Heading For Franciso Drake Bay at Sea
Sowell Family's Travels on Gijima
Skipper: Tim Sowell Admiral Tracy Crew Sean & Alex
Wed 10 Nov 2010 13:41
After a rolly night where the aft anchor came loose in the middle of the
night with the tidal currents, causing the boat to swing with the wind, and
put us broadside to the incoming waves. But Tracy got a bit of sleep and
boys did, and I woke at the twig light of dawn. There is a drizzle of rain
set in (typical for the start of the day in this part of the world, but the
swell has not got as short as expected, and has actually dropped in size, we
had conflicting weather models when John and I were looking last night, as
there is a low centered off the coast, which will put winds on our nose for
today.
I dropped the dinghy and retrieved the anchor and put the flopper stopper
away, before taking on the anchor which we are anchored in 40 foot of water
and I pulled up 30 ibs of mud as well, making it a heavy lift this morning.
But it was still 5.30 am and I was in a sweat doing this morning work out.
We pulled out just behind Sunsation, and had a slight off shore breeze which
allowed us to hoist the main and genee and push along at nice 6 knots with a
1.5 knot current against us. But after 10 miles the offshore breeze has now
disappeared and we have the expected 6 knots of wind off the nose, I am now
motor sailing with main, we have past Sunsation (we find Gijima fast when we
have sails up compared to all the other cruisers and Sunsation is a 44 foot
Cat).
The seas are a lot better than we expected the size in 3 foot maybe 4 at 10
to 12 seconds so we are happy, and building wood puzzles with the boys, at
7.30 am in the morning. We have 26 nM to go and should be in around lunch
time enabling us to explore ashore this afternoon.
This bay we are going to that Francis's Drake apparently in 1570 where he
attacked a boat "Lady Conception" winning $140m in rewards, he brought the
ship ashore at this bay and refittered her while hiding from the Spanish.
Nice to see some colorful history, good discussion point and field trip for
the boys.
The cruising this week is more like a chore than enjoyable as we are going
down 250nm of exposed coast, with very few (none) good anchorages, which
means you are sailing, pulling in but because of the anchorages you cannot
leave the boats. So realistically other than the bays we cannot see much of
the towns and country, which is something Tracy and I have learnt this year,
the boat is great in countries where you want to do islands and coast, (like
we did northern Costa Rica) but it really anchors you down when you want
explore inland, as you must find a safe and secure place you can leave the
boat. This last week we have weather, bad anchorages and major security
issues.
As Tracy and I have gone down this cruising path, it is becoming
crystal clear we love been on the boat exploring islands, and coast,
enjoying the sea and diving time as a family unit, but we do not think it is
a way to travel and explore countries we like the freedom we had in South
America. So with our plan to have the boat on the Barrier Reef in Australia
and exploring, as well exploring the pacific islands of western pacific in
the future, we will keep up our love of traveling and experiencing cultures
through normal back packing travel in the future, this combination will give
us what we want certainly for the next 5 to 10 years.
Well it is still drizzling out here not sign of a break at this stage.
Stay tuned to adventures of Bahia Drake next edition.