How's Yer Willy (Part 24): The Final Chapter (for now)

Well we made it across over 3000 miles of deserted ocean. It took us 23 days and we travelled about 3300 miles through the water when you account for all the zig-zagging. This was something that I wanted to do and which I have thoroughly enjoyed. The picture below is for the record: me with the island of Nuka Hiva in the background. Fortunately it was my watch so I had the pleasure of sailing into the anchorage and dropping the hook.

I hope some of you will have noticed that I will have a bit less to drag around the squash court when I get back. We celebrated with a bottle of bubbly, then some wine and then we went ashore to celebrate some more. Despite all the frustrations, I am very grateful to the owners for allowing me to share in their adventure. It has been a unique experience. Nuka Hiva is a very beautiful island.

The anchorage in Nuka Hiva

I have decided, however, not to do the last leg to Tahiti and to fly there instead. If I ever come this way again it will be in my own boat. The call of home is strong and I hope to be having a pint in the squash club sometime from Wednesday onwards next week. Thanks to everyone who shared the adventure by reading my ramblings. Thanks in particular to all of you who commented on various of the entries. Everyone should dream of their adventure and have a go at it. I will have to start work now dreaming up my next one.

Till then, thanks everyone.

Willie

How's Yer Willy (Part 23): At Last; A Proper Fish

Well, I am pleased to report that at last I got things right. While putting out my line today, I noticed a tiny snag in the braid. It was just enough to weaken it, so it all came back in and I went back down the line until I found the weak point and cut it off there. Out it went and sure enough, just after dinner with the light fading, my reel started screaming again, even though it had the new heavier drag setting. I leapt up to see the last of the braid disappear and the monofilament backing race off after the fish. I inched up the drag with no effect. Still line flying out. I shouted for them to stop the boat which they were trying to do. I went through the gate on the reel to access maximum drag and just before that setting he fish stopped running. It s about half a kilometres away by now. I slowly gained line only for the fish to run again. I don’t know how long the fight was but eventually I saw the shape of the fish emerge from the depths. It was an enormous yellowfin tuna.

At this point as I got it to the surface, I had to give the rod to the skipper as I had to climb out onto the transom to try to gaff it and haul it on board. That was tricky but we succeeded and landed it. I estimate it at between 30 and 35 kilos. I found it hard to lift for the photo. Easily my best sea fish and pleasing after a few false starts. I. Still think the one the day before was half as big again. We have a lot of very prime tuna fresh for the next couple of days and frozen for the rest of the trip. Over to you Marigold.

How's Yer Willy (Part 22): Progress on Both Sailing and Fishing Fronts

We continue to limp along in light winds. Even the skipper must be becoming frustrated as surprise, surprise we left the pole up last night and no tempest or sea monster came along to do us damage. He started muttering about taking it in again tonight. I just stay out of it now, however, the ‘admiral’ who was on watch would have none of it and told him to leave things alone. So we still have the pole out at least until the admiral goes to bed. I am sure that in years to come, perhaps even weeks to come I will talk proudly about sailing across the pacific. However, right now with 570 miles to go to landfall and making just over 4 knots the sums tell me we are looking at another five and a half days. Factor on a bit more for zig zagging and a bit because sods law says we will arrive in darkness and have to go in circles for a few more hours and a week today is a likely step ashore. That will be plenty of long crossings for me. The only possibility of it happening again will be if I return in my own boat.

I have not been fishing recently. This is because the next time I hook something big, I plan to get it to the boat. This means I don’t fish when Marigold is out and about and I don’t fish when the sailing rig makes it hard to stop the boat quickly. This means that Marigold mk 3a has been having the field to herself for the last couple of days. Mk 3a modifications meant better hooks as the rubbish ones got straightened or rusted within days. I offered mine which were turned down and some reasonably respectable Mustad 5 o’s were fitted. Well Marigold got hit today with the boat hardly moving and sure enough came back empty handed with another straight hook. The same hook would deal with most fish it is possible to catch around the UK. So later today we moved to Marigold Mk 4, equipped with a strong circle hook and a size 8 o stainless. So far no further enquiries. If the sail plan changes, I will wet a line tomorrow. There are some very big fish out there and currently they are laughing at us.

How's Yer Willy (Part 21): Final Goodbye to Dad

Tuesday 1st May. My dad was cremated today in Belfast. May he rest in peace and my thanks to everyone who organised the funeral and who showed their respect for him by attending. My night watch coincided with the time of the funeral and although I couldn’t be there, I could quietly think about dad sitting under the stars and under a brilliant moon that made the calm ocean seem like daylight.

