A Mile In My Flip Flops
Today I awoke at about 3:30 AM to the refrigeration short cycling on and off, attempting to ignore it, I tried to go back to sleep telling myself way to early…. At 3:45 AM I decided I wasn’t going back to sleep and crawled out of my bunk to a gently rolling boat with very light Trades out of the NE… I checked my batteries and the power meter told me everything should be okay, however the recycling refrigeration was telling me otherwise… I plugged in the power cord which is plugged into my battery charging system and started my portable generator, problem solved… I gotta quit spending so much time on the computer, but needed it for some graphics I have been doing… Going below I rinsed out the old coffee grounds out of my coffee press/carafe… I use water I have made from seawater using my onboard reverse osmosis water maker I installed a few years ago for cooking and drinking water as it is cleaner than bottled water sold in stores and makes delicious coffee…. I have been making about 2 gals a day stretching out my onboard storage tanks… Of course I have started painting again requiring me to make even more… I have an on deck catchments system using a garden hose , but we have had very little rain, just windy not wet…
Getting back out of the marina has been a period of many adjustments to the changes which must be adjusted to… There is the constant rocking back and forth… This can be accompanied with some short periods of increased rolling… This is accompanied with the constant background of groans and creaks which come with any vessel… This background noise remains in the background and generally goes unnoticed until something unusual happens and a noise out of the ordinary happens, immediately getting my attention… I have been on cruises and it would drive my mates crazy with how I could tell, when even in the deepest sleep and how quickly I was awake and climbing out of my bunk and coming up on deck for whatever was causing this change… More than a few times I have come on deck to a owner leaning into his wheel as though pulling it hard against its rudder stop is going to miraculously cause the back-filled genoa powered bow to go against the laws of physics and wind and turn in the course he was trying to take… When coming on deck I was generally told “It’s okay, I got it”, or “The wind shifted”, once “Marvin I don’t know what happened” which was the worse and of course a couple of times to his being sound asleep… One moonless night I was greeted with “The wind keeps shifting” and after looking at the compass I replied, “if you are trying to sail back to Puerto Rico then you have it on a perfect course…..”
I remember watching a couple motoring out to their boat in a very rough anchorage next to me… The dinghy was expertly motored up to the swim step across the stern of the boat, drifting to a stop under difficult conditions… He stepped past his companion and expertly stepped up on the bow tube and stepping across open water onto the sailboat, almost with the grace of a ballet star, without looking back went forward and down below… His crew however, who was holding the dinghy, was now finding herself slowly being stretched between the sailboat, firmly in her grip and her feet which were now securely planted onto the dinghy bow and was slowly being stretched out over open, rocking water… She finally gave up and let go… Of course he had tied off the painter so there was no chance of the dinghy drifting away…
The hardest part of adjusting is the physical part, easier to adjust to far fewer showers or a clean change of clothes everyday… You learn to become self balancing on the constant motion of the boat… If you see someone rocking back and forth while standing they live on a boat… Part of life aboard, besides always having to climb up and down a ladder every time I go up to the cockpit, is getting in and out of the dinghy… I will refer to the process of getting in and out of the dinghy as “mounting the tender” or “popping the tube”… Tying your dinghy to the dock can test your balancing skills… Pulling into a dock with the waves surging past and hitting the shore nearby, slowing down going forward and tying off the dock line all while standing on the raised deck as the surge raised me and pushed me with equal force sideways trying to slide under the dock… Once secured throwing out an anchor line from the stern to keep the boat from banging on the dock, tying it off to the stern, finally I use a special cable I had made up to lock the motor, and gas can to the dock… Now, with trash bags tossed up on the dock, backpack and anything else I am taking with me ashore I climb up on the bow tube and grip onto the dock waiting for the wave to lift the dinghy so I can hopefully exit my dinghy and pull myself ashore without making it look to awkward… To get into the dinghy, usually under reduced conditions at night with no moon, same surge, a wee bit too much to drink… and most importantly no one around to watch the graceful ease I exhibit climbing down/falling/jumping into the dinghy from above, undoing all the tangle of lines resulting from the dinghy’s swinging/me drinking… After finally unlocking the lock while standing in the dinghy then pulling up the anchor all the while the surge rocking you back and forth in a sweeping circular motion in all directions, finally untying and passing on the temptation to smite it with my rigging knife while at the same time swearing oaths to the skies above, the mystery knot I so expertly tied in daylight/sober… Under the massive power of my 5 hp outboard I head out into the dark seas directed by my anchor light which I thought to turn on most of the time when I am leaving the boat to go ashore, knowing how easily I can be corrupted and how short trips to buy a couple of things and quickly check up on Stuart and Natalya can turn into after dark often late at night dinghy trips back to the boat, tying the dinghy securely to the transom then tossing any bags of stuff I picked up onboard, then hopefully step across the dinghy bow to swim step without any mishaps, in other words, going below in dry clothes… At least at night you have less of a chance being seen..
