Coopers Quest

[David Fox]

Dont look now theres a ship following us.jpeg (13.21 KiB) Viewed 25915 times

As a side note and in case I didn't explain it well enough, the Gatun locks from yesterday had us enter with the water at the lowest point and the locks then filled to raise us up to the level of the next lock until we got to the highest water point which is at the Gatun lake. The locks today had us entering with the water at the highest point and then draining out to bring us down to the next lock height until we reached the Pacific Ocean level at the end.

Look out Gerry theres a boat behind you.jpg (6.77 KiB) Viewed 25915 times

Once we had cleared all of the locks it was time to break up the raft and for each of us to go our separate ways. We broke out a cold beer / coke and a plateful of water melon and chocolate frosted cake to celebrate the end of the transit, all of which went down well.

Water level dropping, exit gates Pedro Miguel lock.jpeg (12.88 KiB) Viewed 25915 times

As we approached the Balboa Yacht club Gerry radioed ahead and had to resort to using a line handler to translate the instructions, we had to first wait for the pilot boat to collect our adviser and then follow a water taxi to our mooring ball. The pilot boat appeared shortly afterwards and we waved Kirsty goodbye. The line handlers picked up the mooring ball for us and tied us on and then grabbed all of their gear ready to leave. The water taxi collected all of our hired lines and fenders which cost us $12 for him to return to shore with, the line handlers waved us good bye and then there was just the two of us.

Pedro Miguel lock line handler on top of wall.jpeg (8.37 KiB) Viewed 25915 times

We tied a second line to the mooring ball as we normally do and then sat enjoying the relative peace and quiet of just two bodies on our boat. We had finished the transit through the locks at 5.30 pm and it was now approaching 6.30 pm time for a shower, another cold drink and an early night. Neither of us wanted to eat anything, all we needed was a halfway decent night's sleep.

Our raft exiting the Pedro Miguel lock.jpeg (11.56 KiB) Viewed 25915 times

We weren't sure we were going to get it as the mooring field is just to the side of the main channel which is used by every size of ship imaginable plus we were fairly close to the fuel and dropping off dock so there was a constant stream of water taxis and tug boats going backwards and forwards all the time and this didn't stop - it's a 24 hour operation. It really didn't matter we were tired and probably would have slept through the apocalypse!

Dolphins for tying up to.jpeg (8.32 KiB) Viewed 25915 times

All told at the end of the day we had transited the canal with no real problems, Gerry had put George to work during the Gatun lake part of the passage and we are happy to say that everything in that department worked perfectly, I might have to hire Gerry out as an auto pilot fixer now that he has experience!

[David Fox]

Ever Fortune.jpeg (7.52 KiB) Viewed 25907 times

Perhaps they should rename the Ever Given to COSTA FORTUNE.

Didn’t realize they were splitting accommodation from machinery space. I suspect they’ve moved the bridge forward so they can stack containers higher while still having forward visibility. Also the new canal locks don’t use mules - just tugs.Gerry

They either have a Duty Cabin above the ER to crash in when your on the bells, or Engineers must be Olympic 400 metre Hurdle champions to make it in three minutes from the top of the accomodation to the pit. Or they may all be on watches. It would be one heck of a long tailshaft and would be in all sorts of twists and bends given the length, the diameter, alignment and complex stresses caused with cargo work and sea states would have been nigh impossible to design for unless she was diesel electric which wouldn't be viable for a slow speed engine or prop and ship owners cutting costs. David

Balboa - another exotic place apparently!
04 May 2021 | 08 56.256'N:79 33.418'W, Balboa Yacht Club, Balboa, Panama City

We had a better night last night and are feeling almost human again.
Gerry made us coffee and to do this he had to start up the gen set which is where the day began to go to the dogs. The gen set started up OK and the coffee was on its way to being brewed when the gen set suddenly cut out - not a good thing! We drank the coffee that was just about ready and then it was down to finding out why the gen set had cut out, but this job was going to have to wait for a while as Gerry had to go ashore first and get us checked into the yacht club and see if he could get hooked up to the internet and take our trash ashore.

Draining the cooling water on Gen set.jpeg (8.9 KiB) Viewed 25906 times

A water taxi was summoned and off he went whilst I cleaned up the breakfast dishes, made the bed and started to type more blog notes. He wasn't gone for very long and came back with the news that we were booked in for at least 4 days and should have internet access as of now, but when he tried to log on it took ages and a lot of bad temper before it worked. It was now time to tackle the job of the day and find out the cause for the gen set shut down. The investigation started off with Gerry inspecting the offending piece of equipment which is of course located in his favourite place to do boat yoga - the port side lazarette, out in the cockpit.

