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 […]
day two
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 […]
Day one
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 […]
Day Minus One
We will set sail from Rodney Bay, St Lucia towards Santa Marta, Colombia, in the morning. This five day passage is the first leg in our trip to Australia. It would have been cheaper and quicker to buy two first class airline seats, but this will be a lot more fun. I feel a bit more pressure than average passage for a few reasons. Firstly, we have joined a rally with other boats and this creates more rules and timelines. I will get used to it over time. Secondly, we […]
One More Cruise
Before leaving the Caribbean, we were eager to put boat work aside and enjoy a bit more of the Windward Islands. We will miss Grenada and the weekly hashes but hope to see some of our cruising friends again. Fortunately, Beth and David found some time in their schedules for a one week cruise from Grenada to St Lucia. As much as we like and will miss Grenada, we were excited to push off towards the Grenadines. I am not sure how much our guests appreciated the favorable breezes during […]
Fuel Management
Our last two major cruises were motoring on the ICW (InterCoastal Waterway) and sailing along the Caribbean chain. On the ICW, diesel is easier to find than a NYC Bagel. During our 6 months sailing south in the West Indies we used the engines for fewer than 40 hours. In both cases, fuel plans were not needed. Our next adventures will involve long distances (3,000 miles from the Galapagos to the Marquesas), no or unreliable quality diesel (Tuamotos) and possibly light air (Bay of Panama). As is my […]
Boat Yard Blues
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 […]
Just Three Bolts
“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 […]
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