Sailing Esprit - A McWilliam Family Adventure
Sailing Esprit - A McWilliam Family Adventure

Contact us at chaynkt@sailingesprit.com

What's New.....

 

 

 

Christmas 1999

 

 

 

 

Christmas 2018

 

2018 was a year of big changes for the McWilliam family!

 

We started the year off with a road trip through Reno, where Chay & Katie celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary, then on to June Lake, CA, where we visited with our longtime friends Paul & Diane.  From there we headed south to Boulder City where we prepared for our departure to ESPRIT in Panama.  The month of February was spent preparing Esprit for her sale to a young couple from Berkeley, CA.  They flew down and spent a week on board with us during which we were able to sneak out through rough seas for their sea trial, and our last “passage” and night on anchor up the Rio Chagres.  Esprit easily sold herself to them and we transferred title at the end of the month.  We spent a few days on board after they left, and then said our final farewell to Esprit and the sailing community at Shelter Bay Marina before heading back to Boulder City.  Esprit was our life for 18 years – a true family adventure which we miss every day.  However, a new adventure has begun and we are embracing our new life on the ranch in Montana. 

 

 

 

Esprit, Rio Chagres Panama

Our last anchorage on board Esprit

 

 

Chay & Katie with Mitch & Quincey the new "caretakers" of Esprit

We spent March & Easter in Boulder City enjoying time with Amy, Beau, Trinity & Tasha, as well visiting with friends.  Upon return to Montana we purchased a dozen chicks and have been enjoying their antics, their eggs, and their meat!  The first week of May took us to Bozeman where we celebrated Jamie’s 21st birthday and his graduation from Montana State University with his Bachelor degree in Mechanical Engineering and a minor in Aerospace Engineering.  Katie’s brother, sister-in-law, and niece were able to join us for the graduation festivities and a trip to Yellowstone National Park.  A good time was had by all!

 

 

 

The Graduate!!!  Congratulations Jamie!

 

 

The Buffalo Poley's came to help celebrate!

Sarah, Chay, Jamie, Katie, Terry, & Jimmy

Besides our weekly routine of clearing brush and cutting firewood while clearing the myriad of roads throughout the ranch, and tending to the garden, we enjoyed teaching a 4-H small bore shooting program.  Introducing these young people to safe handling and shooting of pistols and rifles was a most rewarding way to spend our Tuesday and Thursday evenings on our range during the summer. 

 

 

 

Katie & Chay with the 4-H kids

It’s always fun to see friends you haven’t seen in a while.  So when we received a visit from our cruising friends Bob & Judy (formerly of S/V Kemah), although too short, it was great!  Hope they can come and stay longer next time.

 

We were able to sneak in a second trip to June Lake in early July before  spending a week in Reno at the National Model A Ford Convention.  Chay was an apprentice car judge, and Katie an apprentice fashion judge.   One of our goals for the summer was to visit our grandchildren & our great grand-daughter!  We spent the 4th of July in Boulder City with our granddaughters Trinity (16) and Tasha(12).  We then looped up to Colorado where we spent a weekend with our grandson Ethan (17) and granddaughter Genevieve (16) and their family Aaron, Jennifer, & Katie.  After returning to Montana we planned our trip to North Pole, Alaska where we spent almost a week in early fall visiting with our granddaughter Chalea (23) and our great grand-daughter Madison (4 months at the time – she was born May 9th).  We even snuck in a trip to Santa’s workshop and saw the reindeer!  We still need to visit with Chasen & Tailour.

 

 

 

Trinity

 

 

 

 

Tasha

 

 

 

Chay, Ethan, Katie, & Genevieve

 

 

 

Madison, Chalea & Chay

Once back in Montana we prepared for hunting season.  Chay was fortunate to get the coveted Area 270 permit for a mule deer buck.  In addition he got a permit for a bull elk.  These allowed us to hunt on our property this year!!  Because we had some bear action in the vicinity of our chicken coop (it knocked the coop off of its foundation!), Chay & Jamie both got bear permits as well.  Jamie got his bear “Floppy” at sunset on a steep slope full of rocks & downed trees – after field dressing & quartering it was a “fun” (very difficult) hike carrying him out in the dark!!  Chay got his mule deer buck “Mac” with his father’s rifle one morning on our way back to the house after preparing the cabin for guests (more on that later).  It was unusual to field dress in daylight, and quite nice to have the truck only 30 feet away!  The freezer is filling up with wonderful, organic, meats!  We’ve sampled both and they are both delicious!

 

 

 

Jamie with "Floppy", unusual for a bear to have a white tummy

 

 

 

Chay with "Mac" 

We made the decision to rent the cabin out, so after a year of no luck, and at Jamie’s suggestion, we listed it on AirBnb in August.  It’s been renting ever since!  So in addition to everything else, we’ve been busy managing the rentals, including hauling 1000 gallons of water, 200 gallons at a time, to the cabin every few weeks!  The cabin is off the grid, so we fill the cistern with water from our house well.

 

Besides hunting and keeping the ranch afloat so to speak, Chay has been very busy with his restoration of Vickie, his 1931 Model A Ford. He’s been sanding, priming, sanding, priming and more sanding & priming.  The goal is to have her done by the 2020 Model A Ford National Convention.

 

 

 

Chay finishing putting the top on Vickie

Katie’s been enjoying helping Chay on the ranch.  She’s still scheduling the liturgical ministers at church and is involved with a group called Share & Care.  They sew quilts and other items, the proceeds from which go to local charities. Her latest volunteer duty is co-teaching the 5th & 6th grade Faith Formation class which has its challenges but is

rewarding.

