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January 26, 2008
Farewell Aruba
We’ve gone from too much wind to not enough. Tough. We’re leaving at first dawn tomorrow morning for the San Blas Islands.
We will be sailing from Aruba N12.31’ W70.02’ to Isla Porvenir, Panama N9.33’ W78.57’.
563 miles from Aruba, we should arrive shortly after daybreak on Thursday, 5 days from our start.
We’ve strapped the dinghy down on the foredeck instead of raising it on the davits on the stern of the boat. Since we will be running with the wind behind us, there is a risk that a large wave could fill the dinghy and cause us some grief.
The spinnaker pole has been rerigged to allow us to fly the jib on one side out on the pole, and the staysail out on the other side, often referred to as sailing “wing-on-wing”.
The jack lines have been set on each side of the boat. These are straps that run along each deck, to which we will attach our tethers if we need to leave the cockpit. They are called jack stays because they make sure “Jack stays on the boat”.
Mike and Judy have hired a fourth crew, a blessing for a journey of this length. Marciano will arrive before daybreak tomorrow.
Judy and I went off to the grocery store this morning and bought lots of fruit and munchable raw vegetables (carrots, cherry tomatoes, celery), hard-boiled 18 eggs, cooked 12 chicken breasts, and made some a bastardized pad thai that will feel very good at sea. We packed everything in snack-sized Ziploc bags, so there should be no reason to spend a lot of time in the galley cooking, which is an instant sea-sickness inducer when underway.
Tonight, we head out for dinner with friends, then to watch the Lighting Parade, one of the Carnival festivities. We will miss the big Carnival Parade on February 3. Earlyish to bed, as we will be up before sunrise to clear out of customs and immigration.
I am very excited to be back at sea again. This is a dubious trip, as the seas we will be sailing are the fifth roughest in the world. Hence the reason we have waited 9 days for an appropriate weather window. I fear, however, that we may have to motor part of the way.
The San Blas Islands are very remote and we are not entirely sure that wireless internet or cellular telephone service will be in our grasp. Fear not, eventually I will get back online and post some photos and stories.
Here’s this morning’s weather in case you are curious:
OFFSHORE WATERS FORECAST FOR THE SOUTHWEST AND TROPICAL NORTH ATLANTIC AND CARIBBEAN SEA
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
1030 AM EST SAT JAN 26 2008
AMZ084-262130-
SW CARIBBEAN S OF 15N W OF 75W
1030 AM EST SAT JAN 26 2008
THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT
N OF 10N E OF 78W NE WINDS 25 TO 30 KT. SEAS 9 TO 12 FT. ELSEWHERE NE WINDS 15 TO 20 KT. SEAS 6 TO 9 FT IN NE SWELL.
SUN AND SUN NIGHT
N OF 11N E OF 78W NE WINDS 20 TO 25 KT. SEAS 6 TO 9 FT. ELSEWHERE NE WINDS 15 KT. SEAS 5 TO 7 FT.
MON
NE WINDS 15 KT. SEAS 4 TO 6 FT.
TUE
NE TO E WINDS 10 TO 15 KT. SEAS 5 TO 7 FT IN E SWELL.
WED
E WINDS 15 TO 20 KT. SEAS 5 TO 7 FT.
Posted by dave at January 26, 2008 04:26 PM