Hello again, I know I have been a bit quiet lately, but please understand my life has been rather busy, and to be honest, extremely stressful. I have been breaking down in tears again lately and I am fighting off a terrible feeling of dread. My life is anything but easy, and it is probably fair to say my life is an adventure. Join me for some stories and updates.

 

 

Sailing to the Abbacos

I think last time I wrote a blog I was just about to make the jump north from Eleuthra to the Abbacos. There is a reason I never make plans out here, I only have intentions, nothing ever goes according to plan. We got completely becalmed on the first day we were supposed to stage. I had to run the engine for like 3 hours on the dead calm seas to even reach the exit cut. I hate motoring.

Then we were supposed to sail over to Egg island to shorten the jump the following day to avoid night sailing. All of the forecasts were completely wrong, nothing new there, and the captain has to always be flexible, submit to mother nature’s moods or suffer. I dislike overnight sailing because I get so tired and run down. We reached the cut at sunset and the slightest bit of wind 3-4 knots finally started to come up. I just decided, “fuck it… we gotta go now“, and we had a pleasant overnight sail.

 

 

Sister Daisy got seasick again   🙁      but as always she handles it really well, this girl will never let her team down. She took the helm from 1am to sunrise and let me get some sleep. The next morning the weather began to turn to shit and the storms started rolling in off the land to our west.

I had made the decision to try fishing again. I get bored at the helm and I had room in my freezer for some fish. With my very sensitive vegan crew onboard for the last few months I do not fish very often, it is a traumatic scene for her. She was sleeping down below though, so I thought, hey let’s give it a shot. It took me only like an hour to get a huge Mahi Mahi, and yep, we both cried during the bloodbath that followed.

 

 

I breaded the fish and fried some of it up the next day and goodness was it ever delicious.

Just as I got the fish in and killed it the storms hit and we got pounded out there for hours. I had to heave-to for a while as the lightning storms passed overhead because I did not want to try and enter the cut in rough weather.

 

Water Maker Issues

I began having problems with my watermaker like a month ago or so. My crew accidentally washed dishes while I had the water maker running, putting dish soap into the ocean just ahead of the watermaker intake. Watermaker membranes hate chlorine and hate soaps. We flushed it right away but I lost 200ppm in my water quality count after that. I think it was just before we entered the exumas.

I had much to worry about as this delicate and sensitive machine we depend on began having issues. I am not a chemist and do not actually understand the chemistry the membrane is made of but the directions are very clear about how sensitive they are. So for the next month I had attributed the unstable output and higher ppm count to that soap incident. It just seemed logical.

I was wrong

The real answer was rather interesting.

The soaping did have a very short term effect but flushed out just fine. It seems, the real issue was ocean salinity..!   It changes, a lot.

You never think about this stuff, but it matters if you have and use a watermaker down here in the Bahamas. These islands are really the surrounding ridges of huge underwater mountains. The center plateau’s of these mountains is the 2-15 feet underwater. Essentially this makes them salt ponds, despite being open to the ocean, their salinity does climb.

 

 

I didn’t realize how much higher the salt content in the ocean became as I anchored along the island chains of both the Exumas and the Eleuthra. I was floating my yacht in ocean water with like double the salinity of the open ocean. I was trying to desalinate water with twice the salt content, of course my ppm count was coming out 100-200 ppm higher.

It shocked me when I anchored just inside man-of-war Cay Abbacos last week and ran the watermaker and suddenly found my particle count back down to normal below 300ppm. I had worried for months that my watermaker was dying, it was just the ocean salinity that had changed.

You never think about this stuff huh…?

The ocean has different levels of saltiness in different areas

 

Dinghy Engine Misery

I will say, no other sailor has ever in the history of the world spent more time repairing their dinghy engine than I do. It is so frustrating. I do get that much of it is me fixing something I don’t know how to fix, lots of learning mistakes. Lately though, the problem in much simpler. The rubber gasket that was sealing the carb bowl had died and broke during an earlier engine repair back in crooked island.