The photo is of Dad when we went fishing on Lough Neagh in Ulster on his 90th birthday. It was a lovely day out together before the party with the family and all his friends later that day. RIP.

How's Yer Willy (Part 20): Frustration in the Middle of a Long Passage

It is Monday 30th today. We have been at sea for 18 days now. The wind has died and sailing straight downwind with two poled out headsails we are making about 4 knots. This is acceptable but tedious. What is currently driving me up the pole (sic) is that each evening our skipper still insists in taking the poles in. This means we can’t point at the target and head off about 60 degrees in the wrong direction at an even slower speed with just one sail out. By doing this we can extend the passage almost indefinitely. My latest estimates are a further 8 days.  It is  a general issue is that every time we do anything with the boat or sails, the level of angst rises for no apparent reason. I have avoided getting involved at all a couple of times and the same thing happens.

It kind of reminds me of the Army regiment who, every day, have breakfast standing up. No chairs in the dining room at breakfast. This is  because they were ambushed in Zulu land in eighteen hundred and something while they were sitting to have breakfast. They are never going to get caught off guard like that again. I hope that wasn’t your regiment Mr Monson.  Our poor skipper had an unfortunate experience in another ocean with different weather and a different crew and hasn’t put it behind him. It is however his toy box so that is that. It does worry me though because the next piece to Tahiti is actually much more difficult with many reefs and narrow entrance passages to lagoons. I am concerned that the angst level will rise to unbearable heights and that we will just not enter the best places.

How's Yer Willy (Part 19): Fishing, fishing, fishing...

Tonight just after dinner and just before it got dark my fishing rod started screaming and line poured off the reel. I jumped up to grab it and pushed the drag full on. The drag applies a force stopping the line from going out. I have it set to about 60 lbs or to put it another way, if you hung 25 bags of sugar off it the line would not budge. Well budge it did. I have at least 600 meters of line on the reel and whatever was on the end had already got 500 of those. It would take something the size of a small pony to pull that much line out under that amount of drag pressure. Next thing that happened was that the fish swam across the other trailing line which was a smart thing to do, because the lines ran down each other until mine reached the hooks on the other. They then cleanly cut my braid and the fish was lost. Definitely the biggest thing I have ever been connected to by a fishing rod. I would give up my daily beer allowance just to have caught a glimpse of it. That’s why it is called fishing and not catching. I have moved to alternate day fishing (only one line in the water) and tightened up the drag further in the hope of engaging the next zoo creature for longer. War on fish…..

How's Yer Willy (Part 18): Whatever you do... Don't Talk About the War!

It is a long way across here. We currently have been at sea 15 days and have just under 1000 miles left to run. That is going to take around 8 more days. I am actually really enjoying the sailing, especially my own watches. We want to stay as far north as possible but the wind is forcing us south. This can add two days to the time. On my watch today, I managed to alter course and head northwest much to everyone’s surprise. I took over from the skipper who could only make southwest. I don’t think he understood when I explained how it was done. My flying background seems to help a lot analysing what is happening to the sails and whether they are working efficiently or not. This is a bit of an on-going issue for me. I like to sail the boat efficiently and a lot of the time, in my opinion, this is just not happening. Sometimes it is just that people seem unaware of how to trim the sails and balance the boat. Sometimes it is a sort of ‘policy’ issue. An example of such a case is to do with using the poles. In light winds you need these to help the boat sail. Several times we have sailed very well with the poles out all day to be told to change the sail plan and put the poles away at night. The weather is forecast as good, we will go slower on a worse course. If squalls are the issue we can see them approaching on the radar from 10 miles away. In the end , it is not my toybox, so we slow down and meander off . In respect of my relationship with Herman, peace has sort of broken out but only on condition that we don’t talk about the war.

How's Yer Willy (Part 17): More of the Inside story of sailing a long way with 3 strangers

