January 5, 2013-Sailing to the Darien

Beating out of the Gulf of Morrosquillo

The afternoon sea breeze filled as expected and at 13:00 Wings weighed anchor and slipped away to the south-west under plain sail, bound for the Sapzurro, in the Darien Province, on the Isthmus of Panama.

The wind, which they thought would clock around to the NW and lift them clear of land, held stubbornly to the SW, and, to add insult to injury, even backed a little and they had to beat out of the Gulf Morrosquillo to reach open water.

Nor did the wind clock during the afternoon or even as night fell but there was nothing to be done for it and they just hardened up and worked the vessel as close to the wind as they could as they sailed down the Colombian coast, sometimes skirting just off shore of the shallows and sometimes sailing inside of islands. The lights of the coast seemed close.

By morning however, the expected shift finally came and Wings was lifted. The sheets could be eased. The speeds went up. The sailing became easier.

And when, at mid-morning, the mountains of the Darien hove into view through the mist, their spirits were also lifted as they anticipated the landfall in a new place.

They anchored in Sapzurro at 13:00, 24 hours after setting sail.

Click here for some photos.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Sapzurro, Colombia

December 27, 2013-Leaving Cartagena

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Ready to leave Club Nautico

Breaking Free of Marina Comforts

Life becomes comfortable when you are in port with the conveniences you have at the dock and the friends you invariably make and after a period of time in port you have developed some familiar routines and it becomes hard to leave. Days turn into weeks and weeks into months and months can become years as has happened to cruisers in every port we’ve been in; they never meant to stay there but all of a sudden it has been, well, as in the case of our friends Kenny and Jessie in Cartagena, six years.

It could happen to us, and certainly it will one day, but not this time.

So on Saturday we broke free of the inertia of port. We ran Blue Peter up, loaded the last of the provisions, collected the crew (just ourselves) , and cast off the lines. We pulled out of Cartagena and barely looked back.

Oh we’ll miss Cartagena, especially some friends like Omar and Geoff, and Kenny and Jessie and the others, and Cartagena has been good, but now it is time for a new adventures; there are new horizons calling to us and we are eager to go meet them.

We headed south.

Kenny told us about a patch of sand in 18 feet of water in a protected spot between two islands, Isla Grande and Isla Caribaru, called Isla Naval and that’s where we headed first. Coral reefs extend for miles around the Colombian islands known as the Rosariaos and it is rare to find a sheltered anchorage deep enough for a sailing yacht among the flats and but this place is one and we are glad to find it with its crystal clear water, which after Cartagena, was welcome. We stayed five days, swam a lot, saw some fish, and we cleaned the bottom and were astonished at the growth which happened in just one month in Cartagena since the antifouling paint was applied and visited the aquarium a few miles west, which was nice too. We enjoyed our first anchorage in the Rosarios. Thank you, Kenny.

Anchored in The Rosarios


But the wind blew hard every night at Isla Naval, it’s the season of the feared Christmas Winds, and we were ready to leave by Boxing Day so the morning after a nice Christmas dinner for just the two of us onboard Wings, we weighed and headed for the town of Baru.

Hectic Day to go to Baru

On Boxing Day (December 26) we had a few minor issues to deal with:

• We found we had a big propane leak which emptied one of our two tanks, we disassembled the propane plumbing and found a leak which was a cracked fitting for the pressure gauge, which we bypassed and hope that solves the problem.
• We broke the windlass raising anchor and we had to drive around with the anchor hanging down while we installed the spare, home-made, chain stripper.
• Racing to town to buy propane to replace what we lost the Mercury outboard motor stalled and we had to row back to Wings and take off carburetor and float chamber and free what looked like a stuck float valve and we were lucky not to lose the small parts which dropped into dingy bottom.
• Finally got to town and we had to buy 40lb propane tank since they don't refill propane here and that was the smallest they sell and besides being 4 times the amount we needed, it was heavy. But we got it out to the boat OK.
• We got lost in the bayous coming back from Baru but found our way shortly.
• Our dingy flooded and nearly sank. It's leaking water really badly, but we think it is the drain valve so we closed that and bailed like crazy.
• Back on Wings we tipped the big tank over and hung it from the boom and poured propane into our tank (using cannibalized parts from our system which had to be disassembled again) and we were very happy to get our tank filled.
• However, tipping the big tank over got dirt in valve and we could not shut off the flow of propane, so quite a bit of propane was vented to the atmosphere, lucky we had extra, and lucky there was no explosion. We're sorry about the air pollution, we hope it does not destroy the ozone layer.
• Finally we put everything back together and had a drink.
• (Oh, I forgot to mention, we broke one of our oars, Dang!)

The boy that fixed our outboard


Two Boys

Even after working for a couple of hours on the outboard on Thursday it still gave us problems on Friday when we left to go to town to return the propane tank. I thought for sure that the float was stuck again but we were short of time and we struggled with it instead of stopping to fix it and finally got to town to return our half filled, extra large, broken valve'd, propane tank so we could reclaim our deposit. While docking the motor finally gave out big time; I couldn't get it started to save my soul and we rowed to the dock. Two small boys were watching and I gave them a "its dead" slice across my neck. They looked on impassively.

