Up early to read the manual so that we can deflate the dinghy and fold it so that it might possibly fit back into its original bag for stowage on deck. About half an hour later and we had it cracked although there are still a few bits bulging out of the sides.
We left with fond farewells and encouragement to Timella and caught a good breeze that turned into a stiff breeze and needed a couple of reefs. We were not complaining since there has been no wind in the area for the last few weeks. We bombed along reaching up to 8.5 knots at times until eventually the wind died and we resorted to engine at 10pm.
A good day of sailing – keep it coming!
Tuesday 1st May 2007
We were back sailing again at 2am but gave up at 6:30 when we were becalmed. This area is in the doldrums and we know that we will have to do quite a bit of motoring. Unfortunately, we don’t have the fuel to motor all the way and will have to play the fickle winds and the currents to our advantage. Today, I found out that the ocean current forecast I picked up about a week ago is no longer valid. The new forecast puts us now in a tricky area with the current heading us in the wrong direction, this is compounded by little or no wind – also in the wrong direction. I did not think that the currents could change so dramatically in such a short time.
We had a couple of hours of fair wind but otherwise we plugged away with the engine
Wednesday 2nd May 2007
We swapped watches at 01:30 and Fliss went to bed saying that it had been a very gentle evening. One hour later and we were surrounded by lightening. I kept watch of the darker areas of rain on the radar and tried to avoid the bigger lumps until, eventually the whole radar screen was black with rain-echo. As usual, the movable electronic equipment went into the oven for protection and I considered the contents of our emergency grab-bag. Yes, the possibility of being struck is low but would you want to hold up a 50 foot metal rod in a thunderstorm on the ocean?
The morning was dreary and still without wind. Later, we did manage to do a bit of light motor-sailing and thee breeze gave us an extra knot on the speed the engine – but this was at the cost of not really making the heading we wanted.
We cannot keep the engine on but after much dithering, fretting and indecision, we have a plan for a route that may give us a bit of good current and, possibly, some wind. The wind is likely to be against us but there is no other option.
Thursday 3rd May 2007
Background to our route………………………
Before we originally left to go to the Perlas and then onward to the Galapagos, I downloaded an Ocean current Grib file for the route to the Galapagos. This showed that, although there was a Northerly current by the Columbian coast, the current flowed South once beyond 80 degrees West. Once below 3 degrees South, this current turns West all the way to the Galapagos.
Also, the wind is a Southerly below the Galapagos but fans out like a whales spout as it passes between the Islands and the mainland. Taking both these factors, we have gone South to Isla Malpela where we were going to slowly edge West and on to our destination.
Reality!!!
We had various points of sail towards Isla Malpella but the wind was light and local conditions prevailed. It wasn't long, though, before I noticed anomalies between the GPS speed and COG and the log speed and compass bearing that did not tally with my expectations. After some time, I decided to get a new Ocean current forecast and this showed a completely different picture to the one I had earlier less than 3 weeks ago. Now, there is a complex scenario with an anti-cyclonic stream stretching well out from the gulf of Panama that is giving a flow to the East by Isla Malpella and this stretches as far South as 2 degrees North whereupon it meets a Northerly stream.
The Westerly stream that we wanted was 160 miles against the wind and current!
The night looked as though it may catch us amidst thunderstorms again but they were too far ahead and the morning eventually lightened the grey dismal skies. The breeze picked up a little and we got full sail out to make the most of it. Again, it was coming from exactly the direction we wanted to go in and we decided on a Southerly tack to start off with. This pushed us South and East as the current was taking us backwards and we were headed towards Malpelo Island that we had passed in the night.
