Day 13: Land Ho

Galveston, Texas.

4/29/2010, Thursday, Day 13 - The Final Chapter

Here I am sitting comfortably in front of my own laptop (with a real mouse) and trying to recount the last day of our adventure. The room is perfectly still and the only things that move are the tree branches outside my office window caught under a light afternoon spring breeze.

Here’s what we encountered, on the last day of our 1600 nm non-stop trip, after entering Galveston Bay on 4/29/2010 at 0000.

From past experiences, we knew every time when making landfall at night at a strange harbor was going to be a challenge, but after studying the charts available to us on SeaClear, we knew right away this was going to be a navigator’s nightmare. The area we entered was about 125 square nm littered with hundreds of active and abandoned oil wells, derricks, drilling platforms, obstructions, sunken shipwrecks and a maze of shipping channels to accommodate the large influx of oil tanker traffic. Terry spent a good day worth of time painfully checking and double checking every waypoint and entering them onto our onboard GPS and making a route of 15 waypoints, feeding them to Auto, to be followed without deviation, for we are about to make our last track of 100 nm at night under a full bright moon.

The South Channel we entered was about 65 nm long and 1-1/2 nm wide but without any Aids to Navigation (ATON), i.e. no lights or buoys of any kind. At the end of the 65 nm run in the South Channel there was an intersection where other shipping channels (east, west and north) converge. Standing in the middle of this intersection, was one important channel marker, known to all mariners as a safe water mark or mid channel mark. You’ll find a safe water mark outside any port before entering, e.g. San Francisco (SF), Santa Cruz (SC), Half Moon Bay (PP)…etc.

This one is designated on the chart as – RW “GA” Mo(A). Stands for - Red/White, Galveston, Morse Code Alpha. All safe water marks have this same distinct feature, a white light that emits a Morse code “A “signal, i.e. dit and dah. (One short and one long,) Normally when sailing at night you can see this distinct signal 2 to 3 nm away as it usually stands alone in complete darkness. But this was absolutely not the case in Galveston Bay. The whole area where we sailed within this straight track was full of light with various colors and intensity in the fore and back ground emanating from all the structures I mentioned earlier. Finding RW “GA” Mo(A) was like threading the eye of a needle in a haystack.

We were both up all night, Terry was down below at the Navigation Station watching the radar, sailing instruments, GPS track, while I sat behind the helm (in shivering cold) keeping a sharp look-out and confirming visually anything he saw on radar. We had to dodge many ships in the beginning of the channel and then traffic got lighter into the night and I was able to take an hour nap to warm up. I got up at 0300 and Terry was at the companionway looking at this bright white light ¼ nm off our starboard bow with great concern. I tried to wake up and train my night vision onto that bright light and said it didn’t seem to move and maybe it was an abandoned oil well. Terry didn’t agree as he had tracked this light on radar the last half an hour and detected a very slow movement. He instinctively took the helm and gunned the engine and changed course 30 degrees to port and passed it to our starboard while giving it plenty of sea room. As we were passing this bright light, we were able to see it was a small boat with two outriggers, one on each side, moving ever so slowly on the water. It was a shrimper, those famous gulf shrimp boats made famous by the movie Forrest Gump. I was half expecting to see Bubba, Forrest and Lieutenant Dan on board when we passed its bow.

The rest of the trip up the channel was pretty uneventful until we got close to the safe water mark at the intersection. As we got to about 1 nm to RW”GA” Mo(A), I kept scanning the horizon to confirm the mark from the GPS (with my newly cleaned glasses). I have better vision than Terry and usually was able to find marks quite fast, but for the life of me, this time I couldn’t find it. It was getting closer and closer and all I could see were a bunch of white lights and yellow lights in the background and some off both port and starboard in the distance. We desperately needed to confirm and find this light as the chart might be wrong and we’ll make a major error by turning into the wrong channel in the dark. We had only this light to go by in the entire 65 nm track and I couldn’t find it. I started to curse myself for this inability. Terry even came out of his warm and snug “Crystal Palace” and helped me look. He then decided we needed to make our course change to 330 M to make the entrance to Galveston some 20 nm away. After the course change, he piped up, “How about that light at 11 o’clock?” And I looked in that direction and sure enough out there stood this elusive light blinking at me with a short and a long flash. It had been playing hide and seek with me the last 20 minutes. I was very pleased and was almost going to suggest to Terry to get close enough to RW “GA”, stop the boat so I could kiss its light bulb. So, the Great Captain had saved the day once again. We had since decided the chart from SeaClear was wrong and the coordinates for the light were off by ½ nm and therefore I was looking in the wrong direction. Yes, when all else fails, blame it on the chart!

Dawn had finally arrived, and the rest of the 12 nm to Galveston was much easier to navigate as we found all our marks despite many tankers passing us. We were sailing among the big boys, life blood to our economy, and I was once again busy with my Nikon to witness such a rare sight.

Upon arriving in Galveston at 0730 was this yacht basin where we were supposed to check in with the US Coast Guard, guardian to our sea coast and savior to all mariners. The proper protocol was to hail them on Channel 16 or 22A (Coast Guard’s own working channel) with our VHF Radio. Terry had tried for 30 minutes but got no acknowledgement from them. We finally called one of the marinas, a number I found while doing some research on the area when I was still in Sacramento, and got from them the number of the Galveston Coast Guard on a land line. (So much for our Sea Coast Guardian monitoring VHF radio for Mayday distress calls on Channel 16.) After making numerous phone calls to the Coast Guard in Galveston, to a phone call to US Customs and Border Protection in Florida and back to Galveston, a typical bureaucratic run around, we were finally told to pull up to the fuel dock at the yacht basin for official clearance with US Customs and Border Protection under the newly established Department of Homeland Security.

An hour later, after fighting a strong current that set us down the coast for 3 nm while finding out where to check in, we were making our first docking after 12 days. As we made our approach to the fuel dock, there stood two uniform officers in blue waiting for us. I stepped off with the bow line in hand while Terry expertly maneuvered the boat to a halt and grabbed the stern line and came off and we both secured Living Water to the rather large wooden bollards on the dock.

I turned and saw the two officers, a tall, slim African American female with a serious look, Officer Johnson and the other round faced, well-built white male with a smiley grin, Officer Pyle (I did not make this up). I put on the best Texan accent I could muster after this long night ordeal and said, “Hi, y’all. What a fine mornin’!” The two officers turned and looked at each other and probably had no clue as to what I had just said. After a few moments of awkwardness, once again the Good Captain came to the rescue and proceeded to go through the paperwork with Officer Johnson. Meanwhile, I was attempting to make small talk with Officer Pyle and found out he was actually from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (No wonder he couldn’t understand my Texan accent). I switched my accent ever so slightly to a more southern tone. “How yo like’em shrimp boats?” I said, from which I drew another puzzled look from the gentleman. Tired of the small talk, Officer Pyle, not to be out done by the other Officer who was checking our ship’s documentation, asked if we had brought in any meat or vegetables, to which Terry had truthfully answered to the best of his knowledge that we had some frozen meat and two apples. After further questioning, Officer Pyle decided we needed to surrender the apples so I headed back to Living Water and retrieved the contraband. While going through the refrigerator in the galley, I also discovered we still had two oranges, two red onions, a cucumber, a mango and a lime. I wasn’t about to contradict my dear Captain and kept that to myself. After stepping onto the dock, I put on this pathetic and sad look and reluctantly handed the two wrinkling apples to Officer Pyle.”We were going to have them for breakfast.” I said, trying to hold back tears. My acting skill was still in fine form, never mind the little labels on the apples that said they came from Washington, for after a few moments of detailed examination, the good Officer handed me back the two apples and said we can keep them. I thanked him profusely; glad my acting had saved our food store.