Then we put the motor issues behind us for a while and went to town. We returned the propane tank and walked every street I think, many of them more than once. Got some nice photos. Baru is a very tranquil place. Most of our photo shots of the streets showed no people. There weren't many. But the ones we found were friendly and helpful. Some even spoke English.

Baru Street


The highlight of the day was buying two very cold beers at one small store, which was our lunch, since the restaurants were not open yet.

Getting back to the dingy a couple of hours later, as we came around the corner, I saw one of the boys fiddling with our outboard. Without giving it a thought I gave a whistle and waved him away. It's not surprising to find boys messing around with your dingy while you are gone but this was different. When we got to the boat the one boy said something to me about the fuel line, and pointed to it. I said, "This line?" and he nodded. "So What." I thought, but when I tried the motor it started right away. More amazing, it ran perfectly all the way back out to Wings.

So I guess that boy did something to our fuel line, what I have no idea, but it was a nice thing. Too bad I didn't give him credit or even thank him, but I didn't know he was just helping us out.

Click here for more photos of the Rosarios.

Click here for more photos of Baru.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Baru, Colombia

December 20, 2013-Christmas in Colombia

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Merry Christmas

I’ve been scanning old log book pages and saving them on the blog and while doing that I end up reading and reliving each one. This week I have been working on 1989, when Judy and I were still in Seattle sailing Wings and living aboard, and I enjoyed remembering those old days.

Then, as I saved the page I was reading, my screen saver popped back into view and it showed a beautiful shot of Judy from 2013, on Wings, laughing with some of our crew, and it was from a race here in Cartagena.

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Then and Now

And it struck me that we are so lucky to have had this life. We started out doing something we loved more than 27 years ago and here we are, still at it, still enjoying it.

And my Judy, so young and beautiful back then, and so in love with life and with our life, here she is 24 years later, still racing on our Wings, still lovely and still in love with the life we live.

This makes me very emotional.

Now it is Christmas and we are in Colombia; another new country, another holiday season away from home, and it won’t be the last.

We, like the other cruisers, try to fill the void we feel from being away from family and friends at these times: we have pot-luck dinners on occasions like Christmas and Thanksgiving, we gather at some marina common area or on a beach in some bit of paradise somewhere, and we laugh and talk and heap our paper plates with food that never quite seems like the dishes we remember from family gatherings we had back home, and we make the best of it.

But honestly, we’d rather be with you all.

This week we went into Old Town with some friends we’ve met here, Geoff and Omar, from the yacht Un Mundo, and we had a nice dinner and drinks at one of our favorite spots in Cartagena: Plaza Trinidad, and we took the photos you can see in our wingssail-images pages, as well as the one we used in our card this year.

We really love our friends here, and we will miss Geoff and Omar when we leave. They are headed towards Cuba and then Miami and we are headed west through the Panama Canal so we will part company with them, maybe for good, as we have with so many cruisers we’ve met who became dear friends; that is the way of a sailor.

But at Christmas…it seems a little tougher.

Click here for more photos of Cartagena at Christmas time.

Click here for another photo of Fred & Judy back then.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Cartagena

December 8, 2013-Fort San Filipe

On a hill called San Lazaro, overlooking the city of Cartagena, the Spanish built a fort.

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Fort San Filipe

That was in 1536. It was called the Castillo de San Lázaro back then.

It was designed to protect the city of Cartagena and the gold and silver of the New World which the Spanish had collected and hidden in Cartagena. Canons were mounted atop its walls and access was either up the exposed sides or though hidden tunnels which laced the rock under Castillo de San Lázaro.

Few surmounted it.

The Castillo de San Lázaro still stands.

Now it is called Castillo San Felipe de Barajas, or more commonly, the Fort of San Filipe. Named after Philip IV of Spain who financed it and once remarked that for all the money he put into it he should be able to see it from Barcelona. But it was successful. Cartagena and it's riches were defended by this fort against all comers for many years.

It's not hard to imagine the dread in the hearts of any opposing soldiers who had to face the ramparts of this fort.

Then there are the tunnels.

Narrow and twisting and uphill. At the top Spanish muskets awaited.

The soldiers and canons are gone but the walls and tunnels of Fort San Filipe remain and it has shimmered in the heat over the city of Cartagena for 450 years. It still tends to intimidate anyone who would breach its heights.

For months we have looked at Fort San Filipe from the taxis and streets of Cartagena. And one morning, when it was still relatively cool, we set out to conquer it.

Even at 7:30 in the morning it is hot in Cartagena. As we climbed up the ramps leading to the fortifications atop the walls we tried to imagine the soldiers and slaves who had to drag the huge stones it was built with up that hill. They say the stones were splashed with blood long before the first battle. I believe it.

