So, rather than ff around trying to get a ride back to Bocas, settled down
in the cockpit for a coupla beers, way too hot below. Crew and skipper
finally showed up, but only 3 of us slept on the boat that night, myself
included. Tried sleeping in the cockpit-heat-but the damn band across the
way in Bocas was blasting non-stop, so I went below and actually fell asleep
rather quickly, and woke up literally at the crack of dawn-0600 to the sound
of roosters crowing and someone hammering away on their stilt-shack. The
skipper and Chris woke up around seven, we headed over to Bocas to provision
and have breakfast. Like the guidebooks mention, Bocas is a wet place, even
during the dry season, it rained for about a half-hour that morning Prices
were pretty reasonable, much cheaper than a place like the BVI's, for
example. Got to meet the rest of the crew, Melissa and Andy, Ron, Chris and
Dave. Everyone with the exception of Melissa, Andy and myself was at least
50, and we would have 7 people on the boat, never sailed with that many
people aboard, the maximum in the past was 6. Plan is to shove off
relatively early, hit the gas dock at the other marina by noon, shove off
and head to Providencia. Melissa and Andy had come down with Quetzal in
March, and they never got to stop at Providencia due to adverse sailing
conditions. We cleared Bocas by 1300 and it became painfully apparent almost
immediately that we had little wind and what little there was not
blowing from the right direction, in fact it was basically right on the
nose. Schedules to keep, we spent the next 3 days-almost 3, that is,
motorsailing, not my idea of an auspicious start. We also switched to 3 hour
watches, not my idea but it didn't work out too badly. Did some fishing,
hooked a decent-sized tuna that we had for lunch and lost a 30 lb. monster,
Andy and Melissa tried to land the thing with a net instead of the gaff-they
forgot about it, and the fish took the net and made his escape. Made
Providencia and Catalina Harbor around 1000 ish Tuesday, discovered that
there is very little water next to the dock, in spite of the fact that
freighter managed to park there. We figured that the thing just plowed it's
way to the dock through the sandy bottom, but we didn't have enough water to
park in front of them and the skipper didn't feel like plowing. No sailing
story with Kretschmer would be complete without equipment malfunctions, and
Tuesday was no exception as the dinghy motor would start. Truthfully, John
probably hadn't started the thing in ages, so it shouldn't have come as a
surprise. Our good luck, a nice guy named George was anchored out and he
gave us a lift. He and his wife were messing around the island for a bit,
she was scuba driving and he had some time on his hands so we all got a lift
to town after we cleared in, first order of business, get some diesel as the
motoring/motorsailing had seriously depleted our diesel supply. Like Bocas,
we had to get fuel by early afternoon or get none as the two gas stations on
the island closed by 1300, John and Ron wandered off to find the station
while the rest of us milled about looking to make purchases from the stores
in town. John and Ron got lucky, they had just left the station with their
diesel jugs when a local gave them a lift back to the dock in his pickup
truck, and George gave them a ride back in his dinghy. We decided to tour
the fairly small island and find a place to have lunch. These guys are
trying real hard to attract tourists here but it's a very out of the way
place, even for cruisers, the most recent admiralty charts date back to
1843, Reed's has a small version in their Caribbean guide. Nice lunch, we
got more than one invite to the holiday festivities-May Day-but couldn't
stay, and cleared out around 1600, parked around the Catalina headland for a
swim and cocktail hour. Set sail well before dark, uneventful until sometime
in second watch when I heard an ungodly racket on deck. It was obvious that
someone had the situation under control, or some semblance thereof. I was
laying there starting to fall back asleep when I heard something that
sounded like someone dragging a chain across the keel, looked through the
forward hatch and saw something that looked like laundry flapping in the
breeze. That got my attention, climb out of my berth and go topsides and
discover that the genny has split in half, from leech to luff. Crew hauls
the thing down, luckily we have a jib and staysail, Quetzal will now sail as
a cutter for the rest of the journey. Good thing that we have good winds,
probably averaging 13 knots for the rest of the way, and though not blowing
from an optional direction, probably averaging 40-60 degrees off the nose,
which is good enough. Uneventful sail the rest of the way, but we didn't get
our anticipated shove from the stream until we got fairly close to
Lauderdale, probably halfway up the Keys, most of the time it was averaging
½ knot. We spent a lot of time looking for it. And of course, the boarding
early Sunday am., plus the early Monday a.m. delay at one of the bridges in
FLL, it seemed that the operator had fallen asleep on the job, she finally
awoke only after we had tied up and starting milling about ashore, looking
for a way to access the bridge office-impossible.