At almost the same time, Officer Johnson had finished the ship’s paperwork and asked to see our passports. I just then realized after two weeks in the sun, my appearance was now darker in complexion and with my short crew cut hair, I looked more like a Panamanian than a Chinese. I immediately took off my hat and my glasses, and tried to rearrange my face to some resemblance to my passport photo which was taken 4 years earlier. The old adage prevailed once again about us Asians, “After awhile, they all look alike.” Office Johnson handed me back my passport without any questions. The time was 1100. We had wasted 4 ½ hours trying to do the right thing by checking in, while the US Coast Guard and the US Customs and Border Patrol had done such a lax job when they are supposed to protect us from foreign threats. And that was our arrival story in Galveston.

Three hours later, we tied up Living Water at Seabrook Marina at Seabrook, Texas, a quaint little backwater town along the Texas coast and thanked Living Water for being such a good ship. I poured the last of the SMS and gave a well-earned toast to my Sea Captain for his diligent, precise, untiring efforts in bringing us back to safety.

We had sailed about 1600 nm in 11 days 21 hours, double-handed, endured all sorts of weather and wind conditions, done a remarkable job on navigation, encountered many ships, had many great laughs, seen some spectacular sun and moon rises and sets, took many photos, caught a few fish, ate some terrific meals, visited by lost birds, performed a sea burial, did equipment repairs, kept our own blog, drank some good Scotch, stocked up a chest full of sea stories that would last until we are well into our eighties, but most of all, renewed our friendship. We have entrusted our lives into each other’s hands and abilities while sailing the deep ocean. As we know sailing is our passion, our way of life, our escape from everyday life on land, we have put our minds and bodies into such a harsh environment, and in the end, we can walk away and smile knowing what we have done. Though very tired and hungry, we thank the good lord for our good fortune and accomplishment.

After a nice dinner in town, we crashed for the night and I left to head home the next morning but not before Terry fixed me a nice fruit salad (from the smuggled contraband) and toast for breakfast. He carried my sea bag all the way from the dock to the parking lot and my taxi arrived just at the same time. We bade each other a long farewell and a big hug. We knew we would see each other soon and would sail many seas in the future. For this is just a short shore leave for us………

Day 12: Smoke Signals

4/28/2010, Wed., 1700 Zulu, Lat. 27 49.2 N, Long. 094 03.6 W, Day 12

And so, we have come to our last full day at sea. This morning at 0600, we passed this humungous structure all lit up like a Christmas tree 6 nm to our starboard beam. It was so big you thought you could reach over the life line and touch it. I supposed this is one of those huge off-shore oil or gas platforms. We were still over 120 nm from land. What lies ahead are hundreds of oil derricks, according to our chart, scattered all over our path. Terry spent all morning carefully laying out our route so we would keep them at least two nm from our track. Our ETA is 0800 tomorrow at the outside sea buoy. It will take another 20nm to get to Galveston, (Hey Bill, did you know that Galveston is an island?) then another 20 nm to the marina at Seabrook, where Terry has reserved a slip for Living Water.

Yesterday after the rather ominous news about the cold front, we were prepared for another rough day at sea, but the strong wind never materialized and we had quite a pleasant sail and made great progress to rapidly decrease the sea miles between us and land. We noticed some peculiar looking jelly fish, hundreds of them floating by. At first glance, they looked like someone had tossed clear drinking bottles overboard, but on closer examination (and Terry had already pointed this out) they are sails from the jelly fish which they use to keep them drifting with the prevailing wind. How interesting! I spent a considerable amount of time during my off watch trying to capture them on camera. I finally gave up and told myself I need to procure a telephoto lens in the future.

Dinner was Panamanian Costello Beef Flambe’ served with Country Home Fries. Have no idea what Costello means or what it would taste like. The beef must have been raised by the Costello family and hence got its name (I assume). Anyway, the price was right, only $2.50 per lb. which we got back in Colon some two weeks ago.

At 1730, while Terry was sitting at the helm waiting for dinner, I started to cook the home fries and then the flambé beef, all along thinking my dear Captain will once again be impressed by my culinary skills on the high seas. Preparing the meat was easy, just a little garlic powder, salt and pepper and Worcestershire sauce will do the trick. Cooking involved butter and oil in a hot pan and let the meat cook for about 5 minutes on one side and 3 minutes on the other. I even took the time to ask my patron at the helm how he liked his steak cooked. “Medium to medium well”, was the reply. After the required cooking time in the red hot pan, I had to perform one last step to finish the dish, i.e. the flambé step. I retrieved my now dwindling supply of SMS (as I said in my earlier posting, there is no cooking sherry on board) from its secret location and was ready to impress my audience. I opened the bottle and while trying to give the hot pan with the Costello a good swig, the boat was suddenly hit by a wave and proceeded to list to starboard (the same side where the galley stove is located). A great amount of my precious nectar was poured into the pan and white smoke started to puff, I mean, billow out of the galley and up the companion way. Bright red flames followed and started to burn on the surface of the pan. It seemed like an eternity before I wiggled and turned the pan and got the flame out. Just at that moment, Terry poked his head from the cockpit into the galley and asked, “Is everything OK? I can see white smoke all the way from the helm.” I turned around and said everything was alright, I was just sending him smoke signals that dinner is ready, all at the same time shoving his plate, which now contained this rather big piece of smoldering charred meat, into his hands. I could see the doubt on his face, but his hunger had gotten the better of his curiosity and he withdrew his head from the galley with his dinner in hand.

Little does he know how close I was to activating the ship’s fire suppression system, i.e. a mad Chinese with a water bucket. Living Water would have no “Water” left if I hadn’t put out the fire in the nick of time. Lesson learned, never attempt to flambé steak on the high seas on a small boat unless it is someone else’s small boat.

During dinner, I casually commented how the Costello family really doesn’t know how to raise tender cattle. “The beef at home is much better”, I said. Nevertheless, my fellow diner said it was the best flambé steak he had ever had. I humbly accepted the compliment and said, “I could do better next time, perhaps less salt.” And that was my dinner story.

I cannot leave you, as this is my last posting at sea, without telling you what it was like living with my good friend Terry in close quarters for the last two weeks. I know some of you, boys and girls, have encouraged us to sail on (even back track to Panama to California) so we can tell more stories at sea. But, there are other more urgent things waiting for us on land and we must leave you. I will have one final posting when back in Sacramento from my own Gmail account. I promise.

Anyway, Terry and I met at sailing school some 20 years ago. He is half German (that explains his analytical, precision side) and half Portuguese (that explains why he is such a good sailor and loves to fish). He is also tall, handsome, athletic and a devour Christian (back in Roman time). Generally a kind and gentle man, a bit shy on the surface but (as you can tell from his blog) with a great sense of humor. (I have to say all this on the off chance that he might read my blog before my departure from Living Water, as he still holds my passport and wallet in our survival bag, and he has the only key). And let me continue, he had become a great sailor throughout these years while we partnered and raced a smaller sail boat on SF Bay.