 

After graduation, Jamie was given a full time position at Futura Kitchen Cabinetry Co, where he worked part-time during college when not doing internships at Los Alamos National Lab & Montana Instruments.  Wanting to apply his engineering education to intellectual property & patent law, Jamie took his GMAT and LSAT exams and  is applying to law schools and business schools (MBA) where he will start in the Fall of 2019- where he will go is still to be decided!

 

Amy, Beau, Trinity & Tasha are happily busy with work, school & soccer.  Beau is still with Metro Police, Amy is the office manager at a Physical Therapy office, Trinity works part-time at the Christian Center Daycare, & Tasha is lucky enough to not be old enough to work yet!   In addition, Beau is the girls’ soccer coach at Boulder City High School and gives private soccer lessons as well.  Amy excels at keeping Beau on track and assists him in the soccer activities.  Becky is living in Georgia, and got married in October to Ivan. Chay Jr. is still living and working in Georgia.                                       

 

Wildlife sightings this year on the ranch included mule deer, white tail deer, elk, big horn sheep (on our property for the first time ever in Montana), fox, mountain lion, wolves, grouse, turkey, bald eagles, golden eagles, owls, blue jays, and the highlight was definitely the black bear!

 

Please remember - family & friends are always welcome at Esprit Ranch!

 

P.S.  If you are a Yellowstone fan, the real Yellowstone Dutton Ranch is just down the road!

 

 

 

Winter on the ranch - the barn as seen from the house

February 1 - March 1 2018  Colon, Panama

 

BACK ON THE BOAT AGAIN!   (Sounds like my favorite song during the last 17 years!)  After eight months of the ranching life in Montana, we drove down to Reno and celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. We then visited with our dear, high school friends Paul and Diane in June Lake, on our way down to Boulder City.  There, we visited with family and friends before catching a nonstop flight down to Panama City.  Roger met us at the airport and drove us across the isthmus to Colon and the marina.  We arrived back to Esprit in Panama where it was hot, humid, and very windy.  Esprit was in amazingly good condition after her 8 months on the hard in secure storage at Shelter Bay Marina.  Having coordinated with the yard staff ahead of time, Esprit had been moved out of secure storage into the work yard, where she was waiting for us when we arrived on February 1st.

With a launch date of Saturday February 3rd, we had our work cut out for us to get her ready to “splash.”  We spent our time changing the Max Prop zinc, lubricating the prop, cleaning and lubricating the thru hulls, putting the bimini, dodger, and cockpit enclosure canvas back on, and taking off the boat cover.  We thought we were launching at noon on the 3rd, but at 8:00 AM Victor was there ready to go, so we quickly finished taking down the cover, and away we went.

Each time we launch, we pray that the engine will start.  This time, she started before making a complete revolution of the crankshaft!  As we “splashed” it started to sprinkle, then while underway to our slip, it started to pour!  Frank, the dock master, greeted us at the slip with his slicker on and said, “and this is the dry season!”  Chay answered “we’ve heard that”.   We tied off, dried off, and settled in to the same slip we were in back in May when we arrived after sailing the thousand miles across the Caribbean we completing our circumnavigation.

 

Since then we put the sails back on (a little tricky because it was very windy), tested all the systems, started polishing the stainless, went up the mast to check the rigging, as well as other various clean up tasks.

 

Esprit galley with projects in progress

But life is not all work!  There is a great cruising community in Shelter Bay Marina – similar to those we were a part of in our early years of cruising, and missed during the years we were in the Mediterranean, and eastern Caribbean.  We enjoyed the Sunday cruiser barbecues & Friday happy hours – it is always interesting to meet folks from all over the world and hear their stories. In addition, having just finished our circumnavigation, it is fun to see the excitement of those cruisers who are transiting the canal and heading west to cross the Pacific.  We hope they have as wonderful a time as we did in the south Pacific!  We recommended to them that they stay two seasons in French Polynesia so that they can spend as much time as possible in the Tuamotu’s, something we wish we had done.

 

Cruiser potluck at Shelter Bay Marina, Colon, Panama

We had hoped to get away to the San Blas Islands, but the weather was not conducive to making that passage.  The winds were between 20 and 35 knots most of the time out of the northeast, and the seas were up to 18 feet with a huge swell!  It is amazing what 1000 miles of fetch can do when the sea shallows near the shore.  One boat went out one morning, attempting to go to the San Blas Islands, and returned after 3 hours of bashing into wind & seas.  They summarized the conditions with “it’s bad out there!”

 

For the first three weeks of time back in Panama, the winds continued to blow 20-30 knots and the seas stayed high between 12 and 18 feet!  So, although we had our cruising permit in hand, we didn’t venture out.  A second boat tried to leave the marina, but when they got to the breakwater entrance, decided it was too rough and turned around and returned to the marina! 

 

While testing all the systems, two extra tasks got added to our usual list.  One of the spreader lights was burnt out, and the auto-pilot “Otto” wasn’t operating properly – the motor would run when it wasn’t actually turned on!   We were able to find a replacement bulb for the spreader light at a local automotive shop in Colon, so Katie took Chay up the mast one more time to make that repair.  And of course, it wasn’t an exact replacement, so Chay had to work his electrical magic while hanging on the main halyard up the mast.  

 

Next, Chay revealed that he is a brain surgeon in disguise.  After performing several diagnostics, he determined that the auto-pilot’s brain needed replacement.   Fortunately, we had a spare one on board.  So after a bit of brain surgery in a very small, tight compartment, Otto now responds as it should.  We think the St. Elmo’s fire we experienced on our passage into Panama in May might have caused the auto-pilot brain to malfunction.  If you remember, we hand steered the last 36 hours of that passage.

