Over the line!

Such excitement filled the little boat as the numbers on the GPS started to count down. Dave was ready, but could not find a Neptune outfit, having declined the the only thing big enough for a cloak, a Cape Verde sheet I had obtained by mistake. Beard was present anyway, but crowns are in short supply on Spirit. However he had his bottle o best Australian wine, courtesy of some Aussies we met in Gibraltar. I had the camera ready to snap the appropriate numbers, and we waited in high expectation.

'000000 - Go for it!!'

Snap, snap and the the great pouring out with more snap, snap, and we were over.
Can't send the pikkies till we have ordinary e-mail though.

Funny though, south feels exactly the same as north - and there is still no wind!!!

The line across the middle is the Equator!

 ....

Had to give in and motor as not only was there less than 4 kts of wind, it was definitely coming from the wrong place. Now we might have to slow down as we are due to arrive on Sunday, which may not be a good idea. We wait advice from the agent.

309 miles to go, doing about 130 miles a day.

A story

Rummage rummage furtle furtle rustle rustle groan groan 'where on earth has she put it???' more rummage rummage.......

'Wotcha doing Dave?'
'I can't find it and we need it soon!'
'What is it?'
'I need that bottle of wine'
'But you don't drink wine anymore'
'Not for me, silly, it's for him'
'Him who?'
'King Neptune. It is only a couple of hours till we cross the equator. I can't remember though all the things you are supposed to do.' Big sigh.
'Well, we could prance around and around the cockpit I suppose.'
'Really, Jen, you could take this a bit more seriously......

Just think, in a little while we can zig-zag and go summer winter summer winter summer winter or northsouthnorthsouthnorth....!!!!  

King Neptune

Well, the no wind has finally caught up with us and we gave in last night and did a bit of motoring instead of slopping about with the sails crashing and snapping. According to the gribs we ought to be making our way out of it soon, but then there is that word ought....
Looks like a big knitting day to me.

......
Yesterday was clean the fridge day. Now for all those boatless people, our fridge is not like a domestic big box with doors on. It is a big hole under the work surface next to the sink, with a small evaporator in the roof and a compressor chugging away under the sink. I am 6 ft tall and have super long arms and by standing on tip toe and leaning over I can just wipe out the bottom. Bad luck for the petite crowd. By cunning and careful packing I can get those bricks for the esky frozen and some meat if it is put under the evaporator, but this is not so easy as the rest of the stuff in the fridge becomes a disorderly mess and occasionally need a sort out - and yesterday was the day. Best bit was finding some still edible chicken for dinner!! Just don't tell health and safety as I think we break all the rules, but so far so good.....! (And a lovely dinner it was too, courtesy of Dave and his culinary skills.)

Washing and cooking!

Not Spirit! But shows they're not the only ones....

Yesterday was washing day as we were getting short of undies and shirts - it is a hot and humid place where we are. So our Dave decided he did not like the wet things flapping at the end of the boat behind the cockpit (where the breeze is as we are going downwind), so made a cat's cradle up front (where the sails are). Which meant he had to hang them, but no problem after a lesson or two on which way up. However, with the sails out there is no flappy flappy of clothes, so none dried properly. So it was a sad face that said, "I guess they do have to go back here". I did point out that we have not seen a ship for days so no one will notice the washing and think any the less of his boat, but I am sure he is scheming about how to avoid the washing all together or dry it downstairs. May be I will get a washing machine and spin dryer!!!!!!!!! Dream on girl, and keep the hands in the suds. Sigh.

Jolly pleased with ourselves so far as we only had four hours of really light winds yesterday before we had the promised 15-20 knots and a super sail till just after tea time when we slowed a bit bit not too much. Dave was feeling chuffed so cooked an excellent steak, egg and chips he made in the oven. Yummy.

This is the life... oops!

There we were, cruising along nice and smooth in the sunshine, thinking "this is the life" and saying to ourselves that after the Atlantic this was going to be a doddle! Till last night when the wind dropped and the rolly rolly crash and bang started as we flopped and about. And we thought we had it all sorted - which only goes to show that pride comes before the fall. So I am clutching on and doing my best to keep the fingers on the right keys.

