1st time sailing offshore with a child

Hil and I have sailed offshore before, here in Florida, Georgia, and in the BVI.  But it has been over a year for Hil (because of Emma) and I’ve only been out once in the last year and half.

Wind conditions were working around from the North which causes the waves to rise from 2-3′ to 8-10′ in the gulf stream and were predicted to come out of the East on Friday morning.  We moved the sailboat from the North Fork off the Okeechobee waterway at the Roosevelt bridge and anchored by Hell’s Gate thursday.  We refueled and filled up on water along the way.

Friday morning, we headed out around 8am.  I was trying to time our exit to insure we would arrive during daylight at Key Biscayne.  It was a falling tide with east winds 10-15kn and waves 3-4′.  Everything was looking great as we approached the inlet at St. Lucie.  The inlet is very short with man made breakers on both side.  The water inside the breakers looked like water boiling!  Emma was in her car seat with a life vest, Hil and I both were tied into life jackets and jack lines secured to the mast.

Let’s just say getting through the inlet was more exciting than a roller coaster ride.  I was at the helm just trying to keep the boat moving forward into the short steep waves.  We would crest a wave and fall into the trough and the bow of the boat would be swamped with water.  It was like riding a 8 ton bull.

Once you’re in the inlet- there’s no turning back!  A sailboat has a relatively small engine compared to it’s weight.  It’s hull design is great for sailing, but terrible for motoring in steep waves.  If we tried to turn the boat and get abeam to the waves- there’s the possibility of being swept into the breakers before you can get the bow turned back off the waves.

At the helm, I was focused on working the boat.  Hil and Emma, though, had to withstand the violent rocking and bucking in it’s full glory.  Things were flying around below.  We realized we needed to do a better job at stowing our gear next time.

It took only a few minutes to clear out of the inlet, but it felt like an eternity.  We were both shaking from the adrenaline rush and it took longer to calm down than to clear the inlet.

A sailboat is designed to sail, not to motor.  In 3-5′ waves, the sailboat bobs horribly in the troughs of the waves.  A wave height is measured from sea level not the trough.  So the distance you fall from  the crest of the wave is double the wave height.  In order to get the boat calmed down, I had to raise the mainsail.  It would add stabiliy as the wind would help the boat carry through the waves.  We finally got the mainsail up and the boat immediately smoothed out.  Once I got the genoa headsail raised we we’re sailing

In theory, east winds puts us on a beam sail to the south, which is the fastest point of sail.  Our sailboat can only reasonably sail within 60 degrees of the wind.  If the wind clocks around, to maintain the heading, we end up ‘close hauled’ or as close to the wind as you can get before the sails flap horribly and you lose power.

The winds were predicted to come out of the east, but were actually coming out of the ESE- putting us on a close haul to stay off of land.  Close hauled is called “bashing to windward”, and that’s exactly what happens.  You are sailing into the waves smashing the bow into the water as you come out of a trough.

Windward sailing takes a lot of effort at the helm.  The wind forces are different as you slip down a wave and then push you over to the otherside as you bash into the next wave.  Our autopilot does a horrible job windward and I had to hand steer the boat the whole time.

Emma, in the meantime, was seasick.  The only thing worse to being seasick yourself is seeing your 17 month old baby get seasick.  We were warned this could happen.  We had pedialite on board, and thought we were prepared, but boy it’s hard when you’re child is sick and there’s nothing you can do.  Even worse, I couldn’t leave the helm to console her.  Hil spent the whole day holding and caring for Emma.

In other circumstances, it would have been a great day sailing.  After 10 hours and only making 30 miles made good, the prospect of hand steering the sailboat through the night with a seasick child sounded like hell.

By sunset we were approaching Lake Worth Inlet at Palm Beach.  We both decided we would rather head in and anchor for the night than put Emma through too much more.  The inlet was more like a washer machine than boiling water this time, but very rolly still.  I was at the bow pulling down the sails while Hil was at the helm.

We anchored without a problem (lot’s of practice now) and sure enough, as soon as we turned into the inlet and were out of the waves, Emma was gobbling down butter crackers like they were fillet mignon.  Amazingly, she played and laughed like nothing had ever happened.  Mom and Dad did not recover so quickly.  Pumping out all that adrenaline all day long, a mild sunburn, and worrying about Emma made Mommy and Daddy’s nerves go a little raw.

Today we are planning on heading out again when at slack tide.  We are trying to learn from our experiences and make sure everything is stowed properly, make sure we have everything we need handy in the cockpit, and have a backup port in mind to duck into if needed.  I’m checking the weather now and we’ll go at it again!