From St. Lucia to Santa Marta, Columbia — February 18, 2023 through February 23, 2023 (subtitle: Things that go bump (or splash) on a boat!)

After our 2 year wait we really, truly and finally did leave for our circumnavigation on February 18. We had a somewhat dreary day for our launch — cloudy and rainy — but seeing the entire fleet, about 30 boats in all, at the start line gave us all that shot of adrenaline that made us forget about the weather. A second adrenaline jolt occurred quickly after the start when we were sandwiched between 2 other boats that were a little too close for comfort. Fortunately, that did not last long as the boats quickly spread out though we did seem to play cat and mouse all night our first evening with a catamaran in our fleet.

Though you always feel a little rusty when you start a long passage after a hiatus, it is amazing how quickly you get acclimated and settle into routine including watch schedules and who does what jobs when. That said, Jill found it hard to relinquish (or even share) galley duties despite the fact that Mark is a very proficient and tidy cook. As a result she spent most of the afternoon on day 1 preparing more hummus (rations were already getting low) and some chia seed pudding (for breakfast the next morning) as well as defrosting one of our frozen dinners (cauliflower shawarma) and preparing the accoutrements — in this case, chopped cucumber, tomato, cilantro and garlic tahini sauce — for the meal.

Of course, no inaugural sail would be complete without the weather gods reminding us who is boss. This time they treated us to a strong squall just after Jill had added all of the ingredients for the garlic tahini sauce into the mixing bowl. The sudden wind shift that came with the squall caused us to jibe, rocking Che Figata quite violently from side to side and making the most horrendous noise. Fortunately, all was well with Che Figata. Our preventer stopped us from doing any damage to our boom as it shifted rather suddenly to the other side of our boat. Unfortunately, the garlic tahini sauce did not fare as well and Jill had a delightful time soaking up the wet and oily ingredients as they spread across the counter. Glad we got that over with!

Well, not so fast. In the first two days of our passage we added a few new dents and dings to our beautiful teak and holly sole as unsecured items fell from our galley counter to the floor. Jill managed to spill another dressing she was preparing — she moved the mixing bowl containing the dressing from the sink where it was safe to the counter (for just one second she thought) to get ready to transfer it into a container when we suddenly hit a big wave. Earlier the same day, Zack got hit in the neck by a flying computer when he opened the upper cabinet we had placed it in forgetting that “items tend to shift while in flight.” (He suffered no serious injury.). And we both got a nice start on the bruises we invariably collect as we get tossed about before (and even after) regaining our sea legs. After more than a few mishaps (we should know better by now!) you do start to become much more deliberate about your every move, from where you place objects to how you retrieve them and how you perambulate about a rocking ship.

For many reasons, including the fact we’ve had different crew on our previous passages, weather and wind conditions vary and, maybe most relevant, our passage experience is still somewhat limited at this point, so far no two passages have been the same for us. On this voyage, once the seas calmed down (the waves were very confused at the start of the passage making for a very bumpy few days and sleepless nights), and we had a more consistent easterly wind in the high teens/low twenties, the downwind sailing made for some really fabulous sailing days. The kind of sailing that reminds us why we are doing this. We were able to fly along at a really comfortable 9+ knot clip. (And, yes, sometimes we do need a reminder.)

In addition to the eventually cooperating wind and sea state, credit for the lovely sail goes to Zack and Mark who played with the sail plan to take best advantage of the conditions. Having not done a downwind passage before we didn’t have much experience with a “wing and wing” sail plan which is designed to optimize wind coming from your stern. [Technical alert: some of you will want to fast forward to the next paragraph.]. Under that plan you pull out your genoa sail with the spinnaker pole so that it extends farther off one side of your boat (in our case, the starboard side) rather than hug closer to the rails and position the boom so it points off the other side of the boat. As the name implies, when you do this the genoa and mainsail look like two wings spread out across the beam of the boat. With lots of downwind sailing in our future during the circumnavigation, it was fun to start playing with the wing and wing sail plan to see how to best configure it for Che Figata. Next up — though not on this passage — will be getting out our new gennaker sail which we specifically bought for this adventure with its greatly anticipated downwind sailing.

