Indigo Moth: Ships Blog

ships log

28th May 07
07:06

On the hard Puerto Lucia, Ecuador

We have been hauled! By the very competent crew at Puerto Lucia. This
looks like a really great yard - really quite professionally run. I'm a
happy Hector!

The bottom doesn't look that bad - given that the paint is nearly four years
old. I've lost some paint along the waterline due to it receiving an extra
heavy scraping by Santos in Bahia Del Sol - and I've lost some on the keel
where it has flaked off exposing he lead. All in all much better than I
expected and certainly much better than I deserve!

Spent the entire day and about a zillion gallons of fresh water cleaning the
topsides of all remnants of salt. Think I've finally got most of the El
Salvadorean bat shit as well!

Today the boat gets moved again out of the industrial end of the yard to the
residential end. Good news as both the trawlers on either side are having
copious amounts of spray painting done.

Quite amusingly the boat has not been stowed level - it is listing slightly
to port and most definitely bows up stern down - so it's quite weird; I
occasionally experience a mild panic attack and then remember I'm on the
hard.

22nd May 07
05:30

Motor Sailing offshore Ecuador

Made it!

Puerto Lucia! and in a med mooring for the night. The shore is tantalizingly close - but just out of reach. I'd have to launch the dinghy to get there - it's simply too much work - so I'm going to have a bite to eat and a good nights sleep. It's kind of weird as there is absolutely zero movement.

Tomorrow they haul me out and the work should, might, hopefully... begin!

22nd May 07
01:30

Motor Sailing offshore Ecuador

Scattered Winston's ashes.

A pod of dolphins were frolicking in the bow wave. I sat on the pulpit seat, told him I loved him and let him go. The dolphins then turned and left. I'd like to think he was with them. I certainly felt a much lonely person when he had gone. I was gutted.

22nd May 07
07:50

Motor Sailing offshore Ecuador

Finally sighted land! Isla de la Palata a small island off the coast of Ecuador. I was on deck cleaning some of the rust stains (it's amazing what 10 days of saltwater over the decks will do to a boat - the amusing thing was that rust stains on my windward side ran up the deck (against the camber) a feature of having been pointing to wind for the last 900 miles ish!)

There is next to no wind and the sea state is quite flat - so it's a pleasure being able to easily move about below!

It's going to be touch and go wether I make my destination by nightfall - I'm optimistic that I'll have enough light to anchor by else I shall just wait offshore for the night.

21st May 07
06:30

Sailing offshore Ecuador

Finally crossed the equator at dusk. Not quite sure what the protocol is. So we (winston attended in casket) had fancy dress (I seem to recall that it is necessary) - I came as a scruffy bloke wearing a ladies hat - Winston also had a ladies hat. We asked the king for permission to cross the equator. We offered a drink to the King of the sea - raised a glass. Then a symbolic dunking of the equator virgins (looked more like a christening). And we were on our way. It was quite fun - we'll i guess you had to be there. I guess we didn't quite get it right because shortly afterwards the wind finally died....

21st May 07
07:47

sailing offshore

Still at it! The wind picked up yesterday and was a good solid 25kts. The sea state did also - made for a wet day.

A minor holding tank problem... It seems it wanted to fill itself through the pump out cap being slightly loose. That not being sufficient it then decided to exit via the breather pipe on deck. To compound matters it doesn't seem to want to empty - the pump runs but... Oh joy... If I could have found a way to get the bloody thing out and in the oggin without destroying a good chunk of carpentry - it would be gone!

Lots of flying fish on deck this morning - Winston would have liked that.

This morning the wind has dropped significantly so it's much easier going. Got to get cracking I've got a couple dozen eggs to eat...

Oh and the sun has come out...

20th May 07
10:30

sailing offshore

Double reefed - nasty seas (fortunately not that large - 6-8) it's the combination with the cross seas. Nasty square waves. Very wet on deck=have thermals and foulies on! Still close hauled and I'm going to have to beat as well :( Oh well at least it's not forty knots. Got to be brief as the act of typing is must unsettling...

19th May 07
10:50

sailing offshore

Still got wind! Still sailing hard into it! But the reefs are out and the sea state is much better now that I'm out of the ITZ.

Sailing to weather is hard on the body - after three days of it I can really feel it. Even sitting down takes an effort as you are always having adjust/brace yourself. I'm also covered in bruises from those accidental introductions to various bits of superstructure/hardware.