Unblocking hose on water cooler for Gen Set.jpeg (10.17 KiB) Viewed 25906 times

His first (and probably only) thought was that it had overheated, the real question was why as the load wasn't high enough to cause overheating under normal circumstances. It seemed that there was apparently an issue with reduced cooling water flow. The first check was on the strainer for the incoming sea water in case there was a blockage which proved negative. The next thought was that it could have been the water pump impeller which might have been damaged and not pumping properly, but as this had only recently been changed it probably wasn't the issue and was by passed, which left a blockage as the possible cause for the shutdown.

The sea water hoses were removed along with the sacrificial zinc plug. The zinc in the brass plug had disintegrated and was no longer attached to the brass plug where it was meant to be, which meant it was floating around somewhere inside the cooling system. Another possible reason for the overheating was considered at this point, the heat exchanger may have scale on it preventing transfer of heat to the sea water, to this end Gerry introduced muriatic acid into the heat exchanger to dissolve any scale build up. Meanwhile a new zinc plug was adapted to suit the holder and the water pipework was reinstalled.

Acid washing water cooler on Gen set.jpeg (12.92 KiB) Viewed 25906 times

The engine was restarted and water was seen coming out of the anti-syphon valve indicating a blockage further down the system. The pipe work was removed from there and the nipple on the exhaust elbow was also removed as it looked to be blocked by the remnants of the disintegrated zinc, these were then cleaned of debris, reinstalled and the engine retested. All worked as it should this time around. Only time will tell if this was the cause of the engine shutting down.

So we are obviously in yet another exotic place as things need fixing, lucky us!

The afternoon was spent trying to sort out the requirements for our next stop or two, there are so many forms to complete for each different country and emails going backwards and forwards that it makes your head spin.

The road to Wigan Pier- George Orwell

Long dock walkway Balboa yacht club.jpeg (6.74 KiB) Viewed 25906 times

Sitting the Dock of the Bay.

Gerry is very good at getting this crap sorted out, even though his temper gets the better of him when things don't happen as quickly or efficiently as he would like. We have had a stumbling block with trying to organise a stop-over in Fiji, which although we know is still a long way ahead we are trying to get sorted out well in advance.

We apparently need to have an agent to be able to check in there, they have followed every other country in this requirement, and Gerry has sent emails to the agents who are recommended but so far has received replies from two, one of whom has retired even though his name is still listed and another who no longer works for the nominated company! It is most frustrating and adds to the stress of trying to do the right thing and abide by the country's rules and regulations. There is a group site called South Pacific Kamikazes, a group of mostly Aussies and Kiwis heading home which allows people to post about where they are and the problems they have encountered with any place they have stopped.

It makes very interesting reading and gives information about things in the various places that may or may not happen or be required.

One post in particular that we took note of was from the Galapagos where the couple posting was subjected to some ridiculous and over the top inspection that nothing to do with any possible harm to the islands, for example wanting to inspect the first aid kit on board - what this has to do with them we just don't know.

Balboa yach club ameneties block.jpeg (6.35 KiB) Viewed 25906 times

Anyway it just confirmed for us that we don't need to be going anywhere near the Galapagos, it's a shame as it was such a great place to see and we are very glad that we did it on our last trip. Of course we are in ever changing times and borders are being slammed shut and then opened at the turn of key so we are having to take each and every new country at the moment we are going to arrive there and even though we are looking as far ahead as possible anything could change before we actually arrive making it ever difficult to plan anything.

Balboa Yatch Club, looks flash sort of a place.

[David Fox]

17th May 2021
Weather: Hot and Humid
Gerry & Nicky are still swing round the tyre, with nothing to do waiting for those two blocks fòr the rigging and trying to book entries to certain islands along the way.

West Panama Canal Sunset.jpeg (9.69 KiB) Viewed 25875 times

One I made earlier and forgot to include.

Second Day Transit through Panama Canal.jpeg (41.85 KiB) Viewed 25760 times

A day in the air conditioned cool of the local American shopping mall revived the flagging couple.
Now I'm starting to flag after another tiring week in Hull, but we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel ( unless its someone with a torch or a jar of gloworms).
Will continue this when I'm a little less sleepy.
20.05.21 back in Berkshire until Sunday.

