Just want to share our crossing experience…
The morning forecast was pretty favorable. There was no small craft advisory, my group left the Port Everglades last, as agreed at the captains’ meeting the night before departure. With no other advisory from the forward group(s) we followed our departure protocol. The crossing was quite rough and it was no picnic, right off the bat, not surprising as the inlet is known to be rough. Everyone was briefed about what could happen at the captains meeting - unless it is a major storm, small but powerful rain storms off the Florida/Bahamas coast are very hard to predict, and can pop up isolated or in little clusters.
Within less than an hour we got caught in one of the hardest rain and thunderstorms I have ever experienced out in the ocean. I initially strayed off course to the SE trying to stay away from it, but we got the edge of it any way. Seas were somewhere in the 4 to 6 range and nearby lightning strikes were pretty scary, myself and my two young girls on board did not like it. My instruments were intermittently acting up but maintained good overall radio/GPS and chart plotter control of our position.
At that point, several of the boats in our group turned around. With zero visibility I lost sight of my group and in the noise it became difficult to hear the radio, I could see my chart plotter screen. All other groups also got mixed up, I was unable to successfully communicate with anyone who I thought might be forward of our position.
Approximately 10-15 miles out I have experienced several adverse events in my boat which occurred in quick succession (including a collapsed tower, broken windshield, anchor locker flying off, a chair base braking etc.) - leaving us surprised/shaken and in risk of becoming disabled. However, we were able to stay on plane the entire time while dealing with those issues, one way or the other, and managed to regroup quickly.
After ascertaining the boat had the power/navigation/radio capability intact, my daughters and I decided to continue the crossing and plough ahead. We could maintain planning speeds as desired and turning back into the storm we just went through did not seem particularly appealing. After a while the skies ahead were blue for us. We were able to straighten our course and maintained a 15-20 mph speed (~5,000-5,400 RPM) the whole way to save the fuel, albeit at the expense of some comfort.
We made it to Bimini Sands with 10gal in the tank w/no refueling at sea at little under 5 hours.
Despite everything, at no time did I think our lives were in danger.
BUT:
As
@Majorsmackdown likes to put it: “The truth is - there are dangers in boating and ocean boating. To stay home is the only way to avoid them all. “
--