I had a passenger, a fly, for a couple days - but he seems to have buggered off now - not sure where to as the nearest land is about 270 miles away.

I'm hoping for a wind shift in the next three days so that I do not have to beat up the coast...

18th May 07
07:15

sailing doldrums

Sailed all night with 9-15 kts still close hauled. Catnaps are working better and am not quite so tired today.

This morning the wind picked up 15-22kts (still close hauled) I'm trying to keep as westerly as possible so that the approach to Ecuador will be with the wind and current.

Still three days of sailing isn't bad for the doldrums! Especially as I was resigned to drifting around.

The sea is all chopped up - it kind of reminds me of the north sea - only not as brown!

Batteries are doing great - I am actually going to have to run the engine and do a bit of recharging (it's been cloudy for the last two days and the solar panels cannot keep up.

With the boat constantly heeled from 10 to 30 degrees - moving around is more of a slither - doing the washing up is like an abs abs abs workout (I'm guessing as I've never done one) still fat chance (pun intended) that it will have any effect on mine as I'm none too frequent with the washing up….

Seen only one ship and that was yesterday - seems an awfully quiet part of the Pacific.

17th May 07
10:30

sailing offshore

After an on / off night the wind switched on this morning and stayed on! I'm still close hauled (sailing to the weather). The sea state is very confused - so the motion is quite entertaining...

Had a minor panic when the bilge alarm went off. I could see the bilge flooded and hear the pump running. Not a nice site! Fortunately it was a combination of the pump cavitating (maybe) and the water ingress was via the centerboard packing joint. I'd really like to talk to the man at Alden that thought it was a good idea to put one in a very narrow but very deep (>40 inches ) bilge. It is nigh on impossible to tighten. I've slowed the leak sufficiently...

The catnap thing seems to leave me trying to catnap all day...

16th May 07
09:50

sailing offshore

The weather has a sense of humor - every time I get things set (making the most of the meagre wind) it changes direction/speed.

Still we are plodding along in approximately the correct direction.

I have been becalmed four times in the last 24 hours.

Also please note that sometimes I am unable to connect to send email - this one I have tried to send maybe 20 times in the last four hours. So do not worry if they are not regular.

15th May 07
02:56

undersail offshore

..To almost becalmed again.

10 minutes after my last log entry, it suddenly blew 20 kts. I also noticed some birds were sitting on the water (like sitting cows an omen for bad weather - an old wives tale maybe).

This being papagayo country (although the season is supposed to be over) I took a reef in. 20 minutes later I had to take another - it was blowing 25kts and we were going to weather and by now the sea was confused.

This continued for most of the day - great stuff! Not quite sure where it came from... Anyway it just upped and died on me and I'm now ghosting along with the asymmetric spinnaker almost set - it keeps collapsing as the mast moves in the swell.

Oh well it was good while it lasted.

15th May 07
02:56

undersail offshore

..To almost becalmed again.

10 minutes after my last log entry, it suddenly blew 20 kts. I also noticed some birds were sitting on the water (like sitting cows an omen for bad weather - an old wives tale maybe).

This being papagayo country (although the season is supposed to be over) I took a reef in. 20 minutes later I had to take another - it was blowing 25kts and we were going to weather and by now the sea was confused.

This continued for most of the day - great stuff! Not quite sure where it came from... Anyway it just upped and died on me and I'm now ghosting along with the asymmetric spinnaker almost set - it keeps collapsing as the mast moves in the swell.

Oh well it was good while it lasted.

Posted by Bill

15th May 07
05:50

sailing offshore

Got becalmed yesterday and decided to sit it out - a good idea as I really needed a good rest. There was zero wind not even enough to hove to - so I deployed the flopper stopper - it's still just as useless as ever - maybe it wasn't meant for ocean swell. (The flopper stopper stops the boat from rolling in the swell)

The stars were simply magnificent could see lightning off in the distance but it never made it out to me,

A slight breeze appeared at 4am and we are off again - feeling quite chipper after a rest!

14th May 07
07:20

motor sailing offshore

Had to run the engine last night - dodging the electrical storms - most of them were off my port side.

Not much in the way of sleep.

No wind this morning - am having to motor for a bit to try and find some....

On the wildlife front some spotty dolphins and a marlin doing the jump slap maneuver.

13th May 07
06:20

sailing offshore

What a night! After sailing all day I was wishing for a nice easy first night… Not to be - the wind became quite light and a huge electrical storm was coming up on my stern. I started the engine to try and out run it - not to be - it lasted until day break. Not much in the way of wind and a very light smattering of rain - but the lighting was quite spectacular.

