Gusty squalls
10 July 2012 | 9 35.228'N:78 52.950'W, Chichime
Peter via Satphone
We are finally back at the West side of the San Blas at Cayos Chichime. We have been crisscrossing the San Blas now for 3 weeks and we truly enjoy it here. Our live here consist of the daily ritual of school in the morning for Auke, lunch, finding a new nearby reef in the afternoon either by dinghy or relocate the boat, snorkel with the three of us, and catch (spearfishing) some fish for dinner and the next day we do the same all over again. One problem is however the intensity of the squalls has become pretty bad compared as to the week we arrived here. Many squalls are the usual ones with a puff of 20 knots wind and lots of rain, however we have had now three squalls with 35 knots winds continues, one gusting to 45 knots and two days ago one squall with 50 knots gusts. We had no issues in all these, however we do choose our anchorage much more carefully now. In the 50 knots gusts of the last major squall, the snubber line holding the anchor-chain hook (which you hook on the anchor chain to release the tension from the anchor winch) broke, thus placing all tension on the anchor winch directly. In all madness with heavy rain and severe pitching foredeck we let go an additional 20 (60ft) more meters of chain so we finally had 70 meters of chain out in 15 meters of water and ensuring we were rock solid in our position. I had little doubt the anchor would not be holding, however I was concerned with the enormous strain on the anchor winch now due to the steep seas after we lost the snubber line. The wind is not placing too much of strain on the winch, not even the 50 knots gusts. There were however steep big sees coming in within a few minutes after the wind had started, coming into the anchorage via the SE entrance, where in front we laid in direct view. Lesson learned here, no more open anchorages to the East quadrant during rainy season in San Blas.
The steep seas quickly pitched the boat violently and gave me as said earlier great concern for the anchor winch, which is not supposed to take all that dynamic strain. We have a spare chain hook, however in those 50 knots gusts things were so violently on deck that you are really unable to do anything quick. As is with all squalls, peace returned within 30 minutes. A 40 ft sailboat next to us moved so fast backwards during the squall (only observed on our radar, as visibility is close to nil in those squalls due to the rain) that I wondered if they had lost their entire anchor tackle. The came to stop at the sand ridge a quarter mile behind us. It turned out there anchor had not been holding but was still connected. A large power boat was hit by lightning which fried all his electronics, he could limp back in port the next day. While seeking another anchorage a day later we became aware of three more sail boats high and dry on reefs and sand ridges. One catamaran and one mono hull were able to get afloat by themselves that next day, the monohull after a days hard work with help from the Kunas and the national guard (army). However the trimaran and a monohull are still stuck, we see them 6 miles away at the horizon. This was all a stark reminder to choose the anchorage carefully and to not let your guard down after several days of nice weather. We still see boats clumping together in open anchorages, protected only from one side. Not for us, we only go for the well protected anchorages and with enough space to lay down some serious chain in case that would be necessary.
Our day for the Panama Canal transit is set for the 21st of July. We plan to be in the Shelter Bay marina in Colon on the 16th, so we have some days to store the boat for the trip to Galapagos and onwards to the Marquises. We do not plan to stay more than 48 hours in Panama city (Balboa) so we want to take care of everything before we go through the Canal. We will post some more about our days in San Blas with pictures once back in the marina where we will have internet.
All well with boat and crew.