The SPOT messenger and e-mail by HF Radio are both working well. Here is a news report transmitted by Alan from offshore in the Caribbean Sea....
Leaving Jamaica on Friday (2/12)
"We left Port Antonio on Friday around 1:30pm. It was windy and we had to motor upwind for a while into choppy swells to get away from Jamaica. We tacked a few times and finally got into real open water. Trevor cooked a big pot of rice and beans and potatoes before we left so we had food. (No one would have been able to cook otherwise). We saw a bunch of small dolphins midday which was the highlight of the day.
Friday Night
Heading south Friday night we had no wind. The sails just banged around all night and we ended up motoring most of the night, yuk. I [Alan] had the 12-4am shift and got lots of sleep before.
Saturday (2/13)
Saturday we had some wind but not enough to make any progress so we motored again. Adam brought back a couple of 500 piece jigsaw puzzles and we started working on one of those.
Saturday Evening
Then Saturday evening we WATCHED A MOVIE. In addition to bringing some maps and charts with him from Raleigh, Adam had also picked up a couple of DVDs. We watched "Austin Powers: Goldmember." I had the 8-12 shift and again we had NO wind so it was motor on again.
We are trying to keep making progress because there is some higher wind later this week off the coast of Colombia.
Sunday (2/14)
"Hello again, and Happy Valentines Day. The day started with very light wind and the seas very flat, which is a little surprising. Midday the wind filled in during my [Alan's] watch and we are making 6 knots southward progress right now with full sails up.
The sea is still nice and flat (fingers crossed on that one) and the sun is very bright. We are listening to music and starting to cook some of our fresh foods now. Everyone seems to be settled into the groove of offshore life now. Caught up on sleep and such. I'll probably be taking a shower soon.
Look for more updates later unless the swell picks back up. I'll do my best. Sometimes a short e-mail [via HF Radio] is all I can manage.
Also, my [Alan's] Digicel prepaid mobile phone plan [purchased in Jamaica] will work fine in Colombia --just on a higher "roaming rate"-- so I will be able to use up the rest of my unused minutes when we arrive there. Expect a call from me when we arrive!"
"We left Port Antonio on Friday around 1:30pm. It was windy and we had to motor upwind for a while into choppy swells to get away from Jamaica. We tacked a few times and finally got into real open water. Trevor cooked a big pot of rice and beans and potatoes before we left so we had food. (No one would have been able to cook otherwise). We saw a bunch of small dolphins midday which was the highlight of the day.
Friday Night
Heading south Friday night we had no wind. The sails just banged around all night and we ended up motoring most of the night, yuk. I [Alan] had the 12-4am shift and got lots of sleep before.
Saturday (2/13)
Saturday we had some wind but not enough to make any progress so we motored again. Adam brought back a couple of 500 piece jigsaw puzzles and we started working on one of those.
Saturday Evening
Then Saturday evening we WATCHED A MOVIE. In addition to bringing some maps and charts with him from Raleigh, Adam had also picked up a couple of DVDs. We watched "Austin Powers: Goldmember." I had the 8-12 shift and again we had NO wind so it was motor on again.
We are trying to keep making progress because there is some higher wind later this week off the coast of Colombia.
Sunday (2/14)
"Hello again, and Happy Valentines Day. The day started with very light wind and the seas very flat, which is a little surprising. Midday the wind filled in during my [Alan's] watch and we are making 6 knots southward progress right now with full sails up.
The sea is still nice and flat (fingers crossed on that one) and the sun is very bright. We are listening to music and starting to cook some of our fresh foods now. Everyone seems to be settled into the groove of offshore life now. Caught up on sleep and such. I'll probably be taking a shower soon.
Look for more updates later unless the swell picks back up. I'll do my best. Sometimes a short e-mail [via HF Radio] is all I can manage.
Also, my [Alan's] Digicel prepaid mobile phone plan [purchased in Jamaica] will work fine in Colombia --just on a higher "roaming rate"-- so I will be able to use up the rest of my unused minutes when we arrive there. Expect a call from me when we arrive!"
Sunday Evening
"This is an evening update from aboard the WTP en route to Cartagena, Colombia.
The onboard radio update now has quite a following. Maybe posting directly to my journal would be a good idea also. hmmm....
We finally found the wind after almost 2 days of motoring and light wind sailing. We now have some steady east winds pushing us along at a happy 5.5 - 6.0 knots headed due south with full sails plus our #4 headsail rigged as a stays'l.
We are enjoying some extremely flat seas right now which (knock on wood) will remain with us for a long time.
We spotted quite a few large cargo ships today some which passed us within 5 miles. We are glad to have the radar and AIS receiver which make the larger ships headings and speeds known well in advance.
Adam and I [Alan] played a game of chess (Adam got me this time) and Trevor whipped up delicious "tomato, onion, mustard and leftovers sandwiches" for dinner reusing the leftovers of our rice-beans-potato dish that is now a few days old (very impressive).
Earlier today, we tried out our new rice cooker/steamer that Adam bought on his trip back to Raleigh. We steamed some carrots and string beans that we bought in Port Antonio. The rice cooker draws about 26 amps but is more efficient than making it in the frying pan or pressure cooker and also lets you cook other things in the pressure cooker and still have rice on the side. We think about food a lot in case you couldn't tell.
It is very warm even at night now and the water is a comfortable 79.9 degrees (F). Maybe warmer now. We have had some great star viewing also these last few nights.
The forecast is predicting the wind to build as we get closer to South America but for now we are fortunate to have a gentle breeze and calm seas.
I [Alan] am off watch till 4am. Planning for another update around noon tomorrow.
Monday (2/15, 5pm)
Unable to connect [by HF Radio] earlier today but finally got a signal this evening.
More dolphins were spotted at sunrise this morning all around the boat. A welcome sight.
The wind was steady and building today. Sailing is going well, wind is at about 16 knots now and swells are more organized than earlier today. As the wind built we took the first and then second reefs in the mainsail and are now sailing with the #3 headsail, double reef'd mainsail and reef'd mizzensail. We are averaging about 6.5 knots. It is overcast this evening so probably no stars tonight. The wind generator has been whirring all day and our batteries are topped off which is nice.
We have been on port tack (wind hitting the port (left) side of the boat) for so long now. One weird and somewhat annoying thing about that is that the intake for the head is on the port side of the bottom of the boat so when we are heeled over you can't use the toilet since it just sucks in air when you try to flush. You have to coordinate with whomever is on watch to bear off and sail downwind for a bit so if you need to use the head. Trevor mentioned this problem in one of his journal posts I believe.
Assuming our current progress holds we are planning to be about 20 nm off of the Colombian coast tomorrow evening at which time we will heave to and wait until first light to sail the remaining 20ish miles to the entrance to Cartagena.
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