The problem is this - we are going towards the equator and have met the ITCZ (inter tropic convergence zone) better named the doldrums. This is an area of little to no wind which extends around the equatorial belt. We had looked at the gribs and planned and planned how to avoid as much of it as possible, but it looks as though we have caught it a bit. If it dies off completely we will motor, but one tries not to do too much of this. So more gribs and more planning are the order of the day as we are plotting to go  bit south and come underneath it.

A story

"Hey Dave, are you sick??"
"No, why?"
"You were leaning over the side, bum in air."
"Just getting a bucket of water."
"Why is that?"
"'Cos I'm sick of you saying my lovely new instrument is wrong and that the sea temperature is not really 47 degrees C."
"Weeeeellll - if it is then the bilges should be hot to touch and the fish dead."
"Perhaps they are hot water fish??"
"Anyway, here is the tester thing - and it says 24 degrees. That is still warm enough you know."
"I know, but that means my branny new super dooper instrument thing is not right." Biggest sigh.
"It also means that we do not need the super dooper ice box for the medicines as they could still be under the floor!"
"So now we could have a super dooper cold box for drinks Jen, when the pills go under the floor again."
Silver linings everywhere.

But still a despondent Dave as if that bit of the multi-purpose thingo is wrong, what about the other bits. Life on board!

Only 657 miles to go! Then it is turtle time.

Stop! Turtle time! (National Geographic)

Panama Canal, January 2013

JANUARY 2012, PANAMA 

We made it, despite the feeling at times we wanted to get off the sleigh ride. Mind you, it was over Christmas, so Santa could have been a bit more gentle. We had to wait at Cape Verde for the mail that never came, and also for the trade winds which did. The dilemma is this: go when the trades are still to set in and put up with quite a bit of quiet wind and slow progress, or wait until they start and hope for a quicker run that is not too boisterous before they really establish themselves. We were forced to opt for the latter, but thought we were in before the trades really built up over the next couple of months. We looked at the weather daily and all looked OK. SO off we went. And after a few OK days we were hit with wind and waves more than hoped for. It turned out to be the windiest and bumpiest trip so far. And the most uncomfortable, especially in the Caribbean where the seas became high and confused.  Having finally tied up at the aptly names Shelter Bay we breathed a big sigh of relief. 

The blog editorial team did an excellent job with the material provided - so many days were too bumpy to stay glued to the seat to type. But we did have a respite of a couple of less boisterous days at Christmas which allowed us to have our special Christmas dinner.

There now follows a short lesson on weather!

We get the weather forecast over the SSB (single side band- High Frequency radio) which has a special modem attached to the computer. This modem allows for the exchange of text only e-mails and the reception of weather pictures called GRIBS. These gribs are a special binary format of weather data which are optimal for radio transmission. The pictures show the latitude and longitude you are interested in, the land if any, and the wind direction and strength by means of coloured arrows with different numbers of 'feathers'. Each ½ feather is 5 knots of wind, a whole feather 10. This is the mean wind speed and we find you can easily have gusts of 5-10 knots more. The colours become more violent the higher the wind, hence our comments to each other as to wanting to get in the yellow or blue instead of the red and purple. Most of the way in the Caribbean we were in the purple! The forecasts can be for up to a week, and spaced daily, 12 hrly, 6 hrly etc. So far on our journeys we have found them surprisingly accurate. So you now all know what we mean when we say "the gribs said"! I managed to get a transmission each day on the trip despite wishing I had Velcro on the seat, so we could keep up with family, notify the marina and our agent when we were arriving and get the weather. 

 A GRIB, Panama Canal

Try having a look at www.passageweather.com and playing with the site to see the weather anywhere in the world.

However - all was not that simple!!