One thing you will always notice when you see him. He is so clean and smells good. I mean Felix Unger will be pale in comparison to Terry. He loves to clean, period. When I first got on Living Water back in Colon, he had bottles of cleaners and 6 (I counted) toothbrushes on deck to take out dirt and grime on the boat. (I have since slept with my own toothbrush under my pillow). Do you know he has every cleaning product known to the western world on Living Water? He knows how to use some of the product that the manufacturer themselves do not know, e.g. Tilex is good for taking blemishes off and polishing chrome railings and winches. His favorite cleaner is Windex. And he carries a bottle around everywhere he goes. If you spill something, he’ll wipe it up with Windex. If he sees dust in the cabinet, out comes the Windex. If you sneezed, …. Hope you get the picture.

I have to say living with him was fun if you consider putting needles in your eyes a pleasure. (I borrowed this line from our good friend Marty, thought I just put it in). Of course, I am just kidding. (Still waiting to get my money and passport). But, in all honesty and kidding aside, he is a very considerate and hard working man. As I am writing this, he is slaving up in the cockpit trimming sails and this is supposed to be my watch. I would sail with him anytime and place.

I have to leave you with this as we have just entered the shipping channel to Galveston and there are three supertankers approaching. The next 18 hours will be interesting. Our last 24 hours run was 128 nm.

Thank you Gary, Corinne and Rickster, Mike and Dave for your e-mails. The Brave Captain just called all hands on deck. I don’t understand why he keeps saying that as I always bring both of them wherever I go. Now, I must leave you…..See you back at Sac

Day 11: Dolphins Sighting

4/27/2010, Tuesday, 1700 Zulu, Lat. 26 2.7 N, Long. 092 40.8 W, Day 11

We are currently 232 nm from Galveston and should be making landfall this time two days from now. Things should be winding down. All the obstacles we had to worry about seem to pass us one by one. Navigation, wind, fuel, water, weather, all these concerns are not much of an issue. That is if Mother Nature cooperates with us with her weather. But, this doesn’t seem to be so. Got up at 0600 and Terry said you better sit down before I tell you this. I tried to gather my strength and see what was in store for us today. The weather fax he just received is telling us there is another cold front approaching and like the one we had two days ago, the wind will be clocking to the north and we have to beat again. “Great”, I said, as I just put on fresh clean clothes and now we have to get sprayed again.

We had a good breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast with butter and strawberry jam with fruit juice to give us energy to face the day. We now have all the sails up and beating to weather on a starboard tack with a heading of 285 M. Galveston bears 328 M. We are still 43 degrees off. I put Auto into Wind mode and set it at 32 degrees apparent angle and he will keep the boat at that wind angle in anticipation of the wind shift to the north. It will hopefully make up the 43 degrees difference. Wind has been shifting the last two hours from 319 to 330 to 344.

I love passage making. It has many facets. Sailing is only part of it. You have to have proper cruise planning in order to have a successful passage. These are as follow: 1. Crew Selection: you need to find crew that is compatible with you so there will be no mutiny (I kid you not). There are also health and medical issues of each crew member to be concerned about. The boat is only so big and living together in tight quarters under stressful conditions can ruin many friendships. 2. Provisioning: you have to plan for food, fuel, water, and first aid kits so you have enough for the passage. A well-fed and healthy crew is a happy crew. 3. Weather: this is very important so you are not putting your crew, boat and yourself in harms way by taking unnecessary risks. 4. Communication: you have to ensure you can communicate with other ships and land in case of emergency. That means have your VHF (Very High Frequency) radio, SSB radio, EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon), Weather Fax,....etc. in working order. 5. Budgeting: you need to know how much you need to spend in terms of money, cruising time…etc. 6. Navigation: ensure you have all the necessary skills and equipment to safely take you from point A to point B. Terry has done a wonderful and superhuman job on cruise planning and has addressed all these elements. That’s why this one is a happy passage.

Navigation at sea is one of the main things that attracted me to sailing. It consists of four categories: Dead Reckoning (DR) or Deduced Reckoning, Piloting, Electronic Navigation and finally Celestial Navigation.

DR is a basic skill a navigator must have. It involves a working watch (not the kind that can only tell time accurately twice a day), hand held compass, charts, pencils, dividers, parallel rulers, erasers and paper. To keep a DR plot, one has to keep a log of a starting fix position and keep track of every course and speed change and plot it on a chart with the correct time. You have to know how to keep a LOP (line of position), LOM (line of motion), keep a fix, running fix, estimate fix... Learn how to account for current’s set and drift (direction & strength), take bearings, relative bearings, dangerous bearings…etc. Christopher Columbus was a very good DR Navigator, that’s how he managed to find the new world.

Piloting, as I like to call it, eye ball navigation basically involves a pair of sharp eyes and a detailed chart to correctly identify buoys, beacons, channel markers, and landmarks to safely guide a boat into or out of harbors or anchorages.

Electronic Navigation involves learning how to use a GPS (Global Positioning System), Radar, Auto Pilots, Electronic Chart Plotters.

And lastly, Celestial Navigation which involves, using a sextant (a glorified protractor), almanac, reduction tables and all the equipment used in DR. It basically measures the precise position of heavenly bodies (and I don’t mean the female kind, well it has been a long cruise and can’t help to have my mind wander). You have 7 planets and 54 navigable stars to choose from to find a fix. One has to learn how to use a sextant, identify the planets or stars, take the sight reading, and do the calculation using the almanac and reduction tables. It is quite tedious.

If you just do day sailing, knowing piloting will get you home. If you do coastal sailing within sight of land, you need to know DR. That is the basic stuff, and if you go off-shore and out of sight of land, you need to know celestial navigation. (In my humble opinion)

Well, that is the old school of thought. With the advancement of marine electronics, many sailors just buy and learn to use GPS and electronic chart plotters and off they go on their cruise. They are easy to learn and use, and quite accurate. This often involves pushing a button or turning a dial. It is fine and dandy until the equipment fails, or worse, is hit by lightning and all electrical systems on board are fried. Then what do you do? You are not very smart if you go off without any electronic equipment, for it makes navigation much easier and more accurate, but you are equally foolish going off not having any of the DR, piloting and celestial navigation skills.

And this is my little presentation according to what I know about navigation.

As I was writing this, Terry just yelled “dolphins sighting!” So I took my camera to the bow and took about 50 shots. There were about 10 to 15 dolphins playing with our bow waves and having fun. Hope they don’t die from this.

Dinner last night was Mahi Mahi with Butter Orange Sauce served with Peas and Carrots Couscous.

Our 24 hours noon-to-noon run was 141 nm.

Thank you Bryce, Michelle, Geraldine, Bill, Bob and Kathy, Lindsay and Marlies for your lovely e-mails, Terry and I will try to keep our sanity intact for two more days to make landfall. I need to clean my glasses so I can do some good piloting.

Day 10: Buff Landed

4/26/2010, Monday, 1700 Zulu, Lat. 24 14.6 N, Long. 090 59.0 W, Day 10

It is a sailor’s delight today so far, i.e. if you are a heavy weather sailor like Terry and I. We just love the challenges posed by the wind and waves interacting with each other. I like to drive the boat and Terry is very good at, and loves, tweaking sails. Together, we make a good team.

It all started last night after dinner at around 2000. We were motoring for most of the afternoon up to dinner time when wind steadily came up from 2 to 20 knots within 30 minutes. I was taking a nap after my usual shower. Terry was single handedly trimming sails, taking the reef in and generally making a big racket and woke me up. Wonder why there is always something happening during my naps? I got up and made my way to the cockpit and saw the sky has blackened and thunder and lightning were appearing on our starboard beam. We were sailing right next to a thunderstorm formed by the earlier low pressure system, and we can confirm that with our radar as we can see there was this white span 3 nm away on our beam. Normally, I would have enjoyed seeing the spectacular light show, but being on a sailboat with a 52 ft. mast acting as a lightning rod, we were both a little leery and were careful not to touch any metallic objects around the boat in case we got hit.