I do have a carb rebuild kit for my 40 year old dinghy engine, but the gasket is for the other model that does not have a built in fuel tank, the gasket is not the right shape. It is really important to seal the carb bowl shut with a gasket. I don’t have a replacement gasket and cannot buy one down here. I have no availability of parts down here, no internet I can order from.

Sailors are always repairing things with materials and tools and parts on hand, masters at MacGyver’ing things. But a gasoline proof material that can act like a gasket is not so easy to find. We tried many times to try to save the old gasket, every attempt failed. We tried using high temperature gasket maker/sealant many times, every attempt failed. That stuff is awful, never use it. We tried using the not quite right new gasket for the other model and finding a way to seal the fuel fill pipe with other materials, they all failed.

Usually every attempt would work for a short while but eventually the gasoline would melt or dissolve or saturate everything we tried. Often releasing particles in the carb bowl which block the venturi tube. We have been rowing home a lot lately. We even tried cutting up an old pair of rubber swim fins to fashion a gasket out of, which worked perfect for 2 days until it melted. We tried dinghy patch material.

Failure after failure

 

 

Finally in Marsh harbour last week us girls went for a very long hot walk outside of town to find the autoparts supply store. I still could not buy a sheet of rubber to make a gasket from but they did have a roll of gasket material that is a rubber/fiber material. I bought it, we tried it, it is sort of working, but it is so thin there is not much room for a compression seal. It still saturated and leaks very slowly while I have the fuel lines open and running. This stuff is specifically for oil and gasoline gasket making and it does not work very well.

My kingdom for a sheet of 2mm rubber..!

 

Main Engine Problems

I just love WildChild’s super reliable 40 year old Volkswagon rabbit engine. Super simple as far as 4 banger diesel engines go, and rugged and tough. However…   for the last few months the engine has not been very happy. It is slow to start, has trouble throttling up, and will not idle when it’s cold. It is always acting like it is trying to fuel starve itself and I can never figure out why.

Someone suggested maybe my injectors are getting dirty or gummed up? I tried using fuel injector cleaner. Again I am not a mechanic and fixing my engine is not something I know how to do. Being the Captain sucks because I am constantly being pushed into doing things I do not know how to do. It can be very stressful for me. There is nobody I can turn to fix my engine for me.

Interestingly, I discovered recently that for some reason there is a big air pocket inside my fuel filter?   I removed the fuel filter, refilled completely full with diesel and put it back on. Suddenly like a miracle my engine runs perfectly again. For 2 days…!

Hmmm…. I wonder what is happening. I removed the fuel filter again, and again there is a big air pocket in there and the fuel level is just barely touching the intake tube.

 

 

So yet again I use my engineering brain and some logical thinking to begin deducing reasonable conclusions. My crew is wonderful at helping me thru these processes, she is super smart and thinks very clearly. Two heads are better than one and she helps emotionally support me thru the anxiety I go thru while tackling these frustrating problems.

First we inspect every hose and clamp and fitting. It helps for a few days then we get air again. There is no visible fuel leaking from anything anywhere. Eventually we sort of deduce that all of these small pieces of hose with all these clamps, and this black box thingy on it must be related to the problem.

We had no idea what the black box thingy was so we had to research it online. It was connected in to the fuel lines but not wired in. Eventually we figured out that some man years ago had the bright idea to add a priming pump in the fuel line. Not a bad idea, but poorly installed. We took a gamble and removed the whole assembly and replaced it with a single unbroken fuel line.

Good news…

The engine now works perfectly…!

YAAAY…   

🙂

I just have to find someone to help me change the timing belt soon though, it is fraying away slowly.

 

Marsh Harbour

I was nervous about visiting Marsh Harbour again. I was last here 3 years ago about 2 months before hurricane Dorian destroyed the place. I was unsure about how much the ocean floor and sand got rearranged, and unsure how much of this wonderful town might have been rebuilt.

