SURVIVING Wind Force 12 on a Paddleboard! Nearly SANK my Sailboat!!! -Ep. #7 (life on a sailboat)

Waking up with about 20 knots of wind was no big deal. We had anchored in a place with great protection from the Southerly wind direction. And so I took off on my paddleboard with my spearfishing gear to get Maru and myself some seafood dinner.

After about an hour of spearfishing I had two hogfish and was thrilled that we’d have enough for a few meals. Paddling back I saw a storm on the horizon, but figured I had about a half hour before it hit my location. I was wrong! It flew in with terrible speed and ferocity! Changing the wind strength and direction. What was about 20 knots from the South. Rapidly turned to more than 70 knots from the West(recorded by other boaters nearby)!

I got thrown downwind and missed my sailboat by less than 20 feet! I was devastated! And completely unable to paddle upwind against the raging storm. Thankfully downwind was the island. So I was not cast out to sea. But unfortunately that meant my boat could drag anchor and go hard aground as well. Or worst, end up on the rocks!

On the beach and wondering if at moment I would see my sailboat dragging towards shore through the whiteout conditions. I reorganized my gear and set out on an ridiculously arduous paddle straight into the gale force winds, immense waves and a complete white out of rain. I only had to paddle 1000 feet. But that felt borderline impossible as dug the paddle deep into the water while balancing on my knees and staying no more two feet above the board. Any more and the force of the winds would be too great. After more than a half hour, I was near total muscle failure. About to give up, and only able to look into the torrent of howling wind and water. I finally saw my sailboat. I remember the sweet moment I got in the lee of the wind behind my now sideways to the wind boat. It felt like I’d cross the finish line and finally won this battle against the storm. But I knew there was still more to be done……

Maru threw me a line and somehow, we managed to get all my gear up and into the boat. Haphazardly throwing anything loose into a locker or below deck. I could not come up with a plan to get us out of here….. I took a couple precious minutes to carefully weigh all my options. There was no clear right answer of what to do next. But I decided that this storm was not letting up anytime soon. And the wind was already beginning to change direction again. If we did drag anchor here, there would only be moments to react before my sailboat would be on the rock cliffs that earlier were giving us soo much protection. So I decided to risk raising the anchor…..

I do not have an electric windlass! I did this by hand with Maru carefully driving the boat upwind. Even at full tilt, my engine could barley move forward. At any moment it could have all gone wrong……… After making enough progress that I’d have a few moments to react. We once again turned on the cameras. Showing us motoring out of that ship breaking bay.

It was a grueling experience. And there was still more to go!
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This episode takes place throughout the whole day of April 11th 2021.

Check out the next video where we wake up from a night of no sleep and motor over to Double Breasted Cay. The wind lays down completely and turns into a tropical paradise. AMAZING!!!
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