pricy.   After getting the boat secure and verifying it would start again (which, of course, it did), we walked to Budda's Snack shop for some needed beers.  Later, I got my first real shower in a month and a half.

Exiting Hatchet Bay