Tradewinds Sailing Blog

Not really, but it seems like I should. At 8:00 this morning I was only 140 miles away from the canal breakwater. After sailing over 5300 miles to get here, it seems reaaalllly close!

But, despite being close, I still have my regular routine for today, and that includes walking the deck at first light to toss the flying fish back into the sea, before they baked onto the fiberglass by the sun. I don’t think a day has gone by since I reached the southern tropics more than 3 weeks ago, that I didn’t have at least one flying fish to toss back. Usually there are 2 or 3, typically from 3 to 6 inches long. Many times I have been tempted to fry them up for breakfast, but I understand they are bony and fishy tasting, and only good when truly starving, which I am not.

I hope I don’t jinx my good luck, but since it is already sunny, I can safely say that I have enjoyed sunshine every single day of this trip. 33 days at sea, and 33 days of sunshine. In fact, the only rain I had was from a few passing squalls near the equator. When you consider I also had a perfect 20 days of sunshine on my last long sail (20 days from Fortaleza Brazil down to Buenos Aires last year), I’m not sure how to account for all this good fortune. I just hope I haven’t ruined my next trip by bragging about it…

I enjoyed good following winds and seas yesterday, and covered 173 miles. So with only 140 to go, I am likely to arrive at the Cristobol breakwater around 2am local time- the dark of night with no moon up yet. We’ll see how today goes, but I am considering intentionally slowing down a bit (which is really hard and unnatural for me), to time my arrival with first light around 5:30am local. Hopefully, tomorrows report will be from the dock at Shelter Bay marina.

P.S. – Happy tax day!

4/15   8am    10.37N   77.55W   5309nm gone,  140nm to go

Yesterday marked a full month, 31 days, at sea for me. Its hard to believe I haven’t worn shoes or pants for a month, and I haven’t passed a comb through my hair for a month! (Yes, I wash it regularly, but just towel it dry and forget it or let the wind do the job).

Yesterday continued light, and then became odd and changeable though the night. The predicted north wind came in the afternoon, but lasted only 3 hours before dying. A few hours later, a SE wind started blowing off the shore, which also lasted a few hours. Finally at 4:30am, the NE trade winds filled in at 12-18 knots, and sailing has been really nice since. But as the sun is coming up now, the wind seems to be getting a bit lighter. Anyway, it all made for a busy night jibing and trimming and changing everything around a few times.

At least there was some entertainment. I have been sailing 40-50 miles off the coast, and had a clear starry night overhead. But on the shoreline, it was dark and cloudy with lots of lightning, which put on a fine show.

I feel like I am on the final countdown now, with likely less than 48 hours to go. Barring any major surprises, I will get into Shelter Bay on Monday, probably early morning.

4/14  8am   11.33N   75.09W    5136nm gone,  313nm to go.

While it is supposed to be an unlucky day in the U.S., in Argentina it means nothing, as their unlucky day is Tuesday the 13th. Go figure. I imagine it will be like most other days.

It was a very light day yesterday, but at least the sea was flat to go with it, so I could take advantage of the light wind without the waves shaking it out of the sails. Although there was wind forecast for the evening and night, it never showed up, and it remains light this morning. To make matters worse, I have run into the counter-current that curls around from Panama and back up the coast of Colombia. I think it is worst at the head of the peninsula I am just getting around, so hopefully that will improve today, and maybe this evening some real wind will show up, too.

Just before sunset yesterday, another school of dolphins came out to play for an hour, and I took more photos and video, but in all honesty it probably looks the same as all the other pictures and video I have taken. Ah well, it is always fun to watch, and lean over the side and interact with them.

I am starting to notice more traffic now, too. Considering some 36 big boats pass through the canal each day, I suppose I will be seeing a lot more traffic as I get closer. So I am trying to stay close enough to shore to be out of the way of the big guys, but in deep enough water to avoid the fisherman and buoys and hazards.

Even with the slow day yesterday I am still looking to arrive on Monday.

4/13 8am   12.24N   72.29W    4973nm gone,  478nm to go

It would appear I am less than 100 hours from Panama, so I have altered my personal countdown to hours now, instead of days. Based on the weather forecast, an early Monday morning arrival looks likely. Interesting to note that I am a few days ahead of the blustery winds this area is known for- the area I am today will be getting 25+ knots in Sunday. I don’t think I’ll wait.

