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Day 16 – San Blas Procedures

January 25, 2016 by

1) A bunch of rumors were stirring on various chat forums about fees for the San Blas. Here is what we paid.

205 USD for a 1 year cruising permit.
125 USD per person (20 of which is for Kuna Congresso)
20 USD per boat (Kuna Cogresso)

2) We entered in the south at Mamitupu. The South is much nicer because there are fewer boats. However, one should NOT use C-map charts. They are useless. The Bauhaus chart book is the way to go. Better yet, scan your own Bauhaus guide and use it in SeaClear II with an external GPS puck on your PC.

3) We checked into Panama/Kuna Yala in Porvenir. It can get crowded in the anchorage, but we had good holding in 13 meters. You need to spend time with four government departments. They are all in the same building. There is a dinghy dock nearby. You need to bring your passports, three copies of your crew list, an original and a copy of your Zarpe from Colombia and your ship’s registration papers.

a) Cruising Permit: They take only cash (US dollars) and there is no ATM. They will give you a fist full of papers. They will also stamp a bunch of these papers. Cruising permit, 2 Zarpe forms, 2 receipts.
b) Kuna Congresso: Quick process to pay the $20 per person and $20 for the boat. They give you one receipt.
c) Immigration: They will stamp your passport into Panama. Check to make sure they have done the stamp correctly. (i.e. dated, signed, your boat name, duration of entry and a tick in the tiny box). They gave me two receipts.
d) Police: They seem to write your passport numbers down but do not demand any money. No paperwork given.

The process can take one hour but you might need to wait longer if there are other boats checking in.

We have a more fun post written with plenty of photos but waiting for big lights and wifi of the canal in order to post.

Jason
www.twofishcat.com

Day 11 – Hanging with the Kuna

January 21, 2016 by

Kuna, pronouced Guna, are the inhabitants of a chain of islands off the coast of Panama. Generations ago, when the Spanish invaded, they fled the mainland. Kuna Yala (aka San Blas Islands) are an obvious stop for canal crossers. We did a bit of research and decided to go 60 miles south of the main anchorages. We would face more difficult navigation in an area known for boat-eating reefs and useless charts. The Bauhaus guide of Panama is an amazing resource to navigate this area. To make his charts easier to use we cut out and scanned the charts. Then using a free application called Map Cal I made them into raster charts. This is a must for the southern San Blas Islands.

We walked onto the island of Mamipitu and fell back in time. The small lanes, communal kitchens and lack of utilities are signs that this island life is a world apart from life on Two Fish. Many of the residents are bilingual (Kuna and Spanish) but we found that the women are better Spanish speakers. We had a hard time communicating with some men who were relaxing at their fishing port. There was plenty of boat traffic; all were dugout canoes powered by stubby paddles. The passing canoes were transporting a few coconuts, a log, of which we were unsure of its purpose, jungle fruits and a pair of rubber boots. The boots seem misplaced but they may be used on the mainland or in the rainy season. The kuna people are small in stature with a deep brown skin and very white teeth.

The village has a few solar panels but no electric grid. There were a couple of stores that had a tiny inventory of lollipops and sugary sodas. Kids were playing a form of tag in the village lanes with laughing as a key element. Gail invited some of the locals to play in our dinghy as we were leaving. One kid borrowed Gail’s glasses and pumped up his chest in a macho pose. I wonder if the little guy has a headache now. They would have stayed with us until dark when non-kuna must leave the island. After dark they have a meeting led by the chief and issues are dispatched. We gingerly navigated the dinghy away from the island avoiding a few hazards and thinking how lucky we were to see another culture. We were still excited by the experience as we ate Gail’s tasty tofu stir fry and watched the setting sun from the cockpit.

Before we anchored here, the second day of the passage to Kuna Yala was much like the first. It became a fun game to control the boat speed for a sunlight arrival. At one point we were down to 4 reefs in the Genoa. The winds are usually light this close to Panama but the 35 knot winds in Colombia are creating havoc. The World ARC fleet have been held up by the Port Captain in Santa Marta. They hope to leave today. The Coast Guard chased down one boat and forced them to return to port. I am happy we snuck out early.