Things have gone downhill. For several days we have had an unhappy boat. I haven’t previously disclosed that I decided to leave the boat in the Galapagos. There were issues from virtually day one in Panama. The skipper threatened at least three times in the first three days after my arrival to put the German off the boat.This was mainly because Herman the German was unbearable. Very self centered, obsessive about cleanliness. I mean truely obsessive to the point of intruding into other people’s space and criticise their ( perfectly normal) habits. He also refused to do anything if it didn’t suit him in that moment. This extended to important things to do with the boat like helping to hunt down spare parts. I put up with it, hoping it would improve, however, it blew up again in the Galapagos and I told the owners that I was leaving. The wife was in tears and I felt pretty small that in some way my leaving was impacting on their enjoyment of their adventure. After a long day of everyone chasing me around town in San Cristobal, Herman apologised and the owners asked me to accept that and stay as they wanted me to continue. Anyhow, Herman hasn’t changed his spots. He doesn’t understand anything about balancing the boat and making it sail without wild rocking. After days of me sailing smoothly and helping the others set up the boat to sail smoothly I got fed up of coming off my watch to handover to Herman. Before I could get into bed, he changes everything and I am bouncing off the walls as if on Blackpool roller coaster. It came to a head one morning when we were all up and preparing to do a simple manoeuvre to alter course called a jibe. It was his watch so he is in charge. He goes into order giving mode in his best German accent. This is another of his annoying traits. He wants to start the engine which is totally unnecessary. He wants to put the sails away and motor around on to the new course and then put the sails out again. This is not the stuff of ‘Yot Meister’ Anyhow he barks me a command to release the sheet. I think he might have meant ease the sheet but that isn’t what he said so I let said sheet fly which seemed to upset him. I shrugged and told him I had done precisely what he had asked. Anyhow, he got it back under control, motored around onto his new course and put the sail out on the other side. The boat is rolling all over the place and we are still motoring so it is impossible to assess how it is sailing. A very important part of the rig of a ketch is the little sail at the back called the mizzen. It acts a bit like the flight on an arrow and stabilises the motion. It was still out in the position it was on the other tack, so the boat is never going to settle. We are motoring on for minutes in 3 meter swells with the boat rolling violently from side to side. Eventually I suggest stopping the engine and looking at the mizzen. This is met with ‘don’t tell me how to sail, I am Yot Meister’. I respond ‘try telling the boat that then because it doesn’t seem to know yet’. You get the picture. I explain that I won’t be taking any further orders or instructions from him. When he goes on watch and I am bouncing off the walls I go on deck and wait for the Skipper to come and save his boat. Skipper then asks me to settle the boat down which I do. Herman has another fit. After a couple of days of this Herman realises that it is better to learn something rather than stay in denial and we start to be civil again. I have had two nights sleep which has improved my demeanour which was not good in any case after my dad’s death. The atmosphere though is still poor.

How's Yer Willy (Part 16): A Very Sad Sad Day

Sad sad news today. My Dad had a heart attack and after a short time in hospital died around 11.30 UK time on Monday 23rd of April aged 93. RIP.. By the magic of satellite phone I managed a few words with him around 1000. I will miss him and remember him as he was. The attached photo captures a lot of the essence of him.

Dad. You will be sadly missed.

It is quicker to get back from the moon, than from where I am now, so I shall miss his funeral. Thanks to Sarah and the kids for representing me and thanks to the rest of the family for organising things. Dad wanted me to do this trip and enjoyed hearing what it was like when I phoned him from the satellite phone. He had a long and happy life and died relatively peacefully. We will all miss him.

How's Yer Willy (Part 15): Galapagos to Marquesas is a Very Long Way

We are 10 days into our passage now and still making very good time. As I write, we have 1765 of our 3055 miles left to do. The good news is that, although we are not half way by distance , we are more or less half way by time because the first couple of days did not take us towards our destination, but towards the wind that would get us to our destination. Since picking up the wind we have averaged about 175 miles per day and latest estimates get us there around 2nd or 3rd of May, which is on time with my master plan of catching a flight home on 21st June. After this big jump, all the sailing to Tahiti will be a maximum of a couple of days between stops. We are continuing now to catch fish. They have all been Mahi Mahi, so we are pretty Mahi Mahi’ ed out. Since leaving the Galapagos we have only cooked two meals that have not been fish we caught. I took a picture today of one of the flying fish we find every day. They are the most amazing of creatures. Tomorrow we will pass the half way point. I am planning to release a message in a bottle.

Launching the Message in a Bottle

As an incentive to any finder, I am putting $5 in with the message with an incentive of another $50 if the finder sends me back the original message with some extra info. For the record this is what it says: Congratulations on finding this message and enjoy your $5 as a gift from me. My name is Willie Kirkpatrick. I released this message in the Pacific Ocean halfway between the Galapagos Islands and the Marquesas Islands. You can contact me by phone on +441494 680702 or +44 7778613923, or e-mail on w.kirkpatrick549@ btinternet.com or by letter at Wilconnel House, Finch Lane, Beaconsfield, Bucks, HP 9 2 TL. Tell me , who you are, where you live, where and when you found my message and I will send you another $50. Greetings from me and I look forward to hearing from you. Willie. By the way Trevor, and all the rest of you looking for a quick $50, there is a secret mark at the bottom of the note that you will need to describe to get the $50. Sorry!

