Adventures on the "High" seas Early on May 2nd we set sail to cross the 80 mile distance from Big Sand Cay to Luperon in the Dominican Republic. The weather forecast from Chris Parker and N.O.A.A. was for 15-20 knot SE winds during the day, less through the night and under 10 knots tomorrow with isolated showers. The actual weather was 15-20 knot SE winds during the day but by l600 hours the wind had built to 25-30 knots out of the SE with 12 foot seas and thunderstorms to the east of us. At l900 hours, Blind Faith (our companion boat), reported that their Walker Bay dinghy had flipped in the rough wind and seas and they were unable to right her. Fear that retrieval efforts were threatening to damage their rudder left them no choice but to cut the dinghy free. The waves were dropping into our cock-pit making for a rough wet ride albeit an invigorating, brisk sail. We be smokin' mon! By midnight the wind and seas had started to drop and by 0800 hours we drifted in to the Dominican Republic coast, wet but safe and sound. We were lucky on two counts during this wet and wild passage. One was that we had (more than) enough wind to sail, as our fuel supply was low and two was that our dinghy was on deck, however we still lost part of her floor on route. We had patch-work in progress on the dinghy and it was just luck that found her still on deck for the passage. A close encounter with a freighter that came up from behind us just before midnight had us keeping a vigilant look-out for other ships. Big Sand Cay (Turks & Caicos) to Luperon (Dominican Republic) - 22 hours - 80 miles - anchor to anchor