A couple of folks have asked why the photo quality has dropped on our posts. We are now posting using our Iridium Go; this is as fast as the formation of coal. So please bear with the low quality – at least we don’t have to wait weeks for wifi. As an aside, I am very happy with the Iridium Go. I can get text-only email and weather with little effort while lying in bed. In super rough conditions sitting at the nav station is headache-inducing. Also the Iridium GO consumes almost no electricity versus the KVH. The ARC Rally gave us Yellow Brick tracker, which does a bunch of things from email to tracking. After a bit of beta testing we like it but I prefer the Iridium Go. May be a future post on our extensive communication strategy.

Off to play.
Jason
www.twofishcat.com

Day 10 – Passage to San Blas

January 19, 2016 by

Last night, while heading to the cockpit to respond to a large wave, I felt something squishy underfoot. I was shocked to find it was a live sardine in the middle of the salon (aka our living room). The fish had come into cockpit via a wave and then jumped inside the salon to relax for the evening. I tossed the live fish back into the sea and laughed that I had never seen that one before. Plenty of flying fish land all over the boat only to be discovered as dried out relics in the morning. But a live wingless sardine in the salon is a new record. Now I have to clean some fish scales off the floor.

Another new experience is Cartagena Port Control’s AIS warning messages. The messages instruct the large ships to contact port control but they make a startling noise on Two Fish’s chart plotter. Another modern feature of Colombia is their use of virtual buoys. They are created using a GPS broadcast message via AIS and show up only on our chart plotter. Cool.

This leg has been safe but not the most comfortable. The wind has been 27-32 knots and the seas have built over the last 24 hours. But I have used the opportunity to learn more about sailing Two Fish. First lesson was stow the main early. We dropped her 10 minutes into the 2 day trip. Second lesson is when the autopilot oversteers keep adding reefs and comfort will follow. At one point last night we were on the “4th reef” in the genoa. At dawn we returned to 2 reefs. Nice to know the genoa furler is in great shape after James and to a much lesser degree I improved the bolts retaining the foil.

Food service has been suspended as there are no takers of my fine reheated Gail cooking. In preparation for the canal crossing I have been listening to the book Path Between the Seas. I am enjoying it as the author finds no detail too small.

The water temp has risen 5 degrees as a welcoming clue the San Blas islands are near. I hope the winds abate as reef crossing in this weather is not a good idea. We snuck away from the rally a couple of days early because I wanted more time in the San Blas and less in Colombia. We were chided by rally control for missing the fancy dinner but the trade off worked for our goals. Looking at the weather the rally boats may hold back a day or two in Santa Marta as the breeze is forecasted to be 35 knots with 3 meter seas.

Day 6 – Back to Colombia

January 14, 2016 by

According to our chart plotter, we are 39 miles from our return landfall in Colombia. Earlier this year,we traveled light. This time we brought our floating home. We have to keep all sails out and our speed up so that we arrive before sunset, while being aware of any wind shift in this area that is legendary for strong breezes. Other boats have shared their experiences which included puffs up to 38 knots. I was active on deck during the night in what from space must have looked like a sailor inspecting his inventory. Full main, main with 1 and then 2 reefs, Full genoa, genoa with 1 and 2 reefs and screecher. Some sails made multiple appearances. The spaceman must be puzzled – why not just turn on the engines? Gail was in agreement with him. We have been stingy with engine hours because I find the engine noise like living inside a washing machine. The old trick of turning on only the port engine is off the menu with friends living in the port hull. During her nighttime watch, Gail grabbed a blanket for warmth, despite our proximity to the equator.

The nighttime reefing is slow and I always fear tearing the sail. I need to upgrade our halyard and reef point markings. The complex term refers to marking the lines with ink bands on the winch at the point you should stop raising them. Also, I should just move the topping lift out of the way for periods when the main is powering the boat.

Plenty of boats coming down the coast for Jackie and James to avoid. They seem to get stuck with all the annoying traffic. Their great job not hitting any ships at night was noticed by the captain but I was too busy tweaking lines to comment. No comments or complaints from their side when I was doing my 100th sail change of the trip.

We did not have a party for Two Fish’s 13,000th mile of traveling. We will have a huge party at 25,000 miles. Everyone is invited.