Not a lot happening in Panama, Gerry is having a frustrating time booking further stops along the way.
They are still waiting for the spare telemotor brushes, must be coming via the Space Station as Nicky says. They ordered some blocks for the rigging and it looks like they may be coming the same way.

So before I leave again here are a few images of Panama to tide you over.

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Bridge of the Americas at Balboa.jpeg (7.7 KiB) Viewed 25861 times

Bridge of the Americas at dusk.jpeg (6.13 KiB) Viewed 25861 times

From the most obese populated country and you can see why, plus they cannot spell.
Rather them than me.

[David Fox]

Things are still slow, a bit more street art from Cartegena.

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40 Street art Getsemani.jpeg (5.08 KiB) Viewed 25858 times

[David Fox]

Now for a few things nautical.

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And one for that section of society that may appreciate the colour scheme.
I could not see a bunch of Scousers joining a ship that colour, they would be straight over the side on staging and rafts giving the hull what for in any colour they could find, but pink or other feminine colours.
Shots from Panama.

KFC in Panama City.jpeg (11.84 KiB) Viewed 25858 times

Panama Barios.jpeg (6.6 KiB) Viewed 25858 times

The other side of the tracks.

[David Fox]

Movement at last, here is the email that Gerry just sent.
Well, we set sail tomorrow for an exciting 25 - 30 day trip. At least we have permission, permits etc for FP.
We have applied for Fiji and they are just waiting on the COVID test results from FP and we should be good there. A friend of ours is looking after our arrival into Southport Yacht Club, just south of Brisbane. Had a text from a guy today who said he’d seen a package at Colon post office with our name on it - no word from the USPS. Well, I could spend another $50 on a taxi to go there but I’m not.
Regards Gerry

As Sir Rod Stewart sung, " We are sailing". https://youtu.be/weqgFrL5Zsk His voice hasn't improved with age unlike wine, he must still gargle on broken glass.


We wish them both Godspeed and a safe passage. I will try and keep up with their blogs, just about to start selling my Mother's house, so another week in Hull, but meeting a couple of Blueys up there for lunch, which will be a welcome change.

Panama canal Monument to Geothals - construction manager.jpeg (8.08 KiB) Viewed 25850 times

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Sky scraper Panama City.jpeg (8.55 KiB) Viewed 25850 times

Twisted in Panama City.jpeg (5.59 KiB) Viewed 25850 times

[David Fox]

Out of Panama at last.
22 May 2021
At sea to Nuku Hiva
My copy and pasting may need a bit of editing with doubled up pasting by accident
Here is Nicky

So another 5 days have whizzed by without me typing anything, guess it's about time I caught you up with our exciting lives.

We spent the first couple of days doing nothing very much and trying our best to keep cool in the escalating humidity, not helped by afternoon thunder storms and lightening.

Whilst we tried to amuse ourselves onboard we were making ever shifting plans for our onward journey. Now that we had our permission granted to stop off in French Polynesia, if only for 4 days, we needed to get organised with the paperwork etc for the port of call that will follow. We plan on heading to Fiji after Nuku Hiva and of course there is a whole lot of hoops to jump through to gain admission there, it's not quite so much of an ordeal as French Polynesia as the Fijian's have a "blue lane" admission protocol for boats arriving.

We had to firstly contact an agent who then sent us instructions as to what paperwork we needed to send in along with instructions to follow prior to our arrival.
one thing that has us scratching our heads is the negative covid test that has to be sent into them 72 hrs before we leave our previous port, this basically means that we need to have a covid test as soon as we arrive in Nuku Hiva and send it in then spend our 4 days there where we could possibly pick up the virus before we set sail for Fiji.



We will no doubt be tested again on arrival into Fiji so what is the point in sending off a negative test 72hrs before leaving French Polynesia - we just don't get it! We also have to send in health declarations, prior to arrival so let's hope that neither of us turns up our toes and dies before arrival or it will make the health declarations a bit of a waste of time!

At least we moving forward and know that we will arrive into Fiji and be welcome!

So the latter part of the 5 days has been a rush around to make sure that we are ready to leave, this has meant a couple more trips to the supermarket where we have cleaned them out of chocolate and snack stuff to while away the long and boring days ahead. We have been to the very large fruit and vegetable growers market as our last trip out to stock up on the perishables, not that they will last us the entire trip to Nuku Hiva but we will at least have fresh stuff for the first couple of weeks then we will be down to tinned and frozen stuff.

