Week 62: Grenada to Panama (1,314nm)

Our previous record for our longest passage with just the two of us was a paltry 400nm, so this passage was a massive step forward in terms of our sailing CVs. Our initial forecasts suggested that the passage would take nine days, but they didn’t account for the favourable current and stronger than expected winds, which meant that we ended up completing the trip in just under eight days. It was undoubtedly the toughest extended sailing conditions that we’ve experienced on Serenity and we arrived in Panama overjoyed and exhausted.

Captains Log

We tested out a new feature on our sat phone this trip, which allowed us to submit small text updates to a tracking website in real time. The Captain’s Log below is the compendium of these updates, after which I’ve provided some additional thoughts.

Day 1

Alec (A): And we’re off. A deliberately calm morning running our final checks and cooking up my favourite new passage meal (pesto spinach farro salad), and then we said our good byes to Grenada as we sailed off into the sunset. The wind has a bit of south in it, so we are sailing above our desired course, but our boat speed more than makes up for the detour. We decided not to fish today as wanted to maintain chill vibes through the first night. We’ve chosen the perfect window to start the passage and fingers crossed it continues over the coming days.

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Laura (L): First night watch nearly complete and it has been mercifully relaxed. Fairly consistent winds and no noticeable effects of the tropical wave that was due to move through. The swell has come round to the NE, meaning Serenity has a good roll on, but I’ve managed to avoid any real seasickness. Clear skies have put on a heck of a display of stars, which has provided much enjoyment during this watch. Oh, and we still have all six portholes. So I’m going to call night one a success so far.

A: As normal, my first attempt at sleeping was very fragmented, but whilst the boat motion and noise was a bit disruptive I think my main issue was the heat in the rear cabin. Even with both fans on it was stifling, and I now remember that Katherine and Ballin had the same problem sleeping in there during the Atlantic – they ended up leaving the door open so that will be the plan for tomorrow night. On the plus side, the sailing has been very relaxed and the only minor concern is that I think I have spotted some chafe between our genoa sheets and the main sail preventer (two of the key ropes for downwind sailing). We are probably changing from a broad reach setup to goose wing / twin headsail tomorrow so we can easily get this sorted at the same time. Also, Laura made me a whole pot of coffee for my night watch, so I’m currently wired and enjoying some uninterrupted reading time!

Day 2

A: Today’s main goals have been about getting Serenity sailing well, addressing any areas of chafe in how the lines are running (the biggest enemy on multi day passages as ropes / sails can rapidly wear through if they make contact with any non-smooth surfaces), and stopping the annoying knocking noises you get when the boat is rocking back and forth in a seaway. On the latter point, Laura is now an expert at hoarding any bubble wrap we come across in our travels and then deploying it across all our cupboards once we get underway, so we’ve already got the noise down to a level that took us weeks to get to when doing our Atlantic crossing. The wind has nudged us a bit further north than we had planned, but seeing as that is just extra distance between us and the currently troubled country of Venezuela, we aren’t that fussed. These are quiet waters and we’ve only seen one other vessel – a cargo ship called Watermark St. George going to Trinidad.

L: Clear night skies and fairly consistent winds mean very little has been required in tending the sails. The last hour or so the sea has been more mixed, giving us some swell on the quarter and more rolling as a result. We are goose-winging for the night, which is always a little roll-y no matter what you do. A bit annoying but more than made up for by the relaxed conditions. Had a productive watch sorting out bits and pieces and now just trying to keep alert for the last couple of hours. Looking forward to trying twin headsails tomorrow – really hoping for a less rocky ride!

A: After the success of running the night watch with a single six hour watch each last night, we are trying it again tonight. As our resident night owl, Laura takes the first half and then wakes me up sometime after 1am to hold down the fort until the sun is well and truly up. I adore how much personal time this gives me and am looking forward to making more progress in our latest book club book (The Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri). After getting no sleep last night, I was tired enough to fall asleep straight away tonight, which will hopefully make me less reliant on coffee to last through my watch.