I have been staying on the boat working on a couple of postcard size paintings… I can apply the same skills learned on larger paintings, with all the same challenges but done quicker and looser… The rocking and rolling aboard with the weather we have been getting has forced me to keep it loose, especially with the smaller format…That has been a fault of mine on much of my artwork, too much control… What a surprise,,, Painting in a smaller scale will become my method of choosing which I might want to do in a bit larger scale… I am thinking of having the ones I am happiest with printed into Geeclee post card 5”X7” prints and sold in Vieques Yacht Club… I don’t know I might be really shooting for the stars on this one… If you are interested in seeing them I posted them on my website so click here then go to the bottom of the page to see the postcards… Tomorrow I will go ashore with camera in hand.. The coastline west of the Malecon has some fairly unusual rock formations along the reef and around the rocky point is some uninhabited beach full of palm trees, should get me something interesting there to paint, scout it out for some outdoor painting… The problems with painting outdoors is that people keep stopping and wanting to talk to you… Once while in Puerto Vallarta on the beach front watching several fishermen on the spray washed rocks fishing the surf I took some watercolors, that I had taken with me on my walk that day and sat down to paint it… I had been working around 15 minutes when for some reason I turned around towards the street behind me.. Standing there was about 15-18 Mexicans standing very quietly watching me work, never saying a word… When I turned I kinda jumped back when I saw all the people which, in turn, got mostly a smile from the people when they saw my reaction… It wasn’t a very good painting…
It is now Sunday morning and I am charging batteries and making water while updating… Being the 1st of the month I will go through my monthly maintenance routine which includes exercising the through hull sea cocks, running the diesel for 20 minutes or so, walking around deck and check stuff… Always something to be done…
I have decided to start eating Puerto Rican cuisine for all my onboard meals prepared in my galley, all 4 square feet of deck slace and 6 square feet of cluttered countertop… My reasons are simple, it is what is mostly available in the markets… I have some chicken which I will be making into a Arroz con Pollo a big favorite in Central and South America, including the Caribbean, especially the parts that were once Spanish… It will be my Sunday dinner, made in my pressure cooker, uses far less fuel and really turns out moist chicken and rice…. Of course I am pretty sure I will really be sick and tired of it by the time I get to the bottom of the pot… The markets (2) are little stores with a really poor selection of food but you won’t starve, however their ice cream selection is absolutely superb as is their pastries which include Honey Buns…
More Later….
Sunday, March 01, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Letter from Esperanza, Isla Vieques, Feb 22,2009
I am trying very hard to not carry my bitter dark hatred for Bill Gates into anything ugly… I was inspired yesterday morning, while sitting on the boat, high winds howling through the rigging, and a heavy rolling motion caused by reflected rollers hitting me sideways, resulting in a most uncomfortable ride… This has been going on for a week and is starting to get somewhat tiresome… I spent 2 hours typing out a new post for my blog when all of a sudden, out of nowhere, pops up a dialogue box informing me Windows Explorer was closing this program and was sorry for any inconvenient … Inconvenient??? I just spent 2 hours digging deep and really putting it on paper and it just vanished before my eyes, completely helpless to stop it… It was almost as if I was watching it in slow motion… Kind of like when you first let go of something and are now facing a very long drop, either from a bridge or an airplane… Seeing it slip away and saying to yourself, “boy is this screwed”… How many millions, probably billions of hours of precious irretrievable time has been stolen by the soul robber, Mr. Gates… But they are sorry, something to be said for that… Thank God Bill Gates is not black, then I wouldn’t be able to hate him, at least not without the guilt..