I just hope that we have sufficient to make something that is recognisable! Then of course there has been the cooking marathon, making up a weeks-worth of "instant dinners" stuff which gets frozen and pulled out and zapped in the microwave when it's too rough or we are too tired to bother with making something from scratch, I tell you cooking up that many meals in a stinking hot kitchen when it's humid is no fun but at least it will stand us in good stead. Getting it to freeze down was a 2 day effort. I'm sure that I should have made a cake and some bread but we can manage without that for a few days and then we just have to hope there is a relatively calm day when the oven isn't rocking badly.

No prep would be complete without the obligatory visit to the laundrette and we have managed to go twice in the 5 days! I decided to rip off all the salon cushion covers and get them cleaned for the pacific part of the trip, it was well worth the $6.50 to get them done! It's just a shame that the taxi fare to the laundrette is $10, the yacht club washing machines still haven't reappeared from their maintance/ repair so Gerry complained to the office that it wasn't much of a yacht club with no bar, no restaurant and now no washing machines, I think the office girl was caught on the hop as she gave Gerry a further $5 discount per night for the entire time we have been here. I had to point out to him, yet again, that we paid $30 a night for a mooring in the BVI's with no water taxi service, no WIFI and no free water so we weren't doing so badly here in Balboa.

The only regret about Panama City was that we never did get to return to the ancient ruins or the museum as each time we took the taxi out it poured with rain making them impossible places to visit. We have eaten out for most of the week at TGI Friday's which is the nearest restaurant to the yacht club, we know the menu off by heart and the wait staff know our drink order without even having to ask - it is certainly time to leave!

Oh I almost forgot our blocks arrived from the USA, directly into the store exactly when the sales lady said they would, so the traveller blocks have been changed out and we should have no problem from them now and we have the emergency ones we used back in the spares locker - just in case!

What about the auto pilot brushes I hear you asking, well funny story, just last night Gerry got a message from one of the guys on the South Pacific Kamikaze group asking if we were waiting for a package as he had seen a package addressed to Opal of Queensland in the Panama City post office that morning.

Crap! If only it had happened 2 days ago, it was never going to get to us before this morning so we have written it off as a lost cause because trying to chase it down in Panama City in half a day was never going to happen and would have cost us a small fortune in taxi fares to even attempt to get it.

We arrived at this morning after a bit of a restless night, too many thoughts whirling through our heads about what we have forgotten - well it's too bad we are just going to have to make do with what we have on board until we get to Nuku Hiva. I played possum whilst Gerry took down our awnings and put the helm back into place, finally showing my face in time for coffee and toast. We had been told that 9 am was usually a good time to go along side to fill up with fuel so with this in mind we stowed away all those pesky things that fly off of shelves, spill out onto the floor and generally bang and clatter around if not stashed away properly, got out the head sets and called the dock ready to go alongside.

We were told to hold off as there was a couple of boats which were taking on stores docked alongside and they would let us know when the dock was free to let us go in. we sat and twiddled our thumbs for the next hour, all dressed up and nowhere to go! Did we think to get the safety jackline out and ready?

Did we think to get the life jackets on deck? Did we think to make some sandwiches for lunch? Of course not, they are all things to be done at the very last minute when we are shouting at each other in panic! Eventually we got the call from the dock and I dropped the mooring line whilst Gerry motored us in towards the dock, ripping the roots away from the bottom of the harbour that we are now part of, where we were met by a whole lot of dock men who helped to tie us up (I think Gerry deliberately sends me out on deck to throw the dock lines as I look more helpless than he does with throwing lines ashore!) anyway we were tied up in no time and our fuel tanks were topped off with 64 gallons at the grand total of US$206 ($3.23per gallon).
trips to the supermarket where we have cleaned them out of chocolate and snack stuff to while away the long and boring days ahead. We have been to the very large fruit and vegetable growers market as our last trip out to stock up on the perishables, not that they will last us the entire trip to Nuku Hiva but we will at least have fresh stuff for the first couple of weeks then we will be down to tinned and frozen stuff. I just hope that we have sufficient to make something that is recognisable! Then of course there has been the cooking marathon, making up a weeks-worth of "instant dinners" stuff which gets frozen and pulled out and zapped in the microwave when it's too rough or we are too tired to bother with making something from scratch, I tell you cooking up that many meals in a stinking hot kitchen when it's humid is no fun but at least it will stand us in good stead. Getting it to freeze down was a 2 day effort. I'm sure that I should have made a cake and some bread but we can manage without that for a few days and then we just have to hope there is a relatively calm day when the oven isn't rocking badly.