But the difference with this passage extended beyond the sailing conditions. We were sailing with a Brit and life just seemed, well, more civilized. Mid-afternoon it was time for tea and biscuits and everything was “brilliant” and “lovely.” There was a calm aboard Che Figata that we quite enjoyed. And with so many Brits on the rally, this calm seemed to transcend across the fleet. Case in point: each morning at 09:00 hrs we have an SSB net with the fleet to share our positions as well as weather, current and wind conditions and also give anyone having trouble the opportunity to report the problem and seek assistance. One morning early on one of the British crews reported an issue with their genoa sail. We don’t recall the specific issue but it prevented them from using it which, being the head sail, is quite critical for downwind sailing. The crew on the net very matter of factly reported the problem and then said that they had decided to “have a cup of tea and then sort it all out.” Not the approach most American crews would take in that situation.

Much to Jill’s dismay, wildlife was not the highlight of the passage. We were looking forward to spotting dolphins and whales and were oh so jealous when other boats in the fleet reported marine life encounters during our morning and evening net. We had one very brief encounter with 3 – 4 small dolphins during the afternoon of our last full day of sailing. Unfortunately, Zack had our only dolphins sighting at a very in opportune time — just as Jill was getting into the shower — so, let’s just say she was indisposed. By the time she got up on deck the fleeting encounter was over. Ugh!

Though the marine life was a bit of a bust, the sunsets and celestial delights did not disappoint. With largely clear skies the sunsets were crisp and treated us to that green flash of light that you sometimes see just as the last sliver of sun sets behind the ocean. Similarly, with only the thinest of smiles from the moon to light the sky, the stars and planets shined incredibly bright, creating a spectacular density of twinkling lights across the sky. As an added bonus, we were treated to several lessons on the constellations as well as the stories behind them from Mark who proved to be quite knowledgeable. Another Mark talent! We think we will keep him.

We arrived to Santa Marta around 7:45 AM local time on February 23 after a final gripping night! The first bit of excitement occurred just around midnight while Jill was on watch. We had shortened the sails because we were anticipating heavy winds of 25-30 knots with gusts up to 35. Jill’s watch started that way but after a few hours the winds slowed to 15-20 knots which was too little wind for the amount of sail we had out so Jill decided to let out some of the genoa sail to give us more sail area. Our furler isn’t exactly quiet so Zack woke up during the process and decided to check on the conditions that caused Jill to change the sail plan. He quickly learned that all was fine with the sail change but Jill pointed out a tug, VB Terrier, on our navigation system that was heading straight towards us. Now that is not as scary as that sounds. It is not unusual to spot freighters, tankers, cargo ships, tugs and other pleasure craft heading in our direction on our AIS. BTW, AIS is a system that transmits and receives a boat’s position so that other boats can see it on the electronic chart before it every gets close enough to visually see. The system not only shows the position of the boat but the boat’s speed, type of boat, its size, the closest point of contact (based on speed and direction) and when that will occur. As you can imagine, it is a pretty important system, particularly at night where it can be difficult to judge distance. When Zack came up, Jill was just monitoring the tug. Generally, with some minor course corrections, you can manage the passing so that you don’t get any closer than an half a nautical mile. (Jill’s risk tolerance level).

