In regards to the final video we just released on YouTube of our Atlantic Crossing last year I wanted to share a little post where I go more into the details of this experience.
“The last three days before arriving in the Caribbean the wind really picked up and the sea state changed dramatically. We had winds up to 40 knots with squalls all around us. Waves up to 5-6 meters and the most violent seastate I have ever seen. Sam reached a topspeed of 18 knots surfing down a wave, which made all our legs tremble and the longing to be on land had never been stronger.”
– Summary published on Instagram shortly after arrival in Barbados
We have attached below surface wind data to show what we were dealing with. The immigration officer in Barbados was quite shocked that we had arrived in those conditions.
Most of the way across the Atlantic we struggled with light winds and not really getting the speeds we wished for. Every morning and evening we would download the Predictwind weather forecast from our Iridium Go and make a decision based on that.
As we were closing in on the Caribbean arc the colours of the weather forecast finally started showing the more favourable yellow, orange and redish tones to the excitement of us all. The trades we had longed for the whole way across was finally about to kick in! The weather forecast kept increasing the winds until it eventually was glowing red – which was telling us to expect winds up to 35 knots on our final day. We embraced ourself for what was coming and was ready (or so we thought…) to tackle some more challenging conditions.
We have encountered really strong winds on Beaver in the past, and even though it is not very pleasant we have usually been fine with our storm jib and main on 3rd reef. This was the same sailplan we were going for now. What we failed to prepare for was how big and uncontrollable the seastate would turn out to be. With squalls all around us on top up the already strong conditions, it created very messy seas and windgusts reaching well up to 40 knots. We decided to approach the island from the North rather than the South, which is the more common approach to Barbados.
The hydrovane had so far been steering a steady course the whole way accross the Atlantic, but after broaching twice as the waves were increasing, we eventually had to take over the helm and handsteer for the last 24 hours.
We were at this stage taking turns on the helm and the off watch were functioning as “wave watchers” for the helmsman to help steer a steady course down the waves, and also give a heads up for the occasional big bubbas hitting us from the side. At one point we lost a little bit to much speed dipping in between two big waves, so we got rounded up on the side and the wave behind gave us a semi knock down, or a boom dip as Sam called it. The whole port side of the boat got submerged under water, and our port solar panel got knocked off and was dragging behind by the cables.
We also experienced a very big wave come up behind us and Sam was trying to keep the boat straight before the whole boat somehow managed to catch the wave and we were surfing down it at full speed. I remember glimpsing over at the speed log and seen that we were doing 18 knots (!!). On camera we managed to film (as you see in the video) one of the big waves that was actually breaking just behind us and caught up with us and fully drenched the whole cockpit. This was probably one of the scariest moments seeing that big wall of white wash closing in and washing over you.
We eventually jibed to close in on the leeward side of Barbados and get into safety. Once we were on the protected side of the island we cracked open a bottle of whiskey and took a moment to calm down and let it all sink in. The boys did a tremendous job at handsteering that last day and I am so glad that we made it there safely, because there were definitely moments of doubt whether or not we would make it in one piece.