We had a pleasant afternoon before the storm and Terry was asking me what’s for dinner. I told him it’s going to be pork chops. He began to dictate to me what he wants, “How about some glazed apple with cinnamon to go with the chops? And a cucumber salad would be nice, and for a side dish…how about some mashed potatoes.” Captain Bligh is back to his usual appetite and now is telling me what to cook. Yesterday he couldn’t even finish his dinner. I felt like Hop Sing (the cook in Bonanza) and wanted to tell him, “Yea Cap, me cook you foot, won fly lice to go with?”

Anyway, dinner was Cucumber and Red Onion Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette, Pork Chop with SMS Cinnamon Glazed Apple, (there were no cooking sherry on board), and Italian Mashed Potatoes. The Mad Captain was pleased.

If I tell you what was going to happen during dinner, would you all promise not to call me a liar? As this is a true story……while eating dinner, Terry was sitting across from me on the port side and suddenly his mouth dropped open and pointed over my shoulder as if he just saw a ghost. At first I thought he was playing a trick on me and paid him no attention, but he kept pointing as he was gagging. I looked around and thought I saw a ghost as well. It was this tiny yellow feathered bird flying around the stern and landed on the port lifeline, inches away from the same spot P*** had landed four days ago. Terry said, “He came back alive from the deep sea.” It was such a surreal moment and instinctively, I reached for my Nikon but stopped myself before I got to the camera. I do not want to add another charge to my now long rap sheet waiting for me in Galveston.

After both of us calmed down, we realized it was not the same bird. This one had more muscle and must have been working out in the jungle gym. We both agreed to name him Buff. But, this time we did not feed him anything afraid of any personal attachment in case of any untimely demise. He hung around and spent the night, ironically, at the same perch on the wire fruit basket. The next morning, Terry saw Buff fly off which rid me of any unwanted accusation. And there is part 3 of my bird story.

Our 24 hours noon-to-noon run was 103 nm. It was slow due to sailing hard on the nose. Living Water being a full keel boat with 17 tons of gross displacement, just doesn’t like upwind work. We are now 366 nm from Galveston.

Thank you again for your e-mails, Nanci, Geraldine, Linda, Dave. Mary, your sadistic e-mail was painful to read though it was beautifully written with great wit and charm even it was full of P words and changing the lyrics from P*** the Magic Dragon to P*** the Magic Birdie was hilarious. And to Bill Brown, no Terry and I do not have the Bird Flu. Thank you very much.

Day 9: Steering Her Downwind

4/25/2010, Sunday, 1700 Zulu, Lat. 23 19.6 N, Long. 089 11.7 W, Day 9

“Galveston, oh Galveston, I will hear your sea wind blowin’, I still see her dark eyes glowin’, she was 21 when I left Galveston……..” Oh, Irene, don’t get too excited, it is only the lyrics to a song. I have never been to Galveston in my entire life. I’ll be home soon. Just check the GPS, Galveston is only 458 nm away due Northwest. Our ETA is early Thursday morning at dawn on 4/28. Please look into booking my flight home on Friday.

The wind is completely different than 24 hours ago. It was over 20 knots with 8 foot seas. Now it’s 6 knots with calm lumpy seas. We have been successfully flying the A-sail (asymmetric spinnaker) since 0930 this morning. With this sail we can sail deeper and be closer to our mark.

Not much happening the last 24 hours, except catching up our rest and rode out the rough sea. Terry was a bit fatigued from all the work and planning and worries about this trip. It finally got to him after the water filter repair. He had a slight headache last night after dinner, so I sent him to bed and took over his watch. He feels a lot better now with the extra rest.

Auto was driving pretty much yesterday due to its ability to hold the course in rough weather. After lunch yesterday, Terry asked me to take over steering and get a feel for Living Water going down wind in such rough condition. I gave him a dirty look and gingerly reminded him that I had hand steered my entire way to Hawaii some 16 years ago. He, being a tactful person, said if something happened to Auto, he just wanted to make sure I can drive. So the challenge was on. I told him to let me take my nap and I would hand steer for an hour. At 1500, I got up, put on my gloves and passed him at the Nav Station (where he always sat) and started my way up the companion way without saying anything to him. “The course to steer is three zero zero.” He said. I continued my way up, got behind the wheel, put Auto on standby and started to hand steer a 300 heading.

So something you landlubbers should know, a good helmsman can steer a boat to its proper course plus or minus 5 degrees on a good calm day. But in rough seas and especially down wind, the boat tends to wander and round up quite easily due to waves bearing down on its quarters. One has to anticipate such motion and aggressively commit to countering it by steering the helm down when the waves hit, but almost immediately you have to turn the wheel back or disaster will happen. It takes lots of concentration and stamina and balance. (Enough said about myself)

15 minutes into my steering, the loudspeaker on the intercom next to the helm crackled, it was Terry, “Hey Frank, good driving, the boat has kept its course.” I keyed the mike down and said, “It was still Auto driving, I haven’t started yet.” “Oh.” he said,” Are you sure?” I said, “What do you think?” There was a long pause and he finally hung up. I guess I have passed muster on driving Living Water.

Our 24 hours noon-to-noon run was 139 nm. Thank you, Bob and Kathy, Bill for the hilarious e-mails. We quite enjoyed them and will look forward to seeing the US Coast Guard, the Texas Fish and Game, the Mental Health (in white coats) people waiting for us at the dock in Galveston. Dinner last night was leftover Curried Beef Stew I made back in Colon. Didn’t feel like cooking with a rocking boat. Besides, Terry wasn’t feeling good. Will do better tonight…..later.

Day 8: Repair Men

4/24/2010, Saturday, 1700 Zulu, Lat. 22 13.9N, Long. 86 59.4 W, Day 8

Today we are finally into some real sailing. This is what I signed up for. 22 knots of wind, 6 foot seas, boat is going 7 knots with a single reef and a reduced jib. We are currently passing Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula 25 nm on our port with a heading of 295 M (magnetic). Galveston is about 580 nm north of us. The reason we are not sailing directly to that heading right now, is to anticipate this cold front this evening and the wind will shift to the north. The wind now is coming from the east. With the impending wind shift, it is smart to do some “westing” and then “northing” with the shift and have an easier time fetching our mark.

We punched through Yucatan Channel with gusto this morning at 0800 and by 0900 we were going 10.5 knots SOG with over the water speed of only 5.5 knots. That means we have finally hopped onto the current that Commander Weather has suggested and it is almost doubling our speed. This is always a sailor’s delight when one can get on the current to one’s favor.

We did a gybe to port in order to go more west and it took us an hour to execute the maneuver. At one point Terry and I were both on the foredeck to change the position of the whisker pole and had to let ‘Auto’ do the driving. Yes, ‘Auto’ a fourth member of our crew, and is not a car, but a very smart piece of work. He is 10 times smarter than Montie but sucks up precious amps on boats. More about Auto and his relative, Data and Wind some other time….

Yesterday was an uneventful day (or so I thought). No fishing and plenty of rest. Terry fixed me a gourmet lunch, a deluxe peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a can of fruit cocktail. After our traumatic experience with our little friend the day before, we were both in mourning and had agreed not to mention the word Puff in any phrases or sentences. Things like, e.g. puff of smoke, huffing and puffing, puff pastry, Puff the magic dragon….etc. Well, you get the picture.

