A day in the life.

It began so beautifully, with the Crimson sun setting in the West. Calm seas with enough wind to keep the sails up. It was hot. No doubt it was going to be a boring passage from the begihhing.

However, the normal time for this particular leg is about thirty six hours. This night was beautiful. The Gulf of Mexico was smooth as glass and the wind had given out on me so I cranked up the Yanmar and was tooling along at about six knots. I had the autopilot on and about O100 I had to have some sleep. The foreward hatch was open, bringing in a nice breeze so I crawled into the V-berth for a snooze. I have radar on my boat and I set it to give a loud warning beep if it detects another vessel within eighteen miles. I also had a hand held GPS at my side and I would occasionaly wake up, check my position and go back to sleep, I felt very safe indeed.

The Gulf of Mexico is a tricky old girl, and many a foolish sailor has taken her lightly. People have come from all over the world to die in the Gulf. I know her well, having sailed her for a few years. The wind and sea conditions can change almost immediatly and go from calm one minute, to raging gale the next.
About three-thirty I was awakened by something hitting me all over. "What the hell was that?", I said to no one. I looked around and everything seemed fine. Then the next one came in through the hatch. Blue water went everywhere and I realized what was going on, bad weather. The wind had gone from calm to forty-five miles an hour, and the sea had gone from smooth to seven feet in a matter of fifteen minutes. The course I was on took me straight into the waves and my bow was going underwater, hence the water down the hatch. I said, "Aw Schit", not because I was afraid, but because I wasn't going to get any more sleep, and actually had to work the rest of the night. I then took a course that quartered the waves so the boat, and me, wouldn't take such a beating, and made it to Clearwater without incedent.
I fueled up in Clearwater the next day and set out again south. After I cleared the harbour back into the Gulf the weather was taking another nasty turn.

I took a break from sailing and went home.