We have tallied up our chores for Santa Marta and the list should not stop us from enjoying the activities ashore. I am looking forward to both the city tour and the BBQ in the national park. Maybe also a run or two onshore?

To all our readers, Happy Thursday. Pre-arrival process has begun. Colombia courtesy flag and Q flag hoisted. Off to shower and don my Colombia Football Club shirt.

Jason
www.twofishcat.com

Day 5, What happened to Day 4

January 13, 2016 by

13 Jan Offshore from the Colombian / Venezuelan border

The days are blending together faster than margarita ingredients in a dive bar. We had a fire drill on board. The spinnaker halyard goes through a block at the top of the mast. This block is attached by a single screw as it expects only a downward load. We luffed the chute a few times too many and the bolt sheered. James heard the ping noise as the sheared screw hit the deck. He grabbed the binoculars to sight any damage and quickly announced that the bracket was amiss. I then began to lower the sock that snuffs the spinnaker. It would not budge. The damaged part was impeding the progress of the sock. So we did it old school and dropped the billowing 1,300 square foot sail in the lee of the main. I had half of it under control and Gail charged forward to get the other half pinned to the deck. The chute did not get wet and there was no shrimping. Shrimping is when you drag your chute through the water like a shrimp fisherman. In port we will use the extractor to remove the sheared bolt from the bracket and then reinstall. Gail has spares of this bolt in inventory since another boat had a similar failure. We had even checked the bolt prior to setting sail. The chute had been running for over 2 days before it failed. All streaks must end.

We will also replace a leaky shaft seal when we get to port. I am obsessed with a dry bilge and I hope this is the last leak. The operation is easier since the spare seal is stored on the shaft, avoiding having to detach the shaft from the transmission.

I forgot to mention we are having a blast. The sailing conditions are near perfect. The night skies wipe away any cynicism I have about rally brochures. The reality is much better than the press. I continue to enjoy the SSB check in. I dutifully write down the other boats positions and listen to their updates. The group is very kind offering help and good wishes on every call. I thought I would not like traveling in a pack, but the pack spreads out very fast. And it is nice to hail a friendly boat for a quick chat about the seas. We also get weather data from the faster boats to help guide our sail plan decisions.

I did a four hour watch last night in which I hand-steered a large portion since we were wing on wing in some lumpy seas. I was tired and headed to bed. James and Jackie took over and had to play avoid the tankers. It became old school as one tanker had no AIS and the radio officer was rather rude. We are spoiled since we can see targets tens of miles away and we consider close passage a mile of separation. In order to deal with the tough wing on wing sailing James created a new helm seat. Balled up on the deck close to the autopilot he could easily tweak the settings.

The water has the signature blue color even though it is 3 kilometers deep. The water temperature has cooled 3 degrees since St Lucia. The water in the town of Santa Marta is not great to drink so we are making sea water into delicious drinking water as we speak. Sea has visited every day. A large pod of dolphins played by the bows and showed their speed is no match for Two Fish. Jack were jumping out of the water and I assumed it was the dolphins having Jack for supper. The flying fish always bring a smile to my face. When did evolution create a fish with wings? One landed in the dinghy and was not found until a fishy smell had developed.

The usual volatility of predicting arrival time is in full swing. We are fighting a current I did not expect, but are still hoping to arrive in advance of sunset tomorrow (Thursday). We have been lucky as the winds have been mostly under 20. Wish we could email some of the fun we are having. Only 11,700 miles until kangaroos! 800 done (almost).

Jason
www.twofishcat.com

Day Three – First discussion of Landfall

January 11, 2016 by

Location: 500 miles until Santa Marta, Colombia, far off the Venezuelan Island of Tortuga.

We have avoided Venezuela because of its reputation for crime. It is a shame to miss this country as many cruisers have told me of the beauties of the coastal islands. I hope to return some day.

Foolishly, I brought up the topic of landfall and my preferred time of day. This hubris will be punished by the wind gods or their friend the WGM (wave generating machine). Both can be bitter and spiteful. Our case is being heard by the court as we still have grand conditions for downwind sailing. These are the conditions that sell boats and appear in magazines.