 

We had a lovely Valentine’s Day dinner at the restaurant at the marina.  They had a special pre-set menu for the evening meal.  Given that it was Ash Wednesday as well, we chose to have sea bass ceviche as a starter and sea bass as our main dish.  Both were well presented & delicious!  The meal was topped off with deep- fried strawberries drizzled with a chocolate sauce.

 

The long range weather forecast (we all know how accurate they are!) predicted the wind might be lightening up, so we hoped to go to Portobello the weekend of February 24th.  After 3 weeks stuck in the marina, we were looking forward to sailing Esprit again and spending a night on the hook!

 

One benefit of being in the marina was being treated to the visits of two tall ships, including one from Norway which was over 200 feet long, and was a school for 16-18 year olds from around the world.  The other benefit was the ability to watch the boats go through the canal when taking the marina bus into Colon for provisioning.  The doors on the “old” canal locks are the original doors – over 100 years old!

Norwegian Tall Ship

Freighter preparing to go through the canal locks

Friends from the bay area in California, Mitch & Quincey, arrived February 21st and joined us for a week or so.  Fortunately, there was a very slight break in the weather which we took advantage of to get out of the marina.  We weren’t sure if we were going to head east to Portobello or west to the Rio Chagres, but when we exited the canal breakwater the decision was easy.  Since the seas were still up and a fresh wind (25 to 30 knots) was blowing, we chose to take a downwind sail to the Rio Chagres.  After a couple of jibes and passing around the point, the seas calmed down making a river entrance possible.  We slowly made our way through the reefs and anchored upstream about ½ mile.  While the entrance is quite shallow, about 5 ft. below the keel, the river is about 30 ft. deep all the way up to the Dam. The river setting was amazingly calm and peaceful!  Aaahhhh….on the hook again!

 

After we got the hook down and the dingy launched, we enjoyed a hike through the jungle up to the fort which dates back to the 1500’s and saw many a battle in the days of pirates and the quest for gold.  As we walked back to the dinghy, the howler monkeys started howling their loud roar!  Although we had heard them before, Mitch & Quincey had not and were amazed, especially when we told them how small the howler monkey is!  The next morning the howler monkeys woke all of us up at 6:00 AM and the birds and monkeys serenaded us all morning!

 

After our traditional Sunday breakfast of crepes we pulled up anchor and headed out the river mouth and back east to the marina.  This time it was an upwind sail.  The seas had calmed down a bit, but it was still an E-ticket ride with 20 to 25 knots of wind!

 

We enjoyed introducing Mitch & Quincey to Esprit, and watching them get to know her.  Mitch is an amazing sailor!  We both learned things observing him at the helm.  Quincey is a wonderful cook.  We definitely enjoyed the fruits of her labor, and learned some tricks of her trade along the way.

Esprit on the hook, Rio Chagres, Panama as viewed from Fort Lorenzo

Sunrise in the jungle on the Rio Chagres, Panama

Esprit on the hook in Rio Chagres

March 1, 2018 – Farewell to Esprit

 

In the boating community it is often said that the two happiest days of your life are the day you buy your boat, and the day you sell your boat.  Well, from personal experience, we respectfully disagree.  We have now sold two sail boats and tears were shed both times!

 

We bought Esprit in July 2000.  On October 31, 2003, as we departed with the Baja Haha rally down the coast of Baja California, we became “Esprit.”  Esprit is not just a boat, she’s our home, our profession, our anchor, and as Jack Sparrow said “our freedom.”  She’s our spaceship – our portal to the real world.  She has brought us through the darkest night into the dawn, and has kept our family close as we saw the world.  She demanded a lot of love, care, and maintenance in order to take us on the adventures of a lifetime, but has given us way more than she demanded.  She’s stronger than us, but has shown us that when she brings us through a wicked storm, we come out stronger.  Esprit has introduced us to so many wonderful people from around the world, and helped us forge friendships that we are confident will weather the years ahead.  We’ve been around the world together, we & Esprit.  Oh the stories she could tell!

 

My Mom & Dad went to sea, and along with them they took me.   As Jamie says, Esprit is where he grew up.  She was where he made childhood friends from all around the globe.  In addition to his home, she was his school and playground all the way through high school; his window on the world. 

 

However, after 50,000 miles at sea, and almost 18 years, it’s now time for a new adventure for the McWilliam Family of S/V Esprit.  We have chosen this path now, rather than later, for a few reasons.  First, as we’ve mentioned previously, the cruising community at Shelter Bay Marina in Panama is amazing; it is much like the communities we were part of in our early years of cruising.  We want to change course on a high note, although this community has definitely made us question our decision!  Secondly, as we look around we see fellow cruisers who didn’t stop soon enough, and are now getting too frail to sail in any kind of rough weather.  We don’t want to be forced to make the change due to health reasons when it is too late to enjoy life after swallowing the hook.  Thirdly, we bought the ranch in Montana, 200 acres of pure Heaven.

 

Some changes are easy, but this is not one of them.  It is most definitely bittersweet.  She fulfilled our wildest dreams and then some, and now it’s time for her to fulfill the dreams of a young, adventurous, ambitious, and wonderful couple – Mitchell & Quincey, who will be sailing Esprit to her new home in San Francisco Bay.  For more information about Esprit’s future, check out www.qmtravels.com.