We had a rough night last night Saturday 21st. The wind picked up to 35 knots at times in rain squalls and the seas are 2.5 to 3 meter swells. The boat is fantastic however. With just a heavily reefed headsail and a tiny scrap of mizzen, we ran on a broad reach and maintained about 7.5 knots over the ground. You need to hang on and chips are off the menu. We have radar on the boat which is very useful for seeing the squalls in the dark and gives the opportunity to alter course to avoid the worst of them. My watch was 3am to 6 am and I actually spotted another ship 5 miles away which I could confirm and track by radar. Boys toys and all that. We have proper cooked breakfast on Sunday, which is settling as I write.

Hows Yer Willy? (Part 14): Galapagos to the Marquesas continued

I have just finished a great night watch. The boat is sailing brilliantly on a beam reach at 7.5 kts, we are making great progress towards the Marquesas where we expect to arrive in the first few days of May. We currently have about 2000 miles left to run to get there. I am pleased to report that fishing operations are on the up. I was allowed to play center forward yesterday whilst Marigold was rested after her exploits of the day before. We have a surfeit of Mahi Mahi. I was feeling despondent come 6 pm. Nothing, not even any flying fish to be seen. Then, just to save the day a Mahi Mahi jumped on my line. Today, roles reversed. Marigold was launched early in the center forward position 150 meters behind the boat and I took up position in a tangle free zone about 15 meters behind the boat. Well, lo and behold, two obliging Mahi Mahi decided to attack my lure and will make an appearance in the fish curry tomorrow. Sadly, Marigold failed to attract any attention, despite poaching in the penalty box all day. There is a strong rumour that she is being retired for a younger ‘ Marigold mark 3′ version to be constructed tomorrow.

Ours was that size, too small for me to want to be in the picture

Life on the boat is currently good. Time passes without boredom, at the expense of lengthy debate. The recent one got going when I pointed out that we had made a further 15 degrees of longditude. This should mean that we have crossed a time zone and alter ship’s time by putting the clock back one hour. I had a small ulterior motive. Ship’s rules allow two cans of beer a day plus a glass of wine with dinner. This is very civilised and very welcome. A sub rule is that the first beer can’t be taken until the sun is above the yard arm, i.e. after 12 noon. By altering ship’s time, that would mean that we could legitimately argue that 1200 was the same as 1100 and have the beer at 1100. This proposal encountered what I would classify as a religious objection from one member of the crew who doesn’t drink beer and who is sometimes referred to as ‘the Admiral’. To defend this undefendable position, the Admiral pointed out that when you go on your holidays, you only alter your watch 15 minutes before you land and by that reasoning we should alter ship’s time 15 minutes before we get off in the Marquesas. I built on this suggestion by reasoning that you may as well not change ship’s time until the end of the circumnavigation and ignore the International date line into the bargain. After a minor impasse, the issue was resolved by agreeing to alter ship’s time at 1300 back to 1200, so beer was delayed one hour today giving satisfaction to the Admiral. Every other day the beer comes an hour earlier. Honours even? We have one more time alteration before the Marquesas.

How's Yer Willy (Part 13): Galapagos to Marquesas: Sarah's birthday

We organise ourselves and the work of sailing the boat around what is called a ‘watch’ system. There are four of us so we take turns at being in charge. When we are on passage like this, the boat never stops and needs to be sailed 24×7. Our watch system starts at 0900 till 1300, 1300 to 1700, 1700 to 2100. At 2100 we change to 3 hour watches for the hours of darkness so it goes 2100 to 0000, 0000 to 0300, 0300 to 0600 and 0600 to 0900. That means each one of us does a night watch and we each lose as little sleep as possible. Because there are only 3 four hour day watches, you don’t end up doing the same watch every day.

Last night I had the 2100 to midnight watch. Normally the boat sails itself. In fact, the boat doesn’t know that it is dark. It gets trickier when things don’t stay stable. Last night nothing stayed stable. The wind was from nothing to 20 kts and the direction from east round to southwest. Add to that no moon and torrential rain. The net effect is that you can’t see a thing, are getting soaked and the boat won’t stay doing what you want it to do. Fortunately it is a very clever boat and now that I have gotten used to it, putting up and down the sails and making them larger or smaller is genuinely just the press of a button. No more Hosey knots. It all reminds me of night flying where you couldn’t see anything and just had to trust that you knew what you were doing. At least night flying the aeroplane didn’t pitch and buck about, which is he other small problem. Anyhow, I am on 0000 to 0300 tonight. Let’s hope for an easier time!

