Doing what we do, weather is ever-present on our minds. It can make the difference between a comfortable passage or one straight from hell. We do our best to make sure we stay comfortable, but sometimes Mother Nature has had something else in store for us. In other cases, there is just no avoiding rough weather. The way the earth is formed and how it turns on its axis serve up predictable weather patterns. Cape Horn on the southern tip of South America is famous for its treachery. What happens is that the prevailing winds are uninterrupted as they blow from east to west, which means the seas can become enormous. These are known as the “roaring forties,” “furious fifties” and “screaming sixties”. As the winds build, the seas can get huge (sometimes as large as 100 feet) and on top of that, the winds and seas are funneled between the tip of South America and the top of the Antarctic Peninsula. This is known as an extreme version of a “cape effect.” This, my friends, is why we went through the Panama Canal!
Cape effects also exist to a smaller extent in other points of land which protrude out from the mainland. Point Conception is called the “Cape Horn” of California (albeit a bit exaggerated, it still should be respected.) Going south around Point Conception on this trip we experienced 12-15 foot seas and gusts of wind up to 40 knots. Fortunately, we were going “with the weather” so that we weren’t pounding into the seas or going into the wind. To avoid these weather conditions when going north on a previous trip, we have waited at an anchorage just south of the point, and made the passage north early in the morning when conditions are calmest. We also experienced this cape effect in other places in our travels including off the coast of Baja California, and the notorious (to us) Cabo Beata on the south coast of Dominican Republic. Trying to round Cabo Beata on our passage from Jamaica to Puerto Rico, we experienced weather conditions that made us turn around and run back to an anchorage, giving up 40 hard earned nautical miles. We estimated the waves to be 12 to 15 feet, but they were so close together (4-6 seconds) that our bow was almost on the top of one wave and the stern on the top of another – at the same time. When we were in the trough between the waves, you had to look up to see the crest of the waves. The waves were also beginning to break and the cockpit was constantly wet and it was gusting to 35 knots of wind. Both of us stayed up all night trying to make progress around the cape, and by morning we were absolutely exhausted. Unlike Point Conception, we were “beating to weather” around Cabo Beata, and it was very rough. We didn’t see that the weather was going to ease up so we decided to turn around and head back to the anchorage we had stayed at, trying to wait for a better weather window. We stayed two more days at the anchorage (which was beautiful and had another cruising boat we visited with) and then rounded the cape in more benign conditions (20 knots). We both flipped the cape the bird as we passed by.
More recently, we experienced a different kind of cape effect in the Atlantic. We were going from Charleston, South Carolina to Beaufort, North Carolina and had to pass around Cape Fear. At the beginning, we had a nice current and were running “wing & wing” (the jib out to one side and the mainsail out to the other), averaging 7.5 knots. About halfway through the trip we approached Cape Fear. With a name like you would expect some kind of cape effect, and here in the Atlantic in the summer they also have thunderstorms. In fact, the Outer banks of NC are known as the “Graveyard of the Atlantic” because it spawns weather. (Side note: Cape Hatteras on the Outer Banks was the destination we were heading to when we diverted our trip away from it because it was about to be pounded by Hurricane Arthur and his 110 mph sustained winds.) Things turn very ugly very fast. Thunderstorms – in the summer as the land warms during the day and the air rises, cooler ocean air flows inland and thunderstorms form. These arise in the afternoon and through the night. Usually dissipate by midnight. They meander around or become stationary. Mystery of mysteries, they often but not always move perpendicular to or into the prevailing wind. They are violent with initial very strong gusts proceeding heavy rain and lightning. Once initial gusts pass you usually just get heavy rain for a while. Well that is exactly what happened to us…. A thunderstorm quickly developed just off of Cape Fear as we were approaching. We got the whisker pole down and doused the sails just in time to weather the 35 knot gusts we experienced. This wind whipped up the seas, but at a right angle to the prevailing seas created by the previous 2 days of 15 to 20 kts. Result – confused seas or as we call it – the washing machine effect. We were thrown around every which way with so much force our outboard engine worked its way off the stern mount, but fortunately didn’t fall in the drink! Keep in mind it is 1 am and we are pretty tried from hand steering – because did I mention this…our auto pilot had failed and we had sent it to B&G for servicing…. But we did our normal walking of the deck to see what may be awry after taking such a bashing. Good thing we did…. Other than that, no boat repairs needed. Benevento kept us safe, and we used the radar to stay out of the lighting. But because the T-storm parked itself just off the cape, we had to sail much wider around adding 30 nautical miles to our trip.
Other weather phenomenon can be very localized, such as the weather that can be experienced in the Gulf of Tehuantapec and the Gulf of Papagayo, along the Pacific coast of Mexico and Central America. In the Gulf of Tehuantapec, wind can howl across the low peninsula from the Caribbean if the weather conditions are right, and stream into the gulf causing really treacherous conditions. The wind can blow more than 50+ knots and the seas can get up to 30+ feet or more and can blow 500+ miles offshore. Not just uncomfortable conditions – downright dangerous. Fortunately, we crossed this gulf with the right weather and it was benign. South of the Gulf of Tehuantapec, we passed the Gulf of Papagayo, which has northweaterly winds that blow through another gape in the mountains of Central America near Nicaragua. We experienced winds of 25-30 knots for several days. We made good time, but it was uncomfortable. On top of that, it was near the beginning of our trip and therefore more fear-inducing (for me) because of that.
Chalk it up to experience. Grinding it out in Silicon Valley will seem easy compared to Cabo Beata. Oh, by the way, did I mention we dodged a hurricane?.