We put in a reef on the main before dinner, so when the wind picked up after sundown we didn’t have to deal with all the lines and stuff in the dark on the foredeck; a smart move on our part.

Dinner was Pan Seared Mahi Mahi with Mango and Lime Salsa served with Black Beans. Terry said it was so good and it was a toss up with the barracuda the night before. I tended to agree. We had dinner in the cockpit with the sunset on our port. Life was great on Living Water. After dinner at 1800, was the end of my watch and with Terry stuck with dishes, I proceeded to take a shower and head for bed….. Well, that was the plan anyway.

Upon returning from a refreshing shower, I saw Terry had all his tools spread out on my bunk and the floor boards in the salon were all exposed. I asked what happened and he said the fresh water filter was all plugged up with calcium mineral deposits. This was due to his aluminum water tank sitting idle for 7 months in Panama and the chlorinated city water he filled it with was interacting with the aluminum and somehow making little pebble sized deposits in the tank. Our rough sailing the last 24 hours had dislodged those little gems and clogged up the filters. It was supposed to be his turn to shower but there was no water pressure. Being the considerate and kind person that I am, I extended a helping hand and started handing tools to him at his command.

The process to take out ¾ lbs. of those little buggers was very tedious and required the patience of a saint (or Terry). One had to unscrew the tiny water filter, the size of Puff…oops, I mean the size of a D battery, and clean out and remove all the little pebbles. Then put it back on, start the pump, run for a few seconds or until it plugged up again and stop and repeat the whole process again. Sometimes that would not do the trick and we had to take the line off from the intake at the tank and work backwards.

With Terry sitting on the floor and me kneeling next to him, the two of us wearing head lamps, the kind coal miners used but much smaller, we worked like a surgical team in an OR. Terry would say, screw driver, I handed him the screw driver and repeated the same. The commands were as following: screw driver, dental pick (a very sharp instrument that Terry’s dentist still found missing in his office), channel lock, screw driver, switch on, stop, screw driver…..etc. After the 50^th time, I was so good at it, that he didn’t even have to say and I already had the right tool in his hand. 2 hours passed, I was ready to call the local Culligan Man for a house call. At hour 3, I cursed myself for being such a nice guy. 4 hours later (I was not joking), delirium set in and I started to hand him the wrong tools….taxi driver, dental floss, hammer lock. (How I really wanted to give him a hammer lock to stop this insanity). At the 5^th hour, we finally had cycled through all 121 gallons of fresh water in the tank and the flow at that little filter was at 100%. The time was 2400, and my watch was supposed to end, mind you that I hadn’t had my nap and had been up since 1400. We were both dog tired and if you think Terry needed his shower 5 hours ago, you should have seen him then.

I put on a brave face and told Terry to take a much needed shower and I’ll take the first 2 hours of watch for him so he can get some rest. He said thanks and suggested I sit at the Nav Station and just look at the radar to check traffic. I wasn’t about to sit and stare at that little green scope for two hours. I would fall asleep for sure. One way that will keep me awake was to go top side and brace the elements. I put on his foulies and PFD with a tether and hooked myself up on the jack line and sat behind the helm and rode out the waves. The wind throughout the night was 20 knots with a very confused sea. Sitting at the helm looking forward all strapped in was like riding a bronco at a rodeo except in total pitch darkness. The two hours finally passed and Terry came and relieved me. I fell asleep before me head hit the pillow. That was the water filter story.

24 hours noon-to-noon run is 162 nm, a new record for this trip. We were pushing Living Water pretty hard.

Thank you Geraldine, Bill, Richard, Jessica, Mike, Andrew and Larry for your e-mails. Hope you all have a very nice weekend.

Day 7: Puff is Dead

4/23/2010, Friday, 1700 Zulu, Lat. 20 22.8 N, Long. 084 54.8 W, Day 7

It was an eventful 24 hours since my last entry. The wind continued to build throughout the night and into this morning at dawn up to 20 knots. Montie was driving and kept Living Water at a good clip holding at an average of 7 knots. Terry and I were most pleased. My noon sight put me 7 nm off the GPS fix. It was not as good as the day before due to the boat rolling more at this point of sail.

Ships when at sea are like planes, they move and rotate on all three axes: vertical, horizontal, and lateral and produce motion called pitch, yaw and roll. Being going further down wind, makes taking sights with sextant much more challenging. Our bodies can attest to that as we have bumps and bruises to prove it.

Remember my bird story yesterday? Puff aptly named by Skipper Terry (he takes the naming rights on his boat very seriously), left without saying good bye…..well unfortunately, there is a sequel to that story. At 1300 yesterday while I was rummaging for food to make lunch and looked into the wire fruit basket for an apple, upon which I discovered this little yellow feather ball, all curled up on the bottom. It was Puff. I was right about him leaving without saying good bye. He had indeed departed. PUFF IS DEAD to our horror. I tried mouth-to-beak resuscitation without avail. And we both genuinely felt sorry for the little guy who flew all the way from Mexico to rest on our boat. Terry, being a prudent skipper, started to ask questions being I was the last one to see Puff alive. Remember I was taking pictures of him right before he left (so I thought). Upon further questioning Terry has established my flash photography might have dazed our little friend and caused him to plunge to the bottom of the basket and broke his neck. What a horrible thought! What an unjust accusation! He is thinking to open a Formal Court of Inquiry to look into this matter. I might have to face court martial in Galveston. As I said, he takes this ship captain stuff very seriously.

I immediately offered to stuff the bird and roast it in the oven for lunch or make bird’s nest soup for dinner. He would accept neither offer. This was the first time he has turned down my cooking. Our ethnic differences cannot be more evident. All he wanted to do was to put Puff in the freezer and have it autopsied at Galveston to determine the actual cause of death. I threatened him with no dinner for the next 24 hours and he yielded and we settled on giving Puff a proper sea burial instead, but he put down on the log book that the cause of death of Puff was “Killed by paparazzi”. Anyway….that is the rest of that story.

After lunch of cheese and crackers and cut veggies, I saw there was something dragging on the fishing pole. After further investigation, we found a 7 lb. barracuda attached to the hook. Wasn’t sure and had never eaten a barracuda before, we were thinking to toss it back to the water. But, who is brave enough to unhook him while he is still alive with all those razor sharp teeth showing. Terry looked up in his fishing book and found out it is safe to eat barracudas in the deep water. It is only barracudas from the reef that will post a problem due to poisonous algae they eat. We filleted it and will have it for dinner.

My next watch was due in 45 minutes at 1500 and with all the fuss about Puff and the barracuda, I have not had my usual nap to recharge. So I lay down on my bunk and almost immediately fell to sleep. It must have been 5 minutes later that I heard my name was mentioned. You know, on a moving sailboat there are many noises from water rushing by, sails flopping, food and equipment banging around and one will get used to it. I thought I was imagining my name being mentioned and didn’t pay any more attention, but my name kept coming up, and it was getting more desperate….Frank, Frank, Frank! I jumped up and still in my undies to investigate. It was Terry at the fishing pole and he had a big one on the other end. It took off with half of his line. Terry was screaming for help. I had to run to get him some towel to wrap around the end of the pole to give him some cushion. I also had to put on his hat so he wouldn’t get sun burnt and gave him water and oxygen to keep him alive. It took him 30 minutes to tire the fish and brought him alongside. I had to garb the fish to bring it aboard but not until it was dead first. It was a 27 lbs. Dorado or Mahi Mahi (if you are a Pacific Islander). Dorados are prized sport fish and known to put up a big fight and are very good eating. We cleaned and filleted the fish which took another hour and now we have enough fish for dinner for a whole week. We were both exhausted, especially Terry. And trying to hold a sharp knife to fillet a slippery fish on a moving boat was quite a feat. Tomorrow, I will be hiding all Terry’s fishing lures. That’s our fish story.