And in the quiet morning, before anyone else reached the top, we looked out over the city and the bay.

It is a commanding view. We wandered around and pointed imaginary guns out between the parapets.

Then we ventured into the tunnels going downward from the top, not up from the bottom. Even with electric lighting they are scary. It would be easy to get lost in the maze. Once we stepped off the passageway in the darkness at the bottom of one passage into water. It was only up to our shoe-tops but it could have been over our heads. We'd already been thinking that going further and further into these tunnels wasn't the smartest idea. That was enough for us. We went back up and left the tunnels then and we thought about this fort and these tunnels which have stood here for 450 years and which have scared a lot of people during that time.
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Jacque & Edith

And we thought the Spanish did a good job building this.

Click here for more photos of Fort San Filipe.

Click here to read about this fort.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Cartagena

November 30, 2013-Racing in Cartagena (v.4)

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Having a Good Time

(About version 4 of this story: Sorry for those of you who are followers, and keep getting notifications about a new posting, only to find the same posting each time. I swear, this is the last one. I just have been trying to get a good story, tight, interesting, which still describes how the day really went. Maybe this is it.)

Some days you can't seem to get out of your own way and other days you sail like you're on fire.

Yesterday we were on fire and there is nothing like a win to erase that string of defeats we had in Antigua. Yesterday we won.

But to do it we had to rely on our gut instincts because at the start we had nothing else to go on: no sailing instructions, no official clock, no flags, just a rough idea of the course and a bunch of chatter on the radio in Spanish.

Hannes asked me if I had a stop watch but I had no time for that, I was in a zone, living on my wits. I told him to forget it, I was just going to stay close to the line and watch the other boats. I'd use my judgment.

He shrugged and said "OK". At least he'd tried to get us to be serious

Then there came one more hail of chatter on the radio which ended in, "Five minutes, five minutes!". This time it seemed real and the fleet was starting to line up so I started a timed run away from the line.

At 3:30 I turned to go back.

It was a downwind start. We ran the line on starboard. Some boats were approaching on port and I yelled "Starboard". They didn't budge. I yelled again and they turned to take our stern. We had a clear shot. Hannes asked, “How long to go?” I reckoned five seconds and held up five fingers. He said, "Go, GO!" I turned down and we crossed the line first, with speed on. I looked around. We were in front.

I wondered if we were early, Kenny said, "Well if we were there were about four other boats that were early too." Nobody was going back.

I said to get the spinnaker up. It filled.

Nobody else had kites yet, we were ahead of them all, and then we were gone; a horizon job. But we still needed some luck. We needed to turn left more to get to the first mark but we were already way by the lee. I took a chance and called for a jibe and we talked it through as we went and surprisingly, it worked. Now we had a good angle to the mark. Kenny said to stay away from the next point, "Lots of shallow water there, you can go inside of those bouys, but not by much." I stayed high. Nobody behind was going there either and nobody was gaining except LOL, one of the new Jeanneau Sun Odysseys.

Fifteen minutes later we did another jibe and it was perfect. This crew was good.

But I was running on adrenalin, the crew needed direction and I was giving it. Stuff was coming fast, as fast as I could handle, just see it and get it done, and then see the next thing and get that done.

Hannes worked like a horse on the foredeck, Kenny kept up a stream of invaluable local knowledge, Sheila trimmed the kite and she had good eyes, she saw every mark before anyone else. Gert was strong and fast on the3 winches and he never stopped smiling. Judy, as usual, was a rock. She saw everything on the boat and kept it all together for us.

As we passed Santa Cruz Bank we spotted the bottom mark and it was coming up quickly. The jib needed to go up and I called for it. Hannes yanked on the halyard and Judy tailed while the rest of us trimmed in for a hard spinnaker reach. The pole went to the headstay and somebody sheeted in the kite and it pulled like a train. The Jeanneau didn’t gain any more.

On the takedown the kite got tangled in the jib sheet but Hannes yelled, "Sheet in man, sheet in, we'll keep it clear", and they did.

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Great Sailing

The beat upwind in 14kts of wind and flat water, with the big genoa sheeted tight and flat as a board and carrying a bubble in the main, was glorious. In puffs I had to feather it, but we twisted off the jib and dropped the main traveler all the way down and Wings climbed to weather. We outpointed the Jeanneau and had speed on them. When I looked back they were farther to leeward and farther behind.

And that's the way it finished: first by enough to get the jib down and the beers out before the Jeanneau came in and they gave us a big cheer. We stuck around long enough to see the next two boats come into view then we headed back to Club Nautico. Even getting fouled on our neighbor's anchor during docking wasn't a problem; Kenny said, "I'm a fish", and he jumped in a cleared it. Good man.

That's the way we like it.


Click here for more photos.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Cartagena

November 14, 2013-National Beauty Contest

Cartagena's famous November festival, the two weeklong "National Beauty Contest", is a big deal.