With this heavy weather I only made it ashore one day this past week and restocked a few stores onboard from a small local market… Not much of a choice, but got the basics without any of the healthy stuff like fruit or vegetables, I will have to wait for the roadside market to open when he gets a shipment…. Thank God I still have a ready supply of cold beer, ice cream and Hostess cup cakes… I do have a 4 or 5 cheese selection to choose from… Makes it tough deciding between American singles or a 5 lb bag of shredded “Italian Style” cheese like product… Sounds almost too good to be true… Vegs are not totally absent, there arte like 2 or 3 frozen vegs and potatoes and onions… If you want fruit you have to get it from a frozen fruit bar, which isn’t nearly as horrible as it sounds…
When I make it ashore I have some great beaches to include in my daily walks (when possible) that recently became open to the public after the bombing range was closed and is slowly being cleared of munitions… They set of a explosion every Thursday at Noon, but haven’t in a while as they are finding fewer and fewer munitions, opening up larger areas of the island for hiking through… It is now a part of the US Park system as a wildlife preserve and sanctuary with no development of any kind… This means hiking through the island and bays which are much as they have been since they formed… The best part is I get to enjoy them without any crowds, maybe a dozen or so other lucky souls… Sitting in a beach chair, paints in hand and a beautiful beach to paint… When it is possible to get ashore… Everyone tells me they have never seen weather like this, just like me to bring it with me… This is definitely “staying put” weather… The anchor has not once skipped since arriving… I originally had trouble setting the anchor in the sea grass that covers the bottom of the bay… My friend Stuart has told me I have free reign of any of his moorings when they get them done, which requires time which is in very short supply at the moment for him and his wife Natalya…
As I was sitting here thinking of what to write next I looked down and contemplated the floor and then my foot, specifically my right foot… It was the result of living in nothing but flip flops since 2002 with the characteristic tan lines running diagonally across the top of my foot... I now have one badly jammed middle tow and two bruised outside toes on my right foot... These injuries were the result of running up on deck and severly testing how well the thru deck fittings are doing their job... I can say with certainty that I have never found any wanting... I am now quite used to the rolling motion of the boat and for the most part am not even aware of it... Every once in a while she still likes to give me a "what for" and catch me off my guard, the result of which is a string of badly put together curses and oaths being spoken in as annoyed manner as can muster, which has been my opinion that this has little effect on anything, which just fuels it... It is times like these that I am glad I live alone... I can turn and stare at the offender and shke my tightly held fist at it... Doesn't do any good but does give me somthing to laugh at later, when the throbbing pain is finally subsiding...
When rough weather prevails, I sleep in the main salon under my Navigation station GPS unit which is set on anchor watch monitoring that I am essentially staying in one wide sweeping area and letting me know when I am not... I sleep in the main salon so that I can clearly hear the alarm as well as monitor any noises that shouldn't be happening... These noises have to be picked out of the background of a whole chorus of noises made by a boat in rough conditions... There is the occasional hanging thing which swings back and forth tapping, the bulkheads creak and groan, the rigging sings and assorted pieces of sailing hardware and lines add to the noise... This noise is accompanied by a rough, dark moonless night... And usually happens around 2:30 in the morning... My neighbor's boat from Canada, drug his anchor last night and moved in a little closer to the island, and of course he is directly upwind of me as they blow at the moment... If he drags under these conditions he will be on top of me in a matter of a few frantic moments, or in the middle of the night when both boats are awoken at 2:30 in the morning to the boat upwind dragging his anchor and drifing into the boat downwind (me)... I will keep him closely monitored although he appears to be an able sailor...
