We were underway. Motoring out of Puerto Lindo into a 15 knot headwind, 10 foot seas, and a current. It wasn’t going to be easy sailing – but I’ve done more with less. Things were going almost going according to plan, which is remarkable in itself.
Wind and Waves
I was starting to gain some confidence in my engines. Then Amanda noticed some black smoke coming from the portside engine – incomplete combustion – potential causes being: something around the prop, clogged exhaust elbow, clogged air filter, etc. Luke went in to check the props, nothing found. I found the problem shortly thereafter – definitely a clogged air filter. That problem solved, I was breathing easier – we were going to need the engines today. No more shenanigans.
Coming out of the channel into the craziness that was the Carribean between Puerto Lindo and San Blas, wasn’t fun. I was under full power, directly into a 15 knot headwind. The waves were breaking all around us. Not small ones. If I were a religious man, I would have said a small prayer – if the outside as bad as the inside, this was going to be a long, green day.
Once outside, things were slightly less tumultuous. The waves weren’t topping off, they were longer, with longer periods between them. And once outside, I could turn and use some of that wind. We raised the main, put out the genoa – and we actually were making a couple knots. This was very close to the wind, with waves and current against us – so I was happy to see we were making any forward progress, sans engines.
The next problem was one from the night before. I’d left it unresolved because it hadn’t appeared to be a show-stopper. But as we sailed, the problem got worse – what had started as something occasionally making my radio quit was now shorting out my house and navigation systems. This meant no autopilot, no depth readings, etc. That is an issue.
So I put Luke in the captain’s chair and he navigated using the compass. I went below and began playing with connections – looking for heat or anything amiss. When I went to flip the house-power switch, I felt some heat there. I played with it for a bit and decided to switch switches, hoping it was just a bad switch/breaker. After a bit of delicate electrical work, in 10 foot seas, I got everything hooked up (without getting electrocuted) and it was working again. Second problem solved.
Mechanical Paranoia
Running engines while battling against currents, winds, and seas makes me paranoid. Every little sound, every little variation of RPM, every little thing makes me very nervous. The crew was all knocked out, the captain made sea-sickness pills mandatory for this little adventure.
On the way we caught a nice Spanish Mackerel. Luke began cleaning it, then got seasick, then threw-up. He managed to not throw up on the decks, or the fish – which is all that was important. Then I took over cleaning the fish. Shortly thereafter, I saw S/V REACH pop up on my AIS, going the opposite way. They definitely were going the “right” way, we definitely weren’t. I hailed them, and we had a quick conversation. He reiterated what I already knew: we must have been in a hurry to take on wind, current, and seas. I admitted that I was tired of Puerto Lindo, and had some crew onboard that had some schedule pressure. Surprising enough – we were doing a little over 6 knots with only one engine. S/V REACH was doing roughly the same speed, so we weren’t really that bad off. The difference: we were doing a fair amount of up and down, while moving forward at 6 knots.
By 2PM we’d made it to Punta San Blas, where we make the turn into either Chichime, Yansaladup, or Porvenir. I needed to get a visa issue sorted, so we went into Porvenir. When I was making the turn upwind we noticed some black smoke coming from the starboard side engine. I figured it was the same problem – clogged air filter. I was correct, but when I popped the starboard side engine hatch, I was accosted by a plume of black exhaust smoke.
That means that I had an exhaust leak. Which means my entire engine compartment and my bilges were flooded with black, oily carbon-water. Nothing made it as high as the engines or floorboards inside, thankfully. But, rather than a relaxing evening with drinks and dinner – I was stuck back inside engine rooms – scrubbing exhaust residue and soaking up blackwater.
As to what actually happened – I’m hoping it was one of two relatively simple fixes: a) a leak in the exhaust hose or b) a crack in the exhaust silencer. After cleaning the engine room for a couple hours – I’d managed to transfer most of the black sooty mess onto myself and out of the engine room. Then I pulled out my spare exhaust hose, measured and cut appropriately. Then I cleaned and pulled out the exhaust silencer, where I did find a small crack. I’m hoping the combination of reinforcing the exhaust silencer (epoxy and glass mat) and replacing the exhaust hose will fix this issue.
I could only do so much before it was time for dinner. Then I was exhausted, so I called it a night about a third of the way into Office Space. When you’re really tired, even classics can’t keep you awake.
Visas and Exits
The next morning I finally got to play Dumb Gringo in Porvenir at the immigration office – hoping the most I face is a stiff fine for my non-observance of certain visa guidelines. In fact, it wasn’t entirely my fault – but I was nervous. No reason though – I made it in and out under an hour and the only fine I paid was $50. I can handle that. There were a couple moments of “oh-shit” when the guys running things became very serious – but I think it’s their job to overplay that so they get a little more money out of you.
While I was dealing with immigration and the port authority, Luke epoxied our exhaust silencer. Then we all went into “town” to provision. We got distracted exploring and forgot eggs. But we remembered Coca Cola, rum, and beer. Then we came back, and practiced various dives off the boat. The rest of the day was spent between getting covered in oil/soot and attempting to clean off said oil/soot from my body. In a failed attempt to clean my hands/fingernails I resorted to steel wool. I only succeeded in shredding our steel wool. I gave up. Luke went surfing, we cooked dinner and drank a couple of drinks. Sometimes the best thing you can do is remove yourself from a project and enjoy a drink. Then I picked Luke up from his surf break.
Goodbye Porvenir
I was a little anxious to see if the epoxy job would hold on our exhaust silencer and get the exhaust system back together. I desperately wanted to vacate this anchorage in Porvenir. There were a couple of tweaks that I needed to do, but it appeared that the exhaust fixes held and we were back in business.
We remedied our partial shopping failure on land, then briskly motored out of Porvenir. There were a few options: Chichime, Kuanidup, Yansaldup, etc. We chose Kuanidup. There we could anchor in relative peace, have an island to ourselves, and do some pretty decent diving.
So we raised sails and soon enough we were doing a bit over 8 knots. Which is a fun sailing pace, for sure. Anything over 7 makes me feel good, anything under 5 makes motor-sailing tempting. Anything under 3 knots makes me wonder what the Hell I’m doing wrong. We didn’t have to worry what we were doing wrong.
Wind and Waves
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