Parade

We knew this was going to be a happening when we started to see Miss Colombia contestants showing up at impromptu receptions around the city in October but we didn't know how really big a holiday it was going to be until the manager of the Manzanillo boat yard told me, "Yes, I can haul your boat on November 2, but no work will be done until November 12. All of our workers will be off for that period."

National Beauty Contest is more than a pageant. Yes, there are swimsuit competitions, parades, and a gala coronation ceremony but there are also wild street parties with craziness that should best be avoided by old gringos, water parades, loud music, fireworks, and the November 11 celebration of Cartagena's Independence from Spain which occurred in 1811 in which the entire city apparently gets drunk.

We were going to have the bottom painted but we made other plans: we joined the party.

Well, not really. When we saw legions of police in riot gear staged around town, and spotted army snipers with long rifles and portable radios on our rooftops, we decided to party in the apartment, not on the streets.

We did watch the parade however, and it was terrific.

And we listened to the chaotic sounds from the street all night long for several days.

On November 12 the people go back to work, but not early; I guess the hangovers are pretty harsh after this ten day party.

Click here for more parade shots.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Cartagena

November 1, 2013-Headed to the Boat Yard (Updated-Again)

Today we move the boat to another marina in the Cartagena area where we will have some work done including new deck paint, new interior (forepeak) paint, antifouling, and other small projects. We will move into an apartment on the beach near Old Town while this is completed. We expect it to take about two weeks.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Cartagena

UPDATE-Nov. 9!

New Deck Paint

The boat is parked in Pescara Santa Clara while we wait for Festival Week to be over and the boat yard workers return to their responsibilities (talk about bad planning, we didn't realize that almost every worker in Cartagena would be on holiday just at the time when we wanted to get this project going!)

Fortunately our friend Alvaro knew a good painting team who would work anyhow and we put them to work on the deck. The sanding was tough but that's done and the primer too, and now anti-skid texture and polyurethane deck paint are being applied. Meanwhile Judy and I have been working inside on another area needing sanding and painting. What a mess!

Friends visit in the apartment

At least we have a clean place to stay while this is going on; we rented a nice apartment in town for a couple of weeks although we aren't positive that the boat will be finished by the time we have to give up the apartment.

We'll see.

UPDATE-Nov. 15!

Finished

Today we re-launched Wings on schedule. Other than a bit of drama when we got ourselves locked out of the apartment before we had all of our stuff out, and then got stuck in traffic and almost missed the re-launch appointment, everything has gone well. The boat looks great with its new bottom paint and the hull is in really good condition with virtually no blisters this time; even the keel came out perfectly. We even had time to get the topsides cleaned, it still shines four years after our last paint job.

One unplanned job which was completed I think will turn out to be a bonus. I'd been wondering if there was something we could do about our worn out propeller. We've probably got 40,000 miles on the boat since we last had this old folding Martec rebuilt in New Zealand in 1998 and its been giving us some trouble (not always unfolding when needed) not to mention that its really noisy as it rattles around down there like a can full of rocks. When I inspected it closely yesterday I realized it was shot; the clearances are all well above optimal and it would be a wonder if it would last much longer. But for 20 years we've been carrying the original propeller in the spares locker, and in 1998, when the primary prop was rebuilt in Auckland, we had the spare rebuilt too. Its an odd propeller, 21 inches in diameter while the normal prop is 15 inches, but the pitch is the same. It was made longer to get a benefit under the IOR rule and the long blades were never perfect. But now I decided that even with its long, windmill like, blades, it might be better than the one we had on. I dug it out and in an hour I had the primary propeller off and the spare one installed. It looks good and more importantly, feels good too; everything is tight and smooth.

So far we've only used it on the motor back from Manzanillo Marina Club, and other than backing up (it won't take a lot of power in reverse until you get some speed on, so quick stops are out of the question) it seems pretty good.

Click here for plenty of photos from this yard period, including the propeller.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Cartagena

October 30, 2013-Dancers at Teatro Heredia

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Burgundy and Creme

Saturday night we went to Teatro Heredia to see an Argentine Dance group. They did folkloric and Tango.

It was stunning.

Teatro Heredia


The theater in Cartagena called Teatro Heredia, although the name is obsolete; it's now officially the Adolfo Mejía Theatre after Adolfo Mejia Navarro, a famous Cartagenian composer, is ornate and golden and reflects the South American grand cultural aspirations of the last century when Latin American municipalities and states hired architectural masters from both the New World and the Old to design and build opera houses and theaters where nouveau riche who could afford tuxedos, expensive ball gowns and other luxuries could enjoy the glamour of attending performances of the latest stars from Europe in glittering surroundings which could equal or maybe even surpass the halls of Barcelona, Paris, or Berlin. They built Teatro Heredia and others like it in jungle outposts and river junctions throughout South America.

Teatro Heredia, inside the wall of Cartagena's old town, was built in 1911 following the outline and structure of a 17th century church on the site and beautifully restored in 1998. It is a grand yet intimate space where we like to go to see dance performances and where we feel we can almost touch the dancers, often visiting troupes whose performances, if they sometimes are lack the professionalism of performances you might see in the grand arenas and modern opera houses, never lack passion and beauty.

