Virgin Cruiser

Ariel
Tue 11 Apr 2006 06:46
The First Chapter Unfolds
Hi Everybody,

This is being written a week after we left Fort Lauderdale and have arrived
safely in Kingston, Jamaica or specifically Port Royal, with Kingston across
the harbour.It is 9.30pm Monday night and we shouted ourselves out to dinner
with a very pleasant yank whom we have become friendly with over today, who
is also a keen sailor. He works for the U.S. coastguard in logistics and has
been involved with the three services running manoeuvres in Jamaica, with the
Poms, and Caribbean nations. (Except Cuba, and he pointed out not
Australia.We told him all our forces were in Iraq.)Did you know we
apparently have troops in Jordan?

We spent a trying three weeks fitting out the boat, running around to
various marine stores, hardware, supermarkets nautical bookstore for charts,
melting the credit card in the process. Roger & Nick provided the expertise
& labour for the modifications & I provided the cold sweat every time I had
to pay another bill. It's amazing how you can set a budget with an maximum
upper limit, add 30% for contingencies & still miss by 50% - this seems to
be the norm I am told, in the nautical world.

Finally after much preparation the boat & crew were ready to leave, with
much fanfare & song & dance from Nancy, one of the locals tied up just a few
boats away from us. ( At least there was one person to mark the occasion,
you would have thought the yacht broker, would have at least sent a bottle
of Dom.)

The biggest challenge was getting out of the canal system in Fort
Lauderdale.We had to pass through two bridges to access the open water,
which required opening the bridge to allow our mast through.This proved much
more difficult than when I had to move the boat almost 4 weeks previous & travel
under motor for about one & a half hours through 7 bridges. I don't know if
it was the delivery skipper I had on board, but the previous episode went much
smoother and we got almost immediate response when the request was placed to
open the bridge.This proved to not be the case for our maiden departure,
which became somewhat of an anti-climax.It took us about 2 hours to get out
and underway, as we finally resorted to calling the harbour master, who
phoned the bridge on our behalf to request an opening.
Apart from this the departure went smoothly, although the winds were very
light and the current from the Mexican Gulf pushed us up to the north We
ended up motoring for most of the night, as we did for the next two nights,
as the winds were too light to keep the boat moving at a reasonable pace.All
in all we have motored for a bit over 60 hours of the past week to get us to
Jamaica in a reasonable time frame.

We had one very unpleasant night where the wind was quite fresh and seas
uncomfortable which challenged our fortitude (certainly at least mine) and
my stomach.It finally abated about 10.30am much to my relief.We took one
unusual wave over the deck during the night which poured plenty of water into
the cockpit, with some of it going down the hatch over the floor and chart
table, almost scoring the laptop in the process.Fortunately that was the only
wave that caused us any problems, as it seemed as if it was going to develop
into something quite nasty.There was a certain level of stress onboard as we
had to get above Cuba which took us into, not such a favourable angle into
the seas, plus the shipping was also proving to be a consideration, which at
night is a real test for your judgement as to wether you are going to stay
clear.It was a night that Roger and Nick got very little sleep and I
christened the side-rail,deck, winch and various fittings.So the boat is
living upto it's new name (Horizontal).Hopefully the prostrate position will
be somewhat of a more benign "latitude" in the future.

The next day (Friday) was light winds again from late morning as we left
Cuba, which was a welcome change to recover and get some well earned
sleep.Saturday from about midday the breeze freshened and we made very good
time towards Jamaica.

Our original intended destination of Crooked Island was bypassed in the
early hours of the morning, Friday. (Apparently, an executive decision was
made, whilst I was asleep<off watch> to bypass Crooked Island,(the best
decisions seem to be made whilst I'm asleep-reminds me of home) But in this
instance it was a pity, because we were told it is a very pretty
place.Apparently a change in wind direction and better breeze inspired the
intrepid sailors to carry on. So as a result of this change in course we
cannot enlighten you as to the Caribbean delights we may have seen at
Crooked Isl. So after a week at sea I can only report the colour of the sea
is a washed out inky blue colour. ( That's a description for you, I think I
have been at sea too long.)As we have really seen nothing else, only a few
fairly barren low lying islands.

So here we are, only a week into our journey, in basically Kingston, pop
about 1/2 a mill. A port that we did not intend to visit, due to advice I
had received because of the high level of crime, which has been confirmed
from various sources since we have been here.Even the customs officer warned
us not to go in to the city without a local to guide us.It seems to be
largely an industrial port and the general standard of living is very low,
with I believe a high level of unemployment. It was disappointing to see the
standard of buildings and general surround of the local primary school,
particularly in this oppressive heat.It really underlines the difficulty the
next generation will have improving what is a fairly impoverished
circumstance.There also seems to be an endemic general disinterest in
improving their situation and many people seem to spend many idle hours day
in day out.This of course is from very scant observation from a meagre one
days introduction. But there is no doubt they are doing it tough and it of
course reinforces the quality of life we have in Australia.Those that are lucky
enough to go overseas to be educated don't return I am told.

The experience at sea for the virgin cruiser has been challenging.There is
an enormous amount to learn and become familiar and experience of course is the best teacher
and the consequences of
what the sea can present are not far from the mind.It really does bring into
perspective how inconsequential an individual can be in the wrong
circumstances.You look up at the thousands of stars in the sky at night and
the black nothingness all around and the universe seems overwhelming. But it
is the first few steps and hopefully the perception will become more
soothing?
You can only wonder how the hell they did this 200 years ago.

It is hard to believe that we have travelled about 750 nautical miles, with
almost 8000 still to go, we have hardly made a dent and we have three tough
legs to go. The first being the next step, from here to Panama, about 530 nm
with nothing in between, then Galapagos, about 1000nm, then Marquesas about
2700nm. Travelling at 5 & 6 knots this can make some of the trips ominous
and very slow going.But as they say one step at a time and we shall see what
unfolds.

I shall try and get some photos together so we can make it all a bit more interesting.
Hopefully by far the best is yet to come.

Best regards to all.

bern