IF IT'S GOING TO HAPPEN, IT'S GOING TO HAPPEN OUT THERE

 MARCH 9, 2015

READY TO GET UNDERWAY

We left Portobello, Panama last Tuesday for our 5 to 6 day passage to Roatan, Honduras. Rick and Leslie are aboard for the trip and spirits were high. The first 24 hours were standard for a long passage, everyone was trying to get into the routine of being underway. Rick and Rod slept little.

 

Wednesdaywas a beautiful day. The water a deep beautiful blue. The wind was around 25 to 30 knots and we had wind and waves on the nose. Along with slogging through 8 to 10 foot seas the current is running against us and more than 1 knot. While I was down below in the afternoon a wave slammed into the starboard side of the boat. I went flying across the cabin and into the corner of a bulkhead. No blood, just a knot on the side of my head and a banged up ear. This made us all even more aware of the heavy water we were in. As the day turned into night we were making very slow progress. 
 

After a long night Thursday dawned with bright sunshine and the same hard wind and big seas. Must be time to do a little fishing. Before we knew it Rod and Rick both had landed a mahi mahi. About the time Rod's fish was cleaned the reel was singing again. Rick's turn and what a fish he had. After a great time reeling him in, he landed a 54 inch mahi mahi. Fresh fish for dinner just as soon as we get anchored in Honduras. 

The wind and waves did not change much as we plodded along. Soon the current should turn and we will make much better time. The sun set over the water one more time and we settled in for our third night aboard. Having extra people aboard makes watches much easier. We had settled into about 5hours on and 5 off.
 

About 8pm I took the helm with Rick and Rod went below for some sleep. In less than 10 min Rod was back on deck. For the last 24 hours he had been feeling a slight vibration but could not find anything that could have been causing it. When he lay down in the back cabin he could now hear a slight thud now and then as the rudder changed position. Further investigation and it became clear the rudder post was vibrating slightly. We are now over 125 miles off the mainland and we are still almost 500 miles from Roatan. The wind is still over 25 knots and the seas are still bashing the boat. By morning we should make the turn where the current and wind will be in our favor.

Rod quickly informed the crew of the situation and made the decision to make the turn toward San Andres, Colombia about 45 miles south west of our position. Rod did not have any way of inspecting the damage. In order to insure the safety of the boat & crew we needed a safe anchorage to assess the situation. Any catastrophic problem with the rudder could endanger the boat and the lives of the crew.
 

We made the turn and were soon flying along at about 7 knots under only the reefed main sail. The current and the wind pushing us on. Now we settled into our watch anxious to get to our destination.

CHECKING INTO SAN ANDRES, HONDURAS
NENE'S MARINA with Tripod the dog

After an uneventful night we sighted San Andres about 4am and by the time we reached the entrance the sun was coming up on the beautiful aquamarine water of Bahia de San Andres. The entrance channel is well marked and we were soon anchored up and ready for a break.