I got on my watch while Terry took a much needed rest and at 1745, I took to task to cook my first barracuda. Never ate that kind of fish before. So I just sprinkled the five 1 ½ in thick fillets with dill and dipped them in salt and pepper, beaten eggs and rolled them in bread crumbs I found in Terry’s galley cupboard. I then pan fried them in hot cooking oil, 3 minutes on one side and 2 minutes on the other. Sprinkle them with paprika and as Irene will say in her Aussie slang, “Bob is your uncle”. I served them with left over linguine from the night before and found the barracuda was most delicious despite its menacing appearance. The outside crust was golden brown but the inside was firm and moist with a sweet after taste. Guess you can’t judge a fish by its look. It was the best meal by far on this trip.

After dinner, although we were both beat, we had one more task to perform, a proper sea burial for Puff. Terry wrapped him in some good quality paper towel but couldn’t find any weights to weigh it down. I suggested using some coins for weight and Terry found some left over Panamanian Balboa coins as weight. Who knows, Puff might be from Panama after all. I gave Terry a small piece of parsley as a wreath and proceeded to discharge him over board after a few kind words. “May you rest in peace in the deep blue yonder and come back in the next life as a pelican” Something to that effect.

At 2200 Terry got his weather report from Commander’s Weather, a service he subscribes to. For those of you who have been following the on going story of Abby Sunderland, she is the 16 year old girl from Thousand Oaks, CA currently sailing around the world single-handed, non-stop, and unassisted. If she succeeds, she will be the youngest female ever to do so. Commander’s Weather is doing weather for her as well. It was a long and detail report, I won’t bore you with all the details but if you want to find out, log onto Terry’s blog www.svlivingwater.com and click on the logbook button. In short, Commander Weather gave us the green light to cross the Gulf of Mexico in the next 7 days. And we are going for it. The weather will be more challenging and the real sailing will begin. Many of you have suggested for us to stop at various places to take on fuel and sightseeing. But, I forgot to mention this is not a pleasure cruise but a boat delivery trip. For many reasons, we just need to get Living Water back safely in U.S. waters and port so Terry can take on his personal affairs.

We are currently 103 nm from Yucatan Channel. Will be there Saturday morning, after we punch through the channel closer to the Mexican side (we were told current is more favorable) will then proceed northwest to Galveston. That will be another 680 nm. It will take another 4 to 5 days. More on that later….

Thank you again for all your e-mails, from Dick, Dave, Lisa Brown, Bill Brown, Lisa, Ed, Andrew and Xani Bubienko, Carl and Cristina, Alan, Lindsay and Marlies, Joann, Richard, Ed Pascoe, Rich Pitra, Lee and Paula. We love to hear from you and appreciate your prayers and encouragement.

Our 24 hours noon-to-noon is 146 nm. We are cooking.

Day 6: Puff Visit

4/22/2010, Thursday, 1700 Zulu, Lat. 18 43.7 N, Long. 083 01.2 W, Day 6

Yesterday the wind completely shut down at 1100 and we motored for 8 hours using up precious fuel. The sea was so calm; it was like gliding on a piece of glass. Terry, in desperation, was suggesting we should offer my bottle of SMS to please the Wind God. He was serious. It took me a while to convince him that the Wind God is a member of AA and had quit drinking many years ago. Whew!

At lunch, we had an unexpected visitor, a yellow warbler of some sort. Dead tired sitting on the port lifeline and wouldn’t move. Took him or her (not familiar with avian gender) a couple of hours to rest and then it started to make himself at home on our head, shoulder, arms. Terry fed him some water and I gave him some of my lunch corn chips. I am sure he is from Mexico. After we fed him, he started to fly around and landed in the salon and at one time at the computer keyboard. Terry was sure he was sending out e-mails to all his friends to fly over to Living Water for fresh water and corn chips. He spent the night sitting on our wire fruit basket in the galley and nestled his head on his shoulder with all his feathers puffed up and slept until 5:30 this morning. I took a good picture of him and he left without saying goodbye. Terry had named him “Puff” for his puffing feathers and was disappointed to find he was gone without saying adios….well, so much for the bird story.

Dinner last night was Linguine with Calamari and Clams with Garlic, Butter and Wine sauce. One of the first Italian recipes I learned and developed many years ago.

The wind came up right after dinner at 1900 and we took out the “genie” and were doing over 6 knots. The wind was coming almost on our starboard beam and we were going down the track onto Yucatan Channel which is only about 280 nm away. The wind has come as predicted in the weather forecast and it stayed up to 12 knots. We sailed throughout the night and went to bed happy as clams.

Wind continuous at 10 knots this morning and at 0900 Terry put up the whisker pole and we are now going wing-on-wing, i.e. putting the Genoa on the opposite direction from the main sail. That way we can sail further down wind and make our track. It picked up another ½ kn. of boat speed with that set up. Life is good for a sailor when there is wind.

Thank you Mike, Mary and Andrew for the Galveston lyrics. Terry is learning to play guitar but the one on the boat was so warped sitting in the tropics that he ended up throwing it away. He has another one in storage in San Diego. The chord changes are for him. I will have Terry singing Galveston with me before we get there. He is very shy about his singing but, if I can convert him into an SMS drinker, I think it’s worth a “shot” to turn him into a chorister.

Thank you all for all the kind e-mails. The way Sailmail works on the boat is, we have to store up all our e-mails in a transfer file and will send out everything via SSB (Single Side Band) Radio. Terry, of course has to tune up the right frequency and select the station that has the strongest signal and send out our package and receive any incoming message at the same time. It is quite laborious. That’s why I don’t reply to you individually; otherwise, he will be at the radio all day long. I woke at 0300 this morning and he had already saved 8 e-mails from you guys. He was teasing me that the SSB antenna was so hot that it glowed in the dark all night just to receive all my incoming. But, luckily, some of my e-mails were directed to him.

We are anticipating more wind the next few days and things will get more bouncy around the boat. The good news is we can be home soon. Almost pass our ½ way mark.

Our 24 hours noon-to-noon run is 144 nm. A record so far for this trip

More later….

Day 5: Tuna Sashimi

4/21/2010, Wednesday, 1700 Zulu, Lat. 16 57.4 N, Long. 081 19.8 W, Day 5

We managed to sail all day yesterday and made good progress. The wind kept at around 8 to 10 knots. Terry has decided to crack off a bit from close haul and we have started to make our way toward Yucatan Channel. We will make the important decision in the next 24 hours whether to go straight to Galveston or the Caymans.

I did a noon sight with the sextant and got a fix within 12 nm off our actual position. Not a very good one. I did a lot better today. It was only off by 7 nm.

Taking a noon sight is quite simple despite all the fuss about celestial navigation. You basically take a sextant reading of the sun (Ho) while is it at its zenith (highest). That is your meridian transit. At that precise moment you record the exact time on your watch (yes, you do need a watch that can keep precise time). Also, before you start you have to guess your own position and that is your assumed position (AP).

To find your latitude, you subtract your AP from 90 degrees (if you are in the northern hemisphere, for people that are in Australia you will add) and add the sun’s declination, a value you find in the Almanac. The earth tilts 22.5 degrees on its vertical axis and therefore creates a declination to the sun. The sun’s declination changes as the earth going around it. Therefore, it changes every day depending on the month and date. After you either add (or subtract), your result it is called Calculated Height (Hc). You then compare Ho to Hc and depending on which one is bigger than the other you then add or subtract the difference of the two to AP’s lat. And that’s your latitudinal fix.

