Gulf Stream Myths and Worse
I have long wondered why some people appear to fear the Gulf Stream
and build such large myths and worse about crosssing it. I have crossed the Stream, from north of Ft. Lauderdale, to the Banks south of St. Isaacs Light on the way to Abacos and south, to Exumas, Long Islaand and even further south, and north, to extreme NE Bahamas, more than 30 times, all without incident or concern. If you have a reasonably well founded boat with good navigation gear and good charts, wait for weather window and then "Go," keeping a sharp lookout for other boats and ships. (Ships travel near western wall when headed south and near the eastern wall when headed north.) Devils and other boat-eating monsters do not dwell in the Gulf Stream. Gulf Stream is like any other waters with a moderately fluctuating intensity of current. Be assured that if you are on a boat that is, in all resoects, up to date, you will even enjoy the passage. And when you first spot a Bahamian land mass on the distant horizon, you will be pleased with yourself and your boat. |
Gulf Stream Myths and Worse
20 knots wind against the current can make it a bit rough.
I personally saw it once rather benign and the NOAA forecast for just 48 hours later turned out to be 50 foot waves (that is right, *50* foot waves). It is not impossible by any means, but one does need to pay attention what's likely to happen in the next day or two. I have long wondered why some people appear to fear the Gulf Stream and build such large myths and worse about crosssing it. I have crossed the Stream, from north of Ft. Lauderdale, to the Banks south of St. Isaacs Light on the way to Abacos and south, to Exumas, Long Islaand and even further south, and north, to extreme NE Bahamas, more than 30 times, all without incident or concern. If you have a reasonably well founded boat with good navigation gear and good charts, wait for weather window and then "Go," keeping a sharp lookout for other boats and ships. (Ships travel near western wall when headed south and near the eastern wall when headed north.) Devils and other boat-eating monsters do not dwell in the Gulf Stream. Gulf Stream is like any other waters with a moderately fluctuating intensity of current. Be assured that if you are on a boat that is, in all resoects, up to date, you will even enjoy the passage. And when you first spot a Bahamian land mass on the distant horizon, you will be pleased with yourself and your boat. |
Gulf Stream Myths and Worse
anchorlt wrote:
I have long wondered why some people appear to fear the Gulf Stream ... ... I have crossed the Stream, from north of Ft. Lauderdale, to the Banks south of St. Isaacs Light on the way to Abacos and south, to Exumas, Long Islaand and even further south, and north, to extreme NE Bahamas, more than 30 times, all without incident or concern. ... If you have a reasonably well founded boat with good navigation gear and good charts, wait for weather window and then "Go," keeping a sharp lookout for other boats and ships ... Sometimes it happens that when you actually _get_ to the Stream, the "window" is closed. Leaving from Florida in one thing. Leaving from elsewhere on the East Coast or from the Maritimes, places that are more than a mere 25 or 50 miles from the West Wall, is often something else again. I have been in harbor in Bermuda and encountered "well found" boats who lost their rig, lost gear, and, worst of all, lost people in the Stream. I suspect your crossings have given you a perspective that applies well to the locations and situations which you have directly experienced, but not so well to the Gulf Stream in general. Be careful about encouraging foolhardiness. -- Good luck and good sailing. s/v Kerry Deare of Barnegat http://kerrydeare.home.comcast.net/ |
Gulf Stream Myths and Worse
Armond Perretta wrote in message Sometimes it happens that when you actually _get_ to the Stream, the "window" is closed. Leaving from Florida in one thing. Leaving from elsewhere on the East Coast or from the Maritimes, places that are more than a mere 25 or 50 miles from the West Wall, is often something else again. I have been in harbor in Bermuda and encountered "well found" boats who lost their rig, lost gear, and, worst of all, lost people in the Stream. I suspect your crossings have given you a perspective that applies well to the locations and situations which you have directly experienced, but not so well to the Gulf Stream in general. Be careful about encouraging foolhardiness. Good advice. I have a friend who worked for local charter companies here in Halifax and would sail down to the Virgin Islands in October to make money over the winter. They tried to pick a good window, but since it takes close to 7 days from here to Bermuda, things change. He has told me stories of losing rigging/spars/sails ...and this would be on large wooden sailing vessels 100' long. |
Gulf Stream Myths and Worse
anecdote:
young coastie in pub says he made just two roundings of Cape Hatteras and into the Gulf Stream, both times on an 87 foot Coast Guard cutter. first time he said it was a piece of cake, and he wondered what all the fuss was about. The second time was a mite rougher and he said he hoped to never again be in such rough conditions. Be careful about encouraging foolhardiness. |
Gulf Stream Myths and Worse
Armond Perretta wrote: Sometimes it happens that when you actually _get_ to the Stream, the "window" is closed. Leaving from Florida in one thing. Leaving from elsewhere on the East Coast or from the Maritimes, places that are more than a mere 25 or 50 miles from the West Wall, is often something else again. I have been in harbor in Bermuda and encountered "well found" boats who lost their rig, lost gear, and, worst of all, lost people in the Stream. I suspect your crossings have given you a perspective that applies well to the locations and situations which you have directly experienced, but not so well to the Gulf Stream in general. Be careful about encouraging foolhardiness. It can change very quickly. A client invited me on an overnight billfish run on his 50 somthing' sportfisher out of Maneto, NC. The first day the wind was SE and it was great. Perfect Paul said that during the night a low would move across a bit north of us. The wind shifted NE about midnight. By 3AM I was bouncing off the cabin top. There is something about the motion of a sportfisher in heavy seas that just scares the hell out of a sailor. -- Glenn Ashmore I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com |
Gulf Stream Myths and Worse
"Armond Perretta" wrote in message ...