One of the reasons I have not been going ashore is the dinghy ride from my boat to the dock isabout a half mile to the fishermen's dock where we are allowed to tie up our dinghys, provided we keep them out of the restricted area reserved for the fishermen... I decided when I got here I would use my Mercury outboard and run a tank of gas through it... It is 5 hp and although a gfine motor it is slow and makes for a wetter ride than when I use my older and more powerfjul outboard... It is twice the hp and probably twice the speed and a whole lot more fun... I believe under the right circumstances I could become airborn and at the least turn my inflatable inside out... The 5 hp on the other hand is dependable and economical as well as haf the weight of the bigger outboard... The weight becomes a factor when launching the dinghy and having to lower the outboard onto a wildly swinging transom, and before I got my outboard lift, had to do it myself, lifting it off the mount on the stern rail and lowering it to the stern on the dinghy which was usually bouncing and wildly jerking... The bigger weights in close to 90 lbs, and after several years of putting myself through this effort I bought an engine lift which is like a small crane only more expensive but worth every dollar... Well the smaller outboard is living up to the economy part as I have only used about a half a gallon of gasoline in the past 2 weeks which is about 6 trips to and from shore or about another month or so to use up all 3 gals of fuel in the gas tank... Yes not commuting to a job I hate, in traffic I hate can rob you of your soul... Better to live without all the stuff holding you to the ground and flying free above all the turmoil taking place in the world... All my stuff is packed into a nice 16,900 displacement, 39' long by 12.6 ft wide at her widest point, and might I say one of her more attractive features floating RV... She has all kinds of hidden and odd shaped little knocs and crannies in which to hide stuff... I am able to produce most of my normal electrical needs with a wind generator and solar panel and when this isn't enough I can suppliment it with my very easy to start, quiet, economical Honda generator which I also use when using my compressor and diving gear to clean the bottom of the boat which usually takes a full day... At present time I am running my watermaker filling a one gallon jug for drinking, coffee, rice with recycled, desalienated sea water which is cleaner than the bottled water I buy and a whole lot better than the tap water in Puerto Rico... I have been living on the same 35 gallon tank I filled in Puerto Rico... I have added another 20 gals since then... For bathing there is the swimstep and an easy dive into beautiful, clear water... Swim around a bit, climb out, soap up, dive in again (even warmer the second time) swim around till you are well rinsed off then climb up the swim ladder onto the swimstep and rinse off with some fresh water collected during the last rain, something we have been short of with all this wind... It is somewaht more dificult keeping at the same level of hygene as on land and accounts for our more "laid back" look... Usually some worn flip flops, baggy worn shorts and a really sun bleached t=shirt topped off with a really disgusting well worn baseball cap... You can also spot many of the new cruisers passing through as well... They are older guys with guts wearing the remaining hair they have growing in a circle above their ears into qa ponytail... They also are generally on a huge catamqaran or 60 ft. schooner with crew...
With this heavy weather I only made it ashore one day this past week and restocked a few stores onboard from a small local market… Not much of a choice, but got the basics without any of the healthy stuff like fruit or vegetables, I will have to wait for the roadside market to open when he gets a shipment…. Thank God I still have a ready supply of cold beer, ice cream and Hostess cup cakes… I do have a 4 or 5 cheese selection to choose from… Makes it tough deciding between American singles or a 5 lb bag of shredded “Italian Style” cheese like product… Sounds almost too good to be true… Vegs are not totally absent, there arte like 2 or 3 frozen vegs and potatoes and onions… If you want fruit you have to get it from a frozen fruit bar, which isn’t nearly as horrible as it sounds…
When I make it ashore I have some great beaches to include in my daily walks (when possible) that recently became open to the public after the bombing range was closed and is slowly being cleared of munitions… They set of a explosion every Thursday at Noon, but haven’t in a while as they are finding fewer and fewer munitions, opening up larger areas of the island for hiking through… It is now a part of the US Park system as a wildlife preserve and sanctuary with no development of any kind… This means hiking through the island and bays which are much as they have been since they formed… The best part is I get to enjoy them without any crowds, maybe a dozen or so other lucky souls… Sitting in a beach chair, paints in hand and a beautiful beach to paint… When it is possible to get ashore… Everyone tells me they have never seen weather like this, just like me to bring it with me… This is definitely “staying put” weather… The anchor has not once skipped since arriving… I originally had trouble setting the anchor in the sea grass that covers the bottom of the bay… My friend Stuart has told me I have free reign of any of his moorings when they get them done, which requires time which is in very short supply at the moment for him and his wife Natalya…
As I was sitting here thinking of what to write next I looked down and contemplated the floor and then my foot, specifically my right foot… It was the result of living in nothing but flip flops since 2002 with the characteristic tan lines running diagonally across the top of my foot... I now have one badly jammed middle tow and two bruised outside toes on my right foot... These injuries were the result of running up on deck and severly testing how well the thru deck fittings are doing their job... I can say with certainty that I have never found any wanting... I am now quite used to the rolling motion of the boat and for the most part am not even aware of it... Every once in a while she still likes to give me a "what for" and catch me off my guard, the result of which is a string of badly put together curses and oaths being spoken in as annoyed manner as can muster, which has been my opinion that this has little effect on anything, which just fuels it... It is times like these that I am glad I live alone... I can turn and stare at the offender and shke my tightly held fist at it... Doesn't do any good but does give me somthing to laugh at later, when the throbbing pain is finally subsiding...