http://community.webshots.com/album/550217006IlbCVs

John Cairns

You should learn how to write paragraphs or take the time to do so if you
happen to know how already. Who wants to read such lazy composition as
that which appears below?

Ralph Waldo Emerson


"John Cairns" wrote in message om...
| So, rather than ff around trying to get a ride back to Bocas, settled down
| in the cockpit for a coupla beers, way too hot below. Crew and skipper
| finally showed up, but only 3 of us slept on the boat that night, myself
| included. Tried sleeping in the cockpit-heat-but the damn band across the
| way in Bocas was blasting non-stop, so I went below and actually fell asleep
| rather quickly, and woke up literally at the crack of dawn-0600 to the sound
| of roosters crowing and someone hammering away on their stilt-shack. The
| skipper and Chris woke up around seven, we headed over to Bocas to provision
| and have breakfast. Like the guidebooks mention, Bocas is a wet place, even
| during the dry season, it rained for about a half-hour that morning Prices
| were pretty reasonable, much cheaper than a place like the BVI's, for
| example. Got to meet the rest of the crew, Melissa and Andy, Ron, Chris and
| Dave. Everyone with the exception of Melissa, Andy and myself was at least
| 50, and we would have 7 people on the boat, never sailed with that many
| people aboard, the maximum in the past was 6. Plan is to shove off
| relatively early, hit the gas dock at the other marina by noon, shove off
| and head to Providencia. Melissa and Andy had come down with Quetzal in
| March, and they never got to stop at Providencia due to adverse sailing
| conditions. We cleared Bocas by 1300 and it became painfully apparent almost
| immediately that we had little wind and what little there was not
| blowing from the right direction, in fact it was basically right on the
| nose. Schedules to keep, we spent the next 3 days-almost 3, that is,
| motorsailing, not my idea of an auspicious start. We also switched to 3 hour
| watches, not my idea but it didn't work out too badly. Did some fishing,
| hooked a decent-sized tuna that we had for lunch and lost a 30 lb. monster,
| Andy and Melissa tried to land the thing with a net instead of the gaff-they
| forgot about it, and the fish took the net and made his escape. Made
| Providencia and Catalina Harbor around 1000 ish Tuesday, discovered that
| there is very little water next to the dock, in spite of the fact that
| freighter managed to park there. We figured that the thing just plowed it's
| way to the dock through the sandy bottom, but we didn't have enough water to
| park in front of them and the skipper didn't feel like plowing. No sailing
| story with Kretschmer would be complete without equipment malfunctions, and
| Tuesday was no exception as the dinghy motor would start. Truthfully, John
| probably hadn't started the thing in ages, so it shouldn't have come as a
| surprise. Our good luck, a nice guy named George was anchored out and he
| gave us a lift. He and his wife were messing around the island for a bit,
| she was scuba driving and he had some time on his hands so we all got a lift
| to town after we cleared in, first order of business, get some diesel as the
| motoring/motorsailing had seriously depleted our diesel supply. Like Bocas,
| we had to get fuel by early afternoon or get none as the two gas stations on
| the island closed by 1300, John and Ron wandered off to find the station
| while the rest of us milled about looking to make purchases from the stores
| in town. John and Ron got lucky, they had just left the station with their
| diesel jugs when a local gave them a lift back to the dock in his pickup
| truck, and George gave them a ride back in his dinghy. We decided to tour
| the fairly small island and find a place to have lunch. These guys are
| trying real hard to attract tourists here but it's a very out of the way
| place, even for cruisers, the most recent admiralty charts date back to
| 1843, Reed's has a small version in their Caribbean guide. Nice lunch, we
| got more than one invite to the holiday festivities-May Day-but couldn't
| stay, and cleared out around 1600, parked around the Catalina headland for a
| swim and cocktail hour. Set sail well before dark, uneventful until sometime
| in second watch when I heard an ungodly racket on deck. It was obvious that
| someone had the situation under control, or some semblance thereof. I was
| laying there starting to fall back asleep when I heard something that
| sounded like someone dragging a chain across the keel, looked through the
| forward hatch and saw something that looked like laundry flapping in the
| breeze. That got my attention, climb out of my berth and go topsides and
| discover that the genny has split in half, from leech to luff. Crew hauls
| the thing down, luckily we have a jib and staysail, Quetzal will now sail as
| a cutter for the rest of the journey. Good thing that we have good winds,
| probably averaging 13 knots for the rest of the way, and though not blowing
| from an optional direction, probably averaging 40-60 degrees off the nose,
| which is good enough. Uneventful sail the rest of the way, but we didn't get
| our anticipated shove from the stream until we got fairly close to
| Lauderdale, probably halfway up the Keys, most of the time it was averaging
| ½ knot. We spent a lot of time looking for it. And of course, the boarding
| early Sunday am., plus the early Monday a.m. delay at one of the bridges in
| FLL, it seemed that the operator had fallen asleep on the job, she finally
| awoke only after we had tied up and starting milling about ashore, looking
| for a way to access the bridge office-impossible.
|
|
|
| http://community.webshots.com/album/550217006IlbCVs
|
| John Cairns
|
|
|
|
|
|