We had a rather fraught time about 4 days out from Panama when the engine would not start. Now we needed to have the engine running once a day for battery charging, as we were using the heavy duty auto pilot due to the high sea state - Harriet the wind vane gave up on the job as the waves kept pushing the boat over and knocking her off course. This meant a big power consumption which was not compensated for entirely by the solar panels and wind generator. We had a family tragedy when Cyril the water generator had his turbine chomped off by some creature. If it was a shark, as has happened to others, he will have a tummy ache as the turbine is a largish heavy metal T that spins around in the water about 60ft behind the boat. Cyril proved to be a great asset, and the faster we went the more he produced and kept the volts up despite the fridge and the autopilot drain. A day of mourning was held when we noticed his rope was no longer turning.

So when the engine did not start it was very bad news. As would be the case it was the last thing at night as well! It was very dark and the conditions in the cockpit were horrendous, with the waves splashing over the seats and the area where the fault most probably was right at the back of the cockpit where it was wettest. Added to which the lurching and bouncing would not allow any work to be done anyway. Dave looked glum and despondent, and we had to leave things til morning and hope that we had enough battery capacity overnight. The morning was a bit better, not a lot, and still nothing could be done. So it was fridge off and hope the solar panel and wind generator would hold the fort. Later in the day there was a patch which allowed an inspection of the engine start panel, and after some cleaning and squirting with the magic WD-40 allowed a cough and a start of the engine. Relief - for a while. Dave then noted that the engine start battery was running down! So it was remember to isolate the engine battery after running. So we had a couple of OK engine runs til the night before we were due to arrive. Fail again! AAAArrrrghghghgh!!! So up at first light, thankfully the rolling waves were manageable and 2 hrs later we had an engine going. This is now high stress as we need the engine to enter the harbour and marina. So we left it running til we got in, waiting for it to stop at any minute. The parts we needed were waiting for us in Rachel's box of stuff she had sent for us - not a lot of help where we were though!

We arrived with a smile though, and the largest pile of wet and soggy clothes I have ever had after repeated cockpit drenching, and really wanting FOOD! 
First thing after tying up and doing the formalities was to go to the bar and have a looooonnnnngggggg drink of fizzy water and a big helping of wonderful French fries. Yummmmy! That was followed by nothing less than ice-cream and a big burp!

Then we found the laundry.

Then we found our bedding and looked forward to a lovely un-bumpy sleep.

Out of the Atlantic!

We are at last out of the Atlantic! The last couple of days have been so uncomfortable it is hard to think why any one is ever tempted to do this slow way west. We are all bumped and bruised. But at last there is a little relief. 

Midnight saw us passing between Guadeloupe and Antigua and into the Caribbean. A couple of hours later the wind did not lessen but the waves are not so vicious and we can move a little bit better. Down side is more shipping - three spotted overnight, which is going to spoil our sleep a little. Sun shining, coffee on, about to get the weather.

Gibraltar to Cape Verde 1691 miles, 15 days
Cape Verde to here 2182 miles, 16 1/2 days

Hot news.

Last night Dave dropped a winch handle in the cockpit. He bent down to pick it up and gave himself a fright when he picked up a fish instead!!!

By last night we were so crotchety with fed-up-ness over the state of the sea we were ready to get off, except there were no buses! Much better this morning!

Missing you all and the internet contact, we will be at least another week - then onto skype!!

Christmas Spirit

Despite breaking all known food safety rules we had an excellent Christmas. Roast chicken, roast potatoes of the super crispy kind, carrots and peas courtesy of Morrison's supermarket and a lovely gravy. All served in our best china dog bowls.

A sail change later saw the next course arrive - peaches and evaporated milk. A little siesta and as few jobs as possible saw the day rounded off with butterscotch dumplings. 

Not THE butterscotch dumplings, but close enough.

 

 

Mind you these treats nearly did not arrive as the flour bag exploded and took a bit of sorting out, followed by the lid flying off the skimmed milk container for a second round of dustpan and vacuum cleaner. Dave was not amused as the weighing station is his work bench and it all went over the boxes strapped underneath - nuts and bolts flour and milk, very tasty! But we had very full tummies for bed time!

We are going slow as there is not a lot of wind, still 250 miles to reach Antigua! And the bumpies have returned!

Loads of love to you all,

Jenny and Dave.