When rough weather prevails, I sleep in the main salon under my Navigation station GPS unit which is set on anchor watch monitoring that I am essentially staying in one wide sweeping area and letting me know when I am not... I sleep in the main salon so that I can clearly hear the alarm as well as monitor any noises that shouldn't be happening... These noises have to be picked out of the background of a whole chorus of noises made by a boat in rough conditions... There is the occasional hanging thing which swings back and forth tapping, the bulkheads creak and groan, the rigging sings and assorted pieces of sailing hardware and lines add to the noise... This noise is accompanied by a rough, dark moonless night... And usually happens around 2:30 in the morning... My neighbor's boat from Canada, drug his anchor last night and moved in a little closer to the island, and of course he is directly upwind of me as they blow at the moment... If he drags under these conditions he will be on top of me in a matter of a few frantic moments, or in the middle of the night when both boats are awoken at 2:30 in the morning to the boat upwind dragging his anchor and drifing into the boat downwind (me)... I will keep him closely monitored although he appears to be an able sailor...
One of the reasons I have not been going ashore is the dinghy ride from my boat to the dock isabout a half mile to the fishermen's dock where we are allowed to tie up our dinghys, provided we keep them out of the restricted area reserved for the fishermen... I decided when I got here I would use my Mercury outboard and run a tank of gas through it... It is 5 hp and although a gfine motor it is slow and makes for a wetter ride than when I use my older and more powerfjul outboard... It is twice the hp and probably twice the speed and a whole lot more fun... I believe under the right circumstances I could become airborn and at the least turn my inflatable inside out... The 5 hp on the other hand is dependable and economical as well as haf the weight of the bigger outboard... The weight becomes a factor when launching the dinghy and having to lower the outboard onto a wildly swinging transom, and before I got my outboard lift, had to do it myself, lifting it off the mount on the stern rail and lowering it to the stern on the dinghy which was usually bouncing and wildly jerking... The bigger weights in close to 90 lbs, and after several years of putting myself through this effort I bought an engine lift which is like a small crane only more expensive but worth every dollar... Well the smaller outboard is living up to the economy part as I have only used about a half a gallon of gasoline in the past 2 weeks which is about 6 trips to and from shore or about another month or so to use up all 3 gals of fuel in the gas tank... Yes not commuting to a job I hate, in traffic I hate can rob you of your soul... Better to live without all the stuff holding you to the ground and flying free above all the turmoil taking place in the world... All my stuff is packed into a nice 16,900 displacement, 39' long by 12.6 ft wide at her widest point, and might I say one of her more attractive features floating RV... She has all kinds of hidden and odd shaped little knocs and crannies in which to hide stuff... I am able to produce most of my normal electrical needs with a wind generator and solar panel and when this isn't enough I can suppliment it with my very easy to start, quiet, economical Honda generator which I also use when using my compressor and diving gear to clean the bottom of the boat which usually takes a full day... At present time I am running my watermaker filling a one gallon jug for drinking, coffee, rice with recycled, desalienated sea water which is cleaner than the bottled water I buy and a whole lot better than the tap water in Puerto Rico... I have been living on the same 35 gallon tank I filled in Puerto Rico... I have added another 20 gals since then... For bathing there is the swimstep and an easy dive into beautiful, clear water... Swim around a bit, climb out, soap up, dive in again (even warmer the second time) swim around till you are well rinsed off then climb up the swim ladder onto the swimstep and rinse off with some fresh water collected during the last rain, something we have been short of with all this wind... It is somewaht more dificult keeping at the same level of hygene as on land and accounts for our more "laid back" look... Usually some worn flip flops, baggy worn shorts and a really sun bleached t=shirt topped off with a really disgusting well worn baseball cap... You can also spot many of the new cruisers passing through as well... They are older guys with guts wearing the remaining hair they have growing in a circle above their ears into qa ponytail... They also are generally on a huge catamqaran or 60 ft. schooner with crew...