Click here for more photos from the Argentine Dance performance.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Cartagena


Note: The following link to Alfredo Maiquez's beautiful image of Teatro Heredia is not working at this time. It may be restored.
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Teatro Heredia

October 24. 2013-Working On Big Blue

Big Block Barient

Three slips down the dock lies a maxi. I’m working on it. It is a dinosaur.

For those of you into dinosaurs, this big blue maxi is one. T-Rex; seventy-three feet of IOR muscle and bone that shakes the ground when it walks.

But it is old. Kialoa old, Sorcery old.

The new boats fly but these old beasts dig holes in the water, huge holes, and damn the force. It has sheets as big as your wrist, winches like garbage cans, and a mast as big as your sister.

I’m giving Kenny a hand with this maxi; Kenny, and Fernando and sometimes Hannes the carpenter. So there's three or four of us working on Big Blue these days. Kenny has been in Cartagena a few years and he works on boats here. He was hired by the owner of this old maxi, Phillipe, and then he hired all of us. Kenny is an artist when it comes to making a boat look good. Perfection, that’s Kenny, but he does not know much about dinosaurs, nor does Fernando. Hannes knows some, not a lot.

But I know a little. I live on a dinosaur and have sailed a few, and so on that basis Kenny brought me on. Now I am rebuilding Barient winches, rigging mainsheets, testing Lewmar hydraulic systems, and getting greasy. Every morning I get up and go over to Big Blue. After lunch, instead of taking my nap, I get up and go back to Big Blue.

Why?

Now that’s a good question.

I guess when Kenny said the boat had to be motored down to Panama because it “couldn’t be sailed”, it just stuck in my craw.

“Why can’t it be sailed?” I asked.

“Owner says the main is trashed.” He answered.

I looked at tubs of hardware still needing to be installed. This boat was a long way from being ready to sail.

“I see. Can we look at the main?”

“Sure, why not?”

We put a halyard on to lift the beast. We hauled it through the foredeck hatch and dropped it into a dingy. Four local dudes helped us drag it out of the dingy and into the park where we spread that mainsail right out. Eighty feet on the hoist, old laminate, but actually it looked pretty good.

A local guy with a husky sewing machine and big balls took it home to do a few little fixes and I turned to Kenny and shrugged.

“What next boss?”

“Let’s take a look at those winches”.

So that’s how I got to be working on this Big Blue dinosaur.

I actually love it, the camaraderie is fun, and maybe later we’ll go sailing.

Click here to see more photos.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Cartagena

October 12. 2013-Lunch at the Blue Lagoon

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“The ceviche es fantastica”.

And so is the companionship in La Laguna Azul (the Blue Lagoon), the small a restaurant under the steps to the old Getsemani Central Commercial Mall in Cartagena. There are just two tables here and a slanted ceiling over the kitchen and movie posters hang on the wall with photos of a young and tender Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins and it serves the best, freshest ceviche (marinated fish) we’ve ever had, anywhere, bar none, plus really cold beer and good wine.

With only two tables there is a good chance you won’t get one so when we arrived on Saturday they planted us outside, nice enough for an ice-cold Aquila Beer, but we said we’d wait for a table inside where the air-conditioning keeps things frigid, before ordering lunch. Apparently my Spanish was undecipherable but after several English-Spanish language consultations with various bystanders the waitress finally got the idea and promptly kicked out the group of four who had been nursing their cervasas for an hour or so, and ushered us inside. Sometimes it pays to be a gringo tourist.

And, we found a party going on!

The other table was littered with empty beer bottles and plates formerly filled with fish and prawns and other piscatorial delights and surrounded by a gaggle of slightly boisterous Colombianos enjoying a long Saturday afternoon get-together. The small eatery was a bit noisy but never mind, it was cool inside after the heat of our morning shopping spree and the food, we knew from a previous visit, was great, so we ordered more beer and wine and a couple of large plates of the delicious marinated fish with red onion salsa and piles of plantain chips.

Before long we were happily enjoying our meal and had become part of the party, it seemed, and one great fellow, Nelson, leaned over and told us the story of how he and his comrades, all from San Juan Nepomuceno, in the mountains far to the south of Cartagena, meet here regularly to keep alive their long friendship.

Then the beauty contestants started coming in.

Several tall and lean and gorgeous young women, smiling and friendly, all wearing satin sashes with their names on them, came in one by one for hugs and kisses, more hugs, more kisses, and photo ops. It seems that the national beauty pageant, which happens in Cartagena in November, is a popularity contest and these girls were out getting the vote. It made my head spin, that and all the Sauvignon Blanc I was drinking with my langoustino cerviche.

Two hours later we finally bid our goodbyes to our new friends and meandered our way back through the streets of old town to Club Nautico and Wings, where we collapsed for a long nap.

I wonder what we’ll do next Saturday?

