Passage to Galapagos

2 April 2013

Letting it all hang out en route Galapagos

There is a lot of debate about shaping the route to Galapagos. For the first few days, the Rumbline always looks inviting, as one eats up the miles, using the NE winds, which are a carryover from the Caribbean system crossing the isthmus, plus the favourable south west setting  current.

One expects, as one gets nearer to the islands, that each days run, will be less than the day before., as the wind dies down. In addition, the current sets further west, and it is very easy to get taken too far west, such that one ends up motoring directly into the SE wind, and the newly arriving, and cold, SW setting, Humbolt current .

I originally planned to shape a course, covering most of the South aspect way inside the rumb line, and only aiming to cross the equator at 84Degs west, from where one can use the SE wind and current to do the last 240 mile approach  from the East. Each day the gribs indicated that the rumb line would be fine, but they lied(!), and of course , neglect the current. We decided on a compromise, and decided to “cut the corner” a bit, eventually crossing the Equator on 87Degs….. but more of that later!

We achieved the following day runs on our trip.     

                                       Day                     Run                      Avr SOG

                                       1                          181 nm                 7.5kt                                                                                                                                                                

                                       2                          142 nm                 5.9kt                                                                                               

                                       3                          157 nm                 6.5kt                                                                                                                                                                             

                                       4                          139 nm                 5.6kt                                                                                           

                                       5                          105 nm                 4.3kt                                                                                                                           

                                       6                          106 nm                 4.4kt                                                                                                                          

                                       7 (16h)                  60 nm                                                                                                                                                                   

                                      TOTAL:               889 nm                 5.4kt                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Interestingly, we shortened the trip by some 50 odd miles from the route I planned, and when I look at the track covered it looks like a very gentle curve on the inside of the Rumb line. What it does not show ,of course, is the headings we were on, and the huge leeways experienced …. 25 to 30Degs was the norm on days 4,5,and 6.

What the hell is this??

On day 4 , we put out the two fishing rods, and it was’nt long before we had a fish on. Mary was so busy filming the event, that I decided to boat the decent sized Bonito, by lifting it out on the leader….. Big mistake, as the fish fell back in the sea, and Mary only ended up  with a glimpse or two of the fish, and plenty of effing and blinding from her skipper! An hour or so later, the smaller rod started screaming, as a MUCH bigger fish took the lure. Having already lost the one, and despite realizing that this fish was probably too big, I let it take out about 350 metres,for maximum stretch, before tightening up the drag, and attempting to drag it for a good 20minutes, to tire the thing out before attempting to bring it in. Step one worked… Step two did’nt work out as planned! The fishes thrashing and fighting must have drawn the attention of some other large denizens of the deep, as after about 10 minutes the fish was hit from below by an even bigger shark, and we were left just towing a few kilos of fish head. Frustratingly, we never even recovered that to find out what the shark had stolen, because the line parted as I was reeling it in, and I was left with…….NOTHING! The lacerations on the line confirmed the shark attack. I gave up fishing for the day, with the score 2-0 to the Pacific!

During the passage, the fleet checked in to the Pan Pacific net at 09.00hrs daily, reporting position and wind and sea state. Another SSB net on the same frequency (8143 USB) was conducted by one of the cruisers, Ron, on “Always Saturday”at 17.00hrs each day, so we were all quite aware of who was where, and of conditions being experienced.

During the first 4 days Sheer Tenacity and Scott Free found themselves about 25 miles apart. ( nobody ever sees another yacht on these long passages, despite the fact that there were 18 of us on the same trip!) On day 5,after the morning check in, Steve and I decided to aim for some common point on the Equator, to cross, at “sundowner time’. We gave ourselves an hour to compute our own suggestions for time and longitude. We then contacted each other at 10.00am, and agreed to meet on the equator,  at precisely 87degs west, at 17.30hrs! Bearing in mind that we were both over 40 miles from this point, and 20 odd miles apart, this was quite some challenge!

Sheer Tenacity and Scott Free crossing the Equator at the same time! 

As it turned out, we both crossed the line inside of one minute of our agreed time of 17.30, about 400metre apart, with neither of us using the engine ! We both recorded the time and crossing on our GPS, and Steve had the forsight to change his chartplotter layout to show both Sheer Tenacity( AIS Image), and Scott Free crossing the line at the same moment, at 17.30!

Crossing the line cake

Chris baked a “Crossing the Line “ cake, with 2 yachts, GBR  , and RSA, as decoration over a red Icing line! Mary baked a Bacon and Asparagus Quiche, which we ate for supper!

From this point onwards, we sailed within sight of each other, and would have arrived at San Cristobal around midnight . That’s not a clever thing to do, so we both slowed down ,ghosting along under Genakers in light and variable winds, choosing to make landfall at dawn the following morning, and what a spectacular landfall it turned out to be!

Sunrise over Kicker Rock, San Cristobal

Sunrise over Kicker Rocks, a glassy sea, teaming with wildlife! Flocks of  little duck like “Auks”, shoveling their bills below the surface, pairs of fins gliding along everywhere, as the rays whose wing tips we were watching, also enjoyed the perfect morning. Some of them were so exuberant that they burst out of the sea in great leaps, landing with much slapping and splashing.

Ray wingtips

As we approached Wreck Bay, a pair of Dolphins materialized in our bow wave, as if to show us the way into the anchorage.

Reuinted with our Panama transit raft buddies

Of all the landfalls Mary and I have now made, this has got to be one of the most exciting.!  Just another  2 or 3 days of  inevitable admin to deal with for “Autographos, clearance, inspections etc, then we are free to explore!