Monday, January 26, 2009
My Passage to Panama with Ramon, December 2008
The passage to Panama was a great experience for me and I learned a lot... For one thing I will never consider sailing with another owner... Ramon is a very sweet guy and we are very close friends but he greatly exaggerated his sailing experience and I was left to primarily "single hand" the boat with incompetent crew, who knew very little... I only managed 4 hours of sleep on one 48 period because of problems created on deck while I was off watch, forcing me out of my bunk and getting the boat back on course, the whole time Ramon telling me he could handle it, even though he had a back filled Genoa and was trying to steer the boat into the wind, instead of letting the wind carry it back around and resetting his course...
One night he called down to me and when I came on deck the mainsail was flogging in the wind with the control line that controls it (main sheet) completely torn away by an accidental gybe... He was in a panic mode and didn't know what to do... I told him to bring the boat into the wind so I could go forward and secure the boom which was swinging back and forth across the deck completely out of control... He was having trouble finding the wind as he was not obviously looking at his very expensive wind direction indicator instrument right in front of him at the wheel and I had to come back and bring it into the wind... While forward, with him at the wheel steering, the boat once again started to come around and the boom slammed into me, knocking me backwards across the deck... As I was falling backwards I was sure I was going overboard, in heavy seas, the middle of a dark moonless night, 400 miles from the nearest landfall, with Ramon at the wheel... At that point I really felt I was a goner and thought to myself it’s over, but lucky for me I landed just short of going overboard and slammed against the lifelines and seriously bruised my kidney on a spare fuel tank that was secured to the toe rail of the boat... I had to lay there for a few minutes getting my breath back and waiting for the pain to subside all the while listening to Ramon frantically asking me if I was okay and to get up... I managed to crawl back into the cockpit and get the boat facing into the wind again, started the engine and set the autopilot with very firm instructions for him not to touch anything... After finally securing the boom and lowering the main sail, I unfurled the Genoa and got back underway... Needless to say I got very little sleep that night but was very happy that things didn't turn out worse...
Before we had departed Ramon had told me he would be doing the cooking, even though I had suggested we take mostly finger foods and avoid cooking as much as possible, as it could be very difficult under normal sea conditions... He assured me I would be surprised by his cooking and truer words have never been spoken... When we provisioned I thought many easily prepared side dishes (i.e. instant mashed potatoes, etc) would be easier so we stocked up on these items... He bought ham steaks and ham slices for his favorite meal which was ham and cheese wrapped in a tortilla which became our main staple on this voyage, that and instant cup of noodles. H only had a huge frying pan in which to prepare foods and neglected to tell me he didn't have any normal cooking pots or pans on board...
Ramon is very eager to learn the tricks of living aboard, and I tried to help him whenever the opportunity presented itself. As an example during the night while on watch Ramon enjoyed a bowl of tortilla chips. Unfortunately the bowl was ceramic and on one of my frequent trips on deck to the sound of flogging sails and the boat smashing into steep seas, this dish went flying and broke into many sharp pieces on the cockpit soul. Of course this presented a problem for anyone in bare feet, trying to maintain a balance on a rough twisting deck in the middle of the night. After picking up the pieces I explained he needed to return the bowl when finished to the galley to avoid this happening again as a broken piece of pottery could cause serious injury, especially 400 miles from the nearest landfall. The very next night on another “visit” on deck, under similar circumstances another bowl went bouncing across the deck, fortunately it stayed intact and once again I lectured him on how dangerous this could be, and he assured me he understood. This understanding on his part was short lived as again the following night a bowl went sliding across the cockpit table and I was able to catch it before it went flying. This time I took the bowl and with Ramon looking on, threw it overboard. Lesson learned, finally. Just one of many, including using the cup holder instead of sitting full cans of beer on a rolling tabletop, after spilling a couple of cans of beer in his lap. Life onboard a sailboat underway is very different from life on land. Cooking, as he found out can be very difficult when the pan goes sliding around the stove top let alone trying to maintain your balance on a rolling deck inside a boat which can bring on real nausea, unrelated to his cooking skills.
