Bruised

Okay, i take back what i said about the Carib being less intense than the Pacific (i hope it’s satisfied). Leaving Bocas and Panama proved to be hard. But, before i leave Bocas behind, here are a few photos i forgot to post - a parrot, a local bano over the water, the cosmic crab cafe with its individual dining rooms over the water and a mask it has for decor.




My first attempt (yes, it took two) was on Sunday the 3rd. At first we sailed in light airs as clouds gathered offshore. The wind picked up, so i rolled up the genoa (bigger) and rigged the jib (smaller). This takes maybe 20 minutes. Then the wind went light and i cursed myself for getting out of synch with it. But i was too lazy to switch back to the genoa. Lucky thing. About then those gathering clouds arrived. Maybe 50 yards away one was attempting to birth a waterspout! As its erratic path went by astern of us, 40+ knot gusts hit. Akimbo and i held on, rode it out and spent the rest of the afternoon trimming to the squalls. That evening, about 50 nautical miles out, we were pretty much past them and the wind went light. I dropped the jib and kicked on the engine. Shortly thereafter the engine overheated. It had chewed up its water pump impellor (must have been weakened when we had the overheat in the Canal). I opened the box where i expected to find my next spare impellor…and found a thermostat. Damn. It’s hard to give up hard earned distance, but the prudent decision was to turn around and sail back to a place i knew my way in and out of where i tho’t i could find a new impellor, rather than sailing on to a place i didn’t know with unknown resources. On the way back i took the time to retrieve all the pieces of the old impellor out of the engine’s cooling system. Under sail (obviously) dropped anchor in the Bocas anchorage at 3:30 am, and i went to sleep. . On the Bocas cruiser’s radio net the next morning i checked in and announced my needs. That afternoon one of the cruisers sold me the impellor i needed. It was a quick job to install the new one and get the engine going.

On the sail back the rudder developed some slop in it again. This really worried and confused me. The nearest haulout facility was 160nm back to Shelter Bay Marina in Colon. I loathed the tho’t of giving up that much more distance. I decided i could pull the rudder while Akimbo was afloat. The risk would be that i couldn’t get it back in. As it turned out i didn’t have to pull the rudder all the way out to confirm the lower bearing’s condition and position. A neighboring boater (a woman named Andy) helped (thank you). I resecured the rudder in position and was happy to avoid another costly haulout and the cost of time and distance.

Wednesday Akimbo and i took off again. This time there was no squall line waiting for us and the first day was smooth sailing. Then the weather deteriorated rapidly and we were beating against winds blowing 30+ knots or more and 8 foot seas on 8 second periods. Mostly under jib alone, Akimbo performed well. The starboard chainplate developed a leak. At times a wave would wash right over the boat from bow to stern – in nautical terms that’s called “green water.” This pounding lasted at least 48 hours.

On the second night out, tired, the separation between dream and real became thin. I found myself looking for leftovers in the galley, leftovers of a meal i had dreamed i had made. After a bit i realized i had only dreamed it. Later i got up and glanced around for the person i had been talking to in my dream, wanting to finish our conversation.

We arrived as we needed to at Isla Providencia shortly before dusk. Providencia translates as ‘heaven.’ As shelter from the storm, it felt like the right name for the island. Columbia requires that boats pulling in here use a ship’s agent to check in. I reached him on the vhf radio. We agreed that i needed the sleep and we would meet in the morning.

Every day i sailmail Bud and Rhoda, and copy Tyler in on, my noon position or where i have anchored. This is part of my safety net. I had given Bud the internet links to the weather reports i use when i have shoreside internet access so he can copy and paste them to me in return. Apparently i was too tired and forgot to send him my safe in harbor message that night. He didn’t sleep well and was relieved to get my message the next day. I apologized for the worry. Our plan is for him to hear from me before 6pm every day. I’ve asked him to accept as much as 48 hours without hearing from me before he reports us missing. Even then, we may have simply lost communications (struck by lightning?) and be okay. The real alarm is if i activate one of my EPIRBs (emergency position indicating radio beacon) – one in the abandon ship locker, and the other attached to the harness/lifejacket i always wear. Bud and Rhoda and Tyler are on the call list to be told if either is activated. The beacon sends my mayday to satellites that pinpoint my location for my would be rescuers.

