Across the Caribbean (photos to follow soon.....)
Departure Day - Saturday 26th January 2013
Dawn revealed that the awning was still with us! Just as we decided it was a good time to get it down, the wind suddenly got up to about 15 knots and we had to tie it down, half up half down. Eventually it dropped again so we could complete the task and taking down into the saloon to fold and pack away.
Dinghy was next to be lifted onto the davits and fully secured utilising the new ratchet straps to stop it from moving side to side in a rolling sea. Fenders were check as being secure, running backstays - used for the awning – were tied back to the mast.
After a short breakfast, we were ready and by 12:00 midday we were off the mooring and motoring out of The Bight, Norman Island, onto our heading of 234⁰ towards Aruba or St Marta in Columbia, depending on wind and sea conditions. By 12:30 the engine was off and we were under full
main and genoa.
As we cleared the islands we had English muffins with butter and raspberry jam for a most civilised afternoon tea. We continued with steak-pie for our evening meal and by midnight had completed 54 miles.
Day 1 - Sunday 27th January 2013
During the night we had numerous rain showers passing through without squally winds and carried on conservatively until dawn, when we were able to increase to full main and 3rd reef in the genoa.
The daily radio-net took place at 08:00 when we were able to catch up with some of the fleet positions and inform them of ours. This was followed by us getting the spinnaker pole rigged to port ready to goose-wing the genoa which should then allow us to sail closer to a dead run, on the course we required.
During the course of the day we discussed the options of where we should head for and where we wanted to go. The options were: Aruba at 265 miles on a heading of 224⁰; St Marta, Columbia at 700 miles on a heading of 234⁰ or Porvenir in the San Blas Islands at 986 miles on a heading of 262⁰. According to the forecast, there was going to be high winds around the corner of Columbia including St Marta all the way down to Cartegena so we elected to shape a deep course to Porvenir were there would be a little less wind.
We ran the watermaker whilst the generator was on this evening and produced 300 litres of water taking us up to 725 litres in the tank – enough for a shower each!
Around 20:30, Susan was on watch and woke me because a large dark cloud was approaching. She had correctly switched on the radar and confirmed it was a rain cloud, probably a squall, and wanted to reef early having anticipated its path over us. She wanted to do the reefing on her own but would like me to supervise her to be safe. In releasing the main sail outhaul clutch, she had too few turns on the winch and was unable to hold the tension due to the pressure on the sail. Fortunately, I was able to close the jammer and recover the situation without any damage – excepting Susan’s pride! She knew what she had done wrong and we talked it through before agreeing to a training exercise tomorrow to develop her technique on winches. I hope it served as a lesson to her about the seriousness of using winches correctly, something she has struggled with because of the forces involved hence the importance of a good technique.
We had freshly made blackcurrant crumble that evening which was delicious!
Daily run - 116 miles; Position - 16⁰ 38’ N 66⁰ 30’ W; Wind - ENN F4;
Day 2 – Monday 28th January 2013
We spent the night trying to stay above our desired course but failing. The wind was more NNE than ENE or Easterly as was forecast and still sailing goose-winged on a port tack we were on a dead run and being forced to far south, more often than not towards Santa Marta and sometimes as far East as the ABC Islands.
As the day progressed, the sea became more confused and the wind increased to ENE F5/6. The current which had been directly behind us between 1.5 to 2 knots and making our Speed Over Ground look so impressive, now headed directly West. It was still helping in making Westing but no longer pushing us directly SW as we were heading.
The promise winch tuition took place and I felt Susan had a better understanding of the technique I wanted her to practice and utilise. She no has to adopt it for real and keep practicing until it becomes second nature.
Managed to get on SailMail this evening and get an order in for some grib-files for the next 3 day forecast which should be able to be collected in the morning.
Daily run - 141 miles; Position - 15⁰ 54’ N 67⁰ 45’ W; Wind - NE F5;
Day 3 – Tuesday 29th January 2013
The night had been unpleasant with Susan not being able to sleep in the cockpit, saloon nor aft cabin. As usual, when this happens, I tried to slow the boat down and reduce the rolling motion to help her sleep but again, as usual, she becomes very short tempered and throws tantrums all around the boat until she is too tired to continue.
By the time of the radio-net at 08:00 we were in a position about 100 miles North of Punta Gallinas in Northern Columbia. We learnt that Amelie and Yantina were both about 75 miles infront of us, Amelie heading straight for the San Blas and Yantina undecided as to whether to stop at Cartegena. Chinook was still in St Marta and travelling down to Cartegena by train as strong winds were still forecast. Babe was about to leave Bonaire heading for Cartegena, Sotto Vento was already there but planning to leave tomorrow lunchtime. Stiama were just about to leave Aruba. Wolfhound were 300 miles from San Blas with no genoa, Yantina reported problems with the top swivel of his main sail furling and only under genoa.
