Rage is the term given to the sea conditions in the Bahamas when a strong current that is flowing out through a narrow cut between islands meets large swells coming from the ocean. These opposing forces can cause lumbering ocean swells to pile up into steep breaking waves that if not avoided could capsize a small boat or cause a larger boat to lose control. At best, in a boat the size of Juno, it is uncomfortable, especially going out, as the bow rises up and down and pounds through the steep waves. That being said, rage is relatively easy to avoid. If the wind is going to be above 12 mph from the east, check the tide table and be sure that when you want to enter or exit a cut that the current will be flooding, that is coming onto the Bahama Bank from the ocean, in the same direction as the swells from the wind. Even with larger swells (up to a certain point) as long as the current is going in the same direction, one can transit the cut without concern.
The tricky bit is that the tides are set by the moon and don't always align with when you want to exit a cut. For us today, the timing wasn't too bad. High tide was forecast to be at 9AM to go out on the Exuma Sound. At this point the current should be slack or very little. After 9AM, the high water on the bank would be flowing eastward towards the incoming swell. Even an hour later the current shouldn't be running so swiftly to make much of a difference. After that point all of the cuts along the Exumas could be "raging" most of the day given the forecast of 15-20 knots of wind and the "ebbing" current predicted to last until low tide at 4P.
We thought we had until 10 and ended up using every bit of this. The thing is that the tide tables are an estimate based on the moon and the sun and lots of other averages. When we arrived at Dotham Cut at 10AM we were a bit surprised to see the size of the waves. The largest were probably 4 feet but very short, meaning that we would take a bit of a pounding going out. We got through the cut and were able to get out of the worst of it pretty quickly. Another boat we watched come out after us looked like they had a bit of a rough go of it.
Finally getting Juno under sail and headed south, Sarah kept prodding Harry to try fishing. Harry has had his lures out many times since departing in October without a bite. Also sailing upwind, which was in store for today, is not supposed to be the best of fishing conditions. Despite this, and to keep a happy ship, Harry deployed his rig which consists of a 150' of 150 lbs test line with a shock cord and a cedar plug lure. He uses a clothes pin clipped to the shade covering the cockpit to hold the line up. If we see the cloths pin comes unclipped, we know a fish has at least bitten, or in most cases a big clump of weeds has been snagged by the lure. Within about five minutes, Sarah called out that the clothes pin was off. Sure enough something bigger than a clump of weeds was on the hook. Harry struggled to bring the fish in at first but before too long we got a glimpse of it and could see it was a beautiful Mahi-Mahi. The fish fought hard but as it tired, Harry was able to bring it in. Eventually we got it into the cockpit. Harry gave it a dose of gin to stun it and put it out of its misery before cutting some very nice fillets. What he couldn't get off went back into the ocean for some scavenger to enjoy. After anchoring at Rudder Cay, we cooked up a portion of our fresh catch with lemon and a little garlic- so delicious.
Turning out of the current and steep seas to get out of the worst
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