Boisterous Day
08 June 2013 | Proividencia, Columbia
Mark
Wow! What a sail! Yesterday we were up and underway by 0600 as planned. I raised the main before the anchor so we wouldn't have to stop and do it later. (At anchor, the boat sits to the wind - unless there is a strong current - so it is easy to raise the sail before the anchor. The only drawback is that it can hamper maneuvering at slow speed if you have a tricky exit. Then you have to weigh anchor, travel out to safe water, turn to the wind, and raise sail. In the Albuquerque Cays that was necessary. SW Cove, San Andres, is an open roadstead with no shoals or obstructions so here we could safely raise sail first.) Partly blocked by the mountains of San Andres, the wind was blowing about 10 kts. We sailed comfortably up the coast at about 5 kts, close hauled. Less than a quarter mile off shore, we were off soundings. San Andres is a 3500' steep mountain, the first 2500' of which happen to be underwater. Once we cleared the N end of the island, the wind picked up to 15 kts true, 22 kts apparent. Unfortunately, it was NE instead of E and close hauled we were sailing at ~9 kts through the water, but a W current and NE wind direction set us off our rhumb line by 12*. That may not seem like much, but over 50 nm, it can add up to an extra hour or two beating direct to windward at the end. Added to that the adverse current that slowed us to 7-8 kts, still not bad and better than the 5 kts I use for planning so we would still arrive in Providencia well ahead of schedule even after making up for lee way. The seas started out 5-6' NE swells with 5- 6' wind chop added in. At least it was all from the same direction. Through the day, the swells rose to 10-12' and sort of absorbed the chop. It actually made for a better ride. Nonetheless, it was a wild ride. The skies were partly cloudy with bright sun interrupted by big black clouds. No lightening, though, and only a passing sprinkle. Cannot complain. Despite the boisterous ride, Deb never got seasick - without taking any Sturgeron. A few days out and she gets her sea legs. When we cleared the S tip of Providencia, it blocked the W setting current and we were able to improve our angle by 7-8*. We still ended up needing to make up ~3 nm into the wind. I rolled up gennie (For some inexplicable reason gennie has started wrapping the headstay again and being difficult to roll up. It had been perfect since I raised it ~12" last year. Anyway, in this wind, it was just NOT rolling up. I tried increasing the tension on the halyard thinking it might have stretched, but that made things worse. So, I slacked the halyard slightly and it rolled in much better. This does not make sense as neither the sail or the halyard would shrink, but it worked and I'm glad.) I fired up both engines and started into the wind with the main still up for stability. If I keep at least 10* off the wind, it actually pulls some, but more importantly, it smooths the ride dramatically. The port engine alarmed "no water" and sure enough, there was no water in the exhaust, so I shut it down. Probably a loose belt or clogged intake, but I'll deal with that at anchor ,not out here. Fortunately, I have another engine and it is working fine. With just one engine, se barely made 3 kts into the 22 kt wind so it took and hour to reach the 'safe water' entry mark. As we approached it, the depth meter went from off sounding (which with our meter means 'more than 500') to 44' in one jump. Providencia is no slouch as a mountain either! Once around the safe water mark, we turned SE to a broad reach and wind blocked by St Catalina Island. Our speed jumped to 6 kts and I actually throttled back as we followed the well buoyed track into the harbor. We recognized Nilayha whom we knew was here and five other boats. Certainly NOT a crowed harbor as there is probably room for 100. We came into the wind, dropped sail with only a slight problem due to having only one engine. (With just the starboard engine running, it is easy to turn to port (left) at slow speed, but difficult to turn right as the engine pushed to left and the rudder isn't biting well at low speed. We made it, and anchored nicely in 8' over turtle grass and sand. I tried hailing "Bush agency" but got no answer so I'll check in today. I swam the anchor more to get wet than a necessity as it was nearly fully buried in the soft sand. If we have really strong winds, it may plow a bit as the sand is very soft, but we have out 100' of chain plus the 22 # kellet so I doubt we would move far even in gale winds. Although the wind is still blowing 17-18 kts through the anchorage, it is very flat and feels nice after a bumpy day. Somehow, the case of Guiness I bought has disappeared so I had to toast Neptune, as I do at the end of every voyage, with a Bocas Sam that I made. I hope he will understand.