Well today we had a very happy boat. The wind behaved very well last night and my watch was a lot simpler. I listened to music and tried to phone home on the satellite phone. No one picking up but granny , who is coming to live with us. The winds continued to be kind today and not only have we made very good progress, but we have also caught fish, which is a certain morale booster. On the progress front, my i- pad tells me that we are averaging about 8.2 knots . This is very good and the wind is forecast to stay about the same. We are pointed more or less where we want to go so in 24 hours we will cover 8.2 x 24 nautical miles which is about 196 nm. That is very fast and will bring us to Hiva Oa well before my previous estimate of 10 th May. We are showing 2444 nm to run which comes out as a further 12.5 days meaning we arrive on 30th April 10 days earlier than previous estimates. All in all I expect we will arrive somewhere between the two having taken around 24 days from leaving the Galapagos on 12th April.

On to the fishing. Marigold is getting a bit annoying. We are not really set up properly to troll two lines, so like a good crew, I rig up Marigold and let her fish where she wants to and I then fit in , depending on the conditions, where I think that I can avoid any tangles. This is akin to wanting to score goals but having to play as the goalkeeper. Today has been the first day that there have been fish around. Marigold caught 3 and lost one mahi mahi. I am the idiot standing on the transom at the back with the gaff, swinging wildly on my lifeline trying to get the fish in and not fall in or hook myself. So far a 100% record. I caught a mahi mahi too which happened to be hanging around my goal area. As I reeled it in, it took a dive and then something else much heavier grabbed it, bust my line and took my lure. Not a happy Willie. To add further insult to injury, I am doing the washing up in the galley after a not to be beaten dinner of lightly battered mahi mahi and fried potatoes. The galley has a small porthole which was open. A suicidal 6 inch long flying fish, flew through the window and clunked me on the head. I had no idea what had hit me until I heard flapping at my feet. This was the luckiest flying fish as I chucked him back overboard. His wingman missed the window and died of head injuries on the deck.

A flying fish like the one that hit me on the head while I was cooking

My watch tonight is 3 am to 6am so fishing operations will commence early ahead of Marigold who undergoes some sort of secret fish attracting ritual in the back cabin each day. Ceviche for lunch tomorrow. Mahi mahi marinated in lemon juice with garlic onion and ginger, served with chopped tomatoes and anything else green we can find. P.s. we are eating a lot of potatoes because they are going off. Headline…. Potato famine on paddy boat crossing pacific.

Today is 20th April and it is a special day because it is Sarah’s birthday. For the strangers out there Sarah is my wife. I couldn’t be having this great experience without Sarah’s support and I want to take this opportunity to publicly thank her and the rest of my family. Have a really happy birthday Sarah and I am looking forward to getting back home to you.Thanks also to those of you who are supporting Sarah and keeping her involved while I am gone.

How's Yer Willie (Part 12)Galapagos to the Marquesas, 3000 miles of open ocean

I had a great time in the Galapagos and really enjoyed the people we met and the wildlife but we have to move on if I am to get back to Beaconsfield. The next leg to the Marquesas should not be too challenging in a sailing sense, but it’s duration and remoteness mean it deserves respect and one must be conscious of the effect the distance and relative boredom can have on the others around. We pulled up the anchor and set sail at 1400 local time on Thursday 12th April. The Galapagos is a half a degree south of the equator and our next port of call is eight and a half degrees south. Because of the southern doldrums, we can’t just point there and go in a straight line. Most people head off south or south west and try to take a direct line out of the doldrums, even though it means that you are not getting any nearer your planned destination. The reward is that after about 300 nm you start to pick up the steady south easterly trade winds that blow at 15 to 20 miles an hour.

Our rough route from Galapagos to Marquesas

That was our plan and since there was not much wind we sailed south on the engine. Motoring always raises the tension on the boat. On a full tank plus our reserves we can motor about 1000 miles. The skipper is reluctant to motor as we also need fuel to generate electricity and make water. Fortunately, we found enough wind that motoring was reduced to about 18 hours and we are safely through the doldrums and in the trade winds. Here, the wind is coming over the rear left hand side of the boat ( port quarter for the sailors). That means that we are sailing with just the large headsail out and the little sail on the rear mast called the mizzen. We saw some wonderful sights in the first day leaving San Cristobal. The sea was calm but about a mile away we could see big splashes. We motored over that way and it turned out to be a huge school of dolphins. There were several hundred all racing through the water and jumping. They were very big compared to others we have seen. I bought a laminated card with descriptions of all the whales and dolphins and my guess was that they were common bottle nosed dolphins. I was truly staggered by the scale of it all and how this huge group had literally taken over this part of the ocean.

