We were now dockside in Saint Georges, Bermuda. Life was again good, beautiful place full of cruisers waiting for a weather window to head north. Three of our crew decided to jump ship and fly out home. I struggled with deciding whether to call it quits or stick it out. In the end I told the Captain I would stay. Another crew member did the same for a total of 3 for the trip to the U.S. We decided to rig a makeshift mast using the spinnaker pole. We erected it using two shrouds on each side and two forestays. The forestay that we were to use for hanking on the sail was made out of one of the lifelines which happened to be the perfect length. We then lashed the pole to the remains of the mast. The finished product was quite the site people continuously stopping by photographing it and asking about our ordeal. The plan was to use the storm jib upside down (to increase sail area) for some downwind sailing. Since we would be motoring the whole way we had to load up on fuel. So with full tanks, 55 gallons, 6-5 gallon jerry jugs, that's another 30 gallons. Not enough for our journey. A fellow cruiser let us borrow a 50 gallon fuel bladder. We would tie it down on deck just aft of the mast. With about 35 gallons in the bladder we were set to go. So two days later, on a Tuesday, we set off for the second part of our journey. As a side note I ran into several cruisers that had similar stories of dismastings during the same storms. In particular a french couple came by to visit on their dink. They had to be in their 60's. They were dismasted and knocked down, the husband actually going into the water and his wife holding on to his waist to keep him on board. They were still visibly shaken and in shock. They were running with a triple reefed main and no jib when it happenned. It was quite the heart gripping tale. Another guy was dismasted so they continued on under motor. Later on the engine seized up and they had to be picked up by a freighter. During the rescue the boat slammed into the freighter and sunk. In short just incredible stories of survival concentrated in one place. So we are off at 1100 on Tuesday. The first bad news is the auto pilot is still not working! We will have to handsteer for 7 days! It didn't take long for the wind to pick up with the big swells to follow. We had no wind instrument so I am just guessing 20-30 knot winds, at least 20 foot swells. Wind on the nose. The motion on the boat was undescribable. The safest place to be when you weren't on watch was in your bunk. With only three on board we were now on 3 hour watches by yourself vs two people on watch on the first leg. This made for very lonely watches at night fighting your inner fears of what might happen next. The first three nights there were always thunderstorms on the horizon, always on my watch. All I could do was to wish them away. One night with lightning again all around and with the storms far away, or so I thought, a lightning bolt hit right on top of the boat. I saw the green flash at the end of the bolt just above the mast. Scared the crap out of me, once it was done I remember looking OK the instruments are still working, the engine is still running and the bladder at the base of the mast is not on fire. My biggest worry during the trip was running out of fuel. The bladder tank at the base of the mast even though tied down had the fuel sloshing from one side to the other continuously. I remember thinking if the bladder was to rupture we would be screwed! One night the captain woke me up to tell me the bladder was loose and in danger of going overboard. We needed to go up foward reposition it and lash it down. I remember thinking "OK this is it. I am going to die tonite" So I put on my FWG, life jacket went topside hooked on the jackline and went for it. It was actually pretty cool with the full moon and watching the HUGE swells cruising by. I had such and adrenaline rush that I pretty much was able to pick up the bladder clear up into the air and repositioned it on the deck. We then proceeded to tie it down but I could not tie a knot to save my life. The Captain had to come over and tie my side down. We were running dangerously low on fuel, even with all that fuel stored on deck but with the conditions and the deck being awash we could not refuel without putting water in the fuel tank. So eventually we have to take 3 of the 5 gallon jerry jugs below, take off the fuel tank level switch cover and dump the fuel in that way. That bought us some time. When that fuel went out we then needed to refuel again, so we devised a way to refuel from topside. we had to dump the bladder tank into the fuel tank before it ruptured. We took a can of peanuts cut off the bottom with a can opener and on the plastic lid we cut a whole big enough to put the hose thru. We created a sealing surface on the bottom of the can using white electrical tape. So topside we go again up foward. The captain had the can and the end of the hose and I manipulated the valve at the bladder tank and got the fuel going. It was a successfull operation, we were able to dump the whole bladder contents into the fuel tank. We approached the gulf stream with winds still from the north-not good. Our plan was to get into a cold water eddy just south of the stream and ride it north on its eastern edge, come out of it then continue north and get into the stream as it traveled northward entering it on the eastern side and travel north and west till we were out of it. The waves in the stream were incedible. The best way to describe it is like looking into a top loading washing machine. Waves were coming at us in all directions. Very hard to steer to. The boat though built like a tank could go right thru the waves and plow right thru if only the crew could take it. We were doing 6-7 KTs in the stream, about a 2 KT boost. It took about a whole day to get out of the stream. Once on the other side the weather finally took a change for the better. The wind moderated to 10-15 KTS and almost flat seas. We were able to increase engine RPM, doing 6 KTS. The good weather stayed with us for the remainder of the trip. We were able to pull into Newport, RI on Sunday at 1100 a full day ahead of schedule. We never used our makeshift mast and sail. We had just enough fuel to make into Newport. This was a an experience for me that I can not compare to anything else i have ever done. It was the most physically, mentally and emotionally challenging thing I have ever done. I share the story because of the hidden lessons learned and for the tips of how to accomplish various tasks.