Before leaving St. Lucia I tried to share my many navigational gems but have had just a few takers so far. I will mention my offer on the fleet SSB (ham radio) call tonight. For two years, I have bemoaned owning an SSB. It took us a while to be comfortable with the technology, but now I am sold. The fleet is widely dispersed, precluding VHF calls, but with the SSB the fleet can share news. “Take Off”, a Swedish Elan 41, with a carbon fiber rig, broke their boom. All on board are safe and they now are flying only a head sail. A boom is one of the few spare parts Gail did not pack. A few boats have caught fish and one was inquiring about the safety of eating barracuda. When we catch Barracuda, we release them.

Last night Two Fish was the exception in the fleet, as many chose to motor through the light winds. The twin headsail kept us going, but those motoring closed the gap. As we head west the breeze will build but remain light enough to allow Gail to make sandwiches. Tonight is Gail’s famous lentil dish. Everyone loves it or walks the plank.

We have made a couple of strategic choices and I think I choose poorly, but time will tell.

1) The current is not a simple east to west. There are back eddies and I think we may have tripped on one listed in our charts. I should have know better that closer to the coast would be a kinder current.
2) In patchy winds it is fastest to sail under clouds. But yesterday we were under blue skies and had less wind than other boats. It took us 5 hours to reach our first cloud.
3) I have been hugging the rhumbline (direct route) in a decision of indecision. We have been DDW with chute and screecher. It has been a comfortable ride and that avoids mutiny.

Repairs at sea

James fixed so many gremlins before leaving the dock that we have been lucky so far at sea. A few that cropped up were:
1) The pin that holds the hydro-generator began to slip out on Gail’s watch. Gail and I dropped the two headsails and in true McGail-Guyver fashion used her hair tie to secure the pin. I will upgrade this to a proper line in the future. The sail changes went very smoothly.
2) We had a false alarm that our AIS was not working, but it seems fully functional.
3) We need to adjust the screecher tack when in port. Installed 180 degrees off (Jason’s mistake).

All other systems just fine for now.

Jason and the happy crew of Two Fish

day two

January 11, 2016 by

Rally Start Photo

We are on the gerbil wheel! The gerbil wheel is a Two Fish sailing term describing the phenomenon of never changing arrival time. For the last 12 hours we have had 4 days to go. No one is complaining and some secretly wish this trip to last forever as the wind and waves have been kind. We have both the chute and the screecher flying in 12-13 knots and making 6 to 7 knots SOG. The current is contributing half a knot to our progress.

Gail’s banana bread day’s are numbered. Despite it have stayed in the oven 5 minutes too long it is darn tasty. Thanks for the recipe M/V Barefeet (formerly known as PDQ SV Barefeet). Gail has started 20,000 leagues under the sea and asking me odd questions with four letter answers so she must be doing the crossword puzzle. James and Jackie are fitting in quickly. Jackie was worried about night watches but seems to take to them like a jib to a furler. Tonight we will be flying our double headsail rig as long as the breeze does not shift more to the south. If it does go south we will roll up the screecher and raise the main and steer a 140 true wind angle course.

Sailing west makes easy sailing math. You are heading 270 and the wind is from 90. Big numbers (i.e. greater than 90) be on port jibe and small numbers (i.e. less than 90) be on starboard jibe. We are breaking the rule and taking the comfy but slower approach of DDW. I feel guilty saying it in public.

The SSB worked like a champ. We dialed into the daily call and heard almost everyone and they seemed to hear us. It is still rather mystical how it works, not the best user interface. It was great to hear from the other boats. Some caught yellow fin tuna, others abstained from any motoring, one break a gooseneck and many boasted of great breakfasts. We stuck to the facts of wind speed and sail plan. The boat leading the call did a brilliant job. Sound

Just read the marina in Colombia uses finger print scanners. Do I want them to have my finger prints?