Click here for more photos.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Cartagena

October 4, 2013-Cholon Swamp

Cholon Swamp

We slipped our dock lines last week and set out for Cienaga Cholon.

Cienaga Cholon, the name means Cholon Swamp, is actually a pleasant salt water lagoon twenty miles south of Cartagena and a popular spot where Colombianos and cruisers go to get away from the city. Going there was a chance to exercise the systems on Wings which seemingly atrophy after months at the dock, and was also a chance for us to rendezvous with friends who were headed the same way.

And we thought we might have a nice sail.

But doing anything in Cartagena’s heat can sap even a strong person. With 300 feet of mooring lines to be recovered, a power cable to be handled, a boarding plank to be stowed, an air conditioner to be moved, awnings to be struck, and more, all of which had to be managed under the broiling sun, for two ancient sea dogs like us, getting away from the dock left us drenched in sweat and nearly finished off before the sailing even started.

But this tired old crew kept doggedly at it and we got away well enough and into the stream and soon the main went up, as did the jib, and eventually Wings was sailing south, albeit slowly, in a very light and deviously shifty southerly wind. The tacks were wide and nearly laid back and forth on top of each other but we were sailing.

However we soon realized we were basically getting nowhere for our trouble and arriving at Cholon in time to get through the opening before the sun was too low was important so… down came the sails and on went the motor. That action was followed quickly by the discovery that the engine wasn’t charging the batteries. Off came the motor cover and deep into a smelly hot engine I went.

Judy stayed on deck and drove Wings south the whole way to Cholon and I sorted out my wiring error and finally everything was right again and we made it easily through the tricky dogleg between the reefs into Cholon and anchored by mid afternoon. We found it to be a perfect anchorage: 20 feet of water, good holding, lots of room and peace and quiet. Orion with Gerry and Douglass and Eleanor aboard was anchored there and waiting for us. Things started to look up.

We swam in the clear, cool, water and I had a look at Wings’ bottom for the first time in months, we talked briefly to the Orions, had a drink, skipped supper, and went to bed early.

The next day was a lot better. We toured the bay in the dingy, Judy got a back massage at Palapa Beach, and we were on board Orion for cocktails. From their majestic new boat deck we all watched the sunset looking for the green flash which was allegedly seen by some but not all of us and it could have been the rum anyhow, and this was followed by a good meal in their cabin and this time we got back to Wings and fell into bed quite late.

Now we’re cruising.

Thursday morning, in a nice 15 knot southerly, we set sail homeward bound and all went well until we encountered the submarine. It showed up on AIS and a starboard to starboard crossing looked easy. But then an “Armada National” speedboat with three men in black balaclavas roared up and told us to turn to “course 090”, which meant a jibe, and now! They meant business!

Now we’ve been doing jibes on Wings for 27 years with just the mainsail up and it should have been a no-brainer. Probably I should have used some brains however, because I managed to get my ankle caught in a loop of the mainsheet, for the first time ever, and when the main barn-doored over, which is our standard routine in this much wind, the sheet took my leg with it. I was astonished by the sight of my foot careening skyward and I hopped on the other leg trying to keep my balance and get free, which I did in a millisecond, but not before I got a nice rope burn on my ankle. I thought it was a good thing it wasn’t my neck in that loop of rope.

The submarine turned left, we passed port to port, and I informed Judy, who missed my little antic, that’s how quick it was, that I had a little problem and now it was her turn to be astonished at the beautiful, looping, rope burns on my left ankle. “How did you do that?” she asked.

And she got out the salve and antibiotics.

Rope Burn

So now here we are, back at the dock in Cartagena, and two days later I still have my foot up trying to encourage this rope burn to scab over so I can get on with life.

I guess this is cruising too.

Click here for more photos.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Cartagena

September 5, 2013-Making Charts

wingssail images-judy jensen
Making Charts

We love charts; charts are the navigator's treasure. The navigator hungers for the newest chart and he pours over each latest cartographic acquisition to see if there are details which his old charts lack, and to see if there are depths given for the tiny inlet he intends to traverse. The navigator loves his charts.

For years we collected paper charts. We had charts of all kinds, from NOAA, British Admiralty and chart copies, which were of dubious quality but which we could more readily afford. At one time we had several hundred paper charts, a stack over a foot high, and those charts provided coverage for most of the world. There was always a paper chart spread out on our chart table, often coffee stained and damp, with pencil marks and position fixes drawn all over it.

Then came electronic charts. We bought a set of CMAP CM93 charts from a book store in Port Vila, though they were certainly pirated, back in the year 2000. They turned out to be copies of a CMAP demo which had somehow gotten into the wild where it spread rapidly. During the years that followed most cruisers acquired and used CM93 charts and the CMAP program. They became a standard. Cruisers traded them with each other and still do.

We quickly adopted electronic charting but we held onto our treasured paper versions for years because who could trust the electronics aboard a vessel? Finally we decided we could trust the electronics, (as long as we had plenty of back-ups) and we sold the paper charts. We moved on.