At any rate, Jill was in the monitoring stage when Zack came up and, now wide awake, he decided to stay up a bit and keep Jill company. So we chatted while watching the tug continue to get closer. As mentioned above, it is generally easy to maneuver around another boat. Moreover, the other boat doesn’t want to collide with you any more than you want to collide with it so, knowing that we are under sail, motor boats will often slightly alter course to stay clear. When both boats do that the passing is easy. Unfortunately, we had some limitations in our maneuverability that evening. First, we were getting close to shore and to pass the tug on our starboard side would require us to make a fairly sharp turn toward shore — not where we wanted to be and it was questionable whether we had sufficient time to cross over in front of the tug while under sail given our current speed. Second, we were sailing on a port tack meaning that the wind was coming over the port side of our boat. But, remember, we are really downwind sailing so the wind was just slightly to our port and mostly coming from our stern. We had very little room to turn further to port without causing our boat to jibe and switch to a starboard tack. So, when the tug was only 2 nautical miles away and we continued to see it heading straight towards us Jill decided it might be wise to hail the tug on our VHF radio. The tug captain quickly answered and it was clear that he had very limited command of the English language. Still, we managed to communicate how we intended to pass the vessel and the tug captain confirmed that he would alter his course to starboard so that we could pass port to port. This was a perfect plan! But as we continued to monitor our AIS following this radio contact we noted that the tug continued to get closer but was not altering course. In fact, quite to the contrary, the tug appeared to be veering to port straight towards us. Seeing this, Jill tried to hail the tug on the radio a second time. This time he didn’t respond. The only thing for us to do at that point was furl the sails, turn on the engine and head towards shore while the tug passed and then adjust course and let the sails back out. With this plan decided, Zack cranked up the engine and we were off. Of course, nothing goes according to plan and in the dark of night Zack over corrected our course as he manually steered the boat. (It is so easy to do when it’s pitch black — just difficult to get your bearings.). Jill quickly engaged our auto pilot because the auto pilot is much better at steering than we humans with the all important caveat that the auto pilot is only as good as the input it gets from us humans. Jill wasn’t patient enough waiting for the auto pilot to engage and also over corrected so that now we were practically heading in the opposite direction. Fortunately, this became quickly apparent and Jill successfully made a few adjustments to the auto pilot that got us back on track and we were able to steer the boat with great precision. Unfortunately, every time we made adjustments to our course the tug seems to make similar adjustments — as if he was deliberating trying to harass us. Eventually, with a fully revved engine we were able to out gun the tug and passed him with a great sigh of relief.

The second bit of excitement occurred just about 6 hours later, early in the morning around 6:30 AM just as we got close to Santa Marta. We had been warned that there is a somewhat permanent low pressure trough than is located over Columbia’s Caribbean coast. This system creates very strong winds that can gust up to 50 knots. With this bit of knowledge, Zack (who came on watch at 6:00 AM) was prepared. Still, with the mild winds over night, Mark had almost our full genoa out when Zack came on watch. Not long afterwards, the wind started to build and Zack continued to furl the genoa (in stages) until only about a half of the sail was out. In the end, there were steady winds in the 30s with gust up to 43 knots for about an hour. Jill woke up at about 7 AM to a boat that was significantly heeled over to port and with waves splashing against the port window in our aft cabin. With so much water hitting the window she thought it was a squall and could see we were having a wild ride. She eventually decided to get out of bed at about 7:45 AM (remember, she was on watch until 2 AM) just as Che Figata crossed the finish line of the first leg of our circumnavigation! Zack, and Mark who couldn’t sleep after his watch given the big wind conditions, were totally exhilarated by the experience and in awe of what Che Figata can handle. Jill, was able to remain below deck through most of the excitement knowing that this these are the conditions our Che Figata was built for. For those of you who sometimes worry about us, Che Figata’s performance in these heavy winds is a testament to her solid build. We are so fortunate to have her!

And now — after nearly 5 days at sea — we are here! Our first day in Santa Marta was filled with lots of cleaning. Che Figata takes a ton of abuse, inside and out, during rough passages. With Che Figata back to her pristine state (save for a few new nicks — ouch!) the plan is to get a bite to eat at a local restaurant this evening and go to bed early so we can start to explore Santa Marta tomorrow. We will write all about our time as tourists in this lovely city in our next blog entry.

We will end this entry with one final, fun and, we think, auspicious note: We learned that our assigned rally number, 29, is the same number that was assigned to our friends Ruud and Laurie when they participated in the World ARC rally in 2018/2019. As you know from our last blog entry, we were already enamored with that number because, according to numerology, it is associated with new beginnings. Given that Laurie and Ruud had a fabulous experience, and how much we adore them as a couple, we consider this coincidence a good omen and an honor. In the immortal words of Long John Silver in Muppet Treasure Island (those of you who know us well will understand and forgive the reference), “this is shaping up to be a mighty fine voyage, yes, indeed.”