Chute practice Pre-Start

Day one

January 9, 2016 by

At some point this post will be 12,500 nautical miles in our wake. Right now we are close enough to St Lucia that VHF from the marina can still be heard. We are cutting the tentacles to the familiar at a slow rate.
We set up for the pin end of the start line and crossed in 4th. However committee end was hugely favored and we were rolled by a big chunk of the boats while we switched from the Genoa to the screecher. Black fish got us back in the game and we passed a few boats. But the horror show rally folks had put a turning mark in Castries bay. Which had winds of 6 knots and upwind. Screecher down and Genoa back up. More boat lengths gone. Fun rounding at the mark as we came in on starboard and Paw Paw ducked us. Chute went up in crushing style. I rigged the sheet wrong 3 times.
Banana bread was broken into and the hydro gen is making amps and a relaxed humming noise. The winds are light and a few of the boats have sparked up the engine. One of our two sisterships is near by and the other coming from Martinique.

Gail is helming and the chute is pulling us west. What could be better? Dinner time and that is soon. Out for now.

Jason
+1 646 510 3500

Boat Yard Blues

November 19, 2015 by

If Dante had owned a yacht, he would have made boat yards one of the levels of hell. Grenada Marine is carved out of the lush jungle and thus is prime real estate for mosquitos, no-see-ums and see-ums. You can carbon date a stranger’s time in the boat yard based on their number of bug bites. Five per leg per day is my rough calculation.
The boatyard’s customs agent is a bozo. To bring in parts for the boat you must leave them at the airport so they can collect a 2.5% tax. This creates little revenue but has created much consternation. I will skip the speech on the merits of government. The customs agent told us the bag would stay at the airport for only one night but we are now hoping the bag will arrive day four
.
Our projects have gone well and we are ready to splash in the morning. We hired the yard to clean the decks but they went a bit too far. They removed the cover for the instruments and hosed them down. This is not a great combo and now a screen has a water droplet trapped inside. One step forward and two steps backwards in the boat yard. We must achieve escape velocity or we will be trapped in the un-numbered level of hell.

Did I just complain about our great life/ Oops. Sorry, as I am sure work, traffic etc, gave everyone enough headaches today.

Just Three Bolts

November 18, 2015 by


“Just remove the three bolts on the cap and drop in the new membrane” said the Sea Recovery representative last month at the boat shot when asked about the process for replacing the membrane. With no written instructions, because they do not exist, we decided to charge ahead with installing our new membrane. 10 minutes into the job we were flummoxed because the end cap would not come off. We took photos and surfed the web for a solution, which is our usual response to any boat problem. I hope I never have to google “what to do when a axe murderer boards your boat”. Stumped by the stuck end cap we called Beard Marine, seller of our membrane, and they talked me through the next steps. Take a random screw in your collection and screw it into the membrane cap. Then, pull hard on the screw with plyers and swear many times. The second part I added, but it seems to help a bunch. Oops, the cap won’t slide any farther because I need to remove the high pressure inlet and the pressure sensor. This maneuver requires adept manipulation of your wrench and more swearing. Victory was declared as the cap slid out and the membrane followed. Half-way done or half-way to hell. The membrane is about 3 feet long and the locker does not have enough space for the membrane removal. I rerouted some wires for more space but it was still not enough. I then removed the bracket holding the membrane and with Gail’s help the membrane was freed. Many high fives and confirmations that we are luminaries of the boating industry.
Our hubris was heard by the boat gods and failure came quickly. We had forgotten the orientation of the membrane but a quick call to the folks at Beard Marine again got us back on track. This was phone call number two; I hoped they were not counting. To aid the insertion of the membrane we removed the rack that holds the emergency tiller and snuck the membrane into position. More self congratulation and immediate punishment. The cap would not slide all the way back in. Hammer. Hammer Harder. Hammer harder. Swear. Have a time out.
I then realized that my hammering has misaligned the bracket holding the membrane. Despair lasts for a short time as fixing this was only a 15 minute road bump.
I did not want to hammer too much harder since the membrane is a pricey boat part. So I decided, with Gail’s approval, that removing the output side’s end cap would allow inspection of any hazard preventing the reseating of the membrane. The output cap is located in a mandatory advanced boat yoga location. I gave up on the double pretzel but Gail removed the output hose and moved the end cap back.
Will this ever end? I should have never started this project. But just as quick as hell came it left. I changed hammers to a rubber mallet and the end cap cooperated. I still have fears until I test the work as the input and output hoses are not screwed in but fit into the end caps with o-rings. I think a third called to Beard Marine is warranted before the big test during the sail up Island.