You can     CLICK HERE     to see the video I released showing Marsh Harbour as it is today. We had a lovely day exploring and had the opportunity to provision again. We found the gasket material. We found what was left of the hardware store and could not buy anything on my list in there. The grocery store, called Maxwells is up and running at full swing.

I was just so excited for the remote possibility of finally getting milk onboard again. The wonderful big store was fully stocked…. with everything but…. MILK…!

 

 

Sometimes I feel like the universe just hates me. Lately I have been having such a run of bad luck. Like everyday something goes wrong in my life. Everyday I try to stay happy positive and optimistic, but the universe is wearing me down.

My phone has just died. My new phone I just bought in Martinique like 4 months ago. My new phone that I take such good care of. My new phone that was never once dropped or wet or squished or damaged at all. That day I had my cell phone in its waterproof case on my armband. When we got home, the phone suddenly decided not to charge anymore!

It is so frustrating. I take such good care of all of my stuff. I try so hard to keep my stuff protected and safe. I cannot afford to replace anything. Texting with friends on whatsapp is my only communication with the outside larger world, my lifeline. My phone dying for no particular reason is frustrating beyond belief. I broke down and cried again.

So to my friends out there, I cannot text on whatsapp anymore. My only contact is thru these blogs and by email.

Ohh…. did I mention all of my video cameras have died now too..!   You know… cause my life is not hard enough. So I am unsure if I can repair any of them to be able to keep making YouTube videos. There is nothing I can do about it out here.

 

Shallow Waters

I know that the Bahamas are rather shallow. I know that an 8 foot keel is not ideal for this place. To be clear, in the open ocean,  I LOVE MY HUGE KEEL, it keeps me safe, helps the yacht sail amazingly well. The huge keel is a great thing….  except it can be rather stressful to sail out here in the super shallow Bahamas.

 

 

Everyday we are sailing along in clear waters watching the rocks on the bottom slipping by praying we don’t hit anything. It is very anxiety inducing, very stressful for me everyday.

Also all the charts are wrong and very unreliable. The hurricane rearranged the bottom landscape in now uncharted ways. We cannot trust any charts for in here. Everytime we sail it is so stressful, it causes so much anxiety as we pray we don’t hit bottom. Often I deliberately undersail WildChild to go very slowly because slow motion crashes cost less…  right?

 

 

It happens so fast too. Sailing along happily in 15 feet of water that suddenly drops to 13… 12… 10… Eeek…!   I have to always be on the helm and attentively alert the whole time, ready at a seconds notice to react to a sudden risk of grounding.

My life is very stressful lately

 

Green Turtle Cay

A couple of days ago we slowly sailed our way north to Green Turtle Cay. I am happy to say that they have fared the hurricane much better than Marsh Harbour did. The historic old town is mostly as it always has been. There was damage and much repairing done, but the place is mostly okay.

 

 

We had a lovely day yesterday wandering around the old town and having a land adventure. We found someplace called the pineapple club and relaxed and chatted together. This girl really is like my best friend, ever. We completely understand each other on every level. We think alike we react alike we feel alike. We have bonded so close we are constantly having silent conversations with our eyes, we can read each other’s minds.

 

 

So here is an interesting side story…

After exploring the town yesterday we finally went down to the world famous Blue Bee Bar home of the Goombay smash, a rum cocktail. I have recently discover the cans of Goombay punch in the stores for only like $1.50 a can and its 10% alcohol and tastes amazing. I thought maybe my sister would like to try the original Goombay smash at the place that invented it.

There are a few other cruisers hanging around chatting at the other tables but Daisy and I mostly stick to ourselves. After a while we go across the street to the park to play basketball and have some fun. When we finish, the other cruisers invite us over to join them for a drink. Very kind and lovely people, as sailors usually are.

As we begin chatting they kind of recognize us. We are those two naked hippy girls that they anchored beside a few days ago. Yeah…  I guess it is a fair assessment. We are both kind free spirited hippies in our natures and we are both usually naked all the time, it is very hot here.