How's Yer Willie? (Part 11) Last Post from the Galapagos

This will be the last post from the Galapagos as tomorrow we are setting off on the longest passage of our  journey. We will have been in the Galapagos for just less than two weeks which is good. We are about a week behind my schedule but it allowed for almost 3 weeks in the Galapagos. That means that with luck, I will have caught up the lost time.

I went diving on Easter Monday. I have always wanted to dive here and booked a two dive package to dive Kicker Rock. It turned into a three dive package because,  as my last dive was 5 years ago, I had to do a qualifying dive to prove I still knew how to do things. For anyone reading this that can’t dive, I would encourage you to learn at the first opportunity. The world under the waves is absolutely stunning and you really can’t take it all in because there is just so much to see. It is a pretty spectacular dive site as you can see from the photo. The rock itself rises from unfathomable depths. Where it is split, there is a channel that is about 55 feet deep. We went through that channel and then did what is called a wall dive at about 60 feet around the outside. You are suspended there and when you look down there is no bottom.

Kicker Rock

Both dives were pretty similar and the list of what I saw is as follows:

Sharks, black tip and white tip reef sharks plus a new one for me , hammerhead sharks up to two meters long! Fortunately, the sharks are pretty shy and do not come close up. When you see them, they  tend to veer off into the shadows and disappear. You kind of have to believe that they are not out to eat you or else you would freak out.

Turtles. Lots of different species. On the two dives I must have seen about 30 in total. I have never been anywhere where there has been so many turtles. At one point I could see 5 at the same time. They are quite tame and you can swim up close and even touch them.

Giant spotted eagle rays. These things are enormous, about 2 meters across and fly in a leisurely way through the water. I only saw one but it was fantastic.

Sea lions. Yes, one came swimming past right beside me 70 feet down. Probably the same one that released my tuna last week!

There were tons of other slightly less spectacular things to see, like moray eels, parrot fish, groupers, napoleon wrasse, big big clown fish etc etc. It was truly fantastic and despite being only half a degree south of the equator we had to were wetsuits because of the cold currents that bring all the food that attracts all the wildlife. You could really feel the different temperature layers.

There probably will not be any posts for a while now. It takes about one month to sail to our next stop. Wish me luck.  

More later……

How's Yer Willie? (Part 10) Exploring the Galapagos

Well we got here in the early hours of Sun 1st April after an 8 day sail. We did pretty well . All the others we have talked to motored for at least two days and took  about the same length of time. We still  have most of our diesel apart from the stuff we use to recharge the batteries and make fresh water. We were greeted on the way in by the most magnificent sunrise. It is true, red sky at morn, look out. It chucked it down later in the day.

This is what the street looked like later in the day.

Checking in in a place like this is pretty convoluted. You have to use an agent, be taken to immigration, register with the Port Captain, register to get fuel, have your boat inspected, have it fumigated etc etc. It is pretty much the same process to get out. That, plus fixing a few things on the boat, and getting some replacement provisions means that the days slip past pretty quickly. As I write this, we have been here seven days and are hoping to leave in the next few days.

The thing that impresses most about these islands is how much wildlife there is and how tame it all is. The port is literally littered with sea lions. You have to pick your way between them. There are millions of crabs on the rocks, giant tortoises, blue footed boobies and giant marine iguanas. I have included a few shots of them so you get the idea.

The iguanas are fearless and don’t move no matter how close you get. The sea lions threaten to bite you.

 

I managed a fishing trip for tuna and wahoo. I hooked and lost three very big tuna and finally managed to get the wahoo below into the boat. We also had a tuna later so we have lots of lovely fish to eat again.

Tomorrow I am going diving with turtles, sharks and sea lions. Wish me luck. More later…

How's Yer Willie? Concern Gathers Apace: Jim Cooper airs his... discomfort

Willie’s doing his Warren Zevon impression. 

Not certain about his shipmates though! 

Particularly concerned about the berthing-partner in the pink rabbit outfit, who appears to be back-scuttling WKP as we watch...

How's Yer Willy? (Part Nine): Crossing the Equator

It seems that 'Cabin Fever' might be kicking in...


Crossing the Equator and Making Sure you Don't Upset Neptune


Today was the day we crossed the equator. I am not sure who was on watch but they were sufficiently dozy that when I was called, I had missed the actual moment when the Latitude went to zero. It is traditional to have a ceremony and whilst I am not suspicious, it is not worth taking any chances with Neptune, even if you waste a bit of booze.