Before long, the wind headed us and we tacked - again making not too bad a heading. Half an hour to an hour later and we were headed again so we tacked again. Whichever tack we tried, the wind would headed against us by up to 40 degrees after a short time. We were going nowhere and getting to the point of despair - even thinking that we could (a) go to Ecuador or, (b) go to Costa Rica, since these were the only directions that were open to us. Eventually beneath the high-altitude cloud cover and the other dispersed clouds, I noticed that there was a sausage shaped cloud running from horizon to horizon and that we were tacking backwards and forwards beneath it. As we passed under it, the wind shifted and headed us - it was creating local conditions that were heading us on either tack.
We decided to plump for the Northerly (Port) tack and have one more run under the cloud. However, the sausage cloud had started to divulge huge quantities of rain and change shape and, as we approached, we kept a good heading for nearly an hour. The cloud disintegrated and we were headed again - a wind shift of over 50 degrees so we tacked again and managed to maintain that tack for a good 6 hours - phew!
Eventually, Isla Malpela started to recede - good riddance!
Friday 4th May 2007
Pete….
A mediocre day with most of it motor-sailing and trying to get West to catch the current. Halfway through the afternoon, we took a wind shift and made a bit of South overnight.
Motoring in flat calm with an endless horizon of nothing, we came across a half-bole of a coconut tree floating with a solitary seabird standing on it. We happened to pass within 20-25 yards and the seagull just watched us idle by. Very amusing and bizarre. I imagined that the seagull should have been holding a sign saying "Galapagos this way".
Tuesday 1st May 2007
We were back sailing again at 2am but gave up at 6:30 when we were becalmed. This area is in the doldrums and we know that we will have to do quite a bit of motoring. Unfortunately, we don’t have the fuel to motor all the way and will have to play the fickle winds and the currents to our advantage. Today, I found out that the ocean current forecast I picked up about a week ago is no longer valid. The new forecast puts us now in a tricky area with the current heading us in the wrong direction, this is compounded by little or no wind – also in the wrong direction. I did not think that the currents could change so dramatically in such a short time.
We had a couple of hours of fair wind but otherwise we plugged away with the engine
Wednesday 2nd May 2007
We swapped watches at 01:30 and Fliss went to bed saying that it had been a very gentle evening. One hour later and we were surrounded by lightening. I kept watch of the darker areas of rain on the radar and tried to avoid the bigger lumps until, eventually the whole radar screen was black with rain-echo. As usual, the movable electronic equipment went into the oven for protection and I considered the contents of our emergency grab-bag. Yes, the possibility of being struck is low but would you want to hold up a 50 foot metal rod in a thunderstorm on the ocean?
The morning was dreary and still without wind. Later, we did manage to do a bit of light motor-sailing and thee breeze gave us an extra knot on the speed the engine – but this was at the cost of not really making the heading we wanted.
We cannot keep the engine on but after much dithering, fretting and indecision, we have a plan for a route that may give us a bit of good current and, possibly, some wind. The wind is likely to be against us but there is no other option.
Thursday 3rd May 2007
Background to our route………………………
Before we originally left to go to the Perlas and then onward to the Galapagos, I downloaded an Ocean current Grib file for the route to the Galapagos. This showed that, although there was a Northerly current by the Columbian coast, the current flowed South once beyond 80 degrees West. Once below 3 degrees South, this current turns West all the way to the Galapagos.
Also, the wind is a Southerly below the Galapagos but fans out like a whales spout as it passes between the Islands and the mainland. Taking both these factors, we have gone South to Isla Malpela where we were going to slowly edge West and on to our destination.
Reality!!!
We had various points of sail towards Isla Malpella but the wind was light and local conditions prevailed. It wasn't long, though, before I noticed anomalies between the GPS speed and COG and the log speed and compass bearing that did not tally with my expectations. After some time, I decided to get a new Ocean current forecast and this showed a completely different picture to the one I had earlier less than 3 weeks ago. Now, there is a complex scenario with an anti-cyclonic stream stretching well out from the gulf of Panama that is giving a flow to the East by Isla Malpella and this stretches as far South as 2 degrees North whereupon it meets a Northerly stream.