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Day 3

L: Just had the best nap ever – woke up and had no idea where I was. Was slightly startled to discover I was on passage, until it all started to come back to me. The improved sleep is definitely thanks to Alec’s idea to switch our sail set up to twin headsails. This is a new one for us! It took a couple of hours of trying things this morning to figure out how to organise it, eventually settling on our old genoa hoisted on the spinnaker halyard and pole, with our normal genoa “poled out” with the boom. The motion is significantly more settled than our usual downwind set up of goose winging the main and genoa. Otherwise, we saw a few fishing boats and cargo ships today, and have had the odd rain shower. The day after the second night is always a toughie because you are still getting used to passage sleeping, so we are keeping activity relaxed for the day. P.S. Earlier whilst Alec was asleep we were visited by a helicopter! It suddenly arrived, circled the boat once (low down enough that I was a little worried about the wind off the propellers) and then was swiftly off again. An unusual experience indeed!

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A: Definitely our toughest night of the passage so far. The wind and sea both built as Laura started her watch, and we struggled to balance the boat with the Hydrovane misbehaving in the rolling seas. Net result is that Laura had a super stressful watch and I was hardly able to sleep at all. The one positive is that Serenity is going like the clappers (we just surfed down a wave at over 11 knots), but we will be more than happy to sacrifice some of that speed for some increased comfort. I suspect this will be a case of getting through tonight and then once the sun comes up we can get the second headsail down and see how she does under her regular genoa on its own. In the meantime, I’m gonna play around with the sail controls to see if I can make things just a little easier on Laura.

Day 4

L: I did better than Alec last night but still only managed about 3 hours of sleep. So, as soon as it got light, we dug deep into the energy reserves and battled the second headsail down. This was a slightly awkward but ultimately successful manoeuvre wherein we tackled the canvas as it came down and shoved it below deck in bunches through the forepeak hatch. We bravely attempted to roll/flake the sail up after this but I don’t think we will win any awards for our effort – the bundle is so bulky it has to live in the saloon. Whatever. We are now running with just our usual genoa and the boat has calmed down dramatically, which is allowing us to slowly recover from our difficult night. Today will be a slow day; our only goal is to catch up on as much sleep as possible!

A: A slower day has resulted in a calmer day and what now looks likely to be a calm night as well. Despite the increase in wind strength and waves, our decision to get down to one sail at the front has stopped us surfing so much, which is what was causing us so much difficulty in keeping the boat stable. We’ve had a couple of other minor issues throughout the day, such as a loose power connector on the VHF causing it to go offline, and having to abort a test on the water maker due to bubbles in the line that can damage the membrane. Still, these things are all minor in the grand scheme of things and we are still making up time on our original passage plan – perhaps we will make landfall now on the 11th November. The next 48 hours will be the real litmus test, as we round the oft hazardous Columbian headland, and if we can maintain speed and stability through that then we will be both over the halfway mark and the top of the hill. PS: We still have six windows in place!

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L: A squally start to my night watch soon gave way to lovely, calm sailing under just the reefed genoa (we are getting +25 knots of wind!). By luck, I seemed to have got us sailing directly in line with the prevailing swell, meaning we were very stable for a solid 4 hours or so. The wind eventually backed a little though, which has thrown us off that direct line with the swell. But we are still, broadly, doing much better than the previous night. Despite extra reefs in the genoa, we still seem to be storming along, and should be rounding the Colombian headland first thing in the morning. Fingers crossed our luck with the swell and wind holds.

A: I’m still amazed by the difference Laura’s new bimini has made to our life on Serenity. We just had a mini squall come through, including a fairly intense if short burst of rain. Previously, that would have sent anyone in the cockpit scampering down below before they got soaked, as the old bimini leaked so badly that it barely made a difference (and often had to be put away on passage so it would not be further damaged by the wind). On this trip, we’ve been happy to leave the new bimini up the entire time, and during this latest squall I stayed almost entirely dry. This is especially helpful, as it is during squalls that you want to keep a close eye on things in case intervention is required, and I get nervous going below. Given the frequency of rain storms in the Pacific, I’m sure this contribution from Laura is only going to get more valuable as time passes.