For the most part the weather cooperated and we managed to sail at an average speed of 6.7 knots... There were a few days that storms hit but we managed to ride them out without to many difficulties... Ramon managed to rip out several of the sail slugs on the new mainsail when he used one of the deck top winches to pull in the 1st reefing out haul, thus rendering the mainsail unusable for the rest of the passage... We finally made it into Colon after 8 days and brought the boat into the Panama Canal Yacht Club until we could get passage booked for transit thru the canal... We spent the time, while waiting, repairing the auto pilot which had stopped working in the middle of the night (guess who's watch?) and which I was able to temporarily repair using his $49 tool set and no spare parts, as well as taking the main sail into a local sail maker who was able to repair the tears and damage...
His friends from Chile had arrived before we got there and were there to greet us... They are helping him sail the boat from Panama to Chile and I hope Ramon's angel continues to sit next to him on the journey... Of course nobody but Ramon spoke both English (kinda) and Spanish, so I spent the week unable to communicate with the new crew except through gestures and sign language... Of course there were other problems that had to be overcome, but I would be redundant in describing them as they involved Ramon...
The Atlantic side of Panama, in Colon, is a big stinking pile of garbage and open sewers, suffering under a very high crime rate... It stinks, and is dangerous, especially for wealthy looking Gringos... I was glad to get underway again through the Canal, which I have always wanted to see and to transit... Panama, once out of Colon, is a beautiful, sparsely populated country with massive rain forests and jungles full of many unique species... I awoke in the morning on Gakin Lake, to the sounds of monkeys in the trees of the jungle along the edge of the lake... This beautiful lake has several hundred islands, containing many species of animals found no place else on earth, and are protected... Once through the Canal, on the Pacific side, it was cooler and totally different from the Atlantic side... Panama City is a large, modern, clean city full of beautiful parks and efficient highways... Needless to say, when I boarded the plane to fly back to Puerto Rico, a great feeling of relief overtook me...
I am now in the Spanish Virgins aboard my own boat, enjoying my quiet solitude..
P.S. Ramon and I are still very good friends and he wants me to come to Chile for a visit... He is halfway now between Panama and Chile at present and I hope his guardian angel continues to look after him..
One night he called down to me and when I came on deck the mainsail was flogging in the wind with the control line that controls it (main sheet) completely torn away by an accidental gybe... He was in a panic mode and didn't know what to do... I told him to bring the boat into the wind so I could go forward and secure the boom which was swinging back and forth across the deck completely out of control... He was having trouble finding the wind as he was not obviously looking at his very expensive wind direction indicator instrument right in front of him at the wheel and I had to come back and bring it into the wind... While forward, with him at the wheel steering, the boat once again started to come around and the boom slammed into me, knocking me backwards across the deck... As I was falling backwards I was sure I was going overboard, in heavy seas, the middle of a dark moonless night, 400 miles from the nearest landfall, with Ramon at the wheel... At that point I really felt I was a goner and thought to myself it’s over, but lucky for me I landed just short of going overboard and slammed against the lifelines and seriously bruised my kidney on a spare fuel tank that was secured to the toe rail of the boat... I had to lay there for a few minutes getting my breath back and waiting for the pain to subside all the while listening to Ramon frantically asking me if I was okay and to get up... I managed to crawl back into the cockpit and get the boat facing into the wind again, started the engine and set the autopilot with very firm instructions for him not to touch anything... After finally securing the boom and lowering the main sail, I unfurled the Genoa and got back underway... Needless to say I got very little sleep that night but was very happy that things didn't turn out worse...