We had an Easterly at F4 and were able to have all sails out; first reef main on the preventer; third reef genoa poled out to port; full staysail to fill the gap.
Just around 18:30, as we were imbibing of a small sundowner, the fishing line started to spool out. I managed to get the rod out of its holder, slow down the departure of the line and give it a good pull to set the hook in firmly. I then set the rod back in its holder while I strapped on the rod belt. While doing this I watched, with dismay, as a good sized beast leapt out of the water a couple of times before breaking the line which came flying back towards the boat. From a distance of around 50 meters, he looked to be at least a meter long and silvery coloured.
Daily run - 147 miles; Position - 13⁰ 48’ N 71⁰ 44’ W; Wind - ENE F5;
Day 4 – Wednesday 30th January 2013
That early morning, around half past midnight, the autopilot decided to have a bit of a turn. We had a vicious wind shift from North East to North West trying to induce a crash gybe. I was able to get to the wheel quickly, switch the autopilot onto ‘standby’ and bring us back onto course. We immediately reduce sail and reset the pilot, which didn’t appear to want to take us back to our original heading. We ended up having to realign the autopilot to the compass and he the seemed to settle down. The wind on the other hand couldn’t settle and so we started the engine and motored for a while as we waited to see which side to set the sails.
There was little change in the strong variable wind until the morning when we were able to set the sails with third reefs in both the genoa and mainsail. The seas were still large and uncomfortable but we preferred to be well reefed and make some headway towards San Blas.
By 18:30 that evening we had put another reef in both sails as the wind increased to F6/7. Later we tried sailing under genoa alone which it didn’t seem to like so then we tried under main alone still without much success. We brought the main into the centre of the boat and decided to motor sail for a while. It was a good move as the wind increase even further to F8/9 – 45 knots we noticed on the display. The sea had built into furious mountainous seas of 6 meters with patches of ‘boiling water’ and spume being blow from the crests. Although it was most unpleasant, we were still under control and heading in the right direction.
Daily run - 136 miles; Position - 12⁰ 20’ N 74⁰ 07’ W; Wind - ENE F5;
Day 5 – Thursday 31st January 2013
I dozed in the cockpit, so as not to leave Susan alone in those worrying conditions. She woke me suddenly at 01:30 shouting “the mainsail is ripped!”. It seemed to have exploded in the fat belly part of the sail, just above the foot, looking like it had had a cannon ball through it!. This was where the foot had delaminated and was repaired by Thomas in Gomera before we left there. It always had that slightly fat and stretched look about it, especially when trying to furl it into the mast, and this is exactly where it had gone.
Not wanting to lose the whole sail nor have to get it down in the prevailing conditions, we managed to furl it securely back into the mast. Not quite sure it will come out again so easy!
We sat despondently in the cockpit having a cigarette and listening to the diesel engine, both of us knowing that the sail was past its best and beyond repair necessitating a new one being shipped out to us in Panama.
First thing in the morning we got straight onto Dolphin Sales by email. John Sturmer replied by return but with options for material with which we were not familiar. We asked for him to elaborate for us. By late afternoon we had placed the email order for a new sail to be in Panama this month......
Daily run - 132 miles; Position - 11⁰ 07’ N 76⁰ 16’ W; Wind - NE F5;
Day 6 – Friday 1st February 2013
Our ETA at Porvenir in the San Blas was beginning to slip since we reefed for the night – probably more than we needed to after the main sail going! We shook out the reefs once it was daylight and during the radio net, were able to give our estimate of around 14:00 arrival.
We showered and changed, as usual, in order to arrive to check-in looking somewhat better than we felt after a week at sea. We actually were securely at anchor between Yantina and Wolfhound at 14:30 only to be told that Customs and Immigration closed at 15:00. By the time we had got the dinghy down in the water and got across the water to the office, the port Captain informed us that they were now closed and to return in the
morning – they open at 07:00.
Ian on Yantina kindly asked us to join him for a beer on his boat which we duly did. Tony, Dave and Kathy also joined us from Wolfhound before we retired for something to eat and a well deserved good night’s sleep.
Daily run – 164 miles; Position 09⁰ 33’ N 78⁰ 57’ W; Wind NNE F6;
Trip Total
Nautical miles logged 836 (on GPS 1,004)
Time at sea 6 days 2.5 hours
Average boat speed through the water 5.7 knots (Average SOG 6.8)
Maximum boat speed through the water 10.6 knots
Maximum wind speed: 46.4 knots (F9)