january, 2008 hi folks -- time for another update. warning - too long as usual summer on land -------------- my trip to spitzbergen got cancelled 2 days before i was to leave, fortunately using frequent flyer miles, so i didnt lose the ticket. so there i was with my boat safely stored till november because right after the spitzbergen trip was a practice-on-someone-elses-boat trip to the pacific to learn to do atolls and anchor in deep coral head strewn waters with my friend david on shandon. but there was plenty to do at home. went to my 50th high school reunion back in pennsylvania. was lucky the name tags included year book pictures or i'd not have known anyone. did a bit of camping with my grandkids, visited nieces and nephew in the pacific northwest, bought a house in town in case i cant always rough it in the mountains, etc. boat chores galore ------------------ came back to the boat in october, expecting it to be dirty and mildewy, but not expecting the cockpit to be full of water, like 8-10 inches. yikes. waded thru, cleared the drain holes and went to bed. next morning revealed that the boatyard had put the stancions that hold the boat up over the cockpit drain on one side and dirt had clogged the other side. so my engine instruments lived in a swimming pool for several months. not good for them. need to figure out how to replace them. the rpm meter went from flaky and needing an occasional hit to very very flaky needing hitting all the time. temperature doesnt work at all, oil pressure seems fine and charging state never worked and didnt get fixed by its bath. one locker in the cockpit has all my paint, glue, epoxy, grease, etc in it and since it isnt too deep it has a drain into the cockpit. but if the cockpit is full of water the drain becomes a locker filling hole, so all the cans of stuff were badly rusted and had a high water line on them. what a mess, lots of cleaning and throwing things out -- probably good for wondy overall. the constant swimming pool in the cockpit had rotted the cockpit drains so i replaced them with plastic ones and better hose. the starboard side one was relatively easy as i could access both ends from the cockpit lockers. but the port side one was a total access nightmare. one end was accessible from a little cut out hole in the aft cabin, the other from under the propane bottles which would have been fine for an infinitely strong 10 year old. you had to crawl into the locker underneath the gas bottles over the steering quadrant and the exhaust hose and once in there, all crunched up, cut a hole in the bulkhead with my wonderful japanese carpenters saw, wrestle the too stiff hose onto the thru hull and clamp it in place. there were lots of boat chores waiting besides the cleanup. outboards needed to be serviced as did the main engine, installed a new wind generator that puts out lots of power in winds above 10 knots, but has no regulator. do any of you boaty types know if that will hurt my batteries. they are 1 year old AGMs, supposed to last 5-7 years. installed a new shoreside battery charger that knows about AGMs and that runs on all input power combinations. my old one only ran on 110 60 cycle, so even in europe with a transformer it wouldnt work because of the cycles. got the uv cover on the jib patched and finally collected my new mainsail made in ft. lauderdale. when i got it to trinidad it didnt quite fit of course. but the ft. lauderdale sailmaker worked with a local one to make it right. it doesnt have the dutchman flaking system that my original had and now i really miss it. when i reef or take it down it falls all over the place and battens get stuck and its a real mess. might have to make some lazy jacks to hold the sail on the way down. i waffled on whether to get a watermaker or not and ended up not getting the one made in trinidad - an echotec, but got the thru hull seacock installed in case i wanted a watermaker later and wasnt hauled out. echotec installed it and left it in a position that couldnt be turned off. good i saw it or i might have sunk in the haulout ways. had to chisel and saw a bit more floor out of the way so that the handle could close the seacock completely. my first new hole in the bottom of the boat. i hate cutting holes in wondy but have gotten used to it above the waterline. was chicken to do the thruhull myself. next one i will do for sure. the boat chores seemed endless. had to finish fixing the steering from when the cable broke last spring. learned an important lesson there, take pictures and if you ever pull a cable out of a tight spot, pull a messenger string along with it so you can put the new one back in. the cables had to be crossed to not have the steering backwards and making a cable or a string drop anyway but straight down is against all the laws of physics i ever learned. finally managed it. also was getting my EPIRB (emergency locator beacon thingie) out