 

On February 24th, we took Mitchell & Quincey out for a sea trial on Esprit to the Rio Chagres, where we spent the night on the hook in a wonderful, peaceful anchorage.  To share the experience with us at our last anchorage on Esprit, click here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nr4JDaYgmiQ

 

On March 1, 2018 we had the changing of the guard.  Mitchell told us to think of it as just changing caretakers.  While we’ll have the memories forever, as Katie told Quincey, we’ll be passing on Esprit with a bilge full of tears.

 

Thank you to all of you who have encouraged and supported us on our crazy adventure over the past two decades, especially our family & friends, and Kimball Livingston (Sail Magazine), and Richard and Andy at Latitude 38.

 

As we leave Esprit behind us, we look forward to what life on Esprit Ranch holds in store!  For any of you traveling through western Montana, be sure to give us a call and stop in and take a load off.  The Esprit Ranch is always open to our cruising friends & family from land & sea. 

Mitch, Quincey, Katie, & Chay...Esprit & her caretakers

Farewell Esprit

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May 2017 - Completing the Circumnavigation

Jamie arrived on schedule in Sint Maarten.  After spending a few days getting ready for our trip north to the British Virgin Islands (BVI), and allowing Jamie to get over jet lag, we moved out to the outer anchorage so we could all, but especially Jamie, start to get our sea legs back.  Jamie was looking forward to getting back in the water, but couldn’t do it inside the lagoon due to the water being quite dirty.  The water in the anchorage is nice & clear compared to the grungy water in the lagoon, so Jamie definitely enjoyed diving the anchor to make sure it was well set, and doing a few flips off the deck into the water! 

 

We added Jamie to our crew list, and cleared out of the country Monday afternoon.  The next morning, Tuesday, May 16, we left for the British Virgin Islands at 3:30 AM.  The first thing Chay noticed in the pitch-black morning, was that the Maltese Falcon had come in during the night and was anchored in the bay!  It looked stunning with all of its mast, deck, and underwater lights on!  After much debate about whether to wake up Jamie or not (recall that this is one of his favorite mega yachts), we let him sleep, but did take a photo as we sailed past.

 

We had a downwind sail to Virgin Gorda, running wing & wing most of the way.  Despite the wind being lighter than expected, and the second half being a bit slower than we had planned, we made it through Round Rock pass and into Spanish Town just as the sun went down. 

 

Sunset in Simpson Bay Marina, Sint Maarten

Katie & Chay underway to British Virgin Islands

We have come to the conclusion that the weather predictors can’t predict the wind!  The weather information we use to plan our trips, from a number of different sources, was better 10 years ago than it is today!

 

Most of the anchorages in the BVI have been filled with mooring ball fields, leaving little room to actually anchor.  Jamie & Katie teamed up to become experts at picking up mooring balls during our sojourn through the BVI.

 

Let us offer a bit of nostalgic history here before proceeding with our story.  In 2000, we chartered a Mooring’s boat in the BVI for a week.  Jamie was 2 ½ years old at the time!  Chay taught Jamie to snorkel in Marina Cay.  Because the smallest child’s gear was still too big for Jamie, Chay had to trim the mask & snorkel way down to fit him sort of properly!  The BVI is also the place where a bartender let Jamie sit on the bar in the Mooring’s restaurant and eat maraschino cherries out of the large glass jug to his heart’s content.  We also toured and had our family portrait taken in the “Baths”.

Once cleared in to the BVI Wednesday morning (it only cost us 30 cents to clear immigration!), we moved to the Baths for a few hours of exploring.  The Baths is an area of large boulders on a white sand beach where the water surges in among the huge boulders creating pools or “baths”.  You hike over the boulders and through rock crevices from pool to pool.  One of our favorite photos of the 3 of us was taken here 17 years ago, so we had someone take our picture in the same spot & position 17 years later!

Chay, Jamie & Katie at the Baths - 2000

Chay, Jamie & Katie at the Baths - 2017

Jamie enjoying exploring the Baths

Esprit anchored just off the Baths

We moved over to Marina Cay in time for happy hour and dinner.  Happy Hour was at the “Aaargh Bar” on the hill top, and we enjoyed a nice dinner at the restaurant with beautiful views over the water.  The next morning, we snorkeled the reef where Jamie learned to snorkel those many years ago!  Little did we know 17 years ago that the underwater would become one of Jamie’s favorite places to be.

Jamie learning to snorkel at Marina Cay, BVI - 2000

Jamie snorkeling Marina Cay - 2017

Chay, Katie, & Jamie at the "Aaaargh Bar", Marina Cay

Speaking of underwater, we sailed to Norman Island the same day (everything is close in the BVI) and anchored in the Bight. That afternoon we took out the dive compressor and filled our scuba tanks.  The next morning, we moved so that we could dive the caves on the western end of the island. This is the island that Robert Louis Stevenson wrote about in “Treasure Island” and supposedly has buried treasure.  We say supposedly’ because we didn’t find any.  The dive was a good one to do as our “refresher” after two years of not diving.  One of the highlights was swimming into one of the caves with its rocky bottom of smoothed “pebbles” & the many colorful fish all along our path!  Katie had difficulty descending after dropping off the stern of Esprit, so Chay & Jamie assessed & fixed the problem.  Unbeknownst to Katie, Chay let all the air out of her BC and disconnected the air hose because it just kept filling even when pressing the release valve!  (It’s amazing what heat can do to dive gear when the boat is stored on the hard in the Tropics.)  So, Katie learned that she is neutrally buoyant and doesn’t actually need the security of the BC.

 

After Norman, we moved on to Soper’s Hole, a “quaint” little harbor on the west end of Tortola.  Here we “re-created” the maraschino cherry episode of 17 years ago, by surprising Jamie with a jar of cherries whilst enjoying some rum punch at the Pusser’s bar in the little “village” in the bay.  For some reason we couldn’t talk him into sitting on the bar!  We all got chuckles over this treat!