To find longitude, you’ll do a similar calculation based on the noon meridian at Greenwich (from the almanac) and compared to your own noon transit and add or subtract the time difference in degrees and minutes of arc to get your longitudinal fix.

It seems a lot of work but after a few practices you can get it all done in about 15 minutes.

Lunch was a ham and cheese sandwich and Terry had his line in the water and by 1 PM there were no bites so I took out some chicken to defrost for dinner. By 4:30 PM, I told him I’ll give him 30 minutes more to come up with a fish or no dinner. Lo and behold he got a bite and landed a small 5 lbs. Yellow Fin Tuna to save the day. Since the fish was just enough for one, we had that as our appetizer and chicken for dinner. So dinner was a 2 course meal: Tuna Sashimi with a nice bottle of Chardonnay and Braised Sweet Soy Sauce Chicken with Peas and Carrots. I think we are both gaining weight on this trip.

See video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Gw1GoQsNTc

24 hours noon-to noon run is 104.9 nm due to light wind this morning and unsuccessful flying of the asymmetrical spinnaker.

Again, thank you for all the e-mails. Hope you don’t mind my response here collectively to save time.

Thanks Mike and Twanet for taking care of my girl; I owe you one. Oh, Mike, I have been humming the song ‘Galveston’ by Glen Campbell in my head but don’t remember all the lyrics, since you are the song guru, could you please send me the words and the guitar chords.

Bill and Lisa, thank you for letting me know there is a nude beach in Isla Mujeres. I am now trying to convince Terry to stop there instead of Grand Cayman. And thank your for pointing out it’s zarpe and not sappe. Terry has been teasing me for that the last few days. Guess my Spanish is just as bad as my English.

Larry, I finally confessed to Terry about our drinking cognac on Picante while sailing under the gate on New Year’s Day w/the spinnaker up some years back and now can live with a clear conscience.

Bob, Bryce, Sherpa, Dave, Linda, Andrew, Queenie, Gary…..thanks for your good wishes. I miss you all.

Day 4: Passing Sueno Bank

4/20/2010, Tuesday, 1700 Zulu, Lat. 15 7.9 N, Long. 080 49.9 W, Day 4

The wind got light yesterday in the afternoon, so we started the engine at 1545 and ran it for 3 ½ hours. We needed to charge the batteries, made water, charged laptops, fridge and freezer. Yes, Terry is such a techno wiz, (a computer programmer in his former life) has two laptops with two navigation software programs: Noveltech and SeaClear II. The first one covers all the charts to the Yucatan Channel, the later one has all the charts in Gulf of Mexico including Galveston.

We also keep an hourly log of our positions, SOG (Speed Over Ground), COG (Course Over Ground), TWS (True Wind Speed), and TWA (True Wind Angle). That way, if any of the electronics failed, we can plot our position the old fashion way using DR (Dead Reckoning) and celestial navigation.

The wind came back up to 8 knots and we put Montie to work again. He behaved like a true gentleman and held Living Water fast and true at a rhumb line course toward Sueno. He worked particularly well because Terry had just given him a good dose of silicone spray to grease his gears.

Lunch was ceviche with red onion and stacks of whole wheat crackers and baby carrots. Didn’t feel much like cooking last night because I missed my nap during off hours to teach and study celestial navigation. Dinner was a quick Wahoo Fish Corn Chowder with Ramen Noodles.

At night the sea was calm and the breeze was steady. We have to check for traffic hourly by using radar or just scan the horizon. If we find something on the radar or by eyesight, we can track them by using EBL (Electronic Bearing Line) and VRM (Variable Range Marker) features on the scope to see where and how far they move. It is a good exercise to keep us safe from collision.

Woke up to my 0300 watch and see we have just passed our first leg of the trip. Sueno Bank was 3 nm to port. I poured a couple of shots of SMS and toasted with Terry for our good voyage so far. Those of you that sailed with me in the old “Picante” days will know Terry doesn’t drink. Boy, he has come a long way.

Thank you for all of your support and e-mails. It is not possible to answer you all until I am back on shore. But a particular thank you to Nancy (Irene’s sister in Australia) for her fish recipes. She has done years of cruising with her husband Norman and knows how to cook Wahoo deliciously.

Our last 24 hours noon-to-noon run was 124.4 nm. Our next waypoint is the Grand Cayman 357 nm away.

Day 3: Sun Sights

4/19/2010, Monday, 1700 Zulu Lat. 13 07.9 N, Long. 080 31.6 W, Day 3

After 21 hours of motoring, at midnight we finally were able to sail the boat in true sailor’s fashion, i.e. without running the engine or auto pilot. The wind had steadily increased to 12 knots coming at about 45 degree off our starboard bow. We pulled out the Genoa, tightened up both the outhaul and halyard at the main, lowered “Montie” in the water and sailed at close to 7 knots SOG (Speed over ground). It matches closely to our VMG (velocity made good). That means we were going directly to our way point without wasting sailing distance. So you know: “Sailing”, as my good friend/navigation teacher, Dick Winter said to me once, “is like herding a flock of geese. They like to go in all different directions and usually not the way you want”. But this time all the geese were marching in the same order.

If you are wondering who Montie is, he is our third crew member we only use to steer the boat. He requires no food, water nor SMS, works perfectly if there is wind and not too big a sea. It is a mechanical wind vane invented by a couple of engineers/sailors back in the 70’s out of Sausalito. It is called Monitor Wind Vane - a real buddy to cruisers.

We were happy to finally get rid of all engine noise and sleeping below was so peaceful that you can’t really tell the boat was moving. The sea so far has been fairly flat with very little swells. We both are settling into our routines and the body is slowly adjusting to the 3 hours rotation watch system. My watch from 3 AM to 6 AM enables me to witness the beautiful night sky with millions of stars around. Something one won’t be able to see if living in the city. I will get out the star finder and see if I can find some of more famous stars.

Breakfast was corn beef hash with scrambled eggs. Terry didn’t fish as we only fish when we need food. So far this trip we have plenty of protein. Our 24 hours noon-to-noon run was 120.3 nm. A great improvement from yesterday’s run.

Terry told me I have a few messages from my Sailmail and he had to create a file just for my blog. He asked why I am getting mail and he isn’t. I told him I pay my friends to write me. So without making him feel left out, please visit his blog at www.svlivingwater.com , read his logbook and leave him some comments. That will keep him busy for all his watch time.

After I came off watch at noon, we polished up the ‘Davis Mark IV’ sextant and played around to see if we could get a noon sight. Terry had never used one before and it took us a little while to get it right. By the time we got an accurate reading we had already missed the transit and will try again tomorrow. Thank god we have three GPS’s on board. Wind is still light in the afternoon but we are still sailing. More fish for dinner tonight at Terry’s request.