The Westerly stream that we wanted was 160 miles against the wind and current!
The night looked as though it may catch us amidst thunderstorms again but they were too far ahead and the morning eventually lightened the grey dismal skies. The breeze picked up a little and we got full sail out to make the most of it. Again, it was coming from exactly the direction we wanted to go in and we decided on a Southerly tack to start off with. This pushed us South and East as the current was taking us backwards and we were headed towards Malpelo Island that we had passed in the night.
Before long, the wind headed us and we tacked - again making not too bad a heading. Half an hour to an hour later and we were headed again so we tacked again. Whichever tack we tried, the wind would headed against us by up to 40 degrees after a short time. We were going nowhere and getting to the point of despair - even thinking that we could (a) go to Ecuador or, (b) go to Costa Rica, since these were the only directions that were open to us. Eventually beneath the high-altitude cloud cover and the other dispersed clouds, I noticed that there was a sausage shaped cloud running from horizon to horizon and that we were tacking backwards and forwards beneath it. As we passed under it, the wind shifted and headed us - it was creating local conditions that were heading us on either tack.
We decided to plump for the Northerly (Port) tack and have one more run under the cloud. However, the sausage cloud had started to divulge huge quantities of rain and change shape and, as we approached, we kept a good heading for nearly an hour. The cloud disintegrated and we were headed again - a wind shift of over 50 degrees so we tacked again and managed to maintain that tack for a good 6 hours - phew!
Eventually, Isla Malpela started to recede - good riddance!
Friday 4th May 2007
Pete….
A mediocre day with most of it motor-sailing and trying to get West to catch the current. Halfway through the afternoon, we took a wind shift and made a bit of South overnight.
Motoring in flat calm with an endless horizon of nothing, we came across a half-bole of a coconut tree floating with a solitary seabird standing on it. We happened to pass within 20-25 yards and the seagull just watched us idle by. Very amusing and bizarre. I imagined that the seagull should have been holding a sign saying "Galapagos this way".Also, we noticed a thick pole of bamboo floating. The sea was gently rolling it and, in time with the roll, three crabs were scuttling up the sides to cling on. Fliss said that they were illegal immigrants in their un-seaworthy craft - I wonder where they were headed for their better life?
Alan birds keep us company at night, they fly around Naz for ages, hovering above the pulpit for a while and then near the cockpit, they seem fascinated. Luckily, the moon has been full and, even when cloudy, sheds some light during the night. Tonight it is rising later - about 09:45 - let's hope for clear skies.Saturday 5th May 2007
Pete….
Last night we followed another wind shift by tacking and eventually managed to point due West and by 05:00, we were noticing some South in the current that compensated for our leeway. This has got stronger and is the prelude to the Westerly flow and we are feeling that we might actually make it to the Galapagos. There will be an avenue of head currents in an area centred on 0 degrees 39 minutes North 86 degrees 30 minutes West but then we catch a Southerly stream for the final run to the Galapagos - this is ok since it helps with the wind direction.
So the lesson is that Ocean currents can change dramatically over the period of just a couple of weeks. This was predicted to be an el-nino year but they changed their minds a couple of months ago as the Humbolt current strengthened. I think we have suffered some side effects!
We have spent 2 hour watches for the last 36 hours and played Naz for all she's worth. Once we got going, the Aries took over and was brilliant at pinching and paying off to keep 6 knots in fairly light winds.
The wind then eased and the waves took over. I played at getting Naz moving again but it takes a lot of hand steering to recover from the larger "stopper" waves. We decided to resort to engine tickover and are back to 6 knots so are not too displeased at that and the forecast is for some more wind tomorrow.
Sunday 6th May 2007
Pete…
The engine went off again at 02:00 and we soon had one reef in the main, then we rolled some headsail away and put the second reef in the main. The winds kept building and eventually we were pounding into head-seas with 9 rolls of reefing in the headsail – leaving a handkerchief flying. I was worried about building seas but they were not too bad and the course being set was in the direction we wanted.