I hope that the links to the short videos I have posted on You Tube work.

Please click on the titles below...

Pirate Willie

Honouring Neptune

How's Yer Willy? (Part Eight): It is far too long since I had a proper tug on my tackle

Thoughts On a Night Watch


March 28


My watch tonight is 3 am to 6 am. Personally, I like it. I get to see the dawn. The moon has set by 3am presently so it is very dark with brilliant stars. When you look up on our left hand side, it looks as though some very thin clouds are obscuring the sky. Then you realise that they are not clouds and that you are looking at the Milky Way. Literally billions of other stars just like our sun that make up the galaxy we live in. I have an app on my phone that helps you find planets and stars. One of the things you can see is Andromeda. Andromeda, is the closest other galaxy to us and can be seen by the naked eye. It is as big as our Milky Way by itself and there are billions of other galaxies out there also. When you think about that, it makes our little planet seem special. Just like this boat is special to me right now.The full moon nights are something else I am looking forward to.

Everyone else is fast asleep so the boat is very quiet and dark. We are in the doldrums so there is not much wind. The waves are making a sort of sloshing gurgling noise and the previous watch keeper reported hearing dolphins playing around the boat. We still have hundreds of miles to go in any direction to reach land. I have been listening to my i-phone music. I tend to make different choices and experiment. Guggenheim is still right up there Trevor and , sorry Chris and St John, so is Leonard Cohen. However, a few others are starting to make the list. The Snowman wouldn’t seem to fit the temperature but all the flying about in the sky fits well with the vista of the stars. David Bowie’s Space Oddity and Starman are also two that I don’t seem to tire of. It may be though, that the best music is the stuff that goes on in your head when you just sit still, look, listen and try to take it all in. The picture doesn’t do justice to the sunrise, but you get the idea.

It is the same day and I have just finished my 5 to 9 pm stint. It has been a fairly happy boat all round today. I wangled a fried breakfast. With all the rocking about it is not possible to weigh myself accurately, even though there are scales aboard. I have been estimating the erosion of my one pack by which belt hole I have been using. Things are headed in the right direction, I think, and on that topic my sunburn has been getting better. We were much better at putting up all the various poles and sails today. We still made a few goofs although nothing serious. The generator and the water maker both worked as advertised and our water reserve is back up to around 800 litres from 580. For some reason, I have been appointed as the water minister and water police. My big idea, which has actually worked, was simply to do the first pass at the washing up in sea water and just rinse with fresh. Water consumption is probably down to a total of about 25 litres a day from 70. I dread to think how much we use at home by comparison. Living on a boat is a fairly ‘green’ affair.
On the downside there are two issues. We have been going for 6 days now since leaving the Las Perlas islands. We made great progress at first but we are now firmly in the grip of the doldrums. We have about another 250 miles to run to our anchorage in the Galapagos. In decent wind that is two days at an average of 5 knots. Today we have spent long hours coaxing the boat along at 1 or 2 knots. At that speed 250 miles could take another 5 to 10 days. We don’t want to motor because the fuel in the Galapagos is both expensive and of dubious quality which could lead to engine and generator issues further down the line. Patience is a virtue. On that topic, fishing has not been going well. It is far too long since I had a proper tug on my tackle. I noticed a small fish called a ballyhoo today right beside the boat. It jumped out of the water twice and as it entered again there was a big splash and no more ballyhoo. It had been trying to escape a predator but didn’t make it. The fish are there but I think we are not trolling our lures fast enough to fool them. Anyhow, tomorrow is another day but. Are just about out of red snapper and I want something fresh to have a Sushi party as we cross the Equator.

More later…

It All Started Out Perfectly Normally...


March 30

As a team we are settling down and beginning to ‘norm’ in the framework of ‘forming, norming and storming’. As minister for communications and water, I have introduced the concept of an ‘aggravation meter’ . This has been remarkably well received. Aggravation on a boat is the ‘dead elephant in the room’. It lies there festering until, after a while, it erupts. In a small place, it can be unpleasant. We are relatively aggravation free, especially now that I have dealt with the ‘snoring police’. My snoring is now talked about affectionately in some quarters. ‘Careful now with the aggravation meter’ has been heard on occasion , with a corresponding decrease in tension. 

I did the 6 to 9 shift this morning and commenced fishing operations early with much futile expectation. In desperation I dug out Jeremy’s lure he brought me safely from its own personal circumnavigation. It consists of an imitation squid being chased by an imitation fish. You can get the idea from the picture.