to read its number and re-register it with noaa for another year when the antenna fell off in my hand. oops. that could have been a biggie. ACR who makes them replaced the antenna for free after i priced it locally and it was over $100, so i called them and asked. now the EPIRB, who lives in the companionway just as you go into the cabin sports a nice green sock to keep the sun off the antenna. right at the last minute, the diesel engine mechanic tested the heat exchanger and found a pin hole leak at 40 psi. this is bad because then salt water can get into the engine or coolant can leak out or both. no heat exchangers on the island, so i had to have one sent from michigan by fed ex. i asked for fedex, but they gave me ups next day air which took almost a week because they dont have the local infrastructure to deal with the customs folks. delay, delay, delay, but i guess thats boating. noticed that the fridge was not cycling on and off as much as it usually did. went into the compartment where the compressor is to clean it and noticed that the fan was not turning. jury rigged one of my cabin fans with some bungee and the fridge was much happier. found a replacement fan at radio shack that is twice as strong as the original. the fridge likes its new fan and now cycles often enough for me to leave it on all the time, not just during the daytime. actually, i think my maintenance regime of fix it when it breaks doesnt work. i need to be proactive and check whatever the maintenance section of the equipments manual says at least once a year. was lucky in the beginning because no doubt the original owner did that every year as he put the boat up for the winter. makes me wonder if maybe i shouldnt sail on someone elses boat and let them worry about all the maintenance. venezuela's offshore islands ---------------------------- adam came from hungary november 1st for his vacation from his first ever real job (exxon-mobil), and sadly spent quite a bit of it helping with boat chores or seeing the sights of trinidad. but we finally left for los testigos in venezuela, an overnight sail. got there, slept, and finally put the dinghy in the water with the small engine (2 hp honda 4 stroke). it had just been serviced, surely it would run like a champ - wrong. ran enough to get us half way to shore and died, someone came to tow us in and then we decided to go back to the boat and not risk having to row against the tide that can run 3 knots there. so we didnt see any of the nice things that the guide book had promised us because we needed to leave the next day. don, from the local fire dept in colorado, was waiting for us in margarita. i gave the fire department 2 sailing trips on wondy to auction off at their annual fund raising festival and don was the first winner. we did a tour of the island of margarita with stefan, a german fellow who had a brand new car. the cost was $7/hour for car and driver. things are cheap here, doubly so because of the black market in dollars. the official government rate is 2150/dollar, but the black market rate for large bills is more like 5000/dollar. the bus is 1000 in town and 2500 between towns. airfares on venezuelan airlines are half price if you are over 60. but the best bargain is gasoline (16 cents/gallon) and diesel (8 cents/gallon). the black market exists because wealthy venezuelans want to get some money out of the country, so they open an account in the cayman islands or bahamas or the states and then fly out with wads of dollars in their pockets to deposit abroad. no one wants $20 bills, only $100 and maybe $50s. one place was accepting checks till a boater bounced one. along with the cheapness are shortages, often eggs, always milk and chicken, sometimes things like cooking oil. a couple of weeks ago the stores got powdered milk in for the first time in 6 months. lines were 50 long at each checkout counter and each person was only allowed 2 packets. what a zoo. there are huge sections in the grocery stores here on margarita that are full of imported stuff, cheese from holland, olive oil from everywhere, booze from the usa and elsewhere. the sales people in the liquor sections of the grocery stores look like hookers in very short shorts, skimpy tops, and spikey heels. locals from the mainland come to margarita to shop because there are fewer shortages and there is no tax or duty. they hop the ferry, come for the weekend, shop till they drop and take a carload of goodies home. the people are friendly, but regard all cruisers as millionaires and some feel stealing from you is ok. it is not safe to use a credit card anywhere in venezuela because they somehow get your info (even at bank atms) and empty your bank account. stretches your cash reserves. in the boating community the dinghys are the most popular target and to keep your dinghy you must lift it out of the water at night and lock it to your boat. during the daytime you pay someone to watch it. some stolen dinghys get found, always without their outboard engines. there was a warehouse full of stolen dinghies on the islands los testigoes, probably the haul from trinidad. while we were here they had a referendum to decide several chavez reforms: no term limits, so chavez for life; property reform that would have taken lots of peoples property; and several others. chavez is trying to make venezuela like cuba government-wise. the previous election when chavez was re-elected was fudged and miraculously he won. this time groups of students monitored each of the polling places and took pictures of the voting machines results. chavez tried to change the results but was opposed by the students, army and several other groups. so the official word was that he lost, 51% to 49%, but really the spread was more 1/3 to 2/3 against. there were no alcohol sales, even beer, for 2 days prior to the election and 1.5 days after. fortunately wondy was well stocked. adam went home and back to work and don and i sailed to the nearest island, coche, while we waited for marilyn to arrive so we could go to la blanquilla, the island we really wanted to see. coche is well known for kite surfing. at first i didnt associate this with strong winds and was a bit overwhelmed as we looked for a calm anchorage among hundreds of kites pulling strong young folks on surfboards that look like snowboards. but as we got in close, it was actually the perfect anchorage, lots of wind so a nice breeze and no mosquitoes and calm water. disaster #1 ----------- marilyns flight didnt arrive till late in the afternoon the next day so we sailed around coche and had a lovely reach back into the bay at porlamar. as we got into the bay, we took the sails down and were on the cabin top folding it up when a fishing boat looked way too close. i got to the wheel and tried to avoid them hitting me but failed. they hit me in the port stern and bent wondy's rub rail and gouged a hunk of wood out of their stem. there were 4 of them on board, none watching where they were going. i wasnt moving and even if i had been they were overtaking on the port side where i have the clear right of way. we continued on into the bay and anchored. a dinghy came by from another boat and took me and the captain of the fishing boat into marina juan's to resolve our dispute. juan is a chilean who makes his living on the boats, selling water and beer and eggs, trading books, checking people in/out, and arranging tours. he appeared to be a friend of the boaters and i didnt think to call stefan for an independent translator. juan decided that it was my fault for crossing the bow of the fishing boat, even though i wasnt moving. the fishing boat was owned by a guardia nacional person, who probably split what they squeezed out of me with juan. they threatened to get the harbor master to chain my boat if i didnt pay them. i said they could talk to my insurance company, but they said no insurance. also no receipt. i didnt want my boat chained because don was there on his vacation and marilyn had just joined, jim was coming and we were going sailing. so i negotiated. they asked $1500, i offered $500 (insurance deductible), they said the least they could accept was $900, i said $750, they said $900, i said i dont know if i have that much and went to the boat to check. i ended up giving them $770 and 150,000 bolivars, about $800 in all. afterwards stefan was really mad/sad i hadnt called him, the repairs he said might cost $50 and he was sure juan and the guardia guy had split the money they scared out of me. live and learn. owning a boat seems to be full of lessons. disaster #2 ----------- we retrieved marilyn but the weather turned bad and going to blanquilla in 7-10 ft seas didnt sound fun so we sailed back to coche and then on to cubagua, the next island down. both were kite surfing spots. at the end of the first day on cubagua, don was trying to hang up some sun shades that i rig in the cockpit to make the sun less hot. they look like big screens with material borders and gromets there to hang them. a day or so earlier i had mentioned that everyone should watch out for my new wind generator cause its a lethal weapon spinning up there toward the sky. the wind was about 20 knots. all of a sudden don was sitting in the cockpit saying "evi, i just did something stupid" or some such. he was holding his hand that was gushing blood from a long deep tear on the back of his hand. yikes. i immediately wrapped it in a towel (not sterile, bad evi) and got marilyn to come help. she had just watched as her own hand was first-aided from an outboard motor smashing it, so took over the first aid effort. she clearly didnt like my scruffy towel and we got the wound care bag from my first aid kit and she washed don's cut in betadine, gave him a perkaset, and we bandaged him up, first with sterile gauze thingies and then with vet wrap that is like an ace bandage but sticks to itself. his little finger was broken and we vet wrapped it to the rest and got the bleeding stopped or at least slowed. it was about 4:30 in the afternoon, and its dark here by 5:30 or 6 so we didnt have too many options. the island we were on is inhabited but not where we were. we hauled up the anchor and sailed across to margarita where there was a marina according to our guide book. it was 7-8 miles and with the full jib on a reach and the engine we did 7+ knots. we used don's stateside cell phone to call stefan, the tour guide we had done the island tour with. he called the marina (who didnt answer on the radio), called an ambulance, and said he would pick us up after he finished his current job. we said we didnt need an ambulance but got one anyway and it was good to have. as we got about 2-3 miles away i could see masts and thought, oh good, a big marina. another mile and they all looked too tall and were in fact hauled out on the ground. but there was a breakwater and we were finally in radio contact with martine, a french woman who runs the boatyard (marina del caribe) and speaks english. she guided us to the haulout slips waiting dock and shoed me away from tying things up to accompany don in the ambulance. she was a bit miffed that i seemed to care more about wondy being tied up right than "my husbands" injury. but marilyn had been on the boat only a day or two and didnt know things like where docklines were etc. don and i climbed in the back of an ambulance and were speeded to a local clinic about 20 minutes away. they took off my vet wrap and threw it away. i wanted to drag it out of the wastebasket but restrained myself. it was the cool purple color. in the ambulance they looked at our dressing and left if alone. the clinic took us right away and we struggled with our limited spanish and the doctors limited english to communicate things like we had washed it in betadine and nothing else, we gave him perkaset and nothing else, he was not allergic to any medicines, it hurt, etc. all the doctors at the clinic came in to see the wound. they werent too gentle in washing it clean, sort of scrubbing it with sponges and gauze or cotton. don was a trooper, grimacing when they scrubbed hard or bumped his pinky that was broken, but otherwise holding up fine, the proud owner of 7 venezulean stitches in his hand. stefan came an hour or so after we got to the clinic and took me back to the boat, then took don to another clinic/hospital that had xray equipment for the broken finger. they ended up going to 5 different places and finally ended up in the public hospital where they xrayed his hand and confirmed that the finger was broken. everyone was sure the tendons were cut because when they asked don if he could move his fingers he said no (because it hurt, not because he could not do it). he slept on stefans couch and went to yet another clinic in the morning where they taped the fingers together to await further surgery when he arrived home. this all happened two days before he flew to caracas and then home. don was not in much pain and most worried about how he would hold a ski pole and how much of his season pass would be wasted. marilyn and i sailed wondy back to porlamar (25 miles upwind/upcurrent), leaving at the crack of dawn and motoring till we reached the bay and could sail the last few miles close hauled. crew problems ------------- i have finally had crew problems. other boats were amazed at the number and diversity of crew i had over the years and asked if it always worked out. it had until now. first there were the problems that i caused with adam and don. adam wasted his vacation on boat chores and trini sights instead of doing much sailing. don's trip was fragmented with scheduled events (adam flying home, marilyn coming) that made for very short opportunities to just go sail somewhere, explore, sail the next place, etc. lesson learned: dont schedule overlapping visitors to the boat, as it induces too much of a schedule and schedules and sailboats dont go together well. marilyn was the next crew to arrive, she is retired and lives in denver and intended to stay till about mid february. jim came back to the boat about a week after marilyn arrived and somehow their chemistry just didnt work. it started slowly but ended up like twin 8 year olds fighting for parental attention or approval. they learned very quickly to push each others buttons and did so constantly or so it seemed, not fun at all. jim likes to argue and seemed to want to argue and win on every point, either with marilyn or with me. got old. i finally called them on it and they would stop momentarily. i definitely need to carefully figure out crew dynamics before attempting a month-long passage to the pacific. a boat is just too small a space for strong personalities and in the midst of the galapagos to marquesas passage, some 3000 miles of open ocean, there is no place to get off and go for a walk. wondy problems, la blanquilla, disaster #3 ------------------------------------------ we were finally ready to go, had checked out to bonaire, the new dinghy we had bought had finally arrived, all the last minute shopping was done. we were intending to go to an island, la blanquilla, about 80 miles north, then on to los roques, les aves, and finally bonaire. we got a late start as usual and went to a town called juan griego on the north coast of margarita for a couple of days before crossing to blanquilla. juan griego was a lovely town with a nice beach, small fishing fleet, castle or fort on the top of the hill overlooking the harbor, nice restaurants. after a couple of days there, we set out for la blanquilla about 10pm; it was 60 miles north, with wind and current from the east. i wanted to leave at midnight or 2am, but got talked into leaving early so we would be sure to get there in time. we ended up getting there too early and not being able to see well because of the flat light. the south anchorage was scary, you had to go really close to shore to reach protected water and there was coral all around. i am a chicken when it comes to getting my wondy too near the shore, so i let jim drive as he is an old hand at coral and being close to land. we decided the south anchorage was too hairy and to check on the west anchorage, about 2.5 miles away. jim was still driving and way too close to land for conservative old me. the guide book gave a waypoint for the west anchorage and described it as a nice beach with 2 palm trees. we didnt see the palm trees, jim mumbled that palm trees come and go, but the gps said we were still a mile away from the right spot. when it said we were still 1/2 mile away, jim saw a breaking wave, marilyn yelled shallow, jim turned hard to the left, and poor wondy hit a coral head hard. i rushed below to see if we had a huge hole in the bottom, but no water was coming in that i could see, so i thought we were ok. we continued on around the next point, after going further offshore and voila, there was a pretty beach with 2 palm trees and lots of other sailboats. went into the middle of the pack and anchored, not up close to the beach to jims shegrin, but further out where i was comfortable. i had been up most of the night, so went to sleep instead of diving and seeing what damage had been done. everyone else slept too. a few hours later i woke up and noticed something reflecting from the hole in the floor boards where you lift them up. looked and the bilge was full of water. checked the circuit panel and the bilge pump had been turned off (probably from storing bunk cushions on the nav table at night). yikes. turned it on and then tried to help it with my 2 hand pumps. neither worked. double yikes. i thought the keel bolts had been tweaked by the coral hit and so pumped out the tubes that provide access to them with a dinghy hand pump, but they were fine. jim went in the water to see what damage we had done and reported that the skeg had been torn off and the rudder damaged. i lifted the back locker hatch and sure enough there was a steady stream of water coming in from under the steering quadrant. the automatic bilge pump turned on every 3 minutes and pumped about a liter each time it went on. we rigged a line under the skeg that was about 2 inches down from its usual position and tightened it up with our winches. this got it up nearly where it should be, but it was cocked crooked a bit. i called on the radio to the other boats in the anchorage, told them of our situation, and asked for a posse of smart boaty guys to visit in the morning, see the damage, suggest alternatives for jury rig temporary repairs we might try. in the middle of the night, jim got up and moved several heavy things forward and timed the pump at 4.5 minutes between turnons. we eventually moved enough stuff to get it down to a liter every hour or so. next morning the posse arrived with dive gear and looked carefully at the damage and also at our non-working pumps. the one in the bilge was so full of salt crystals that it hadnt a hope of working. i had never cleaned it and didnt use it often enough. i had rebuilt it a couple of years ago, so most parts were fine. one aluminum plate was corroded and jim fixed that with marine tex. the one in the cockpit had a broken diaphram which one of the boaters was able to jury rig with a piece of innertube i had. this was all happening on a deserted island with no communications during christmas week. i sent an email to my insurance company, pantaenius in germany, from another boats sailmail account. then got winlink working on my boat so i could send from there. the insurance company located a surveyor to access the damage and told me to stay where i was. that was fine with me, blanquilla is a lovely island and