Advertisement
Published: February 21st 2009
Edit Blog Post
Sailing
On our way to Panama! We are now Panama bound! Luckily we have Karin "the meatball" Dahl and Blair "the Kiwi" Neal joining us on our first leg directly from Florida to Panama. Ok... It would of been direct if Cuba wasn't in the way. For those of you with the geography background we had... you may want to review the map on this site... but yes, Cuba tends to be in the way of a big downwind sail. Though we would of particularly enjoyed stopping in for a mojito and a cigar, but alas... they want us keeping at LEAST 12 miles off their shore. Fair enough. We thought keeping 13.1 miles away on Sorcerer was cutting it close, but nah.... that was nuthin. After sailing successfully through what we would describe as square waves in a washing machine as the 20-30 knot winds met the gulf stream heading the opposite direction we finally made it across the Gulf stream from Florida and were approaching Cuba where we would head around the West side then South towards Central America. This was Day one and my Birthday! The Maus family (owners of the boat) kindly sent me a GORGEOUS birthday cake that we indulged in along
the way... Karin got to indulge twice since the seas did not agree with her palate and she got to visit the rail a few times that first 24 hours. Poor thing.
Not to say that any of us felt really great... but that is day one at sea and a very uncomfortable one at that. Though even with little energy... my birthday was full of gifts, balloons, banners and cake! Day 2 was much calmer and we very happily looked forward to a quiet night of sailing. We take individual two hour watches during the day and couple 4 hour watches at night while the other two sleep. So on our watch, we take turns at the helm while the other usually curls up under the dodger to rest until it is their time. Non-sailors: A dodger is a well named piece of canopy and clear vinyl that acts not only as a wind and rain and wave barrier but a window... den, sleeping tent. The one at the helm may be beaten by a sideways rain while the other smiles from the dodger ... keeping slightly dry but humored that this time it is not them in
Dinner!
Mahi Mahi caught off of Cuban waters the elements. So it was this dark dark night of calmer seas and winds that I was at the helm watching Cyrus bundled up in his fowl weather gear restlessly attempting to snooze, when the winds started clocking around. I made a few adjustments, then I realized it was a futile attempt and woke Cyrus... Pitch black, winds circling us violently... he awakens at the moment the mainsail which is out for a downwind sail... backwinding. Landlubbers: This is BAD. He rushes up and the wind is crazy, we can't turn and we are now sailing backwards, yes, backwards. This is not good, but we are sailing into Cuban waters. perfect. I look at the charts as Cyrus is running around, adjusting sails and to make a long story short... trying to start the engine but failing because of the beginnings of our next nightmare... the battery issue. I look at the charts and see a big word we are sailing into... "EXPLOSIVES". Now I know this means a dumping ground, but in life, I have found that I try to avoid anything that says "Explosives", especially in Cuban waters. So now that we find ourselves sailing into an Explosive
zone in Cuban waters, we finally parallel the batteries in order to start the engines and adjust ourselves against the shifting winds.
The following days are surfing downwind swells and managing on little sleep except for an exceptional 8 hour period of better water that we rejoiced in! We even put the fishing lines out and caught a gorgeous Mahi Mahi that weighed probably around 40 lbs! So we enjoyed a lovely fish dinner and everyone was able to keep it down. Life is looking up! We slept, ate and basically hung out in the aft cockpit the entire time... through multiple daily squalls, winds, and our fair share of sunshine. Our "nest" it became as we ate, read, slept, danced and congregated here. The nest was quite used by the end. With a cushion covered by a beach towel... wrappers of salty nuts, cookies and crackers were folded and tucked in corners... a few harnesses, fowl weather gear and flashlights are tucked here and there. You can definitely tell four people have lived here for a week.
Most of the trip was quite "uncomfortable" but we all stayed in good spirits even when feeling bad. The batteries
were dying we discovered and we had to be very careful with any and all usage. We realized we may have to sail into port on a "dead" boat... with no communications, radar or weather. Yes, into one of the busiest shipping lanes on earth with large vessels moving a large speeds. It was a cloud over us that we just attempted to keep at bay by carefully monitoring EVERYTHING... At the end of the trip we just make it!...We arrive at the Caribbean entrance of the Panama Canal at day-break after a final 10 hours of rough sailing... beating directly upwind.. tacking back and forth... fighting our way to the Canal entrance. We wanted to sail into the basin, between the break-walls in Celebration and glory, but alas, a slow poke Japanese Panamax container ship thwarted our attempts and we had to drop sail and motor in. But we found ourselves safely on the dock!!! Exactly one week after departing Fort Lauderdale... to the hour. nice. It is time for a beer.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.113s; Tpl: 0.024s; cc: 11; qc: 54; dbt: 0.0608s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb