Quick Update Friday 07 March
Tashi Delek
Mike & Carol Kefford
Fri 7 Mar 2014 19:31
We arrived in the San Blas Islands off the coast of Panama at 4pm yesterday
after six days sailing. The first three days had been bliss and then the
second three days not so much fun. Big rolly sea but at least it was a
following sea pushing us in the right direction. The wind was exactly in
the wrong place, again from behind which is good but that is no use and it
was impossible to sail in the direction we wanted to go. Consequently we
took the scenic route and zig zagged our way here. Nothing unusual in that
but it does feel a bit frustrating!
The tiring bit was that we had to hand steer for two days, three nights.
Both the autohelm (electronic) and Barratt the wind vane struggled with the
sea state and so got knocked off course as the swell hit slightly to one
side and then the other.
Very good news was that we only had one squall and that was in daylight so
Carol just got drenched on the helm and the accumulated salt got washed off
the boat.
On balance we enjoyed ourselves though. The weather was great and we were
able to get back into passage mode which will serve us well for the Pacific.
The San Blas islands are fabulous. Lots of little islands, white sand, palm
trees, reefs that protect and mean the water is flat. Lovely. Photographs
to follow.