1995sun set Balboa Panama.jpg (5.77 KiB) Viewed 25771 times

No prep would be complete without the obligatory visit to the laundrette and we have managed to go twice in the 5 days! I decided to rip off all the salon cushion covers and get them cleaned for the pacific part of the trip, it was well worth the $6.50 to get them done! It's just a shame that the taxi fare to the laundrette is $10, the yacht club washing machines still haven't reappeared from their maintance/ repair so Gerry complained to the office that it wasn't much of a yacht club with no bar, no restaurant and now no washing machines, I think the office girl was caught on the hop as she gave Gerry a further $5 discount per night for the entire time we have been here. I had to point out to him, yet again, that we paid $30 a night for a mooring in the BVI's with no water taxi service, no WIFI and no free water so we weren't doing so badly here in Balboa. The only regret about Panama City was that we never did get to return to the ancient ruins or the museum as each time we took the taxi out it poured with rain making them impossible places to visit. We have eaten out for most of the week at TGI Friday's which is the nearest restaurant to the yacht club, we know the menu off by heart and the wait staff know our drink order without even having to ask - it is certainly time to leave!

Oh I almost forgot our blocks arrived from the USA, directly into the store exactly when the sales lady said they would, so the traveller blocks have been changed out and we should have no problem from them now and we have the emergency ones we used back in the spares locker Ð just in case! What about the auto pilot brushes I hear you asking, well funny story, just last night Gerry got a message from one of the guys on the South Pacific Kamikaze group asking if we were waiting for a package as he had seen a package addressed to Opal of Queensland in the Panama City post office that morning. Crap! If only it had happened 2 days ago, it was never going to get to us before this morning so we have written it off as a lost cause because trying to chase it down in Panama City in half a day was never going to happen and would have cost us a small fortune in taxi fares to even attempt to get it.

We arrived at this morning after a bit of a restless night, too many thoughts whirling through our heads about what we have forgotten - well it's too bad we are just going to have to make do with what we have on board until we get to Nuku Hiva. I played possum whilst Gerry took down our awnings and put the helm back into place, finally showing my face in time for coffee and toast. We had been told that 9 am was usually a good time to go along side to fill up with fuel so with this in mind we stowed away all those pesky things that fly off of shelves, spill out onto the floor and generally bang and clatter around if not stashed away properly, got out the head sets and called the dock ready to go alongside. We were told to hold off as there was a couple of boats which were taking on stores docked alongside and they would let us know when the dock was free to let us go in. we sat and twiddled our thumbs for the next hour, all dressed up and nowhere to go!

Did we think to get the safety jackline out and ready?

Did we think to get the life jackets on deck?

Did we think to make some sandwiches for lunch?

Of course not, they are all things to be done at the very last minute when we are shouting at each other in panic!

1996sun set Balboa Panama.jpg (5.49 KiB) Viewed 25771 times

Eventually we got the call from the dock and I dropped the mooring line whilst Gerry motored us in towards the dock, ripping the roots away from the bottom of the harbour that we are now part of, where we were met by a whole lot of dock men who helped to tie us up (I think Gerry deliberately sends me out on deck to throw the dock lines as I look more helpless than he does with throwing lines ashore!) anyway we were tied up in no time and our fuel tanks were topped off with 64 gallons at the grand total of US$206 ($3.23per gallon).

Thanks to the rain that we have had in the last few days our water tanks were just about full so we didn't take on any water. We bid a final farewell to the dock guys and water taxi drivers and let the lines go - we were on our way at 10.15am, motoring out of the extremely busy port, dodging between the numerous ships that were out at anchor awaiting their turn to go through the canal or waiting on crew changes or covid restrictions being lifted at their intended destinations.

I tidied away the fenders and dock lines, we won't be needing those again for a while. Gerry radioed the Flamenco signalling station to let them know we were leaving the port of Panama and that our destination is Nuku Hiva - the formalities were complete. Once we were almost clear of the main channel Gerry set about raising the main sail - just in case!

1997sun set Balboa Panama.jpg (60.13 KiB) Viewed 25771 times

The wind was negligible and we didn't even need to change direction to hoist the darned sail, keeping it centre lined until we stumbled across the first breath of wind a little later.