The restaurant where Jamie ate cherries on the bar - 2000

Jamie enjoying his cherry surprise - 2017

Cheeseburgers in Paradise – know the Jimmy Buffet song?  Well it was written while he was enjoying a cheeseburger on the beach in Cane Garden Bay.  Jimmy Buffet has long been one of Jamie’s favorite cruising crooner.  So off to Cane Garden Bay we went the next morning and had our cheeseburgers in paradise. Cane Garden Bay is the epitome of a tropical beach/bay with a white sand beach backed up by palm trees, on a half moon bay, all protected by a coral reef.

Katie, Jamie & Chay enjoying "Cheeseburgers in Paradise"

Cane Garden Bay

The next morning, we headed across to Jost Van Dyke where we would clear out of the BVI for our passage to Panama.  Jost Van Dyke is named after a Dutch pirate and the home of the famous Foxy’s Restaurant.  Foxy’s is a classic cruiser’s bar on the beach with a wood shack structure, and lots of flags, stickers, license plates, etc on the beams and posts. We added one of Beau’s Metro Las Vegas Police badges and a boat card to their collection of police badges from around the world on their wall near the bar.

Jamie & Katie at Foxy's, Jost Van Dyke

Beau's badge on the post at Foxy's

We cleared out of Jost Van Dyke on Monday, May 21 – next port of call:  Colon, Panama!  We departed and made our way through the small passes between islands and reefs, picked up a mooring at Great James Island (US Virgin Islands), and spent a peaceful night before departing the next morning.  This was the first time Esprit had been in US waters since 2003!

 

We dropped the mooring ball at 8:30 AM on Tuesday, May 23, 2017.  Esprit was set for a downwind run to Panama.  All the weather sources showed winds would be in the 15-20 knot range, with a day or two off of Colunbia with 20-25 knots.  Seas were expected to build to 10 feet and then drop back down, with an easterly swell.

 

We started off on a broad reach fully expecting to go to a wing and wing configuration at some point. However, it wasn’t long before we had to change to a wing & wing configuration and ended up going wing and wing most of the way!

 

The first day was as we expected, but by the second day the winds were picking up, and the seas started building.  It wasn’t long before we were in 10-12 foot seas with a 20-foot swell – the weatherman neglected to say how large the swell was going to be!  Looking astern we would often see just a giant mountain of water.  In addition, the swells were so close together that there were times when Esprit’s bow was just dropping off one swell and her stern was already climbing the swell behind.  We were seeing up to 40 knots of wind and 12 to 14 foot seas! Needless to say, conditions were not very comfortable in those very rough seas – the roughest we had ever encountered for an extended period of time!  So much for the weather man.  Thank goodness, we were “running” and not “bashing”.

 

The sea conditions made it very difficult to spot freighters or anything else for that matter.  We had an extremely close encounter with a freighter one evening.  Chay turned on the spreader lights and made contact with the freighter who said that they could not see us on radar but they had a visual on us.  Then he began to complain about the seas!  The freighter did not deviate course, so Chay changed our course just in the nick of time so that we could go behind him.  The freighter’s wake only added to the rough seas!

 

Amazingly, Jamie was able to spot a whale amongst the white capped waves!  It was very cool to see it surface and blow several times!

 

As we approached Panama near the Columbian coast the seas started to come down allowing us to notice all the debris floating in the water, including very large logs & entire trees complete with their root ball!  So now we were also on alert for debris in addition to freighters.  It is a good thing we did not run into one of those while the conditions were the worst!

 

Have you ever heard of St. Elmo’s Fire?  It is a phenomenon that occurs on boats where the mast or stays and sails light up with an eerie blue glowing light.  Apparently when we are running wing & wing in certain weather environments, Esprit sets up the conditions for St. Elmo’s Fire – it took us a while to figure out that that is what we were seeing.  The genoa sail would flash whitish blue & a blue light would zig-zag up the forestay!  This started happening when we were a couple of days out of Panama and got more frequent the closer we got.

 

In addition to our St. Elmo’s Fire, and extremely rough conditions, by day 4 we started seeing thunderstorms all around us!  The western Pacific ITCZ was pushing across the Panamanian isthmus into the western Caribbean eliminating the trade winds and bringing with it extreme thunderstorms.  So, early Sunday morning we brought down all sails and motored.  When thunderstorms burst they drop an incredible amount of wind from any direction which, if sails are up, can wreak havoc on the sails.  So we bring down the sails when surrounded by thunderstorms and motor.

 

Early on in the passage, the auto-pilot started acting up, but held our course, more or less, for the first 5 days.  Early Sunday morning it decided to give up the ghost, leaving us to hand steer the rest of the way!  Hand steering is tiring under good conditions, but it is quite exhausting under the conditions we were in.

 

The thunderstorms got worse the closer we got to Panama.  Katie was on her 3 to 6 am watch Monday morning (May 29) when a particularly bad thunderstorm hit with rain coming down in torrents.  In order to maintain some visibility, the cockpit enclosure was kept partially open.  So, although this allowed her to see, she ended up getting soaked!  One plus of the thunderstorms is that the temperature cooled down – most of the passage was extremely hot.  One of Katie’s prayers when on night watch is to stay awake…. there was no way she could fall asleep under those weather conditions! 

 

For those of you who were wishing us fair winds & following seas, your wishes worked 10-fold!  Although the conditions weren’t comfortable, we were doing 8 to 9 knots most of the way with some 10’s thrown in for good measure.  This with a double reefed main and a handkerchief genoa poled out.  We made the 1100 mile passage in 6 days and only had to motor as we neared Panama for last 23 hours!