This must be the strongest wind we have ever sailed close-hauled and we were both tired from running Nadezhda as hard as we could over the previous 48 hours. From zero to hero and no let-up. After 6 hours of this, the wind veered by 90 degrees and then died completely over about a 10 minute period. With the leftover chop, and the change in wind direction we were making no ground at all and finally decided to hove-to, have lunch and a shower and hope that the seas would die down a bit before getting going again.
Eventually, we put the engine back on and plodded at 2 knots into the oncoming waves.
Monday 7th May 2007
Pete….
In the early hours we found a bit of breeze and calmer seas. The sails came out and we creamed along gently close-hauled directly at our destination. To add to this, we had picked-up the favourable currents and all was well with the world.
Tuesday 8th May 2007
Whoa! Another day like yesterday with gentle breezes and headway in the right direction across smooth seas – keep it coming!
Although I was tired and it was past my off-watch time, we both stayed awake to cross the Equator at 21:17. Fliss insisted on putting make-up and mascara on me – the usual beard and a curly moustache.
The last couple of days have been cold as we are well and truly in the Humbolt current that comes from Antarctica up the West coast of South America. Last night and tonight, we have been wearing thermal underwear, long trousers, fleece jackets and Henri-Lloyd water/wind-proofs. I also had my fleece deerstalker hat on for the graveyard shift. So, no fancy dress for the Equator party (unless you call the above fancy dress!).
Pete….
Last night we followed another wind shift by tacking and eventually managed to point due West and by 05:00, we were noticing some South in the current that compensated for our leeway. This has got stronger and is the prelude to the Westerly flow and we are feeling that we might actually make it to the Galapagos. There will be an avenue of head currents in an area centred on 0 degrees 39 minutes North 86 degrees 30 minutes West but then we catch a Southerly stream for the final run to the Galapagos - this is ok since it helps with the wind direction.
So the lesson is that Ocean currents can change dramatically over the period of just a couple of weeks. This was predicted to be an el-nino year but they changed their minds a couple of months ago as the Humbolt current strengthened. I think we have suffered some side effects!
We have spent 2 hour watches for the last 36 hours and played Naz for all she's worth. Once we got going, the Aries took over and was brilliant at pinching and paying off to keep 6 knots in fairly light winds.
The wind then eased and the waves took over. I played at getting Naz moving again but it takes a lot of hand steering to recover from the larger "stopper" waves. We decided to resort to engine tickover and are back to 6 knots so are not too displeased at that and the forecast is for some more wind tomorrow.
Sunday 6th May 2007
Pete…
The engine went off again at 02:00 and we soon had one reef in the main, then we rolled some headsail away and put the second reef in the main. The winds kept building and eventually we were pounding into head-seas with 9 rolls of reefing in the headsail – leaving a handkerchief flying. I was worried about building seas but they were not too bad and the course being set was in the direction we wanted.
This must be the strongest wind we have ever sailed close-hauled and we were both tired from running Nadezhda as hard as we could over the previous 48 hours. From zero to hero and no let-up. After 6 hours of this, the wind veered by 90 degrees and then died completely over about a 10 minute period. With the leftover chop, and the change in wind direction we were making no ground at all and finally decided to hove-to, have lunch and a shower and hope that the seas would die down a bit before getting going again.
Eventually, we put the engine back on and plodded at 2 knots into the oncoming waves.
Monday 7th May 2007
Pete….
In the early hours we found a bit of breeze and calmer seas. The sails came out and we creamed along gently close-hauled directly at our destination. To add to this, we had picked-up the favourable currents and all was well with the world.
Tuesday 8th May 2007
Whoa! Another day like yesterday with gentle breezes and headway in the right direction across smooth seas – keep it coming!
Although I was tired and it was past my off-watch time, we both stayed awake to cross the Equator at 21:17. Fliss insisted on putting make-up and mascara on me – the usual beard and a curly moustache.
