When we last left we were in the paradise of Carmen Island. We knew things were about to get bad based on weather reports, which is why we visited three stops in one day on Carmen Island. We high tailed it to Coronado Island where there was a bit of protection from the north wind. There is no place on Carmen Island with north wind protection since it is mostly low-lying terrain..
We opted for the west side of Coronado Island as the prediction was for winds from the north-east and it had a nice white beach and crystal-clear water. We were anchored by 5:00 PM or so, had a nice swim and dinner after the perfect day at Carmen Island. Life could not get any better... but it could get worse.
Late in the evening the wind started up -- just as predicted, except more from the north then the north-east. It howled and whipped Coda around. The bridal lines creaked on the bow cleats under the stress. The waves were diffracting around the west point of the island and hitting us directly. Coda lurched and pitched on the waves which had reduced to a mere 5 feet after coming around the point. Needless to say, I was up all night. Coda had rotated towards the west and was close to the beach and rocks. If the anchor would have slipped, I would have had a very short time to react before hitting them.
In the morning, we decided that we needed to move. Even though the winds were 45 knots, we could not stay in that location so close to the beach and rocks, so we pulled anchor with the plan of moving to north bound Pulpito Point with protection or to the south of the island behind the volcanic peak.
We pulled out of the anchorage to find 12 foot waves at 6 second period. That is my definition of hell. Coda slammed into the waves and took green water over the bow when heading into them and as I turned to go to the south side of the island and took them broadside, Coda rolled so hard that inclinometer was off scale along with everything ending up on the floor. I ended up tacking to get around the island to the south to avoid the broadside waves. We anchored on the south side of the island with nothing but sea to our stern. The wind, still at 45 knots howled and roared, but there was no more fetch to make large waves and Coda was mostly still. We spent the next couple of hours cleaning up broken glass, mostly from the recycle bin on the aft deck, so no real material losses.
The next two nights we hid behind the lee of the island and watched movies. It was nerve wracking listening to the wind, but we were safe and if we broke loose, there were miles of sea astern as a buffer.
A tale of the sea to tell Teo when he grows up.
Technical Data:
Time: 3 h 37 m ( 13:40 to 17:17 ) Distance: 25.32 nm
Fuel: 6.57 Gallons Fuel Rate: 1.81 GPH Fuel Economy: 3.86 NM/G
Avg Speed: 6.84 kn Max Speed: 8.40 kn
Engine Runtime Start: 3362.35 Hours Runtime End: 3366.00 Hours Fuel: 6.57 Gallons Fuel Rate: 1.81 GPH Fuel Rate Max: 4.25 GPH Avg RPM: 1168.28 Max RPM: 1252.75 Avg Oil Pressure: 51.35 Low Oil Pressure: 31.33 Avg Temperature: 188.66 Max Temperature: 192.20
Time: 1 h 8 m ( 09:00 to 10:08 ) Distance: 6.89 nm
Fuel: 4.20 Gallons Fuel Rate: 3.68 GPH Fuel Economy: 1.64 NM/G
Avg Speed: 7.40 kn Max Speed: 11.18 kn
Engine Runtime Start: 3366.00 Hours Runtime End: 3367.15 Hours Fuel: 4.20 Gallons Fuel Rate: 3.68 GPH Fuel Rate Max: 14.16 GPH Avg RPM: 1177.51 Max RPM: 1975.75 Avg Oil Pressure: 52.76 Low Oil Pressure: 31.33 Avg Temperature: 178.35 Max Temperature: 194.00
