Passing Cuba

Wednesday 19 Jan, cruising days 53, passage Key West, FL to Isla Mujeres, Mexico, day 2.
The day started badly. At midnight we are 35nm SW of the Dry Tortugas, motoring downwind with no sails up ,rolling wildly from side to side. Oana has already been seasick for the last couple of hours and conditions don’t look like improving for her any time soon.

At 3am, we reach our waypoint which marks the entry point for our first crossing of the Gulf Stream. Here, we turn 30 to port with a heading that sets the boat as close to 90 degrees to the current flow as I am able to estimate. This is the fastest way to get the 50 nm across current and minimize the drag SE towards Havana.

This turn to port also changes the apparent wind direction from dead astern to our port quarter. This puts the wind not forward enough for the genoa to fill properly (blanketed by the mainsail) and not aft enough for us to be able to pole-out the genoa, wing-on-wing. Ideally this is spinnaker territory and the windspeed is perfect for it. But putting it up at night in this very lumpy sea-state is not happening. And again, I curse my decision to take it down too soon yesterday evening.

We now have 3 options: genoa and no mainsail; mainsail and no genoa (either of which would see the sail(s) banging around and not much speed; or motor-sailing, where the thrust from the propeller brings the apparent wind forward and accelerates it. This will allow both the mainsail and genoa to be fully powered up which yields good speed. And with the extra pressure in the sails it also stabilizes the boat reducing the horrible rolling motion (the sails more effectively pinning-down the boat). The only downside is burning fuel. But this technique is actually quite economic because the sails are contributing a lot of the power driving us forward and, most importantly, the quicker we get across the gulf stream the lesser the amount of eastward push we get, by the current.
This is how we cross the stream. And it is fast at 8-10kts COG. By midday we are out to other side where the sea conditions improve enough for Oana to come back to life for a few hours.

Now it’s just a matter to sail down to the western tip of Cuba. During the afternoon the Parasailor goes up again and we gently run dead downwind in quite pleasant seas. Just before sunset the wind dies away, and our speed has drops to just 4kts. So down comes the Parasailor and the motor goes back on.
We get a wonderful sunset. One of those where the sun drops into the sea and its base appears to widen like it has just collided with the horizon. Ideal condition to see the elusive “green flash”. We have never seen it, and tonight is no different. We are of the opinion that those who say they have seen it must have been smokin’ something!

For the rest of the evening, we continue to motor towards Cabo De San Antonio while the sea starts to get more and more lumpy, sadly making both the ride and Oana very uncomfortable again. This western tip of Cuba is notorious for confused seas.

Thankfully, just before midnight the wind has picked back up to 12kts and we go back to sailing wing-on-wing. I really wanted to get the spinnaker back up. But again, not a good idea in this sea state and in darkness. Well, not quite darkness. We are blessed these nights with a full moon which at first glows on the eastern horizon then gently rises out of the sea as a big yellow ball, very soon after dusk.