Our Longest Passage Ever

Anchor to Anchor - Boqueron, Puerto Rico to Big Sand Cay, Turks and Caicos

62 hours - 327 miles

At 6 a.m., March 20th, 2010, in hot, still conditions we motored out of the Boqueron bay into the Mona Passage. Our buddy boat "Unchained" (U.S.) would follow behind at noon as they expected to out-pace us. The day would unfold with them experiencing transmission problems and parting from us as they sought repairs in the Dominican Republic.

On day one we switched between sailing and motor-sailing until late afternoon by which time the wind filled in. Our course (325 degrees magnetic) took us northwest across the Mona Passage. As we reached a latitude of 18.35' and cleared Puerto Rico's north shore the sea picked up significantly and we encountered a large ocean swell, out of the east, running behind us. We surfed the swell down-wind, taking turns steering in 3 hour shifts for 230 miles. Our knot meter registered up to 9.5 knots at times. It was a lumpy, bumpy ride. Today we sailed through the 2nd deepest water in the world - the Puerto Rico trench, which is approximately 8 kilometres deep. (the deepest is the Mariana trench in the Pacific)

This was the first passage we've made using our lap-top, hooked up to the GPS, equipped with Ocean Navigator Lite software, as a chart plotter. It worked very successfully along the way and even guided us around the reefs surrounding Big Sand Cay as we approached in the dark.

The wind and swell behind us during this passage made for difficult sailing. As a result of the conditions the snap shackle on our boom-vang blew apart while underway. It wasn't until we were snugly on anchor at Big Sand Cay that we would discover a piece of the boom's goose-neck broken off, laying on the deck. Barry's reaction is that if something hasn't broken we haven't made a passage - that's just the way it is.

We averaged 5 knots over-all for the passage.

We arrived in Big Sand Cay at 8:30 p.m., March 22, 2010, 62 hours (327 miles) after we set out; exhausted, hungry and stiff but definitely pleased with our accomplishment.