anchorlt wrote: I have long wondered why some people appear to fear the Gulf Stream ... ... I have crossed the Stream, from north of Ft. Lauderdale, to the Banks south of St. Isaacs Light on the way to Abacos and south, to Exumas, Long Islaand and even further south, and north, to extreme NE Bahamas, more than 30 times, all without incident or concern. ... If you have a reasonably well founded boat with good navigation gear and good charts, wait for weather window and then "Go," keeping a sharp lookout for other boats and ships ... Sometimes it happens that when you actually _get_ to the Stream, the "window" is closed. Leaving from Florida in one thing. Leaving from elsewhere on the East Coast or from the Maritimes, places that are more than a mere 25 or 50 miles from the West Wall, is often something else again. I have been in harbor in Bermuda and encountered "well found" boats who lost their rig, lost gear, and, worst of all, lost people in the Stream. I suspect your crossings have given you a perspective that applies well to the locations and situations which you have directly experienced, but not so well to the Gulf Stream in general. Be careful about encouraging foolhardiness. Foolhardiness? Please read my entry again. |
Gulf Stream Myths and Worse
It's true you mention 'wait for weather', but you should have emphasized
how important that is. The winds in the stream usually clock around in a clockwise direction. The safest time to leave would be when the winds are at least out of the SE. I would not risk crossing with an East wind, unless I had a very fast boat. I have crossed several times in a 22 foot sailboat, but believe me, I really waited for the weather. I once sat in Angelfish Creek for over a week, until the winds swung around. Since it usually took me 10-12 hours for the crossing, I had to really optimize things. Any northerly component of wind is going to build up steep waves, because of the current going counter to the wind. Wave height can be a problem, but the steepness makes things much worse. In the summer you can get days of almost dead calm for a motor crossing, but other seasons are likely to have higher average winds. anchorlt wrote: I have long wondered why some people appear to fear the Gulf Stream and build such large myths and worse about crosssing it. I have crossed the Stream, from north of Ft. Lauderdale, to the Banks south of St. Isaacs Light on the way to Abacos and south, to Exumas, Long Islaand and even further south, and north, to extreme NE Bahamas, more than 30 times, all without incident or concern. If you have a reasonably well founded boat with good navigation gear and good charts, wait for weather window and then "Go," keeping a sharp lookout for other boats and ships. (Ships travel near western wall when headed south and near the eastern wall when headed north.) Devils and other boat-eating monsters do not dwell in the Gulf Stream. Gulf Stream is like any other waters with a moderately fluctuating intensity of current. Be assured that if you are on a boat that is, in all resoects, up to date, you will even enjoy the passage. And when you first spot a Bahamian land mass on the distant horizon, you will be pleased with yourself and your boat. |
Gulf Stream Myths and Worse
Does anyone know the physics behind the effect of the north winds on the
Gulf Stream? Simple logic seems to say that a 15 know wind against an opposing current of 3 knots should have the same effect as a 18 know wind on still water. I know, from experience, that it ain't so. by why not? "anchorlt" wrote in message om... I have long wondered why some people appear to fear the Gulf Stream and build such large myths and worse about crosssing it. I have crossed the Stream, from north of Ft. Lauderdale, to the Banks south of St. Isaacs Light on the way to Abacos and south, to Exumas, Long Islaand and even further south, and north, to extreme NE Bahamas, more than 30 times, all without incident or concern. If you have a reasonably well founded boat with good navigation gear and good charts, wait for weather window and then "Go," keeping a sharp lookout for other boats and ships. (Ships travel near western wall when headed south and near the eastern wall when headed north.) Devils and other boat-eating monsters do not dwell in the Gulf Stream. Gulf Stream is like any other waters with a moderately fluctuating intensity of current. Be assured that if you are on a boat that is, in all resoects, up to date, you will even enjoy the passage. And when you first spot a Bahamian land mass on the distant horizon, you will be pleased with yourself and your boat. |
Gulf Stream Myths and Worse
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Sherwin Dubren wrote: It's true you mention 'wait for weather', but you should have emphasized how important that is. The winds in the stream usually clock around in a clockwise direction. The safest time to leave would be when the winds are at least out of the SE. I would not risk crossing with an East wind, unless I had a very fast boat. I have crossed several times in a 22 foot sailboat, but believe me, I really waited for the weather. I once sat in Angelfish Creek for over a week, until the winds swung around. Since it usually took me 10-12 hours for the crossing, I had to really optimize things. Any northerly component of wind is going to build up steep waves, because of the current going counter to the wind. Wave height can be a problem, but the steepness makes things much worse. In the summer you can get days of almost dead calm for a motor crossing, but other seasons are likely to have higher average winds. Well I agree with both of you. If you can see the waves on the horizon it is way too rough in the Gulf Stream. But we have crossed in a dead calm too, even in the winter. If you keep track of the weather movements you will know that the winter winds *usually* start out of the north or northeast, and then, when a front goes through, clock around east, southeast, south, southwest, west, northwest and back to north. The question is how fast they will clock. They will stay out of the north for a week and then go very quickly through the cycle and come back to the north again sometimes (often) in as short a time as a couple of days. This may not be enough time for a slow boat. In that case you have to wait. A week is not too long - sometimes you can wait for 3 weeks or a month or even longer. The winds not only have to be NOT out of the north but have to stay not out of the north long enough to let the waves die down (especially if it has been out of the north for some time) and then get across ASAP so that the winds don't have a chance to get back to the north before you arrive. The trick is to judge how quickly the winds are going to swing. The real problem is that people are afraid to trust their own judgement, and/or don't take advice - contradictory, but both can be true of the same captain. So they insist on going with a 'buddy boat' and then the other boat doesn't travel at the same speed and the faster boat (a trawler maybe) holds up and waits and then get socked. Or the trawler wants no wind but goes with a sailboat who wants a south wind. Or they get tired of waiting (or WORSE have a schedule to keep), and go out and get scared and come back and add to the myth. We've been in West End waiting for a window. The boat that left the day before us had their sails torn out (professional skipper with a guy who was paying for the charter). The next day, three of us left. Us, a little catamaran, and a larger and faster sailboat than us. The wind was a SE wind. I don't know about the cat, but we saw the larger sailboat later - we went to Ft. Pierce - they went to Lake Worth. We had a fast and slightly bumpy trip, surfing along in winds of about 25 knots, taking advantage of the stream to help us get to the northwest. They said they had a horrible trip, and had a horrible trip north to Ft Pierce the next day. Of course their horrible trip might be our nice sail. anchorlt wrote: I have long wondered why some people appear to fear the Gulf Stream and build such large myths and worse about crosssing it. I have crossed the Stream, from north of Ft. Lauderdale, to the Banks south of St. Isaacs Light on the way to Abacos and south, to Exumas, Long Islaand and even further south, and north, to extreme NE Bahamas, more than 30 times, all without incident or concern. If you have a reasonably well founded boat with good navigation gear and good charts, wait for weather window and then "Go," keeping a sharp lookout for other boats and ships. (Ships travel near western wall when headed south and near the eastern wall when headed north.) Devils and other boat-eating monsters do not dwell in the Gulf Stream. Gulf Stream is like any other waters with a moderately fluctuating intensity of current. Be assured that if you are on a boat that is, in all resoects, up to date, you will even enjoy the passage. And when you first spot a Bahamian land mass on the distant horizon, you will be pleased with yourself and your boat. grandma Rosalie |
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