No Wind Means No Sailing
I have been here 3 weeks so far. Cruising offshore is not like the flotilla sailing we have been doing in the Med. if there is no wind in the Med you just motor to the next place. Here, if there is no wind you just stay put until some wind shows up. There are always plenty of jobs to do around the boat. Today we got out a light wind sail called a Gennaker and rigged it. We are expecting to do a lot of sailing with the wind coming more or less from behind us. This sail will be useful for that. It is likely that we will fly the genoa out to port and the Gennaker to starboard with no mainsail when the conditions are right. All this is good stuff for me as I have very little experience of rigging and sailing these configurations. The rest of the day will be reading or possibly a bit of fishing either just around the boat or in the dinghy.
22nd March
So, When to Launch Off for the Galapagos?
We spent a bit of a rolling night at anchor and awoke to another hot still morning. I think I said before that we all turn in at about 20.30 because it is dark. I try to read but pretty much fall asleep straight away. That means I am fully awake by about 0430 when I get up and go out and look at the stars. They are incredible, even here where there is still a small amount of background light. The milky way is clearly visible but the normal constellations we see in the UK are not there. No pole star or plough, so I am trying to learn the new ones here. I have a great app on my i-pad which tells me what I need to know. Venus is the brightest in the sky followed by Jupiter . Mars actually does look slightly red which again you can’ t see back home. The one to navigate on here is the Southern Cross which is low and just west of south. One I have not seen before and which is magnificent is Scorpio.
We took the dinghy out today and visited the local village of Esmerlda. When we anchored yesterday this guy paddled out about half a mile to say hello and ask did we want to buy any fruit. We said possibly and he paddled back and reappeared a bit later with papaya pineapple and bananas. When we approached the beach today in the dinghy he was there to meet us and give us the grand tour. The people were all very friendly and none of the tourist rip off stuff I have seen elsewhere. Beers 85 cents, cheaper than Panama. There are a couple of photos which will help capture the atmosphere. In Panama, I went to the equivalent of the pound shop and bought lots of colouring books, pencils, sharpeners, etc etc to give away to the kids. I took some today and a few of the kids were very happy.Thanks for the idea Jeremy if you are out there.
Back to the question in hand which is when are we going to launch off. Answer is I don’t know. We will try to pick up a weather forecast later this evening by radio. The way the radio works, the signal only tends to get through at night so we will have fresh data in the morning. We don’t really want to put to sea unless there is sufficient forecast wind that we can sail most of the way. It is about a further 800 miles and with luck will take about 7 days. Fingers crossed for tomorrow. I have been gone for just over three of my 15 weeks so am keen to crack on.
More later….
23rd March
So, We are Finally Off and Running Towards the Galapagos
After all the fretting about whether there would be enough wind to set off , we departed Esmeralda today at about 12.30 in light winds as forecast. However, within a couple of hours the winds were gusting from 25 kts on the beam. While we were in the process of shortening sail, Myra’s fishing line got taken by something big and no-one noticed. By the time we did notice all the line was out and the fish ,which was big, was being towed behind the boat. Inevitably the line broke and she lost the lot. Not good when that was the whole supply of 200 lb breaking strain line. Looks like my system of rod and line is going to have to turn up trumps if we are to be eating more fish. We were slightly caught out by the strong winds. We had rigged a light wind sail called a genneker but it ended up just getting in the way and it was a three man job on a rolling deck to lower it and pack it away even though it was furled and not in use. The good news is that our average speed is up around 6.5 knots which is a great start to chewing up some of the 900 or so miles we had to do before setting out. The watch system is now in place and it is about 19.30 and dark as I write this. My next watch is from 3am to 6 am tomorrow which means I will catch the sunrise. The temperature is in the high 20s centigrade so it is shorts and a T shirt 24 x 7. Unless the wind drops we will not stop now until we reach our anchorage in San Cristobal. We should start making water tomorrow . Let’s hope that works with no hitches.
More later…
So, We are Finally Off and Running Towards the Galapagos
After all the fretting about whether there would be enough wind to set off , we departed Esmeralda today at about 12.30 in light winds as forecast. However, within a couple of hours the winds were gusting from 25 kts on the beam. While we were in the process of shortening sail, Myra’s fishing line got taken by something big and no-one noticed. By the time we did notice all the line was out and the fish ,which was big, was being towed behind the boat. Inevitably the line broke and she lost the lot. Not good when that was the whole supply of 200 lb breaking strain line. Looks like my system of rod and line is going to have to turn up trumps if we are to be eating more fish. We were slightly caught out by the strong winds. We had rigged a light wind sail called a genneker but it ended up just getting in the way and it was a three man job on a rolling deck to lower it and pack it away even though it was furled and not in use. The good news is that our average speed is up around 6.5 knots which is a great start to chewing up some of the 900 or so miles we had to do before setting out. The watch system is now in place and it is about 19.30 and dark as I write this. My next watch is from 3am to 6 am tomorrow which means I will catch the sunrise. The temperature is in the high 20s centigrade so it is shorts and a T shirt 24 x 7. Unless the wind drops we will not stop now until we reach our anchorage in San Cristobal. We should start making water tomorrow . Let’s hope that works with no hitches.
More later…
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