Last night was the glow of Bonaire and Curacao, and this morning I am along the coast of Aruba. I should cross into Colombian waters later this afternoon, and this evening start turning left a bit, to go south towards Panama. I am probably at my northern most point already, latitude 12.40, as I am headed pretty much due west all day.

I know I need to stay focused on handling the boat, and stay in my daily routine, but I find my mind wandering more and more towards getting there, being there, finding out my transit date (5 days delay?  15 days delay? what will it be???) and planning my trip home in between.

4/12   8am   12.40N   69.53W    4818nm gone,  631nm to go.

That’s right, its 4-11, so celebrate some information today.

I celebrated having the spinnaker up all day again yesterday, in similar conditions to Monday- east winds 8-12 knots, and light seas. About 5pm the wind shifted NE and strengthened a bit, so I switched to the genoa for the night.

Although I am 100 miles north of Caracas, Venezuela, I could see the city glow from it last night before the midnight moon came up. Today should see me pass Bonaire and Curcacao, and Aruba during the night, at my northern most latitude this side of the canal. Then tomorrow morning sometime I will start to turn southwest, to follow the coasts of Colombia and Panama.

I still anticipate arriving Monday morning in Panama.

4/11  8am   12.19N   66.53W    4643nm gone,  809nm to go.

I received a fine Caribbean welcome yesterday, with sunny skies, 88 degrees (31C), flat seas and 8-12 knots of wind. After rounding the corner of Trinidad, I turned more west, and that brought the wind back to an apparent 150 degrees- a very deep broad reach. With the main and jib up, I was only getting 6 knots of boatspeed, as the jib was being shadowed by the main. Then I thought, wait, these are perfect spinnaker conditions!

So 10 minutes later, the jib was furled and I was flying the big beautiful purple-navy-and-aqua maxi asymmetrical spinnaker. What was 6 knots boatspeed under the jib became 8 knots under the spinnaker. And more importantly, as I sailed the gap between the islands of Trinidad and Tobago, the rising sun behind me as I entered the Caribbean Sea, I was obeying Rule #4 and Looking Good!

The wind remained steady throughout the day, but went light after the sun set. And then at 3am a strange thing happened. I jibed to port tack. I had been on Starboard tack for the last 3000 miles! I think my left leg had grown an inch in order to reach the slanted deck, so now everything seems mixed up.

I am currently pointed towards Tortuga, and will say “Hi” to Jack Sparrow as I pass. Sorry. *Captain* Jack Sparrow. Actually, I expect to jibe back to starboard later this morning, long before I reach Tortuga. Looking at a Monday arrival, with less than 1000 miles to go! Better to book those Cayman Islands flights than go sailing!

4/10 8am   11.34N   64.05W    4473nm gone,   980nm to go

I hadn’t thought it much, but I haven’t actually seen land for the last 10 days, when I rounded the big corner of Brazil. Since then I’ve been around 100 miles off the coastline all along. So this morning, in the pre-dawn light, I spotted Trinidad on my left, and Tobago on my right. This means I am now officially in the Caribbean Sea.

Although these are the windward islands, the weather forecast for the week has rather light winds every day, near 10 knots mostly, sometimes less, sometimes maybe a little more, so it won’t be a super-fast trip across the bottom of the Caribbean. I am also starting to lose my beloved helpful current, which dragged me along when the winds were light. From now on, I will only get hepful current once in a while, and only up to a knot. My best guess right now is that I will arrive at the Panama Canal next Monday, and will hopefully transit to the Pacific ocean within the week after that.

The direct route from here to the top of Venezuela goes straight through Los Roques islands, and the ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao). So the decision is whether to sail above them or below them. I think based on the light winds forecast, I will go above them, in hopes of better winds, and not worry about needing protection from wind or waves by sailing below them. And I suppose if I change my mind, I can always zig zag between them.

4/9  8am   11.01N  61.09W   4298nm gone,   1157nm to go

Happy Easter!
It seems Easter describes my day today, too-  the winds are light and easy from the east, making them an easter. The seas are pretty calm, much like yesterday, but there is less wind now, less than 10 knots. It is supposed to increase a bit in the afternoon, which would be welcome, so this may be a fridge-chillin’ battery-chargin’ morning.

