Not much sailing on the cards as Mother Nature attempts to throw us back down to Panama.
I’m sure there is a metaphor for life to make here. Pushing against the current. Motoring hard, not enough wind to fill our sails, but still making slow progress, the current just increasing the harder we try. However, it’s too bloody hot to be thinking of inspirational (or not) metaphors, so I will suffice to say that it’s painful progress pushing against nearly 2kts of current, the engine flat out, still only doing between 4 and 5kts. Did I mention the heat? I think I may have done. It’s still here. The noise too. I’ve taken to wearing ear defenders in the nav station. It looks ridiculous.
I suppose we should be grateful to have had such success (largely in part to WRI’s assistance) in only finding the good sort of currents so far, but it doesn’t make it much better when living life trying to fight the wrong sort.
That’s about all I have to say about the sailing, because there hasn’t been any. I suppose the rest of the report needs filled out with some detail on the rest of life. Probably doesn’t do the cost of the satellite airtime justice to send a mere two paragraphs. Here we go.
The one thing there has been lots of is… Wildlife! Renaud has never been so excited, like a small child running around the boat trying to look at everything at once. There have been armadas of large sea turtles drifting past, entire fleets of dolphins, squadrons of seabirds attempting to complete the foredeck invasion, and the occasional solitary whale sneaking up on us, blowing water everywhere, then diving back down the deep Pacific depths. The turtles have been cool, the dolphins entertaining, whales are always amazing, but the birds are an issue.
The foredeck and neatly flaked sails, just awaiting a breath of wind to drive them into action, are now covered in guano, which has left me most unimpressed. The birds come in with some pretty serious aggression, which seems to be best combated by running down the deck towards them screaming like a savage warrior. Or maybe that just makes the person feel better. Not that I’d know…
The chart plotter is once again afire with the AIS signals of the many ships that ply coastal route, most of them probably enjoying the South running current we’re presently enduring. Some small entertainment on the virtual horizon, in the otherwise empty real-life horizon.
I think we are nearly through all the ‘good stuff’ from the last 5 days of the food menu. This became obvious when soup was served for lunch. Can you imagine soup in this heat? Bad enough at the best of times. Compounded by the fact we are down an oven. I believe we have sprung a minor LPG leak on the oven circuit, putting all baking and creative galley pursuits on hold for now. There are only a few places it can be, so shouldn’t be too hard to locate and sort, but not a game to play with an engine running flat out and a challenging working environment. Top of the list for a few hours work in Acapulco though, so the vital daily fix of bread and pizza can be once again resumed.
This boat needs pizza. Or air conditioning. Or a beer fridge with beer in it. Or an ice machine to complement a gas powered blender. I’ll stop there before the list gets out of hand.
Good evening from a stifling Pacific Ocean.
NAV STATION
Date: 11th March 2017
Time: 1900z
Position: 14°44.2N 098°46.3W
COG: 340°T
SOG: 4-5kts
Wind: NW 1-2
Swell: WNW 2-3ft
Sky: 0/8
Weather: Fair
With the support of our partner Weather Routing Inc.