The sea was like a pond to begin with - not a single ripple to seen, no waves and no swell. We saw our first 3 dolphins as we passed the final few ships and I snapped a quick photo as they vanished off to the starboard side. Gerry checked the engine and the bilge, nothing out of the ordinary happening there thank goodness, George is behaving beautifully and doing his share of the work. It was time to run the water maker for the first time in weeks, it has been flushed regularly but we needed to be certain it was operational, I'm happy to say it's all working as it's supposed to and we have completely topped off our water tanks.

[David Fox]

One day down

Becalmed (almost) in the Pacific. Four and a half knots motor sailing. Not good.
23rd May 06 57.199 N 80 15.932 W

Weather; muggy, overcast and humid, wind 0-5 knots, waves 2 metre swell with short interval - yuk!


I spoke far too soon yesterday about good sailing, which it was at the time, of course as soon as I said it everything changed and not for the better. We had known that the winds around the Gulf of Panama were supposed to be light and variable so it shouldn't have come as any surprise when they died away to nothing. It got to snore o'clock yesterday afternoon and I sent Gerry below to see if he could sneak an hour of sleep in, I think it was about 40 mins later that the wind took a holiday and skipped town, I waited for a short while and when our speed dropped to 2 knots I finally gave in and yelled out to Gerry that I was going to make some wind - it was important to let him know as he was sleeping in the quarter berth and as soon as the engine started up he would have been up and questioning everything. Of course the engine starting up signalled the end of his snore o "clock and he came back out on deck to help me furl away the jib and the staysail which were flapping pointlessly at this stage.

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We centred the main to stop it flopping from one side to the other and motored for pretty much the remainder of the evening. There was no sun set as the sky was just one mass of cloud cover. We forced ourselves to have some dinner even though neither of us were particularly hungry and then it was time to start the night watches. Gerry wanted me to go first but I wasn't in the least bit sleepy so I just sat in the cockpit and watched the water. With no wind and up until this point totally flat seas there should have been nothing to see. I eventually went down below at 9pm to see if I could grab a couple of hours sleep whilst the going was good, taking myself to the forward stateroom where I wouldn't be disturbed by the engine noise and heat.

I was being disturbed by the boat bouncing up and down and I could hear Gerry doing something with the sails. The wind had apparently reappeared and he was deploying the jib once again and letting the boom out so that the main could do its thing.
Unfortunately we had also found the swell which was now at about 2 metres and had a very short interval which was causing us to rocket up in the air and then plummet down in the trough pretty badly - very uncomfortable at this point. The engine went off and we sailed pretending that we were on a Disney ride for a while until the speed crept up over 9 knots and we furled the jib away as Gerry hates not being in control of the boat movement.

Although it was still a bumpy ride it was time for Gerry to get some sleep and he opted to try sleeping in the cockpit which was partially successful. Then the rain started so we had to close up the curtains which made the cockpit hot - there really is no pleasing some people! At least we stayed dry. I haven't mentioned that the sky was alight with lightening dead ahead of us for the majority of the night, whilst it was dispersed by the cloud cover and we couldn't see any bolts it still worries me to be out on the water with an enormous metal stick pointing skywards just asking for the lightening to hit here - luckily it didn't. The rest of the night passed with us trying to grab some sleep when we could with the motor and George doing all the hard work, all we had to do was watch out for the ships that were coming or going to the Canal, of which there was plenty.

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Morning broke with the same dull and overcast sky as last night and no wind what so ever. We have had the engine running all morning and apart from a short period where we found a current there has been nothing to push us along. in desperation to get out of the Gulf of Panama during daylight today Gerry put the drifter up for a while, it didn't do a lot of good but we kept moving forward until the puff of wind changed direction so the drifter is back in its sock for the time being.

For those that don't know the drifter is a very lightweight nylon sail on the lines of a spinnaker but about half the size and is only flown out to one side of the boat and not across the entire bow like a spinnaker is. I did take a couple of photos of it up , not particularly good ones but I'm sure there will be another chance further down the track.

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[David Fox]

Day 2 done and dusted
24 May 2021 | 05 04.076'N:80 31.174'W, At sea to Nuku Hiva

Weather; muggy, overcast and humid with rain showers, wind 0-5 knots, waves 2 metre swell with short interval - yuk!