The last couple of days have been cold as we are well and truly in the Humbolt current that comes from Antarctica up the West coast of South America. Last night and tonight, we have been wearing thermal underwear, long trousers, fleece jackets and Henri-Lloyd water/wind-proofs. I also had my fleece deerstalker hat on for the graveyard shift. So, no fancy dress for the Equator party (unless you call the above fancy dress!).
As the seconds counted down to 00:00.0 we poured the champagne and put the radio 4 theme tune on the stereo. “Rule Britannia” was blasting out as we crossed the line and we poured the first glass of bubbly into the briny as a toast to Neptune.
My mum often made chicken paste sandwiches for my school lunch. It was so bad you could not even give it away. So, when we departed last June, mum gave us a jar of the evil stuff just in case other supplies ran low. Crossing the Equator, it is customary to eat something nasty so we had chicken paste on crackers. I ate both of mine but Fliss, unfortunately, spilt champagne on her second one! 
Fliss…
It really was an accident!! I wouldn’t waste cheap champagne. I enjoyed my chicken paste cracker but I couldn’t bring myself to the one that was soggy.
The watches had been messed up due to crossing the Equator but I forced myself to keep awake till 2am so Pete managed to get 4 hours worth of sleep.
Did we mention that we hadn’t seen another boat since we left Panama? we really were alone.
Thanks to everyone for their emails! it really does keep us company on long passages.
Pete….
Welcome to the Southern Hemisphere!
Wednesday 9th May 2007
As dawn broke, we had our first sight of the Galapagos through the grey gloom. Soon, the sun was shining and we had ourselves a fast blast in the lee of San Christobel.
We arrived at 12:00 to a reception by the port captain in his large powerful dinghy. He was welcoming as we stormed in with full sail at over 7 knots on a broad reach. After we anchored he came over again and made it quite clear that the first stop was the port captains offices.
As we took the water taxi to shore, Fliss saw a Sea lion playing in the water and was very excited since it was the first one she had ever seen in its natural environment. The taxi driver was nonplussed - when we reached the dock, there were about 6 lying on the steps and the pontoon and a host of them playing together in the water. If you leave your dinghy in the water here, they will colonise it. We were warned that they secure their ownership of your dinghy by “scenting” it and so we will make sure that ours is always pulled out of the water when not using it!
There were 3 boats here that we have socialised with before and we had a very nice welcoming committee.
The first thing the port captain does is offer you a peaked cap with the logo of the Ecuadorian Navy at $10 each. We thought that there was not really an option to say no and so bought one. It appears that everyone here has bought one. Rob and Lily on "Mariah" had arrived about an hour before us but had not yet been to the port captains’ office. We lent them our cap and they walked in wearing it and did not have to buy one!
We then went for a beer with everyone to catch up on things. It appears that 2 weeks is about the norm for the crossing we made and we therefore think that we actually had a fairly good run. Whilst we were relaxing, a local dive operator came over and asked us to come to the shop so that he could make a promotional video. We sat around looking like divers as he did a presentation of the equipment, the island and the quality of the diving. Afterwards, three of us did a mock interview about why we chose to dive in the Galapagos (even though we were not diving). Last night I went to bed at 19:00 and slept for a good 13 hours and feel much better for it.
Fliss…
A really great reception and it appears that everyone had the same idea to go to the nearest island. The coastline isn’t dramatic but the wildlife really is special.
Once you make landfall you cannot visit any other islands and those who chose to defy to authorities run the risk of $200 each in fines.
We had arranged to meet up with Timella in Santa Cruz and the original thought was that we would rest here, do the formalities and then move onto Santa Cruz. We have a network of people trying to contact Timella via the SSB to tell them to come here, fingers crossed that they get the message.
People have said that the Galapagos is expensive but we haven’t found that to be the case, so burgers & chips onshore ($4 each) and back to Chez Nadezhda to re-charge our batteries.
