Wow, can you believe I actually made it across the Pacific Ocean!?!?!?!?
Well I DIDN’T.
Well not yet, turns out that Marquises is less than HALF way, so in addition to the 3000 miles I just sailed, I have about 4000 more to go before I get to Australia. But screw the technicalities, YAY I MADE IT!!!!!!!!……. It took 28 days to sail a distance of 2981 miles, that’s averaging about 106 miles per day or an average speed of about 4.5kts. Certainly not any record breaking times but considering that I nearly never used the motor and on a 30-foot boat I think that’s pretty damn good. Not to mention my course was a good bit longer that the 2981 mile rum line since sailing in a straight line to your destination generally isn’t the quickest route. I’ll post a much more detailed report as soon as I have a chance, probably in about a week when I arrive in Nuka Hiva. Right now I am in Hiva Oa, and my landfall this trip was in Fatu Hiva. These are all islands of the Marquises here in French Polynesia.
BLAH… So, wanted to get up early (dawn) and sail out of Nassau after some very much needed R&R. Have been taking yoga classes and eating vegan means for several days now and feeling a little better since the marathon Salsa-Refit that seemed like it might never end.
So for the juicy part, got the boat all ready to go this morning so I could have enough time to make an actual sail of the trip. Then just as I was pulling up the anchor, MY HEART SUNK INTO MY STOMACH, at the end of the anchor chain instead of my beloved 35LB Delta anchor there was a huge iron rod tied onto my anchor chain. Instantly I knew what happened. I recently read an article about an anchorage in the Galapagos where one morning all the sailboats pulled up their anchors to leave the harbor and surprise, ALL of the stern anchors were gone and the anchor chain was instead tied to large rocks. They good ol’ switch-er-oo. SO, first thing I did was drop the chain back down so that I wouldn’t drift ashore. Then I set out a second anchor in the dinghy to hold me while I sorted out the mess. I re-hoisted my iron-rod anchor back up and when I saw how well it was tied onto the chain I just knew for sure my anchor had been stolen. So I managed to untie it while hanging over the side of the dinghy (this actually took a while) and then I went to haul in the rest of the chain as I debated weather or not to even report the theft and if I could replace the anchor on short notice. No big deal though since I had four anchors, 3 of them oversized. BUT when I finally got to the end of the chain, my anchor was still there!! I couldn’t believe it. So the new theory is that the chain must have some how tied itself to the iron post on the bottom, probably every time the tide changed it managed to get another wrap until it was a knot! Well I was very happy to have my anchor but running too late to sail to the Cay where I planned to stop on my way to Georgetown Exumas, but I had to get there or I would miss my weather window and be stuck in Nassau for several more days. So it was a long motor-sail close hauled the whole way. The good news is that I was able to make the required 5kts to arrive before dark without running the motor hard, with full sail up and the windvane steering the whole way.
I finally arrived here in Highborne Cay, well before dark around 5PM and it was a good thing as it was a very narrow cut, I would even call it tricky even though the guide book calls it ‘straight foward’. The bottom didnt look to good for holding and I wasnt going to go diving on my anchor in 15′ of water and a strong current so I just dinghied out the second anchor I had out from earlier to make sure I would stay put through the night. Whipped up a batch of rice threw in a can of cream of chicken soup, some canned chicken and dinner was served up with cheap beer. At least motoring here got the batteries charged up enough to run the Engel for cold beer… Mmmm… Beer… Well thats it for now I took a quick dip and rinsed off and I’m in my bunk ready to make an early departure for a 30 some hour sail to Georgetown Tomorrow. Hopefully no more Drama!
Sunday March 16th. 8PM, Exuma Sound Bahamas. I once described the trip across the gulf stream as “One of those days that make you wonder why you started sailing. Well today started out as the opposite. Left the anchorage at 8AM everything going very smooth. Then a wonderful sail all day with full sail up gliding along at 3.5kts, the perfect speed to make Georgetown by tomorrow morning if I pull an all-nighter. Around 4PM the winds died to almost nothing so I set the spinnaker hoping to avoid running the motor but the wind died and it was no use, no wind is no wind! So motored for the last four hours and now have the motor turned way down to avoid arriving to early (before dawn) and in hopes that the wind might pick up enough to sail some time tonight. I have a zillion alarms set so I could probably go to bed and just wake up there, GPS beeps if I go off course, depth sounder alarms if I go too shallow, Radar beeps if anyone gets within 5 miles of me, what could go wrong :-). Well Ill probably keep a watch all night anyway since I’m only a few miles offshore and I slept last night and can even sleep tomorrow during the day. There is a front heading my way so the wind could kick WAY up but Im not sure if thats going to happen late tonight or tomorrow after I’m already in port. I’ll let you know how it went tomorrow, as for now, just motoring along in a dead calm at 3kts. I’ll hit the spot so everyone knows where I am. Goodnight.
Yes VERY rough at times, the kind of rough that makes people who “don’t get seaskick” a little sick (BUT NOT ME !! HAH!), 2nd reef and heavily reefed jib on a close reach all the way across the Gulf Stream to the Prov channel, then had to reef down to third reef, was running up to 7kts down wind with no jib, then Just as the winds went from S to W (NO THEY DID NOT EXACTLY GRADUALLY CLOCK SO MUCH) well they started to around to SSW from S, then a line of strong storms and bam suddenly W, saw a lot 20kt + wind, the waves DO get very steep in the prov channel with a NW wind but we were running so no problems, got the vane working great on all points of sale, even down wind at 3kt boat speed (had to change back up to the bigger vane) and probably should have raised the weight, since the boat was weaving between about 30deg and as you know course was about as stable as the winds. Was running full jib and 3rd reef making decent time, HEY GOT ALL THE WAY here with NO MOTOR AND NO AUTOPILOT (except for a short trip to windward for MOB drill to save a gaff) was proud of myself since I had to stay out late tweaking the vane and sails for one night around the berry islands and S to Nassau as it got light but that didn’t last long before a strong N wind picked up. Don’t let anyone else check in to Bahams as Nassau customs took over 24 hours blah, finally anchored up near the Yoga treat and connected with my friend there, though she can’t sail to Exumas so I’m solo unless someone speaks up ASAP who can fly in and out of Bahamas. If solo I will run a day run to Normans Cay and cut outside of the bank and then run and overnight to Great Exuma Georgetown. No real boat problems, a few minor leaks that should be easy to fix, everything else held up great, EVEN ME AND CRAIG! James thanks again for all the help, all those little (and some big ones) are really paying dividends in making this boat a real cruiser! (James is the person who helped with the refit in Brunswick GA www.atomvoyages.com)
I am presently sailing from Brunswick, Georgia to Nassau, The Bahamas. The last 3 months have been spent getting Salsa ready. Thanks to James and Mei Baldwin for all their help. It was a long and tedious task, but I am finally under way.
I will try to update my progress and adventures as I travel the seas. I will also have a website up with pictures and other interesting items. Presently this site is a work in progress. Please check back as more and more information will be added.
Till next time,
Kirk
Contact
I will check my email when I reach a port that has an internet connection:
kirkalittle@hotmail.com