We tend to think of North America on top, then Central America, then South America on bottom. But at this moment, somewhere off the border of Guyana and Venezuela, I am already further north than the Panama canal!  I just have to arc over Venezuela a few more degrees, and head west for 1000 miles, then back south a few degrees. And when I transit form the Atlantic to the Pacific, I will be heading due south! It’s all true- check a map.

I took a symbolic step this morning. I removed the South America memory chip from the chart plotter, and replaced it with the Caribbean chip. There’s some overlap between them, and that’s where I am now, so mentally I am ready for the Caribbean. I expect to pass between Trinidad and Tobago early tomorrow morning, which I suppose is officially my entry into the Caribbean sea.

Hope your Easter is a pleasant one, mine looks to be sunny and warm.

4/8  8am   9.51N   58.25W   4126nm gone,  1338nm to go.

Although I enjoyed another 200+ mile day yesterday, conditions are much milder now, and things are slowing down. I normally calculate my day’s run based on 8am to 8am log entries, but my actual best run was from 2pm Thursday to 2pm Friday, when I covered 232 miles, a 9.7 knot average. I don’t expect to repeat that.

I am passing the region of small countries- yesterday I left Brazil and entered French Guiana. This morning I am 100 miles off the coast of Suriname, and will cross into the waters of Guyana this afternoon. Then tomorrow I should cross into Venezuela, and other than a bunch of island nations along the way, I should be with Venezuela for 5 or 6 days.

Each morning now, as part of my 8am routine of log entries and chart plotting and email, I calculate my ETA (estimated time of arrival) into Panama, based on a variety of potential speeds. For example, if I average 200 miles a day the whole time (the high end), I would get there late on the 14th. If I only average 150 miles a day (the low end), I would get there the morning of the 17th. Most likely it will be somewhere in between. But the countdown is on, and my anticipation is growing!

One of the hardest things about a voyage like this is being away from family for so long. Sure, I have email, and make brief daily sat phone calls, but its just not the same. A week feels like vacation, 2 weeks starts feeling a little bit long. This leg will be about 34 days at sea- far too long. One alternative is to stop and cruise along the way, to break things up, but then one month turns into three. Another alternative is to put the boat on a ship, but those costs are astronomical. So I’ll keep using all the free wind I can, and look forward to making up for lost time with loved ones when its over.

4/7  8am   8.28N   55.48W    3953nm gone,   1516nm to go.

Well, yesterday and last night got a bit more blustery and squally than I might have liked, with winds averaging in the mid 20’s the whole time. This also rapidly built up the sea state to an average 8 feet. Fortunately, it was still still just aft of the beam, so no slamming or pounding, but lots of rocking and rolling. I’ve got 2 reefs in the mainsail, and only about 1/3 of the jib out, and the boat is fairly balanced with a neutral helm, so the autopilot isn’t working too hard. We’re just creaming along, and despite the tempest raging outside, inside the boat is warm and dry and comfy. Conditions should start to moderate this afternoon.

The big plus of all this wind, and help from the Guyana Express current, is that I covered a best-ever-for-this-boat 221 miles in the last 24 hours. That’s an average of 9.2 knots. Panama just got a lot closer!

While all this was going on, I had to entertain a lot of company. Last night, a bird got tired of fighting the winds and sought refuge with me. He initially landed on the bimini, but could barely hold on in the wind and rain, so I grabbed him and set him in the cockpit, where he could settle down out of the wind. I think he was half terrified and half thankful.

Early this morning I went on deck and discovered another guest- one of those vellela (sp?) jellyfish, that have the inflated fins sticking out of the water to catch the wind. The ones I’ve seen in the pacific are purple and fairly small, but this guy was as big as my hand and pink. I took a picture, a very low-res version is attached, and then tossed him back into the sea.

Not long after that, a school of dolphin came out to play. Maybe 20 or 30 of them, jumping clear out of the water to get a look at me, playing in the bow wave and along side the boat as it rollicked through the waves. They stayed with me for almost an hour, which was quite entertaining, thank you.

I hope your Friday is a good one, too.

4/6  8am  6.48N  52.39W   3746nm gone,  1727nm to go