I also had to repair the clew on the main sail as the webbing was rotten. It took nearly three hours and several broken needles - and I still have two more pieces to replace… I shall attempt the others later as it is I'm sailing again - albeit at a rather slow pace…

12th May 07
06:15

Sailing Offshore El Salvador

Got away from El Salvador finally! The passage across the bar was really straight forward, Collette and Murray came out and had quite an easy job.

There are light winds and as to be expected they are on the nose. I am currently tacking up the coast at just over 4kts - but it is sailing!

12th May 07
03:15

sailing offshore

The fishing trawler Isabella crossed my bows - the light wasn't terrible good so I asked if he was fishing - he replied yes so I went about to avoid his nets. I then looked back at his stern and realized his nets where not in the water. He then when about through 180 degrees and started to follow me. I went about again and he followed suit - he was now steaming up on my stern. I started the engine and tried not to panic. I re stated my course and waited… I then waved when I could see them on the bridge, he then inexplicably turned off back to his original course…

Maybe he just wanted to take a look - but it was really quite unnerving…

24th April 07
02:10

anchored Bahia Del Sol

A test using sailmail.
end of test.

20th April 07
03:15

anchored here and there

another test

5th August 05
08:00

anchored Bahia Del Sol

Gemma is in LA (catching up on some work) and Carl and Winston are on an extended road trip. While we are away Indigo Moth is being looked after by the very capable Collette and Murray down in El Salvador. C and W are currently in Antigua Guatemala and you can follow their progress pictorially in the photographs section of the web site.

29th May 05
06:00

anchored Bahia Del Sol

Apart from the trip to Guatemala, refer to the notes from the boat section, it has been pretty quiet. Rainy season is here with a vengeance and the nightly electrical storms are unreal. Boat chores are still beckoning; fortunately it is either too wet to varnish or too hot. There must be some serious nutrients in the water as the mutant barnacles have to be seen to be believed. The prop was so bad that it had no traction at all - and this after I had cleaned it approx three weeks ago. The water has been too foul to complete the hull cleaning - a result of some uncommonly high tides shifting normally inaccessible rubbish/debris. Did spot a fairly large tree complete with branches and roots making way out to open water across the bar on a falling tide.

19th May 05
04:00

anchored Bahia Del Sol

The track bent a little and ended up pretty damn close (34nm). We didn't see much more than 30kts but some of the other boats reported 40+. No damage sustained by anyone. All in all we got off pretty lightly. As a bonus we managed to collect 80 gallons of water and give the boat a terrific scrub down. G whipped up a really nice Risotto and we had it fried for breakfast - really good! W had a couple of trips ashore but really does not enjoy the rain.

19th May 05
11:00

anchored Bahia Del Sol

Fun and games as the first named storm of the season (Adrian - ranks up there with hurricane Howard for naming) is set to make a direct hit on El Salvador. The boat has been stripped of all canvas, the Genoa, surplus rigging, solar panels etc... We have checked the anchor and added some extra weight to improve the catenary effect of the chain and are now waiting... Adrian is due to make landfall at near hurricane strength at about 6 this evening. We have it plotted at approx 60 miles from here - so we are expecting a ton of rain and maybe 40-60 kts. This is not something that we are particularly worried about at this point and we are settling down with a rainy day dvd. You can only imagine what the radio traffic is like in the anchorage now that there are 58 ish boats here....

5th May 05
04:00

anchored Bahia Del Sol

We are now anchored in Bahia Del Sol, having successfully navigated the bar without any trouble at all. Unfortunately we managed to spot a dead body floating in the water a few hours prior to arriving at the bar. Not the best way to be welcomed in to a new country. We have since found out that a couple of swimmers were lost recently and this was one.

3rd May 05
03:00

underway El Salvador

What a night: No wind all day and then a really major storm, lightning everywhere, big seas and winds over 50 kts; waves in the cockpit, damaged the main sail and the engine failed on us. Amazed that we did not get struck by lightning as we saw many bolts hit the water. We had seen the lightning approaching and had already thrown in a couple of precautionary reefs. We were certainly not expecting that much wind; gusts over 50 and solid in the 30s and 40s. The engine had failed with a clogged fuel filter - replaced. The main blew a bat car and another car fitting - fixed. The boat performed magnificently as did the crew.

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