COLOMBIA TO ARUBA – THE IMPOSSIBLE UPWIND ROUTE
WIND GUSTS
WAVES
WIND AND SWELL
CURRENTS
2024-05-05ย account from SV ROCHAMBEU
Beyond devastated. Thatโs how we feel right now. Itโs been a while since Iโve really documented our nomadic lifestyle. We have sailed from California, USA through Mexico, Costa Rica, the Pacific side of Panama, through the Panama Canal, the Caribbean side of Panama, through Colombiaโs โpirate alleyโ, and two thirds the way to Aruba, actually into the waters of the Netherland Antilles. We met some of the most amazing adventurous people along the way who will forever be in our hearts. Some of them we met in California and others in Mexico. Some have split up but then we meet back up and call it โbungee-boatingโ. Some we will never see again. But yesterday morning we split up unexpectedly, heart wrenchingly. After motor sailing for 2 days and 2 nights in benign sea conditions, the weather took a drastic turn. Suddenly while on night watch, 25 knots of steady wind came out of the Atlantic and the seas starting pounding. By daylight we were feeling drained from a lack of sleep and our buddy boats had begun drifting away. We were still fine, all communicating on VHF radio, and eagerly waiting to just get through it for another 40-50 miles so that we could wake up to sunny Aruba and eat an anticipated Dutch breakfast. (You shouldโve seen how excited Rolf grew a few nights ago when it dawned on him that we were going to sail to a country where people spoke his language and he could eat Dutch food again.) But then suddenly a new tie down strap for our dinghy snapped and blew away. Shit! Because we were bashing there was a lot of force and our dinghy davits were compromised, now damaged and weakened. We had another new strap and were able to secure the dinghy. Good. But, our solar arch is also partially sitting on top of the davits and now the dinghy and solar panels are at risk of just breaking off and going kerplunck into the angry ocean. If that werenโt enough, we had a 2 knot current that we were fighting against while feeling like we were riding a bucking bull. This slowed us down to a whopping 1 knot of โspeedโ. We were crawling and waves were crashing over our bows every now and then. Making life go from worse to miserable, our autopilot shutoff because it couldnโt keep up with the bashing. Conditions matter. And yesterday morning was a perfect example where with rough seas, strong current, and high wind (all on the nose) was a trifecta for poor motor performance and loss of the autopilot. So we had to make one of the toughest decisions ever – either steer by hand for 2 days and crawl to Aruba or turn back to Colombia. The main considerations were the stability of our dinghy davit system, our own safety & fatigue, and the comfort of our 14 year old dog, who was clearly suffering too. We bashed for an hour debating back & forth whether we could make it safely to Aruba or turn back. The problem was that the weather forecast now indicated the wind and sea state could persist for another couple of days. So with immense sadness we turned around. ๐ญ๐ญ๐ญ Now weโre alone, sailing back down the Colombian coast to Santa Marta, maybe even back to Cartagena. Next up, we have to still work our day jobs, which can be stressful and demanding at times while we figure out how to reinforce our dinghy davits and consider replacing our props. Really, I wish we could buy a bigger and more powerful boat with tons of horsepower for the 5-10% of the time we really need to motor hard from one amazing destination to another. But for now, Iโm back to the night watch cruising solo. At least weโre comfortable with the wind and swells behind us and our sails are up.