Free at Last
17 April 2012 | Roncador Cay
Michael Mirkes
We departed Marina Club de Pesca in Cartagena without much fanfare, just warm wishes from Judi, our good friend and neighbor of the yacht FIA, and of course, our loyal boat keeper, Estuardo. We had 330 NM ahead of us and had wanted higher winds than had been forecasted. We would need a boost from our engine in order to arrive at Roncador Cay with enough visibility to enter the shallow reef.
On the second night out, after a long period of motor sailing, I turned the engine off to see how much speed our sails along could deliver. Not enough, so I turned the engine key back on and...nothing happened. After a bit of thought, I "hot wired" the starter and we were motor sailing again. We arrived at Roncador Cay around 2 PM Friday, 52 hours from Cartagena.
Saturday was spent installing the wind turbine for battery recharging and doing other routine maintenance. The engine started normally during a trial so I'm more convinced that high temperature in the engine compartment caused some thermal problems in the starter/solenoid circuit. We'll proceed on that basis.
The Cay was enjoyable during our first two days but nasty weather was soon to come. Late Sunday it arrived with rain squalls and 30 knot winds. While the reef protected us from the 15-20 foot seas, the swells swung around it to make for a very uncomfortably rolling anchorage. It has been that way for the past two days and only now are we beginning to see a break in the weather.
We now have our ear to the weather forecasts, both from SSB broadcasts and e-mail service. Hoping to make the next two day passage to another reef system, Vivorillos, off the coast of Honduras. More later.