[Rhodes22-list] A description of '94 Bahamas trip.

[Wally Buck]

Chris,

Thanks for taking the time to post. It sounds like a great trip.

Wally


>From: NAPOLI51950 at aol.com
>Reply-To: The Rhodes 22 mail list <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
>To: rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org (The Rhodes 22 mail list)
>Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] A description of '94 Bahamas trip.
>Date: Sun, 04 Jan 2004 15:23:38 -0500
>
>Ok, Ok, Ok,
>           I shall include some info on the Bahamas trim on my old Rhodes.  
>I'll include some background and some incidents that demonstrate why such a 
>trip is so much fun and how it can be done.  Keep in mind my Rhodes at the 
>time was a 1976 and was 17 years old.  I had a 7.5 electric start Yamaha 
>(as I recall) and so it had a small charging component for the batteries.  
>I also had a 15 or 20 watt solar panel mounted of swivels off the stern 
>rail.  The pop top fitting was detached from the mast (I once lost the mast 
>and it pulled off the pop top....but that is another story) and four 
>locking pins were installed in the pop top to make it totally secure in a 
>roll over (not much chance but...)  I also secured the lazerett so I would 
>not lose it either.  I installed hook up points for the Sospenders with 
>built in harness.  No GPS at the time, just a somewhat unreliable LORAN and 
>some good dead reckoning skills.  Replaced all the through hulls and sealed 
>the small openings into the cabin from under the seats and seat backs in 
>the cockpit. I also installed a special  "secret" shelf that hid my camera 
>etc in a sealed container up under the seat backs.  Oh yes, a VHF installed 
>and a small hand-held also.  Anyway the following is a note I sent to some 
>of those list members who asked.  (sorry if it didn't reach those intended) 
>so here it is again.
>
>              Baja may be out, the spring break I was hoping turns out to 
>be 4 days shorter than I was expecting so I may just wait for July and go 
>up to the San Juans.
>
>        About 10 years ago, I left my company after 23 years and decided I 
>would like to take a real sailing trip like I did when I was in high school 
>and college in Europe.  Being in retail for 23 years it was hard to get 
>more than 10 days off at a time, but now I had lots of time and, most 
>importantly, my 1976 Rhodes 22.  I had bought it new from Stan and knew the 
>boat well after sailing it all over the Chesapeake for the last 16 years.
>
>The first part of the trip involved getting the boat ready and replacing 
>the standing and running rigging for the 1st time in 15 years.  I made some 
>alterations (minor) to the hull, hatches, safety equipment, and electronics 
>and the boat was ready.....though I did have to borrow a trailer and a tow 
>vehicle.
>
>Step two was to provision the boat; something my wife did for me (we still 
>have the list if you are interested).  She packed up everything in a series 
>of Rubber maid containers and plastic shoe boxes and we filled the boat 
>with basically enough supplies for 2-3 months.
>
>The trip down to Ft. Lauderdale was the most dangerous part of the entire 
>voyage because of improper tongue weight and too light of a tow vehicle 
>(beggars can't be too choosy).  I left Lauderdale on the afternoon of May 
>3rd amid scattered thunderstorms.  My brother was the other crew member and 
>we had a great night sail
>Across the Gulf Stream dodging isolated t-storms.  Lots of lights from all 
>the traffic both northbound and south bound (with a few unlighted and very 
>fast west bound boats).  Winds were SE about 10-15 knots (a few of the 
>t-storms that passed nearby cranked it up to over 20 but the boat was fine) 
>  seas less than 6 feet.  Before dawn we could see Great  Isaac Light and 
>because of the current (as anticipated) the light was almost  ENE of us.  
>Once the sun was up we headed south, mostly under power, for about 15 miles 
>until we reached the entrance to North Bimini.  Navigation was done using 
>LORAN (it wasn't that accurate in much of the Bahamas) and good ol' dead 
>reckoning.  With GPS you wouldn't need to make such a wide margin to assure 
>yourself that you were north of Bimini.  On the way down to Bimini a small 
>fishing boat hailed us with 4 ladies in it who asked for water and fruit 
>juice (one was apparently diabetic).  We gave them what they wanted and 
>they gave us 3 fine red snappers, which we had for dinner that night.  We 
>spent about a week just hanging around Bimini and the small cays to the 
>south.
>
>We crossed the Great Bahama banks to the Berry islands and spent another 10 
>days exploring them.  On uninhabited Great Stirrup Island we anchored at 
>the southern tip by the old lighthouse and hiked north to the "Barbecue 
>Beach".  The island (or at least the northern half) is owned by several 
>cruise lines that anchor off the island and bring their guest ashore for a 
>taste of island life (Bahamian BBQ and lots of cold & free drinks).  We 
>emerged from the scrub jungle wearing our most touristy outfits and had a 
>great time mingling with the other guest.  The only problem was when asked 
>by the helpful ships' officers which ship we were off we invariable pointed 
>to two different ships (must have been the Rum).  As the last few guest 
>were getting on the launches back to their ship we tried to slip away, only 
>to be stopped by one of the local ladies who come over from Great Harbor 
>Cay to Stirrup cay to serve  the tourist.  "Where you boys tink you be 
>goin'  You can't be goin' wit out taking all des fine leftovers and some 
>ice back to your boat".  When asked how she knew we weren't "guests"  she 
>laughed and said "cuz you got dem cockelburrs all over de socks and dey 
>grow very tickly on de sout side of de island."   So, loaded down with 
>goodies we headed back to "de sout side of de island".  We kept running in 
>to her several times more in the Berrys, and she always had to tell 
>everyone our story.  The Berrys are a neat group of islands with great 
>fishing and diving with sinkholes and caves on many of the islands.
>
>We left and sailed to  New providence island (Nassau) and did the tourist 
>thing for a few days and then headed northeast to Eluthera and all the 
>small islands around there.  Current cut was very neat and we saw several 
>large reef sharks in the cut while snorkeling.  Royal island was very 
>strange, deserted and with a lot of ruins of  a big mansion from the 1900's 
>(it was a rum runners HQ some said).
>
>We spent a number of weeks heading south to Great Exuma and Georgetown and 
>then turned north where my brother left my wife and 12-year-old son and me 
>joined me in Nassau.  With my family I retraced much of the area that my 
>brother and I sailed in and then headed north to the Abacos and spent a lot 
>of time there. We then left from Walkers Cay and returned via West End to 
>Freeport.  My sister and her husband replaced my wife and son who returned 
>to the states and we then sailed down to Gun Cay via Bimini and then made 
>the crossing.  The crossing was made on a beam reach with a southerly wind, 
>following seas (you know what that means ...surfing all the way) and 
>arrived in under 10 hours (much sooner than I had anticipated and I had to 
>wait around till sunrise as I didn't want to go into Ft. Lauderdale in the 
>dark.
>
>There were many situations that called for good seamanship and common sense 
>and these were tested.  The boat always behaved great and I never felt that 
>it would fail me, in fact on several occasions it was the boat and not me 
>that got us out of a few tight situations.  I would encourage you to take 
>the plunge and make the crossing using good sense and appropriate caution.  
>Certainly a good GPS and weather radio are essential,  planning and 
>familiarization of your routes and proper provisioning are all you need to 
>have a great Bahamian vacation.  Let me know if you have any questions or 
>if there is any thing I can do to help you reach your goal.  Would you need 
>another crewmember?
>
>Chris Geankoplis
>Medford, OR
>
>__________________________________________________
>Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list

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