Here I was thinking that the terrible twos only applied to small children, I was so very wrong, it also applies to sailing days and we were well into day two. Our day two was horrible from the outset more or less, the wind decided to go somewhere else and barely showed up to help us along apart from a couple of odd moments during the night however the swell became a bit like a toddler throwing a tantrum in the supermarket, the only difference being that we couldn't walk away and watch from a distance, we were front and centre of the response team!

The height of the swell wasn't too bad but the interval was short and sharp so we were like the horses on a carousel going up and crashing down, I think we were making more movement sideways than forwards at the time and this went on for all of the daylight hours. Yet again the sun failed to put in an appearance and the sky was just a mass of white, grey and black clouds as far as the eye could see. Interestingly we saw the most amount of dolphins playing on the waves so far this entire trip they were too far away for any good photos though which was a shame as they were the highlight of our day.

We missed out on lunch entirely as neither of us could be bothered to go below and get anything with the bouncing around we were doing but this put more pressure on the need to cook up something for dinner. I had spent most of the day feeling a bit nauseous and was hoping that Gerry would sort out dinner, it wasn't my lucky day and at around 4.30pm I thought that I had better get something organised or we wouldn't be eating at all.

Luckily the swell was beginning to drop a bit so I made a dash below and threw together a fish casserole which just then needed to be in the oven for an hour before we wanted to eat. Gerry went below in time to put the dinner in to cook and we were ready to eat by 6.30pm, no sooner had we finished eating than it began to rain so everything got battened down and we began the night watches.

Again neither of us slept particularly well for the first 5 hours, we both just snatched an hour or so trying each of the sleeping spots in turn to avoid the heat and noise of the engine in the quarter berth, the bouncing up and down in the forward stateroom, the clanging and flapping of the boom and the sails in the salon and the rain and humidity in the cockpit - it was hard to pick the right spot!

By midnight I was ready to sleep for a week and tried the salon once again, this time managing to sleep, albeit broken sleep, for 3hours - it was better than nothing and time for Gerry to try again. He surfaced after an hour and I sent him back below for almost another 2 hours, we had both finally managed to get a bit of sleep and were ready to battle on.

Today dawned whilst I was below trying for a bit more sleep, when I appeared back in the cockpit at 5.30am the sky was yet again full of cloud and not a ray of sun to be seen. The sea had dropped away to almost nothing
in the final couple of hours and we were back to pond like waters, this of course was reflected in the amount of wind that we haven't got.

To this moment we have run the engine with the full main deployed and with or without the jib and staysail flying for the last 20 hours and only managed 4 hours of just sailing, the smell of the diesel is getting to me and the constant engine thrumming it getting more irritating by the minute but I'm glad we have the option or we would be wallowing along at 0-1 knots if we were relying on the wind and sails alone.

So our terrible day two saw us cover just 118NM, but it's 118 NM less than when we started out so we aren't complaining! It was so calm that we both managed to have a decent shower, cups of coffee and egg and bacon rolls for breakfast, thinking that we
should make the most of the opportunity.

We haven't seen anything else on the water for the last 24 hours, all we can see in every direction is water and sky. Gerry has checked the engine and the auto pilot, both are running well with no issues to date, fingers crossed it stays that way. The water maker is running as I type to replenish what we used in showering and washing out clothing and dishes.

Gerry has put the fishing stick in the water so we will be having chicken tonight! I really don't know why he bothered with the fishing stick as we are hard pushed to maintain 5 knots at present and we really need to be doing about 6 knots to troll for fish, oh well it's keeping him amused!

[David Fox]

Day 3, The day the music died
25 May 2021 | 03 21.347'N:80 21.243'W, At sea to Nuku Hiva

Weather; muggy, overcast and humid with rain showers, wind 0-5 knots, waves
1 - 2 metre swell with short interval

For the majority of the day though we had flat clam waters and next to no wind to push us along which meant that we had the engine running for 21 hours and were only managing a measly 4.5 knots at best. By the time the 24hours were up we had only covered 112 NM and we are not actually on course for the Galapagos way point as yet, we need the wind to turn a bit and for us to head out away from the land mass. It's a frustrating passage at the best of times and this certainly can't be counted as the best, nothing for it but too keep plugging away and hoping that we find those elusive winds soon.

The reason for the title is that when Nicky went to listen to her ipad she couldn't access her music. So Gerry had a look and wiped the lot. I am sure there was a bit of sailoress speak from Nicky and he almost had to walk the plank, but his redeeming features of being able to fix most things gave him a stay.

