Panama Outbound Day 3

Hi everyone,

At noon today we were at 03 52N 082 02W steering 220M, motoring under double-reefed main at 4.5 knots. The wind was 9G11 from the N, a brief burst of wind from a nearby rainstorm. Our noon to noon distance by the log was 104nm.

Motoring

Yesterday we sailed quietly SW until 1500 when we gybed S. We continued S into the evening when the wind started to veer E then SE. That took our course around to SW again.

At 0100Z we again did our HF/SSB radio sked. This time we had company and chatted with sv Ohana, an Aussie cat which left Panama yesterday. We also spoke our friends on Metzi who are in St Lucia, 1300nm away. It was great to chat with Wayne and also nice to know our radio is performing well.

The night became cloudy with an almost unbroken layer of low cumulus. The moon still managed to shine through so they can’t have been very thick. To our NW we could see distant lightning and occasionally hear thunder. The SE wind was probably being sucked into that area of convection.

By dawn we were losing speed and SVs Onyx and Xora were motor-sailing up to us from astern. We were all passing Malpelo Island, an isolated small island owned by Colombia. The seabed topography around here is very ‘mountainous’ and this island is the highest peak. The deepest depth is about 4km but there are reported shoals of 30-100m a few miles from those depths.

Malpelo Island

By 0830 our speed was down below 3 knots with little prospect of a sailing wind. So on went our trusty motor and we’ve been motoring since. We expect to be motoring most of the time for the next three days.

SVs Onyx and Xora motored by. They’ll be motoring faster than us so we may not see them until after arrival in the Marquesas. We’ll see. We had a chat with Xora on VHF to wish each-other well.

sv Xora Passing By

From satellite photos downloaded via PredictWind we can see there’s a large cloudy area to our NW. Closest to us were two rainstorms. One passed astern and the other headed off in the opposite direction. Weird. Our radar shows intense rain and both had some good rain in them.

Rainstorms Passing By

We’re not looking forward to the long motor ahead of us. But that’s the name of the game in this passage. A lot of motoring is to be expected. Hence our extra jerries of fuel. By the end of the week we should reach a light S wind which should back SE as we move further SW. And then we’ll be getting into the trades!

Trust all’s well where you are.