"Ralph Waldo Emerson" wrote in message
reenews.net...
You should learn how to write paragraphs or take the time to do so if you
happen to know how already. Who wants to read such lazy composition as
that which appears below?

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Silly question! Why you do, old boy.

Bwahahahahahhahahahhahahahhahaha

John Cairns


"John Cairns" wrote in message
om...
| So, rather than ff around trying to get a ride back to Bocas, settled
down
| in the cockpit for a coupla beers, way too hot below. Crew and skipper
| finally showed up, but only 3 of us slept on the boat that night, myself
| included. Tried sleeping in the cockpit-heat-but the damn band across
the
| way in Bocas was blasting non-stop, so I went below and actually fell
asleep
| rather quickly, and woke up literally at the crack of dawn-0600 to the
sound
| of roosters crowing and someone hammering away on their stilt-shack. The
| skipper and Chris woke up around seven, we headed over to Bocas to
provision
| and have breakfast. Like the guidebooks mention, Bocas is a wet place,
even
| during the dry season, it rained for about a half-hour that morning
Prices
| were pretty reasonable, much cheaper than a place like the BVI's, for
| example. Got to meet the rest of the crew, Melissa and Andy, Ron, Chris
and
| Dave. Everyone with the exception of Melissa, Andy and myself was at
least
| 50, and we would have 7 people on the boat, never sailed with that many
| people aboard, the maximum in the past was 6. Plan is to shove off
| relatively early, hit the gas dock at the other marina by noon, shove
off
| and head to Providencia. Melissa and Andy had come down with Quetzal in
| March, and they never got to stop at Providencia due to adverse sailing
| conditions. We cleared Bocas by 1300 and it became painfully apparent
almost
| immediately that we had little wind and what little there was not
| blowing from the right direction, in fact it was basically right on the
| nose. Schedules to keep, we spent the next 3 days-almost 3, that is,
| motorsailing, not my idea of an auspicious start. We also switched to 3
hour
| watches, not my idea but it didn't work out too badly. Did some fishing,
| hooked a decent-sized tuna that we had for lunch and lost a 30 lb.
monster,
| Andy and Melissa tried to land the thing with a net instead of the
gaff-they
| forgot about it, and the fish took the net and made his escape. Made
| Providencia and Catalina Harbor around 1000 ish Tuesday, discovered that
| there is very little water next to the dock, in spite of the fact that
| freighter managed to park there. We figured that the thing just plowed
it's
| way to the dock through the sandy bottom, but we didn't have enough
water to
| park in front of them and the skipper didn't feel like plowing. No
sailing
| story with Kretschmer would be complete without equipment malfunctions,
and
| Tuesday was no exception as the dinghy motor would start. Truthfully,
John
| probably hadn't started the thing in ages, so it shouldn't have come as
a
| surprise. Our good luck, a nice guy named George was anchored out and he
| gave us a lift. He and his wife were messing around the island for a
bit,
| she was scuba driving and he had some time on his hands so we all got a
lift
| to town after we cleared in, first order of business, get some diesel as
the
| motoring/motorsailing had seriously depleted our diesel supply. Like
Bocas,
| we had to get fuel by early afternoon or get none as the two gas
