Thar be phantoms

The night was dark as a pirate’s heart and the winds and seas were calm enough to call us out. We cast off our lines at 4:30 AM and used the “big light” to find our way out of West End harbor. Once clear of the harbor entrance buoy we made a SW heading and began to relax. Our sailing plan included a 2 to 3 hour motor into the light wind to get our “Southing” in early. This is to partially compensate for the northern flowing Gulf Stream. Suddenly a huge post appeared right on our starboard beam! It couldn’t be more than a few feet away! I say “a post, where the &%#* did that come from!! Mike says “WHOA, what’s that for?” It’s not on the charts, it has no light or reflector! Where did it come from? Is there any more?? This leaves us pretty shook up and we have the “big light” out again scoping out ahead. We don’t find any more and our only explanation is that it was a “Phantom” because we are in the Bermuda Triangle. The post was huge and most likely sitting on a pile of rocks so it probably would have sunk us.

We get our “southing” in and set a westerly course for Florida after raising our sails. Stars have finally appeared but no moon so it is still very dark. All we can see is the foamy top of the larger waves that are now on our beam. I see a red port light and a white steaming light on the north west horizon and comment to Mike about it. He confirms the lights and I check the radar and saw a large blip about 12 miles away. The boat was rapidly CDCB (closing distance, constant bearing) and I was getting ready to make a move. Suddenly it disappeared, no lights at all. Mike says “where’d it go?” And I am straining to see the lights. I quickly check the radar; the last blip was at 2 miles. NOTHING! Where the &%$# did it go?? Suddenly a green light appears, whatever it is must have turned around because green indicates the starboard side and now the blip appears on the radar as dead in the water. We watch it for a while and then it disappears again! It finally reappeared behind us heading north. Another Phantom!

The sun came up and the rest of the day we slogged along trying to keep the sails full. We end up running the motor with full sails but only making 2.8 to 3.5 knots. It was just like something was dragging or pulling us back out to sea. We finally tied the dock lines at North Palm Beach Marina at 7 PM.