A break in the upwind battle
04 August 2012 | 1 48.992'N:78 43.717'W, Tumaco - Colombia
Peter via Satphone
We left the Archipel Isla de Perlas 5 days ago. Our destination was Bahia Caraquez in Ecuador or if the wind would be good we would carry on to Salinas, another 100Nm further South. There is a boatyard we want to check out if we can do a bottom antifouling job there cheaply. Anyway, the first day was as expected nice with following calm winds, postcard type sailing. Day two was as expected with changing calm winds, causing us busy the whole day to adjust sails to coach some speed out of Mundinho. The third day it went on; 24 hours thunderstorm with wind from every direction. I do not think I have ever seen some much thunderstorm for so long. Anyway thunderstorms do not bother me so much, it is just annoying and very wet. However the ever changing winds caused a confused uncomfortable seas, not fun to be in at all and process was slow. Day four the confusing seas were quickly overtaken with a healthy fresh sea from the SW, with 20 knots winds from the SW, as is common in this area around this time of the year. So day four and day five was used to work our way upwind in those seas and winds. Man if there is anything I detest; it is working upwind with a family on board. Sailing upwind life becomes impossible on board. Mundinho loves it, she is rigged and built for winds forward of the beam. Me, myself, I am more or less ok with it, I do not like it at all, I actually truly dislike it, but the way I see it, it is sometimes necessary to get to where we want to be so I just hang on for dear life. What I struggle with is to put your dear beloved wife and your 7 year old son through these upwind battles. Heloisa held on for dear life bravely, impressively as was our son Auke who was doing best of all three of us. Just watching DVD movies in his bunk, playing with matchbox cars in his bunk and once and a while cry out loud for some food or drinks to get prepared. Heloisa and me doing short shifts, as after three hours of beating into t hose 20 knots steep seas with reefed canvas, you are ready for a break. On day 5 we were still 2 days short of our first planned destination. 2 more days of upwind battle as it looked like and I realized I have to find a place to get a break from this upwind battle. If not for myself it is for Heloisa and Auke.
So we ended up in Tumaco in Colombia, just on the border with Ecuador. This is a military controlled port so relative safe. This is also an infamous drug trafficking area which becomes obvious once you enter the port and spot the numerous semi submarines and fast boats laying dumped on shore on the naval base, obvious rewards of their successful captures of drug runners and the large quantity of high speed military craft outfitted with high powered engines and even more high powered machine guns on the bow, moored on the coast guard pier. We have anchored very conveniently just in front of that pier, it made us feel comfortable.
We were already upwind of Tumaco when I decided on the change of destination. The South America BA pilot we carry board described Tumaco as a suitable stop, being a small size commercial port, this was confirmed with a quick email via the Satphone to my parents in Holland who checked it out on www.noonsite.com, the site for information for cruising sailors. Heloisa was sleeping when I changed our heading with 90 degrees, from upwind to winds abeam. I am so familiar with what happens next but it continuous to amaze me; the quietness and peace that returns in a boat changing from upwind in 20 knots to winds abeam is amazing. You execute your change of heading and the result is immediate. The boat is quite, stable and horizontal and achieves normal boats speeds. The warzone ends right there and then. Heloisa woke up and gave me the biggest smile you can imagine. This is good she said, continue whatever you were doing she said, not knowing yet that our destination had cha nged. Auke looked up and said; hey it is not anymore wobbly! This is much better he said. With winds abeam giving us a 7 knots boat speed it only took us less than 6 hours to cover the 40Nm distance between us and Tumaco, while the early morning it had taken us 10 hours to cover 30Nm upwind, and still not really in the right direction. So here we are now, anchored peacefully in front of a pier that has many high speed military craft with big guns moored. We love it here. Now we wait for some calm winds and set off for our next destination further south.
All well (since this afternoon) with boat and crew