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One of Gerry's ships, but missed him on that one.



Day 4, no excitement today
26 May 2021 |
01 45.850'N:80 17.691'W,

As you can see if you are checking the map or the long and Lat we are making some progress, albeit slow. We are continuing along the coast line rather than heading towards the Galapagos as the wind is still pretty fickle, light and mostly on our nose, we are hopeful that by tonight we will be able to change tack and head towards the Galapagos but that's a few hours away so who knows. Nothing very much happened for the rest of the day yesterday, the sky clouded over and remained that way, dropping a couple of loads of rain in the afternoon. The engine kept us from wallowing around but even with the full main and stay sail up and the engine running we were still only managing to move along at 4-5 knots and sometimes less. In the 24 hours we managed a massive 115NM - slow but we are getting there, hopefully only another 26 days to go!

Day 5, No fish for dinner, 2 lures down
27 May 2021 | 01 27.236'N:
82 13.875'W,

Weather; muggy, overcast and humid with rain showers, wind between 5 and 23 knots, waves 1-3 metre

We were heading along the coast still, well that all came to a screaming stop at midday as we changed tack and turned to head towards the Galapagos. At that time we had a wind speed of around 5 knots and it was just at the point where we could sail, albeit very slowly and with the white flappy things doing a good impression of washing drying in the breeze so we continued to motor sail to begin with. This all came to an end 2 hours later when the wind kicked up and we had a good 15 knots which meant we could deploy the jib and switch the motor off - blissful silent sailing along.

But I've got ahead of myself here and left out the most important part of the day, Gerry had put the fishing stick out much to my amusement with a red feathered lure on the end - I'm not sure what he was trying to attract but 15 minutes after sitting back down the reel began to spool out, surely not a fish on the line! Gerry jumped up first as he was closest and began to reel in at the same time yelling for me to look behind us - we had hooked a sail fish and it was leaping out of the water trying to dislodge the hook. As I turned to look behind me Gerry let out another whoop and then announced that it had gotten away - boo and hiss! I never did get to see it but Gerry was so damn excited about it that it's a shame it didn't even get to make the photo album. When he finished reeling in the line he found that the entire hook, line and sinker had been chomped through and was gone - guess that sail fish really wanted a red feather dinner! So that was our first strike and one that got away. Gerry rigged up another hook with a pink feather lure this time (really don't know why we have feather lures, I think Gerry must have picked them!) and back in the water the line went with both of us commenting that we had done our dash for the day and we both sat back down for less than five minutes as the line started to spool out again almost immediately, once more Gerry began reeling in something heavy but didn't get to see it break the water surface as it managed to chomp through the line almost straight away, a repeat of the reeling in an empty line with no hook line or sinker followed - at this rate we were going to be out of lures before we get to the end of the day! Third time lucky? Well the line went out, we sat back down and waited this time it went off again after about 15 minutes, we both jumped up and Gerry began the reeling in process yelling for me to look behind us the fish on the line was leaping out of the water and we could distinctly see it was a Mahi Mahi and a good size to reel in and have for dinner but he was putting up one hell of a fight to get off the hook. Gerry managed to get it half way back to the boat before it succeeded in making its escape - so we were now 2 lures down for 3 strikes and not a damn fish to show for the effort, good job I had made chilli bake for dinner.

It was soon after this that the wind speed picked up and we packed the fishing stick away as we had other things to keep us occupied like trying to control the boat speed and adjusting the sails. The rest of the evening and the entire night was like Mr Toad's wild ride. At one point the wind got up to 23 knots and we were hurtling along, heeled over with water rushing down the gunwales and making moving around the boat an impossible task. The jib got furled away at some point during the night as the crashing through the waves was leaving us both unable to sleep, try as we might.

It finally settled down to a steady 17 knots early this morning and we were happy to sail along at the 5 - 6 knots that we were now comfortably doing even if we are looking at the world from a tilted angle. We have managed to catch up with a bit of sleep and even risked life and limb in the shower (which was luke-warm as we hadn't had the engine running). I even baked some muffins for breakfast after an epic struggle to stay up right whilst mixing them up. We are trying to take it easy today and not add any more bruises or aches and pains to our ever growing collections. We managed to cover 126NM in the 24 hours and only 2 hours' worth of that was using the engine, so from a sailing point of view things are looking better, pity about the sleep angle!

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