we had a big feast on the beach planned for christmas. huge whole filet mignon of argentine beef are only $25 in the stores and one of the boats had 2 of them. was very yummy. a very high end pot luck for xmas. 3 of the boats had kids, which always make christmas more fun. the best present was a dvd player that my son laszlo had given me for the boat but i had never used, so decided to give away. it went to the family with an 8 year old girl and 5 year old boy. they were all wet and sandy when they opened presents so i told them a dry person had to open it and they really couldnt open it till they got home to their boat. the mom opened it and told the kids what it was and that they could play their own movies. the little girl immediately asked me how many amps it drew. turns out less than an amp, so they were totally happy, way better than watching movies on dads desktop computer. the snorkeling and fishing is awesome on blanquilla and jim found lobsters too (brought one home for me for xmas and i ate the whole thing without sharing). i caught a baracuda that fed us for 2-3 meals. it was an idylic island and great company with the families on the other boats, but i was so worried about wondy that i didnt participate fully. snorkeled once, swam a few times, went for one long walk on the beach alone. by new years eve the insurance company had located a boat to come and tow us back to a boatyard on margarita. in the meantime, we were having a good time with another feast planned for new years. the pump was running only once a night instead of every 3 minutes at the start and wondy looked like he was peering down into the sea with the bow full of heavy stuff and the stern empty and up in the air. the insurance surveyor and the captain of the tow boat decided to tow us to margarita, to marina del caribe where we spent a night when don cut his hand. they looked at the damage and the temporary repairs we had done but didnt suggest anything more. jim had suggested that we run a line from between the skeg and the rudder forward to be sure the skeg didnt fall off and take the rudder with it. they asked if we could do that ourselves, and i answered yes, not knowing how hard it would be. 5-6 hours later it was run and jim, the runee was freezing from that long in the chilly water. but it did the job. the crew on the tow boat, a large motor yacht, was a bit flaky. they said things like they would put the dinghy and outboard on their boat and then changed their mind in the morning when it was time to leave, so we had to tow it because they wouldnt give us the time to haul it out of the water. said they didnt want to use my line to tow, had their own and then asked for mine in the morning, but by that time i had stowed everything forward to keep the weight balance ok and it was inaccessible. they were in a rush to leave because they dreamed that they could tow me 85 miles in daylight, but no way. we tried to talk them into waiting and joining the beach party for new years eve, but the weather was relatively calm and we needed to go. except for hitting wondy a couple of times as they tried to get the tow line settled and telling me just as we were pulling out that we couldnt talk on the radio because they didnt want the guardia nacional to see/hear them, the tow went fine. they towed at between 5 and 6.5 knots and i tied the wheel on wondy to keep us in a straight line behind them so we got slightly calmer water thanks to their beating the waves down. we arrived in the dark and they anchored and wondy just stayed tied to them. in the morning, we let the tow line go and drove wondy under her own power and steering into the waiting dock at the boatyard. had the dinghy in the water with marilyn and the surveyor to help if we lost steering. whew. we made it and a couple of days later wondy was hauled for repairs. its now been about 2 weeks and they have removed the rudder and determined that the shaft might be slightly bent. they cant get the skeg off, it has 9 huge bolts that go to a steel plate in it, the nuts are off, but it wont budge, even when wiggled and hammered. so they are going to somehow repair it in place. not sure i like that idea, but it sure is solidly in there. i guess my only worry is that the hull has been damaged underneath where the skeg attaches and we wont know because we cant see it. in the meantime i am getting several other boat chores done, those bilge pumps are now both working, i am cleaning all the parts for the rudder and skeg assemblies and making sure that stainless bolts dont go into aluminum castings without tefgel or lanacote grease. getting things apart was a bear because of the corrosion between dis-similar metals in sea water/air. will try to get new hose for the rudder stuffing box and new packing as well. still hoping to get to the pacific this year, but its now in the boatyard's hands. waiting, waiting, waiting. hugs. -evi