The Big Blow: Cold Fronts

Approaching front as we raced in to our anchorage in Great Sale Cay.

April in the Bahamas can bring challenging weather conditions, with cold fronts that blast across Florida and out into the waters of the Northern Bahamas. These fronts can bring high winds and seas, and require that one learns the art of reading multiple weather forecast models, combined with experience and local knowledge.

We've experienced a few fronts passing through since arriving in the Islands on April 1. The strongest one so far (see pic above) came in 20 hours sooner than forecast, carrying 50 knot winds along the leading edge, and high seas.

We were closing in our targeted anchorage at Great Sale Cay when it became clear that the front was going to catch us. We furled sails and ran with the wind and seas, under power from our two Yanmar diesel inboard engines, and made it safely into the anchorage with driving rains and high winds buffeting Pandion.

Important lesson from that experience: Stay well ahead of the forecast models (PredictWind's four models were all off on this one), and have contingency plans in place.