A few nights previously, when they were anchored beside us, there was an incident. It was after dark and I was up dancing naked on the bow under the stars releasing my stress out to the heavens as usual. The nearest CAT was maybe 150 feet away and the second one 250 feet away.

As I was just dancing wild and free one of the CAT’s got out a big spot light and began lighting me up while I was naked dancing on the bow. Extremely rude and disrespectful behaviour. And not one time but deliberately lit me up 4 different times.

This disrespectful behaviour started to get on my nerves and I ran down below to get my high powered laser. Next time they light me up, I am gonna blind them. Thankfully the 5th incident did not occur. I went back to my dancing and felt frustrated with how disrespectful people can be.

People suck

 

 

Well…. at that bar yesterday, was both couples that were anchored beside me. When it came up in the conversation that the older Dutch lady was the one lighting me up I kinda got in her face a bit. You seldom get to hear the other side of an incident like that.

So here are some interesting things…

She says…  when the middle CAT, their friends with kids onboard, texted them to ask if they could hear any music coming from that blue boat, she said no she couldn’t, but went up on deck to have a look. She could vaguely hear my music in the distance 250 feet away, but if there was some woman dancing naked she wanted a better look, so she got out her big spotlight.

She was like a gawker at a car crash, just curious. She had no mental idea or concept that she was being rude and disrespectful, it never even occurred to her. She is a very kind and sweet lady too that I was happy to hug and get to know at the bar later.

Maybe People do not suck..?

Interesting huh….

 

Crew

WildChild is beginning to get ready to make her Gulf Stream crossing to Florida soon. My intention is to go to the Cape Canaveral Yacht club for a few days as I have friends there I am excited to see again.

Sister Daisy is due to leave for home soon, she said she would help me make the crossing to Florida. She has been sailing with me for around 2 months now and honestly is the best crew I have ever had. I just love this girl.

We are like twin sisters separated at birth. My sailing life has gotten so much easier with her competent and perfect help as my crew. We work so well together as a team, she knows the routines of the yacht, she knows when where and how to help. She knows me better than anyone on the planet, she is closer to me than any other human being. I have no secrets from her. We are just best friends. Daisy is AMAZING on every level.

 

 

I am unsure if I think she is so perfect and amazing because she is exactly like me? All humans tend to prefer the company of people who are like them. I am a pretty amazing human being though and so is Daisy. Honestly I look up to this girl like a role model. Where I am rough around the edges and damaged she is softer and more polite than I am. She is teaching me social skills and how to present myself more softly to other human beings, smoothing my rough edges.

I am a better person for knowing Daisy

She is going to be leaving soon though… and this fills me with dread. I can tell… I am going to cry for days when she goes, letting her go will be very hard for me. My life is about to get much harder.

I have asked Miss Daisy to write openly and honestly about her experience crewing for me on WildChild for the last 2 months. You can      CLICK HERE     to read what she wrote about the experience.

 

***

I have also been trying to find replacement crew for the beginning of June when Daisy is due to leave. I can solo sail, but I don’t really want to, it is very hard. God and the universe are constantly pushing me into doing things that terrify me, things I am sure I am not strong enough to do.

I was sure I could never handle being alone out here on the ocean. God pushed me into it.

I was sure that I could never solo sail my huge race boat designed to be crewed by 6 men. God pushed me into that too.

The last line for me to cross, the last thing that truly terrifies me… is solo sailing overnight. Just setting the boat up and going down below to go to sleep and just hope and pray I don’t get run over by some huge ship out there. I do not have that much courage or bravery. WildChild does not have an AIS transmitter, I am invisible out there in the dark, there is a lot of marine traffic off the US coast.

I have a feeling of dread that God and the universe are trying to push me into doing exactly this. I have been trying for 3 weeks to find crew, and somehow I am failing. I cannot find help to replace Daisy when she goes. It is beginning to look like I will be pushed into solo sailing long overnight passages soon.