Now we use OpenCPN, a program developed by some technically savvy boaters and distributed for free. It is very good. But the charts are still what make it useful and we now have updated versions of the CMAP CM93 charts. We have twenty eight thousand CM93 charts to be exact and we collect them as assiduously as we did our paper versions years ago. They cover virtually the entire world and the detail for most areas is astonishing. However, in some places, unfortunately many of the places we wish to visit, the detail and accuracy is lacking in CM93. This is because they were made for and are primarily used by commercial shipping. If the big ships go there CM93 has a great chart for it but for that small cove where we might like to anchor, well, sometimes CM93 isn't the best.

Many countries however still create paper charts and they are often far superior to the CM93 charts for those countries. Colombia is one of these places which makes charts and we have a good set of Colombian paper charts with much better accuracy and detail than our CM93 charts for Colombia. The Colombian Navy also has excellent electronic charts but these don't seem to be available for private use.

So what do you do when you can't get an electronic version of the best chart? You make one. I've long known it was possible to convert paper charts into electronic ones but it has always seemed too difficult. Now, though, to get these fine Colombian charts we have into our OpenCPN system I decided to learn the process and I've succeeded. With a scanner, Adobe Photoshop, a small conversion program called imgkap, a binary file editor, and some software I wrote in excel, I have worked out and perfected the process to convert paper charts into electronic charts. I have now converted a number of these excellent Colombian paper charts into electronic versions which are fully integrated into our OpenCPN system with our existing CM93 portfolio. They look as great on the computer as their paper versions do on the chart table. What is better is that I can repeat the process in the future with any good chart we find. This has been a fun project and a great success.

Results

Now we just have to get out of the slip and use them.

Day on the water with friends

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Fred & Judy, S/V Wings, Cartagena

Flowers

August 15, 2013-Report from Club Nautico

Main Dock, Club Nautico

Imagine our surprise when, after months of hearing rumors that Club Nautico, in Cartagena, was out of business, we arrived in July and found Club Nautico to be a bustling and busy marina in full operation, with sturdy docks, good moorings and water and power. Despite what the cruisers in the rest of the Caribbean were saying, Club Nautico is not defunct, out of business, decrepit, falling apart, or controlled by cartels. It is packed full, all abuzz with activity of all sorts including significant progress on the new buildings, which are close to being ready for occupancy, and which appear to be quite upscale. The office will probably occupy its new space in the new building by late August. The bar and restaurant, based on the progress at this time, will open later in 2013. Unfortunately the showers and bathroom for the cruisers look to be completed last, as they are dependent on razing of one old structure which is still in use (the office).

Knowing that Club Nautico was going to be the best spot to base ourselves if we wanted to explore Cartagena, we were happy to find Club Nautico up and running and we were determined to get a spot here. The only alternatives were to anchor in the harbor or try Club De Pesca, which is also full and reported to be more expensive.

Not being able to reach anyone in the office by phone or VHF (this is probably a language issue), and not wishing anchor out and put together the dingy in Cartagena's heat and humidity, we wondered how to get a berth at the dock. However, we spotted a place at the corner of the dock where we thought we could squeeze in and we simply dropped the hook and backed in. A boat worker nearby took our lines. Ashore we located the marina owner Pablo Bennett, and found him to be helpful and speaking excellent English ( rare in Cartagena,). He chuckled when he saw where we were tied but he allowed us to stay there, had the power box modified to give us a connection and meter, and even had his guys put down a new mooring screw and heavy lines to make us safer when the squalls come (more on the squalls below). They helped us recover our anchor which we didn't want to leave down due to the reportedly rapid and thick growth which would accumulate on the chain.

Pablo Bennett

It turns out that few cruisers come into Club Nautico, most choose to anchor off the marina and use the marina dingy dock for access to the town and for fresh water; we are not sure why, maybe backing in is just too hard. The mix of boats here makes it interesting and busy. Many of the boats in the marina are either long term live-aboards, parked yachts of wealthy Colombians or Panamanians, or charter boats shuttling backpackers to the San Blas Islands.

Club Nautico is Pablo's family's business, has been for a long time, and it looks like it will be for a good while in the future too.

Culo de Pollo (Serious squalls in Cartagena)

Wave action and weather conditions can make Club de Nautico unpleasant at times. The worst problem are the occasional Culo de Pollo which means "Ass of the Chicken", which is the name that has been given to the violent squalls which hit Cartagena during the wet season, as often as once a month. They come suddenly and carry winds of 40 knots or more, but last only a few minutes. Other squalls, less severe, but more frequent, last long enough to allow a wave action to build. In addition, there are constant boat wakes which rock the boats at Club Nautico (and, to a lesser degree, Club de Pesca). Fortunately, except for the Culo de Pollos, which seem to prefer 04:00 for their arrivals, the nights are calm.

