Prior to leaving Trinidad I got together with the crew to discuss our sail plan, look at navigational charts, check the weather and sea state and put together our final provisiosn list. Please understand that I am sailing with an inexperienced crew, as Terence has never seen the inside of a sail boat, and Camille continues to learn new skills. Therefore, I am approaching this trip as a training session, and the crew has shown they are open and willing to learn and hon new skills. The fact that we launched the boat mid-month and have been living on the boat initially at a dock in the marina, and later in an anchorage on a mooring, has been of tremendous benefit to improving my crew's skill sets, particularly with line handling, operating the dinghy, tying knots and safety procedures. On our first day on the mooring we managed to get our mooring line wrapped around our prop, and it served to demonstrate how minor inattention to details can lead to a series of problems. Fortunately, I have my scuba tank on board, which made this less complicated. but still embarrassing While reviewing the charts I taught Terence and Camille basic charting and plotting skills. This head session was further re-enforced during our cruise as we were committed to chart our location along our proposed Line of Position (LOP). During our 12+ hour cruise the crew could actually see the effects of the wind and current as we maintained our 007' heading but were pushed off course. Camille has been fantastic with a great attitude and perspective which adds a dimension to our cruising that I had underrated in the past. My apologies for being slow in understand this aspect of sailing to "My First Mate" in all respects. After 12-14 + hours at sea and to sit down and get a hot meal of "arroz con pollo & a cold beer", does it get any better than that. Truly a different experience for all. Prior to leaving Trinidad we positioned our boats in a small bay, call Scotland Bay. It's a very popular bay for local boaters, and it placed us close to the northern mouth of the "Boca De Monos" (Little Boca - N10'46.00'' // W61'40".00) through which a tremendous amount of current passes between the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Paria which separates Trinidad from Venezuela. We dropped our anchored in 18' of water and settled in 11' feet of water prior to retiring for the night. At 1:00am I felt a shutter, and when I went to investigate, I realized we were aground in 4" of water (My draft is 5'6".) Terence looked at me and said, "Hey Pops, what do we do in this situation". I looked at him as I contemplated our situation, and the only thing I could think to reply is, "Don't panic, we'll figure it out". Then I went back to bed, not really knowing what time the tide would rise, but realizing we had planned for a 4:30am departure. When I awoke at 3am we were afloat. This is typical of the unexpected situations you encounter. It reminds me of a regular day on the job from which I retired.
A good friend and colleague and follow Captain once commented, ..."Owning a sailboat is a great way to transition into retirement". Truer words have never been spoken from my perspective, and there have been no regrets.
2 comments:
Captain Jerome, Camille and Terence
I'm glad the Trinidad / Grenada leg was uneventful and pleasurable. We can say Terence has now 12 hours of sailing under his belt. He is getting salty :-) I went over the trip report from Captain and it seems that cool head Jerome prevails in tight situations. It reminded me about the Apollo 13 when it became a chess game of facing a challenge, figure out a solution to just contemplate a new one, cool head goes a long way, praise to the captain and crew for the preparation, training and execution. Well... below is my silly joke of the day. It highlights the quality of captain we have leading the Apuej Bien voyage. Have fun guys.
A group of Skippers are walking through town looking for crew, when they see a five-story building with a sign that read, "Crew Association: Ship’s Crew Available" Since they are without their crews, they decide to go in. The Security Guard, a very salty type, explains to them how it works. "We have five floors. Go up floor by floor and once you find what you are looking for, for crew, you can go there and make a selection. It's easy to decide since each floor has a sign telling you who's inside."
Everything seems wonderful, so they start going up and on the first floor the sign reads, "All the crew on this floor are beginners." The skippers laugh, and without hesitation move on to the next floor. The sign on the second floor reads, "All the crew here are experienced, smart but weak."
Still, this isn't good enough, so the Skippers continue on up. They reach the third floor and the sign reads, "All the crew here are experienced, smart and strong." They still want to do better, and so, knowing there are still two floors left, they kept going. On the fourth floor, the sign is perfect, "All the crew here are experienced, smart, strong and Former Americas Cup Champions." The Skippers get excited and are about to go in when they realize that there is still one floor left.
Wondering what they are missing, they head up to the fifth floor. There they find a sign that reads, "There are no crew here. This floor was built only to prove that there is no way to please a Skipper!"
Dear Crew of the Apuej Bien;
I forgot to thank you for putting your coordinates in the blog. I can now google map you as you go, please continue the practice. I assume your next stop is north to St. Vincent or south west to the coast of Venezuela? West seems to be a larger jump that this leg you completed. I’m taking some time each morning to follow you, comment and dream about your experience like I were there. Fair winds my family… The joke of the day is.
A magician was working on a cruise ship in the Caribbean. The audience would be different each week, so the magician allowed himself to do the same tricks over and over again. There was only one problem: The captain's parrot saw the shows each week and began to understand how the magician did every trick. Once he understood he started shouting in the middle of the show:
"Look, it's not the same hat."
"Look, he is hiding the flowers under the table."
"Hey, why are all the cards the Ace of Spades ?"
The magician was furious but couldn't do anything; it was, after all, the captain's parrot.
One day the ship had an accident and sank. The magician found himself adrift on a piece of wood in the middle of the ocean with the parrot, of course. They stared at each other with hate, but did not utter a word. This went on for a day, then another, and another.
After a week the parrot said: "OK, I give up. What’d you do with the ship?"
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