Dancing With Hurricane Erin

Some times it pays to break the rules. While sailing back from the Bras d’Or Lakes to Halifax, we left on Friday Aug. 22nd, the day that Hurricane Erin was going by. Sailing superstition says it’s bad luck to set off on a Friday. Also, most sailors stay in safe harbors when such a big storm is any where nearby. Yet, I didn’t break the rules idly; I watched the track of the storm and had chosen ports bailout ports. Getting home from the Bras d’Or Lakes to Halifax is normally an upwind slog because of the prevailing southwest summer breezes. The northern edges of Hurricane Erin would create a strong northeasterly that would make the trip a fast, downwind ride. This was a chance too good to pass up. I determined the risk was worth the reward. Several hours into our surfing session down the south coast of Nova Scotia, we noticed blue sky to the north over the land and angry grey clouds to the south out to sea. During the day, we jibed downwind between the shore and the meanest looking clouds. Soulmates ended up having a great, fast sail. We averaged 9 knots for the 95-mile 11-hour passage from the exit of the Bras d’Or Lakes to Beaver Island Harbor, which is nearly two thirds of the way to Halifax. The wind blew in mid-20s with some solid gusts into the 30s, but since we were on a very broad reach with a double-reefed main and small jib, heeling was minimal. Our highest speed was a surf to 20.2 knots and had uncountable number of surges over 15 knots. There were hour-long stretches where we averaged 11 knots. Being comfortable in, and prepared for, high winds allowed us take advantage of these conditions. My decision to sail bore fruit, as the day after the storm, we had to motor the remaining 60 miles to Halifax because the prevailing southwesterly had returned. Comfort and preparation are the result of years of sailing in incrementally stronger winds and learning from those experiences. All sailors would do well to expand their sailing skills as did my crewmate Keven; she started out skeptical of my plan, but was smiling at the end of the our successful sail. I broke one other superstitious rule — we sail with bananas as part of our larder.