Day 5

A: We finally reached the Columbian headland this morning, which is reputed for big winds and seas – thankfully the conditions we found were in line with our forecast (i.e. strong but within our comfort zone). However, we now had a decision to make, as our weather service was divided on the best route for us to take. Option 1 was to take the shortest route and stay close to the Columbian coast, where as Option 2 was to head further offshore before making the turn. We had to spend some time examining the underlying forecasts to understand why, but realised that there was some risk of stronger winds building closer to the shore and Option 2 was attempting to avoid them. This therefore seemed like the right choice for Serenity First, even though heading further away from shore in these kind of conditions always feels daunting. This was further emphasised by the foredeck visit I then needed to adjust the sail plan for the new course, and I had to be very careful to not be swept overboard. Thankfully I was joined on the bow by a pod of dolphins, who had picked the perfect moment to give us a show and we decided that Neptune was giving our decision his blessing.

L: Wow, we are really sailing now!! We have had 25-30 knots of wind all day, but the punchy waves have now also turned so we are taking them on the quarter. We are rocking and rolling on Serenity tonight! Just had a massive one come through that managed to dump me out of the nav desk and the contents of the countertop into the sink. Alec, who had been asleep, was surprised to find himself suddenly on the ceiling (some aboard are claiming I hit this wave on purpose to wake Alec up early for his watch; the jury is currently hung). Luckily no harm done, and our girl is coping admirably with the tough conditions. We’ve got about 6 hours to go in this direction and then we can turn south, which should hopefully put the waves back behind us!

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A: I’ve spent the last four hours of my watch trying to come up with a simile for what the current motion on Serenity First is like, and think I’ve managed to get something close. Imagine you are a fish in an aquarium that has then been placed in a large washing machine. That washing machine is then loaded onto a merry-go-round that has a malfunctioning power supply that causes it to surge forward and then change direction randomly. And then that merry-go-round is located in an area that is exposed to earthquakes every couple of minutes. That is what my experience is like, although at this stage I’m inclined to believe that the fish has it better…

Day 6

L: Man do I feel like an idiot today. In my wisdom, despite waves pushing 3m and 30kts of breeze, I decided to open up the main hatch in the saloon to get some air through the boat. You will not be surprised to hear that shortly thereafter a rogue wave hit us right on the beam, sending buckets of water through my open hatch, straight over the navigation desk, where literally ALL of our electronic devices were sitting. It is nothing short of an utter miracle that so far everything still seems to be working. I can’t believe I put our equipment at risk like that. Especially given our chart plotter died on the way to Grenada, so we are already operating on back ups; if we’d lost the iPads and the computer we would have been in real trouble. A major lesson learnt.

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A: Whilst Laura is giving herself a tough time about the hatch, the only thing that matters is that everything is fine. Furthermore, she has more than earned herself some credit given how well Serenity has been provisioned for this passage. If you consider that we ended up departing Grenada nearly a week later that expected (see previous blog post), and then that we were unable to top up our fresh supplies in Grenada (also see previous blog post), the fact that we continue to eat so well on this passage has been a real source of morale. The curry Laura produced yesterday in defiance of the helter-skelter sea state was a real treat, and my pronouncement of a scurvy preventing daily gin and lime ration once the fresh fruit and veg runs out is still yet to be implemented. The best addition to our stores this trip has been these super value multi bags of crisps and sweets that Laura found at the discount store. Featuring a wide variety of previously unknown Central American brands, I have been snacking incessantly during my night watches and yet the bags appear to be bottomless. I’m currently enjoying a pack of Ping Pong (chocolate coated peanuts), after which I will probably truffle around for some Chilli Balls (akin to spicy Cheetos). In fact, this maybe the first passage on which I weigh more at the end than I did at the beginning.

Day 7

A: This morning marked the beginning of the end of the big seas and we’ve had them gradually ease off all day. The forecast is now indicating a steady ride into Colon (our destination in Panama) and the big remaining question is how long will we keep the wind for before we need to turn the engine on. As always with sailing, you end up feeling like Goldilocks a lot of the time – too much wind and then too little. Right now though we have 15-20 knots and it is just right. The other issue we are starting to wrestle with is our arrival strategy. At the moment, the forecasts have us arriving a full day earlier than originally expected, as the favourable current isn’t included in their models. However, our arrival time is predicted to be 2am, which isn’t ideal as the marina won’t be open. So our options are either to: a) keep gaining time on the forecasts and arrive on late afternoon of 10 Nov; b) slow down and make sure we don’t arrive until after 8am on 11 Nov; or c) anchor outside the marina in the dark and then move round when the sun comes up. In fact, Laura has just come up with another one: d) find a quiet anchorage further up the Panamanian coast and stay there for the night. Lots to discuss – we will let you know what we decide!