For all these reasons tying up to the concrete piers at Club Nautico is tricky. There is room for about 50 boats, most tied either stern to or bow in with the outboard end on underwater moorings. Boats must be well secured and far enough away from the dock to prevent damage when the wind and waves come. Fortunately the marina has good mooring blocks and "tornillos" (mooring screws). Most boats are tied up about 6 feet from the dock and long "diving board" planks are used to allow access. This makes coming and going from your boat quite an adventure and makes one think twice about arriving home inebriated after a night in the town. It is important to have multiple lines to the moorings. The marina helps with this.

Lines left in the water accumulate heavy growth in about one week. Rotating lines and cleaning them is a good idea.

The Manga Neighborhood

The possibility of these Culo de Pollos makes us very leery about leaving the boat here, or even in the anchorage where dragging is common. For inland travelling we think Santa Marta or Puerto Valero would be safer. In fact, we keep an eye on the sky when we are in town and if thunderstorm activity looks likely we hurry back.

Click here for more Club Nautico Images

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Cartagena

July 27, 2013-Culture in Cartagena

Cartagena De Indias

wingssail images-fredrick roswold
Cartagena by Night

Culture in Cartagena

Cartagena:History and Culture. They go together.

To see and experience those things are the reasons we came to Cartagena so it should come to no surprise that we've been getting out quite a lot already. Walking to Old Town from the marina is pleasant especially after the oppressive heat of the midday is replaced by the evening's coolness, so we have been there at night several times.

Woman in Doorway

A flyer from the tourism office turned us onto the music and dance performance staged in the historic Teatro Heredia. This was terrific.

On the same day as the dance performance, in the morning, we toured the city in an air conditioned van and walked through the convent at Cerro La Popa, built on the highest hill in Cartagena by the Spanish in 1611, and we saw the fort of San Felipe (Castillo San Felipe de Barajas) built by the Spanish in 1536 to repel the British.

Chapel

Castle San Felipe

We'll be doing more of this and we'll report back to you.

Click here for more photos from the tour to the convent.
Click here for more photos of Cartagena's Old Town
Click here for more images from the dance performance.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Cartagena

July 15, 2013-Cartagena: Another New Place (Revision)

Cartagena in the Morning

Sunday we left Santa Marta. Monday we arrived in Cartagena. We travelled overnight and arrived in a new place. Another new place. We've seen a few new places. Everything is different yet somehow the same. Another city, another stop. It's 30 hours in Cartagena now, but we've been in this space for close on 30 years. We're used to it.

We've been getting established here.

The routine: Secure a marina berth, get power, get the air conditioner going (because this place swelters and we need air conditioning), get the Internet working, go to the office and fill out papers, talk to the shipping agent (a requirement in Columbia) and get him working on our behalf with the Port Capitan, then walk to town and find the supermarket, bank machine, laundry, etc.

We did all that yesterday. We do it everywhere we go, usually on the first day, like we did here.

There are a few differences sometimes. In Cartagena there was a complication since the marina was full but we squeezed our way into a spot and it looks like they will let us stay in it. So that solved that.

Then we found out that this marina is subject to violent squalls; another problem. They say that about once a month you get hit by a big one, they call it Culo de Pollo (ass of the chicken) and you need to be tied up really good. So today we got the diver to go down and tie us to the big moorings and now that's done too.

Now we can get into life as normal.

By "normal" I mean life in which we go shopping, run errands, have doctor's visits, use mobile telephones, work on the Internet, get our laundry done, etcetera, etcetera.

Boy, this gets real crazy. We're living on our boat, travelling around the world, but we're also trying to live a normal life.

That's the way we think of it. This is not a trip or a travel adventure, or a long holiday, or camping out. It's just living in some different places.

On a sailboat.

And we like it. We even like the first day, when we're really lost. We've sort of gotten addicted to that. To the thrill of seeing the new place, of being lost, then getting to know the place. Making it home.

And now, a View From an Alternate Universe

I'm sitting here on my settee.

It's the same settee in the same boat that I sat on in Seattle in 1986. It looks the same, feels the same. I can't see outside. I could still be in Seattle.

Feels like it.

Am I still in Seattle?

What if we haven't moving at all? What if the world is moving around us instead?

What if we are sitting here, in a single spot in the universe, and we've never moved from that spot, and on certain nights, while we are sleeping, the world around this spot gets totally re-arranged. We wake up and the town looks different, the stores are in different places, the bathrooms and laundry are all new, the language is different, the money is different. The world we knew the day before is all mixed up. Like some big joke played by the gods.

What can we do? We have no choice but to go through the steps of sorting out all of our surroundings again. We have to figure out the new world which has sprung up around us and we do it. In a day or two we've adjusted and we resume our normal life.

When we go shopping every few days the only difference is that periodically we have to learn the new route to the store because the crazy world got changed since the last time we went shopping.

However, we're getting good at that.

In fact like I said, we've gotten addicted to it. Just about as soon as we get comfortable in a place we start wondering what the next one will look like.

We have to move on.

Or the world has to move on for us.

It's a cycle which repeats endlessly.

It's cruising.

Wings in Club Nautico

Click here for more arrival photos.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Cartagena