 

The high point of the trip occurred at 6:30 AM on Monday morning May 29th when we crossed our eastern most line of longitude… Esprit had now crossed all lines of longitude around the world! 

 

With that under our belt, we entered the canal zone at 11:00 AM, went into Shelter Bay Marina, and spent the next week in extreme heat preparing Esprit for another stay on the hard in dry storage.  As is typical, clearing into the country was a little challenging as we had to find the correct immigration office in Colon (probably the most unsafe city in Panama). 

 

When we started this cruising season our plan was to finish it by transiting the Panama Canal.  However, there turned out to be a 3 week waiting period upon arrival in Panama to be given a transit date.  This did not work with our schedule because Jamie needed to be back in Bozeman to start his summer internship on June 12th.  So we have postponed the canal transit for now.

 

Although we are less than 30 miles from crossing our most easterly line of passage done in 2005,  because of the direction of the Canal we are now further west than we would be on the other side of the Canal , so by one definition, we have “gone around the world”.  As we said above, “The high point of the trip occurred at 6:30 AM on Monday morning May 29th when we crossed our eastern most line of longitude… Esprit had now crossed all lines of longitude around the world!” 

Esprit Crew at the Panama Canal

 

 

 

 

Chay on board Esprit on the hard at Peake's boat yard, Trinidad

 

Cruising Again....May 11, 2017 - Trinidad to Sint Maarten (check out the photos at the end of this blog)

 

We returned to Trinidad April 6 where the temperature was 90+ degrees & the humidity was 100 percent!  We returned to Esprit with the goal of completing our circumnavigation in June!  So hopefully, this cruising season will take us up the windward & leeward islands to St. Maarten, where Jamie will join us, and then onward via the Virgin Islands, maybe Jamaica, to Panama, where we will transit the canal.   When we exit the canal on the Pacific side, we will cross the eastern most point of our path – the finish line of our circumnavigation.

 

Our first week was busy with the usual preparations for launching Esprit.  On a positive note, the boat was pretty darn clean for having sat on the hard for almost two years, the auxiliary engine started, the dinghy engine started, the staysail & genoa sails are back up, as are the dodger & bimini.  You may be wondering how we start engines while on the hard.  Well, Katie uses the hose to run fresh water through the thru-hull, getting thoroughly drenched and cooled off, while Chay starts the engine from topside while burning up.  We only let it run for a few seconds, but it allows us to know whether or not it will start when we are launched. 

 

Unfortunately, the pre-launch process did not go quite as smoothly as in past years.  Our ProSine charger/inverter for the batteries died after 14 years of reliable service. A new inverter charger was ordered, however, after 14 years one would expect that with all the advances in electronics a new inverter charger with the same capabilities would now be smaller, but noooo!  Now they are larger and won’t fit into the same area.  So, we had to settle for one of less capabilities. With the charger/inverter not operating as it should have during our absence, we are now working to get the battery bank charged back up.  Looks like we will at least have to purchase a new engine start battery.

 

The second problem was that the generator wouldn’t start!  Chay checked, repaired, and/or replaced just about everything to no avail.  Needless to say, this had Chay extremely frustrated!  We decided to wait until we were in the water so that we could try starting it while the aux engine is running…if it doesn’t start, we will not have much refrigeration to keep food cold, and will have to be power-nazi’s to conserve our batteries.  Even the new charger/inverter needs to have the extra "oompf" from the generator to keep the batteries adequately charged.

 

We enjoyed attending Mass at St. Finbar Roman Catholic Church with its traditional altar and Tabernacle.  Palm Sunday Mass was more traditional than in the States with the Crucifix, statues, and paintings all completely covered in purple cloth.  Easter was celebrated as a High Mass, and the church was standing room only.  Keep in mind St. Finbar comfortably holds between 700-800 people!

 

Besides having “Doubles” for breakfast at the little local stand down the road from the boat yard, we treated ourselves to Bake & Shark, a traditional “Trini” food.  Both local delicacies are delicious!  Chay also enjoyed Arepas for breakfast, which is a Venezuelan breakfast that is very much like papusas we so enjoyed in El Salvador and Costa Rica!

 

Our new inverter/charger arrived a day earlier than expected, and Chay had it all installed and operational the next day.  It operates a bit differently than our old one, so he is having a bit of a learning curve to identify its idiosyncrasies.  Chay also installed a new starter battery for the engine, and moved the old one to the generator since the generator start battery just couldn’t be resuscitated. 

 

We successfully launched back into the water on Friday, April 21st, and are on Peake’s private dock due to the regular docks being full to capacity!  This was good for us as it is calmer here (although still quite rocky/rolly), and it will make for an easier departure Tuesday morning.   A gentleman came over to help us tie off, and it was none other than Peter Peake, the owner of Peake’s Yard!  He is a very nice guy and very down to earth.

The biggest news is that after an epiphany at church on Sunday, Chay was able to start the generator by jumping directly from the battery to the glow plugs!  Although this is good news, it is not something we can easily do underway, so if the generator didn’t start on its own during our passage north, we feared we may have to hand steer and be power-nazi’s to preserve the house batteries.

 

We checked out of Trinidad on the 24th with the plan to sail to Antigua, with an estimated time of arrival of Friday morning (April 28, 2017).  Antigua’s English Harbor is reportedly one of the prettiest harbors in the world! We will let you know!

