Caribbean Compass Yachting Magazine August 2015

— Continued from previous pageWe randomly shared kitchen duty, with the unwritten rule that the person who didthe cooking didn’t have to wash up.We carried the main and genoa until we were about abeam of Cartagena. This wasfine for the steady 20 knots of true wind we’d been sailing close hauled, but theforecast was for it to increase significantly. So we doused the genoa and hoisted theyankee. We were glad we did. Within hours we were in 30 knots, gusting to the high30s, and were taking a lot of water over the decks that ended up coming straight intothe cockpit.seem to come from an odd angle and we’d launch off its top and crash down into thetrough, causing the rig to shake violently and making us wonder if it would comedown on top of us.There were also long clumps of sargassum everywhere. We’d been in and out of itsince Panama, but out in the open sea the waves and wind drove it into long bands,very thick at times. There were also big schools of flying fish, but other than thosetwo things, we saw no sea life at all.We were about 150 nautical miles from Bahia Honda, Colombia when one of theheadsail sheets parted. Without the headsail up, even with the traveler all the wayto leeward, there was so much weather helm that the boat wanted to round up, soDavid started the engine to keep course while I bent on a new sheet. Just as Davidsaid to Holly “Something doesn’t feel right” I yelled, “Go neutral! Go neutral!” as I sawa line zipping across the coachroof, off the deck and under the boat. In the cleanupof the headsail sheets, we must have knocked over the line for the gybe preventer(funny we had one rigged even though we’d never be going downwind) and somehowit got wrapped around the rudder and sucked into the propeller. Doh!Top: With wind gusting to the high 30s off Colombia, a lot of water ended upcoming straight into the cockpitAbove: Between Puerto Rico and Antigua, we’d regularly have to back down to clearsargassum off the rudder and strutIt was along this leg we found out just how watertight Saltydog was: in general notbad, but there was water coming through the port lights and into the headliner. Allthe salon lights are LEDs, and with all the salt water in and around them, they wouldturn on and off on their own, regardless of the switch position.Near Barranquilla we tacked to the northeast and headed a bit offshore. Themighty Rio Magdalena has a reputation for washing logs, trees, refrigerators and allmanner of other stuff that one doesn’t want to run into in a small boat in themiddle of the night out into the sea. The water was muddy and brown even out 40miles, but we didn’t see or hit anything other than small branches. As soon as wegot a little farther east, the water turned the deep, clear blue that is the hallmarkof the Caribbean.We made long tacks in and out from Barranquilla and past Santa Marta. At around3:00AM on the 28th we reached Cabo de la Vela, where we tacked onto starboard andheaded towards Puerto Rico. (See track chart on next page.)Across the Caribbean, South to NorthThe wind was a pretty steady 30-plus knots. There was a swell of four metres orso, and some that were much bigger, but with a long enough period that it was nottoo uncomfortable. Still, about every fifth or six wave would be big and steep andA line got sucked into the propeller. We decided that I’d jump over and cut it freeWe discussed turning back and sailing for Colombia but none of us wanted to gobackwards unless absolutely necessary. So I climbed out onto the swim step andthrough the clear water I saw that it didn’t look like the line was too badly bound up.We decided that I’d jump over with a knife and cut it free, although this was notHolly’s favorite option seeing as how the transom was lifting a few metres andsmashing down with each wave. There was also the matter of slowing the boatenough to swim under it, since the wind was howling and we were making four tofive knots with no sails up.We found that if Dave got some headway by steering on a sort of broad reach, andthen turned the boat straight into the swell, we’d slow down for a minute or so —enough for me to dive in off the swim step and pull myself up along the hull to getto the prop shaft. The maneuver gave me about 30 seconds at the prop before thewaves would knock us back off the wind, the boat would accelerate, and I’d shootout the back end of the boat, being pulled along in my harness like a trolling lureuntil Dave could head back into wind again.It took us about ten or 15 of those little “runs” to get the line cleared, and then wewere off again.The DR and Puerto Rico“Everybody, listen to me! Listen to me! I know we’re almost there… When we left,we had just enough fuel to make it to San Juan. And we are out of fuel!”— Captain Ron—Continued on next pageAUGUST 2015 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 17