Before we had departed Ramon had told me he would be doing the cooking, even though I had suggested we take mostly finger foods and avoid cooking as much as possible, as it could be very difficult under normal sea conditions... He assured me I would be surprised by his cooking and truer words have never been spoken... When we provisioned I thought many easily prepared side dishes (i.e. instant mashed potatoes, etc) would be easier so we stocked up on these items... He bought ham steaks and ham slices for his favorite meal which was ham and cheese wrapped in a tortilla which became our main staple on this voyage, that and instant cup of noodles. H only had a huge frying pan in which to prepare foods and neglected to tell me he didn't have any normal cooking pots or pans on board...
Ramon is very eager to learn the tricks of living aboard, and I tried to help him whenever the opportunity presented itself. As an example during the night while on watch Ramon enjoyed a bowl of tortilla chips. Unfortunately the bowl was ceramic and on one of my frequent trips on deck to the sound of flogging sails and the boat smashing into steep seas, this dish went flying and broke into many sharp pieces on the cockpit soul. Of course this presented a problem for anyone in bare feet, trying to maintain a balance on a rough twisting deck in the middle of the night. After picking up the pieces I explained he needed to return the bowl when finished to the galley to avoid this happening again as a broken piece of pottery could cause serious injury, especially 400 miles from the nearest landfall. The very next night on another “visit” on deck, under similar circumstances another bowl went bouncing across the deck, fortunately it stayed intact and once again I lectured him on how dangerous this could be, and he assured me he understood. This understanding on his part was short lived as again the following night a bowl went sliding across the cockpit table and I was able to catch it before it went flying. This time I took the bowl and with Ramon looking on, threw it overboard. Lesson learned, finally. Just one of many, including using the cup holder instead of sitting full cans of beer on a rolling tabletop, after spilling a couple of cans of beer in his lap. Life onboard a sailboat underway is very different from life on land. Cooking, as he found out can be very difficult when the pan goes sliding around the stove top let alone trying to maintain your balance on a rolling deck inside a boat which can bring on real nausea, unrelated to his cooking skills.
For the most part the weather cooperated and we managed to sail at an average speed of 6.7 knots... There were a few days that storms hit but we managed to ride them out without to many difficulties... Ramon managed to rip out several of the sail slugs on the new mainsail when he used one of the deck top winches to pull in the 1st reefing out haul, thus rendering the mainsail unusable for the rest of the passage... We finally made it into Colon after 8 days and brought the boat into the Panama Canal Yacht Club until we could get passage booked for transit thru the canal... We spent the time, while waiting, repairing the auto pilot which had stopped working in the middle of the night (guess who's watch?) and which I was able to temporarily repair using his $49 tool set and no spare parts, as well as taking the main sail into a local sail maker who was able to repair the tears and damage...
His friends from Chile had arrived before we got there and were there to greet us... They are helping him sail the boat from Panama to Chile and I hope Ramon's angel continues to sit next to him on the journey... Of course nobody but Ramon spoke both English (kinda) and Spanish, so I spent the week unable to communicate with the new crew except through gestures and sign language... Of course there were other problems that had to be overcome, but I would be redundant in describing them as they involved Ramon...
The Atlantic side of Panama, in Colon, is a big stinking pile of garbage and open sewers, suffering under a very high crime rate... It stinks, and is dangerous, especially for wealthy looking Gringos... I was glad to get underway again through the Canal, which I have always wanted to see and to transit... Panama, once out of Colon, is a beautiful, sparsely populated country with massive rain forests and jungles full of many unique species... I awoke in the morning on Gakin Lake, to the sounds of monkeys in the trees of the jungle along the edge of the lake... This beautiful lake has several hundred islands, containing many species of animals found no place else on earth, and are protected... Once through the Canal, on the Pacific side, it was cooler and totally different from the Atlantic side... Panama City is a large, modern, clean city full of beautiful parks and efficient highways... Needless to say, when I boarded the plane to fly back to Puerto Rico, a great feeling of relief overtook me...
I am now in the Spanish Virgins aboard my own boat, enjoying my quiet solitude..
P.S. Ramon and I are still very good friends and he wants me to come to Chile for a visit... He is halfway now between Panama and Chile at present and I hope his guardian angel continues to look after him..
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