stations on
| the island closed by 1300, John and Ron wandered off to find the station
| while the rest of us milled about looking to make purchases from the
stores
| in town. John and Ron got lucky, they had just left the station with
their
| diesel jugs when a local gave them a lift back to the dock in his pickup
| truck, and George gave them a ride back in his dinghy. We decided to
tour
| the fairly small island and find a place to have lunch. These guys are
| trying real hard to attract tourists here but it's a very out of the way
| place, even for cruisers, the most recent admiralty charts date back to
| 1843, Reed's has a small version in their Caribbean guide. Nice lunch,
we
| got more than one invite to the holiday festivities-May Day-but couldn't
| stay, and cleared out around 1600, parked around the Catalina headland
for a
| swim and cocktail hour. Set sail well before dark, uneventful until
sometime
| in second watch when I heard an ungodly racket on deck. It was obvious
that
| someone had the situation under control, or some semblance thereof. I
was
| laying there starting to fall back asleep when I heard something that
| sounded like someone dragging a chain across the keel, looked through
the
| forward hatch and saw something that looked like laundry flapping in the
| breeze. That got my attention, climb out of my berth and go topsides and
| discover that the genny has split in half, from leech to luff. Crew
hauls
| the thing down, luckily we have a jib and staysail, Quetzal will now
sail as
| a cutter for the rest of the journey. Good thing that we have good
winds,
| probably averaging 13 knots for the rest of the way, and though not
blowing
| from an optional direction, probably averaging 40-60 degrees off the
nose,
| which is good enough. Uneventful sail the rest of the way, but we didn't
get
| our anticipated shove from the stream until we got fairly close to
| Lauderdale, probably halfway up the Keys, most of the time it was
averaging
| ½ knot. We spent a lot of time looking for it. And of course, the
boarding
| early Sunday am., plus the early Monday a.m. delay at one of the bridges
in
| FLL, it seemed that the operator had fallen asleep on the job, she
finally
| awoke only after we had tied up and starting milling about ashore,
looking
| for a way to access the bridge office-impossible.
|
|
|
| http://community.webshots.com/album/550217006IlbCVs
|
| John Cairns
|
|
|
|
|
|

Excellent story John, thanks. Did I miss the part about what
kind of boat it was?

John Cairns wrote:
.... early Monday a.m. delay at one of the bridges in
FLL, it seemed that the operator had fallen asleep on the job, she finally
awoke only after we had tied up and starting milling about ashore, looking
for a way to access the bridge office-impossible.


They do that on purpose, or boaters would be knocking on the
door in person demanding an exception to their normal
opening hours.

DSK

Kaufman 47.

John Cairns

"DSK" wrote in message
. ..
Excellent story John, thanks. Did I miss the part about what kind of boat
it was?

John Cairns wrote:
.... early Monday a.m. delay at one of the bridges in FLL, it seemed that
the operator had fallen asleep on the job, she finally awoke only after
we had tied up and starting milling about ashore, looking for a way to
access the bridge office-impossible.


They do that on purpose, or boaters would be knocking on the door in
person demanding an exception to their normal opening hours.

DSK

Great report. Thanks!

Frank