S/V Aphrodite

After a month in the Yucatan we returned to the States. 

We departed Isla Mujeres, Mx at 3 am Jan 16th and arrived Key West <40 hourslater. After waiting and watching for a good weather window for days, we
thought we had selected just the right wind direction and strength, but as
often is the case, the best laid plans do not always work out as expected.

Weather prediction was for 15-20 knots, 3-5 ft. seas and wind from the SSE,
but we found sustained winds of 35-45 knots with gusts up to 50 knots and
seas up to 12-15 ft. Yikes!! This went on for most of the trip. We had
waves crashing over the TOP of the boat and leaking into any overhead hatch
which was not locked close. Early Tues morning our spinnaker started to
unwrap itself so we had to take it down. In that process we lost control of
it and it landed in the water, breaking the spinnaker pole off and dumping
it into the water as well. The boat came to an immediate halt due to the
gigantic anchor effect, which allowed us to partially drop the main sail.
Still in rough seas with limited control of the boat, I made the cardinal
mistake of turning on an engine to regain control and immediately wrapped
one of the lines around one of the props! Double yikes, now what are we
going to do? It was impossible to pull the sail out of the water by hand so
we tied several lines to different parts of the fallen sail and winched it
and the pole out of the water, ever so slowly, until we could pull it up
onto the forward trampoline. Just as we started to breath a sigh of relief
I looked to the rear of the boat and saw a huge merchant ship appear out of
the waves and morning mist, bearing down on us at full at throttle. All
indications were that we were on a collision course so M started hailing him
on the radio to see if he could see us. No answer, no answer, no answer and
the ship was now less than a mile from us! Finally M threatened to hail the
U.S. Coast Guard and have them hail the ship. With that came a Russian
voice saying that he would change course so that we would pass behind us. I
stood there, just watching this monster approaching us and slide by leaving
a huge bow wake about 1/2 mile off our starboard side. What a relief that
was.

These were probably the worst or second worst conditions we have been in.
The other challanging trip was from Cartegena, Columbia to the island of San
Andreas, Honduras. But, the comfort difference of being in a catamaran as
opposed to a monohull is huge. Even though the conditions were poor, the
boat did beautifully and we were able to live on a normal horizontal level
rather than a 20-25 degree angle. This boat is terrific. By the way, it
did win Cruising Catamaran of 2005. The articles are in the current
Cruising World magazine which can be picked up at any marine store or viewed
online. I haven’t read the article yet, but I think there will be a series
of articles over the next few months featuring each of the winners.

Unfortunately Michael was seasick the entire time, very unusual for him. It
turns out he had picked up something in Mx. causing intestinal distress.
The sea state continued to get more and more uncomfortable and all he could
do was go from the bed to the head. He is still under the weather so to
speak. But we are here, safely anchored in Key West, sitting out the last 2
days with 30 knots of wind here in the anchorage. Yesterday we watched a 35
ft. unattended sailboat break anchor and slowly drift down wind through the
anchorage field, luckily avoiding hitting any of the other anchored boats.
Several boats were hailing the Coast Guard, which is literally a couple
hundred yards from the anchorage, to rescue and secure the wayward boat.
Their response was so pathetic that Michael started hailing any emergency
towing service in Key West and finally, just before the boat was about to
smash into the Coast Guard concrete bulkhead wall, we saw a little water
taxi boat crashing through the waves headed for the boat. It was quite a
heroic rescue on the part of those two men because one of them had to board
the drifting boat and pull up by hand the two anchors the owner had set, all
in high winds and erratic seas. The small boat then struggled to tow the
sailboat across the current and wind to a mooring ball about a mile away.
That boat owner must have had an angel on his shoulder yesterday because
his boat could have easily been smashed into splinters.

We will be in the Keys for several weeks while we do some boat repairs. Our
phones and internet are working so we can be reached via cell phones or
yahoo e-mail.

Just another “Days of our Lives” so to speak. Please keep us posted as to
what’s happening in your lives.

Love,

M