When i took the jib down i found its halyard nearly chafed thru. It was a lucky thing it didn’t let go while sailing. In my tired state, i botched replacing it with one of the two spares i had on board. The next day the ship’s agent introduced me to Francisco, who would haul me up to the top of the mast. I fed the halyard in at the top, he fished the end of it out at the bottom. Ta-da! Meanwhile, tropical storm Paula took shape along my route to Roatan, Honduras. I waited an extra day in Providencia while she turned into a Hurricane. Luckily she was headed north at a faster rate than Akimbo and i could go. We took off on her heels. These were the daily messages i sent to Bud, Rhoda and Tyler.

NOON POSITION
“got out of Providencia at 10.
motored for some hours before the wind showed up.
beating now under main and genoa,
light winds & sunshine.
noon position: 13*32'N 081*27.5W
am due north and 20nm from that now (4pm).
destination Roatan in four days?
feeling rested for now.
until tomorrow then.
loving you all always”

NOON ON OCT 12
hi dears,
had to motor quite a bit yesterday.
only saw three fishing boats in the night,
managed to miss any nets.
have had good sailing since about 4am,
albeit beating again - main and jib.
pickin' our way along the edge of the Nicaragua bank now.
some clouds are comin' up on us from astern,
so looks like we're in for some storm.
i hope it switches the wind so we can reach.
i'm eager to read the weather forecasts.
think i'm aimin' all the way to Roatan without stops.
want to get where there's shelter if i need it.
L/L: 14*57'N 082*33'W
haven't gotten too tired yet. nap alot.
good luck to us all.
remember i love you.”

NOON 10/13
“beating, beating, beating. in rain.
under main and jib.
what else can i tell you?
equipment sometimes gets intermittent.
like the radar this morning. that's new.
just tryin' to hold it all together.
gettin a little tired of eatin' fish.
noon position: 15*54'N 083*43'W
besides all your help,
thank you for your moral support.
i love you.”

STILL BEATING
“or maybe i should say still being beaten.
not fun.
beat to Providencia.
beat to Roatan.
and can't point for shit?
tacking thru 130 degrees.
resorting to motor-sailing.
slugging it out for a 3 knot average.
noon L/L 16*27'N 084*54'W
too bad the forecast for northerlies didn't come true.
25-30 knot westerlies over the decks all night.
almost taking it personally.
will be out here another night.
starting to wonder if i will ever get there.
taking a deep breath.
looking for what to appreciate.
in Bocas someone gave me the ssb frequencies for NPR.
which i enjoyed yesterday. but not now with the motor on.
i love you all, (and THAT is what i appreciate)”

“hi dears,
it appears i've wested enuf to change time zones. pulled into a fuel dock here at 8 local time.
wild night for a bit. jib alone. 40+ knots of wind. barreling along in the dark between 7 and 8 knots...approximately on course for our destination (for a change). radar kept working but was worthless trying to see thru the rain. computer suddenly wouldn't pick up the gps signal? now we really were "in the dark." plugged in one of two spare gps on the boat, thankfully the computer picked up that signal fine. whew! with no visibility, hoping there are no other idiots out here to run into. that lasted about half an hour. finally things abated and we reached (yes, as in, not beating against the wind) comfortably along for 4 more hours in good night time visibility before the wind died. motored the last six hours (could have sailed the last four but it would have been beating again and i was too tired).
need to check in with the port captain, buy diesel, do laundry, buy eggs and some produce (and chocolate), say hi to friends of friends, and SLEEP. planning on two nights here (so far). depending on weather. got no internet access yet, but should later, so please keep those reports comin'.
love and hope,”

The new jib halyard already shows signs of chafe? There must be something wrong with the sheave at the top of the mast. Hoisting the jib had gotten disproportionately harder, so when i was up there i sprayed it with some WD-40 and spun it by hand. But apparently its more serious than that. Hmmm.

Good news is that i will soon have crew. Sean is the brother of an old and dear friend in Florida. We remember each other happily and i really look forward to having him aboard. He plans to join me in Belize City on the 21st. I’ll get him to hoist me up the mast again and see what i can address more seriously up there. Sean will crew the 300+ miles to Isla Mujeres and may continue if he decides to. My sister, Ann, will join me in Isla Mujeres on the 28th, to crew the 300+ mile leg to Florida. Again, i am very glad to have her help.

Last evening’s entertainment turned out to be a pair of birds trying to land in Akimbo’s rigging as we pounded and rocked and rolled along under sail. When i look in the bird book, they looked like nighthawks. Like the boobies who have tried the same thing, they were persistent. But the rigging was moving around too much for them. The smaller one managed to grab an upper spreader a few times but was shaken off almost immediately. Their aerial display was amazing, watching them weave around the backstay, next to the sail, in what had to be shifting air currents, between the stowed halyards and running backstays, etc…

More later. Gotta sleep.