It might not look out of place on a Christmas tree and it would probably catch as many fish there. Whilst I was drowning his lure, I decided to rig my biggest brightest squid imitation. Being as though there isn’t much to do on a boat in the doldrums , this attracted quite a crowd and various comments on my dexterity and general technical ability in this department. I burst the bubble by explaining that I had learnt it all on You Tube a week or two before I left. There was much, ‘small but perfectly formed’, stainless steel shackle envy. They don’t have any as small as mine on the boat but they come in useful. One of mine has already been purloined to repair something on the dinghy. Anyhow, feeling generous, I donated the said lure to the owner’s wife who insists on fishing with a cut up washing up glove called ‘ Marigold’. Unfortunately,bloody Marigold has outfished all my expensive hi tech lures with a trolling score of 1 – 0 to date. Hence my secret desire to level the playing field. Owner’s wife is suspicious, but having accepted my newly christened offering called ‘Daffoldil’ she felt obliged to give it a go. Result. The opposition’s main striker was off the field for most of the afternoon. Enjoy the rest Marigold.

By this time the sun was above the yard arm and cold beer was summoned with a few freshly made drop scones plus canned cherries ( for my gout ) for lunch. It is pretty sweaty here in the doldrums and my German crew mate ( he is the hygiene minister) was commenting on my slightly smelly travel towel. The water minister has taken it as a serious duty to set an example to the hygiene minister on general conservation of water by not washing much and drying sweat off with said towel. In fairness, the towel was a bit off. Anyhow, feeling industrious, I set about doing some hand washing. You get a bucket, fill it with sea water chuck in some powder and either dance on it ,if the bucket is big enough ,or pound it with a stick. I think it is something they used to do in the old days but has died out now. Then you give it several rinses in more sea water before a final rinse in precious fresh water. Towards the end of this process, I came over all funny. My lips became hugely swollen to the point it was difficult to speak and then I broke out in unbelievably itchy hives all over my body. I was allergic to the washing powder. I knew there was a reason I avoided that department at home and this was clearly why. I took 4 antihistamine , had a shower and lay down and am pleased to say that I am now back to normal. Tomorrow, I am going to put the clothes I washed into a net and tow them behind the boat to get rid of any residue before a final rinse and a new fragrant me.

I am sailing the boat as I write this. She is being nursed along at a sprightly 4.7 knots in just 9 knots of wind, in the pitch dark broken by a beautiful moon. We will cross the equator tomorrow with wind and luck and Galapagos by Sunday or Monday.

More later …..

Big red snapper

Moving On Through the Las Perlas Islands


April 2

We are on the move again. If you want to track our current position you can find an updated position if you go to www.pangolin.nz . When you get to that page look on the left hand side for a button that says, ‘ Reporting Boats’ . Click on that and scroll down to EIJJ4. Then click on the link on the right of EIJJ4. That should take you to our current position.

Speaking of current position, I have included a picture of my bunk which is surrounded by onions that attack me in the night when I get up in the dark to find the head.( The head is the toilet for the non-nautical amongst us.) Every time I bounce off them a little shower of onion flakes descends into my bed. Everything has an upside so I am hoping that smelling like an onion will keep the mosquitoes off me.

My bed

The one key item of equipment that we have yet to check out is the water maker which magically turns sea water into fresh water. We havn’t checked it yet because the water around Panama is too polluted. We will check it when we are about 100 miles offshore. We carry about 1000 litres of fresh water in a large tank but we are using 70 litres per day and are currently down to 700 litres. It could take about 10 more days to get to the Galapagos so we need the water maker to work to supplement our supplies. There is a move to cut down usage.

We left Isla Contadora today and sailed to Isla Canas. It was about a 25 mile day sail with light following winds. On the way we virtually stopped to pole out the genoa. One of the fishing lines was out about 100 meters behind the boat and we suspect that the lure sank virtually to the bottom which was only about 100 feet deep where we were. As we started up again, I suspect that the lure came up off the bottom and the biggest and best Red Snapper I have ever seen grabbed it. I think we were pretty lucky and it really was a fish of a lifetime. It was not my lure so I am 0-1 in the marigold glove versus hi tech fishing lures competition.

They are not called Red Snappers for nothing because as I was in the process of cleaning and filleting him, he snapped me, putting his teeth clean through my thumbnail and the fleshy part of the other side of my thumb. I had the last say, as the Sushi in the picture below where my thumb is bandaged in yellow was made with tasty red snapper as was our fish dinner tonight.