Indigo Moth: Ships Blog

ships log

18th November 09
10:15

Tied up Balboa YC Panama

Arrived! We are at Balboa Yacht Club. Eventful day beating into the wind (20kts plus). Putting reefs in and then having to shake them out. The new boom worked a treat. Rails buried in the water as we pointed as high as possible. J enjoyed the sailing.

Tons of massive shipping.

All behind us now as we celebrate with a cold glass of bubbles.

17th November 09
11:53

Sailing offshore Panama

As dusk fell we found ourselves pushing through a band of trash - including the odd tree. Really odd just a line of trash for as far as the eye could see - quite sad.

We then spent the entire night in various massive lightning storms. Plus the wind picked up (on the nose of course) triple reefed and close hauled. The new furling boom worked a treat. Tons of shipping to make life a little more entertaining.

No sleep at all (for c) so we have decided to put into isla San Jose for a little r and r. Trouble is that the wind has now almost died...

17th November 09
09:30

Anchored Isla Jose

At anchor Isla Jose Las Perlas. We will be able to grab some sleep and it will also allow us to arrive in Panama in daylight when we leave in the wee hours from here.

The bay is verey pretty with tropical rain forest running down to the beach - we are admiring it from afar as we have not cleared customs into the country. It is hot hot hot and humid - more like the tropics I remember.

16th November 09
05:04

Motor Sailing offshore Panama

We have changed course to avoid a southbound current for two reasons: one some of the debris is in the form of large logs - we have seen 8 foot logs - and the current is reducing our speed over ground by just over a knot. J seems to think that an ice cream parlor must have been washed away as there was a ton of Styrofoam cups a while back.

Caught another Dorado. This one the smallest of the bunch but still too big. No fish for tea again.

Very wet on the boat - even after having dodged all too obvious squalls.

16th November 09
12:43

Motor Sailing offshore Panama

Phew - Uneventful night - at last. Excluding the lightning.... Wind has died and we are now motor sailing. A lot of lightning activity with many rain squalls - none with any serious wind though. Much more shipping. We are using the radar to spot shipping and avoid the uglier squalls. Spirits are good.

15th November 09
07:54

Sailing offshore Columbia

Had wind all night - what a break.

Morning broke and we dove on the prop and retrieved parts of the old spinnaker sock and dowser line. We are now fully mobile again. Just as well we found this one now rather than the end of the passage - could have been ugly.

Caught another big bull dorado - this too was way big. So it was cheese and crackers for lunch.

15th November 09
06:31

Sailing offshore Columbia

Stars are trying to break through. Wind has swung 180 and we are now close hauled.

There is some lightning ahead.

In trying to fix the wind direction instruments we managed to break a shackle attached to the main sheet tackle (it was not correctly attached) - sods law came into play and we do not have a shackle that would fit (we have tons but this one needs a wide mouth and a narrow pin). To make matters a touch more interesting we are unable to get any forward or reverse motion from the engine - it is now dark and that one will have to wait for the morning.

Fabbed a shackle using an old one and a clevis pin. And then filed down the tackle to allow it to fit. Hoping that the wind stays with us all night.

14th November 09
10:20

Sailing offshore Columbia

Cloud cover is breaking. Lots of little rain systems but not terribly squally.

Seen one ship all day and that was eight miles away.

Building a list odf all the parts we need when we get to Panama - it is growing.

We are currently skirting a Columbian penal colony island...

14th November 09
12:30

Sailing offshore Ecuador

Cloud cover might be breaking but that may just be wishful thinking. J is in good spirits despite having been cold and wet - seen no sun and seen a sum total of one dead turtle and one dead squid.

14th November 09
06:30

Sailing offshore Ecuador

Spinnaker ported company with the halyard. Huge problem as the sock was now acting like a sea anchor and the hole thing was wrapped under the hull (prop/keel). We eventually got it back on board - but it will be the last we see of it on this trip as it is headed to the sail loft for repairs. These things, though rare, always happen in the middle of the night - this one 2am local.

13th November 09
05:00

Sailing offshore Ecuador

Still grey.

Hooked our second fish - the first made off with an old but tired favorite squid lure - A big bull dorado. Too big to keep. He spat the hook just as we were trying to get him aboard to remove it. Tinned tuna for lunch.

13th November 09
02:00

Sailing offshore Ecuador

Crossing the equator!

J. had a baptism and then shared a drink with the good King Neptune as her initiation ceremony.

13th November 09
09:05

Sailing offshore Ecuador

Cold and damp. Thermals Uggs and foulies. This global warming sucks! Another 28 nautical miles to the equator - at this speed it is a long long way. J is doing well - enjoying both the sailing and the night watches!

7th November 09
04:30

Anchored Puerto Lucia Ecuador

So she floats after a 30 month sabbatical. George and his mob have
done a ton of great work and she is looking beautiful in the water.
The checkout process has started. And we have a few loose ends to
clear up - head included - yuk!

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…

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