Yo ho, yo ho, is it the cruising life for us?  We departed Trinidad at 4:30 am on Tuesday, April 25 with a weather forecast of 10-15 knots from the east for the next 24 hours and then dropping to 10 to 15 knots. Those weather conditions were experienced for the first 80 miles to Grenada. We had planned to stop in Grenada if we the weather was bad, or we were just tired, but because the trip to Grenada was a "smooth" one, Katie said she wanted to continue on rather than stop, so we did.  Then the winds increased, seas increased and became confused, and the winds were on the nose for the next 300 miles!  It was not a comfortable ride - maybe we should have stopped, but we will never know.  We both suffered from the sea queazies; this was the first time Katie actually experienced borderline seasickness! We had another fallback spot at the top end of Guadalupe to stop for the night, but we approached it at dawn after a quieter night in the shadow of Guadalupe and some much needed sleep. So with 40 or so miles to go, we continued on to Antigua with 24 to 28 knots on the beam and smoother seas.  About 8:00 am, 30 miles out from English Harbour, our foresail (150% genoa which we call the "whomper") blew out!  We furled it up as best we could, put out the staysail, and listened to the cracking sound the genoa's tattered pieces made as they blew in the wind for the next 4 hours.  The anchorage was not near as crowded as we had expected, especially considering it is Antigua Race Week (one of the biggest sailing events in the Caribbean), so we found a spot to anchor and dropped the hook.  Aahhh - calm! Over all we did 400 miles in 55 hours, not too bad for the old girl and her crew!

 

Our first task was to untangle and unfurl the genoa which was quite the mess.  Chay went up the mast twice in 24 knots of wind to try to cut off some of the loose tangled pieces, but wisely decided not to try any more than that when he realized the flapping genoa pieces could knock him out or kill him!  Two of the cruisers offered their assistance with the shredded genoa.  The first, Marcus on the German flagged boat "Skook", brilliantly assisted in untangling and unfurling the genoa so we could drop it down on deck.  The second, Andrew on the British flagged boat "Hanse Sailor" brought over a spare genoa he had on board.  Unfortunately, it was a bit too tall for our rig.  We took our 150% genoa in to the A&F sail loft, where upon inspection, we were informed it would cost more to repair it than to replace,which we already suspected.  This is the same genoa that blew out in Ouvea, New Caledonia.  We had it repaired by a Kiwi in Bundaberg Australia over 8 years and 25,000 miles ago. He did a great job! So, with sail ties in hand, we left our large genoa behind after 17 years and over 50,000 miles of use.

 

Fortunately, we had a smaller 120% genoa on board, original to Esprit, which we planned to put on with the hope that it was in seaworthy condition for the next 1200 miles to Panama!

 

There is a silver lining in this story.  When Chay started the engine underway to charge the batteries and run the refrigeration, he also tried the generator which started just like it should and continued to every day since!!!  The batteries seemed to be doing better each day. 

 

English Harbour & Falmouth Bay here in Antigua are beautiful bays.  The town of English Harbour is a step back in time to the 1700's!  You could be on the set of Pirates of the Caribbean.  They have done a beautiful job of restoring and updating and using the old buildings, rather than letting them just sit and deteriorate.

 

Antigua is definitely the sailing mecca it is reported to be!  There were mega yachts, like Maltese Falcon (which we anchored next to in the Med), gorgeous classic sailing yachts, modern racing boats, and of course your everyday cruising boats like us.

 

The week we were there was Antigua Sailing week so the town and marinas were buzzing with activity.  Our hike to the top of Shirley’s Point look out in Antigua was an invigorating 1.5 miles!  The lookout is one of the high points overlooking the harbor, which used to be a fort and gun battery protecting the harbor and British fleet.  We were able to watch one of the races from the excellent vantage points offered along the way.  Once to the top we found the restaurant and settled in for a couple of hours of steel band music, good food & drink, and conversation with a group of crew from the super yachts, both classic & racing.  They were a fun & interesting group – we cruisers enjoyed hearing about their world, and they enjoyed hearing about ours.  One of them lives in Wyoming and is a ferry boat driver in the Tetons during the summer!

 

We hoisted the smaller genoa (120%) on Monday the first of May (Jamie’s 20th birthday!) and it looked in good condition – but it is definitely smaller than the 150% whomper, deck sweeper!  You can actually see under the sail from the cockpit when it’s out.

 

We checked out of Antigua on Tuesday May 2, and departed at 4:30 am on Wednesday for St. Barthelemy – supposedly home to the rich & famous.  The first few hours were a nice sail, with the genoa performing well, but the winds became fluky and the seas more rough offering a less than comfortable ride the second half of the passage.  We are starting to question what’s so great about sailing the leeward islands of the Caribbean! 

 

Chay managed to catch a few a fish along the way.  Sadly, the first fish was a Wahoo that a much larger fish ate most of while Chay was reeling it in!  All that was left was the head!  He then caught a barracuda which we through back to the sea.

 

We arrived St. Barth just before sunset and picked up a mooring.  Sounds easy doesn’t it?  Not so for Katie who is a bit gun shy about picking up mooring balls due to a couple of bad previous experiences (all of her own doing).  During the first attempt, a local motor boat loaded down with parents and teenage girls cut right in front of us.  Chay had to slam on the brakes so to speak (hard reverse) to avoid T-boning them.  The captain did not appear to even see us, and the girls just stared at Katie with blank looks!  On the second attempt, Katie got the mooring, but did not get it secured fast enough.  Chay attempted to hold the mooring line, but had to let go when it almost took his finger off!  However, we were secure on a mooring on the third attempt, and Chay ended up with a very bruised & swollen finger.