We couldn’t help but laugh when Pete gave his personal view as to why he wanted to dive in the Galapagos, he was a few sheets to the wind and explained in GREAT detail about the Humbolt current…. Well they asked!!!! Graham & I were in tears of laughter and on our knees giving the “I’m not worthy” salute.
Looking back on the passage we did really well as most people had no wind at all…. All in all we had 4 days of hell and 4 days of good/excellent conditions.
It’s amazing how you quickly slip back into life on passage, towards the end we decided to relax back and accept that we would get there eventually, there’s no point in getting stressed and pushing to hard as all it does is make the journey hard work, we must be getting old!
Thanks to everyone for their emails! it really does keep us company on long passages.
Pete….
Welcome to the Southern Hemisphere!
Wednesday 9th May 2007
As dawn broke, we had our first sight of the Galapagos through the grey gloom. Soon, the sun was shining and we had ourselves a fast blast in the lee of San Christobel.
We arrived at 12:00 to a reception by the port captain in his large powerful dinghy. He was welcoming as we stormed in with full sail at over 7 knots on a broad reach. After we anchored he came over again and made it quite clear that the first stop was the port captains offices.
As we took the water taxi to shore, Fliss saw a Sea lion playing in the water and was very excited since it was the first one she had ever seen in its natural environment. The taxi driver was nonplussed - when we reached the dock, there were about 6 lying on the steps and the pontoon and a host of them playing together in the water. If you leave your dinghy in the water here, they will colonise it. We were warned that they secure their ownership of your dinghy by “scenting” it and so we will make sure that ours is always pulled out of the water when not using it!
There were 3 boats here that we have socialised with before and we had a very nice welcoming committee.
The first thing the port captain does is offer you a peaked cap with the logo of the Ecuadorian Navy at $10 each. We thought that there was not really an option to say no and so bought one. It appears that everyone here has bought one. Rob and Lily on "Mariah" had arrived about an hour before us but had not yet been to the port captains’ office. We lent them our cap and they walked in wearing it and did not have to buy one!
We then went for a beer with everyone to catch up on things. It appears that 2 weeks is about the norm for the crossing we made and we therefore think that we actually had a fairly good run. Whilst we were relaxing, a local dive operator came over and asked us to come to the shop so that he could make a promotional video. We sat around looking like divers as he did a presentation of the equipment, the island and the quality of the diving. Afterwards, three of us did a mock interview about why we chose to dive in the Galapagos (even though we were not diving). Last night I went to bed at 19:00 and slept for a good 13 hours and feel much better for it.
Fliss…
A really great reception and it appears that everyone had the same idea to go to the nearest island. The coastline isn’t dramatic but the wildlife really is special.
Once you make landfall you cannot visit any other islands and those who chose to defy to authorities run the risk of $200 each in fines.
We had arranged to meet up with Timella in Santa Cruz and the original thought was that we would rest here, do the formalities and then move onto Santa Cruz. We have a network of people trying to contact Timella via the SSB to tell them to come here, fingers crossed that they get the message.
People have said that the Galapagos is expensive but we haven’t found that to be the case, so burgers & chips onshore ($4 each) and back to Chez Nadezhda to re-charge our batteries.
We couldn’t help but laugh when Pete gave his personal view as to why he wanted to dive in the Galapagos, he was a few sheets to the wind and explained in GREAT detail about the Humbolt current…. Well they asked!!!! Graham & I were in tears of laughter and on our knees giving the “I’m not worthy” salute.
Looking back on the passage we did really well as most people had no wind at all…. All in all we had 4 days of hell and 4 days of good/excellent conditions.
It’s amazing how you quickly slip back into life on passage, towards the end we decided to relax back and accept that we would get there eventually, there’s no point in getting stressed and pushing to hard as all it does is make the journey hard work, we must be getting old!
No comments:
Post a Comment