Day 2: Terry's First Catch

4/18/2010, Sunday, 1700 Zulu, Lat. 11 05.9 N, Long. 080 05.5 W, Day 2

I just got off my watch (from 3AM to 6 AM) and had just an hour of sleep and Terry came and woke me and said “Dinner is now served”. He caught our first fish (about 7 lbs.) on this trip. It’s a Wahoo. It is known for its good eating quality. It is long and round with no scales and one center bone. I immediately got up with my camera and took pictures, then helped him to clean; well actually I filleted and cleaned the fish while he held it down on the port beam toe rail. I filleted two pieces from the belly for sashimi with lime, soy sauce and parsley. Then I cut about 4 pieces of steak to be cooked later. The rest we tossed overboard. Terry cleaned and scrubbed the deck while I went to task to prepare the sashimi. It was delicious. Now that he had caught his fish, Terry thought he could blog all day and I would have to stop nagging him about using up the precious amps on the boat. He even threatened to hide my SMS to trade for blogging time. BTW, you should all check out his logbook on his blog: www.svlivingwater.com

The wind is still light and we are still motoring. Hope the wind will pick up later. Last check on our progress, our 24 hour noon-to-noon track was 101.1 nm to Sueno. Still 197nm to go. We’ll be there in two days under the present conditions.

Dinner tonight will be pan seared Wahoo Steak with stir fried red and yellow peppers, served with Couscous w/Roasted Garlic and Olive Oil.

Day 1: Let the Adventure Begins

4/17/2010, Saturday, 1700 Zulu, Lat. 09 26.2 N, Long. 079 53.7 W, Day 1

After getting up at 6 AM and spending the next 5 hours stowing things away (well, that was mostly Terry’s job as he knows where everything goes), we topped off the water tank and cast off all lines and started heading out the breakwater getting away from Colon. We were happy that we were finally underway, especially for Terry, as the boat has been at the marina for over 9 months.

Wind was light at 7 knots coming from the northwest and we managed to squeeze 4 knots of boat speed out of Living Water with a full main and a 135% Genoa heading northeast. Our first waypoint is Sueno, about 298 nm due north. It has two reefs about 24 nm apart and we set our mark right between the two reefs. From there we can either go to the Grand Cayman or take a direct shot to Galveston. Our entire trip is 1590 nm by the rhumb line. We’ll make that decision when we get there and it will all depend on where the wind is coming from.

At 4 PM we tacked from port to starboard and were able to make our way north at a better speed of 5.5 knots. Terry and I were pretty happy with our progress as the weather report was predicting fairly light winds. Terry had his fishing line in the water and he was getting a couple of bites right before sundown but couldn’t hook the fish. Well, dinner was left over Osso Bucco and mushroom risotto.

The wind picked up during the night and we were doing about 6 knots and slowly shaving off the long distance we have to face the next couple of weeks. But, then it became light and we had to kick-up the motor around 3 AM. We needed to charge our battery anyway. Terry spent most of his on and off watch time blogging and fine tuning all his electronics. He is such a perfectionist. I have to yell at him so he can get some rest.

Throughout the night we had to keep watch for other boats. We used radar to look around us from 6 to 24 nm range. We must have encountered about 20 ships in the early hours but traffic lightened up approaching dawn. Had a great sunrise and saw Jupiter hanging above the eastern horizon until the sun rise got too bright to see it.

Getting Her Ready

4/14/2010, Wednesday


Woke up this morning to the sound of screaming monkeys which made me realize I was in the middle of a jungle. Shelter Bay is in the former U.S. Army Base in the Canal Zone where the Army Rangers used it for Jungle Warfare Training. They still have many of the old barracks around.

Went to Living Water and started off by taking count of the food store and cleaning out expired canned goods and making a shopping list for provisions for the next three weeks. Terry left me in charge of meal planning and cooking and basically let me do whatever I want to his galley. I wonder why I always get stuck with that job on boats. Anyway, he needs some fattening up as he has lost weight since his arrival last month.

After a quick lunch, we set off doing chores on deck. I had to clean and scrub the dodger and Bimini and Terry actually has to finish diving the boat, something that he couldn't do two days ago when there was this 4 foot barracuda with teeth showing hanging around the keel while Terry was trying to scrub the bottom. He had better luck this afternoon without the intruder and was also able to grease the prop. I also cleaned and helped put away the dinghy and stowed things for the journey. Working in the heat and the humidity has taken a toll on me as I have to stop every 30 minutes or so to catch my breath and get hydrated.

Tomorrow we are going to the market to do provisioning and laundry and entering all the waypoints in the chart plotter. Terry has called a weather service and got clearance for good weather for the next several days. We'll get our “sappe” on Friday morning but probably won't leave until first light Saturday morning so we can take advantage of the daylight hours to avoid all the commercial traffic making their transits to and from the locks.

We both work very hard but are pleased that we are getting close to setting sail. We marvel the fact that 20 years ago Terry and I just met at the sailing school and learned how to sail. Since then we have done many trips and races together. Now we both have our own boat and this will be our longest trip double-handling together. More later.....Frank


Final Checks before Leaving Panama
4/16/2010, Friday


Yesterday was shopping day. We took the free shuttle bus from the Marina at 8 AM and took over an hour to get into town. Even though it was only a 25 mile run, but we had to cross the Gatun Locks to get onto the south side of the Canal. And of course, we had to wait at the locks for a couple of container ships to clear the locks before we could proceed. It was such an amazing sight seeing how they fit a 600 ft. boat with inches to spare on each side into the lock.

The closest market to the marina in Colon is called Rey and is like a super Safeway store and has everything you need. We bought over 20 bags of groceries and will have food for 3 weeks. We have chickens, steaks, pork chops, ground beef and various canned goods and snacks. We plan to catch some fish en route to supplement our diet. Took a taxi back to the marina but took 90 minutes to get back on account of the busy shipping traffic at the locks.

After unpacking and stowing away all the grocery items, I took a nap and woke up to the excitement of Terry who just got back from the nearby dock seeing two local helpers diving to clean boats. One of the helpers was holding this giant spear gun at the dock safeguarding the one in the water. He was telling Terry there were sightings of crocodiles in the water the last few days therefore he was keeping his buddy safe with the spear gun. You should have seen Terry’s face when he told me as he was in the same water the last few days. And he thought seeing the 4 ft barracuda was bad.

We spent the rest of the afternoon lubricating blocks and tackles and freeing up the whisker pole at the mast to make sure it will be properly deployed when underway. We also changed the furling line at the staysail. A few more little things and we’ll be ready. We also went over our watch system. There’ll be a 3 hours-on and 3 hours-off watch around the clock when under way. I’ll have some food cooked before departure as it will take about 3 days to let our bodies get used to the 24 hour watch system and get our ¨sea legs¨ so to speak. We also went through the content of the survival bag and abandon ship’s procedures. As I said Terry is a meticulous and prudent sailor. You should have seen what was in the survival bag, but that is another story…….

I made Osso Bucco last night and spaghetti and meat balls the night before. Tonight will be curried beef stew. Terry was eating up everything I served and was easy to cook for. Among our grocery list was a bottle of 12 year old SMS (Single Malt Scotch) for me, being Terry is not much of a drinker. But, I made the mistake of giving him a small tot last night before bedtime and he really liked it and he wants to incorporate that into our nightly routine. Guess we’ll run out of SMS before hitting Galveston.

We’ll put up the safety jack lines this afternoon and give the old girl a good scrub and wash, top off her water tanks, pay the bills at the marina, get our sappe and weather fax and will cast off first light Saturday morning.

We have 150 gallons of fresh water plus a 4 gallon per hour water maker, so we’ll have plenty of water. The fuel tank holds 58 gallons of diesel and we have an extra 30 gallons in jerry jugs stored on the foredeck. That translates to over 700 nm (nautical miles) of motoring, i.e. if we have no wind at all; but the weather forecast is good and we’ll be sailing most of the way. (With our fingers crossed)

My next entry will be from Sailmail on Living Water.

Talk soon....