 

We cleared in the next day and toured the small town of Gustavia.  St. Barth is only 8 square miles in area with Gustavia being its main port.  Although it is French now, it was Swedish, so the atmosphere is a mix of the two.  Many of the buildings, including the small Catholic church, date to the 18th century and street names are shown in both languages.  We visited “Le Select” – a “famous” bar frequented by cruisers and, as we saw, locals alike.  It has been in operation for almost 70 years! 

 

On Friday morning while working topsides cleaning stainless and waxing the deck, we were visited by the Capitainerie (the folks who manage the harbor) and were told that we were on a private mooring and had to move off and anchor. We had watched Cruisers coming and going off these mooring for two days!

 

So, anchor we did.  The anchorage as a whole has a reputation for being rolly, but the anchoring area outside all the mooring balls is much rollier than the mooring field.  We wonder why these countries fill in the best anchorages with private mooring balls to discourage cruisers (their source of income), especially when we can’t use them!  It’s not Vegas man!  We cleared out that afternoon, and departed Saturday morning for Sint Maarten.

 

However, before departing we had to reinstall the lower main sail batten which had somehow pushed itself out of its pocket.  We struggled to no avail on Friday, but after waking up Saturday morning Chay had the idea of using the reefing lines to pull the sail straight back towards the stern – it worked like a charm.  We were ready to go!

 

It was a pleasant 3 hour downwind sail into Simpson Bay where we anchored outside the swing bridge.  We cleared in, explored a bit inside the lagoon in the dinghy, and then went to Budget Marine where we ordered 5 new lifeline house batteries and a new water heater.  Although we were able to nurse the batteries along up until now, they were on their last legs and ready to be replaced.  The water heater hasn’t been working (it was leaking) since we got back to the boat in Trinidad – it served us well over the last 17 years!

 

Once back on board Esprit we celebrated having arrived in Sint Maarten safe & sound in time to pick up Jamie on Wednesday the 10th.   The outer anchorage was a bit rolly as reported in the guide book, and a bit noisy with music late into the night (not so great for a good night’s sleep).  Although some of the music is from the resorts on land, the loudest music was from Jab Jab’s – a “boat bar” which opened 3 weeks ago in the center of the anchorage.  Although right now they only serve drinks, they have plans to have a kitchen in place by next summer.  The young couple is excited and full of energy, and we wish them well with their endeavor.  It definitely meets a “need” for the cruising environment of St.  Maarten.

 

On Monday morning we entered the lagoon with the 9:30 bridge opening and moved into Simpson Bay Marina after refueling.  The staff is very professional, friendly, and accommodating – when we asked the dock master if we could have a berth with our bow facing the wind so that we could have natural air conditioning, he figured out a way to make it work. 

 

Once settled in our berth, we headed over in the dinghy to Budget Marine to pay for the batteries & water heater, as well as a few other items for which we were waiting until St. Maarten to get due to its being a duty free country. On top of that, when Chay jokingly asked if we could get a discount, they actually did give us a 10 percent discount! 

 

After removing the old batteries (at least 74 lbs each) with only one mishap and some damage to the saloon floor after narrowly missing Katie’s foot, we had them on the deck waiting to be picked up by Budget.  Budget Marine delivered the new batteries and water heater later that afternoon, and took away the old batteries.

 

Chay completed the battery install that afternoon.  Next project, the water heater!  The next morning, after the best sleep we’d had in several days, Chay completed the old water heater removal & new installation.  As part of this project, Chay also made repairs to the auxiliary engine’s cooling system because he had noticed “seeps” while motoring.  After cleaning off the corrosion at the hose fittings, what he thought was a hose issue, was revealed to actually be a corroded hole in the thermostat housing.  After a moment of panic when our inventory showed no replacement, Chay, certain he remembered buying one 18 years ago, indeed found the spare in the shed.  We should probably point out that when these projects are underway, the boat becomes very small as the galley and saloon are overcome with all the tools and spare parts required to complete the task at hand.

 

It rained all day while making all the repairs, and well into the night with up to 40 knots of wind gusts! We were glad we weren’t at sea.  Some of our mast “lazy jack” lines were clanking very loudly with the stronger gusts, so Chay ventured out into the storm to tighten them up.  Come morning we had to pump out the 3 plus inches of water out of the dinghy.  We haven’t seen this much rain in a very long time!

 

Although we aren’t big fans yet of sailing these leeward island Caribbean waters, we have to admit, the waters of St. Barthelemy and Sint Maarten (outside the lagoon) are a beautiful blue!  The bluest since the Tobago Cays in the Grenadines.

 

Jamie arrived on time – it is good to have him back “home” with us again!

 

 

 

Captain Chay observing the launch process

 

 

 

Esprit berthed at Peake's private dock

 

 

 

Chay holding a strip of the blown out genoa sail with rest of it behind him

 

 

 

"Maltese Falcon" berthed at Falmouth Harbor

 

 

 

 

One of the many classic yachts in Antigua

 

 

 

One of the buildings in English Harbour

 

 

 

Watching one of the races on our hike to Shirley Point Lookout

 

 

 

Chay & Katie at Shirley Point Lookout - English Harbour & Falmouth Harbour in the background

 

 

 

Steel drum band at the Shirley Point Lookout BBQ

 

 

 

 

The fish we shared with another larger fish!

 

 

 

Chay with the barracuda

 

 

 

Sunset in

St. Barthelemy

 

 

 

The clear blue water of St. Barthelemy

 

 

 

Chay & Katie at "Le Select" cruiser's bar in Gustavia,

St. Barthelemy

 

 

 

 

Getting ready to enter into Simpson Bay Lagoon through the bascule (lifting) bridge,

Sint Maarten

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