I am just terrified inside

 

 

The search for crew is not going well. I have never had this problem before. Usually I have like a dozen interested candidates within a week and I just have to narrow down my options and try to weed out the crazy and mean ones. (which I am terrible at doing)

I know my Future Crew page on my website is very open and blunt, I get that it will scare some people away, that is what it is designed to do. The way I see it, no normal kind and civilized human being would shy away from any of that.

When I get people contacting me, I direct them to my website, check me and the boat out, and decide if you think you would fit here. Chemistry is so important on a boat, you have to live with a total stranger in a tight space and under stressful conditions. You have to be able to get along. I have had so many bad crew in the past I try harder to find them and weed them out before they can hurt me.

However it seems like very few people are interested in sailing up the US east coast. When I try to find crew and contact people from the crew matches list it always seems to fail. All of them have logged in that day, and all of them are dreaming, busy working, have no actual free time to crew. They like to look at crew postings and dream. Not one of them ever has free time to actually crew.

Most of the people who contact me are not available to sail when I said I need crew, for the month of June. Most of them want to line something up for their vacation time later in the summer, like planning a vacation…?  Dirt Dwellers frustrate me sometimes, so forward looking.

One guy contacted me to crew for me, was available, so I directed him to my website. He came back with “I agreed with everything you wrote, but I am going to decline, I like my autonomy too much and do not want to do as I am told or follow orders..”   ummm…   like he would just come on my boat and do whatever he wants whenever he wants?  What I am supposed to do with people like this? He wants to crew but not follow a Captain?   So much stupidity out there.

I hope and pray I can get crew in the next 2 weeks… but it is not looking good so far and I am terrified I might not be able to find crew. I am not actually that picky, I have two conditions, just be nice, and be competent. Maybe this is harder to find than I imagine though huh?

OMG… what if I end up solo sailing the US east coast?

 

Forward Looking Dread

I am going to be crossing over to Florida soon. I have been thinking about this a lot lately, and it scares me. America is such a complicated place. The border rules vary agent to agent. WildChild has a 2022 US PBRS# for permission to cruise US coastal waters for the whole year. I have the stupid vessel registry sticker. The yacht and I are Canadian and America likes Canada again, our countries are friends again.

My crew however, is European, and America has very stupid rules about Europeans entering by private vessels. Now I know, first hand, from an American CBP agent who assured me, if a European has a Valid ESTA and has entered the US by commercial transport within the last 90 days, they can sail into America. Daisy has met all of these conditions. So it should be fine. Except most American border Agents do not even know their own rules.

Also… you have to check in using their stupid CBP ROAM app… you know.. the one on my phone that doesn’t charge anymore…!  The super secure highly dysfunctional app that I cannot access.

Checking into Puerto Rico took me 8 hours of head banging frustration. I fear facing the bureaucratic giant again. I am starting to develop high anxiety dreading this future coming headache.

Also… here is an interesting side story my boat mom just shared with me… which illustrates how crazy dealing with America can be….

Bahama cruiser returning to US after few months of basking in Bahamas waters/sun wrote about a new level of stupid from US customs in Brunswick, Georgia. It is about garbage. Literally … garbage. There can be no fresh fruits or fresh vegetables in your garbage or anywhere on your vessel. People returning to US had a head of rotting lettuce in their white garbage bag and this rotting head of lettuce costed them $1100 dollars! It was not a penalty. It was a cost of disposing it in proper, US approved, “proper” disposal. So this head of lettuce, produced in Florida, became non-US product once delivered to Bahamas … 

America is just so dysfunctional they scare the crap out of me. I am terrified of running into a similar wall of insanity when I get there next week.

So much stress in a Captain’s life

I need a hug

 

***

 

Anyway…

I hope you found some of my stories interesting to read today and worth your time.

This blog is my gift to you and therapy for me…

 

cheers sailors and sailing fans

 

Wild Captain Lexi

 

hugs from far away…