L: After a lovely, relaxed day, we got the 16:00 weather forecast to help us decide on sail plan for the night. Expectation was for 15-20 knots gradually easing to 10-15 in the night, which sounded perfect for another go at our twin headsail rig. But, though the wind had eased off, Neptune still had his eye on us, because things went swiftly pear shaped. Undiscovered twists in the second genoa meant we had to abort poling it out halfway through, and then we noticed the halyard had accidentally got wrapped round the forestay and furlex. It was clear now the sail needed to come down, though it had other ideas. In the end, Alec got me to stand inside the forepeak and hoick the sail through the hatch by the sheet while he payed out the halyard and stuffed in fistfuls from the top. It was a little touch and go for a tense few minutes, but we got it in the end! I had a bit of a panic when we discovered the sail issues and realised we needed to take it down, but Alec, as ever, was calm and cool directing traffic and working out how to get it down safely. I am very lucky to have such a great skipper!!

A: We’ve decided not to go for the anchorage on route option, as it would still leave us with 30nm to do the next day, which would be hanging over us and limit the benefits of the stop. Instead, we are going to keep sailing for as long as possible and either anchor in the dark if we get there before 3am (to allow a couple of hours kip) or slow right down in the final 10 nm and wait for daylight if our arrival ends up being later. Normally we aren’t fans of entering bays and anchoring at night; however, the entrance to the Panama canal is probably one of the few places in the world where you can rely strongly on the charts and lights being accurate. On top of this, we know that the anchoring field is big and without hazards so we feel confident that we can do it. Coming up to the last 100nm now, and we are both having irrationally exciting dreams about showers, beers and pizza – I really hope there is a pizza restaurant in the marina…

Post passage thoughts

Unfortunately, whilst the marina restaurant had pizza on the menu, the oven wasn’t working when we tried to place our order, which was pretty devastating. Thankfully they did have some other fried appetisers that were close enough to matching our cravings that we were able to hold it together before retiring for the first of many deep sleeps. Once we’d caught up on our deficit, we could mull over the passage with both hindsight and perspective, and we both had a deep sense of pride in what was another step up for our sailing CVs.

A combination of our longest passage as a couple with the challenging sea state during the middle of the passage gave us a new set of problems that we hadn’t had to face before. On the short-handed sailing side, the longer watches were tough but worthwhile and gave each of us the best shot a getting some sleep; however, we really missed our crew from previous comparable passages (shout out to Phil, Ballin and Katherine), and if possible are even more excited to have Daniel and Camille join us for the Pacific and share some of the workload.

Since we only had each other on this journey, we both had to commit a lot of energy into checking in with each other and, when spirits were low or frustrations bubbled up, providing each other with some love or patience. It really tests relationships to whole new levels since you are forced to rely on each other so completely, and when they come through for you time after time, it helps you remember quite how lucky you are to have them in your life. I know that we will continue to have our fair share of trials and tribulations, regardless of whether we are floating or not, but having experiences like this to draw upon gives us a source of strength that we didn’t have before.

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Joke of the passage results

Finally, we are excited to announce the winner of our joke of the passage competition that a number of our friends and family participated in as a means of staying in touch and boosting morale from afar. Whilst it sounds slightly frivolous, when you have seen nothing but ocean for days at a time, having a loved one let you know that they are thinking of you and providing you with an opportunity to laugh is immensely valuable. The results are as follows:

3rd Place: Ballin Smith

Ballin sent us a nautical joke every day, and this was the pick of the bunch.

A vessel carrying red paint collided over the weekend with another ship carrying blue paint.
The sailors were marooned.

2nd Place: Kim Aust

A math(s) joke – Kim clearly knows her audience too well.

What do you get if you divide the circumference of a jack-o-lantern by its diameter?
Pumpkin Pie

1st Place: Katherine Smith

I have to admit that Laura’s unbelievably bad delivery was part of the reason for this joke’s success, but even without it I think it still holds up well!

Upon arriving at the hospital for a routine operation, the doctor informs you that you have a choice between gas and being hit over the head by a boat paddle for the anaesthetic.
It was an ether oar situation…

Thank you for all the other entries and we will definitely open up another competition to everyone for the Pacific 🙂