The grand finale

Mon 19-Dec, Passage to Colombia, day 10: With luck this will be our last full day at sea. And according to forecast we are in for quite a grand finale. Winds increasing to 25 gusting 38 knts in the wind acceleration zone near the Colombia coast.

But for now, it’s the same-old, same-old with regards wind and sea. Rarely changes much in the trades. 15-25kts from the east plus or minus 10 degrees. Cloudy is thundering along under full cutter sail and about 50% of mainsail. Genoa is fully rolled away.
Everything outside is wet and salty. Continuous spray.

While I’m pleased to report the newly sealed windscreen opening and resewed sprayhood no longer leak, we do have ingress battles in the aft end of the cockpit. The cockpit tent is installed with sides zipped in. Only the rear panel is removed, otherwise we would roast during the day. Every now and then a breaking wave hits the side of the boat, then bounces on deck, momentarily flooding the windward side. And if we get a hit near the cockpit, the water forces itself up under the tent sides. Basically, the aft of the cockpit is also wet and salty. At least, with the constant “washing”, the salt doesn’t get time to crystallize. And I’m happy all that Maryland (Baltimore and Washington) soot will be totally washed out of the teak decking.

And on this note we can’t help but think how it would be on the newer twin wheel designs, with those helm positions stuck right out there, fully exposed to the weather. Whereas our helm is totally sheltered, with not even a drop of salt water on the steering pedestal (see note at end!). Not that we sit at the helm on passages like this. We are on 2 “Comfort” seats, one either side bench-seat. These Comfort seats allow us to sit facing forwards. This is not only more pleasant than sitting across the cockpit (with feet bracing on the other side) but also negates neck ache from continually looking sideways to see out front, the instruments and the plotter. Oana introduced this idea. I got to like it too and now Ray is also an advocate. We just bought 2 new ones from HR-parts.

And on the theme of leak fixing all the hatches bar one seem to be holding tight. But the bow hatch (now the 3rd different one I’ve put there) still weeps a bit on the rubber seal 🙁 we decide that maybe the combination of foredeck flexing and the continual pounding of seawater somehow breeches the seals. So I ventured to the foredeck and tied a 6mm rope into the gap where the rushing water would hit the seal. Seems to have partially worked. Only a couple of drips now.
What I really need there is a damned submarine hatch. Not this Lewmar greenhouse vent 🤣

On another subject: I’m super happy with our new Iridium-Go external antenna. Originally I had purchased one along with the base unit. But signal strength was worse with it than without it. So we had just been using the Iridium-GO unit up in the cockpit, using its own integral antenna. But I thought I’d try again with a different brand of exterior antenna. As it’s a passive antenna (not powered) the coax cable spec is to be as short as possible and very high signal insulation. But I mounted our new one where the Inmarsat antenna dome had been (on top of radar pole) and simply used the relatively low spec and very long coax left from the Inmarsat. But what do you know, it works great. Better signal and virtually no dropouts comparing to the standalone unit. And with the IG now mounted and wired-in permanently, I leave it on all the time. Calling, texts, emails and getting weather data are all now super simple and efficient. Don’t think I’ll ever be using the HF-SSB with pactor modem ever again!

Have not seen any shipping out here today except one. And of course, that lonely sole had to be on a collision course with us! I duly called on the VHF radio to check they could see us on AIS. But the reply with strong Asian accent didn’t seem to understand. Finally, I managed to get him to understand “please hold your course!”.
“OK OK” came the answer. Although as a sailing boat we have right of way (yes even against super ships!) in cases where communication over radio is tough, better just to tell them to hold course and we do the avoiding. Otherwise, there is a risk of us both doing course changes leading to a possible Chinese dance and actual collision, even though we were both trying to avoid it.
So I turned 10deg to port and 20 mins later he passed 1nm across our bow. Close, because I could hear the low pitch thump-thump-thump of his engine as we passed in the night.

By the evening the wind was howling at 25-30kts with apparent-wind 70degree off the port bow. This was not a problem considering how we were reefed. But what was becoming a worry are these short/steep waves randomly breaking on the port side.
Just before dusk, one such wave hit with such size and force I could momentarily see solid green water the other side of the plastic tent window. How the window held without ripping I don’t know. But that wave then gushed in through every possible gap, flooding the cockpit. Yes, that’s right, the cockpit I just told you didn’t have a drop of water in it!

With that we decided on preparing the boat for even worse conditions. Wash boards went into the companionway, and anything that could possibly fly around in either the cabin or the cockpit was stowed. And I’m now wondering if putting the dinghy back on the davits was so smart. Well, nothing I can do now except hope only spray gets into it. And that the drain plug doesn’t get blocked. I don’t even want to think about a wave dropping in it ….

Then we decide on a definite sleep plan. Because we sense it’s going to be a long night of holding on tight … with fingers and toes crossed for luck!
One thing for certain. Our arrival will be sweet!